Unlike the somber atmosphere at the Hong Family estate, the mood in another luxurious estate in the heart of Jintai Prefecture was entirely different.
This was the estate of the Lin Family, one of Jintai Prefecture's three great aristocratic families. Its sweeping eaves and upturned corners spoke of the steady foundations of a powerful lineage. Pavilions and towers stood in elegant arrangements within the grounds, the guards were all martial artists with condensed auras, and the servants went about their duties in orderly fashion.
Deep within the estate, the main reception hall was magnificent, with carved beams and painted pillars.
At the head of the hall, the Head of the Lin Family, Lin Weiyuan, sat upright in a rosewood Grand Preceptor's Chair. He wore a navy brocade robe, his face was square, his eyes sharp, and a short beard hung beneath his chin. His bearing exuded the authority and composure of a man long accustomed to power.
Seated in the guest chair to his right was the Lin Family's Grand Elder, who had just returned from the Profound Truth Sect's Duck Mountain Island.
The old man was travel-worn, his blue robe still dusted with dirt from the journey, but he had not stopped to rest. The moment he returned, he had rushed straight to the reception hall to report the news of the Mountain-Visiting Challenge to the family head.
The fragrance of tea drifted through the hall, yet neither man had any inclination to savor it.
The Lin Family's Grand Elder recounted everything he had witnessed at the Profound Truth Sect that day in meticulous detail, leaving nothing out: Zhou Qiang and Xu Shizheng's successive defeats, Li Yu's high spirits as he took the stage, and finally Yang Jing's sudden emergence and his fusion of two arts to crush Li