Looking at the ancient Spirit Rhino City, he took a deep breath and walked into the city.
Returning to the Lin family, Lin Bai went straight to the residence of his Third Uncle, Lin Yue.
In the Lin family, aside from his Third Uncle, Lin Bai was practically without any relatives.
Lin Yue's residence was in a secluded corner of the Lin family grounds.
"This dead old man is actually still useful. He can even wash some clothes for us."
"Exactly. Wash faster, dead old man. You're a good-for-nothing who's wasted so much of the Lin family's food."
Lin Bai had just reached the outer wall of his Third Uncle's courtyard when he heard two women inside berating someone.
"Hm?" Lin Bai was startled.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, he immediately saw two middle-aged women in the yard. They were servants, and they were making Lin Yue wash a huge pile of filthy clothes.
"How dare you!" Lin Bai shouted furiously when he saw this scene.
The two middle-aged women were startled and turned toward Lin Bai.
When they recognized him, they sneered. "I was wondering who it was. So it's you, that good-for-nothing."
Seeing Lin Yue squatting beside the washbasin, washing clothes while being bullied by two servants, made the fury in Lin Bai's heart blaze even hotter.
His Third Uncle was his only relative in the Lin family.
How could Lin Bai not be enraged when his own relative was being bullied like this?
"Haha, Lin Bai, you're back." His Third Uncle, Lin Yue, stood up with a chuckle.
"Dead old man, why are you standing up? Hurry up and keep washing. If you don't finish these clothes tonight, don't even think about sleeping!" the two vicious women shrieked.
His Third Uncle gave a foolish laugh. "Lin Bai, sit down and rest for a while. I'll come keep you company once I finish washing these clothes."
"Third Uncle, stop washing. Is this something you should be doing?" Lin Bai walked over and kicked the washbasin over.
The two women flew into a rage. "Good-for-nothing, what do you think you're doing?"
"What am I doing? Of course I'm trying to take your lives!" Lin Bai said through clenched anger.
"Lin Bai, forget it. Their sons are Core Disciples of the family—Lin Hai and Lin Xuan. We can't afford to provoke them."
"It's only some clothes. Besides, Third Uncle has nothing else to do."
Lin Yue hurriedly tugged at Lin Bai.
"For the sake of your Third Uncle pleading for you, get lost!" Lin Bai said with a face as cold as still water.
"Oh? You dare speak to us like that? Lin Bai, you've really lived long enough."
"Sister Zhang, let's teach this good-for-nothing a lesson!"
Although the two women's Martial Dao cultivation wasn't high, they had still reached Martial Dao Third Level.
"Rip off this little good-for-nothing's third leg and see if he still dares to act so cocky!"
Without another word, the two women charged at Lin Bai.
Their broad, sturdy figures did indeed look rather overbearing.
"Ha!"
The two attacked from above and below at once. One punched toward Lin Bai's face, intending to beat him until blood spurted from all seven orifices.
The other reached straight for Lin Bai's crotch.
"You're courting death!" A cold glint flashed through Lin Bai's eyes as he swung his palm heavily.
Smack!
His palm landed hard on both women's faces, knocking all their teeth flying and filling their mouths with blood.
"Wuwu... you, you, you!"
"How dare you hit us? Do you know that my son Lin Xuan has already reached True Martial Realm Seventh Level?"
"My son, Lin Hai, has a Yellow-Tier Fifth-Grade Martial Soul and Martial Dao Eighth Level cultivation. Are you tired of living? How dare you hit me?"
The two women's eyes gleamed viciously. Their ferocious momentum undiminished, they cursed, "Little good-for-nothing, you must be tired of living."
"You keep calling me a little good-for-nothing. Today, I'll see how many lives you have to make it out of here alive!" Lin Bai thundered. He stepped forward and sent both women flying with a slap, crashing them into the wall.
Lin Bai had used only half his strength with that slap, yet it had shattered every bone in their bodies.
The two women collapsed to the ground. The provocation had vanished from their eyes, replaced by utter terror as they stared at Lin Bai.
"Killing you would dirty my hands!" Lin Bai kicked their dantians apart and hurled them out of the courtyard.
"Hmph."
After finishing all this, Lin Bai snorted coldly, but the fury in his heart still had not subsided.
"Third Uncle, are you all right?" Lin Bai asked as he turned back.
"Lin Bai, did you find the Spirit-Bearing Fruit?" Lin Yue asked with a chuckle.
"Yes, I found it. It had already matured, and after I consumed it, I broke through two realms. Not only that, I also broke through to Martial Dao Ninth Level in the Azure Spirit Mountain Range before I came back," Lin Bai said.
"Martial Dao Ninth Level... Martial Dao Ninth Level! You've already reached Martial Dao Ninth Level? Good, good. You truly are Big Brother Lin Duo's son."
Lin Yue was filled with joy.
"Lin Zier and the Lin family's martial artists have been eating the cultivation resources Big Brother Lin Duo left behind, yet they've only reached Martial Dao Ninth Level."
"But my nephew reached Martial Dao Ninth Level in two months without relying on any of those things."
Lin Yue's face shone with excitement.
"Lin Zier is only at Martial Dao Ninth Level?" Lin Bai asked in surprise.
The cultivation resources Lin Duo had left behind were enough to forcibly push a Martial Dao First Level disciple all the way to the Heaven Martial Realm.
After these two months, Lin Zier had consumed that enormous amount of cultivation resources. She should at least have reached the True Martial Realm by now. How was she only at Martial Dao Ninth Level?
"Tomorrow is the disciple-recruitment martial competition, so Lin Zier has been suppressing her cultivation and hasn't broken through. She wants to dominate all the heroes in Spirit Rhino City and overwhelm every disciple."
Lin Yue explained.
"Haha, now that I'm back, if Lin Zier wants to dominate all the heroes, that's impossible!"
"Tomorrow, in front of the elders of the four sects and everyone in Spirit Rhino City, I'll defeat her!"
Lin Bai clenched his fists. "Everything she took from me—I'll make her return every last bit of it tomorrow."
"Good. With such ambition, Big Brother Lin Duo would be overjoyed if he could see you."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Just as he was speaking happily, Lin Yue suddenly began coughing violently.
"Third Uncle, is your body all right?"
"Third Uncle, what exactly happened? How did you suddenly become crippled back then?"
Lin Bai was very curious about how Lin Yue had been crippled.
Back then, Lin Yue had awakened a Heaven-Tier First-Grade Martial Soul. He had been the strongest person in Spirit Rhino City after Lin Duo.
Afterward, Lin Duo and Lin Yue had left the family together to train.
When Lin Yue returned, however, he had become a cripple. His body was weak, and he grew worse with every passing day.
"Haha, Lin Bai, you've misunderstood. I wasn't crippled. I was merely poisoned." Lin Yue smiled bitterly.
"Poisoned? What poison?" Lin Bai asked curiously.
A look of vicissitude appeared in Lin Yue's eyes. "Back then, after your father and I left to travel, we provoked an evil sect called the Five Venoms Sect."
"Big Brother Lin Duo and I saw them slaughtering people throughout a city, so we stepped in out of a sense of justice."
"But unfortunately, my Martial Dao cultivation was low at the time, and I was captured by the Five Venoms Sect."
"Later, in the Five Venoms Sect, I met a woman. We developed feelings for each other in secret and became involved."
"Only after she became pregnant did I learn that she was the daughter of the Five Venoms Sect Leader."
"When her father learned that she was pregnant, he was furious and wanted to kill me. It was only because she pleaded desperately that I survived."
"Although the Five Venoms Sect Leader let me leave, he planted a poison in my body—the Serpent Heart Poison."
"Once afflicted by this poison, the true qi throughout the body is slowly devoured by the snake venom, and every day is filled with the agony of ten thousand snakes gnawing at the heart."
"Later, Big Brother Lin Duo sought revenge for me and stormed the Five Venoms Sect. But the Five Venoms Sect Leader fought to the death. Big Brother Lin Duo found no way to remove the snake venom, nor did he find my wife and child."
When Lin Yue reached this point, a trace of bitterness appeared in his eyes.
"Ah... If she gave birth to our child, then that child should be a year or two older than you." When Lin Yue thought of this, a kindly smile appeared in his eyes.
But in the end, his tears finally began to flow.
He wept not because of the pain of being poisoned by the Serpent Heart Poison.
He wept not because he had become a cripple.
He wept for his child.
He had never seen the child, and did not even know whether the child was alive or dead, or whether it was a boy or a girl.
"Third Uncle, once my strength is sufficient, I'll go to the Five Venoms Sect and bring Third Aunt back, along with your children," Lin Bai said.
"Good. Then I'll thank you in advance, nephew." Lin Yue smiled.