Brother, I Brought You Home

The surroundings fell silent in an instant.

"D-Dead!"

The two lackeys who had been jeering from the side froze completely, the smiles on their faces turning rigid. Their eyes bulged like bronze bells as they looked at Wang Erhu's corpse on the ground, then at Lin Yun, covered in blood with icy eyes. Their legs gave out, and with a thud, they dropped to their knees.

"Sp-Spare us! Brother Lin, spare us! We were wrong! We'll never dare again!"

The two were so terrified they could barely form coherent words. They kept banging their heads against the ground until their foreheads were soon bleeding.

They had never imagined that trying to extort a little spending money would end with someone dead!

Lin Yun was terrified too.

He looked at his fist, still trembling slightly, then at Wang Erhu's corpse. His mind was completely blank.

He had only wanted to teach Wang Erhu a lesson. He had only wanted to protect his brother's ashes.

He had never imagined that he would actually beat someone to death.

Ever since spiritual energy had revived, the nation had enacted new laws, but murder remained a grave crime.

Even if Wang Erhu had been scum, and Lin Yun could be convicted of excessive self-defense, he still would not escape prison.

He had only just awakened the system and gained hope of avenging his brother. Was he going to be thrown in prison already?

Just as Lin Yun stood there at a loss, a shrill screech of brakes rang out.

Several military vehicles stopped by the roadside. The door of the lead vehicle opened, and the Vanguard Army officer who had delivered Lin Yun's death notification strode out.

He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then at Lin Yun, covered in blood and clutching the urn. His expression did not change in the slightest.

"Get in."

The officer spoke in a deep voice.

Lin Yun was at a loss. "Sir, I..."

"I saw everything that happened here. I'll handle it all." The officer cut him off. "You saw nothing, and you did nothing. Take your brother home."

Looking at the officer's stern face, a warm current surged through Lin Yun's heart.

He nodded forcefully. "Thank you, sir."

With that, he held the urn and quickly climbed into the front passenger seat of the military vehicle.

The vehicle slowly drove away and soon vanished around the street corner.

Seeing Lin Yun sent away, the two lackeys kneeling on the ground heaved a sigh of relief and repeatedly kowtowed to the officer.

"Sir, we were wrong! We know we were wrong! Spare our lives!"

The officer said to the adjutant beside him, "Throw these two into prison. No one is to have contact with them!"

"Yes!"

The adjutant nodded and waved for the soldiers behind him to restrain the two lackeys who had aided and abetted evil and haul them into the vehicle.

The two lackeys wailed to the heavens and cried to the earth. They knew that even if they did not die, they would spend the rest of their lives in prison.

The adjutant asked doubtfully, "Deputy Minister, that kid's vitality was only 2 points, and his talent is poor too. How did he suddenly erupt with strength comparable to a Martial Apprentice?"

The officer smiled, a trace of gratification in his voice.

"A tiger's brother has no dog of a brother. That young man named Lin Hai fought just as desperately. Otherwise, he would never have been secretly transferred to that godforsaken place... The younger brother he raised cannot be lacking at heart."

He waved a hand.

"Clean this place up. The son of some influential family dared to openly seize a martyr's compensation payment. His death was no great loss."

"Yes!"

The adjutant stood at attention and saluted.

The officer did not spare the corpse on the ground another glance before turning and boarding the military vehicle.

Lin Yun's residence.

It was a small apartment of just over forty square meters. The furniture was old, but everything had been kept spotless.

A photograph hung on the wall.

A young man and a teenager stood arm in arm at the gates of Qingcheng Academy. The older one wore an honest smile, while the younger one looked thoroughly unwilling.

It was the photograph taken three years ago when his brother had sent him to enroll, and it was also the only photo Lin Yun had with his brother.

Lin Yun shut the door, completely sealing out the clamor outside.

He walked to the table in the living room and carefully set down the black urn. Then he neatly placed three apples and a cup of baijiu before it.

"Brother, I brought you home."

He bowed deeply toward the urn, his voice hoarse.

"You raised me for eighteen years. I never got the chance to repay you, never got the chance to fight shoulder to shoulder with you..."

He straightened up and rubbed his eyes hard.

On the way back, he had already processed most of the negative emotions from killing Wang Erhu.

He had done nothing wrong.

Wang Erhu fucking deserved to die.

Even if he had another chance, even if he had been completely clear-headed at the time, he would probably have done the same thing.

After paying his respects, Lin Yun slowly straightened up. Suddenly, a piercing pain flooded out from every limb and bone in his body.

"Urgh!"

Lin Yun let out a muffled groan. His entire body convulsed violently, and he collapsed uncontrollably to the floor.

He felt as if his blood vessels were about to burst apart. Scalding vitality rampaged through his meridians, while every inch of muscle and every bone groaned under unbearable strain.

His skin turned red at a visible rate, veins bulging as though countless little snakes were writhing beneath it.

His hands clawed uncontrollably at his body, soon scratching bloody gashes across his skin.

"S-So painful..."

Lin Yun curled up on the floor, his teeth chattering as his vision began to blur.

Only then did he realize that he had been careless.

In martial cultivation, vitality was certainly extremely important, but one's physical constitution was equally crucial.

Under normal circumstances, when a martial cultivator's vitality reached 9 points, they had to temper their body through medicinal baths and similar methods. Only after breaking through the realm barrier could their vitality rise to 10 points and allow them to become a Martial Apprentice.

But the system's vitality increases ignored all restrictions, including talent.

Just now, all he had wanted was absolute power to crush Wang Erhu and reclaim his brother's urn, so he had exchanged for 10 points in one go. The fact that he had not exploded on the spot and died was already a stroke of immense luck.

The system had warned him, but in that situation, he had not had time to think at all!

"System! System!"

Lin Yun screamed wildly in his mind.

[Hello, Host. How may I assist you?]

The cold mechanical voice rang out like a shot of adrenaline, instantly clearing Lin Yun's mind somewhat.

"Is there any way for me to complete body tempering quickly?"

[Searching for you... Abnormal condition detected in Host: severe vitality disorder, multiple ruptures in the meridians, physical body on the verge of collapse.]

[Warning: Immediate body tempering prohibited! Forced body tempering will result in a vitality explosion. Mortality rate: 100%.]

[Emergency solution: Host must first consume a First-Order Foundation-Stabilizing Pill to repair damaged meridians and regulate disordered vitality. Further body-tempering procedures may only be carried out after the physical condition stabilizes.]

[Emergency items available for exchange in the system store:]

[First-Order Foundation-Stabilizing Pill: Contains pure, gentle foundation-stabilizing energy. Can rapidly repair meridian damage and completely eliminate the risk of runaway vitality.]

[Exchange price: 60,000 Dragon Nation currency.]

[Important notice: Estimated remaining survival time of Host: 57 minutes. Please make a decision as soon as possible.]

Sixty thousand!

Lin Yun's heart sank.

He had spent one hundred thousand on vitality just now, leaving him with only 100,372.

One Foundation-Stabilizing Pill alone cost sixty thousand. After buying it, he would have only a little over forty thousand left.

But if he did not stabilize his vitality first, he would not even survive another hour, let alone worry about anything else.

"Exchange for a First-Order Foundation-Stabilizing Pill!"

Lin Yun gritted his teeth without the slightest hesitation.

[Ding! 60,000 Dragon Nation currency deducted. First-Order Foundation-Stabilizing Pill ×1 exchanged.]

[Current Host balance: 40,372 Dragon Nation currency.]

A flash of white light passed, and a jade-white pill giving off a faint medicinal fragrance appeared out of thin air in Lin Yun's hand.

Lin Yun did not dare delay. He immediately tossed the pill into his mouth.

The pill dissolved as soon as it entered his mouth, turning into a warm current that slid down his throat into his stomach before rapidly spreading through his limbs and bones.

The vitality that had originally rampaged like wild horses gradually became docile beneath the soothing warmth, obediently flowing through his meridians.

The ruptured meridians were also repaired at a visible rate under the nourishment of that warm current.

The agonizing pain in his body gradually faded away.

Three hours later, Lin Yun exhaled a long breath of turbid air and slowly rose from the floor.

Feeling the faint pain within his body, too slight to affect normal movement, he revealed a smile of survival after a calamity.

"Finally stabilized."

With the threat of death gone, the first thing Lin Yun thought of was body tempering.

He had originally been the top liberal arts student, with scores nearly perfect. Now his vitality had reached 12 points as well. As long as he completed body tempering before the martial examination, broke through the realm barrier, and became a true Martial Apprentice, he would have every chance to compete for one of Dragon Nation's top ten prestigious martial academies—perhaps even Dragon Nation's number one martial institution, Imperial Capital First Martial Academy!

"System, open the system store and filter out the spirit plant most suitable for my current condition."

Lin Yun spoke silently in his mind.

[Filtering for you... Results are as follows:]

[Astral Body-Tempering Grass: A rare extraterrestrial spirit plant containing a trace of stellar power. Boil it for a medicinal bath; one stalk is enough to help Host complete body tempering and officially enter the Martial Apprentice realm.]

[Exchange price: 80,000 Dragon Nation currency.]

Eighty thousand!

Lin Yun was stunned at first, then an incredulous light burst from his eyes.

Qingcheng Academy was one of the best academies in Azure City. There were over two thousand students in his year, and around a hundred had already broken through to the Martial Apprentice realm.

According to them, body tempering was an extremely money-burning process. One had to soak in medicinal baths several times, costing anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000.

Even the highly gifted top-ten geniuses had spent nearly 100,000 Dragon Nation currency to complete body tempering.

Yet the system's Astral Body-Tempering Grass cost only eighty thousand, and a single stalk could even complete the entire body-tempering process?

In other words, while others needed two hundred thousand to accomplish it, he only needed eighty thousand?

That was simply too cost-effective!

A tremendous surge of hope instantly rose in Lin Yun's heart. He might truly have a chance to enter one of Dragon Nation's top ten prestigious schools.

With that thought, Lin Yun's eyes hardened once more, and he returned to his brother's memorial tablet.

Looking at the yellowed photograph, he spoke softly:

"Brother, you raised me for eighteen years, and I never got to repay you."

"But I remember everything you taught me."

"You said a man must stand tall enough to hold up heaven and earth, and protect the weak."

"Don't worry. I'll walk the road you never got to finish."

"Definitely."

After sorting through his tangled emotions, Lin Yun began to think. How could he earn forty thousand before the martial examination?