Old Sixth Xiao Lin

Old Sixth Xiao Lin

As Xiao Lin stepped out of his courtyard, his original Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation instantly dropped to the peak of the Nine-Star Battle Spirit level.

With Xiao Lin's Heavenly Realm Soul Power, concealing his cultivation was no difficult task.

At this moment, unless a mid-level Dou Venerable or stronger stood before him, or Xiao Lin deliberately revealed himself, anyone who saw him would only take him for an ordinary Nine-Star Battle Spirit.

Of course, those weaker than Nine-Star Battle Spirits might not even be able to discern his concealed cultivation...

The reason Xiao Lin chose to hide part of his cultivation was mainly because he had his own considerations.

After all, in the Gama Empire, someone like him advancing from a Four-Star Battle Spirit to a Four-Star Dou Emperor in six years would cause an enormous uproar if word got out.

By then, everyone would likely know that he had some secret.

Although there was no one in the entire Gama Empire whom he feared anymore, were the various forces of the Gama Empire really the only things he had to fear?

The answer was clearly no.

After all, with his Heavenly Realm Soul Power and Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation, he could absolutely steamroll anyone below the Dou Venerable level!

It could be said that even if all the other forces in the Gama Empire, including the neutral Alchemist Guild, joined forces, they still would not be enough to fight him.

Even across the entire Northwest Continent, the only force Xiao Lin was not confident about facing was the Northwest Continent's overlord, the Heavenly Serpent Empire.

As for the rest of those small fry, Xiao Lin truly did not take them seriously!

But Xiao Lin did not dare to be so high-profile.

The reason was actually very simple: the Hun Clan!

That was right. The only target Xiao Lin had ever been wary of was the Hun Clan!

A thousand years ago, even though Xiao Xuan had pulled some outrageous stunt that drastically weakened the Xiao Clan and even caused it to lose its status as an ancient imperial clan—

Even so, it should not normally have declined to such a state.

Even if the clan no longer had any Dou Saints or Dou Venerables, it should still have had quite a few Dou Zongs and Dou Emperors, right?

Such strength would have been enough to gain a foothold in the Central Plains.

But look at things now. From top to bottom, the Xiao Household had only a handful of nobodies left, and its strongest members were merely Battle Spirits.

By the time the original plot began, the Xiao Household had become so weak that it only had a single Great Dou Master holding things together!

This was utterly absurd!

Xiao Lin would never believe that the Xiao Household had declined to this extent through normal development.

Clearly, there was a massive hidden hand behind the scenes, driving the Xiao Household into continuous decline.

And that hidden hand could only be the Hun Clan.

Therefore, Xiao Lin did not want to expose his true strength to the Hun Clan too early, before he had the ability to protect himself.

After all, everyone knew that the Hun Clan was an outsourcing company...

No matter how strong you were, the person the Hun Clan ultimately outsourced to deal with you might only be slightly stronger than you.

For example, if the strength you displayed was that of a Battle Spirit, then the person the Hun Clan outsourced to deal with you might only be a Battle King or a Dou Emperor.

If Xiao Lin foolishly exposed his Heavenly Realm Soul Power and Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation, the Hun Clan might directly send a Dou Venerable—or even a Dou Saint—to come down on him.

After all, against experts of that level, the boost Xiao Lin could gain from Heavenly Realm Soul Power was actually limited.

At that point, he could only prepare to wait for death.

It was precisely because he considered the possibility that the Hun Clan might constantly be watching the Xiao Household, along with the Hun Clan's outsourcing nature, that Xiao Lin used his Heavenly Realm Soul Power to conceal his Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation.

At this time, the strongest fighting power the Xiao Household displayed to the outside world was merely that of a Battle Spirit.

Therefore, there was absolutely no way the Hun Clan would send an expert above the Dou Venerable level to watch the Xiao Household.

After all, the Gu Clan also kept an eye on the Xiao Household.

And the Gu Clan was likewise watching the Hun Clan.

As such, according to Xiao Lin's estimate, the Hun Clan could at most send a Dou Zong to keep watch near the Xiao Household.

And against a Dou Zong, Xiao Lin was now confident that he could handle one.

It was because of these considerations that Xiao Lin deliberately revealed only Nine-Star Battle Spirit cultivation.

This cultivation level was absolutely enough in the present-day Gama Empire.

When Xiao Lin arrived at his family's reception hall, he saw a young man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight chatting with the Xiao Household's clan leader, Xiao Dongcheng.

That young man was clearly Mu Chen of the Mu Household.

"Clan Leader."

After entering the reception hall, Xiao Lin bowed to Clan Leader Xiao Dongcheng.

"Xiao Lin, you're here. The guest from the Mu Household came looking for you. You two can talk from here."

After saying that, Xiao Dongcheng rose and left the reception hall, leaving it to Xiao Lin and Mu Chen.

Once Xiao Dongcheng had left, Xiao Lin took a seat.

Mu Chen, meanwhile, had been observing Xiao Lin the entire time.

Seeing this, Xiao Lin was in no hurry and merely waited quietly for the other party to speak.

Finally, after who knew how long, Mu Chen opened his mouth.

"Brother Xiao, it seems you've finally recovered from your wife's passing. That's truly wonderful."

For the past six years, Xiao Lin had remained at home, and his excuse to the outside world had been that he was mourning his wife.

It was no wonder Mu Chen said this.

Hearing Mu Chen's words, Xiao Lin merely smiled faintly.

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Mu. I cannot remain immersed in the past forever, can I? From now on, I will also forget the pain of the past and begin a new life."

Xiao Lin perfectly portrayed someone who had just emerged from the grief of losing his wife, leaving no flaw for anyone to pick at.

"I suppose it's more than that, isn't it? Brother Xiao has turned grief into strength, and your cultivation has risen another step! You must have already broken through to the Nine-Star Battle Spirit level, right?

"One more step forward, and you'll be a Battle King. The Xiao Household will then become the Imperial Capital's newest Battle King family!"

Mu Chen said this with absolute certainty.

After all, he himself was currently an Eight-Star Battle Spirit.

The only cultivation level he could not see through was naturally that of a Nine-Star Battle Spirit.

As for why he did not suspect Xiao Lin had already reached the Battle King level—

Six years ago, he himself, Xiao Lin, and Nalan Jie had all been Four-Star Battle Spirits.

Now that he had broken through to Eight-Star Battle Spirit, even if Xiao Lin cultivated a little faster than him, he could at most be a Nine-Star Battle Spirit.

Moreover, if Xiao Lin had become a Battle King, how could he possibly have kept it completely quiet?

After all, in the Gama Empire, a Battle King family and a Battle Spirit family were entirely different concepts.

The help a single Battle King could bring to a family far exceeded that of more than ten Battle Spirits!

Under Mu Chen's conventional understanding, he did not think anyone would deliberately suppress their own cultivation.

But he had not expected Xiao Lin to be exactly that kind of sly bastard.

Of course, Xiao Lin did this mainly to guard against the Hun Clan, so it was understandable.

However, Mu Chen did not know that!

Therefore, after failing to see through Xiao Lin's cultivation, he naturally took him for a Nine-Star Battle Spirit.

Someone only a little stronger than himself, yet still within the bounds of understanding.