Lin Residence Family Law, Little Five Decays Sword Sect, Anning County Is Going to Produce a "Sect"!?

Lin Residence, ancestral hall.

That day, the autumn wind was bleak and biting, and the atmosphere was heavy.

Wrapped tightly in a fox-fur coat, Lin Du, uneasy after receiving his father's summons, entered alone.

Ever since Lin Steward's death and Ji Xiu's breaking out of Flying Swallow House, Lin Du had been restless these past days.

Yet at the same time, he still harbored a trace of luck.

What if that little stablehand had never noticed any of it?

With that thought in mind, he had only just stepped inside.

When staffs suddenly came down from both sides, startling him. His muscles tensed as he tried to resist, but—

Smack!

Just one blow.

Lin Du's body went limp as rotten mud, and he was struck flat onto the ground.

Instructor Du wore a stern expression. He put away his staff, dragged Lin Du by the fur of his coat like he was hauling a dead dog, and brought him before the ancestral tablets in the dim candlelight of the hall. Bowing, he said, "Master, the man has been seized."

After saying this, his face taut, he swept a glance over Lin Zhenhai's back, Lin Ruxue with a hand on her sword, and Lin Ruyue's expression of reluctant pity. Without another word, he withdrew.

Things had reached this point—

This was no longer something an "outsider" like him could interfere in.

The doors of the ancestral hall shut.

Stunned by that staff blow, Lin Du felt as if every muscle in his body had come apart. He could not even crawl to his feet. "Father. I..."

Lin Zhenhai lit three sticks of incense and placed them in the censer. Watching the smoke curl upward, he let out a sigh. "Alas, misfortune in the family."

Lin Du's heart skipped a beat.

The next moment, his nominal elder sister, Lin Ruxue, stepped forward in pale moon-white boots. With a shing, she drew her sword, her gaze icy. "If you had simply behaved yourself, your existence would never have drawn my notice."

"But your scheming runs this deep."

The slender sword, fine as autumn water, was about to pierce the center of Lin Du's wide-eyed brow.

Suddenly, Lin Zhenhai stretched out a hand, frowning. "He is your nominal 'younger brother,' after all. If you kill him with your own hands—"

Lin Ruxue's eyes remained cold. "If I do not kill him and pull up the weeds by the roots, should I leave him alive to settle scores after autumn comes?"

Lin Zhenhai shook his head. "I brought him here today to expel him from the family tree, strip him of his name and surname, and make him no longer a young master of the Lin Residence. He will be banished beyond Anning County and may never return."

"Is that not enough?"

"He is only a martial man in the Toughening Tendons Realm. Without the Lin Residence and without the Bone Tempering Method, he can struggle and scrape for a lifetime, but this is all he will ever amount to."

"Xue, he poses no threat."

At last, Lin Du realized what was happening.

But he did not try to defend himself at once, because he knew any defense would be useless.

Lin Du's eyes widened, filling with tears and terror. He kept kowtowing, again and again, looking at Lin Zhenhai with pleading in his eyes.

At one side, Lin Ruyue was frightened by the grim atmosphere as well. Tugging lightly at Lin Ruxue's sleeve, she could not bear it. "Sister..."

Looking at her younger sister clutching her sleeve—protected too well, having never seen the filthy side of the world even into her twenties—Lin Ruxue paused. "With your temperament, if I were not protecting you, someone would swallow you bones and all sooner or later, and you would not even know it."

After saying that, Lin Ruxue looked toward Lin Zhenhai. "Father, half of the Lin Residence's founding estate came from my mother's dowry."

"If I had not succeeded in martial training, would you still have given half of this foundation to this bastard?"

Disgust seeped into her voice. "I cultivated bitterly for nine years before I won my little sister a lifetime free of worry. Why should I spare him after he harbored malicious intentions?"

Lin Ruxue's eyes were indifferent. Looking at Lin Du as he continued begging for mercy, she took two steps forward, making Lin Zhenhai's expression change slightly. "You—"

Pfft!

Crack!

The slender sword severed the major tendons in one arm and one leg. Lin Ruxue showed no mercy. With a kick from her small foot, carrying the weight of a thousand jun, she directly snapped Lin Du's thigh!

His miserable howl rang out, and he fainted on the spot!

"If Father wishes to spare his life, that is fine."

"I will cripple all the major tendons in his body, break one arm and one leg, erase his name from the Lin Residence register, and let him fend for himself from now on, fighting wild dogs for scraps."

"Is that enough?"

The woman's lips curved faintly into a smile. The light smile on her exquisite face sent a chill down Lin Zhenhai's spine. "What exactly have you cultivated in the Little Five Decays Sword Sect these past years? How has your temperament become...?"

Lin Ruxue lightly raised her jade-white neck and held her head high, staring straight at him. Her skin glimmered with a river-of-stars radiance, giving off a faint brilliance. Only then did Lin Zhenhai finally awaken from his daze.

The person before him was not merely his daughter.

She was also—

A master who had completed Bone Tempering!

Moreover, in terms of Skin Refinement progress, she seemed to have surpassed him. Not only that, her skin-tempering method was far more exquisite than his, superior by no small margin!

"Jiangyin Prefecture is far harsher than Anning County."

"I have already given you face by leaving him his cheap life."

"Otherwise—"

"Did you think he would still be alive?"

Lin Ruxue sneered coldly, as though kicking a dog.

"I heard Father intends to choose a husband for my little sister."

"A few days ago, I happened to meet a Saber-Wearing Retainer from Fire Kiln Lu Estate."

"He was once a stablehand in the Lin Residence."

"I observed that this young man is no creature meant to remain trapped in a pond."

"If he can enter into a marriage contract with my little sister, he will surely be able to protect her thoroughly in the future and ensure the family never declines."

"This young man has a decent temperament and proper features. Though he is still young, that is instead an advantage—it proves he has greater prospects ahead."

"You previously intended to take him as an adopted son, but that was rather perfunctory. Better to offer a new price and recruit him under the name of a Lin Family son-in-law."

As Lin Ruxue spoke, Lin Ruyue clutched her sleeve and could not help recalling Ji Xiu from that day, who had seemed almost like a different person. Her pretty face immediately reddened.

But Lin Zhenhai looked at Lin Du on the ground, his face dark.

Hearing this, he gave his eldest daughter a deep look. "This time, I'm afraid your calculations will come to nothing."

Lin Ruxue frowned. Before she could speak, Lin Zhenhai slowly continued, "Not long ago."

"A new, officially registered Qi Refining Expert emerged in Jiangyin Prefecture."

"That man was born in Anning forty years ago. Later, in Jiangyin Prefecture, he gathered disciples far and wide, teaching martial arts and boxing. Among them—"

"Lu Chengfeng of Fire Kiln, Xu Zhuang of Firewood Market, and Wei Dingchang of the Cattle and Sheep Market—the masters of the Three Great Businesses that control the five hundred li of Anning County—all learned true teachings under him."

"I heard he intends to Found a Sect."

Lin Ruxue's clear eyes suddenly narrowed. "Impossible."

"To Found a Sect, one Qi Refining Expert is not enough!"

"Without one's own secret transmission... even if it is established, it will be unable to withstand a single blow when facing an outside path. The province and prefecture would never approve such a case!"

Lin Zhenhai sighed. "Jiangyin Prefecture naturally would not."

"But—"

"What if it is Anning County?"

"I heard that man has already sent one of his public representatives to consolidate the Three Great Businesses, intending to..."

"Create a county sect that stands above the Three Great Gangs and Four Great Halls!"

"That boy has caught Lu Chengfeng's eye, and Lu Chengfeng may become one of the Three Seats of that new force in the future. He will certainly give the boy some support."

"Tell me, how could I possibly compete with him for the boy?"

The woman in the moon-white dress held her sword, her brows tightly furrowed.

A Qi Refining Expert had come to this five-hundred-li Anning County to establish a foundation?

Was this man truly so lacking in ambition that, instead of pursuing a sect's secret transmission, he had come here to live out his remaining years in comfort?

Fire Kiln, Lu Manor.

Hong Jiang drove the carriage listlessly, leaning against it without any energy. He glanced at Zheng Jun beside him, who was staring eagerly at the bluestone-brick house, and said speechlessly, "What is the use of you coming here every day to curry favor?"

"The pills are refined in the Medicine Lodge. Brother Ji usually trains at home, yet you still come running here. Aren't you sick of it?"

Zheng Jun folded his arms, baring his teeth as he shivered from the cold. Hearing this, he looked at the tall, burly Hong Jiang, who was contentedly serving as a coachman here, and could not help retorting, "Martial man, aren't you the same?"

"You just want to seek benefits from Lord Little Ji as well. How much nobler are you than me?"

As he spoke, yearning filled his eyes. "You do not understand at all. When Lord Little Ji first arrived at the Medicine Lodge, all three furnaces exploded on the first day, and the Medicine Master's face went black on the spot. By the third day, only one of three furnaces exploded, and Old Huang's expression eased as he said it was not bad. By the fifth day, the seventh day..."

"After that, nearly every furnace produced pills. His attainments in alchemy are almost unprecedented in my life—even Yellow Medicine Master cannot compare to him!"

"I come running every day now, assisting him and attending to his every need. If one day he is in a good mood and lets a little insight slip through the gaps between his fingers, it might be enough to make me a true 'alchemist'!"

I endured nine years of service to the young master.

There is no reason I cannot swallow my pride and run errands for a genius alchemist!

"Hmph!"

Hearing Zheng Jun ramble on and on, Hong Jiang's expression softened.

He could not help looking into the courtyard.

"An alchemist..."

"In barely a month, he completed Nourishing Blood and learned alchemy as well. For a person like that, why does it feel as though I am the one profiting by leading his horse and holding his stirrup?"

"If he rises to prominence someday, even an official before a prime minister's gate is a seventh-rank official!"

Muttering to himself, Hong Jiang, who had been waiting outside the courtyard all day unless he had a mission, suddenly slapped himself as that thought came to him. Cursing under his breath, he said, "Damn it, how did I become addicted to being someone's stablehand?"

"What the hell!"

The two of them waited there eagerly.

Then, a woman in fitted yellow clothes came racing toward them from behind. Her ponytail swayed, and she looked valiant and spirited.

It was Lu Hongyu, the eldest daughter of Lu Manor!

Mortal: Ninth-Rank Alchemy: (30/30)

Thirty furnace openings—he had reached the pinnacle!

Trait: Calm Mind, Focused Spirit

When the Ordination Master concentrated fully during pursuits such as alchemy research, he could cast aside distracting thoughts, increasing efficiency by thirty percent!

Ji Xiu swallowed a Leopard Fetus Pill while holding a stance for a full hour, then exhaled a breath of white vapor.

When he realized he could advance no further, his blood had settled like mercury and lead, as heavy as a hundred jin, his eyes shone brightly and excitement gradually filled them.

"After ten whole days, I have studied ninth-rank alchemy to its utmost limit and finally repaid the cost of the advance in full."

"And—"

"Even more terrifyingly, when others master alchemy, their chance of refining ninth-rank pills is only around seventy percent. But with the boost from my trait..."

"It is practically one hundred percent!"

Remembering how Huang Xuan had been awestruck when he saw that Ji Xiu never failed in pill refinement two days ago—and how he now gave him a ninth-rank pill capable of tempering blood, much like a Leopard Fetus Pill, every day—Ji Xiu had finally completed the Nourishing Blood stage!

He could now enter Forging Tendons!

"Soaring Serpent Chasing Cloud Form."

"If I master it, then show it to Master Duan..."

"He will probably be dumbfounded on the spot, won't he?"

Ji Xiu was just about to make another advance, study it for a while, and then head straight to the Medicine Lodge.

But Lu Hongyu suddenly came to visit. "Ji Xiu, do not go to the Medicine Lodge today."

"Lu Manor..."

"Something major has happened!"

"When my father chose you as a Saber-Wearing Retainer, he gave you that number '36' iron token. Have you kept it safe?"