Lin Lineage

Biodata

Organization and Influence

• Main and collateral branches: The main branch controls valuable cultivation resources and outranks collateral families. A main-branch elder holds higher standing than a collateral-branch patriarch 7 10.
• Authority over branch leaders: Lü Chunyang threatens Lin Senyu's position as collateral-branch patriarch if he refuses to honor a wager and damages the family's reputation 15.
• Local influence: Even Lin Senyu's collateral branch can quickly investigate movements within the city and arrange for city inspectors to search Bu Wuchen's residence 7.
• Academy connections: The lineage has students at Blood Dragon City Academy and supplies its chief Pill Hall master, Lin Taoshu, before his dismissal 10 30 32.
• Limits on its power: The family cannot openly disregard the academy's protection of its students. Blood-contract wagers are also protected by Great Liang law, restricting its ability to evade public obligations 15 38 48.

Known Members

Resources and Techniques

Mystic Crystal Trade

• The lineage's wealth rests primarily on generations of dealing in mystic crystals 46.
• Lin Liang supplies five high-tier, superior-grade crystals—one each of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—to lure Bu Wuchen into an assassination trap 46.
• Promised cultivation resources help Lin Liang secure the cooperation of advanced-class students approaching the academy's age limit 46.

Cultivation Manuals

• Restricted access: Lin Senyu obtains the loan only after considerable expense and pleading. Lin Zhuliang is supposed to return the manuals with a thousand-gold thank-you payment 6 7.
• Value of unique originals: These manuals possess book souls that make learning substantially more effective than studying ordinary copies 6.
• Flame Tiger Fist applications: Lin Zhuxian manifests a flaming tiger around his fist; Lin Senyu's stronger version projects a fiery tiger outward through Qi Control Realm power 11 12.
• Recovery efforts: Recovering the stolen originals remains a stated objective of the lineage even after Bu Wuchen wins the first wagered duel 15 22.

Alchemy

• Leading specialist: Lin Taoshu produces seven excellent-quality, middle-grade mortal-rank Qi Recovery Pills in a single batch during his duel with Bu Wuchen 34.
• Strategic ambition: Lin Yunba hopes Taoshu will advance into Mystic Realm alchemy, becoming Blood Dragon City's second master at that level. He expects such a breakthrough could elevate the Lin Lineage above its two peers and potentially allow it to challenge the city lord's family 42.
• Setback: Taoshu's defeat leaves a psychological obstacle described as a heart demon, threatening to halt further alchemical advancement 42.

History

Conflict with Bu Wuchen

Lin Zhuxian initially encourages his younger brother to befriend Bu Wuchen, hoping to gain a powerful ally for their collateral branch. That interest disappears as Bu Wuchen's cultivation declines and his health deteriorates 7.

Lin Zhuliang subsequently exploits the household's vulnerability. Using a medicine debt of seven gold and nineteen silver as leverage, he targets Wan Xiaoyao and plans to conceal Bu Wuchen's murder with a scapegoat. Bu Wuchen recovers sufficiently to intervene, kills Zhuliang's two armed household thugs, and stops him from taking A Chun hostage. Despite Zhuliang invoking the Lin Lineage's protection, Bu Wuchen kills him and takes his belongings, including the two borrowed manuals 3 4 5.

Investigation and Wagered Duel

After Zhuliang's life candle goes out, Lin Senyu traces his last movements to Bu Wuchen's residence. Lin Zhuxian advises caution because Bu Wuchen is an academy student and previously arrived with a Divine Communion Realm escort. Father and son instead arrange an official search and devise a way to recover the manuals while killing him openly 6 7.

Zhuxian threatens Wan Xiaoyao and A Chun before proposing a life-and-death wager. He offers to recognize Bu Wuchen's victory if he survives ten breaths; Bu Wuchen adds twenty thousand gold to the stakes. During the duel, Zhuxian takes a Qi Burst Pill and uses Flame Tiger Fist, but Bu Wuchen evades him and kills him with a finger technique 9 11 12.

Lin Senyu immediately attacks Bu Wuchen, forcing the referee to intervene. Lü Chunyang then attempts to subdue Bu Wuchen with cultivation pressure and seize his movement and finger techniques. Xia Nuoyi stops him and ensures the wager is honored. Senyu pays the twenty thousand gold, while the manuals remain with Bu Wuchen 13 14 15.

Lin Taoshu's Defeat

Lin Taoshu retaliates through his authority over the academy's Pill Hall, refusing to admit Bu Wuchen and threatening eventual punishment by the lineage. Bu Wuchen gains Song Hechuan's backing and arranges for Zhou Wan'en to witness Taoshu's abuse of authority. Zhou dismisses Taoshu, who then challenges Bu Wuchen to an alchemy duel 22 27 31 32.

Bu Wuchen wins by producing seven upper-grade mortal-rank Qi Recovery Pills. Under the blood pact, Taoshu owes him two hundred thousand gold and must perform three bows and nine kowtows, acknowledging him as his ancestral master. Taoshu tries to flee, but Xia Nuoyi freezes his legs 36 37.

Lin Yunba arrives to intervene. Zhou Wan'en blocks his pressure, while Xia Nuoyi also protects Bu Wuchen. Yunba attempts to negotiate away the kowtows but ultimately tells Taoshu to submit after Bu Wuchen threatens legal action. Yunba then delivers poisoned banknotes; Xia Nuoyi identifies and purges the purple-blooded heavenly toad miasma before Yunba escapes with the unconscious Taoshu 37 38 39.

Night Forbidden Forest Plot

Bu Wuchen privately tells Xia Nuoyi that he intends to destroy the Lin Lineage and take revenge on Lin Yunba himself. Meanwhile, Lin Liang proposes a new assassination plan, receiving his father's approval and support 41 42.

Liang recruits Feng Jieshuang, Li Duanfeng, Qiu Chaoyang, and Qian Dali, supplying the five crystals needed to hire Bu Wuchen for a supposed medicinal extraction task. The plot avoids striking in the city or along the road because an exposed assassination of an academy special-talent student would bring consequences the lineage could not bear 46 48.

Inside the Night Forbidden Forest, the four reveal that Bu Wuchen has been poisoned and attack him. All four are at the Qi Observation Realm Ninth Layer Peak. Bu Wuchen flees while seeking an opportunity to counterattack; Feng Jieshuang is later brought to her knees and identifies Lin Liang as the instigator while secretly preparing a poisoned dart 49 50.

External Relationships

• Bu Wuchen — Mortal enemy. The dispute expands from Lin Zhuliang's attack into deaths, lost manuals, public defeats, and repeated assassination attempts; Bu Wuchen eventually resolves to wipe out the lineage 5 12 39 41 49.
• Blood Dragon City Academy — An institution in which the lineage holds positions and enrolls students, but whose authority limits its actions. Zhou Wan'en dismisses Taoshu and repeatedly protects Bu Wuchen 15 32 37.
• Xia Nuoyi — Principal opponent in the feud. She stops Lü Chunyang, protects Bu Wuchen's companions, restrains Taoshu, and neutralizes Yunba's poison 14 18 37 39.
• Song Hechuan — Supports Bu Wuchen against Lin Taoshu by providing pill-refining resources and helping expose Taoshu's misconduct 27 29 31.
• Li Lineage and Sun Lineage — The other two great Lineages of Blood Dragon City. Their patriarchs are described as slightly weaker than Lin Yunba 33 37.
• Great Xia Merchant Alliance — Xia Nuoyi's backing. Lin Taoshu knows of its undisclosed difficulties and uses that knowledge to discourage her from acting against him 30.