Proofread by Claire.KK
Young Ke hummed, but did not deny it.
The middle-aged man smiled and said, “Was it because of this young man? You don’t need to deny it. But in my opinion, it’ll happen sooner or later by your temperament even without this young man.”
Lin Xun was completely shocked and deterred by the unbelievable wisdom he showed. It was amazing that the middle-aged man guessed almost correctly of what had just happened in just a few words.
However, Young Ke changed the subject and said, “Vulture, this is Lin Xun, one of the students who successfully graduated from the Bloodthirsty Camp the year before.”
Vulture!
It turned out he was the owner of Vulture House!
Lin Xun immediately went forward and said, “Elder.”
Vulture smiled lightly, “Well, it must be Shu Sanqi who gave you the lead to find me here. Then you’re not an outsider.”
Lin Xun immediately sighed, “Your Elder has such a discerning eye that it is impossible for me to not admire you.”
Vulture smiled and said, “Give me the hairpin then.”
Lin pondered for a while, then came to his sense instantly and took out the silver hairpin Shu Sanqi had given him and handed it to him.
Vulture gently rubbed the hairpin, with a touch of tenderness in his eyes, and didn’t speak until after quite a while, “There must be something you want from me if you come here with this hairpin. Tell me, what you want me to do for you.”
Before Lin could open his mouth, Young Ke stepped forward and whispered his situation in details to Vulture.
Finished, Vulture unexpectedly wore a face of solemnness, and said, “Sorry, I didn’t realize you should be the direct descendant of Daochen Elder.”
Daochen Elder, with no doubt, could only be the great-grandfather of Lin!
What Lin did not expect was that Vulture seemed to have extreme respect for his great-grandfather that he even showed great respect for himself.
“To be honest, Elder, I didn’t know about my background until yesterday. You won’t believe it, but I know nothing about my great-grandfather.”
Lin said with shame.
“Well, let’s get down to business. I already know roughly about you, but I’m still not sure whether you deserve my help.”
There was full of calmness in Vulture’s eyes, which seemed to have the power of seeing through people’s mind. “After all, you know, even if I help you, there’ll be a lot of unpredictable dangers in store for you, and I need you to prove that you are capable of taking on such kind of responsibility.”
“How?”
Lin asked.
“You’ve only reached the Earth-gang Realm, so it would be asking too much if I test your cultivation. But tell me, what will you do if you’re in charge of Heart-cleansing Peak?”
Vulture spoke in a slow pace, with his bright eyes staring at Lin, and making Lin feel unspeakable oppression.
Young Ke said nothing more at the moment and looked at Lin with expecting eyes.
She also noticed that this was a test from Vulture. If Lin could pass it, he would certainly obtain the help from Vulture.
But if he couldn’t …
He could only leave alone!
“First to solve the internal troubles.”
Lin answered without hesitation. He had already thought about this question countless times last night.
“But how?”
Vulture continued asking, growing serener and exerting an unspeakably oppressing majesty.
Lin replied in a low voice, “First stabilize the foundation, then accumulate strength, and at last launch a strike.”
Vulture shook his head, seeming dissatisfied. “It’s too general. It’s obvious that you don’t have a specific plan at present.”
Stunned, Lin replied, “In my opinion, it is far from the concrete layout at present.”
Vulture gave out a sound of interest and said, “I would like to hear the reasons.”
Lin said quickly, “My only advantage at present is the legitimacy as the direct heir of Lin Family, which means I can rightly take over Heart-cleansing Peak. On this point, I’ve been way ahead of the rest members of Family Lin.”
Vulture nodded, “It’s got to be legitimate, which is very crucial.”
Lin had a slight smile and continued, “However, my situation is not very optimistic. I have neither money nor hands. I’ve only got myself. But I’m not famous or strong, far from convincing others.”
With a touch of appreciation in his eyes, Vulture concluded by his words that Lin was not just a talker.
It was not hard to know your enemy, but it was often difficult to know yourself. In fact, the most difficult thing for a practitioner to understand was himself.
It was extremely rare for being at his age to be able to examine and analyze himself and to make sober and calm judgments.
“So, I intend to start to change from myself before dealing with the internal troubles. And when I have the ability to take care of the big picture, I will then make specific plans.”
Lin took a deep breath and said what he really thought.
Hearing this, Young Ke had already be almost persuaded. It was obvious that Lin did not come here for help out of fear. On the contrary, he already had his own ideas and plans!
“We’ve been separated for only a year or two, but this boy has grown into such a state. If Chief Shu knew this, he would also be very pleased.”
Young Ke thought to herself. She knew very well that Lin was definitely one of those trainees Shu Sanqi admired the most even though he didn’t seem to take much care of Lin in the Bloodthirsty Camp.
Otherwise, Shu Sanqi would never have given that silver hairpin to Lin.
But to her surprise, Vulture didn’t seem to be persuaded by all Lin’s replies. He continued to ask, “It’s well thought. But I tend to wonder how you will change yourself. It cannot be done overnight.”
Lin laughed out instantly, with rare determinedness appearing on his angular and handsome face. He said plainly, “It may be difficult for others to make such change, but I’m not like them. As long as I want, I can definitely let everyone in the Forbidden City know my name in less than a month!”
Young Ke narrowed her eyes eyes, with a touch of different light flashing across her eyes. She had seldom seen such confidence from Lin. People like him would never easily say such decisive and complacent words.
So, Lin must have a lot of cards unexposed in his hand!
Almost at the same time, Vulture laughed out, clasped his hands and admired, “Now I’m sure it doesn’t seem a bad thing to help you.”
Lin was heartened and said happily, “So, your Elder has promised to help me?”
Young Ke was a little speechless by Lin’s reaction now, “As long as you are not stupid, you’ll probably know the answer now. You’ve always been a clever lad, but why are you confused at this time?”
Lin was rendered dumb all of a sudden.
Of course, he could tell, but Vulture’s consent still made him too overjoyed to believe it.
Originally, he was going to ask Young Ke for help. But he never expected he had somehow managed to obtain Vulture’s help!
How could Lin Xuan not be overjoyed by this?
Though Vulture looked weak and showed no momentum, he could not be some ordinary person in that he was a friend of Shu Sanqi and was so highly respected by Young Ke.
It would definitely be of great help for Lin to take charge of Heart-cleansing Peak with the help of him and Young Ke!
“Now, please let me reintroduce myself. My name is Vulture. I’m also a trainee in the Bloodthirsty Camp in those days as Shu Sanqi.”
At this time, Vulture looked serious and said, “Originally, I had the same cultivation as upper Tao Insight Realm. But I’ve been caught up with grave disease due to an accident that year, which made me no different from a useless man.”
Caught up with grave disease!
What kind of disease could render a practitioner in Tao Insight Realm into a useless person?
Lin was shocked by what he had heard and was about to ask when he saw Vulture waving his hand and saying, “This’s all you have to know. I just want to tell you that there is nothing I can do to help you in fighting. Maybe the only thing I can do is to help you size up the situation and make overall plans. In short, you can leave all the chores to me.”
Lin was stupefied by his words, but he soon captured a stare from Young Ke, who reminded him, “Vulture is a tactical master who even Shu’s got to ask for advice modestly. Even the dean of the Green-deer School had once came personally to invite him to work there but was refused. How comes you still stand foolishly like this. How stupid you are!”
Lin understood it swiftly and bowed to Vulture in thanks, feeling extremely happy. He had expected that Vulture would be extraordinary, but did not expect he was even more to make Drillmaster Shu to seek him for advice and to even be warmly invited by the dean of the Green-deer School …
This was so awesome!
Without further delay, Lin left with Young Ke and Vulture at noon and took the chariot to return to Heart-cleansing Peak.
On the way, Lin learned through small talk that Young Ke should be staying in the Forbidden City to take care of Vulture.
According to Young Ke, it was because Vulture had once saved her life.
But when Lin asked about the disease of Vulture, Young Ke avoided talking about it, saying only that if there was a chance in the future, Lin would understand.
This led Lin to conclude that the disease of Vulture must be extremely troublesome or even incurable. Otherwise, with his ability, he would have been cured already.
Once returning to Heart-cleansing Peak, Lin told Lin Zhong to arrange a place for Young Ke and Vulture to live, and told him that they would the most reliable next to himself in the future in the Heart-cleansing Peak and should not be neglected.
To Lin’s surprise, when he saw Lin Zhong, Vulture showed a touch of surprise and seemed to recognize Lin Zhong’s identity, and said, “Dare I ask whether you’re Shen Jinglun, who won the third place in the Nation Test sixty years ago and was called ‘Bronze Charming’?”
Lin Zhong’s body stiffened in an instant and the expression on his face was undiscernible. It took quite a while before he shook his head and said, “Shen Jinglun’s already dead. There’s only one old man serving Family Lin in the world.”
Vulture narrowed his eyes and did not keep asking.
But their conversation had made Lin unable to calm himself down for a long time. He had never thought the old man, who habitually bent his body in front of him, seemed to have another identity.
Bronze Charming!
How could an ordinary own such great honor?
Lin secretly decided that he must find out about this matter when there was a chance.
After arranging the accommodation, Lin invited Young Ke and Vulture into his study to start planning.
However, Vulture directly told Lin that he was only responsible for handling all chores and it was Lin himself who would be in charge of everything. In addition, corresponding arrangements would be put forward by Vulture with every decision Lin made and Vulture would definitely never meddle in Lin’s decisions.
And Young Ke also said frankly that she was only responsible for carrying out the missions, and if there was anything for her, Lin could just give out the orders.
Their explicit attitude had absolutely made Lin stunned, but he immediately realized that they were not unwilling to do their best to help him. Instead, they were reminding himself in another way that it was HIM who was in charge in the Heart-cleansing Peak.
And if he wanted to be the real heir of Family Lin, he must be decisive and not rely too much on others!
Otherwise, what was the difference with his being manipulated like a puppet?
From this moment on, Lin finally realized that his identity had been different from before.
