When Lin Xun was about to leave, he was stopped by Lin Beiguang.
“Family Lin owns a third-grade lode in the Juque Mountain eight hundred and fifty thousand kilometers outside the Forbidden City. We can make a profit of five hundred thousand imperial gold coins a month out of it. All gains from this lode will be delivered to Heart-Cleansing Peak from now on.”
Lin Beiguang had just given a big gift.
“As you become stronger and stronger, I’ll gradually return all the properties controlled by Northlight Lin back to Heart-Cleansing Peak.”
Stunned, Lin Xun stared at Lin Beiguang for a moment. Now he was finally convinced that the fifth granduncle was not deliberately trying to make things difficult for him in the name of tests.
“Thanks, fifth granduncle.”
Lin bowed in gratitude.
“Besides, there is one more thing to discuss with you.”
Lin Beiguang said sincerely, “I heard that your present subordinates are all outsiders, which is not a good sign if you’re gonna unify Family Lin in the future. Outsiders are outsiders, after all. Clan affairs should be taken care of by people in the clan.”
Lin Xun had also considered this problem before. Vulture had even analyzed the pros and cons of this matter for him.
So after he heard Lin Beiguang’s words, he understood it immediately. “Is there any instructions fifth granduncle would like to give?”
Lin Beiguang said, “I’m planning on sending a group of young scions in the clan to Heart-Cleansing Peak. Do you agree with this?”
Were it anyone else, cautious thoughts were supposed to be made when it came to this matter. After all, it meant no different from planting power from Northlight Lin by Lin’s side!
What if these people from Northlight Lin took control of everything on Heart-Cleansing Peak someday? He would possibly be made a mere figurehead!
But Lin Xun gave his answer very quickly, “Absolutely welcome. Today it’s all a desolate place on Heart-Cleansing Peak. I’m extremely short of reliable people to help me. If I can have people from my own clan to help me, they will surely share a lot of burden for me.”
Lin Beiguang smiled meaningfully and said, “If you want to sit on the patriarch’s place, you must learn how to use your power. I’m looking forward to your ways of making them completely convinced of your ability after they arrived at Heart-Cleansing Peak.”
Lin Xun also laughed, “In my heart, there’s no classification as Westbrook Lin, Floating-cloud Lin or Flying-peak Lin. We all belong to Family Lin. If he can be used by me, I’ll regard him as one of my own. If he cannot be used by me …”
“What will you do?”
Lin Beiguang’s deep eyes were fixed on Lin Xun.
Lin Xun smiled and asked him instead, “What does fifth granduncle want me to do?”
Unexpected of this question, Lin Beiguang waved his hands and said, “All right. You can make up your own mind. But I hope you can take the big picture into consideration when you make some decisions.”
“The big picture?”
Lin Xun raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, the big picture.”
Lin Beiguang said seriously.
“Ok.”
Lin Xun agreed quickly.
He answered so casually and calmly that Lin Beiguang was not sure how credible Lin Xun’s remark was for a moment.
After a long time, Lin Beiguang said waving his arms, “Go. Now you’re carrying a heavy burden, with not only internal strife, but also external enemies. Hope … one day you can really avenge the linear clan of Family Lin and bring Family Lin back to its resplendence in the Forbidden City!”
He looked calm, but his words were full of earnest wishes.
Then, Lin Xun cupped his hands and left.
He pondered all his way back from Northlight Lin to Heart-Cleansing Peak.
He had now had a general understanding of Northlight Lin’s attitude towards himself.
Although most of its people didn’t like him, Lin believed that as long as Northlight Lin was not the enemy, sooner or later, he would make them obediently return to Heart-Cleansing Peak!
It made him relieved a lot.
Now Northlight Lin was no longer a threat among the four branches of Family Lin, which meant he had undoubtedly made a big step forward in solving the internal strife!
As for how to deal with the remaining three branches, Lin Xun was not planning to rush. He had already promised that he would give them three years to think about it.
After three years, if they were still unrepentant and insisted on being against him, he would show no mercy then!
…
After returning to Heart-Cleansing Peak, Lin Xun told Vulture about his journey to Northlight Lin.
“It’s inevitable to encounter some resistance and exclusion now. When you’re powerful enough one day, Northlight Lin will naturally return in obedience.”
Vulture judged.
Lin Xun fully agreed with him and said, “I think so, too.”
“After the preparation these days, Ci Xue’s refining chamber and Yang Ling’s workshop for refining spiritual weapons will soon be in operation, and Old Diao has also set out to inscribe spiritual formations for Heart-Cleansing Peak.”
Vulture soon asked of another problem, “I’m wondering whether you’ve got any plans for these.”
After a while of consideration, Lin Xun responded helplessly, “I don’t know much about these. I’ll have to trouble you, Sir.”
Speechless, Vulture nodded and said, “All right, leave it to me.”
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, saying, “Lin Xun, with the help of Young Ke’s recent investigation, we can confirm that the three branches of Westbrook Lin, Floating-cloud Lin and Flying-peak Lin will not submit to you.”
Lin Xun blurted out, “I see. Anyway, I have given them three years to think about it. I’ll decide what to do in three years according to their attitude.”
Vulture shook his head and said, “No, you misunderstood. They won’t submit to you at any time.”
“Why?”
“The reason is quite simple. During the massacre on Heart-Cleansing Peak more than ten years ago, these three branches had all secretly colluded with outside forces in order to snatch power and carve up the properties of Family Lin!”
Lin narrowed his eyes and remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth, “Is Northlight Lin involved?”
“No.”
Vulture shook his head.
Lin Xun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to him if Northlight Lin had also joined in collusion with outside enemies.”
“What are you planning to do?”
Vulture asked.
“Now that I’ve promised to give them three years to think about it, I certainly won’t go back on it. But it won’t be so easy for me to forgive their crimes!”
Lin Xun took a deep breath, with cold light surging in his black eyes.
…
Late at night, Lin sat alone in the study on the second floor of the Heart-Cleansing Hall.
Now all the troubles had been attended to and everything was on track in Heart-Cleansing Peak.
With the help from Vulture and Young Ke and the guards of Lin Zhong and Zhu Laosan, it was enough to ensure the normal operation of all affairs on Heart-Cleansing Peak.
At the same time, granduncle Beiguang had promised to send five hundred thousand imperial gold coins on time every month, which helped him a lot in that he no longer needed to spend too much energy in making money.
What was more, after the things Ci Xue and Yang Ling worked on went on track, they would surly bring earnings to Heart-Cleansing Peak.
As for the three branches of Westbrook Lin, Floating-cloud Lin and Flying-peak, Lin Xun planned to bide his time at present.
When Heart-Cleansing Peak became strong enough, he would naturally set out to solve it.
However, Lin Xun was also clear that his taking no action wouldn’t bring the attack from these three branches to a halt.
According to Vulture’s analysis, these three branches had already started taking actions underhand. They intended to put him under their control as a puppet.
In this way, there was no need to kill Lin Xun, but it would also allow them to return to Heart-Cleansing Peak and took over the control of the whole clan. They just couldn’t be more sinister.
For example, on his way back home from Keystone Business a few days ago, they had encountered an ambush. Had it not been that Lin Zhong revealed his true strength, he would probably have been in a critical situation now.
That ambush was plotted by these three branches, with a strong practitioner of Tao Insight Realm nicknamed “Qu Laoxie” taking the lead!
This person was very good at hypnotizing people.
Judging from this, Vulture was right about why the three branches plotted that ambush. They didn’t intend to kill him; instead, they attempted to control his soul and turn him into a puppet!
Therefore, when Lin Xun went to Northlight Lin this time, he brought Zhu Laosan and Lin Zhong together in case the other three branches attacked again.
But as long as he was on Heart-Cleansing Peak, he didn’t need to worry about it.
The reason was simple. Heart-Cleansing Peak was like the other seventy-one peaks occupied by other powerful clans, owning an extremely terrible prohibiting power itself. Without Lin’s consent, no outsider could break in.
“The only thing right now is to restore the prosperity on Heart-Cleansing Peak as soon as possible, which can all be entrusted to Vulture …”
Lin Xun was lost in thought, “When it comes to himself, he needs to enhance his cultivation, expand his fame, and spare no efforts to hone his foundation.”
As the heir to Heart-Cleansing Peak, Lin Xun was clear that his own cultivation and his personal prestige were the most fundamentals. Everything was based on them!
Eh?
It occurred to him that he had now reached Sea Spirit Realm, which meant there were two opportunities in front of him!
Yes, not one, but two!
The first was to enter the Heaven-accessing Place!
He was reminded that Sea Spirit Realm was required for his next entry into the Heaven-accessing Place before he left the Heaven-accessing Place after finishing the third test of Green-cloud Path last time.
And now he had been qualified!
What kind of tests and rewards would there be when he entered the Heaven-accessing Place this time?
Lin Xun was looking forward to it.
But after careful thoughts, he finally decided not to enter the Heaven-accessing Place right now.
He had just reached Sea Spirit Realm and could not perfectly master the brand-new power of Sea Spirit Realm temporarily. It would be undoubtedly imprudent to choose to enter the test at this time since it was clearly a waste of try and would do him more harm.
Thinking of this, Lin Xun took out an ordinary black ring, which seemed to be made of black steel and showed no special features.
But it had a long history!
It was named “Illusion”, and was the most valuable treasure passed down from his ancestors. Only the heir of the linear clan of Family Lin was qualified to own it.
Heirs to other branches of the clan or outsiders couldn’t own it because this ring could only be awakened by the blood of the linear clan.
According to Lin Zhong, this ring, “Illusion”, was the true reason why Family Lin could survive to this day and gain a foothold in the world.
It was because only via this ring the heir could obtain the supreme classics of Family Lin — Taoist Scriptures of Illusion!
