“Today, you treat my love with a cold shoulder, but tomorrow I will make myself out of your league!”
Although this sentence was slightly unrefined, it was an apt description for the Lin Clan’s present status and situation.
The patriarchs of many powerful clans in the Forbidden City were all well-informed, thus they quickly knew about what happened in Qianyuan Hall of the imperial palace last night.
From the moment Her Highness seized power and took charge of the imperial court, the Zuo and Qin Clans were destined to walk towards destruction.
Everyone knew that Her Highness was on the Lin Clan’s side!
Anyone with a brain would know that the Lin Clan would become unstoppable and that no one would dare to provoke them again.
On this day, the entire Forbidden City was stirred up, shocked by the influence Lin Xun created overnight. The eyes of countless clans and sects hovered around the Lin Clan of the Mind Cleansing Peak, watching the legendary figure.
Years ago, that young man also amazed the capital with his brilliance.
However, at the time, he was only regarded as a leading figure among the younger generation.
Now, with the elimination of two high clans, the Zuo Clan and the Qin Clan, and the beheading of nineteen clan heads, he had proven to the world that:
He, Lin Xun, could trample the high and mighty aristocratic clans as he wished!
……
The rear mountain of Mind Cleansing Peak.
The mist-shrouded ancestral land of the Lin Clan was particularly tranquil and quiet.
Lin Xun silently stood before the memorial tablets of the Lin Clan’s ancestors.
Under the soft, dappled light of the altar lantern, his singular figure looked particularly lonely.
The memorial tablets were engraved with the names of his great-grandfather Duke Daochen, parents, grandfather, and other direct relatives.
Staring at the tablets, he felt a sense of familiarity yet also something unfamiliar.
This was because he had never met them in his life.
But he still knew that, as a member of the Lin Clan and the son of Lin Wenjing and Luo Qingxun, he had to shoulder responsibilities.
For example, revenge.
“Yun Qingbai is dead. But he was just a chess piece. The real mastermind is a quasi-Emperor from the Absolute Yin Ancient Domain. His name is Baqi. I will look for him one day...
“I will also thoroughly investigate the truth about the bloody incident back then!”
Lin Xun murmured.
He stood there for a long while like a clay statue.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhen dusk came and the glow of the sunset was fading, Lin Xun took a deep breath, turned around and left.
However, the moment he walked out of the ancestral temple, he mumbled to himself, “In truth…I never thought that you all would just pass away like that...I will find the truth.”
Under the setting sun, Lin Xun’s dark eyes were incredibly calm, neither happy nor sad.
In the distance, voices sounded. It was the cheering of the Lin Clan members.
……
In short, two massive incidents happened that night.
First, Lin Xun returned and single-handedly crushed the Zuo and Qin Clans, killed the leaders of nineteen clans, and set off storms across the Forbidden City.
The second, Princess Zhao Jingxuan ousted Zhao Jingwen from power and assumed the position of supreme authority of the empire.
But the impact of these two incidents was only just beginning to show.
in the next period.
In the Forbidden City, all forces related to the two high clans, the Zuo and the Qin Clans, suffered devastating blows.
Those that had attacked or targeted the Lin Clan in the past also faced retaliation and were either destroyed or banished from the city.
The person behind all this was Zhao Jingxuan, and the specific actions were taken by different forces in the Forbidden City.
For example, the other five high clans, and the other mid and lower clans in the Forbidden City.
Who would not take advantage of the collapse of two behemoths?
The Lin Clan had not moved a finger, but they became the biggest winner. At least, regardless of who took a split of the Zuo and Qin Clans, they would all prepare a generous gift for the Lin Clan.
As a result, in less than half a month, the properties owned by the Lin Clan increased at an unimaginable speed.
Many mines, manors, aeth veins, treasures, wealth...were constantly flowing into the accounts of the Lin Clan like running water.
“The power of the Lin Family is unstoppable!”
All clans, sects and everyone else sighed.
The series of events that happened in the Forbidden City that night soon spread throughout the entire empire, causing commotions and uproars.
Even the monster-beast armies that were stirring up trouble all over the empire heard about the incidents. They kept the name Lin Xun in mind.
The Purple Snake King, a monster-beast leader with strength of the longevity stage even joked, “I wish similar incidents would happen in the empire!”
Internal strife among the human cultivators weakened the power of the empire.
The fall of the Zuo Clan and Qin Clan implied that the power of the uppermost level of the empire was significantly lessened. As enemies of the empire, the monster-beasts could not be happier to see that sort of thing happen.
Similarly, in various frontier regions of the empire.
After hearing the news, the Magi Brute Race Army that was currently invading the empire on a large scale, also gloated over their calamity. They felt heaven was on their side.
If the empire was in turmoil, then it would only benefit the enemy.
Everyone understood this logic.
……
One month later.
The impact of the incidents that night gradually calmed down.
But the Forbidden City was by no means peaceful.
During this period, the monster-beasts were running rampant within the empire’s territory, and many provinces and cities had been plunged into the flames of war.
The monster-beast army was like a swarm of locusts. They committed every kind of crime—burning, killing, and looting, and invaded one city after another. Countless citizens of the empire had been slaughtered as a result.
At the same time, the main borders of the empire were also in a state of emergency!
The Magi Brute Race were aggressively attacking the borders, steadily pressing forward and could break the defense at any time. If that happened, they could march straight ahead and invade the empire!
Under internal troubles and external threats, the empire seemed to be increasingly unstable.
Every day, the latest news would be brought back to the Forbidden City from different battlefields and presented to Princess Zhao Jingxuan.
But, almost none of it was good news!
“Father and Mother left, and left behind such a mess...”
Zhao Jingxuan looked at the thick pile of reviewed documents and reports on the side, and a look of helplessness crossed her face.
Since taking over the power of the empire, she had never rested properly. Every day, all sorts of miscellaneous affairs were waiting for her to deal with.
In contrast, she much preferred cultivation.
“Your Highness, unfavorable rumors about the head of the Lin Clan have been circulating in the Forbidden City recently.” An old man attendant suddenly spoke aloud.
“Go on.” Zhao Jingxuan was taken aback.
“Those rumors are not true, so don’t take them seriously.”
The old man was a steward in the imperial palace and also an extremely powerful cultivation master. He was considered one of the imperial experts in the palace.
The old man reported some of the rumors.
It turned out that recently, there had been discussions everywhere in the Forbidden City that Lin Xun was the cause of the great turmoil in the city. This was because he overthrew two high clans and caused great instability and unrest.
This gave the monster-beast armies and Magi Brute army an opportunity to attack!
“Hmph!”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmA cold light flashed in Zhao Jingxuan’s clear eyes. “Ridiculous. When the Zuo and Qin Clans were still around, were there no internal troubles and external threats in the empire? As soon as those two clans were destroyed, someone tagged Lin Xun with such a huge crime!”
The old man quickly explained, “Your Highness, please calm down. Those are just rumors. There is no need to take it seriously.”
Zhao Jingxuan sighed faintly, “Gossip is a fearful thing. As more and more rumors spread, even something false can become true. At that time, how will the entire empire view Lin Xun and the Lin Clan?”
“Your Highness, do you want me to investigate who is spreading those rumors?” The old man’s cloudy eyes glinted.
“No need.”
Zhao Jingxuan contemplated for a moment before she stood up from the desk and marched out of the hall, “I’ll go find Lin Xun myself.”
She muttered to herself, “I have been trying to put out fire here, but you have been chilling on Mind Cleansing Peak all this time. No, I can’t let you be too idle…”
……
Mind Cleansing Peak.
The tall green pines were shaped like umbrellas, the mists were delicate and graceful, and the sea of clouds hovered down the cliffs like waterfalls.
Lin Xun was leisurely leaning back on a rattan chair with a green gourd in hand that was filled to the brim with fine wine.
Over the past month, the Lin Clan of Mind Cleansing Peak had undergone earth-shaking changes. It was incredibly busy, lively, and becoming more and more prosperous with each passing day.
Lin Xun only watched and did not intervene.
All trivial matters were taken care of by Lin Zhong, Spirit Vulture, and Lin Huaiyuan, while he himself was left very idle.
In truth, he was not good at handling those trivial matters.
However, he was not lazing around all day. He was constantly working on the Three Ways to the Absolute Apex—spirit cultivation, qi refinement, physical refinement.
At the same time, he was still diligently practicing the Taixuan Sword Scripture, and so far he had cultivated one thousand three hundred Taixuan Sword Qi in the acupoints of his body.
Every single sword qi had remarkable power. They were nurtured in the acupoints and constantly being tempered and elevated as if they were in a sword-growing furnace.
“Fate…fate…”
Gazing at the drifting clouds in the sky, Lin Xun fell into deep thought on the rattan chair.
Now, his qi refinement had reached the perfect seventh longevity tribulation stage, and he was about to face the eighth longevity tribulation, Fate Tribulation.
But even until now, he still had not sensed any signs of breakthrough or tribulation coming.
Back when Lin Xun was at the Supreme Realm, he had already realized if he wanted to overcome the fate tribulation, he had to search for his beginnings. Thus, he decided to return to the Mind Cleansing Peak.
This was his birthplace, and thus his fate also originated here. If he wanted to overcome this tribulation, he had to trace it back to the origin.
“Mind Cleansing Peak was where I was born, but I grew up in the mine prison. It wasn’t until I came across the Omega Secret-Realm that I had the opportunity to defy the heavens and change my destiny, thereby embarking on the true path of cultivation...”
Lin Xun suddenly realized that the so-called power of fate might have existed when he was born, but a reversal happened while he was growing up!
This reversal came about because of the Omega Secret-Realm!
Lin Xun’s gaze wandered, and the silhouette of an old figure appeared in his mind, “Mister Lu, who actually are you...
“The Omega Secret-Realm...where did you find it?”