While traveling today, Gu Qingxue clearly felt that something was off.
She glanced back at Lin Mo, who was following behind her, and softly asked,
“Qu Ruyan, what’s going on?”
“Why is Big Brother Lin Mo not walking ahead of us like before?”
Qu Ruyan, rarely showing a clever side, replied once,
“Maybe Senior Brother thinks it’s easier to protect us from behind?”
Gu Qingxue lowered her head slightly, sneaking a glance at Lin Mo who was watching them intently from behind.
“So that’s what it is…”
This kind of feeling—of being specially watched over—made her heart give rise to a trace of sweetness.
After walking for two hours, the path began to narrow,
with thorny elm branches lining both sides.
Lin Mo took a few steps forward,
waving his Liu Sword casually in his hand.
With a few swings, the sword cut through the obstacles ahead like a cutting machine, opening the way forward.
“Big Brother Lin Mo, you’re amazing!”
Gu Qingxue’s eyes sparkled with admiration, her face full of reverence.
“What’s the big deal?” Lin Mo said casually.
“A few days ago, you didn’t see the scene when Senior Brother was cutting up flood dragon meat—that was really something!”
Qu Ruyan, with a piece of candy in her mouth, conveniently offered one to Gu Qingxue as well.
“So that meat earlier was actually flood dragon meat…”
Gu Qingxue suddenly understood.
She took the candy from Qu Ruyan but remained curious,
“This candy… why is it so brightly colored?”
Qu Ruyan replied smugly,
“This was handmade by Senior Brother! Super tasty—try it!”
She put the candy in her mouth. The sour and sweet flavor immediately hit her taste buds.
In her eyes, just like when Qu Ruyan first had it, there were now twinkling stars of happiness.
“This candy is just too delicious!”
“Right?” Qu Ruyan responded with a grin.
Seeing this, Lin Mo directly called out to the system,
and drew ten consecutive packs of candy.
“Stretch out your hands.” Lin Mo walked up to Gu Qingxue with a gentle smile and said,
“Sister Qingxue has been obedient, hasn’t asked for anything—come on, stretch out your hands.”
She then saw multiple unfamiliar bags appear in her hands.
“If it’s not enough, I’ve got more,” Lin Mo added.
Qu Ruyan suddenly jumped up in protest,
“Senior Brother! Didn’t you say these candies were hard to make?
Why did you give Sister Qingxue ten packs all at once?”
Gu Qingxue looked at the pile in her hands,
struggling to hold all the candy.
“So these are all made by Big Brother Lin Mo…”
Watching Qu Ruyan, who was pouting adorably on the ground,
Lin Mo chuckled,
“You, with your appetite—if I gave them to you all at once, wouldn’t you finish them in a day?”
“But after you and Sister Qingxue did that last night,
your attitude toward her changed!”
Even though Qu Ruyan didn’t fully understand, she could still think on her own.
Hearing this, Gu Qingxue’s face started steaming again.
Lin Mo quickly explained,
“I’ve always been biased toward my own people.
Compared to the other three junior sisters,
haven’t I always treated you better?”
“Well… that’s true,” Qu Ruyan muttered after a while.
But then she thought to herself—
if she also did what Sister Qingxue did with Senior Brother last night,
would she also get ten packs of candy in one go?
Lin Mo had no idea that his spirit pet was having such ridiculous thoughts.
He just continued using his sword energy to clear the path ahead.
After walking for another hour,
they heard a loud rushing sound of water coming from the front.
Aside from the sound of the river,
there was also a heavy stench of blood in the air.
Near the shore ahead,
two groups of people stood face-to-face—
the Lin family and the Xia family.
At this moment, nearly ten people from the Lin family were injured to varying degrees.
The squad leader, Lin Zijian, had a dark expression as he looked at the man opposite him.
“Xia Qianqiu, are you really going to fight us for the Cloudsky Ripple inside the waterfall?”
“What else?” Xia Qianqiu smirked.
“You don’t seriously believe that whoever sees it first gets to claim it, do you?”
Mockery flashed across his face.
“The Lin family has truly declined, sending you to lead the team?”
As the lead bootlicker, Lin Tian stepped out and shouted,
“Brother Zijian is the strongest among our generation. Watch your arrogant mouth!
If you really want to fight, you might end up the one lying on the ground.”
Xia Qianqiu’s face turned cold.
“You’re still spouting nonsense at this point?”
As he spoke, a flaming palm strike surged toward Lin Tian.
As a Golden Core-level powerhouse, Xia Qianqiu’s blow was not something Lin Tian could handle.
Panicked, Lin Tian stumbled back and shouted,
“Brother Zijian, save me!”
Lin Zijian cursed Lin Tian in his heart: Always causing trouble.
Not only was Xia Qianqiu a small realm stronger than him,
his technique—the Flame Palm—was a long-established specialty of the Xia family.
Even so, Lin Zijian had no choice but to act.
Channeling his spiritual energy, he stepped forward and met the strike head-on with a punch.
Seeing Xia Qianqiu’s move neutralized, Lin Tian dragged Lin Zijian up,
“Brother Zijian is amazing! He even challenged someone above his level—
you really are the genius of our generation.”
“Yes, yes! Brother Zijian must teach them a lesson!”
At that moment, Lin Zijian could hardly resist tearing Lin Tian apart.
Wasn’t this the same guy he once thought had potential?
How could he be this blind?
He really didn’t want to fight Xia Qianqiu.
But now, being put on a pedestal by his family and having the clan’s hopes on him,
he had no choice but to engage.
Gritting his teeth, Lin Zijian charged forward.
“Truly overestimating yourself,” Xia Qianqiu sneered.
He followed up with another series of Flame Palms, each more powerful than the last.
In the end, Lin Zijian could no longer parry and had to dodge to the side,
attempting to flank Xia Qianqiu and land a sneak attack.
Just as he thought he’d found an opening,
he saw the corner of Xia Qianqiu’s lips curl up.
By then it was too late—Xia Qianqiu caught his fist with a flaming palm.
A scorching pain surged through Lin Zijian’s body.
He cried out in agony and collapsed to the ground.
His entire fist had turned charred black from the intense heat.
It was clear the Flame Palm had done serious damage.
Xia Qianqiu spoke calmly,
“We fought as equals a few years ago. You weren’t my match even then.
And now you try to leap realms to challenge me? You’re not even worth noticing.”
With that, he stomped hard on Lin Zijian’s face.
Just as Lin Zijian was about to resist, Xia Qianqiu chuckled and said,
“If you don’t want your face burned too, don’t move.”
Hearing this, Lin Zijian had no choice but to withdraw his spiritual energy,
his eyes burning with hatred as he glared at Xia Qianqiu.
Xia Qianqiu ignored him entirely and pointed at the remaining Lin family members.
“Cripple their legs.”
They couldn’t kill them outright—
even though the Lin and Xia families didn’t get along,
murder would escalate into a war between noble clans.
But crippling legs? That was still acceptable.
It would slow the Lin family’s exploration of this secret realm,
giving the Xia family’s allies an advantage in claiming treasures.
Upon hearing they were going to lose their legs,
the younger Lin members turned pale with terror.
Although they could recover through pills and treatment,
the pain of a broken leg was something they still had to endure.
On Xia He’s side, seeing that these were her Senior Brother Lin Mo’s family members,
she stepped forward and pleaded,
“Brother, maybe… don’t go this far?”
Xia Qianqiu’s face remained cold.
“If we don’t cripple them now, what happens next time they ambush us again?”
“This is a secret realm—we’re competing here.
The fewer rivals, the more treasure we get.”
Xia He looked toward the Lin family members.
Some were familiar; it did feel like they had been allies in the past.
A cold voice from another Xia clan member interrupted her,
“If you want to lead, wait until you’re qualified.
Don’t tell me how to command.”
Truth be told, he didn’t like this little sister of his.
With her rare Heavenly Spiritual Root,
she had received far more resources than others since joining the Xia family.
But she had never suffered hardship—
and was always soft-hearted and sentimental.
That kind of personality had no place in this survival-of-the-fittest world.
She would drag others down.
With a wave of Xia Qianqiu’s hand, the Xia family surrounded the Lin family.
Most of them were already injured.
Even if Xia Qianqiu didn’t act himself,
they stood no chance against multiple peak-stage cultivators from the Xia clan.
He pointed at Lin Tian, who was hiding in a corner.
“This one—not just his legs, cripple his arms too.”
Lin Tian sat stiffly on the ground, clutching his thigh.
“Brother Zijian, save me!”
Lin Zijian, who was still being stomped on, cursed silently:
MMP… Isn’t this all because of that idiot Lin Tian?
If it weren’t for him provoking Xia Qianqiu last week and dragging me into this mess,
how would I have ended up in this situation?”
He even felt that Xia Qianqiu’s actions—though violent—somehow helped him strengthen his resolve.
By now, Lin Tian had been pinned down by two members of the Xia family.
His head pressed to the ground, body unable to move.
One burly man grinned as he cracked his knuckles.
“My specialty… is breaking limbs.”
Lin Tian’s mouth trembled as he asked,
“W-What do you mean ‘just’ breaking limbs?”
The strong man chuckled darkly,
licking his lips and reaching toward Lin Tian.
“Regardless of gender, I like to grope them first… then break their legs when they’re enjoying it most.”
When the younger Lin disciples heard that,
their eyes widened in horror.
Was this guy seriously that perverted?
Those already wounded and lying on the ground
secretly thanked their luck for being hurt early—they wouldn’t have to endure this humiliation.
Among the uninjured group was Lin Qingqing.
After hearing that, her face turned pale and she curled up in fear.
Just as Lin Tian was about to be assaulted,
the burly man was suddenly struck by a blast of spiritual energy
and sent flying five or six meters away.
Everyone turned their gaze toward the origin of that spiritual pressure—
a white figure slowly walked out.
It was Lin Mo.
Seeing him was like seeing a savior.
Lin Tian crawled to Lin Mo’s feet and clung to his leg.
“Uncle Lin Mo, save me! I’m your beloved nephew!”
“Scram.” Lin Mo didn’t hesitate. He kicked him aside.
For once, the pain Lin Tian felt in his gut carried a trace of warmth.
Was this the love of family?
The younger Lin disciples were all visibly moved.
They knew Lin Mo’s strength was incredible—at least at the Golden Core stage.
They didn’t know the full extent of his abilities,
but right now, he was their only hope.
From the start, Xia Qianqiu had felt someone was missing from the Lin family.
Seeing Lin Mo appear now made him realize it.
Still, he didn’t think much of Lin Mo.
After all, Lin Mo wasn’t the team leader—Lin Zijian was.
That in itself showed that Lin Mo’s strength wasn’t valued.
Ignoring the stares of the crowd,
Lin Mo walked up to Xia He
and slapped her across the face.
The sound of that slap echoed.
The crowd stood in stunned silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
