Lin Mo couldn’t be bothered to answer. Instead, he turned toward the dense forest at the cliff’s edge and called out:
“Come on out. It’s over.”
Everyone looked around, puzzled—
Who was he talking to?
A moment later, a stunning girl in white stepped out from the forest, holding a fluffy white cat spirit beast in her arms.
She ran to Lin Mo with a radiant smile.
“Brother Lin Mo, you were amazing!”
The Lin family members all recognized her—
this was the merciless young woman who had beaten them black and blue earlier without a shred of hesitation or mercy.
They exchanged glances, thoughts aligning—
Their uncle… was truly an extraordinary man.
First Jiang Wanran was rejected—
now you’ve taken in her senior sister?
After witnessing so many unexpected twists, some of them were starting to wonder if Lin Mo’s next target was Nangong Xu’s mother.
“Uncle, your tactics are incredible!”
Lin Tian rubbed his hands together, grinning mischievously as he looked at Lin Mo.
“Can you teach me a move or two?”
If he could just learn half a technique from Lin Mo, would he ever need to worry about finding a girl?
Lin Mo pinched his cheek, turning his face this way and that before shaking his head.
“Better not.”
“Uncle, that’s so harsh!” Lin Tian wailed.
“You’ll crush my fragile little heart like this!”
Lin Mo smiled but didn’t reply.
With Lin Tian’s thick skin, ‘fragile heart’ was the last thing he had.
They made their way to the waterfall. Lin Mo approached the cloudsky lotus and carefully examined it.
There were no signs of beasts nearby.
No traces of guardian beast, either.
He turned and asked Lin Zijian,
“There’s no guardian beast for the Cloudsky Lotus?”
Lin Zijian’s tone was no longer as arrogant as before.
Respectfully, he replied,
“Uncle, when we first arrived, there was indeed a Golden Core-level beast guarding it.”
“And the beast?”
Lin Mo clearly didn’t believe Lin Zijian could take down a Golden Core-stage creature.
Xia Qianqiu, perhaps. But Lin Zijian? Unlikely.
“It… ran away,” Lin Zijian said awkwardly, rubbing his face.
“Ran away?”
“When we were hiding nearby, waiting for the right moment, we heard a terrifying beastly roar coming from deeper within the forest. The guardian beast suddenly went wild and charged off in that direction.”
“That’s unexpected.”
Just then, another roar echoed from afar.
It was violent and overwhelming—carrying a force that felt like it could swallow the very mountains.
In her feline form, Qu Ruyan padded to Lin Mo’s side and whispered,
“Senior Brother, I think the beast making that sound is even more vicious than the Nascent Soul-stage flood dragon we fought before.”
Lin Mo’s eyes narrowed as he stared toward the source of the roar.
He didn’t need her reminder. He already sensed it.
He plucked the Cloudsky Lotus and handed it to Lin Zijian.
The latter was stunned.
“Uncle, you’re giving this to me?”
“Don’t overthink it. It’s not for you,” Lin Mo replied.
He then pulled out a large number of spirit herbs and fruits he had collected during this time from his storage ring.
“These too. Pass everything to my grandfather.”
The younger members of the Lin family were dumbfounded.
The value and quantity of these spirit items were hundreds of times greater than everything they’d managed to gather over the past few days.
They had actually thought Lin Mo had robbed them of opportunities, that he had hindered their harvest.
But in truth, without Lin Mo present, most of the higher-quality fruits they found were eventually devoured by beasts or ruined by pests—
costing them more time and effort and drastically lowering their efficiency.
They had come into this secret realm with grand visions of slaying their way to glory and obtaining a legendary inheritance.
Reality had slapped them across the face and left them bruised with disappointment.
Now, in hindsight, it was clear—
they had been the ones dragging Lin Mo down.
“Uncle, are you asking us to head back?” Lin Tian finally asked, catching on to the implication in Lin Mo’s words.
“The road ahead is too dangerous. It’s not a place you lot should be heading to. But if you’re in a hurry to die, feel free to continue,” Lin Mo said bluntly.
Lin Tian, more concerned about preserving his own life than flattering his uncle, scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
“Uh… Uncle, you know I always listen to you. Stay safe, alright?”
Lin Mo ignored the clown and instead sent a voice transmission to Lin Zijian:
“On your way back, take the Xia family people with you.”
Lin Zijian was puzzled.
“Why? Didn’t you just break their legs?”
What kind of logic was this?
“Just do as I say,” Lin Mo said simply, offering no further explanation.
Breaking their legs had been a warning—
to show the Xia family that the Lin family wasn’t a pushover.
But sending them back now was a strategic move—
a way to draw closer ties.
The Nangong and Jiang families had practically allied.
If they turned their focus toward the Lin family, it would be hard to handle.
That left only the Xia and Zhu families to be won over.
After Lin Mo departed with Gu Qingxue and his spirit pet,
Lin Zijian followed through, instructing the Lin juniors to bring the Xia family members along.
Everyone—Lin and Xia alike—was confused.
But Xia Qianqiu had a vague sense of what was going on.
He stared at Lin Mo’s receding figure, a strange light in his eyes.
This man… truly isn’t ordinary. I’ll accept this favor.
Once they returned, he planned to intentionally strengthen ties with the Lin family.
He had also heard about Jiang Yanran’s broken engagement.
At the time, he’d treated it like a joke.
Lin Mo’s weak reputation made it seem inevitable.
But now, after witnessing Lin Mo’s strength and composure firsthand,
he realized Jiang Yanran had made a grave mistake in choosing Nangong Xu.
Nangong Xu was strong—but when it came to true combat prowess, Xia Qianqiu believed he himself was still slightly better.
As for Lin Mo… with skills like this,
probably only that infamous “she-devil” Zhu Shiyao could match him.
Meanwhile, Lin Mo was following the trail of beastly roars.
The path was littered with corpses—
mangled remains of spirit beasts strewn in every direction.
After about ten kilometers, he saw her.
Outside a remote cave stood Zhu Shiyao, her face glowing with a twisted excitement as she swung her sword in a bloody dance.
It was a one-sided massacre.
Any beast below the Golden Core stage fell with a single strike.
Even Golden Core beasts were just a matter of hacking a few more times.
“Come on, more! Come out!”
“Feed me, or I’ll slice you to pieces!”
“Why are you all so weak? I really want to spar with Fellow Daoist Lin Mo…”
Lin Mo froze.
A terrible feeling rose in his chest.
He turned, ready to leave immediately.
But next to him, his troublesome spirit pet, Qu Ruyan, started acting up again.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother! That sister said she wants to spar with you! She looks super strong too!”
Lin Mo’s face darkened instantly.
This idiotic spirit pet…
The very next second, Zhu Shiyao appeared in front of him.
“Fellow Daoist Lin Mo, what a coincidence!” she said with a bright, gentle smile—
completely different from the frenzied maniac of a moment ago.
If not for the beast blood splattered across her face,
she could’ve passed for a proper, elegant young lady.
“Cough… yeah, quite the coincidence, Fellow Daoist Zhu,” Lin Mo replied with an awkward cough.
“Since you’re here, why are you leaving so soon?” she asked sweetly.
“I saw you were having fun killing beasts. I didn’t want to spoil your mood,” Lin Mo said.
“Oh? So you saw that?” Zhu Shiyao touched her cheek as if embarrassed.
“I’m not usually like this…”
“Mm, I know. You’re a lady. No need to explain.”
With that, Lin Mo waved and tried to leave.
“Wait, wait—!” Zhu Shiyao called out.
Lin Mo walked faster.
“Fellow Daoist Lin Mo, don’t you want to know what’s in this place?”
He kept walking.
Know what? Even if there’s a treasure, I’d rather give it up.
Getting tangled with a battle maniac like her was far worse.
“There’s a legacy hidden in the cave ahead,” Zhu Shiyao said, her tone soft but deliberate.
“It’s the core inheritance of this secret realm.”
Lin Mo abruptly turned back and reappeared in front of Zhu Shiyao.
“I’ll have to trouble you, Fellow Daoist Zhu—please explain in detail.”
Zhu Shiyao smiled faintly.
“So it really does take a secret realm inheritance to catch the attention of Fellow Daoist Lin Mo. It seems nothing else can slow your pace.”
Lin Mo didn’t deny it.
If this secret realm truly housed a core inheritance, it might bring him significant benefit.
Only something of that magnitude would make him consider exchanging blows with Zhu Shiyao.
“When I tried to approach that cave earlier,” Zhu Shiyao said, “the nearby beasts became abnormally aggressive. They rushed at me from every direction, completely berserk.”
“If there weren’t something extraordinary in that cave, the beasts wouldn’t have reacted so wildly.”
Lin Mo nodded. Her analysis made perfect sense.
The beast that had been guarding the Cloudsky Lotus wasn’t weak.
It would have taken all his strength to repel it.
And yet, it had gone mad trying to get to this cave—
a clear sign that something unusual was inside.
He cautiously approached the cave’s perimeter.
In the next instant, three spirit beasts burst from the dense forest and lunged straight at him.
Even as he released a wave of sword energy, the beasts didn’t flinch.
Driven by madness, they hurled themselves forward, clearly willing to die just to take him with them.
Two of the beasts were only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
To Lin Mo, they were no more than a flick of the sword.
But the third was at the Golden Core level.
In response, Lin Mo invoked the Three Thousand Sword Techniques.
A breath later, sword qi burst forth from every angle, piercing through the Golden Core beast in an instant.
Zhu Shiyao’s eyes lit up.
She immediately recognized the technique.
The Sword Scripture Pavilion of the Spirit Sword Sect housed thousands of sword arts.
The Three Thousand Sword Techniques wasn’t particularly rare—
many noble clans and immortal sects had recorded versions of it.
Though she hadn’t practiced the technique herself, she was familiar enough with its structure and power.
To wield it with such ease at the Golden Core stage—
Lin Mo must have cultivated it to at least the eighth level.
Even with decent talent, reaching the seventh level of this technique was already incredibly difficult, given that it was only a Profound-grade cultivation art.
Having confirmed the overwhelming likelihood of a hidden legacy inside the cave, Lin Mo now turned his attention to a more immediate concern—
Zhu Shiyao.
The moment he turned around, he caught sight of the gleam in her eyes.
It wasn’t a normal look—
more like a predator that had just found the perfect prey.
Lin Mo sighed inwardly.
Why… Why did this have to be her personality?
Still, he knew—
this fight could no longer be avoided.
Zhu Shiyao felt Lin Mo’s fighting intent rise, and her excitement only grew.
She could already tell—this battle would be the most exhilarating duel she’d had in years.
Just as their clash was about to begin—
A scream shattered the tension.
In an instant, Lin Mo’s expression changed.
He turned and bolted toward the source of the cry—
Gu Qingxue.
