“Grandpa, Father — after more than a year apart, you both broke through?”

Lin Nantian said, “It’s really thanks to Mo’er — the resources you brought back from the secret realm. Only because of that were your father and I able to break through so quickly!”

Lin Zhan threw an arm around Lin Mo’s shoulders. “Mo’er, you — where did you go during that time? You really made us worry.”

Why does Father have absolutely no sense of boundaries? Lin Mo thought.

Lin Mo, speechless, said: “Where else could I go? I was set up by someone — I’m hiding out to recuperate.”

“You guys — do you really dare to ignore us?”

Nangong Bisheng narrowed his eyes slightly, staring intently at the white-clad youth before him:
“Are you Lin Mo?”

Lin Mo gave Nangong Bisheng a quick glance. “Who are you?”

Nangong Bisheng said, “Do you still remember that expedition into the secret realm?”

Nangong Bisheng’s face showed anger.
“Nangong Xu is my son — tell me, who do you think I am?”

Lin Mo smiled and said, “What — like that Old Chen Dog beside you, you’re all here to avenge your own sons?”

“Avenge?” Nangong Bisheng sneered coldly. “You are now a demon whom anyone under heaven has the right to execute. Our coming this time is nothing more than to rid the world of a menace and protect the common people!”

Lin Mo looked at him with cold eyes. “You knew I wasn’t home — how did you deal with the problem?”

Chen Sheng put on a petty, sneering face. “You’ve committed a monstrous crime, and the Lin family also bears unavoidable responsibility. You’re an adult now — you haven’t even heard of implicating one’s whole clan and nine generations, have you? To have raised someone like you…”

“leader, who knows whether the Lin family still has any other demonic cultivators. Only by wiping out the Lin family all at once can this hidden danger be eliminated for good.”

Lin Mo slapped his palms together.
“Brilliant — truly brilliant. You’ve said so much. I take it you, Old Dog Chen, intend to wriggle out of past obligations? I certainly still remember that your Chen family every year must hand over forty percent of their income to our Lin family.”

Chen Sheng, his scheme exposed, remained shameless: “Don’t say so much. I can now be sure: that day my son only wanted to rid the people of a scourge. He discovered that you were cultivating demonic arts, and instead was killed by you.”

“You play the petty villain to perfection.” Lin Mo sneered.

“Putting everything else aside — if you really wanted to implicate nine generations, why not just wipe out the Lin family of the Upper Realm as well?”

At the mention of the Lin family of the Upper Realm, everyone present shifted in expression. The five great families of the Upper Realm were forces capable of matching a first-rank immortal sect.

…Even if you gave them ten thousand times the courage, they still wouldn’t dare provoke the Lin family of the Upper Realm.

At that moment Li Xiu, the law-enforcing elder of Xuanming Hall, spoke up: “You lot of Lin family people now are nothing but trash abandoned by the Upper Realm Lin family — don’t drag the Upper Realm Lin family into this.”

Hearing that, all the Lin family members’ faces turned livid.

Anger instantly filled his face. Clearly, this elder of Xuanming Hall had struck a Lin family member’s sore spot.

Lin Mo, standing at the side to calm his grandfather who was preparing to act, said: “Grandfather, rest assured. Leave today’s matter to me — I’ll handle it and give you a satisfactory answer.”

After all that had happened recently, Lin Mo’s abilities were, in the Lin family’s minds, indisputably excellent.

Since Lin Mo had spoken up, the others held back the urge to act.

Chen Sheng, unwilling to relent, chimed in from the side:
“Yes, yes, yes — you’re nothing but trash. Especially you, Lin Mo — you’ve already cultivated demonic arts; today you will surely die without question.”

Lin Mo’s expression remained calm. He retorted, “Which of your eyes saw me cultivating demons?”

Chen Sheng sneered, “Your demonic cultivation is already common knowledge. The Qingling Sect has already issued word — and at this point you still want to make excuses?”

“Oh, so that’s it.” Lin Mo suddenly realized, then said with mock astonishment,
“So you were just going by what you heard? For you, does hearsay really become truth? If I tell you to go eat shit, would you go?”

Chen Sheng, panting with anger, let out an exasperated laugh:
“Are you saying the Qingling Sect is slandering you?”

“Isn’t that exactly the case?” Lin Mo nodded.

The truth of how he had cleared his name hadn’t yet reached here — Tianxing City was at least twenty thousand li away from the Qingling Sect. But Lin Mo wasn’t worried; he had plenty of ways to deal with this Chen.

Chen Sheng hadn’t expected Lin Mo to be so brazen. “Shameless brat! The Qingling Sect — a respected second-rank orthodox immortal sect — why would it slander a mere disciple like you?”

Lin Mo waved his hand dismissively. “They’re just plain stupid themselves. Besides, there’s no demonic qi on me; I’m willing to accept…”

Chen Sheng cut him off, “Test what? The Qingling Sect already says you have special methods of concealing demonic qi.”

Lin Mo countered coldly, “So you’re saying you have no other evidence that I practice demonic cultivation, and you’re relying solely on the Qingling Sect’s one-sided word?”

Everyone present fell silent. Indeed, as Lin Mo had pointed out, they had no direct proof.

“If a one-sided accusation could be used to decide whether someone is a demonic cultivator,” Lin Mo continued, “then I could just as well say I saw all of you practicing demonic arts.”

That struck a nerve. A whole group erupted in outrage:
“Don’t slander people with wild accusations!”
“We are all upright, proper people of the Righteous Path!”
“Don’t think you can smear us with just your single word.”
“We can all rely on the demon-testing stone to prove our innocence ourselves!”

Lin Mo shook his head repeatedly.
“No, no, no — you all have ways to hide demonic qi. The demon-testing stone won’t work. Besides, especially Master Chen — when it comes to you practicing demonic cultivation, I’m not the only one who’s seen it!”

As he spoke, Lin Mo frantically signaled with his eyes to Lin Tian.

Lin Tian instantly caught on, hurried over to stand behind Lin Zijian, crouched down, and shouted:
“I saw it too — Old Master Chen is cultivating demonic arts!”

A vein bulged on Lin Zijian’s forehead. “What are you doing again?”

Lin Tian chuckled, “Cousin Zijian, aren’t you already used to me borrowing your identity for things like this? After all, you’re the representative of our younger generation, aren’t you?”

With Lin Zijian pushed into the lead, the Lin family’s juniors immediately joined in the shouting.

“We saw it too — Old Chen is practicing demonic cultivation!” they yelled.

It was clear this wasn’t the first time the younger generation had pulled this stunt; their loud, overlapping voices rang out in practiced unison.

Together, the juniors’ cries boomed like rolling thunder, reverberating through half of Tianxing City.

Chen Sheng glared furiously at Lin Zijian. “You brat — this is the second time!”

Lin Zijian’s face twisted as though he were constipated. Inwardly, he thought bitterly: If one day I’m inexplicably chased and beaten in the streets, it’ll definitely be Lin Tian’s fault.

Lin Mo seized the moment, looking at Chen Sheng with a mocking smile.
“Now that so many people have witnessed the head of the Chen family practicing demonic cultivation… shouldn’t you be dead too?”

“You, you, you—!” Chen Sheng jabbed a trembling finger at Lin Mo, unable to form words. His chest felt unbearably tight, his breath coming in harsh gasps.

Sensing the tide turning against Chen Sheng, Nangong Bisheng spoke up smoothly:
“Xuanming Hall’s Demon-testing Stone is of the highest quality. Compared to Qingling Sect’s stones, its sensitivity to demonic qi is dozens of times stronger. Elder Li Xiu, I wonder if you brought it with you?”

“Of course I did,” came the reply.

The chief enforcer of Xuanming Hall, Elder Li Xiu, stepped forward and produced a crystal-clear stone from his storage ring.
“This is the latest Demon-testing Stone developed by Xuanming Hall. Even if the ancient progenitor of the demon realm, Chu Tiange, tried to conceal his aura, he still could not escape its detection.”

Nangong Bisheng sneered, “Today we’ll force you to reveal your true form. Let’s see how you can keep denying it.”

“Let’s see how you plan to weasel out of this,” another voice echoed.

Lin Mo only smiled faintly. “It seems you came well prepared.”

Inwardly, he contacted the system:
System, this demon-testing stone shouldn’t be able to detect my demonic qi, right?

The system replied with absolute certainty:
【Host, you can rest easy a million times over.】

“Ah, so as long as I don’t actively use demonic qi, even if an immortal descended, they still wouldn’t detect anything?” Lin Mo asked silently.

【Exactly.】

Lin Mo’s thoughts shifted. What about my mother? Could this Demon-testing Stone sense anything about her?

【Your mother has already completely washed away the demonic qi. She is no different from an ordinary person now. As long as she doesn’t cultivate, this Demon-testing Stone won’t detect a thing. Of course, if an immortal descended to the mortal world, her issue might be exposed.】

【Alright, this system has answered two questions — forty Regret Points will be deducted!】

Lin Mo chuckled. “Today you performed well, so deduct sixty instead.”

The system squealed with delight: 【Really? Really? Host, you really are such a great person!】

By then, Li Xiu had already handed the Demon-testing Stone to Lin Mo.

“This is simple,” the elder instructed. “Just inject spirit qi into it. If even the faintest fluctuation appears, it means there is demonic qi within you.”

Every gaze fixed upon Lin Mo, watching intently. Elder Li Xiu’s stare was especially sharp.

Among the crowd, Lin Zhan’s forehead beaded with sweat. He alone knew of Lin Mo’s problem. Even he wasn’t certain whether this Demon-testing Stone might reveal his son’s half-demon bloodline.

But one thing he was sure of: his child would never harm fellow disciples.