Lin Hao snorted coldly. “I’m not that idle. The main household just heard that a degenerate of the demonic path has appeared among your collateral branch, so they sent me to clean out the rot in the family.”

Saying that, he swept his gaze over the people below with contempt and added, “Is Lin Mo, that degenerate, here or not?”
No one in the Lin family spoke.

They also had a poor impression of the people sent by the main household. Lin Nantian explained, “Lin Hao, don’t go too far. As for the matter of my grandson supposedly practicing demonic cultivation, Xuanming Hall’s law-enforcing elder Li Xiu already examined him with the demon-detection stone. The test proved he has not practiced demonic cultivation.”

Lin Hao’s gaze fell on Li Xiu; his attitude toward him was noticeably more polite than when he addressed members of the Lin family. “So Dao-friend Li is here too — my apologies, my apologies…”

Although Li Xiu disliked Lin Mo because of the incident involving his disciple Nangong Xu, truth be told, “the demon-detection stone showed no reaction after Lin Mo infused it with spirit qi.”

Lin Hao said coldly, “No reaction — does that mean there’s nothing wrong?”
“There’s no smoke without fire. The Qingling Sect’s affair has blown up everywhere and already smeared our main household. Even if that so-called Lin Mo really hasn’t practiced demonic arts, wouldn’t such a scoundrel remaining in our Lin family be a problem? So, is that Lin Mo even here or not?”

Nangong Bisheng heard this and was overjoyed; he stepped forward and pointed at Lin Mo, saying, “Senior, that kid is Lin Mo!”

Following Nangong Bisheng’s gesture, Lin Hao’s gaze landed on Lin Mo. “You’re the one who smeared the Lin family’s name?”

“Why do you keep shrinking back and not daring to come out? Are all the collateral branch disciples as spineless as you?”

That remark once again scolded everyone from the Lin family in the Middle Realm. Lin Tian glared at Lin Hao with clear displeasure.

So now he wanted to use Lin Zijian’s identity to stir up trouble again.

“What else are you trying to do?”

This time, Lin Zijian was alert in advance; he slid a little to the side and deliberately stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Tian to avoid being dragged into it.

Lin Mo gave a dry chuckle and said. “Didn’t mean anything — it’s just that from this spot you can see the women of the Upper-Realm Lin family more clearly. They really are quite pretty.”

The fair-featured woman standing beside Lin Hao shot him an angry glare. “What are you looking at—”

Someone behind Lin Mo muttered in a low voice, “Uncle Mo, don’t take that woman in. She looks fine enough, but her mouth is foul — nowhere near as good as the Xia family’s young lady, Xia He.”

Lin Mo couldn’t be bothered to respond to Lin Tian. Instead, he glanced at Lin Hao and said, “I just wanted to see how ugly the faces of those from the Upper Realm really are.”

From Lin Hao’s words, he had more or less pieced it together.
The Lin family of the Upper Realm were all hypocrites — impossible to trust. When their collateral kin were in trouble, they never lifted a hand; instead, they came for the sake of appearances and stabbed their own family in the back. They had never regarded the collateral bloodlines as true members of the Lin clan.

At that, anger slowly crept across Lin Hao’s face. “And yet these worthless things, abandoned by our Lin family, dare to speak to me like that?”
His gaze shifted, cold and sharp. “Lin Nantian, you truly have raised a fine grandson.”

Lin Hao’s voice rang out over the gathering. “I’ll give you one chance: clean up your household yourself. Otherwise, forget about ever returning to the main family for the rest of your lives.”

Lin Nantian snapped back, “Lin Hao, what gives you the right to speak for the main family?”

The man sneered. “Old fool, you still don’t know? I’m already an elder of the main household. And there are others there debating whether to strip you useless trash of any right to remain part of the Lin family.”

Lin Nantian let out a hoarse sigh. “Someone like you can sit in the seat of a main-family elder? That alone proves the main family has fallen.” He glanced at the three elders beside him.

The three exchanged a look and nodded in agreement.

“With a main family like this, we’re better off not going back,” Lin Nantian declared. The rest of the Lin family members also voiced their support.

They had never been born into the main household, never received its favor. For them, this Lin family of the present was their true home.

Seeing this, Lin Hao snorted coldly. “Fine, fine, fine — marvelous. A bunch of trash, the lot of you. Once I’ve dealt with that scumbag Lin Mo and return to the main house, I’ll tell the family head every last word you just said!”

The girl standing beside him suddenly spoke up. “Wait, Grandfather. Now that we know Lin Mo is Lin Nantian’s grandson…” She narrowed her eyes at Lin Mo, then continued, “he’s about my age — let me deal with him.”

Her name was Lin Yue’er. Proud to the point of arrogance, she had come with the family head precisely to flaunt her talents before the collateral branch.

Lin Hao gave a dismissive nod. “Yue’er, spare this trash’s life for now. We’ll still need to take him back to the main household afterward.”

Lin Hao didn’t think his granddaughter would lose. In the Upper-Realm Lin family, she was a prodigy among the younger generation. At only twenty, she’d already reached early Nascent Soul. Aside from Zhu Shiyao of the Ling Sword Sect, there was really no one her age who could match her—and he’d always been proud of that.

“Got it, Grandpa!” Lin Yue’er replied.

Keeping a close watch on Lin Nantian’s group, Lin Hao warned, “If any of you dare step in to shield this degenerate, don’t blame me for being merciless.”

Lin Nantian and the others gave him a look as if he were a clown. They had already seen Lin Mo’s strength.

“Now this is going to be good,” Lin Tian said, practically bouncing. “I can’t wait to see the look on those Upper-Realm cousins’ faces after Uncle Mo slaps them down. That’ll be glorious!”

“Just thinking about it makes me feel better!”

The other younger members of the Lin clan chimed in, equally fed up with Lin Hao’s arrogance. Some bystanders even wondered whether they ought to warn him. Nangong Bisheng stepped forward first. “Don’t send your granddaughter up—Lin Mo’s… his strength—”

Before he could finish, Lin Hao flicked a hand and sent him skidding back several paces. “Who said you get to mouth off?”

“Didn’t you understand when I told you to shut up?” Lin Hao said coldly. A casual lift of his palm and a pulse of qi burst against Nangong Bisheng’s mouth, splitting it open.

Humiliated and seething, Nangong Bisheng scrambled up, half-tempted to beg Lin Mo to kill him on the spot. Seeing this, the onlookers gave up on trying to warn Lin Hao. Even Li Xiu thought Lin Hao was getting absurdly overbearing and was curious to see how he’d look when the tables turned.

With no more interruptions, Lin Yue’er looked Lin Mo up and down, face full of disdain. “I’ve heard of you. You’re that worthless ex-fiancé Jiang Yanran dumped, aren’t you?”

Lin Tian whooped, delighted. “Oh, she went straight for the sore spot—brutal! First thing out of her mouth and she hits the nerve…”

Lin Mo blinked. and replied coldly,
“Never heard of you. And what exactly are you supposed to be — barking like a dog?”

Humiliated before everyone, Lin Yue’er drew her life-bound spirit sword and thrust at him. To deal with a mere Nascent Soul junior, Lin Mo didn’t even bother taking out the Liuli Sword.

The instant her blade reached him, he pinched the sword between two fingers.

“How is that possible?” Lin Yue’er stared as if she’d seen a ghost.

Refusing to accept it, she poured all her spirit power forward. The sword in her hand didn’t budge an inch.

“That’s all you’ve got, and you still dare to bark?” Lin Mo sneered.

His fingers moved the slightest bit; pain lanced through Lin Yue’er’s wrist, and she didn’t dare struggle.

Before she could make another move, Lin Mo’s palm had already cracked across her mouth. “That’s for your filthy tongue.”

“You little beast—are you looking to die?” Lin Hao finally sensed something was wrong. Lin Mo’s cultivation had to be above Soul Splitting. He struck out with a palm immediately.

Lin Hao himself was Divine Transformation; even if Lin Mo were only Soul Splitting, a single palm should have killed him.

In reality, he was dreaming. The blow was easily shredded by the sword-qi Lin Mo flicked out with the Liuli Sword, and Lin Hao was the one sent flying.

Seizing the opening, Lin Mo slapped Lin Yue’er across the mouth again and again—dozens of times—until her face swelled into a pig-headed mess. Seeing her knocked close, Lin Tian, emboldened by Lin Mo’s presence, rolled up his sleeves and added several ringing slaps of his own. “That felt good!”

“Mmph… Grandpa… save me…” Lin Yue’er mumbled indistinctly, lips numb and swollen.

Steadying himself, Lin Hao stared at Lin Mo, horror filling his eyes. “How can you possibly be Divine Transformation?”

At that same moment, while Lin Hao was still stunned, a pale, terrifying yet striking white figure descended from the sky and stopped in front of Lin Mo. When the newcomer was clearly seen, Lin Mo was equally shocked: “Gu Qingxue!”