Lin Liuchun was bewildered as he silently watched their interactions for half a day and finally reached out to smack the table. He squinted as he lazily swept a glance across them both. "Lin Xuanzhi, make a long story short."
Lin Xuanzhi restrained himself quite a bit and agreed. He carefully described in a concise manner how they had obtained the Hepta-Brilliant Sacred Fire in the Pill Limit Mysterious Land, and how they had been besieged by Shen Changgeng and his followers.
As for the conflict between him and Yan Tianhen, as well as what happened between Duan Yuyang and Yuan Tianwen, Lin Xuanzhi naturally didn't utter even a single word about it. After the time taken to burn one incense stick had passed, Lin Xuanzhi finished his recount.
Lin Liuchun looked pensive as he ruminated, "In that case, the Hepta-Brilliant Sacred Fire belonged to Lu Qingli in the first place, and the Pill Limit Mysterious Land doesn't belong to the Shen family either."
"That's right." Lin Xuanzhi said, "I'm sure of that."
Lin Liuchun seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He nodded, "I understand. Since the Hepta-Brilliant Sacred Fire was given to you by its rightful owner, then keep it. However, after today, everyone will know that the Hepta-Brilliant Sacred Fire is in your hands, and I'm afraid that there will be quite a few influential forces that will target you. You must be careful."
Lin Liuchun looked at Yan Tianhen, asking him to be on guard and to stop being such a scatterbrain.
Yan Tianhen nodded. "Fourth Elder, don't worry, I still have Dage's protection! Right, Dage?"
Lin Xuanzhi chuckled. "Naturally."
Lin Xuanzhi was devastatingly beautiful in the first place, and his usual cold and indifferent appearance already made it difficult for others to shift their gazes away from him. With this gentle chuckle, plum blossoms bloomed in cold winter and everything bowed to him in submission.
Lin Liuchun had to admit that this was a really beautiful scene, but his heart felt incomparably stifled right now. The two kids from his family had gotten together somehow without warning, and it had happened right under his nose too. How would he account for this to that guy Lin Zhan in the future?
Lin Liuchun was a little angry. "Ah Hen, go back to your room to rest first, I still have some other things to talk about with your Dage."
Yan Tianhen had wanted to be affectionate with Lin Xuanzhi for a while, but Lin Liuchun broke up the couple, so he immediately stared at Lin Liuchun begrudgingly.
Lin Liuchun, "..."
You actually dare to be this brazen? Do you not think that Laozi can break the two of you up right now?
"Ai, okay then." Yan Tianhen said helplessly, "But you can't take too long, okay? Dage and I have some things to talk about in secret."
Lin Liuchun almost jumped right up; this brat didn't know what's good for him! He was helping him escape from this wolf's demonic claws, yet he was being treated as an idiot!
Lin Xuanzhi just thought that his family's Ah Hen was particularly cute, so he pulled Yan Tianhen over and kissed his forehead. "Ah Hen, go back and wait for me, Dage will return very soon."
Yan Tianhen was overjoyed after he recieved a kiss. He scuttled away with small, quick steps as his head spun with happiness.
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Lin Liuchun uttered a "pei". "Don't make me wear a conical paper hat, I'm not here to break the two of you up. I just want to ask you, between the two of you, who started the pursuit?"
"Naturally I was the one who pursued Ah Hen first. Ah Hen is still young, he doesn't understand the ways of the world yet."
"So you do know that he's young and doesn't understand the ways of the world!" Lin Liuchun's expression darkened. "Do you still remember that he's your younger brother? Your younger brother that your Dad has regarded as his son while raising him by his side for 7 to 8 years?!"
"Xuanzhi knows." Lin Xuanzhi was even more respectful now but didn't retreat in the slightest. "I have never forgotten his status either, but at the same time, I know that he's not my biological brother. Being with me wouldn't be considered deceiving our Shifus and betraying our ancestors, nor does it go against the will of Heaven."
Lin Liuchun took a deep breath and still couldn't stop himself from pointing at Lin Xuanzhi's nose. "Do you think I mind that sort of thing? If he was a simple person, Laozi wouldn't bother to care about you even if he was your biological younger brother!"
Lin Xuanzhi was slightly taken aback and his eyelids twitched slightly.
Lin Liuchun lamented, "How muddle-headed are you? And how much do you even know about Yan Tianhen's background? Do you really think that your Dad would casually bring back any random child to raise?"
Lin Xuanzhi's expression changed again. "What exactly is Ah Hen's identity? I'd like to ask for your advice on this, Fourth Elder."
Lin Liuchun sighed lightly and pressed against his forehead. "Only your father knows his specific identity, but when your Dad first brought him back, he had casually mentioned that Yan Tianhen was related to the upper realm's royal family."
Upper realm's royal family?
Lin Xuanzhi's phoenix eyes widened before narrowing again.
The Five Continents' mainlands belong to the middle realm and was merely a corner of the Nine Lands that didn't have much spiritual Qi. There were countries, royal families, and sects here, but the countries and royal families here were too many to count. Just one East Continent had 7 or 8 countries, and the influence of its royal families had never been stronger than that of sects.
But the upper realm was completely different.
It was said that there was only one imperial court in the upper realm that had merged with the divine right of kings to govern the entire Nine Lands.
Although Lin Xuanzhi had never seen the real royal family before, he had heard about how horrifying the bloody struggle for power in the royal family was more than once when wandering around the Nine Lands.
The royal family valued lineage a lot and wouldn't allow people of a lower status to even marry into the royal family, let alone have someone with the blood of the devil clan running through his veins be even slightly related to the royal family.
Why was Yan Tianhen sent to the Five Continents' mainlands?
And why was he handed over to Lin Zhan?
To avoid anyone from noticing the blood running through his veins? Or because...he had already been noticed, so he hid here to escape their pursuit?
Was Lin Zhan's death related to the upper realm's royal family?
Did those people already know where Yan Tianhen was?
Five Continents' mainlands, the Ling Chigu who came from the Royal Heavenly Capital, Feng Jingyu, the ruler of the West Imperial Palace in the West Lands, as well as Bai Yichen, whose identity remained unknown...
All these beads seemed to get strung together with one line; Lin Xuanzhi had a vague hunch that the end of this line pointed at that person, who was the one who knew nothing of his own situation - Yan Tianhen.
Lin Xuanzhi suddenly felt flustered. He looked at Lin Liuchun, "What else did my father say?"
Lin Liuchun pondered for a moment. "Your father also said that a prophet once made a divination for Yan Tianhen when he was born. Yan Tianhen was prophesied to wander about in a desperate plight and meet with many difficulties in his life, have deep affection, but won't live long, and will be all alone at the end of his life. He would never be able to get what he seeks, and he would never be able to get what he wants either. He was said to be equivalent to a Lonely Star. Your father said that his heart ached for this child, so he treated him extremely well. He also said that if he wasn't around someday, that he wanted me and you to treat him well no matter how others treated him."
Lin Xuanzhi felt like a knife was twisting around in his heart and he almost staggered unsteadily.
The one who told Yan Tianhen's fortune was a prophet, and he's afraid that about 80 to 90% of it was right.
Moreover, Yan Tianhen's fate in his past life was indeed just like what that prophet had said.
He was utterly isolated at a young age, and ever since Lin Zhan's death, he had never felt the warmth of the world. Aside from Duan Yuyang and Lie Fenkong, who harboured malicious intentions towards him, everyone else detested and hated him, then ended up fearing and dreading him, while Lin Xuanzhi-
Lin Xuanzhi closed his eyes.
He was the main culprit who had killed Yan Tianhen.
Lin Xuanzhi's spirit shook, and he only managed to calm himself down after a long time passed.
He had already restarted in this life!
In any case, he would never let Yan Tianhen's life be as tragic as his previous one.
Lin Xuanzhi opened his eyes and looked at Lin Liuchun, who had a worried expression on his face. He spoke softly, "Fourth Elder, even if his status is troublesome, my father still raised him by his side. Since I have chosen him, I will not give him up because of such external reasons. His status isn't easy to guess, so I won't guess what it is. Now, I just hope that Fourth Elder and I can treat it as though we know nothing about it, would that be okay?"
Lin Liuchun shook his head. "I don't mind what you want to do with him. It's just that the Lin family is a large family with more than a hundred people. I'm afraid that in the future, the family will be massacred because of you."
He looked at this young man, who looked a lot like Lin Zhan, and sighed. "People from the upper realm are completely different from people like us in the lower realms. We aren't under the restraint of a royal power, nor are we regulated by the upper realm, so we are considered to be an unregulated zone. That is why most people can do as they please and don't have a strong notion for vengeance. They don't take a lot of things to heart, and may even despise the royal family. However, the ones in the upper realm whose royal power and divine rights have merged into one are cultivators, and they are under the control of the imperial power as well. I'm afraid that they won't tolerate the existence of someone who had slipped through the net of the royal family."
Lin Xuanzhi's gaze didn't shift as he and Lin Liuchun looked at each other.
Lin Liuchun continued, "Your father did not die at the hands of demonic cultivators. Those who had come were clearly killers from beyond the Five Continents. Your father perished together with the cultivators that had come to seize Ah Hen just so that they wouldn't spread the news, but the Five Continents is no longer safe. Sooner or later, those people will track him down and find him here, so how will you protect him then?"
Lin Xuanzhi couldn't stop himself from clenching his fist that was hidden in his sleeve.
He had once speculated about Yan Tianhen's identity. The worst outcome he could think of was that Ah Hen's father or mother was someone with the blood of a Divine Devil running through their veins from the devil clan of a high status, and that the people from the upper realm had discovered Ah Hen's lineage.
But he had never expected that Ah Hen's identity would be this intractable - if he had royal blood running through his veins, then he naturally had the right to inherit the throne. If his father's status was a little higher, then Ah Hen's position would rise as well, but how could the royal family allow someone with devil blood running through his veins succeed the throne?
And how could they acknowledge someone who was half-devil as part of the royal family?
The upper realm was extremely prejudiced and was even used to slaughtering heirs to maintain the purity and nobility of their lineage. As Lin Liuchun saw how Lin Xuanzhi was wavering, he felt a little disappointed, but also a little glad at the same time.
"Before the two of you get to the stage where you two become inseparable, send him out of the house ba. Alchemist Zhongli Shen from Sky Peak Sect is an old acquaintance of mine, and the Young Sect Master Ren Fuyao can be considered my old friend as well. If it's not convenient for you to show yourself, I'll be the bridge to send Yan Tianhen over. It'll leave a way out for the Lin family in the future too."
When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he snapped out of his stupor. He pursed his lips, bent his knees and knelt down on one knee.
There is gold under a man's knees. Although he had only knelt on one knee, it was enough to shock Lin Liuchun.
Lin Liuchun stood up, staring at Lin Xuanzhi's exceedingly beautiful face in dismay.
He had actually knelt down.
The lofty and unyielding Lin Xuanzhi who had never submitted to anyone before actually knelt down.
-
Editor's Little Theatre:
There's gold under a man's knees, but the gold pales in the face of LXZ's beauty... A beauty that outshines the brightest and purest of gold! An unstoppable beauty that can stop your heart with a look and make flowers bloom in winter snow...