Great Xia, Chujiang Prefecture, Lin Family Villa.
In the living room stood a handsome young man with shoulder-length hair, wearing cloth shoes and coarse clothes.
His name was Lin Fan, the legitimate son of the Lin family and third in birth order. When he was six, an old Daoist fortune-teller told his family that he must not stay with the Lin family before turning eighteen, or he would bring disaster upon them.
From then on, he was treated as a harbinger of disaster and became the Lin Family outcast.
At six years old, he was sent to the Heavenly Sword Sect on Nine Peaks Mountain, where he became an Outer Sect Disciple.
Today was Lin Fan’s eighteenth birthday. The Lin Family outcast had returned.
“Dad, I’m back. From now on, you can leave the Lin family to me and rest easy.”
At eighteen, a person was brimming with confidence and recklessness. He looked down on everything, believing himself second to none beneath the heavens.
“Lin Fan, since you’ve returned from Nine Peaks Mountain, you can help shoulder the family’s burdens. The Lin family and the Xiao family arranged a marriage alliance long ago. You’re the legitimate son, so you’re the most suitable choice.”
The speaker was a stern-looking middle-aged man: Lin Zhecheng, the Lin Family Head and a seventh-level Martial Dao expert.
He had never expected this disaster-bringing cast-off son to return. Most Outer Sect Disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect on Nine Peaks Mountain were destined to serve as menial disciples. Many spent their entire lives working themselves sick, and fewer than one in ten thousand ever made it into the inner sect to cultivate.
When six-year-old Lin Fan was sent to Nine Peaks Mountain, the Lin family had never expected him to live to eighteen, much less return.
The Lin Family outcast actually dreamed of taking over the Lin family. What a ridiculous joke!
Since the Lin family was arranging a marriage alliance with the Xiao family anyway, they might as well make use of the outcast one last time.
Lin Fan spoke up clearly. “My Master sent me down the mountain to gain worldly experience, not to enter a marriage alliance for you.”
He hadn’t actually wanted to return to the Lin family. Since he was coming down the mountain to gain experience, he could do that anywhere. As the legitimate son, he had never been valued by the Lin family; otherwise, they would have sent someone to look for him at some point over all these years.
But his Master had advised him that, in the interest of both sentiment and reason, he should return to the Lin family first.
Besides, helping the Lin family grow stronger and become a truly powerful aristocratic family counted as cultivation, too.
Lin Zhecheng sneered. “Your Master? You’re an Outer Sect Disciple—what kind of Master would you have? A woodcutter? A water carrier? Or someone who steams buns? Hahahahaha…”
“My Master isn’t a menial disciple… Anyway, I came down the mountain to gain experience, not to enter a marriage alliance, and I don’t want to get married. Hand the Lin family over to me, and I guarantee I’ll make it bigger and stronger and restore its glory, making it the top aristocratic family in Great Xia.”
He had devoted himself to cultivation on Nine Peaks Mountain and had never given a thought to romance. With his strength, there was no one in the world who could change his mind.
Lin Zhecheng roared, “How dare you! Entering a marriage alliance is also a form of experience. You’re an Outer Sect Disciple who served as a menial—your Body Tempering isn’t even complete. What’s your Combat Power Rating? You’re not even a Martial Artist. What makes you think you’re qualified to take over the Lin family?”
“That’s right, Third Brother. You’ve grown up, and taking a wife is also a form of experience. It’s the greatest contribution you can make to the Lin family. So don’t even think about inheriting it.”
The one speaking so maliciously was Lin Fan’s half-brother, Lin Defei. He was eighteen as well, only three months older than Lin Fan, and had already reached the fourth level as a Martial Artist. Among the younger generation, he was considered quite talented. He was just a little too burly, with broad shoulders, a thick waist, and a face full of coarse flesh, like a black gorilla.
Lin Fan scoffed. “You’re even bigger. Why don’t you get married? Or are you not a real man?”
Lin Defei looked smug. “I need to focus on martial arts training. Once I reach level five, I can get married and have children. You’re not even a Martial Artist—just a cripple. You’re a perfect match for the Xiao family’s fourth young lady, that mute, ugly freak.”
The woman he married had to be a true young lady of an aristocratic family. He wouldn’t even give the Xiao family’s ugly freak a second glance.
“An ugly freak? And mute, too? Doesn’t that make her the perfect match for a crooked melon like you?”
Lin Defei stepped forward and reached for Lin Fan’s collar, saying furiously, “You’re asking for death!”
He moved as fast as lightning. The strength of a fourth-level Martial Artist was indeed nothing to scoff at.
But Lin Fan reacted even faster. Without moving from where he stood, he merely shifted to the side and evaded Lin Defei’s seemingly sure grab.
Lin Defei was stunned. He was a fourth-level Martial Artist—how could he have missed?
It must have been Lin Fan’s dumb luck. Just as he was about to strike again, Lin Zhecheng suddenly bellowed:
Lin Zhecheng shouted, “Stop! Don’t hurt Lin Fan.”
He knew how skilled Lin Defei was. If he caught Lin Fan, the boy would be either dead or injured. The Lin Family outcast could still be put to some use; surely the Xiao family wouldn’t mind that he was merely an ordinary person.
“He… hurt me?”
Lin Fan thought he must have misheard. He had already reached the Deity Transformation Realm. A mere fourth-level Martial Artist was like an ant before him; a breath from him could kill the man.
Perhaps his Master had sent him down the mountain to gain experience because there was nothing left to teach him. How could a Master teach a disciple stronger than himself? Was he supposed to endure humiliation from his disciple every day?
Lin Defei felt deeply insulted. “You’re asking for death?”
He was a fourth-level Martial Artist, yet the Lin family’s cast-off son had mocked him. He had to teach Lin Fan a proper lesson.
Lin Zhecheng roared, “Enough!”
Lin Fan stopped paying attention to them. His useless father and the illegitimate son his mistress had raised were both conceited and arrogant. There was no reasoning with them.
People like that were best left to live in their own little world.
After waiting a moment, Lin Zhecheng did his best to speak calmly. “If you want to join the Lin family, you must shoulder the duties of a young master of an aristocratic family and enter a marriage alliance with the Xiao family.”
He had three sons and a daughter. His eldest son was already married, and he couldn’t bear to make his second son marry an ugly freak, so Lin Fan was the perfect choice. The Lin family would gain the Xiao family’s resources; at least then, this fool wouldn’t have been born for nothing.
“Then I won’t join the Lin family.”
“You unfilial son! In life, you belong to the Lin family; in death, you’ll be a ghost of the Lin family!”
“I’ll establish an independent household and have a separate page in the family genealogy. From now on, I’ll be the Family Head of the New Lin Family.”
Lin Defei sneered. “What a big claim. Establish an independent household? You can’t even support yourself. And a separate page in the genealogy? Dream on! At best, you can run away from home or be expelled from the Lin family.”
It was the funniest joke he had ever heard: an outcast dreaming of establishing an independent household.
Lin Zhecheng said coldly, “To establish an independent household and have a separate page in the family genealogy, you need a family, wealth, and strength, along with the status and standing to match. Which of those do you have? You think leaving the Lin family means you’ve established an independent household? You need to surpass the Lin family in wealth and status before you’re qualified to say that. If you agree to marry Xiao Ruoxue, you’ll have a family and some wealth. Only then might you be able to establish an independent household.”
Lin Fan asked, “So entering a marriage alliance is the first step toward establishing an independent household?”
He had spent the past twelve years cultivating on the mountain, and had thought that with his cultivation level, Founding a Sect would be no problem. Establishing an independent household would be even easier.
Who could have guessed that establishing an independent household would be so troublesome? If he’d known, he wouldn’t have made such a bold claim earlier.
“That’s right. To establish an independent household, you first need to enter a marriage alliance. You need to marry and have children before you’re qualified to be a Family Head.”
As Lin Zhecheng spoke, the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly, as if his scheme had succeeded.