The Lin family had always prided itself in being an orthodox cultivator family, and had even partic.i.p.ated in many wars with demonic cultivators and the devil’s clan. Even though its status had declined rapidly in recent years and couldn’t be compared to its previous heyday, their most basic beliefs and principles had not changed.
And that was one of the main reasons why those first-cla.s.s families were willing to unite with the Lin family through marriage.
If someone from the Lin family were to discover that the Lin family’s Third elder was cultivating this kind of demonic art…then no matter how much he had contributed to the Lin family, he would definitely be pursued relentlessly by his entire clan.
It would be the same even if the one cultivating the demonic arts turned out to be Lin Xuanzhi.
After all, even if he is a craftsman, he’s definitely not as important as the reputation that the Lin family had painstakingly acc.u.mulated over the past thousand years, as well as the lives of all the other Lin family members. Madam Bai had evidently thought of this back up-plan just in case they were discovered.
When she thought of Lin Xuanzhi’s impending departure, Madam Bai’s eyes flashed with a malicious look and said, “Jing Ge, why not we take advantage of Lin Xuanzhi’s departure and get rid of him during his journey while no one else is looking?”
Madam Bai cracked her knuckles.
“Naturally, I would have already made plans for that even if you didn’t mention it.” Third elder coldly said, “At first I thought that since he was just trash, I could just let him slowly eke out the rest of his meagre existence until he died. But I didn’t expect his luck to be so good that he managed to turn into a craftsman. I must kill him before his wings grow, or else, if we wait till his wings are fully-fledged1, it wouldn’t be easy to kill him anymore.”
Madam Bai nodded and said, “It’s fine as long as Jing Ge will get even with him. In the case, I won’t care about him for now.”
Madam Bai sighed, then said with a face full of worry, “Zezhi had received quite a huge blow recently. He’s been deep in the doldrums all day long and can’t seem to snap himself out of it. I’m really worried that he wouldn’t be able to recover from his setback this time.”
Ever since Lin Zezhi knew of Lin Xuanzhi’s fall from grace, he had turned into the new center of attention in the Lin family. Even the Master who usually didn’t care about much would personally give him a few pointers here and there.
Yet, when Lin Xuanzhi had suddenly become a craftsman and regained Master’s favour, Lin Zezhi felt like he had returned to the times when he was always suppressed by Lin Xuanzhi.
Evidently, Madam Bai had forgotten that when Lin Zhan was the Master of the Lin family, he had always treated Lin Zezhi with much care and concern.
Third elder furrowed his brows and said, “This Zezhi is good in every area except for his eagerness to outdo others. Lin Xuanzhi’s cultivation isn’t as high as his, and his reputation and popularity in the Lin family can’t be compared to him either. For Zezhi to be in his current state…that kid loses his composure way too easily.”
“Zezhi is still a child after all, so it’s understandable.” Madam Bai said.
Third elder shook his head and said, “Don’t spoil him. You should send him away and let him experience what it’s like outside ba, or else he’ll never be able to know how to conceal his emotions.”
It’s okay even if one bears hatred and discontent in their hearts, but it’s a problem if their inner thoughts can be seen through with just one glance.
And Lin Zezhi’s present behaviour is extremely abnormal; it’s completely incompatible with his previous image as a magnanimous and kind person.
During this period, Lin Zezhi kept himself locked up in his room everyday as he squandered his life away. He had even shut his doors and refused to receive any guests.
And he has many friends in the Lin family, so there have been quite a few people who paid him a visit recently. If it wasn’t because Madam Bai took his place and fooled them with her laughs, Lin Zezhi’s true nature would have been discovered by the Lin family members a long time ago.
By then, Lin Zezhi’s reputation would have suffered a disastrous decline.
But Madam Bai loved her own son dearly. She thought for a bit, then said, “I think I’ll wait for a little while longer. When Profound Sky Sect conduct their entrance ceremony that’s held once every five years next year, I’ll get Zezhi to register for it.”
Third elder nodded and said, “That’s good too. With Zezhi’s abilities, he will surely be able to enter Profound Sky Sect without much difficulty.”
Madam Bai indignantly said, “If it hadn’t been for Lin Xuanzhi’s obstruction five years ago, my son would have been able to enter Profound Sky Sect’s gate a long time ago.”
Third elder sneered and said, “But now, Lin Xuanzhi no longer has that much face in Profound Sky Sect.”
Since First elder has not yet left his seclusion, and several distinguished guests were going to pay the Lin family a visit in the next few days, Fifth elder wouldn’t have the time to care about Lin Xuanzhi for awhile.
When Lin Xuanzhi reported to him about his intention to leave the Lin family for a period of time, Fifth elder only urged him to return early and gave him a few magic treasures. Fifth elder dispatched a few attendants who could protect him to follow along, gave him some allowance, then waved his hand and didn’t care about Lin Xuanzhi anymore..
After Yan Tianhen and Lin Xuanzhi left Master’s room, Yan Tianhen held Lin Xuanzhi’s hand and said, “Dage, why didn’t Master ask you where you were going, or what you were going to do and when you were gonna come back?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Because in Master’s eyes, those questions are unnecessary.”
Yan Tianhen said, “If it were me, I would have definitely asked you a lot more questions.”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled, then said, “That’s because Ah Hen cares about Dage the most, right?”
Yan Tianhen also smiled and forcefully nodded, then said, “That’s for sure.”
Lin Xuanzhi packed his luggage, carefully checked his stock of medicinal pills and magic treasures in his storage bag, then took stock of some of his other valuables.
Then Lin Xuanzhi carried another jar of Hundred Flowers brew that Lin Zhan had left behind and placed it in his storage bag. His storage bag — that can’t be considered very s.p.a.cious — was thus filled to the brim. Yan Tianhen also had a small storage bag of his own, and it had the capacity of approximately one unit and wouldn’t even be able to store a full-grown man. At most, you could probably only stuff half an adult-sized person inside, so usually Yan Tianhen would use this storage bag to keep his money and medicinal pills, as well as other miscellaneous gadgets.
Storage bags are extremely expensive. This is because the raw materials required to craft storage bags are already very expensive themselves, and coupled with the remuneration paid to have it crafted, the small storage bag in Yan Tianhen’s hand had a very exorbitant price tag attached to it.
What makes storage bags and storage rings even more precious is that the craftsman who crafts them must be able to craft tools that are at least of a treasure level2. Craftsmen who can craft treasure tools are rarely seen in the Five Continent’s mainlands, and only the Middle Continent’s Profound Sky Sect has a craftsman who can craft this kind of storage bag.
Naturally, there are quite a few reclusive masters who can craft them, but you would need a lot of luck to meet even just one of them.
For a luxury good like a storage bag, even if you manage to come across one, you might not be able to afford it. The storage bags that Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen own were given to them by Lin Zhan.
But Lin Xuanzhi had never understood something: based on the kinds of adventures and experiences Lin Zhan had in the past, it seemed like he had travelled to many places and had seen plenty of outstanding people of eminence. But it was impossible for his cultivation level to have supported his peaceful adventures across so many dangerous places.
Beyond the Five Continents, lay a vast and expansive world.
The journey from Qing City to Profound Sky Sect was a long one. If they were to ride their mortal horse, they would probably need to endure a b.u.mpy ride that would last for at least three months before arriving at their destination. Luckily, Fifth elder was pretty generous and had given Lin Xuanzhi two Chasing Sun horses that were extremely fast.
As for the five Foundation Stage cultivators who were dispatched to protect Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen, their travel speed far surpa.s.ses even that of the Chasing Sun horses.
Only those who break through to the Foundation Stage can be considered true cultivators. As for those at the Refining Qi stage’s seventh layer, they can only be regarded as quasi-cultivators.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen pulled along one horse each as they walked out of the Lin residence. Ah Bai and Hu Po naturally followed along and were running around them. One look at their happy dances and you could tell that they were very much in favour of leaving Qing city.
Profound Sky Sect was located northeast from Qing city, so the two began to ride towards that direction.
“Dage, this Chasing Sun horse is really super fast! It feels like I’m flying!” Yan Tianhen shouted as the winds blew against his face.
“This still isn’t considered fast. When Ah Bai and Hu Po grow up, they’ll be a hundredfold, or even a thousandfold faster than Chasing Sun horses!” Lin Xuanzhi smiled as he answered.
“Hundredfold, a thousandfold? Then wouldn’t they be flying by then?” Yan Tianhen couldn’t help but turn around to look at the happy Ah Bai by his side. Ah Bai held his head high and began barking at him with ao ao ao sounds.
As Yan Tianhen heard the childish cries of his tiger cub, he looked at Ah Bai’s body that wasn’t much bigger than a cat and silently casted some doubt at Lin Xuanzhi’s words.
Lin Xuanzhi only smiled, but didn’t speak.
Yan Tianhen actually still did not know that these two amethyst white tigers were spirit beasts.
Demonic beasts would most likely stagnate at their infant stages, but that would be impossible for spirit beasts.
However, Lin Xuanzhi didn’t want to tell Yan Tianhen the truth. He cheekily thought about wanting to see Yan Tianhen’s surprised expression when he realises that his two tiger cubs had turned into magnificent and mighty big tigers.
Right as they left the lofty, bronze city gate, Yan Tianhen heard someone calling him from above.
From above? Yan Tianhen looked up at the sky and saw a pentcoloured crane circling about gracefully in the air.
Yan Tianhen saw a head that popped out from the crane’s back and was instantly surprised as he cried out, “It’s Yuyang Ge!”
Duan Yuyang shouted, “Wait for me, I’m coming down!”
Yan Tianhen pulled on the reins of his horse and his Chasing Sun horse stopped.
Lin Xuanzhi stopped as well.
The pentcoloured crane descended and landed gracefully on the ground, then turned into a normal small crane.
There were three people riding on the pentcoloured crane — Yuan Tianwen, Duan Yuyang and Han Yuran. All of them landed smoothly.
When Ah Bai saw the pentcoloured crane, its pair of purple eyes lit up. He……he still remembers this beautiful little crane!
Ah Bai immediately spread its legs and ran towards the pentcoloured crane. The pentcoloured crane was in the middle of combing its messy, windblown hair, and when it was nuzzled by Ah Bai, it instantly used one of its legs to kick Ah Bai away.
Hu Po scoffed at a side: what an idiot, he deserves it!
Yan Tianhen took in this whole sight, and before anyone could give their greetings, he complained to Yuan Tianwen, “Your bird kicked my family’s Ah Bai.”
Yuan Tianwen, “…”
Yuan Tianwen held back the words that were at the tip of his tongue.
Han Yuran glanced at the Ah Bai who was running about everywhere as he was being chased, and a greedy glint flashed through his eyes. However, he quickly suppressed it and withdrew his gaze, then gave Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen a cold look as he said, “It was your demonic beast who stuck to our Chi Xiao on purpose, and you still want to blame Chi Xiao for beating him up? Nonsense, don’t tell me that animal that can’t distinguish between right and wrong can’t be blamed?”
Duan Yuyang currently wore a face with an expression that said “Laozi has finally been saved!”. He walked over to squeeze in between Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen, then pointed at Yuan Tianwen and said, “Tsktsk, pets usually take after their owners. Just look at that stinky bird of his; it always puts on a stinky face that makes it look like the whole world owes it 80 000 gold and struts around so haughtily. It conducts itself just like its owner.”
Han Yuran said in a cold voice, “Duan Yuyang, pay attention to what you say. Tianwen Ge was kind enough to bring you along, don’t take others’ kindness for granted.”
“Pei.” Duan Yuyang scornfully glared at him and said, “Are you in any position to talk?”
Han Yuran fumed, “You–”
“Yuyang, isn’t what you said a bit too much.” Yuan Tianwen unhappily looked at Duan Yuyang.
Duan Yuyang sneered and said, “Honourable me is this impolite.”
1. To have grown full-fledged wings = become fully independent↩
2. This typo irritated me to no end cause it’s just a huge typo that I doubt the author even noticed (she makes a LOT of typos, even a Chinese reader commented on the no. of typos in this novel….) Okay so the original raw stated that only craftsman of a treasure level can craft storage bags. Problem is, there is no such thing as a treasure level craftsman. The author has a glossary of her own and in it she didn’t mention anything about a ‘treasure level’, so I could only interpret it as a craftsman who crafts treasure tools. But if the craftsmen in the Five Continents can barely craft treasure tools (second lowest level for tools), then they must be pretty weak…which I wouldn’t be surprised at actually↩
T/N: My favourite side character is back~ Also…… I’ve been translating ahead and omg….. I’m beginning to forget all the funny equipment/city names I’ve translated. Time to finally get down to writing that glossary……………
Also, translating RSCB is SUCH a fresh breath of air after SD. SD makes me appreciate translating RSCB so much more……….. (இ﹏இ`｡)