Ch166 – So-Called Family
As soon as he finished speaking, the forged stones in Lin Xuanzhi’s hand lightly flew out and hit Bai Yanhui’s face with a “pa pa pa pa” sound, causing his entire face to bleed.
Bai Yanhui was immediately stunned and covered his face. “You actually dare to hit me?!”
Lin Xuanzhi hooked his lips slightly as he waved the fan in his hand downwards. A gale as sharp as a blade swept towards Bai Yanhui’s legs. Bai Yanhui only felt a sudden pain in both his legs before he knelt on the ground at once with a thud.
With this action, the Lin family attracted a lot of attention, and many people in the large and noisy plaza all looked this way.
“Why did someone kneel down in Lin family’s place?”
Bai Yanhui’s face turned blue. He wanted to stand up, but realised that both his legs had suffered such grievous injuries that he couldn’t even exert the energy to move them. He stared incredulously at the blue stone floor in front of him, his body trembling with fear.
He wore many self-defense treasures on his body with absolutely high high levels. In principle, he should be able to withstand the attack of a Hardened Body Stage cultivator, but Lin Xuanzhi’s light attack actually left him helpless?!
How was that possible?
Bai Hongfei’s face also had a metallic-blue tinge. He clenched his fist in a death grip and gnashed his teeth, “Lin Xuanzhi, you actually dare to harm someone from my Bai family? Do you know how many people will rush over to attack you on my command?”
Lin Xuanzhi looked past Bai Hongfei at a spot not far behind him. He withdrew the cold expression on his face and spoke with a slight smile, “Now that Young Master Bai has come, you might as well take back your family’s two immature children and teach them a lesson before letting them out. It will save you from having the Bai family name disgraced.”
Bai Hongfei violently turned his head around and saw Young Master Bai, who was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by his dog, Bai Wuya, towards them.
Bai Hongfei’s expression changed greatly, and he immediately stepped aside and bowed his head, not daring to speak even a word.
Bai Yichen didn’t even spare the two Bai family pupils a glance. He came to a stop in front of Lin Xuanzhi and gazed at him with a smile, “For Xuanzhi to be this angry, our family’s two pupils must have been the ones who lacked discipline and ended up provoking you. Wuya.”
“At Young Master’s command.”
“Take them back to the Bai family and imprison them for three months first, then have them wash equipment for another three months.”
Bai Hongfei immediately looked up and glared at Bai Yichen. “Young Master, this person was obviously the one who started it first. Don’t tell me that you’ll indiscriminately punish your own family members for a mere outsider?”
Bai Yichen did not speak, as though he disdained to respond to him.
Bai Wuya waved his hand, and several guards who were following behind him came forward to detain Bai Hongfei and Bai Yanhui.
Bai Wuya ignored the protests from these two people and spoke coldly, “Where is so much nonsense coming from? Just do whatever Young Master says. Take them away!”
Bai Yanhui and Bai Hongfei, who had been jumping around in front of Lin Xuanzhi for half a day, were forcibly led away just like that.
Lin Xuanzhi gave him a look as he said with a half-smile, “That’s because you are a good and obedient boy.”
Yan Tianhen playfully stuck out his tongue as he intimately hugged Lin Xuanzhi’s arm. He then spoke to Bai Yichen, “Young Master Bai was so cool just now. They didn’t even dare to resist him!”
Bai Wuya nodded, “Our Young Master has absolute authority in the Bai family after all.”
Bai Yichen smiled slightly at Lin Xuanzhi, “Many thanks for standing up for me just now.”
Lin Xuanzhi gazed at Bai Yichen and replied flatly, “They insulted my family’s Didi first, so I naturally will not sit idly by and ignore them.”
Lin Xuanzhi’s words made Bai Yichen smile even wider.
Lin Xuanzhi purposefully bypassed his words and attributed all his reasons for taking action to Yan Tianhen, but he never imagined that the more he avoided Bai Yichen as if he was taboo, the more he made Bai Yichen think that Lin Xuanzhi wanted to deliberately distance himself from him.
However, his behavior did not correspond with his words, which made it even more suspicious.
Yan Tianhen blinked a few times, “Young Master Bai, people from your family’s side branch sure have sharp tongues.”
They even dared to curse at their own young master. That wouldn’t have happened in other elite first-class families.
Bai Yichen dismissed it and patiently explained, “Those two are from the main lineage of Bai family’s side branch. Bai family’s main and side branches are relatively independent, and each has its own elders overseeing them. The two branches often don’t see eye-to-eye. As for the two disciples just now, they are not very skilled, but their elder brother Bai Honghu is very arrogant and ambitious. Due to his outstanding talent and remarkable abilities, he led the meteoric rise of the side branch’s position within the Bai family. Now, even the Bai family’s head needs to give him some face when he sees him, and the side branch is slowly making their way to standing on equal ground with the main branch.”
Speaking of this, Bai Yichen told Lin Xuanzhi, “Bai Honghu has yet to enter any sects and is also under the age of 25. He will attend the Hundred Families Gathering today; you should be careful.”
Lin Xuanzhi replied, “I have never even heard of Bai Honghu. How can I be careful of him?”
Bai Wuya couldn’t stop the corners of his lips from twitching. Though the movement was small, it was nevertheless there.
This person was a little too arrogant.
At any rate, Bai Honghu was still a Teal Soul Stage craftsman, so who knew how much higher his cultivation level was compared to this Lin Xuanzhi? Yet Lin Xuanzhi talked as if he was just an obscure younger generation who didn’t need to be taken seriously at all!
Bai Yichen, however, nodded. “That’s true. He’s not even worth mentioning in front of you.”
The rest of the Lin family immediately studied Lin Xuanzhi with suspicious gazes — even though Lin Xuanzhi has never heard of Bai Honghu, they have ah!
“It’s getting late. Young Master, we should go back.” Bai Wuya saw that more and more people had appeared in the plaza and planned to take Bai Yichen to the spectators’ platform.
Bai Yichen’s bright eyes flashed as he said to Lin Xuanzhi, “When you finish the competition, I’d like to invite you over for a cup of tea.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “Okay.”
Bai Yichen said, “Just you and me.”
Yan Tianhen blinked and did not speak.
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Alright.”
Bai Yichen gave Lin Xuanzhi a very meaningful look and left.
After Bai Yichen left, Yan Tianhen touched his nose and whispered, “Dage, do you like this Bai Young Master?”
Lin Xuanzhi paused and patted Yan Tianhen’s head, “He’s someone to make friends with.”
Yan Tianhen asked, “So, Dage likes him very much?”
“I like Ah Hen the best.” Lin Xuanzhi smiled and withdrew his gaze, which had been sending Bai Yichen off, to look at Yan Tianhen, “And I only like Ah Hen.”
Yan Tianhen’s face immediately flushed red.
The people beside them were still discussing whether Lin Xuanzhi had heard of Bai Honghu.
“Say, do you really think he never heard of him? Or he was just pretending to not know about him?”
“I can’t tell. Anyway, he is the most pretentious one in the Lin family, so who knows if he said that on purpose?”
“Nevertheless, the reason the Lin family can be so famous now is also due to Xuanzhi, so I think he has the right to be that pretentious.”
“I heard that Bai family’s Bai Honghu beat the main branch senseless in many of Bai family’s internal competitions, dominating first place.”
“Yeah, Bai Honghu is quite famous.”
“I don’t believe that he really hasn’t heard of him.”
Although those people whispered in low voices, Lin Xuanzhi could still hear every single one of their words loud and clear. But frankly, he really had not heard of Bai Honghu before. Be it in his last life or this one, he has no impression of this name.
Lin Zezhi walked up to Lin Xuanzhi and apologized with a guilty expression, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that they came with such intentions.”
Lin Xuanzhi said dismissively, “It doesn’t matter how they are like. Those people have no relations with me, so whatever they say or do will not affect me.”
Lin Zezhi looked at Lin Xuanzhi and suddenly said, “When I was staying with the Bai family, they always showed their disdain for the Lin family implicitly. Even I was included — they looked down on me, but it was actually people from the main branch who were kind to me.”
Especially after he gave Lin Xuanzhi’s gift to the child of the family head’s first wife, the youths from that family took even greater care of him.
On the contrary, it was Bai Hongfei and Bai Yanhui who made things difficult for him both openly and behind closed doors by embarrassing and humiliating him.
If it wasn’t for Madam Bai’s special thousand-li message talisman insisting that he must stay with the Bai family until, at the very least, the start of the Hundred Families Gathering, he would have left the Bai family long ago.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at Lin Zezhi, who had a dejected expression on his face. “It is because they are short-sighted. Zezhi, when a person goes out into the world alone, either his own ability is outstanding enough to traverse the entire world unhindered, or the family backing him has enough pressure to deter others. Otherwise, it is normal for others to look down upon and disdain that person.”
Yan Tianhen nodded, “Yeah, even my Dage, who’s this incredible — didn’t he also have to suffer the provocations by those ignorant brats? All because the Lin family is a third-rate family. You should see for yourself — if the Lin family was a first-rate family, then how would they dare to say all that!”
Lin Zezhi’s face turned white as he nodded, “You’re right. Before, I only thought about standing out inside the Lin family so that I can be special, but I was too narrow-minded and selfish. How I treated you at the beginning was also too much, that was my fault.”
What is family?
Family is a kind of strength — it can be a thick and sturdy piece of rope, and also a massive ship.
“You haven’t actually done anything to me.” Lin Xuanzhi waved his hand, “At the very least, when others were throwing stones at me while I was down and out, you didn’t actually say or do anything bad.”
Lin Zezhi’s face burned fiercely, even though he did not openly mock or jeer at Lin Xuanzhi like the others who stepped on him every time they saw him. “But that was only because I had an image to maintain,” Lin Zezhi smiled bitterly.
“Is the reason so important?” Lin Xuanzhi asked with a broad smile, “Others can only see your actions and will not investigate what you think deep inside your heart. I like dealing with smart people, and only smart people can truly understand how to regain the Lin family’s past honor.”
As if suddenly enlightened, Lin Zezhi abruptly raised his head to look at Lin Xuanzhi.
A moment later, he moved his lips and said to Lin Xuanzhi, “Many thanks.”
Lin Xuanzhi said lightly, “Good luck in the competition.”
Lin Zezhi smiled, “Rest assured, I will naturally go all out.”
Bai Yichen and Bai Wuya moved towards the high platform circling the tall mountain peak.
On their way, Bai Wuya couldn’t help sighing, “Just now, I paid special attention to those small items on Yan Tianhen’s person.”
“How do you feel?” Bai Yichen asked.
“It’s absolutely terrifying.” Bai Wuya sighed, “I didn’t expect Lin Xuanzhi to actually be willing to equip that younger brother of his with all the good items he crafted onto. I’m afraid that not even a primary-level cultivator can easily kill Yan Tianhen now.”
The majority of those magic tools were defensive in nature, and it seemed that their levels weren’t low either. Especially his clothing — it appears quite low-key at first glance, but if you carefully used your spiritual Qi and soul force to scan it, you would be able to clearly tell that it was a top-grade defensive treasure!
“How afraid is he of his Didi being bullied?” Bai Wuya wondered.
“Are you envious of Yan Tianhen for having such a good Dage?” Bai Yichen smiled.
Bai Wuyi nodded, “He is truly fortunate.”