In Alin.
Gan Nianyun, Gan Leixin's daughter, was at a high-society party with a group of young heiresses when she received a phone call. She was told to return to her ho country imdiately for an arranged marriage. She was utterly stunned.
"This is too sudden! Who is it? What? Lin Tianyang? Hasn't he been missing for years? I refuse to marry such a down-and-out guy!" she fud, vehently opposing the idea.
Lin Tang didn't have much of an impression of her, but she rembered him very clearly. They were about the sa age, and when they were infants, her mother had given most of her milk to him. That alone would have been fine, but from the mont she began to babble, she was strictly taught to unconditionally yield to Lin Tianyang. He was the master, and she was the servant; she had to understand their difference in status. Whenever Lin Tianyang got into trouble, she was always the one to take the bla, getting scolded and beaten.
She hated that guy to death.
Later, leaving the Lin Family had been a joyous relief. Then, a few years ago, she learned of the Lin Family's downfall and Lin Tianyang's disappearance, assuming he had likely t a grim fate. She even took pleasure in their misfortune, offering not a single shred of sympathy. And now, they were forcing her to marry the person she loathed most from her childhood?
To hell with that!
However, no matter how furiously she argued, Gan Leixin simply responded with a cold ultimatum: co back obediently, or he would have his n bring her back by force. Don't bla him if word got out and she was humiliated.
"Hmph, you're forcing my hand!" Gan Nianyun sneered. Then she decisively returned to the country.
Of course, before she left, she secretly t with soone. Following their lead, she entered a mysterious organization.
"I want soone crippled," she said. "Yes, just crippled, not killed. Na your price."
As a result, a bounty for Lin Tianyang appeared on a secret website. The background image of this website was a simple drawing of a mysterious eye, identical to the one on the back of the hand of Princess Shatana from Sunset Country.
Not long after, within an ancient castle, an old man was sipping wine from a tall glass. After listening to a respectful report from his subordinate, his eyes lit up. "The remnants of the Central Earth Lin Family have finally resurfaced? Prepare the blood sacrifice ceremony at once! I want to communicate with the great Eye of Truth, Alto!"
"Yes, sir!" the subordinate replied, taking his orders.
Dozens of tightly bound humans were taken to the castle's deepest dungeon. Amidst their terrified screams, their throats were slit, and their blood was drained into the grooves of a hexagram inscribed on a platform. The old man, now dressed in a floor-length robe and holding a black staff, began to chant and call out in a strange, otherworldly tone…
***
「Jiangbei. Hotel.」
"We've been secretly investigating for years, trying to find out which power persecuted the Lin Family, but we've never found a single clue," Gan Leixin said with a sigh. "Tianyang, do you know who your enemies are?"
Lin Tang closed his eyes, his mind flashing back five years to when he was still in school. One day, his mother, half-covered in blood, had rushed into his classroom. Amidst the students' screams, she grabbed him and fled. It was then he discovered for the first ti that his fragile mother—the one who normally couldn't even lift a bucket of water, who was always so lazy she'd rather sit than stand, whose hands were too delicate for manual labor—was actually a martial arts expert.
Unfortunately, there were too many assassins after her, and none of them were weak. A brutal chase and fight ensued. During a brief mont when they shook off their pursuers, his mother sorrowfully told him that everyone else in the family was dead…
"I was in so much pain, my mind was just numb. I even wondered if it was so massive April Fool's joke," Lin Tang said softly, his voice deep.
It was the first ti Lee Encai had seen him like this. Her heart ached for him, and she gripped his hand tightly.
Lin Tang continued, "Those enemies, people I didn't recognize at all, found us again, yelling at us to hand sothing over. In the end, with nowhere left to run, my mother unleashed her last bit of strength to protect . She cut down one hundred thirty-eight people in succession!"
His jaw clenched. Though he wasn't channeling True Qi or his internal energy, he still released a formidable, invisible pressure that washed over the room.
"What?!" Zhong Liming's pupils shrank. He began to tremble involuntarily, finding it hard to breathe.
How is this possible? He's clearly a cripple, an ant I could crush with one hand, so why am I… Gu Zicheng was shocked, but also imnsely relieved. Thankfully, I didn't fight Lin Tang to the death and had the good sense to surrender. Otherwise, I would have already t King Yan. This young man, Lin Tang… is truly terrifying! He could annihilate in an instant. Absolutely.
Gan Leixin and his wife felt just as distressed, as if they were facing a mountain about to collapse on them. What's happening? This has to be an illusion, right?
They nearly slid off the sofa, but then the overwhelming feeling vanished as quickly as it had appeared. They looked up to see Lin Tang wiping the moisture from the corner of his eye, having already regained his absolute composure.
"But in doing so, my mother exhausted all her strength and died," he stated with utmost calm.
"Then… did she leave you with any final words?" Gan Leixin's gaze flickered with quiet anticipation. He was trying to pry, to find out if Lin Tang had learned the monuntal secret from his mother.
Lin Tang glanced at him and said slowly, "She was about to say sothing, but a mysterious person in a mask suddenly appeared. The mont he arrived, my mother changed her tune. She pleaded with him to spare , saying I was innocent, and then she…"
He should have been captured or killed by the masked man. Fortunately, his master, the Divine Fortune Teller, happened to be passing by. Drawn by the scent of blood, he was the one who rescued him.
"So, the only clue is this masked man," Lin Tang concluded. "The pattern on his mask was very peculiar. Let draw it for you."
He picked up a pen and first sketched the outline of a face, then drew a simple depiction of an eye. This slanted eye occupied the lower-middle part of the mask. Afterward, he drew five more eyes, each at what seed to be a random angle, scattered across the mask without any obvious order. The eeriest part was that when he finished, the six eyes seed to gain an invisible connection, strangely distorting one's vision of the paper and making anyone who looked at it feel dizzy and disoriented.
"Damn!" Gu Zicheng exclaid. "When I was traveling abroad, I think I saw sothing like that! It could very well be the totem of a Western Evil God!"
"Hmm?" Lin Tang was also surprised. He hadn't expected Gu Zicheng to actually provide a clue. It was a good thing he hadn't killed him.
This beggar has been overseas? Qiu Yuxian was taken aback. She was even more dismissive of the so-called Evil God. What era is this? Still playing with that kind of nonsense?
Gan Leixin suppressed his discomfort and studied the drawing of the mask again. It seed to spark a mory for him as well, but his face was a mask of its own, revealing nothing. He solemnly put the paper away. "Since this is the only clue, I will use all my resources to continue the investigation," he said. "If we can find this masked man, we might be able to force him to tell us who is really behind all this!"
"Thank you so much," Lin Tang said earnestly.
"Tianyang, you're being too formal. You're my future son-in-law, after all!"
"I really don't want to marry again…"
"You'll change your mind when you et my daughter! And it's not just boasting as her father—Nianyun is exceptionally beautiful. She's not inferior to anyone!"
Lin Tang was about to refuse again when one of Gan Leixin's n ca in to report that Shen Youling had sohow found their location and was currently downstairs making a scene.
"What? Are you sure she's 'making a scene'?" Lin Tang was shocked. Since he had known Shen Youling, he had seen her be cold, sad, frightened, angry, and happy, but he had never seen her act disgracefully.
"Then I'll be taking my leave!" Suddenly, Lin Tang was eager to see exactly what kind of scene she was making. That had to be interesting.
After he left with Lee Encai and Gu Zicheng, Zhong Liming whispered, "Boss, this Lin Tianyang… it seems he's not so simple."
Gan Leixin nodded. "He is a child of the Lin Family, after all. It's only natural he'd be extraordinary."
Qiu Yuxian remained unconvinced, though she didn't show it in front of her subordinates. She forced a complint, "Well, he is my son-in-law. Of course, the more outstanding he is, the better!"
***
「Outside the hotel.」
Shen Youling was being held back by a line of guards. She kept trying to force her way through, only to be pushed back repeatedly. Her hair was a ss as she loudly protested. The crowd of onlookers pointed and whispered, shocked to see the most beautiful woman in Jiangbei behaving like a shrew.
"Give back my husband!" Shen Youling's voice was hoarse from shouting, fresh tears tracing the dried paths of old ones down her cheeks.
When Lin Tang ca out of the hotel, the first thing he saw was this fragile, yet fiercely stubborn, woman.
Sigh, what a fool.
Honestly, Lin Tang had many complaints about Shen Youling. He especially disliked her double standards. She was always indulgent with her family, polite but distant with strangers, and resigned to her fate when facing enemies, lacking the courage or ability to fight back. Yet with him, she was always fiercely confrontational, and they would often start arguing after just a few words. This contradictory, inconsistent side of her… perhaps it actually makes her seem more real.
"Honey, I'm here," Lin Tang sighed, all his dissatisfaction evaporating in that mont. He quickly walked over to her.
"Lin Tang!" Shen Youling's delicate body trembled. She whipped her head around, then flew into his arms, hugging him tightly.
She looked up, her hands frantically running over his face. She even pried his eyelids open to peer intently inside. Seeing his eyes were still there, clearly reflecting her own image, she let out a long sigh of relief. "I'm so glad your eyes are alright. I was terrified they had already taken your corneas."
Then, just as expected, she got angry. "What am I supposed to say to you? I told you not to just turn yourself in, but you had to be so stubborn!"
Lin Tang patted the back of her head. "You're the one who's too stubborn. Can't you see I ca out completely unhard? Qiu Yuxian didn't dare do anything to . On the contrary, she gave a lot of assets and is now insisting on marrying her daughter to … ugh, it's so damn annoying!"
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