"Are we just going to let them sling mud at us like this?" Lin Yongfeng asked indignantly. "Our Lin Family has been established in Dongjiang Province for decades. Is there really nothing we can do?"
Soone couldn’t resist speaking up, "What about Grandmaster Ren...?"
Lin Zhen frowned. "No matter what happens, Grandmaster Ren must not be dragged into this."
It wasn’t just them. In fact, the instigators of this sar campaign had shown the sa restraint.
Let alone Grandmaster Ren, even Su Yueling’s na wasn’t ntioned. The public discourse never touched upon the background of the person to whom the Lin Family had transferred the spot.
At this stage, the situation wasn’t beyond saving. But if a Grandmaster were to be implicated, whoever was responsible would surely face a powerful crackdown from the Federation officials.
Squabbling amongst themselves wasn’t a huge problem, but Grandmasters were the true cornerstones of the Federation. They were not to be trifled with.
The argunts flared up again. So advocated for a strong counterattack, suggesting they hire people to write articles exposing the "truth." Others believed they should continue to keep a low profile and wait for the public outcry to die down on its own.
Both sides stuck to their guns, and neither could convince the other. The atmosphere grew increasingly somber and oppressive.
Seated at the head of the table, Lin Zhen listened to the argunts, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The family was facing a crisis, yet they couldn’t reach a consensus internally. It left him feeling utterly exhausted.
Just then, a calm voice spoke up, breaking the deadlock.
"Father, Uncles."
Everyone turned toward the voice. It was Lin Liren, who had been silent the entire ti.
"This matter began with ." Lin Liren’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly to everyone’s ears. "I was the one who gave the spot to Su Yueling in my personal capacity."
"Regardless of my reasons, that decision ultimately led to the current situation and has brought a huge crisis upon our family’s reputation."
He paused for a mont, as if gathering his strength, then continued, "Procedurally speaking, my position as a council mber in the Federation governnt puts in charge of this area, which is how I was able to control the spot’s allocation."
"I will submit my resignation to the council and step down from my position to take responsibility. The provincial council will issue a public announcent to quell this outcry."
As he finished speaking, everyone stared at Lin Liren in astonishnt, including Lin Zhen at the head of the table.
However, while so were genuinely surprised, others were rely feigning the expression.
The root of the problem was that Lin Liren, as a council mber, could influence the spot’s allocation—even though it was the Lin Family behind him that had secured the spot in the first place.
But from a purely procedural standpoint, it was indeed Lin Liren’s personal decision.
Sacrificing Lin Liren was the fastest way to quell the public outcry while causing the least amount of overall damage to the family. This wasn’t a difficult conclusion to reach.
It’s just that even those who had thought of it were unwilling to propose it, not wanting to earn Lin Liren’s resentnt.
Now that he had proposed it himself, many of them secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But resigning to take the bla also ant that Lin Liren’s political career was essentially over.
This not only ant that the Lin Family’s investnt in him had all gone down the drain, but it was also a significant blow to him personally.
...
The news was quickly released through the Lin Family’s channels.
[Dongjiang Province Council mber Lin Liren, due to an error in personal judgnt, bears primary responsibility for the recent public controversy. Deeply remorseful, he has resigned from all positions as of today to accept accountability.]
The announcent was first issued by the Lin Group, then approved by the provincial council, which formally accepted Council mber Lin Liren’s resignation.
While this move couldn’t completely eliminate public doubt, it did, to a large extent, satisfy the public’s demand that "soone be held responsible."
Consequently, the voices of outrage began to fade. Perhaps the masterminds behind it all had achieved their goal and ceased their relentless attacks.
Relying solely on spontaneous online discussions, the buzz couldn’t be sustained for long and gradually faded after a few days.
...
「Red River City, inside a training room.」
Xu Wuyi had just finished a round of cultivating the Hundred Refinents lting Furnace and was wiping away his sweat with a towel.
Principal Zhang Qiming pushed the door open and walked in, a complicated expression on his face.
Principal Zhang held up the news on his communicator for Xu Wuyi to see. "Lin Liren has resigned from his council position. This matter should be considered closed now."
Xu Wuyi looked at the brief announcent and nodded slightly.
He had no interest in the Lin Family’s internal struggles and was indifferent to the outco.
On the surface, it looked like soone had gotten revenge for him, but in reality, soone was just using him as a pawn.
In this whole affair, he, the one at the center of it all, was actually irrelevant. He could only watch coldly from the sidelines, as no one cared about his feelings.
Even if the Lin Family wanted to smooth things over afterward, it would only be out of concern for their own crisis.
The other party involved, Su Yueling, was also irrelevant, because no one dared to drag her into the matter.
’I’m still not strong enough...’
For the first ti, Xu Wuyi felt the reality of the adult world.
Right and wrong weren’t that important. The only thing that mattered was how strong you were.
...
The public outcry stirred up by the Lin Family was like a sudden sumr downpour: it ca on fiercely and passed just as quickly.
「July 10th. Honghe First Middle School’s Martial Arts Training Dojo.」
The sun blazed outside the window, casting bright patches of light across the rubber floor, which was covered in fine scratches.
Xu Wuyi was shirtless, revealing muscles that were becoming increasingly defined but not excessively bulky.
Sweat flowed down his bronze skin in streams, pooling in a small, dark puddle at his feet.
Every breath he took was deep and long. With the rise and fall of his chest, it was as if an invisible lting Furnace was burning inside his body.
As his cultivation deepened, he found that practicing the Hundred Refinents lting Furnace was far more profound and tyrannical than the Basic Body Refining Technique.
Xu Wuyi was also coming to understand its core principle: to treat the human body as a lting Furnace that could be constantly fed "fuel," using Qi and Blood as the fire and willpower as the hamr. Through repeated forging, one could discard the dross and refine the essence, ultimately casting an unparalleled foundation for Martial Arts.
During cultivation, his Qi and Blood no longer flowed gently. Instead, they surged and crashed through his ridians like molten lava, bringing a searing pain.
But Xu Wuyi reveled in it.
The world saw him as a Genius. His teachers, his classmates, his opponents—they all thought so. But only Xu Wuyi himself knew that he wasn’t.
His incredibly fast progress with the Hundred Refinents lting Furnace stemd from the foundation he’d built by cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique a hundred tis a day, accumulating insights from repeated monts of Enlightennt.
It was like a high school student who had so thoroughly mastered the curriculum, reviewing it back and forth hundreds of tis, that he could get a perfect score on the college entrance exams. His score might not be that different from other top students, however.
But as soon as he encountered more advanced knowledge, his progress would be far faster than anyone else’s.
This was because all knowledge is interconnected; even the most cutting-edge theories could be deduced from the fundantals.
However, Xu Wuyi never felt complacent because of this. He knew his foundation was still far from sufficient.
His Basic Body Refining Technique was only at the Minor Achievent level. The insights he had gained were certainly useful for the Beginner Stage of the Hundred Refinents lting Furnace, but what about later?
He’d had an extrely difficult ti learning just the final form of the Beginner Stage, lting Furnace Boiling Blood. He had only managed to break through thanks to the Grandmaster Level experience. What would things be like after he reached the Entry Level?
Xu Wuyi understood that if he wanted to maintain his "Genius"-level progress, he would have to work even harder than a true Genius.
From the Basic Body Refining Technique to the Hundred Refinents lting Furnace, from the Wind-Settling Spear to the B-Level Spear Technique he would learn in the future—he had to diligently practice every single Martial Art a hundred tis a day.
’I can’t waste a single day’s opportunity for Enlightennt!’
Those insights might not seem useful at the ti, but they would beco part of his foundation, destined to shine brightly one day in the future.
’Diligence is everything in Martial Arts!’
’Train. Keep training!’
Within his sea of consciousness, the Martial Arts Diligence Record floated silently.
He imrsed his entire Heart and Spirit in his cultivation, repeatedly contemplating the True Intention of "lting" contained within the Cultivation Technique. He guided the scorching Qi and Blood, letting it wash over his limbs and bones and nourish his internal organs.
Ti flowed by unnoticed in his state of deep focus.
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