Lin Beiguang stopped Lin Xun just as he was about to leave.
“Our Lin Family owns a third-grade ore vein one thousand seven hundred miles outside the Forbidden City. It can provide five hundred thousand gold coins in one month. In the future, the profits from this ore vein will be sent to Mind Cleansing Peak.”
Lin Beiguang had given Lin Xun a huge gift.
“As you grow stronger in the future, I will gradually return the properties controlled by the Lin Clan to Mind Cleansing Peak.”
Lin Xun stared at Lin Beiguang in shocked silence. He finally believed that his fifth grand uncle wasn’t deliberately making things difficult for him and disguising them as tests.
“Thank you, Fifth Granduncle.” Lin Xun bowed to express his gratitude.
“Also, there is something else I want to discuss with you,” Lin Beiguang said thoughtfully.
“I heard that some of your subordinates now are outsiders. This might be unfavorable to unifying the clan. After all, outsiders will always be outsiders. The clan affairs should be handled by clan members.”
Lin Xun had also considered the same issue, and Spirit Vulture had previously helped him analyze the pros and cons. So, he immediately understood what Lin Beiguang wanted to say. “Fifth Granduncle, do you have some advice regarding this?”
Lin Beiguang said, “I plan to send a group of young disciples from the clan to Mind Cleansing Peak. What do you say?”Ordinary people would no doubt be wary when they heard such a proposal. After all, it was no different from placing people of the North Light Lin Clan around Lin Xun! If the clansmen of North Light Lin Clan took control of everything on Mind Cleansing Peak, Lin Xun would become a mere figurehead!
Lin Xun pondered for a moment and said, “Of course, they are welcome on Mind Cleansing Peak. Mind Cleansing Peak lacks people and there aren’t many people I can trust. If I have help from my clan, it would no doubt lessen the weight of my responsibility.”
Lin Beiguang smiled ruminatively. “If you want to wield the power of the head of the clan, you must have the ability to control that power. I wonder if you have the power to control the new clan members when they arrive at Mind Cleansing Peak.”
Lin Xun smiled. “In my heart, there is only one Lin Family. There is no difference between the West Creek, Cloud Weight, Flying Peak and North Light and the main clan. I will treat them as my people if they listen to me. If they don’t listen to my orders—”
“What would you do?” Lin Beiguang stared intently at Lin Xun.
Lin Xun smiled and asked in response, “What would you want me to do?”
Lin Beiguang was stumped at first and then he waved his hand. “Never mind. You can decide on your own. I just hope that you can consider the overall situation when you make that decision.”
“Overall situation.” Lin Xun scrunched his brows.
“Yes, the overall situation.”
“Okay,” said Lin Xun bluntly.
His answer was so casual and calm that it made Lin Beiguang unsure of how genuine his response was.
After a while, Lin Beiguang waved his hand and said, “Go, you not only have to deal with the internal problems within the clan but also foreign enemies. I hope that you can avenge the Lin Family and lead us to rise in the Forbidden City one day!”
His expression was calm, but he spoke earnestly.
With that, Lin Xun said farewell and left.
He was in deep thought on his way back to Mind Cleansing Peak. He had a rough understanding of the North Light Lin Clan’s attitude towards him. Although most of the clansmen disliked him, he believed that, as long as the North Light Lin Clan didn’t treat him as an enemy, they would one day give their allegiance to Mind Cleansing Peak!
Lin Xun felt a lot more at ease.
Among the four collateral branches of the Lin Family, the North Light Lin Clan was no longer a threat to him. He felt he had taken a huge step towards solving the internal problems within the clan!
As for how to deal with the remaining three branches, Lin Xun was in no hurry. He had already promised to give them three years to consider.
However, if they still stubbornly insisted on staying enemies, he wouldn’t show any mercy!
Mind Cleansing Peak.
After Lin Xun returned, he recounted his trip to North Light Lin Clan to Spirit Vulture.
“Some resistance is unavoidable. Once your power strengthens in the future, the North Light Lin Clan will submit to you,” stated Spirit Vulture.
Lin Xun agreed, “I think so too.”
“After days of preparation, Blood Thorn’s alchemy room and Yang Ling’s weapon forging workshop will soon start operation. Old Diao has also begun setting up formation around Mind Cleansing Peak.”
Spirit Vulture quickly asked another question, “Do you have any suggestions regarding this?”
Lin Xun thought for a moment and said helplessly, “I don’t know much about this. I can only ask you to help me take care of it.”
Spirit Vulture nodded, “Fine. Leave it to me.”
Suddenly, he remembered something. “Lin Xun, after investigation, Xiaoke is certain that the three collateral branches of the Lin Clan—West Creek, Cloud Weight and Flying Peak, will not submit to you.”
“I understand. I gave them three years to think about it anyway. After three years, I will make a decision based on their attitude then.”
Spirit Vulture shook his head. “No, you misunderstand me. They will not submit to you no matter what.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s very simple. After the bloody tragedy on Mind Cleansing Peak, those three branches had secretly colluded with external forces to seize and split the wealth and properties of the Lin Family!”
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes and fell silent for a moment. “Did the North Light Lin Clan also collude with external forces back then?”
“No.” Spirit Vulture shook his head.
Lin Xun breathed a sigh of relief. If the North Light Lin Clan did, it would be a huge blow to him.
“What do you plan to do now?” asked Spirit Vulture.
“Since I have promised them three years to think about it, I won’t change it. But that doesn’t mean I will forgive them for their crimes back then.” Lin Xun drew a deep breath, and a chilling glint flashed in his eyes.
Deep in the night.
Lin Xun sat alone in the study on the second floor of Mind Cleansing Hall.
It seemed that the troublesome matters on Mind Cleansing Peak had been sorted, and he was moving in the right direction.
With the assistance of Spirit Vulture, Xiaoke, Lin Zhong and Third Old Zhu, the affairs on Mind Cleansing Peak were being tackled one by one.
Patriarch North Light had promised to send five hundred thousand gold coins to Mind Cleansing Peak every month, so Lin Xun no longer needed to put too much time and effort in making money.
Moreover, once Blood Thorn and Yang Ling’s projects proceed smoothly, they would also definitely bring benefits to Mind Cleansing Peak.
As for the issue of the three collateral branches—West Creek, Cloud Weight and Flying Peak, Lin Xun had no intention of acting rashly for the time being.
He intended to deal with the internal problems once Mind Cleaning Peak became stronger and its power reached a certain level.
However, Lin Xun also knew that the other three collateral branches wouldn’t sit and do nothing even if he didn’t act.
Spirit Vulture had speculated that they had already started to act in secret. They wanted to control Lin Xun and make him their puppet.
That way, they wouldn’t put Lin Xun’s life at risk, but would still control the power of the clan and allow them to return to Mind Cleansing Peak.
For example, the ambush that Lin Xun encountered the other day on his way back from Stone Cauldron Alms a few days ago was their doing. If it wasn’t for Lin Zhong, Lin Xun would have suffered from an accident already.
The ambush that the three collateral branches planned was led by a Heaven Ascension cultivator called Old Devil Qu! He was skilled in spirit searching and soul-seizing arts.
As Spirit Vulture had analyzed, they didn’t want to kill Lin Xun. Instead, they wanted to control his soul and turn him into their puppet!
It was precisely because of this that Lin Xun brought Third Old Zhu and Lin Zhong with him to the North Light Lin Clan. He was worried about attacks from the other three branches.
However, he didn’t need to worry as long as he remained on Mind Cleansing Peak.
As one of the seventy-two peaks of the Mountains of Aristocratic Clans, Mind Cleansing Peak had extremely terrifying restrictions. Outsiders couldn't break in without Lin Xun’s consent.
“Now, I need to strengthen the power of Mind Cleansing Peak as soon as possible, but I can leave this to Spirit Vulture…” Lin Xun fell into contemplation. “I need to grow stronger, raise my prestige, and use all means to enrich my foundation.”
Lin Xun knew that, as the successor of Mind Cleansing Peak, his strength and prestige were most important! It would be ridiculous to ignore them!
Huh?
Suddenly, another matter came to his mind. Now that he had broken through to the Spirit Sea Stage, he had two opportunities waiting for him!
Yes, not one but two!
The first was the Omega Secret Realm!
When he passed the third level of the Great Azure Cloud Path, he was informed that he had to reach the Spirit Sea Stage to enter the Omega Secret Realm again.
He had reached that stage!
What test and rewards will there be waiting for me when I enter the Omega Secret Realm this time?
Lin Xun was full of anticipation.
But after thinking it over and over, he gave up on challenging the Omega Secret Realm for the time being.
He had only just broken through and still hadn’t managed to perfectly control his new Spirit Sea power. It was too reckless to challenge the Omega Secret Realm as the amazing opportunity couldn’t be wasted.
With this thought, Lin Xun brought out an unremarkable-looking black ring. Despite its looks, it was rich in history! It was called Chaotic Void, and it was a treasure passed down from the ancestors of the Lin Family and only direct descendants of the Lin Family could control it.
The clansmen of the collateral branches and outsiders couldn’t possess the ring because only the power of the direct bloodline could awaken it and make it appear in the world.
According to Lin Zhong, the Chaotic Void Ring was the reason that the Lin Family could exist to this day and establish a foothold in the world.
Only those who possessed the ring could obtain the Chaotic Void Dao Scripture, a supreme sacred book of the Lin Clan!