As the clan elder of the Fourth Branch, he had to consider the interests of not just the entire clan, but also his own branch.
And this emergency meeting was specifically about the Fourth Branch.
"Uncle Qingyang, we haven’t gathered here to completely destroy the Fourth Branch. Rather, it’s time for the Fourth Branch to make some changes."
Lin Shouyuan exchanged a look with Lin Shouchen and was the first to speak. The Third and Fourth Branches had a long-standing feud. There were some things Brother Qi couldn’t say, but he could.
"Shouyuan, I know Lin Yan is your disciple, but Mingchuan and Mingguan are already confined in Reversed Lake. By the time they’re released, Lin Yan will have reached the True Gang Realm. They won’t be a threat to him at all," Lin Qingyang said with a helpless, bitter smile.
"He won’t be a threat to Lin Yan, but what about the people around him?"
Lin Shouyuan’s attitude was firm. "Given Lin Mingchuan’s temperament, he definitely won’t let this go after his confinement is over. If he can’t get to Lin Yan, he might go after his family. And don’t forget, Lin Yan comes from a branch family. His relatives aren’t Blood Exchange Realm Martial Artists."
"Then how about we bring Lin Yan’s family to the main clan and settle them in your Third Branch? That should be acceptable, shouldn’t it? The Fourth Branch will cover all required resources, including the Contribution Points."
Lin Qingyang was still trying to find a compromise, even if it meant paying a hefty price. Relocating Lin Yan’s entire lineage to the main clan meant they would have to enjoy the treatment of main clan disciples, and the necessary resources and Contribution Points were no small sum.
Lin Shouyuan fell silent. However, Lin Shouzheng, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke. "Uncle Qingyang, in my years as Hall Master of the Law Enforcement Hall, I have punished many clan members for violating clan rules. The largest number of them came from the Fourth Branch. Members of the Fourth Branch spread rumors detrimental to the Third Branch, and even after being punished, they showed no remorse. Instead, their animosity toward the Third Branch only intensified."
At Lin Shouzheng’s words, Lin Qingyang’s aged face twitched. He could still parry with Lin Shouyuan. After all, Lin Shouyuan was Lin Yan’s master, so his choice to side with Lin Yan and the Third Branch could be dismissed as biased. But Shouzheng was the Hall Master of the Law Enforcement Hall... For him to speak was tantamount to passing judgment on the Fourth Branch.
"Uncle Qingyang, I have a notebook here."
Lin Shouchen took a notebook from his robes. Lin Qingyang took it curiously. When he opened it and saw the contents, his old eyes widened abruptly. "Is this true?"
"This was written by the hand of the maid who served that woman from the Cui Family back then. If you don’t believe it, Uncle Qingyang, I can bring her here for your interrogation."
"There’s no need. I believe you."
Lin Qingyang waved his hand, seeming to age ten years in an instant.
He knew that with Shouchen’s character, he would not fabricate something like this.
If he had wanted to fake it, he could have done so back then. There was no need to wait until now.
’That bastard... He was truly so bewitched by beauty that he committed an act of treason against the family.’
Veins bulged on Lin Qingyang’s old face. Back then, when Old Shi was killed by Shouchen, his reason told him that Shouchen wouldn’t have wronged Old Shi. But Old Shi was, after all, someone the Fourth Branch had poured all their resources into cultivating. Out of familial affection, he simply couldn’t accept it, so he had pretended to be ignorant all this time.
In fact, deep down, he couldn’t help but blame Shouchen a little.
’What Old Shi told that woman wasn’t even a major clan secret. Why did Shouchen have to be so ruthless and kill him?’
But today, reading the notebook, he saw that Old Shi had even revealed the clan’s Cultivation Technique to that woman. This crossed a line—not just for him, but for the entire clan.
Everyone else present also looked at Lin Shouchen now. They could roughly guess the contents of the notebook.
’So, it seems Shouchen wasn’t idle during all those years he spent in seclusion in the ancestral hall.’
"Ahem, Qingyang... The Fourth Branch is part of our Lin Family. That cannot be changed. The system of the five branches was established by the ancestors. But when our ancestors divided the clan into five branches, it was in the hope that our people would remain competitive, not that they would turn on each other in life-and-death struggles."
Another elder spoke up, seeing the time was right.
"It’s time to make a decision about what happened back then. Some of the bad apples should be cleaned out. Besides, within your Fourth Branch, there have been quite a few dissenting voices over the years, haven’t there?"
Another elder spoke. As they were also clan elders, the words of these two carried more weight.
Lin Qingyang glanced at the two of them. The elder from the Third Branch had not yet spoken. If he were to add his voice, this matter... would be irreversible.
He also understood what his Second Brother meant.
Old Shi from back then, as well as Lin Mingchuan, Lin Mingguan, Mingxing, and Mingtang... they all belonged to the same lineage.
The Lin Family was divided into five branches. Because they summoned branch families to join the main clan every hundred years, bringing in fresh blood, it led to a situation where even though everyone belonged to the bloodline of their respective branch’s ancestor, each branch was internally divided into many different lines.
The reason Lin Mingchuan and the others’ hatred for the Third Branch ran so deep was because they shared the same great-grandfather as Old Shi.
But within the Fourth Branch, there were many other clan members who did not descend from the same great-grandfather as Mingchuan’s line.
In comparison, these clan members did not harbor as much resentment towards the Third Branch. Much of the time, their actions against the Third Branch were more a matter of standing in solidarity with their fellow Fourth Branch members.
And the second elder’s meaning was obvious: clean out Old Shi’s entire lineage.
It wasn’t about killing every member of Old Shi’s line. After all, they were all members of the Lin Family, and Lin Mingxing and the others hadn’t committed crimes worthy of death.
The plan was to keep the Blood Exchange Realm members of this lineage, such as Lin Mingxing, under control within the clan. As for the clan members at the Skin Smoothing realm and the women and children below the Blood Exchange Realm, they would be moved out, effectively changing their status from main clan members to a branch family.
At the next summoning of the branch families, if they met the conditions, they could still return.
Two or three hundred years would be enough to dilute a great deal of hatred.
"This matter, I will handle it."
Finally, Lin Qingyang made his decision, a ruthless glint in his eyes.
’If a decision is to be made, it must be carried out completely.’
The Fourth Branch wasn’t just Lin Mingchuan’s lineage. People like Mingjian and Mingzhao belonged to another line.
Hearing Lin Qingyang’s words, the others present broke into smiles.
Lin Shouchen’s expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he was filled with emotion. ’If not for Lin Yan’s rise, which allowed the clan to see his potential, I’m afraid this matter wouldn’t have had such a satisfactory outcome, even with the notebook.’
’At the very least, it wouldn’t have been resolved this quickly.’
「Two days later.」
Lin Yan sat cross-legged in the center of the courtyard, Blood Gang circulating around him, firmly locking the cold air within a one-foot radius of his body.
By now, he had already refined seven drops of Cold Dew.
In his Dantian, the golden blood mass had now solidified like a true Golden Core. Every contraction was accompanied by a low echo, like the heartbeat of an ancient beast—muffled, powerful, and unstoppable.
And with every tremor of the blood mass, a surge of energy would slam into the area below his heart.
Once, twice, three times...
’That gate... it’s loosening.’
Lin Yan placed the eighth drop of Cold Dew in his palm.
A cold chill surged in.
The Medicinal Power of the Warm Sun Pill had long been exhausted, and he no longer needed it. After refining seven drops of Cold Dew, his body had thoroughly adapted to the encroaching cold. The icy chill that once made his hair stand on end now entered his body as smoothly as a stream flowing into the ocean.
The moment the cold entered his body, it was swept up by the Qi Blood of the Eight Desolates Dragon Elephant Technique and rushed toward his Dantian. There, it was devoured, compressed, and converted by the Golden Core-like blood mass, transforming into an even purer energy that surged back toward the area below his heart.
This time, the energy did not dissipate.
It gathered, condensed, and spun three inches below his heart, like a tiny star lighting up inside his body.
HUMMM!
A deep tremor emanated from deep within his body. It was not the vibration of his bones, nor the roar of his Qi Blood, but a more profound resonance, as if Heaven and Earth themselves were whispering.
The gathered energy suddenly solidified, forming a tiny vortex.
The vortex was only the size of a soybean, but it was slowly rotating.
It spun, pulsing, devouring the incoming cold, compressing and transforming it, and merging it into Lin Yan’s Qi Blood.
’The Gang Acupoint... is open.’
The moment Lin Yan’s consciousness touched the vortex, an unprecedented understanding flooded his mind.
’A Gang Acupoint isn’t a simple ball of energy, but a bridge connecting the body to Heaven and Earth.’
’It is a secret realm carved out by the Power of Heaven and Earth within a Martial Artist’s body, a miniature vortex connecting the human body to the world.’
It floated below his heart like an independent micro-world, both connected to and separate from his Qi Blood, meridians, and Dantian.
It spun, and with each rotation, it drew a trace of the Power of Heaven and Earth from the void, which was then transported throughout his body via his meridians.
Lin Yan did not open his eyes. The moment the Gang Acupoint appeared, he could perceive the existence of the Power of Heaven and Earth around him. It was impure and very thin. Most of it drifted freely between heaven and earth, and only a tiny fraction was captured by the Gang Acupoint in his body, transforming into wisps of Heaven and Earth Energy before merging into his Qi Blood.
It was a minuscule amount, not even ten percent of a single wisp of Cold Gang.
After perceiving the Heaven and Earth Energy for a moment, Lin Yan slowly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting into a slight smile.
’I’ve finally broken through to the True Gang Realm!’

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