While Lin Kai celebrated his small victory in the dirt, the fate of his life was being decided in a room of gold and velvet.
In the Hall of Heavenly Decisions of the Lin Clan, the air itself felt heavy that weighed down by the sheer density of the high-ranking cultivators present.
At the head of the room, as usual seated upon the massive Dragon-Elephant Skull Throne, was Clan Leader Lin Yang.
He sat in silence, his aura retracted but still suffocating. To his left and right sat the Council of Elders—ancient men and women who managed the empire. However, the seat to his immediate right—the seat of the Third Elder—remained conspicuously empty.
It had been empty for seven years. A dusting of neglect on its velvet cushion, a silent reminder of the taboo subject no one dared whisper.
Creak.
The heavy doors groaned open.
Deacon Lin Quan entered. He looked exhausted, having spent hours organizing the treasury distribution for the new disciples, but he composed himself quickly. He walked to the center of the hall and directly kneeled with one leg.
"Reporting to the Clan Leader," Lin Quan said. "The Awakening Ceremony is concluded. The resources have been distributed."
"Rise," Lin Yang's voice was calm, resonating with a metallic timbre that vibrated in the listeners' bones. "Give us the summary."
Lin Quan stood and began the report. He spoke of the wind users, the earth defenders, and finally, the crown jewel.
"Lin Xue. Peak Ice Attribute. Holy Grade Mystic Yin Body."
The Elders nodded approvingly, the tension in the room easing slightly.
"A good harvest," one Grand Elder rasped, stroking his long white beard. "With the resources of the Violet Yang Domain, she will reach the Qi Core Realm within two years."
"Indeed," Lin Yang said, a rare, terrifyingly gentle smile touching his lips. "It is delightful news. A Holy Grade body... she will be a fine spear for the Clan. Second only to my daughter."
At the mention of his daughter, Lin Yang's eyes unfocused for a moment, staring past the hall, past the walls, toward the distant Human Greatland.
Lin Yun'er.
His pride. His joy. His obsession.
According to the secret reports from the Shadow Guard, Ru Xiao, Yan'er was performing miracles in the Human Greatland.
'Sixteen years old,' Lin Yang thought, a swell of fatherly arrogance filling his chest. 'And Ru Xiao reports she is already at the 9th Stage of the Qi Core Realm (Rank 5). She is on the verge of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm (Rank 6). Unprecedented. She is a monster.'
He chuckled internally. He had been worried seven years ago when she refused to return, insisting on staying in that wasteland to "temper her heart" and "search for the lost treasure." He thought she was being willful. But if she was growing this fast? Let her stay!
'Once she reaches Nascent Soul, she will return,' Lin Yang decided, drumming his fingers on the skull-throne. 'She will crush the geniuses of the Ye Clan and the Golden Rocs. The Lin Clan will rule for another century.'
He was completely unaware that his "genius daughter" was currently suppressing her cultivation to play house with a country boy, and that the Shadow Guard was too terrified of Yan'er's suicide threats to tell him the truth.
After sharing the reports of remaining children, the deacon then asked.
"Clan Leader?"
"What is it?" Lin Yang asked, his mood still buoyant.
"There is... one more matter," Deacon Lin Quan hesitated, glancing nervously at the empty seat of the Third Elder. "It concerns the boy. Lin Kai."
The temperature in the room plummeted instantly. The smiles on the Elders' faces vanished, replaced by masks of wariness.
"What about him?" Lin Yang asked, his voice hardening into ice.
"He... he petitioned me today," Lin Quan said carefully, sweating slightly. "He asked for permission to leave the Ancestral Pocket Realm. He wishes to go to Flame Cloud City with the other disciples."
Lin Quan added quickly, trying to frame it favorably, "He was very polite. He said he wishes to 'vanish' so he does not shame the Clan further. He accepts his status as... trash. He asked to be forgotten."
Silence.
Heavy, suffocating silence.
An Elder with a scar across his eye leaned forward. "He wants to leave? Is that... wise?"
"He is fifteen," another Elder muttered. "He has a Mortal Body. If he leaves, he dies within a week. Perhaps that is a mercy? It solves the problem of the succession."
Lin Yang did not speak immediately. He looked at the empty seat of the Third Elder.
His mind flashed back to The Tragedy seven years ago.
The night Yu Yue left.
The disciples were told it was a "cultivation accident" or an "enemy ambush." But the people in this room knew the truth.
Yu Yue had tried to break through to the Forbidden Realm. But it wasn't just a breakthrough. She had opened a rift—a tear in reality that summoned creatures from the Abyss.
Lin Feng, the Third Elder, had tried to stop her... or perhaps, in his greed, he tried to steal her power while she was vulnerable.
The result was catastrophic. The backlash destroyed the Eastern Array. Three Enforcer Elders were vaporized instantly. And Lin Feng...
Lin Feng's body had been obliterated. Devoured by the Shadows. His soul barely escaped, fleeing into a Soul-Nurturing Jade that now sat in the deepest vault of the Clan, wailing in eternal torment and broken.
And Yu Yue? She had vanished into the rift. No body was found.
"Is she dead?" Lin Yang murmured, his fingers gripping the armrest hard. "Or is she waiting?"
If Yu Yue was alive, she was a calamity. A woman capable of tearing reality. A woman who had hidden her power for years.
"The boy," Lin Yang announced, his voice echoing with absolute authority, "stays."
Lin Quan blinked. "Clan Leader? But his presence here is—"
"He is bait," Lin Yang cut him off ruthlessly, his eyes cold and dead. "We do not know if that Madwoman is alive. If she is, she will eventually return for her cub. If the boy is here, she comes to us, where our arrays are strongest. If the boy is lost in the outside world... we lose our leverage."
The Elders nodded slowly. It was cruel, but it was necessary. The safety of the Clan outweighed the freedom of one crippled boy.
"Also," Lin Yang added, his eyes narrowing. "We still do not understand why his blood is Grade Zero. It is unnatural. Keep him close. Keep him watched. If he shows any sign of Her power... kill him."
"Request denied," Lin Yang waved his hand. "He is forbidden from leaving the Pocket Realm. He will remain in the Southern Quadrant until he dies of old age."
Lin Quan felt a chill run down his spine. To be imprisoned in paradise was a hell of its own.
"I... I understand," Lin Quan bowed deeply. "I will inform him."
"No," Lin Yang stood up, signaling the end of the meeting. "You are a Deacon. Do not lower yourself. Send the Healer. Send Feng Xiu. The boy trusts him. It will keep him compliant."
Deacon Lin Quan wasted no time. He flew directly to the humble residence of Feng Xiu.
When he delivered the news, the old healer didn't say a word. He just closed his eyes and slumped into his chair, the lines on his face deepening into ravines of grief.
"He is bait, He stays. It is the Clan Leader's order," Lin Quan said stiffly, feeling a rare pang of guilt. "Tell the boy. And tell him... tell him not to do anything stupid. The Shadow Guards are watching the exits."
With that, the Deacon left, eager to wash his hands of this messy affair.
Feng Xiu sat alone in his room, surrounded by the smell of dried herbs and the luxury of the inner circle.
"Cruel," Feng Xiu whispered. "They fear the mother, so they cage the son."
He looked around his home. It was warm. It was comfortable. He had servants who cooked for him.
He felt a wave of self-loathing. He had delivered Lin Kai. He had cut the cord. And yet, due to the Clan's strict caste system, he couldn't even offer the boy a room in his own house. The Elders had forbidden it. 'The Trash must not contaminate the glorious residences.'
"I am helpless," Feng Xiu muttered, gripping his staff until his knuckles turned white.
He thought about the rumors of the Tragedy. He had heard the screams that night seven years ago. He knew Lin Feng was "gone." He suspected Yu Yue was the cause.
'Did they curse the boy?' Feng Xiu wondered. 'Is that why he has no bloodline? Is he paying for the sins of his parents?'
He stood up, his old joints creaking. He had a duty. He had to go to the Southern Quadrant and crush the last hope of a fifteen-year-old boy. He had to tell a bird that the cage door was welded shut.
"I'm sorry, Kai," Feng Xiu whispered to the empty air. "I'm so sorry."
He walked out into the twilight, the burden of the news heavier than any mountain.