After arriving back at the palace, Lin Fan found Lin Jian, but he was surprised to see that Lin Ao was also with him.
It turned out that the other people in his generation had been scared off just like Lin Fan had scared off Lin Hong and the rest.
His performance at the sword trial had just been too shocking that they couldn't do anything to him.
So they did all they could to avoid him. freewebnov el.com
Even though he hadn't reached the World Realm, they regarded him as a monster just like Lin Fan.
After Lin Jian heard what Lin Fan wanted, he couldn't help revealing a smile and standing up right away as he said, "Let's go then."
Lin Fan also revealed a smile before following him.
As for Lin Ao and Yue Qingrou, they decided to stay.
Lin Ao had been training with his sword when Lin Fan arrived and he would stay here to keep training his sword.
Even if the people in the same generation regarded him as a monster, he knew that he was lacking compared to his son who was the true monster.
As a parent, he was proud that his son was growing, but he didn't want to fall too far behind. He wanted to stand tall as the father of this monster, so he couldn't let himself fall behind too much.
So he had put his everything into his sword training.
Yue Qingrou could see what he was feeling, so she silently supported him from the side.
But she was proud of both her son and her husband.
Lin Jian led Lin Fan out of the palace to his surprise.
He had thought that Lin Tian's branch would stay in the palace since it was the safest place, but it seemed that they didn't think the same.
After all, it was the place where the Lin Astral Emperor and consequently Lin Jian held the most influence. If they remained in that place, they would be at a disadvantage if Lin Fan came to collect on the bet.
So they had evacuated to the residence of their branch thinking that if they were in their territory, they would at least control what happened.
But that was the wrong idea.
If they had remained in the palace, it would have actually restrained the Lin Astral Emperor and Lin Jian more.
This matter was something that would make others believe that the Lin Astral Family wasn't as united as they seemed. That was the last thing that the Lin Astral Emperor and Lin Jian wanted to see happen since that would hurt the prestige of the Lin Astral Family.
There were too many outsider eyes in the palace and if they did do something to Lin Tian's branch, it would be found immediately.
So they would actually be restrained by this.
But outside of the palace, even if there were people watching them, it was easy for them to avoid these watching eyes. They didn't have the same worries as they did inside of the palace.
When they arrived, the first thing that Lin Jian did was knock on the door. It was just too bad that this wasn't a normal knock.
This was a knock that used his laws, so the doors were blown off their handles and flew out into the courtyard of this residence.
Lin Jian wasn't worried about this being seen since he had already sent his people to take care of the people watching this residence.
The moment that the door flew off their handles and landed in the yard, the people who were there practicing their techniques were shocked. They turned to look at Lin Jian who was standing there with shocked looks, but not a single one of them asked who he was.
Even if they were blind, they would still recognize him.
He was the son of the Lin Astral Emperor, someone who had been famous in the Lin Astral Empire since long ago.
Not to mention, many of the ones currently practicing were those that were in the same generation or the generation above him, so they had a deeper impression of him than most.
With the loud sound, the people inside were also drawn out.
Lin Tian came out with Lin Hong following behind him.
The moment that the two of them saw Lin Jian and Lin Fan respectively, they couldn't help revealing shocked looks.
The shocked look on Lin Tian's face quickly disappeared as he came forward and said in a stern voice, "Cousin, what are you doing?"
Lin Jian didn't say anything as he looked at Lin Fan, as if waiting for him to speak.
Lin Fan didn't mind this, he just cleared his throat and said, "We're here to collect on a debt."
Lin Tian knitted his brows when he heard this, but he said in a confused voice, "Debt? What debt?"
Lin Fan revealed a smile and said, "Great uncle, did you forget about the bet that cousin Hong and I made?"
Lin Tian of course knew that this was the reason that they were here, but he had been playing dumb to avoid confronting them. He had hoped that if he denied it, they wouldn't make a big deal of this matter, but it was clear that this wasn't the case.
Since that was the case, he would act dumb until the end.
Lin Tian said with a serious look, "I don't remember any bets that were left unpaid. Great nephew, are you sure that you are remembering this correctly?"
Lin Fan just said with the same smile, "Of course, it was something that everyone witnessed, so how could I remember incorrectly? I think that cousin Hong still has to pay his wager."
Lin Tian knitted his brows and said, "Great nephew, didn't we agree that we should drop this matter? After all, we are family and we shouldn't be doing things like this."
Lin Fan's expression suddenly changed as he said with a serious look, "Is great uncle joking? This was a duel that was set with our honour on the line, so if great uncle is asking me to forget this, this is an insult to my pride."
All of the members of Lin Tian's branch revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.
Lin Tian's expression relaxed a bit when he heard this since he didn't want a direct confrontation with Lin Fan. He quickly raised his hand and said, "Great nephew, I didn't mean that. It's just that we're all family..."
Before he could finish, Lin Fan suddenly came forward and said, "Great uncle, if you truly believe this, it will be an insult to my honour. In that case, I will challenge you to a duel."
When Lin Tian heard this, his chin couldn't help dropping.
What was this great nephew of his saying?
He would challenge him to a duel?
Challenge who?
Lin Tian just didn't know how to react when he heard this, but he had definitely been placed in a very difficult situation.
Now he had to decide whether to fight Lin Fan or to hand over Lin Hong.
If he chose to fight Lin Fan, there was nothing for him to gain since he was from the older generation and Lin Fan was from the younger generation.
If Lin Fan challenged him, he could either accept or decline.
If he accepted and won, he would gain nothing and would be looked down on for bullying a junior. If he declined, he would be recognized as someone who was afraid of a junior, so he didn't dare duel him.
There was no upside to this.
But if he handed Lin Hong, that would be equal to throwing away his face as the leader of this branch.
So it was now deciding which one was the less embarrassing option for him.
After a long period of silence, Lin Tian finally said, "Xiao Fan, this is just a small matter, you shouldn't take it this seriously. Let's just sit down and talk this over as a family, I'm sure that we can find a solution to this."
He had finally relaxed his tone and spoken in a gentle voice for the first time. Even though he didn't mean it, he wanted to put Lin Fan at ease by invoking the feelings of family.
Lin Fan had the same stern look as he said, "If you don't want to solve this matter, then I'll have to go to grandfather about it."
After saying this, he turned to leave.
As he turned to leave, all of the people around revealed shocked looks.
They never thought that Lin Fan would bring the Lin Astral Emperor into this matter.
Once the Lin Astral Emperor was brought in, this would go from a small matter to a big matter.
Lin Tian naturally could not allow that to happen.
So after a moment of hesitation, he said through gritted teeth, "Great nephew, you can take your cousin Hong with you."
Lin Hong's face became very ugly at that moment.
In the end, he was being sacrificed.
Of course, he couldn't blame them.
Compared to the fate of the entire branch, it was much easier to just sacrifice him to Lin Fan.
Even if he went to become Lin Fan's slave, they were still family, so Lin Fan wouldn't go too far.
Lin Fan suddenly stopped when he heard this and he turned around to look at Lin Tian.
Lin Tian couldn't help feeling a chill run down his spine as Lin Fan looked at him.
Lin Fan looked right at Lin Tian and said, "Since you have offended my honour, I challenge you to a duel."
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