Chapter 166: Chapter 162: A Generous Gift From the Sect
By the time Lin Hao’s figure appeared in War Dragon City, a new day had dawned.
Upon seeing Lin Hao, everyone’s gazes filled with awe and adoration.
Lin Hao had practically single-handedly annihilated the Wu family and even forced members of a sect to retreat in defeat.
It was nothing short of a miracle.
"Young Master, you’ve returned." A member of the Lin family spotted Lin Hao on the street and hurried over to greet him.
It was Lin Hao who had allowed the Lin family to hold their heads high in War Dragon City. His prestige within the family was so great that even the Patriarch could only hope to follow in his shadow.
"Go on with your work. Don’t mind me." Lin Hao waved his hand casually and headed toward the Lin family estate.
When Lin Hao reached the estate, Lin Tianxiao and the Lin family elders had already been waiting at the entrance for quite some time.
Lin Hao had gone to Red Beauty City without a word. When the two Lin family elders heard the news, their first impulse was to shoot into the sky after him.
Fortunately, they were stopped by Ninety-Five.
For them, that day and night had felt as long as a year.
Thankfully, Lin Hao was back now.
"Grandfathers, Third Uncle, are you heading out?" Lin Hao was taken aback when he saw them, thinking they were on their way somewhere.
"Heading out? We’ve been waiting for you," Lin Tianxiao said with a relieved smile.
Lin Hao scratched his head, feeling a bit guilty.
A moment later, however, he tossed a storage ring to Lin Tianxiao.
"This is...?"
Storage rings were rare items even in the Heaven-Stepping Sect, let alone here in War Dragon City.
Lin Tianxiao’s hands trembled as he looked at it.
"Third Uncle, you’re the Patriarch now. This suits you. Oh, right, there are also twenty jars of Laughing Red Dust wine inside," Lin Hao said with a smile.
Lin Tianxiao’s eyes lit up, but he immediately shook his head. "I can accept the wine, but this storage ring is far too valuable. You should keep it."
’Valuable?’
Lin Hao didn’t think so. As long as he had the materials, he could refine a few of them anytime he wanted.
’The Suo Demon Sect’s secret realm has Scarlet Cloud Frost Iron, so there should be plenty of associated ores. After I seize that realm, I’ll refine a bunch of storage rings and give one to every member of the Lin family.’
While Lin Tianxiao stared at the storage ring, trembling with excitement, Lin Hao was already thinking about giving one to every member of the Lin family in the future.
If he were to say that out loud, Lin Tianxiao would probably be shocked enough to cough up blood.
"I have my own," Lin Hao said, then wagged his finger. "Oh, right, I almost forgot. Before I left, the Sect Leader and elders sent gifts for all of you." He then took the presents out.
The gifts were all exquisitely wrapped; even Lin Hao didn’t know what was inside them.
After handing over the presents, Lin Hao added casually, "Third Uncle, the space in that storage ring is small, so it’s nothing special. I’ll get you a better one next time I’m back. And you two, Grandfathers, you’ll get them as well."
Lin Tianxiao and the two Lin family elders were already dazed, stunned by Lin Hao’s words and actions.
Disciples were always the ones to give gifts to their sect superiors. Never had they heard of a Sect Leader and elders preparing gifts for a returning disciple.
And then there were the storage rings. Although they’d never seen one before, it was obvious that the one on Lin Hao’s hand was of a very high grade.
"Hao’Er, what in the world have you been doing at the sect?" Lin Tianxiao and the two elders felt their hearts skip a beat.
Lin Hao shrugged. "Took the entrance assessment, cultivated my martial arts... I don’t think I did anything special."
Lin Tianxiao and the two elders looked doubtful, clearly not believing him.
If they knew what Lin Hao had actually done at the Heaven-Stepping Sect, they might have been frightened to death on the spot.
"Really?" Lin Tianxiao asked again, his disbelief obvious.
"Third Uncle, can you let me go inside first?" Lin Hao said with a wry smile.
Lin Tianxiao and the two elders hurriedly stepped aside. Watching Lin Hao’s retreating back, then looking down at the gifts in their hands, they felt he was becoming more and more of an enigma.
"I’m going to get some rest. I’ll come out later." Having obtained Chu Tiandu’s memories, Lin Hao needed to sort through them. The Lin family was in a crucial phase of development and was in desperate need of Cultivation Techniques and martial skills.
And Chu Tiandu’s memories were overflowing with both.
Unlike the Cultivation Techniques and martial skills scraped together by the Carefree Divine Monarch, Chu Tiandu’s memories contained techniques of every conceivable rank: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.
"Alright." After a mechanical reply, Lin Tianxiao and the two elders took their respective gifts and returned to their rooms.
A quarter of an hour later... from three separate rooms in the Lin family’s rear courtyard, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor echoed out at almost the exact same time.
Then, the doors swung open in unison.
The next moment.
BOOM!
The two Lin family elders and Lin Tianxiao collided with a solid thud.
"The... the gifts!"
All three fell to the ground, scrambled back up without a shred of dignity, and shockingly, all blurted out the same thing: "The gifts!"
The reason was simple: the gifts were far too precious!
So precious they defied imagination!
Each of the three men was tremblingly holding a jade box. Inside each box were ten medicinal pills of a kind they had never seen before, along with a Cultivation Technique and a martial skill manual!
A sect sending gifts to a family—an insignificant, minor family from a remote region at that. If word of this got out, it would be enough to stun everyone.
Leaving the pills aside, Cultivation Techniques and martial skills were the very foundation of power for any family or sect.
But now, the Heaven-Stepping Sect had given these things to them as gifts!
Furthermore, they had just examined the martial skill manuals—they were Profound-level Top Grade!
This...
The shock in their hearts was simply beyond description.
The three of them just stood there, staring at each other, completely dumbfounded.
This scene continued for an unknown amount of time, until a steward approached them.
"Patriarch, Elders, several other patriarchs are here to see you." The steward had been hesitating nearby for a long while. Only after another servant had urged him several times did he finally grit his teeth and approach.
"Ah? Oh, we’ll be right there." The three men finally snapped back to their senses.
The two Lin family elders handed their gifts to Lin Tianxiao, who placed them in the storage ring before they all headed out.
「In the Lin family’s reception hall.」
"Greetings, Patriarch Lin, and to the two Elders."
Upon seeing Lin Tianxiao and the two Lin family elders appear, several of War Dragon City’s patriarchs quickly stood up and cupped their fists in greeting.
The three returned the gesture, and Lin Tianxiao explained with a smile, "My apologies for the wait, everyone. We’ve been terribly busy."
"Not at all, not at all! We know you’re a busy man, Patriarch Lin, so we won’t beat around the bush. Our sons are about to return to their sects, and we were hoping to find some suitable gifts for them to take back."
one of the patriarchs said.
"Shouldn’t you be going to the Treasure Hunting Pavilion for that?" Lin Tianxiao said.
The patriarch gave an embarrassed smile and replied, "We did, but the Pavilion Master told us to come to the Lin family."
Lin Tianxiao immediately understood Ninety-Five’s intentions. He was trying to enhance the Lin family’s influence in War Dragon City and solidify their status.
"We know the best items must be reserved for Young Master Lin to take back to his sect. We won’t make things difficult for you, Patriarch," the patriarchs quickly added, seeing Lin Tianxiao’s silence.
In the eyes of small families like theirs, sects were lofty, unattainable entities.
Lin Tianxiao and the two elders exchanged a glance, a single thought running through their minds: ’Hao’Er needs to prepare gifts for the sect?!’
While these disciples from other families were busy thinking of ways to curry favor with the sect, they had no idea that the sect was already currying favor with Hao’Er.
With Hao’Er around, the Lin family could grow and prosper even if they were no longer one of the great families of War Dragon City!
If even a sect was fawning over Hao’Er, was there anything he couldn’t achieve?
In that moment, a feeling of deep satisfaction and immense pride welled up in the hearts of Lin Tianxiao and the two elders.
If the matter weren’t so consequential, they would have loved to announce this news to the entire world.
"As it happens, we’ve just confiscated the Wu family’s assets," Lin Tianxiao declared, his voice booming with magnanimity. "Tell us what you need. Steward, fetch the inventory register."
With Lin Hao behind him, his confidence was boundless.
The patriarchs thanked him profusely.
"We have other matters to attend to, so we won’t accompany you," Lin Tianxiao said, excusing himself. The two Lin family elders left right behind him.
Having obtained new Cultivation Techniques and martial skills, they were eager to begin their training.
This was especially true for the two Lin family elders. Now that they had reached the Soul Gathering Realm, a Profound-level Top Grade martial skill was exactly what they needed.
The two elders went off to cultivate, but Lin Tianxiao was troubled. He also wanted to practice the new Cultivation Technique and martial skill, but his realm was not yet high enough.
He wanted to study the pills, but he didn’t recognize any of them.
In the end, he unsealed a jar of Laughing Red Dust and began to drink by himself, nursing his frustrations.
"What fragrant wine!" A voice rang out. Lin Tianxiao turned to see Ninety-Five.
Lin Tianxiao’s eyes lit up. "You’ve come at the perfect time. I was just about to ask you something."
With that, Lin Tianxiao took out a pill and asked, "What kind of pill is this?"
Ninety-Five took it, his expression turning to one of utter shock.
"This is a Dao-Encompassing Pill, a Tier Two Top Grade pill. An Elemental Realm Martial Artist who takes it has a chance to sense their Divine Soul early, in prepar... wait, no... this isn’t a Dao-Encompassing Pill!"
Ninety-Five trailed off, his eyes widening in disbelief.
After a long moment, he stammered, "My heavens! This... this is a Har... Harmonization Pill!"
Lin Tianxiao was already stunned when he heard it was a Dao-Encompassing Pill, but seeing Ninety-Five’s reaction now, his eyelid twitched. The value of this Harmonization Pill had to be immeasurable.
"What does a Harmonization Pill do?"
"It... it’s a long-lost alchemical pill! Where did you get it?!" Ninety-Five stared at Lin Tianxiao as if he wanted to swallow him whole.
The two words "long-lost" immediately told Lin Tianxiao all he needed to know about its value. Hearing Ninety-Five’s question, he answered calmly, "It was a gift to me from Hao’Er’s sect."
BOOM!
The words rocked Ninety-Five’s mind, making his head ring.
A sect sending gifts to a family in some backwater region... it was utterly unheard of!
Wait a moment...
Hao’Er?
Realizing he meant Lin Hao, Ninety-Five suddenly felt it all made perfect sense.
"Brother Lin, where is Young Master Lin? Could I trouble you to announce me? I must see him." Having laid eyes on a Harmonization Pill, Ninety-Five couldn’t restrain himself any longer.
"Hao’Er just got back and is resting. We shouldn’t disturb him. Here, have a drink." Lin Tianxiao took out another jar of Laughing Red Dust and offered it to him.
Ninety-Five opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
Laughing Red Dust was considered the finest wine in the land, offered as tribute to the empire’s royal family, who in turn presented it as tribute to the Li Long Dynasty.
Ninety-Five was a wine connoisseur himself. Ordinarily, he would have been overjoyed to be presented with such a fine vintage.
But with the Harmonization Pill on his mind, for the first time ever, he found that Laughing Red Dust tasted as bland as water.
Meanwhile, Lin Tianxiao sipped with narrowed eyes, a look of blissful intoxication on his face.
After just a few sips, Ninety-Five was already pacing back and forth in agitation.
He put down the wine, his only hope for Lin Hao to appear sooner rather than later.
And so he waited... for the better part of the day.
