Ch90 – Meeting Face to Face

　　Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu

　　Edited by: Butter

　　“It’s not too late now.” Lin Xuanzhi said. “For every cultivator, as long as they have the determination, they will always be able to find a path that’s suitable for themselves.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded in agreement.

　　When he saw how happy Lin Xuanzhi was, Yan Tianhen couldn’t help but timidly say in his heart, luckily he had browsed through lots of books ever since he was a kid and had a photographic memory, which was why he could easily find a cultivation book that was similar to 《Imperial Corpse Technique》from the nook and crannies of his memory’s storage of books.

　　If Lin Xuanzhi discovers that he’s not cultivating《Partial Arts》but《Imperial Corpse Technique》in the future…

　　Yan Tianhen snuck a peek at Lin Xuanzhi then decided to not think about that possibility anymore.

　　Soon after, Lin Xuanzhi was summoned by Fifth Elder. Fifth Elder had even specially instructed him to bring Yan Tianhen along.

　　On their way over, Lin Xuanzhi bumped into the Lin Zezhi, Bai Susu, and Lin Yurou who were walking over from the opposite direction.

　　The three of them had a long line of Lin family members following behind them with ingratiating smiles on their faces.

　　Lin Yurou was still chatting and laughing at first, but the moment she saw Lin Xuanzhi, her smile immediately stiffened.

　　In the past, she had always treated Lin Xuanzhi as her role model, and even had feelings of adoration towards him, so she had always fawned upon him. But after Lin Xuanzhi turned into a good-for-nothing and was sent back to the Lin family, she had only gone to visit Lin Xuanzhi once — and it was to double check if Lin Xuanzhi truly had no hope of recovering.

　　After she had gotten her answer, Lin Yurou distanced herself from Lin Xuanzhi at the request of her parents. They didn’t want their lineage to be implicated by Lin Xuanzhi.

　　And the main lineage now had clearly changed from Lin Zhan’s to Bai Ling’s and Lin Zezhi’s lineage.

　　It’s just that, no one had expected Lin Xuanzhi to start cultivating again, and to actually cultivate the equipment path!

　　This was out of everyone’s expectations. It could be said that Lin Xuanzhi had forcefully stuck his foot in Bai Ling and Lin Zezhi’s path to dominating the Lin family.

　　Bai Susu wore a disdainful expression on her face as usual. In any case, craftsmen were a dime a dozen in their Bai family, so it’s not like she was particularly amazed by the profession. What’s more, Lin Xuanzhi had just switched to the craftsman path not too long ago, so he was still far worse than the craftsmen in her Bai family who had cultivated this path ever since they were young.

　　Additionally, the Bai family was the Five Continent’s mainlands one and only elite-class craftsmen family, so Bai Susu naturally had a sense of superiority.

　　This is all because in their daily lives, any random Bai family member would be fawned over by countless admirers when they stroll down the streets. Thus, out of the three, only Lin Zezhi took the initiative to greet Lin Xuanzhi.

　　“Xuanzhi Tangxiong.” There was a decent smile on Lin Zezhi’s face. He wasn’t like this before and had always been arrogant, but Third Elder repeatedly chided him to remain calm. It’s only when he can maintain his composure that he can ruthlessly step on those below his feet in the future without leaving them any evidence to use against him.

　　Lin Xuanzhi casually uttered an ‘un’ to acknowledge them.

　　Lin Zezhi’s face immediately turned ugly.

　　We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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　　Bai Susu really hated Lin Xuanzhi to the core!

　　Lin Xuanzhi casually cast a glance at her, as if he was looking at air.

　　“What do you want?” Lin Xuanzhi asked.

　　Bai Susu said angrily, “You should at least stop walking and greet Biaoge with a smile on your face — that’s basic courtesy!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi almost laughed out loud, she wanted him to stop and greet Lin Zezhi with a smile on his face?

　　Frankly speaking, Lin Xuanzhi didn’t plan on currying favour with anyone, not even the one who had replaced his position as the top Lin family member of the younger generation — Lin Zezhi!

　　Yan Tianhen was amused, “What you just said is really interesting. What right does an outsider like you, who comes from the Bai family, have to point fingers at my Gege? When you saw my Gege, why didn’t you stop walking and bow to him? And now you’re even rudely accusing my Dage? Who gave you the right?”

　　Bai Susu immediately retorted, pointing at Yan Tianhen’s nose, “And what right do you have to question me? I’m a craftsman and an honoured guest of the Lin family. Not only is your surname not Lin, you’re also an ugly good-for-nothing!”

　　Yan Tianhen wasn’t angry and laughed instead as he nodded, “That’s right, as humans we should be self-aware. You see, even though I find Lin Zezhi unpleasant to look at, I wouldn’t try to stop him and suddenly preach to him. So you should do the same. Stop pointing fingers at my Dage, you don’t have the right. Also, even if you are a craftsman, it’s not like you have any real capabilities to speak of. You used up so much of the Lin family’s resources but I haven’t seen you produce a single piece of decent equipment yet.”

　　“You…”

　　Bai Susu’s face had flushed red from being berated. Lin Yurou furrowed her brows, then walked up and said, “Yan Tianhen, how could you talk to a girl so harshly? Susu might have stepped out of line, but she’s our family’s guest and she’s still young, so you should be more tolerant of her.”

　　Tolerant? If he’s tolerant to Bai Susu, then who would be tolerant of the Yan Tianhen in the past?

　　Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but remember that in his past life, after he had obtained a sky-level medicinal pill and restored his Dantian Qi sea, he immediately left the Lin family. Afterwards, Yan Tianhen turned into a target for the Lin family to vent their frustrations upon. People made things difficult for him all the time, and he was constantly humiliated, so he eventually fell onto the devil’s path. These people definitely didn’t play a small role in the distortion of Yan Tianhen’s mind.

　　Lin Xuanzhi thus coldly said, “Ah Hen is only 12 this year, he isn’t even 13 yet. But Bai Susu is already 15; with just one look you can tell who’s the younger one. Also, Ah Hen is my Didi, what right do any of you have to point fingers at him?”

　　Lin Yurou’s gentle and beautiful face turned pale. Her eyes were almost filled with tears and she looked like she had suffered a great grievance.

　　After Lin Xuanzhi finished speaking, he pulled Ah Hen, “Ah Hen, let’s go.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded then followed him, “I didn’t plan on talking to them too much, we still need to meet Fifth Elder!”

　　These words lingered in the ears of those three people, who immediately felt unwell.

　　Especially Lin Zezhi; a fear of Lin Xuanzhi had emerged in the bottom of his heart — and the source of this fear was his memories of Lin Xuanzhi ruthlessly outdoing him ever since they were kids as well as his talent that left everyone else in the dust.

　　And now, it seemed like that talent had reappeared.

　　Lin Yurou paused, “Fifth elder called him?”

　　Bai Susu’s eyes flashed with a hint of unwillingness and envy. She stomped her foot, “So what if Fifth elder took a fancy to him? His Dantian Qi sea has been destroyed and he can no longer gather Qi in his body, so before long it will definitely affect his cultivation. He still won’t be able to break past the third layer of the Hardened Body stage!”

　　Bai Susu’s words appeared to have awoken the others from their dream, making Lin Yurou and Lin Zezhi simultaneously reveal a look of epiphany on their faces.

　　That’s true, although craftsmen don’t need to utilise their Dantian’s Qi as much as other cultivators, it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t need to utilise it at all!

　　No matter if it was alchemy or crafting, both paths would require their cultivators to have an abundance of vigour and physical capabilities, and the higher level the equipments that are crafted, the harsher its demands would be on the body.

　　After all, there are some equipment that would require their craftsmen to focus on the crafting process for up to a hundred years. If the cultivator didn’t have a single sliver of Qi in their body, it would be easy for them to fall asleep or run out of energy halfway through the crafting process and their bodies may even end up exploding.

　　For a craftsman without a Dantian Qi sea, reaching the cultivation level of the Hardened Body stage’s third layer was their limit. There was definitely no chance for them to go any further than that.

　　However, even a Hardened Body stage third layer cultivator was already amazing enough. Yet, this was absolutely not enough for a family to treat this craftsman like a precious treasure.

　　When he thought of this, a complacent smile appeared again on Lin Zezhi’s face.

　　He pretended to be magnanimous as he waved his hand and said, “Susu, there’s no need to bother getting even with Xuanzhi Tangxiong.”

　　Bai Susu clenched her fists, then said angrily, “If it was just Lin Xuanzhi, then so be it. After all, he is part of the direct lineage and has even awakened his craftsman soulfire, but who does that Yan Tianhen think he is?”

　　Lin Yurou also frowned, “I still don’t know why Second uncle was so insistent on adopting that worthless Yan Tianhen, and now even Xuanzhi Tangxiong is at his beck and call, as if he was under the influence of a Gu bug….”

　　“Yeah yeah, that Yan Tianhen definitely knows some witchcraft!” Bai Susu immediately nodded her head in agreement.

　　“But I think that Second uncle and Xuanzhi Tangxiong are doing so because they pity him.” Lin Zezhi put on a face that seemed to say that he had seen through everything, “Yan Tianhen has no ability to cultivate, and he looks that ugly too. When he was brought back by Second uncle, he was only a few years old and his clothing was all tattered and worn out, so I’m guessing that he was abandoned by his own family. Second uncle was someone who had always had a soft heart, so it’s within expectations for him to have adopted him.”

　　“Biaoge, you’re still as kind as ever.” Bai Susu nodded, then sneered, “If I give birth to that kind of kid in the future, I will definitely strangle him to death the moment he’s born lest he stays in this world to soil other people’s eyes.”

　　Lin Yurou covered her mouth as she began to laugh.

　　In the conference hall, Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen met the Fifth elder who was seated on the main seat.

　　Fifth elder had a friendly face, especially when he met Lin Xuanzhi, because his smile would turn brighter and make him seem even more approachable.

　　“Xuanzhi, Tianhen, I had planned to call the both of you over last night, but I took into consideration how you two must have felt tired after your long trip so I postponed it to today.” Fifth elder smiled as he spoke.

　　The edges of Lin Xuanzhi’s lips curved up, “It wasn’t tiring at first, but since the cultivators that Master had sent us not only failed to protect us, but even defected, our trip became a lot more tiring.”

　　Fifth elder couldn’t help but laugh bitterly in his heart. How could he not know about the dangerous encounter Lin Xuanzhi met at Flying Luan peak?

　　But, it was too late by the time he knew.

　　Fifth elder laughed, “That’s an oversight on my part, it’s my fault. But since the two of you managed to return safely, I needn’t to be too hard on myself for that.”

　　Yan Tianhen sighed, then looked at Fifth elder, “Fifth elder, for the sake of our lives, my Dage had completely emptied all his pockets eh.”

　　Fifth elder’s mouth twitched. Who was the one who said this kid was stupid? He’s obviously a smart little imp!

　　Fifth elder waved his hand, “Just report how much you lost to me and I’ll reimburse you.”

　　“That’s more like it.” Yan Tianhen blinked as he said, comforted.

　　“This kid…tsktsk, he really is interesting.”

　　Soul Bead tsked in Lin Xuanzhi’s consciousness. He had always been very interested in Yan Tianhen. Firstly, because of his special physique, and secondly,because his mouth had no filter and he liked to irresponsibly blurt out the truth without being afraid of offending people.

　　Lin Xuanzhi rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head, then said in a profound tone, “Ah Hen, you need not remind Master of such matters. He understands it very well himself and would definitely not let us suffer.

　　Yan Tianhen shook his head, then spoke with a face full of worry, “But everyone says that when you grow old, it’s easy for you to suffer from amnesia. I was worried that Fifth elder’s amnesia had gotten worse again, so I just wanted to give him a small reminder.”

　　Fifth elder’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch violently a few times. He coughed, then said unhappily, “You little rascal, when have I ever suffered from amnesia? Stop spouting nonsense!”

　　Yan Tianhen pursed his lips, “When my Dage was thrown into that dilapidated house and couldn’t fill his stomach or wear enough clothes to keep warm, you had forgotten all of that, didn’t you?”

　　Fifth elder, “…….”

　　This kid…actually bore a grudge.

　　If he hadn’t mentioned it, he would’ve already forgotten all about it!

　　Soul Bead laughed out loud and teased, “Kid, this Didi of yours that you picked up in passing isn’t a simple character at all~ And he even cares more about you than himself.”

　　—