Atop the rockery, Lin Hao’s eyes snapped open.

An Alchemy Master, struck dead by Lin Tianhao’s palm just like that, without any warning. He truly was ruthless.

However, if their roles were reversed, Lin Hao believed he would have done the same thing.

Just as Lin Tianhao said, the man knew too much.

Lin Hao had never imagined that the son of the City Lord of Red Beauty City would actually send people to infiltrate War Dragon City for this Rejuvenation Blood Pill.

’As long as he doesn’t come looking for trouble with me, it’s fine. I need to focus on the situation at hand.’ In the blink of an eye, Lin Hao temporarily pushed the stranger he had never met to the back of his mind.

’Just now, my third and fourth brothers had such vacant expressions. Could they have also fallen prey to that old scoundrel Lin Wei and had a restrictive seal placed on them?’ Recalling what he had just witnessed, a realization flashed through Lin Hao’s mind.

Just as he was thinking this, Lin Hao saw the door open again. Lin Zheng emerged, leading two men out in single file.

This time, Lin Hao didn’t follow. Instead, he chose to wait.

After Lin Zheng returned alone, he made his move.

His target: the Lin family’s back mountain.

Lin Tianhao was ruthless and an expert at the Elemental Realm. Finding evidence against him would be incredibly difficult.

Furthermore, with an Alchemy Master now dead, Lin Tianhao would surely be preoccupied with covering it up. The timing was perfect.

His uncles and brothers were all suffering. For them, Lin Hao decided to brave the danger and force his way in...

The Lin family’s back mountain was overgrown with weeds. Lin Hao activated the Ghostly Divine Step, his form becoming like a phantom as he rapidly closed in.

Coming to a halt where Lin Zheng had stood just moments before, Lin Hao announced loudly, "Lin family disciple Lin Hao requests an audience with the Elders!"

The air was empty. There was no response.

Lin Hao took another step forward and shouted, "The Lin family’s Patriarch, Lin Tianhao, is harming our own people! His actions are treasonous! I implore the Elders to uphold justice!"

"Insolence!" A furious roar erupted, followed by a monstrously terrifying aura that surged outward.

Although Lin Hao had been prepared and was already circulating his Cultivation Technique for protection, the aura was simply too horrifying.

The moment the voice rang out, he felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. His body went limp, about to be forced to his knees by the terrifying pressure.

Lin Hao was aghast.

He was over a hundred meters from the rock face and had his Cultivation Technique protecting him, yet he was still being crushed to the point of kneeling. The power of an Elemental Realm expert was truly terrifying.

But the stronger his opponent, the more it ignited Lin Hao’s fighting spirit.

With an unyielding light in his eyes, Lin Hao clenched his jaw and pushed his Cultivation Technique to its absolute limit. His buckling knees began to straighten, bit by bit.

Under the crushing pressure of that immense aura, Lin Hao forced himself to stop his descent. He straightened his bent back, bit by bit, until his body stood as straight and proud as a drawn sword, piercing the heavens!

"Hmm?!" A surprised sound came from within the rock face, and the voice spoke again. "With such willpower, you should be diligently cultivating the martial path, not spreading alarmist lies here!"

By the end of the sentence, the voice was already laced with killing intent.

"How long has it been since you two Elders came out to look at the Lin family as it is now? Twenty years? Thirty?" Lin Hao stood tall, unafraid, actually daring to question the Elders.

"How audacious!" Two voices shouted in near unison. An even more terrifying aura surged forth, and the very air seemed to crackle and pop.

Lin Hao felt two immense forces strike his chest almost simultaneously.

With fighting spirit blazing in his eyes, Lin Hao summoned his mysterious True Qi and threw a punch.

He unleashed the Stone Fall Fist with unstoppable momentum.

The power of an Elemental Realm expert was terrifyingly vast, while he was only at the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm. His action was no different than an ant trying to shake a tree.

CRACK!

The sound of bone breaking rang out. Lin Hao’s fist was instantly mangled, a mess of blood and flesh. The immense power pierced through to his bones, and the sleeve of his right arm disintegrated into dust!

He had no idea how many bones in his right arm had been shattered.

The Elemental Realm was truly boundless in its terror!

One had to remember that Lin Hao’s physical body had already reached the state of "dragon sinews and tiger bones," making it incomparably tough. Yet, the mere force of an Elemental Realm expert’s angry shout had been enough to inflict grievous wounds.

The power of an Elemental Realm expert was far too great to be blocked with a single punch. Lin Hao flew backward, activating the Ghostly Divine Step as he simultaneously swung a punch with his left arm.

As expected, with a single blow, his left arm met the same fate as his right.

But with that retreat and block, Lin Hao managed to dissipate the two streams of power.

Lin Hao stood his ground, his fists dripping with blood. Yet, his gaze was placid as he looked proudly toward the rock face.

The exchange had happened in a flash. From within the rock face, two cries of astonishment suddenly rang out, "Dragon sinews and tiger bones!"

This junior of the Lin family was simply too shocking.

To have cultivated his physical body to such a state with a mere Third Layer of Blood Coagulation Realm cultivation... In all their decades of life, they had never heard of such a thing!

What a pity. He had yet to awaken his bloodline at his age. If this boy could awaken it, the Lin family would undoubtedly have another prodigy.

"You dare to question the Elders. According to the Lin family rules, we could punish you. But seeing as you’re so young... Boy, leave at once, and we will let the matter drop!" one of the two Elders spoke again.

"No! Not unless you release the people imprisoned inside!" Lin Hao replied, shaking his head.

"Hmph! So, coming to see us was just a pretense! You came for them. They intended to rebel and destabilize the very foundation of our Lin family! For criminals like them, allowing them to live on is already an immense act of mercy..." The two voices turned cold.

"Enough!" A tyrannical, vicious aura suddenly erupted from Lin Hao as he cut the Elders off without a hint of courtesy.

"All you know is how to hide in this tortoise shell and parrot whatever you’re told. It’s pathetic!"

Thinking of the suffering his family had endured, the vicious aura around Lin Hao intensified.

"Insolence! Don’t think we won’t dare to kill you!" The Elders within the rock face were clearly enraged. As the words fell, a gigantic hand of True Essence materialized from thin air and pressed down toward Lin Hao’s head.

Lin Hao was merely at the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm; he had no power to resist a hand of True Essence manifested by an Elemental Realm expert. He stood proudly, unmoving.

"Three years ago, that old scoundrel Lin Wei stole my bloodline in the Blood Exchange Pool! Now, Lin Tianhao twists right and wrong, imprisoning my uncles and brothers! Without bothering to learn the truth, you want to strike me down! Are you Elders of the Lin family, or are you just Lin Tianhao’s personal Elders!"

The hand of True Essence, which was just about to crush him, suddenly paused. Then, it scooped him up...

The next moment, Lin Hao’s vision went dark. He was already inside the rock face.

After his eyes adjusted, the scene within the rock face came into view.

In a massive stone chamber, two old men with white hair and beards sat cross-legged, their burning gazes fixed upon him.

Upon seeing Lin Hao’s face clearly, the two old men were visibly stunned. Then, one asked in a heavy voice, "Are you Zixuan’s son?"

The young man before them looked far too much like Lin Zixuan.

Lin Hao nodded. His father was, indeed, named Lin Zixuan.

The two old men glanced at each other, and one of them spoke up, "Is everything you just said the truth?"

For no other reason than his father being Lin Zixuan, the two Elders were already wavering.

Lin Zixuan was the most brilliant figure the Lin family had produced in the last twenty years. On the strength of that name alone, they had to think twice.

"Every word I have said is true. Just bring out one of my uncles and ask him, and you will know," Lin Hao said, neither servile nor overbearing, meeting the two Elders’ gazes without fear.

These two were his own grandfather’s brothers; Lin Hao had no reason to fear them.

The two old men didn’t reply. One of them flicked his sleeve, and the door to an adjacent stone chamber swung open.

He then stretched out his arm, and a hand of True Essence shot out from it with a whistle.

The next moment, Lin Hao found someone else standing before him.

"Third Uncle..." Seeing the man, Lin Hao was overcome with emotion.

His third uncle was named Lin Tianxiao, and he had doted on Lin Hao in the past. Unfortunately, back then, because Lin Wei had given him a Cultivation Technique, he had grown distant from his uncle.

Unfortunately, Lin Tianxiao’s face was completely blank. He didn’t respond to Lin Hao.

Lin Hao took a single step with his Ghostly Divine Step, appearing instantly before his uncle and grabbing his wrist.

The two old men started, then their eyes filled with shock.

Just moments ago, Lin Hao’s arms had clearly been crippled. But now, they were powerful and strong, obviously fully recovered.

Such a fast recovery!

Concerned for his third uncle’s safety, Lin Hao began circulating his Cultivation Technique the moment he grabbed his wrist.

His mysterious True Qi flowed up from the man’s wrist, unimpeded. But when it reached the head, Lin Hao distinctly felt a sinister, pliant energy blocking his True Qi.

Just as he had suspected, that old scoundrel Lin Wei had also planted a restrictive seal in his third uncle’s mind.

The two Elders were about to step in and remove it, but Lin Hao had already spoken up. "There’s no need. He suffered because of them. Let me do it."

This restrictive seal had been personally planted by Lin Wei. The two Elders had been suspicious before and had even attempted to remove it, but they had discovered that doing so, even if they combined their strength, would cause a major drain on their own power.

So, in the end, they had let it be.

Now, Lin Hao had brought it up again. And since he was Lin Zixuan’s son, the two Elders had already decided to undo the seal, even at the cost of damaging their own cultivation. But now, Lin Hao was saying that *he* would do it.

A mere youngster at the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm was presuming to undo this seal. The two Elders exchanged a look, each seeing the shock in the other’s eyes.

Lin Hao couldn’t be bothered with any of that, nor did he give it much thought. His only goal right now was to help his third uncle recover as quickly as possible.

The sinister, pliant energy that filled Lin Tianxiao’s mind was like a mouse that had seen a cat. Upon encountering Lin Hao’s mysterious True Qi, it was forced to retreat again and again.

After fifteen minutes, the pliant energy had been cornered and compressed into a fist-sized ball of light.

Perhaps sensing the threat of its own demise, the ball of light suddenly erupted with a chillingly fierce aura.

Lin Hao, bearing the brunt of it, was instantly on high alert.

If he were to give up now, not only would all his progress be lost, but Lin Tianxiao’s life would also be in danger.

Knowing the stakes, Lin Hao moved his left hand as well.

At the same time, he multitasked, forcibly splitting the mysterious True Qi within his Dantian.

Lin Hao’s left arm turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye. An incomparably scorching aura suddenly whistled out from his left arm and traveled up Lin Tianxiao’s right arm.

Simultaneously, his right arm was instantly covered in frost, and a current of energy as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice surged out.

Under this pincer attack, the two forces completely sealed off the sinister energy’s paths of advance and retreat within Lin Tianxiao’s mind.

Nearby, the two Elders who had been watching Lin Hao’s every move had already leaped to their feet, their eyes wide with disbelief.

Two completely different types of True Qi coexisting within a single body, and this young man could control them both simultaneously! Even in all their decades of life, such a thing was completely unheard of!