Chapter 31: Breaking the Deadlock with a Flick
Chapter 31: Breaking the Deadlock with a Flick
The Lin Manor mobilized all its forces this time. For a while, the area before the Lin Family’s old residence was bustling with carriages and horses, and many elders of the older generation had arrived.
Several patriarchs who had already reached their seventies, Lin Hongde, Lin Hongsheng, and Lin Hongyun, supported an elderly, dignified, and graceful-looking old woman as they came forward.
That was the Lin Family’s revered matriarch, the widow of the previous generation’s clan chief, Madame Liu.
Madame Liu was a legendary figure within Lin Manor. The previous clan chief died early, and she single-handedly raised the few brothers of Lin Manor. Without Madame Liu’s contributions, the previous generation of the Lin Family might well have faced division.
Before the ancestral hall, torches stood in dense rows. Seeing Madame Liu appear, Lin Chengzong, along with many other elders of the Lin Family, immediately stepped forward to pay their respects.
Madame Liu’s appearance clearly helped to slightly calm the anxious and unsettled hearts of many worried Lin clan members.
However, Madame Liu simply waved her hand in refusal and looked at Lin Yuan.
“Grandson, this old one already knows everything. Since it concerns the clan’s Fortune, let us begin quickly!”
“Yes, revered ancestor!”
Lin Yuan gave a slight nod.
As it concerned the clan’s Fortune, some of the ritualistic formalities of the ancestral worship ceremony were slightly reduced, but its core remained solemn and dignified.
Ancestral worship was the best way to experience the strictness of clan laws and rituals.
Those of higher status and standing within the direct lineage, as well as Lin clan members who held scholarly honors or had the right to speak, stood at the front, like the village elders. Behind them were the officials, merchants, or landowners with their own estates from the Lin clan. Following them were the spokespersons of the various branch families.
Many cultivators were nearby the Lin Family’s old residence, watching this scene and couldn’t help but be moved.
The Lin Family indeed had deep and flourishing roots, quite extraordinary.
After the numerous Lin clan members bowed in worship, a stream of white energy, invisible to the naked eye, filled the ancestral hall, pierced through the Netherworld, and fell into a dark realm.
Faintly visible, a red mansion wrapped in countless black energies revealed itself. Several ghost deities had dim golden light around them, seemingly fallen into slumber. There were even a few whose figures had become extremely faint and illusory, as if they might vanish completely at any moment.
“As expected, their Fortune is nearly exhausted, entangled with Karmic Burden. Even the ghost deities of the underworld’s Dragon Court are implicated!”
Around Yunping Mountain, several figures gazed through the Netherworld, seeing everything clearly as if through a pane of glass!
“Ancestral worship can only protect them for a while. The Karmic Burden remains. In less than ten days or half a month, they will soon fall into slumber again!”
One of the figures looked coldly upon this scene.
A continuous stream of white energy poured in. This red mansion emitted a white glow. Many places within the red mansion began to gradually restore their exquisite, magnificent appearance, but faintly visible were specks of black-red flames gnawing away.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan’s gaze shifted, looking toward the southern part of Wenchang City. A trace of surprise flickered in his eyes; he had grasped the flow of energy.
At the instant the white energy surged in.
In the courtyard in the southern part of the city, the banners around the Ritual Altar moved without wind.
The bald Daoist seated on the Ritual Altar, Que Yunzi, immediately flushed red. He opened his eyes, a trace of ferocity flashing within. The hand seals he formed changed, and the dark smoke around him transformed, taking the shape of a huge, illusory Mysterious Turtle that faintly enveloped his entire body.
Roar! Roar!!
The giant illusory Mysterious Turtle faintly roared. The two acolyte boys beside him saw this and were terrified, their faces turning pale.
“A broken ship still has three catties of iron, but I have a rare treasure in hand. A cornered beast’s struggle, what can it do to me?”
Que Yunzi looked fiercely toward the direction of the Lin Family’s old residence.
In his palm, a piece of black turtle shell emitted a jade-like radiance.
This was a rare treasure passed down in their lineage. Suppressing a bit of Fortune backlash was easy and effortless.
How could a duck already in hand fly away!
“Que Yunzi!”
Several cultivators with profound cultivation also detected the anomaly and discovered the bald Daoist performing rituals in the courtyard in the southern part of the city.
Que Yunzi was a rather famous and mysterious rogue cultivator in the Jiangnan Circuit, with extraordinary methods. He had befriended many rogue cultivators and held considerable influence among many of them in the Jiangnan Circuit.
He was a figure of ambiguous morality!
The eyes of many Mystic Gate cultivators flickered with slight surprise, but in the end, they did not intervene!
In the old residence, after everyone had bowed their heads, Lin Yuan withdrew his focus and stepped out from the side, inwardly snickering coldly.
Lin Yuan could clearly sense that the gazes of everyone present were now fixed on him.
Lin Chengzong was extremely tense. By the corridor, Daoist Yu had received the news and had already arrived.
Moreover, Lin Yuan could sense that many unknown eyes were looking in this direction.
Lin Yuan’s expression remained unchanged. He stepped forward, arriving before the large cauldron in front of the ancestral hall. An elder from the clan handed him an Incense Offering.
At the moment he took hold of this Incense Offering, invisible to ordinary people, a wisp of golden light faintly appeared above Lin Yuan’s head, extraordinary and radiant.
At this moment, many cultivators found their spiritual sight difficult to penetrate.
However, several masters skilled in observing energy saw it clearly.
Merit Golden Halo!
That vast amount of Virtue Merit nearly dazzled the eyes of many masters!
“I…”
At this moment, around Yunping Mountain, several figures of deep cultivation were so shocked that they almost pulled their beards off.
“Could he be a virtuous person accumulated over many lifetimes, or the reincarnation of some famous official?” One figure with an immortal-like air and bearing couldn’t help but exclaim, losing composure.
This terrifying Virtue Merit had already formed a tangible Merit Golden Halo.
With so much Virtue Merit, the three thousand External Merit were almost naturally complete, not inferior to those great true lords who underwent resurrection through re-cultivation.
In Yang Manor, the young woman in white light gauze also had a flicker of astonishment in her wise eyes.
It was hard to imagine that Lin Yuan carried such Virtue Merit, and that the power of this merit had already formed a tangible Merit Golden Halo.
In an instant, the young woman in white gauze realized what this meant.
This deadlock was already mostly broken. As soon as that incense stick descended, the situation would be completely reversed!
“How could this be?” In the pavilion, the young woman in white gauze murmured to herself, for the first time showing a hint of miscalculation.
Beside her, several young men and women watched the scene baffled. Their cultivation was slightly weaker; they couldn’t see the Merit Golden Light around Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan sensed the Merit Golden Halo blooming within him, but inwardly he was indifferent.
When he returned this time, because he brought back that Merit Golden Lamp, a portion of his merit was inexplicably consumed. Otherwise, the Merit Golden Halo deep within his innate Thunder God Primordial Embryo would have been larger.
But Virtue Merit alone could not solve the Lin Family’s fundamental problems. What Lin Yuan wanted was not merely to revive their vitality, but to truly reverse and change their Fortune.
Lin Yuan’s consciousness swept over the surroundings. He sneered inwardly, simply stepping forward slightly and shouting aloud.
“Today, Lin Yuan, fifth-generation descendant of the Lin Family, comes to worship our ancestors. First, I honor the August Heaven; may the Heaven protect us and send down sweet rain!”
“Second, I honor the Earth; its profound virtue carries all things and nurtures all living beings!”
“Third, I honor our ancestors; may they protect their descendants and bestow divine blessings.”
His words were like muted thunder from heaven and earth, washing away unease.
Visible to those who could see it, the many spirit tablets in the ancestral hall emitted a faint spiritual glow. Much of the black energy quietly dissipated.
Boom!!
At this moment, dark thunderclouds seemed to gather in the distant sky.
“The Fortune is beginning to recover!”
In various places around Yunping Mountain, one cultivator after another raised their eyes to look at the sky.
Merit was washing away Karmic Burden, and Fortune was recovering. The ritualist who was scheming against the Lin Family would soon face the full counterattack of Lin Manor’s Fortune!
“This makes things very interesting!” One figure after another instantly turned their gaze toward the southern part of the city. Their eyes met, flickering with threads of solemnity.
Fortune was unpredictable. They had originally thought it was predestined. They never expected the destined outcome could be forcibly replaced.
Carrying Virtue Merit made acting truly incredibly convenient!
Many figures showed wariness in their eyes.
Que Yunzi this time might end up trying to steal a chicken only to lose his rice, and even get himself trapped!
In the southern part of the city, in the courtyard, Que Yunzi, who was suppressing the backlash, suddenly changed expression!
Crack!
It was as if a bolt of thunder had struck his ears. In his sight, a clearly visible crack appeared on that Mysterious Jade Turtle Shell and was visibly expanding rapidly.
The Lin Family’s Fortune, for some unknown reason, was suddenly surging!
If this continued, the backlash of Fortune, all the calamities would reverse and entangle him!
Once entangled, how could there be any life left?
Que Yunzi was almost scared out of his wits!
“No! How could this be? This is absolutely impossible!”
Que Yunzi growled in a low voice, his ferocious expression frightening the two acolyte boys.
“Go check! Go check what they’re doing immediately! Kill him for me!” He almost roared toward the side of the storeroom, his face flushed, the rumble of thunder already at his ears.
Under the terrified gazes of the two acolyte boys, a sharp and piercing cold light suddenly shot up into the sky from the courtyard.
A Yin Spirit True Lord!
And a sword cultivator Yin Spirit True Lord!
A point of cold starlight arrived in the blink of an eye. Many cultivators saw this terrifyingly sharp and fierce sword light and their expressions changed drastically!
This was a cornered beast’s desperate struggle!