"Send out the order! Summon every strong cultivator of the Roaming Meridian realm in Riverview City! To whoever can slay this beast, the Lin clan awards two Dao Essence Stones!" From the crowd a middle-aged man stepped out, bellowing.
This man was Lin Duanxing, the father of Lin Zhengren and Lin Zhengli. His standing within the Lin clan was considerable.
But that the position of next clan head had passed over him straight to Lin Zhengli was enough to show his meager ability.
So when he offered two Dao Essence Stones, all eyes turned to old Master Lin, for the man had no such authority.
"Enough." Old Master Lin said flatly: "Go and fetch Lin Zhenglun."
"Father, you are muddled!" Lin Duanxing urged anxiously: "Lin Zhenglun, however worthless, represents the face of our Lin family! How can you hand him over to outsiders?"
Quite apart from all else, the very words he spoke were disqualifying. To contradict old Master Lin publicly, to call him muddled — put lightly, a failure to know his place; put harshly, a challenge to the clan head's authority. And whether Lin Zhenglun was worth anything or not — was that fit to be aired in broad daylight? Was he truly unafraid of chilling men's hearts?
Old Master Lin struck the ground with his staff and raised his voice: "Do you insist on stirring this into a citywide storm before the Lin family is no longer shamed?"
Lin Duanxing drew up with a start and fell silent.
In the end, he did not understand cultivation. That Lin Zhengli could represent the Riverview City Dao Academy at the Three-City Trial meant he was already a foremost Roaming Meridian figure in the city academy — maybe one or two in the garrison were stronger, but not by much. And would it not be a disgrace to summon the garrison's cultivators? To settle the matter swiftly and resolutely — that was the true course.
Before long, Lin Zhenglun was brought to the archway.
Gazing at this man — his hair in wild disarray, his aspect haggard, his whole person a walking corpse — Jiang Chen could not imagine how Auntie Song could ever have taken a fancy to him.
"He has been brought." Old Master Lin turned his clouded aged eyes toward Jiang Chen: "What account do you seek?"
"Now, I ask, and you answer." Jiang Chen drew near Lin Zhenglun, staring into his dull eyes: "How did Song Ruyi, the mother of my younger sister, die?"
Lin Zhengli cut in: "She threw herself into a well. Did I not say it clearly enough?"
Old Master Lin cast a faint glance at him, and he shut his mouth at once.
Lin Zhenglun had been muddled the whole time, until he heard the three words "Song Ruyi." Only then did a little light slowly return to his eyes.
He raised his eyes, looked at Jiang Chen, then around at those surrounding them, and turned back to stare fixedly at Jiang Chen: "What did you just say?"
His voice trembled: "You... are Ruyi's stepson who cultivates at the Dao Academy? Jiang An'an's older brother?"
"Good, good!" He grew excited, even somewhat frantic: "To dare blockade the gates of the Lin family — a man of promise!"
Jiang Chen repeated coldly: "I ask you, how did Song Ruyi die."
But Lin Zhenglun seemed wholly insensible to his impatience and disgust — or rather, he had long since ceased to feel the judgments of others, living only on his own emotions.
He threw open his arms and burst into loud weeping: "Of what use is it that I hoarded so much wealth!"
Lin Zhenglun fell to his knees, covering his face and wailing: "Would that I had never trodden the path of cultivation! Once the mountain crumbles, the road turns to a dead end!"
For this man, Jiang Chen had no surplus patience.
So his sword shifted slowly until it pointed at Lin Zhenglun: "I ask you one last time — how did Song Ruyi die!"
"Ruyi..." Lin Zhenglun stopped his wailing, lifted his head, face streaming with tears and snot: "It was I, I who killed her. I drove her to her death!"
"No!" He rose abruptly, thrusting out his finger at the Lin clansmen gathered behind the archway: "It was them! Every single one of them bears a share of the blame! Especially Lin Zhengli!"
Lin Zhengli burst into curses: "Lin Zhenglun, have you gone mad?"
"Zhenglun." Old Master Lin spoke up: "Your wife has died, and you are not well. I understand. But you must not slander people recklessly."
"Old Master?" Lin Zhenglun wept: "It was you who once took me back into the main line of descent and let me call you Grandfather. But when this little beast Lin Zhengli seized my business and drove me away, how is it you turned a blind eye?"
Old Master Lin frowned and said nothing. He naturally knew the affair between Lin Zhengli and Lin Zhenglun well. On the one hand, Lin Zhenglun had indeed grown proud and overbearing in his success back then; on the other, Lin Zhengli was his true grandson. However wrong the lad's doing, he, as grandfather, had to patch things round for him.
"On matters of business, I have long since ceased to inquire," old Master Lin said. "Perhaps you were truly wronged. When I look into it later, I shall furnish another account. But your wife's death was truly a suicide. That can be verified — even to open the coffin and examine the corpse would pose no problem. How can you blame others for it?"
Lin Zhenglun wiped away a tear, gnashing his teeth: "Ruyi and I, we were once deeply in love. My laboriously built business had nearly knitted together the herbal markets of two city regions! Had it not been that Lin Zhengli's eyes grew hot — relying on his standing as heir to the clan to seize my power and my business — how would I have fallen to this!"
"Had it not been for Lin Zhengli —" He wheeled about, leveling an accusing finger, his eyes brimming with grievance and madness!
Boom! A hand appeared as if from nowhere and clamped down on the very crown of Lin Zhengli's head. A burst of Dao essence, and he was smashed into a pulp of flesh!
His unfinished words, his full measure of grievance, were ground to dust.
Lin Zhengren, having descended from the sky, withdrew his hand and looked at Jiang Chen: "Song Ruyi killed herself. You heard it clearly. I repay you one Lin Zhenglun! Enough?"
Lin Zhengren had appeared and killed a man without warning. Without a second thought, Ling Chuan and Zhao Yan stepped forward to stand at Jiang Chen's side, Dao essence surging, ready to open battle at any moment.
A living man, before their very eyes, smashed into a pulp — and one who, moments before, had been delivering his indignant speech. Such intimidation was enough to silence many. But Jiang Chen's expression did not change.
He truly had no further demand. That Song Ruyi had killed herself was a fact. At most, Lin Zhenglun had treated her ill after their marriage, which counted as no great crime under the laws of Zhuang. There might be other entanglements, but Lin Zhenglun was dead. Given Jiang Chen's standing as a Dao Academy disciple, he could press no further.
For the Lin family to slay Lin Zhenglun as their account was defensible in any court. Had it been any other man, there would have been no account at all.
Jiang Chen said: "Return to me the dowry Song Ruyi brought, and the herbal business of Phoenix Creek Town. Those are all enterprises of my Jiang family, given in trust to Song Ruyi. Now that she is dead, they should rightly revert to their original owner."
Song Ruyi's dowry had already been considerable. But the herbal business of Phoenix Creek Town was, above all, the lever for prizing open the herbal market of the Maple City region and uniting the trades of two great city regions.
With so large a morsel cut away, Lin Zhengli was loath to let it go.
He was about to say something, when Lin Zhengren made the decision outright: "Agreed."
"Then I, this Jiang, will take my leave." Jiang Chen sheathed his sword and nodded toward the Lin clansmen: "My apologies for the disturbance."
"Junior Brother Jiang, this Lin has one word of counsel for you." Lin Zhengren spoke behind him: "The path of cultivation is long. Walk slowly. Do not let it grow ever narrower. However strong Zhu Weiwo is, can he shield you for a lifetime?"
Jiang Chen drew out the Candle-Burning Spear, wrapped it carefully, closed the box, and settled it upon his back. Only then did he turn back and say to Lin Zhengren: "I shall bear your lesson in mind."
The three brothers went their way, departing at a stroll.