Amon left and headed directly back to the Lin Estate. He saw Lin Guo co to his side when he left the White Cloud Estate. Amon let the man accompany him. Lin Guo only left after seeing Amon entering the Lin Estate.
When Amon ca near where his housing complex was located. There seed to be a crowd by the entrance. One of the people in the crowd saw Amon and imdiately shouted, "There you are! You ungrateful Lin backstabber. You still have the face to return to the Lin clan? This place does not welco you. Begone from here!"
The speaker was a middle-aged auntie with thick make-up. Amon had no idea what the bitch was spouting. Amon stood there with folded arms and waited for them to explain.
"Oh? Look at him! He still dares to act as if he owns the place? How about we teach him a lesson and show him that the Lin clan is not a place he can do as he wishes?" The auntie exclaid.
The others voiced their agreent and surrounded him in an intimidating manner.
Amon did not move. Although he sensed danger from so of them, it was not in a capacity that he couldn't handle. Also, they were still inside the Lin Estate, he didn't believe that this commotion would be unnoticed for long.
As expected, soone ca and exclaid, "Who is making a commotion here?"
Everyone turned and saw Lin Fong and Madam Lin co out from inside the housing complex.
The auntie who had scolded Amon imdiately greeted Lin Fong, "Mister Fong, it's great that you are here. I ca to demand an explanation from Madam Lin about her adopted son. You must be aware of what happened during the tournant. Our Lin clan should be working together for the glory of our clan. Instead this bast… I an, this adopted mber of our clan did a taboo and attacked his own clan. He not only wounded my son Lin Gai with petty tricks but also caused him to fail the preliminary round. If not for his act, my talented son will surely have beco one of the finalists and brought honor to our clan."
Amon scoffed at the words. So people were just blinded or chose to be blinded to think that their offsprings were better than they actually were.
"How dare you laugh at ! Mister Fong, see how uncultured this backwater kid is! I demand him to be expelled from our clan!"
Before Lin Fong could say anything, Madam Lin ca forward.
The auntie who saw Madam Lin approach, hurriedly said, "Madam Lin, I ant no disrespect. But you really shouldn't have casually taken any child to be adopted. There are plenty of–"
*SLAP*
The auntie didn't have the chance to finish her words as Madam Lin's palm slapped her cheek hard. Everyone was dumbfounded by the scene.
"Ma… madam Lin, why did you–"
*SLAP*
Another slap landed on her other cheek. The slap was hard enough that the auntie fell to the ground. The others hurriedly huddled around the woman as they plead for Madam Lin's rcy.
Lin Fong had also co forward and held her sister. "Xi, that's enough," he said.
Madam Lin didn't continue, but her eyes glared at the crowd in front of her. "Any of you dare say anything bad about my son will face my wrath! My son is the pride of our Lin Clan for having beco one of the finalists. Any of you dare to disrespect him will sar our clan's honor!"
The crowd turned to Amon with wide eyes. They didn't know yet that Amon had won. The tournant had just ended and Amon had returned here imdiately, so the news had not yet widely spread. It didn't even register to them that if Amon ca back here alive, that ans he had won the deathmatch which was the semifinal round.
Madam Lin, however, had Lin Guo watch Amon's every match and he used the jade communication device to report the match's result. Thus, Madam Lin had already known of Amon's victory when it happened. Lin Fong was coincidentally visiting Madam Lin at this ti. He had been trying to repair the relationship between them.
"Now begone!" Madam Lin declared. The crowd didn't dare to tarry any longer. They hurriedly scurried away.
Amon was amused seeing how they left pathetically. That auntie should have been grateful. If Amon didn't restrain himself, she wouldn't even have a son anymore.
After they left, Madam Lin hugged Amon. Amon felt weird by the hug. Whether in this life or the previous, he rarely let anyone hug him. Even when he was having sex, he didn't. He preferred his partner bound so there was no chance for him to be assaulted during intercourse.
"I'm glad that you are safe," Madam Lin said softly.
Lin Fong eyed the two. Amon could see the jealousy in Lin Fong's eyes. Amon make voiceless mouth movents that said, "two more years." Indicating their deal that Amon would go to the academy and leave the Lin clan for good.
Lin Fong gave him a silent nod. He then said to Madam Lin. "Xi, I will leave first. It's nice chatting with you."
Madam Lin let go of her hug and nodded at Lin Fong. She then said to Amon, "co, tell
everything about the tournant."
The two entered their housing complex and sat underneath the gazebo in their courtyard. As requested, Amon recounted the tournant like a good son. Madam Lin had proven again and again as a valuable protector, so Amon had to entertain her in return.
After finishing his tale, Amon asked, "Does mother know about the final? How is the final being run? The White Cloud people said that the Lin clan had joined the finals in the past and should know about it."
"I am not aware of this final. But my brother, Bubai, should know about it. Co, let us go and ask him," Madam Lin said.
Amon followed his stepmother to Lin Bubai's housing complex. This was the first ti Amon ca to the place. It was much more luxurious and larger than Madam Lin's one. When they entered the courtyard, Amon saw several won chatting by an artificial pond.
"Those are my brother's wives," Madam Lin explained.
One of those wives ca over and greeted Madam Lin. Madam Lin explained her wish to et his brother. The wife then led them to another side of the courtyard. They heard lodious music as they followed her.
After turning the corner, they saw Lin Bubai sit under a beech tree. He was reading a scroll while not far away a woman was playing a zither. The lodious music they heard was from that zither.
Lin Bubai noticed her sister approaching. He stood up and gave a signal to the woman with the zither to stop playing.
"Xi, What brings you here?" Lin Bubai stood and gestured for Madam Lin and Amon to sit on the wooden chairs by the side of the garden. The woman with the zither picked up the instrunt and excused herself.
After the three sat, Madam Lin inford the purpose of her visit, "Brother, you should have heard about Lin Mo successfully becoming one of the finalists. He wishes to learn about the nature of the final round."
Lin Bubai nodded. "It's natural. I originally wished to gather you and the other two Lin descendants who had managed to reach the final, so I only need to explain once. But since you are here already, fine, I will inform you first.
"To understand the final round, I might need to relate one of our town's history. The White Cloud Sect is not originally the hegemon of this city. The sect ca into prominence around one thousand years ago. The funny thing is, their status rose exponentially within a single decade, overthrowing the then ruler of the city before replacing them and changing the na of the city to reflect their status. Many other large clans, including us of the Lin clan, ca to suspect that they harbored a great secret.
"The large clans started to band together and investigate. After a long investigation, they finally found the secret. The White Cloud Sect had discovered a secret entrance to a secluded dinsion. This dinsion contained many ancient secrets and treasures. The White Cloud Sect had used the treasures they acquired from this dinsion to boost their developnt and beco the supre ruler of this city.
"Of course, even though they had beco the strongest organization in the city, they only ca into power not long ago. Their influence and power were not yet solidified. If all the prominent clans band together against them, they would still lose. Hence, they struck a bargain with the clans.
"The clans, not willing to go into full confrontation with the sect, decided to take up the bargain."
"Why didn't they just fight the White Cloud Sect?" Madam Lin asked. "As you said, they are still in their infancy, that should be the best ti to strike."
Her question showed that she wasn't aware of this history. Amon surmised in that case, many should not know as well. Perhaps the White Cloud Sect and the large clans had decided to keep all this a secret so that the existence of the secret dinsion was not exposed to the public.
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