Chapter 88

Chapter 88: New In-Laws

The instant Ling Yao saw Shen Yu Han in Lin Zhao’s hands, Xiao Yuan Tian lifted the time restriction from her.

“You dare!” Ling Yao’s voice broke with rage and fear. “If you dare touch Yu Han, his father and mother won’t let you go!”

At this point, the threat sounded almost laughable.

Lin Zhao shook her head, about to speak.

Shen Yu Han reached out and gripped her hand.

“There’s no need to threaten my aunt, Zhao Zhao,” he said quietly. “If you want my life… I’ll give it to you.”

Lin Zhao froze.

Before she could even grasp what he meant, Shen Yu Han had already driven a spirit artifact hidden in his sleeve toward his own heart.

Lin Zhao activated Indestructible Golden Body in an instant, caught the artifact, and forced it away.

“Shen Yu Han,” she said, voice low, “my feud with Yao Chi Sacred Land stopped being something you can fix by dying the moment the Ancestral Dragon Continent appeared.”

She stared at him.

The dead calm in his eyes made him feel like a stranger.

The Shen Yu Han in her memories had become someone she didn’t want near—but when had that spirited boy from the beginning turned into this?

Lin Zhao shoved him back toward the Lin Family side and forced the strange ache in her chest down. She looked at Ling Yao, expression unmoved. “If you don’t return my mother, you won’t see Shen Yu Han either.”

Ling Yao stared at the spirit artifact on the ground.

Then—under everyone’s stunned gaze—she covered her face and began to cry.

Lin Zhao’s breath caught.

A Spirit Transformation expert, crying like this?

At Spirit Transformation, cultivation wasn’t only realm. It was mindset.

Very few things could shake someone so deeply.

Ling Yao’s sobs twisted into wild laughter. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she threw her head back. “Sister. Brother-in-law. Ling Yao has failed your trust!”

She stumbled toward Shen Yu Han, eyes bloodshot when she lowered her hands. “Yu Han—your mother bound your fate to the fated Phoenix Maiden so she could assist you, not so you would become a puppet to love! How could you die for a woman? How could you!”

As she reached for him, Xiao Yuan Tian struck.

Ling Yao slammed to the ground, coughed up blood—

—and then her body dissolved into filthy black water.

Han Yan’s eyes widened before she could stop herself. “How is that possible?”

As Xiao Yuan Tian’s wife, she knew he hadn’t used much force at all.

And that still killed her.

Lei Yuan’s expression sharpened as he sensed carefully. “Her body… seems weaker than even Foundation Establishment.”

“To give a woman with a body weaker than Foundation Establishment Spirit Transformation cultivation?” the Lin Family Old Ancestor burst out.

Just what kind of force had the Lin Family almost married into?

A chill ran through him as he looked at Shen Yu Han.

Thank heavens that marriage never went through.

“Puppet Construct,” Han Yan said with certainty. “She likely had some sacred object sustaining her, but that cultivation wasn’t real—wasn’t permanent.”

Xiao Yuan Tian spoke, voice heavy. “They say Immortal Venerable Ling Yao was once a Mortal Domain woman with no cultivation. After being abandoned, she went to Yao Chi Sacred Land to rely on her sister, who cultivated there. Ten years later, she suddenly broke through to Foundation Establishment. At Foundation Establishment, she traveled with her sister.”

He paused. “A hundred years later, she returned to Yao Chi Sacred Land with her sister’s child—and Spirit Transformation cultivation.”

A hundred years to Spirit Transformation was terrifying talent. That was why she and Shen Yu Han had held such high status.

Now it was clear: the cultivation had been an empty shell.

The Lin Family Old Ancestor’s face twisted with disgust. “The question is how many people in Yao Chi Sacred Land knew the truth. This brat might know something.”

Shen Yu Han’s lips parted—

—and then, under everyone’s horrified gaze, he dissolved into nothingness as well.

Something clacked onto the ground.

Lin Zhao picked it up.

A puppet doll carved from wutong wood.

She stared at it for a beat, then handed it to Xiao Yuan Tian.

Xiao Yuan Tian took it, silent for a long moment. “So Yao Chi Sacred Land’s Holy Son was also a Puppet Construct.”

Yao Chi Sacred Land. The You Lan Empire. The Ancestral Dragon Continent. Puppet nephew and puppet aunt.

Everything reeked of schemes—against the Lin Family, against Lin Zhao.

“Phoenixes roost in wutong wood…” Han Yan murmured, eyes narrowing. “What are they trying to do?”

“No matter what,” Xiao Yuan Tian said, “the Lin Family should relocate as soon as possible. Staying near the South Sea will be safer.”

Han Yan glanced at him.

“What?” Xiao Yuan Tian asked, suddenly uneasy. “Not allowed?”

When he’d failed to win Han Yan over in the past, she used to look at him like this—expressionless, yet faintly amused.

Before he could dig himself deeper, the Lin Family Old Ancestor hurried to clasp his hands. “Instructor Han Yan meant the same. The Lin Family thanks the South Sea Academy.”

Xiao Yuan Tian relaxed. “I’ll escort you to the South Sea. Han Yan—you take Lin Zhao back to the academy first. There’s a mission waiting for her.”

Then he looked at Lin Zhao. “As for your mother, the academy will send people to Yao Chi Sacred Land to demand her. Don’t worry about it.”

Han Yan nodded, then asked Lin Zhao, “Can you return now?”

Unlike Spirit Transformation cultivators who could go without rest for years, Enlightenment cultivators still needed sleep. Lin Zhao adjusted her breathing, forcing herself steady.

“I can leave anytime,” she said.

Han Yan nodded, satisfied. “Follow me.”

Lei Yuan stepped forward. “With you here, I’m at ease. This old man will take his leave.”

Xiao Yuan Tian inclined his head. “Much obliged, Thunder Hall.”

Lei Yuan’s smile turned strange. “No need to be so polite. Maybe in the future, we’ll even become in-laws.”

Xiao Yuan Tian: “?”

After Lei Yuan left, Xiao Yuan Tian hesitated, then asked the Lin Family Old Ancestor, whose face was still tight with worry, “Han Yan isn’t pregnant. What nonsense was he talking about?”

The Lin Family Old Ancestor coughed sadly. “Venerable… is it possible he meant Zhao Zhao?”

Xiao Yuan Tian’s face fell instantly.

Trying to steal a South Sea Academy student?

“He can dream,” Xiao Yuan Tian said coldly. “Two arms hanging two hands, skin thicker than city walls, and he still wants to be our in-law? In the Continental Grand Tournament, our academy will stomp Thunder Hall flat.”