Lin Mushan

Zhang Ruochen, Concubine Lin, and her maid Yun'er rode in an antelope horse ancient carriage as they slowly traveled out of the Yunwu Royal Palace.

An antelope horse, not a real horse, but a savage beast with a unicorn horn on its head, with a body that stood up to more than three meters tall, like a small elephant, and ran at a speed that was more than five times that of an ordinary warhorse. Some of these robust antelope horses were even capable of traveling three thousand miles a day.

The Antelope Horse Ancient Carriage didn't know how far it had traveled and gradually came to a halt.

Zhang Ruochen stepped down from the cart and looked at the two gilded gates not far away, and then at the gold-edged plaque hanging at the top of the gates, on which were written two large and powerful characters, "Lin Mansion!"

His heart fluttered, wasn't his mother's surname "Lin"?

Looking at the grandeur of this mansion, the Lin family was not a small family, but rather the style of a large family.

If my mother's mother's family is really a big family, and why not get the support of the mother's family, but in the county king's residence by other princesses bullying?

There must be a hidden agenda.

Concubine Lin also stepped down from the carriage, looked up at the gate that was both familiar and unfamiliar, and said, ''Dust child, you must have wanted to see Muddy Shan for a long time! Now that you have also opened up the Divine Martial Seal, I believe that you and Muddy San will have a lot to talk about, so you must do your best!"

Until now, Zhang Ruochen didn't know what exactly Muddy Shan was, and hearing Yun'er and Concubine Lin's words, he always had a strange feeling.

Led by Concubine Lin, Zhang Ruochen and Yun'er walked into the Lin Mansion together.

When a princess returned to the family, theoretically, she should be welcomed with great pomp and circumstance, but the one who welcomed Consort Lin and Zhang Ruochen into the gate was merely an elderly butler.

Concubine Lin was taken to the inner mansion by the old butler, while Zhang Ruochen and Yun'er stayed in the outer mansion, with only the two maids of honor staying behind to receive them.

Zhang Ruochen always felt that the atmosphere was very wrong, yet he didn't know how to inquire, so he could only continue to remain silent.

"Ninth Prince, aren't you going to see Muddy Shan? She should be at the martial arts arena right now, those young children of the Lin Family should be practicing there." Yun'er asked.

After being mentioned a few times by Yun'er and Concubine Lin, Zhang Ruochen's heart became even more curious, who was that woman called "Muddy Shan"? There shouldn't be any harm in going to meet her.

"Hm! Let's go, to the Lin Family's martial arts arena." Zhang Ruochen nodded and said.

...

The Lin Family's inner mansion.

In an ancient hall, Lin Fengxian, the Lin Family's Family Head, sat four-footedly on a eunuch chair.

He looked to be in his thirties, with two neat beards above his lips, and glanced towards Consort Lin, who was sitting on the opposite side of the room, and said, "The Ninth Prince is a descendant of the County King's Mansion, and even if he has opened the Divine Martial Seal, he should still go to the County King's Mansion's Book Pavilion to pick out a cultivation technique, so why did Consort Lin come to the Lin Family to ask for a cultivation technique?"

Concubine Lin gently bit her lip and said, "It's not a demand, it's that I'm requesting that Eldest Brother be able to give Duster a volume of cultivation techniques for the sake of him being your own nephew."

"Boom!"

Lin Fengxian let out a cold snort and slammed his palm on the tabletop, saying, "Now you know to come and beg me, your elder brother? Now come to talk to me about love? Three years ago, when I went to the County King's Mansion to beg you, why didn't you save Chen Yu on the basis that he was your own nephew? You know very well that Chen Yu is my first son, and even more so, the Lin family's hundred year old one of the greatest geniuses, so as long as you went to beg the County King, you could always save him, but you didn't ..."

"Three years ago ..." Lin Fei was very aggrieved and couldn't hold back her tears, wanting to tell the truth about three years ago.

However, Lin Fengxian interrupted her and said, "You leave! The Lin family and you have long since broken off, so don't come back in the future. Concubine Lin."

"Dang!"

Concubine Lin directly knelt on the ground, shedding tears non-stop, her voice whimpering, "Big brother, are you so heartless? I want to see Father."

"Father has gone to the Heavenly Demon Ridge and will only return three months later, you won't be able to see him now." Lin Fengxian indifferently said, "There's one more thing, Muddy Shan and His Highness the Seventh Prince are about to get engaged, tell His Highness the Ninth Prince to stay away from Muddy Shan in the future."

Concubine Lin's heart became even more desperate as she said, "You know very well that Dusty has always loved Muddy Shan, if he knew that Muddy Shan and the Seventh Prince are engaged, how heartbroken would he be? Besides, how could it be the Seventh Prince?"

Lin Fengxian said, "His Highness the Seventh Prince opened the Seventh Grade Divine Martial Seal when he was three years old, how amazing is his natural talent? With his current martial cultivation, there is simply no one in the younger generation of the entire Yunwu County Kingdom who can look up to him. For Muddy Shan to be able to tie the knot with His Highness, the Seventh Prince, will be of immense benefit to our Lin Family's future."

"Although the Ninth Prince and Muddy Shan are cousins and were great playmates when they were young, they are considered childhood sweethearts. However, after all, the Ninth Prince's qualifications are mediocre, he only opened the Divine Martial Seal at the age of sixteen, and he won't be able to achieve much in this life, being able to cultivate to the late stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm should be the limit, and he's not comparable to the Seventh Prince at all."

Concubine Lin said, "Muddy Shan is also willing to be engaged to the Seventh Prince? Will a union for the sake of family interests really be happy?"

Lin Fengxian stared at Concubine Lin and said indifferently, "You're wrong, this was meant to be Muddy Shan's own decision!"

...

The Lin Family's martial arts arena was very open, as big as half a soccer field.

One by one, the young sons and daughters of the Lin Family wearing green-colored martial arts clothes were practicing martial arts on the martial arts arena, some were practicing boxing, some were practicing swordsmanship, and some were practicing sword techniques.

They belonged to the elites of the Lin Family, and each one of them had their Divine Martial Seal turned on as they concentrated on their cultivation. There were also elders from the Lin Family instructing them in the martial arts arena, a thriving atmosphere.

Zhang Ruochen nodded and said in his heart, "The Lin Family is considered a big clan in the Yunwu County Kingdom."

Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on the body of a young girl with a slender figure, and he couldn't help but be a little stunned.

One could only see that the young girl looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, with a petite and delicate figure, eyebrows like willow leaves, eyes as bright as stars, and skin as snow-white as spiritual jade, what a beauty embryo.

She was holding a sword that emitted a faint starlight, emitting a light green colored sword aura, countless sword qi surrounded her body, following her steps as she wandered around, as if she was a shockingly bright, as if she was a swimming dragon, her sword technique was simply exquisite to the extreme.

"The true qi is externalized, and the sword follows the heart. Her martial cultivation has at least reached the Yellow Extreme Realm Middle Extreme Position, far too powerful than the Eight Princes." Zhang Ruochen said in his heart.

"Huh! Isn't that the Ninth Prince? He actually came to the Lin Mansion?" A young son of the Lin Family revealed a few cold smiles when he saw Zhang Ruochen standing outside the martial arts arena.

"He must have come to look for Sister Muddy Shan again, but unfortunately, Sister Muddy Shan doesn't even bother to see him now."

"I heard that he has also opened the Divine Martial Mark."

"Hehe! He's only sixteen when he opened the Divine Martial Mark, what can he do? If he wasn't sister Muddy Shan's cousin, he probably wouldn't even be able to enter the Lin Family."

"I heard that Sister Muddy Shan is about to get engaged to the Seventh Prince, so it's really a match made in heaven!"

"Hehehe! It's said that that Ninth Prince has always been secretly in love with Sister Muddy Shan, so guess what his expression would be if he heard that Muddy Shan and His Highness the Seventh Prince were about to get engaged?"

Those young martial artists of the Lin Family all stopped practicing and stared at Zhang Ruochen, who stood outside the martial arts arena, pointing and discussing, occasionally letting out teasing laughter.

Lin Mishan also stopped practicing her sword and glanced towards Zhang Ruochen who was standing outside the martial arts arena, and with a gentle wave of her slender jade arm, the Starlight Treasure Sword in her hand was precisely inserted into the scabbard five meters away.

Lin Mishan walked up to Zhang Ruochen, looked at Zhang Ruochen's thin body, and said, "Cousin, it's been a long time since I've seen you, I've heard that you've also opened the Divine Martial Seal?"

When they were very young, Lin Mishan and Zhang Ruochen were still very good playmates and could be considered childhood sweethearts, but later on, when Lin Mishan opened the Divine Martial Seal, she spent most of her time on cultivation and became more and more distant from Zhang Ruochen.

After the incident three years ago, she had never been to the Cloud Martial King Palace again. Although Zhang Ruochen was often sick, he still went to the Lin Family to look for her from time to time, and even if he was able to see her once, he would feel quite happy.

However, the number of times he was able to see her was becoming less and less, and in the last half year, he had never seen her. She had always dispatched a maid out to send Zhang Ruochen away.

"So she is my cousin."

The current Zhang Ruochen could be said to be meeting Lin Mishan for the first time and didn't have any feelings for her, so he appeared calm and humbled himself, "It's true that I've opened the Divine Martial Seal, but the Queen Mother said it's just a Divine Martial Seal without a grade, so naturally, it can't be compared to my cousin's Divine Martial Seal."

Lin Mishan nodded, tilting her snow-white chin, as proud as a white swan, and said, "After all, you are already sixteen years old, and to be able to open the Divine Martial Seal can be considered a gift from the heavens to you. You must cultivate hard in the future, although you can't become a martial arts powerhouse, you can at least strengthen your body and not have to lie in a hospital bed for years, for you ... can at least be a normal person."

Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly, nodded, and said, "I will definitely work hard on my cultivation in the future, and strive to catch up with your cultivation level, cousin."

Lin Mishan naturally knew that Zhang Ruochen liked her, and when she heard Zhang Ruochen's words, she assumed that Zhang Ruochen was still undeterred and wanted to continue pursuing her.

"Eh! Cousin, my cultivation has already reached the Yellow Extremity Realm Middle Extremity Realm, and I'm only one step away from the Great Extremity Realm. With your qualifications, it's estimated that you won't be able to cultivate to the Middle Extreme Realm in your lifetime, what's most important for you to do right now is to cultivate in a practical manner, don't blindly pursue something you shouldn't be pursuing, you can't be over-ambitious or you'll suffer from the opposite." Lin Mishan said in a double entendre.

Zhang Ruochen's frown deepened.

Lin Mishan gave Zhang Ruochen a somewhat sympathetic look and said, "Cousin, there's one more thing I have to tell you, I hope you won't be too sad. Three months from now, when the County King comes out, His Highness the Seventh Prince and I should be getting engaged."

"There's a good show to watch! Hehehe!"

Those young martial artists of the Lin Family, all of them had great joy in their hearts, and they all fixed their gazes on Zhang Ruochen, wanting to see what kind of reaction Zhang Ruochen would have?