Good Omen?

Third Person PoV:

Location: Lin Family Gathering Hall, Near Sector-9 Branch of The Heavenly Secret Pavilion, Eternal Cosmic Realm 

"Patriarch Lin, where is the young master?" An old woman dressed in traditional Taoist robes questioned a man sitting on the throne in the hall. She was an elder of the Lin family. 

The man in question outwardly looked like he was in his late 40's. The man had long flowing black hair with a few streaks of white.

"That brat has run off to the bar in order to play around with women after the chaos he caused earlier. Apparently he heard some rumors that the saintess of the divine phoenix sect is going to pass by there in a couple of days," Patriarch Lin replied.

"Please discipline him so that he does not cause unnecessary conflict. The divine phoenix sect had already been angry at his attempts to win over their saintess, but now they are starting to retaliate against our businesses ever since he crippled the rising genius of their sect." 

The grand elder, Lin Xiao urged the patriarch. He was a bald, overweight man who looked like he always displayed a leering gaze and had an eerie dark aura surrounding him. Any person witnessing him might have subconsciously thought that he was a degenerate, but they would be sorely mistaken.

The grand elder was one of the few people in the Lin family that behaved in a dignified manner and held high moral values and principles. He could very well have been defined as the only remaining 'conscience' of the Lin family.

Unfortunately, his appearance had doomed him to a life of infamy. People hid away when he strode by them. Rumors led to more rumors causing his reputation to worsen until it reached a point that he became the symbol of sin in sector-9.

Any of his actions were easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. An example was when he ordered food in one of the few restaurants who knew of his true nature, it would be mistaken for him ordering a shipment of drugs. 

By the way, that innocent restaurant was now considered to be a front for a massive drug cartel. One of the many facets of the grand elder's criminal empire. Furthermore, any of the Lin family's negative actions were added to his name. A kind old man who did numerous good for the Lin family and common citizens in a world of cultivation and magic.

"Silence! That is already a matter of the past. There is no need to keep mentioning a trifling matter such as that. Even if they issues with that brat, my Lin family is not something a trifling divine phoenix sect can mess with. 

We have to remind them the consequences of provoking our great Lin family. Everyone is dismissed." Patriarch Lin, angrily rebuked the grand elder attempts to reason with him.

He knew of the grand elder's character all too well. Old Lin Xiao had always been a thorn in his path. Despite his infamy, he still had a decent following as he had acted as grand elder since before patriarch Lin was born.

Not to mention, the old coot was ridiculously powerful. He was one of the reasons that the Lin family still held the status they did. Regardless of how much patriarch Lin desperately wanted to remove the grand elder, a threat to his sovereignty, he could not due to his weaker strength.

If he did somehow manage to do so, the massive list of enemies that the Lin family had made over the years would undoubtedly retaliate. All patriarch Lin could do was desperately limit old Lin Xiao's influence and bide his time until everything is in his favor to strike him down.

Hearing the patriarch's response, the older elders all secretly shook their heads in a disappointed manner as they left the hall, while the rising younger ones were fired up due to being manipulated by patriarch Lin.

Old Lin Xiao too was obviously disappointed. He had been appointed as grand elder by the previous patriarch and had personally witnessed how the might Lin family slowly stagnated under the current patriarch.

And the future direction that the Lin family was heading in did not seem optimistic either. The heir to the patriarch, young master Lin Feng was even more incompetent. 

Perhaps due to the fact that the patriarch Lin's father had not approved of his son character and ability until the end of his life had a part to play in this. No matter what his father had tried, patriarch Lin could not be brought back on the right track, causing him to die in regret.

As a result, Patriarch Lin showered the young master with affection, agreeing to all requests and covering up for all his faults and mistakes. The result was obvious. Young master Lin Feng had strayed on the wrong path as well, abusing his power and wealth as he pleased.

The young master was just a stellar initiate despite cultivating for years and consuming family resources. Such strength was below the norm in the Eternal Cosmic Realm, much less as the heir of the Lin family. 

Even the Primal Cosmic Realm, famed to be the weakest in the multiverse had a couple of people who were able to become stellar initiates despite their lack of resources and knowledge of cultivation.

Strength determined status in this cruel, unforgiving multiverse. And yet, the patriarch was once again covering for his incompetent son instead of encouraging him to focus on cultivating seriously.

He created a group of lackeys for the young master to order around and cause issues everywhere. As mentioned earlier, the young master had severely crippled Yao Yan, the rising genius of the divine phoenix sect out of jealousy.

Yao Yan had gained a reputation for having potential unmatched in the entire Eternal Cosmic Realm. If he kept cultivating, it was only a matter of time before he ascended to the next realm and the divine phoenix sect would have gained his backing.

But because the young master suspected Yao Yan to be having a secret tryst with the saintess who he admired, he had ordered his lackeys to cripple him irreparably using a sealed artifact. Of course, his suspicions were false.

The saintess was renowned to have a pure and innocent temperament. Furthermore, she never contacted Yao Yan in her entire life and held no connections with him. The now crippled Yao Yan had fallen from heaven to the deepest depths of hell. 

Since, he could not be cured and could not cultivate, he was expelled from the sect and faced humiliation from everyone around him. The jealousy that everyone around him held in their hearts exploded given the opportunity.

Even though Yao Yan was expelled, the divine phoenix sect was still understandably furious about how things had turned out.

Old Lin was tempted to leave the family multiple times over the years but he never chose to do so. Lin Xiao was not truly from the Lin family. He had been picked up and nurtured by the previous patriarch in his darkest times.

An outsider like him had even been appointed the grand elder of the clan due to the deep trust that the previous patriarch held in old Lin's ability. Despite this, he had failed this trust. Even so, he would continue trying to bring the family back to its glorious status in the past to repay this trust.

"Ha, just don't cause any more troubles, young master. My old bones can't keep cleaning every mess you create. Heavens forbid if you did something that caused more irreparable damage to the family." Old Lin whispered as he walked away towards his chambers.

***

Location: Planet Uncharted Celestia, Constellation Astral Nexus, Galactic Region- Luminous Crossroads, Dimensional Coordinates- Theta-9, Sector 7, Universal Realm- Celestial Harmonium

Someone of 'Her' standing would obviously not be engaging in trifling matters. Everyone in the tavern watched with bated breath as an outer goddess tried to solve one of the grand mysteries of the multiverse:

['More fooddd? One, two, three, six...'] 

An inspection to ensure the quantity and quality of the newly arrived 'meal' ensued. Will the new arrivals pass or fail the inspection? Only time will tell…

***

I was going to include the next section regarding dear young master Lin Feng as well but I had to cut short due to an approaching deadline which I just realized I had. Anyway, I might still be uploading it over the next couple of days if I am able to (low chance). 

But first I will release chapter 5 of [An Eldritch Demon's Odyssey] if I can. If not, whelp, its back to uploading a chapter every 2-3 weeks like before.~