“Have you confiscated the merchant's things yet,” Lin Yang asked from his makeshift throne in the family's audience chamber.

“Yes, young city lord. All warehouses belonging to the merchant's guild have been closed off, and all merchants local to Guzong city have been ordered to close shop.”

Lin Yang nodded as he flipped through the investigation report in front of him.

“I didn't expect them to take things so well,” he mused.

“They aren't. They are part of the crowds at the manor gate.”

Lin Yang looked up with a smile. “They are?! Then why don't you let them send a representative to see me?”

“Because you're supposed to be meeting the representative of the parents right now,” the guard captain said patiently.

Lin Yang frowned at the old man in front of him. Truth was, he'd almost forgotten the man was there.

Ripple points obtained (seething hatred): 0.1 (Long Honian)

He was probably the parent of one of the girls Lin Yang had kidnapped. He'd always tell the guards to bring one person in every few hours. At first, they'd spam him with tens of ripple point notifications, but then as time dragged, their emotions seemed to either cool, or there was a limit to how many ripple points a person could generate him in a day.

Perhaps it was to prevent situations such as these, where Lin Yang simply kidnapped a few people and tormented them until he had tens of ripple points.

Ripple points obtained (shock): 0.0001 (Yu Gonhuan)

And then there were the rumours as well. They were making their rounds over the past two days, and apparently that was enough to get him lots of ripple points. Disgust, anger, indignation. There had even been points concerning humour and amusement.

Since this wasn't the world he'd be spending most of his time in, he could afford to have a tarnished reputation. But in the main world, he needed another way. He needed to increase his fame in order to get ripple points almost passively like this. But that was a consideration for the future.

Ripple points: 2.6308

He had already spent one ripple point to upgrade his new meridian refreshing skill to level one. But to get it to level two, two points had not been sufficient.

“Old man, I already told you I'm not releasing your girl until I'm satisfied.”

“You filthy—” the old man started to say.

But even with this kind of provocation there were no more ripple points to be gained. “Get him out of here. Flog him a little before throwing him out. Then tell the merchant's guild to send me a representative.”

In the meantime, he went to the room he was holding the twenty or so girls captive.

Ripple points, a whole flood of them. Anger, hatred, disgust. Even one of anticipation! But he wasn't particularly interested in doing anything to them yet.

He went back to the audience chamber. His mind was now on the information he had. Wang Wei had attacked many people over the last year, and in all circumstances it seemed they had a piece of the skill Lin Yang now needed.

It was strange. At least Lin Yang had a system to help him learn the skill. Wang Wei was simply a martial artist from this world. How did he know that the stone tablet had something special?

Whatever the case turned out to be, Wang Wei had most of the pieces of the tablet. So Lin Yang needed to confront him. But there was another enemy Wang Wei kept on provoking all this time. Lin Yang guessed said enemy still had his shard. The young master of the Immortal sword school, Lu Feng Zheng.

“Well, I'll need to pay him a visit, I suppose,” Lin Yang muttered to himself.

“Young city lord!” an authoritative voice broke him out of his musings.

Ripple points obtained (indignation): 0.1 (Ye Lian)

Ripple points obtained (fury): 0.1 (Ye Lian)

Meridian refreshing palm upgraded to level 2 for 4 ripple points. Unable to upgrade further as this is a fragmented skill.

Current effect: Can reduce pain caused by damaged meridians. It can even allow the injured to use their martial arts for a few hours, though their injuries would worsen.

He looked at the updated description with interest. So his father could live without pain for a few weeks. And he could even fight. Hopefully when Lin Yang got the full skill he could save his father.

He had suspected it, but improving this skill didn't affect his cultivation. The ripple points from the fat man in front of him continued to trickle in.

“I believe your merchant's guild already knows my terms?” Lin Yang said without preamble.

“Young city lord, we acknowledge that the Ji family has done you a discourtesy. But taking your anger out on our merchant's guild is a little —”

“Wasn't the marriage with the Ji family the reason for you people paying less taxes all these years? Now that things have fallen through, I want you to pay us back for all the years of deferred payments. With interest! You are a business man, aren't you? Please tell me you don't think this is unreasonable. Guards, is it reasonable?!”

“It is very reasonable, young city lord!” came the chorus-like response.

“See, other people think it's reasonable too.”

“Can't we just give you all the Ji family's property? That way—”

“No!” he said.

He had already captured these properties. The excuse he used was that the Ji family owed him for breaking up the marriage.

“A hundred thousand spirit crystals! No less, else I'll start selling your things. And in the future, pay the full tax every month! My Lin family has been too benevolent recently. It seems you people have forgotten who rules and who is ruled.”

Besides, he was not their young city lord, although he didn't tell them that. He didn't need to think too deeply about his reasons for being here. The only thing he knew was that he needed to save the Lin family. Nothing else mattered.

Once the fat merchant was squeezed dry of ripple points, Lin Yang ordered for a scroll and started to draw something. The fragment of the tablet from his memories.

“I need a couple of craftsmen,” he said. “Those who work with clay.”

In the next few days, Lin Yang visited his father a lot, helping to alleviate the old man's symptoms on a daily basis. At least now his father slept soundly every night, no signs of discomfort visible on his visage or in his breathing. But pain relief wasn't healing.

He had collected over twenty ripple points in these days, and a lot more information still. Which was why he decided it was time to meet the enemy of his enemy. He travelled in a carriage for two days.

“You are the young city lord of Guzong two days away?” the young man asked.

“It is this Lin,” Lin Yang said respectfully. “Brother Lu should know why I'm here?”

“I heard your wedding was interrupted by that little menace Wang Wei,” this new brother of his said. “But I've heard many rumours about you since then.”

Lin Yang's eyes widened. So the rumours had reached this far already? He was still getting spammed with ripple points, although he could see that the people giving those ripple points were very distant from him. He had needed to learn to function with the noise in the background, so recently he simply ignored it.

“Probably all part of that despicable villain's schemes,” Lin Yang complained.

“Is that so? But he doesn't normally operate like that…”

“Brother Lu, do you know why Wang Wei comes after you so relentlessly?” Lin Yang decided to bite right into the meat of the matter.

“I'm not sure,” the young master replied cautiously.

Lin Yang pulled something out of his pocket. It fit in his palm, and it was triangular with two regular sides and one jagged side. When the other young man saw the piece of stone, his breath caught.

“You…how do you know about this? How does he…”

“I figured he attacked me and you for the same reason. And a lot of other people. Well, maybe some of those people had other things he wanted, but at least most of them probably had fragments like ours.”

“But this treasure should be what has made your family the powerhouses they are today? Why would you heedlessly take it out?”

Lin Yang smiled at that. “To tell you the truth, this is a fake.”

The other youth raised his brows at that. “A fake? Then why did you bring this thing to me?”

“Because I want us to work together. I have brought along the crafters who made this for me. Bring out your shard and we shall make a copy of it too. And then we shall trick Wang Wei. And kill him.”

The young master of the Immortal sword school seemed hesitant. As he said before, these were family heirlooms. The things that had made their respective families the power houses they were in this world.

“If you're scared that I will learn your family's secret technique, then I'll remind you that I need to touch the slab for more than a few months at the least.” Then he frowned thoughtfully. “What is your family's secret technique anyway?”

“It is a pupil technique,” replied Lu Feng, and he seemed inclined to trust Lin Yang as he heard more about the plan. Or plans rather.

These days, young master Lu Feng didn't know who to trust around him. It seemed like Wang Wei had followers every where. So with this plan, he could kill two birds with one stone. He could find where Wang Wei was hiding, and he could maybe also catch a traitor or two.

Lin Yang kept his face neutral as Lu Feng brought the fragment, bigger than Lin Yang's, to him. He wanted to smile, but dared not. And now for the moment of truth.

This piece of stone contains part of an inheritance from an ancient immortal civilization. It is fragmented now.

Number of uses: 1/1

There are traces of lower life forms attempting to learn the inheritance, but their spiritual power was insufficient. Host has sufficient spiritual power, but the inheritance is fragmented. Learn anyway? Y/N?(1 ripple point required)