Lin Yang, the matriarch, and Elder Bai walked quietly until they were alone in the matriarch's inner most private room. The matriarch sat down with a heavy breath. Elder Bai looked very serious for once.

Lin Yang felt queasy. The last time there was a combat engagement between him and the grand elder's hall, Lin Yang almost died. Well, he had died, although no one else knew. That was perhaps what the others were thinking about.

That he had gifted the grand elder another chance to come at him.

But Lin Yang was mostly admonishing himself for his carelessness. He was frustrated. By a lot of things these last few weeks, and the tedious back and forth in the trial hadn't helped. The system could only help him in increasing his political acumen so much.

“What were you thinking?” the matriarch said. 

“Don't worry,” Lin Yang assured. “I know you're probably worried about another poisoning attempt, but I have the—”

“You have your healing art. I'm talking about showing off that you can get back to your prime in a few months. I've been with you almost two weeks, and I haven't felt your cultivation improve in the slightest!” She exploded at the end.

Lin Yang winced. “Oh, that… But it's true that I'm confident I can return to my peak in a few months.”

“How can you know, boy?” elder Bai joined in. “You’ve never gone through this kind of injury before. We don't know anyone who’s had their cultivation base destroyed and restored in the matter of a single month, and that is a special achievement. But getting back to your former peak in half a year? Isn't that dreaming?”

“The fifth elder is right, Xiao Lin,” the matriarch said. “Your words this time were too much. And they are going to make the rounds in the whole empire too.”

Indeed, hardly had she said that when something unexpected happened.

Ripple Points obtained (shock): 0.0001 (Cai Lin)

Ripple Points obtained (horror): 0.0001…

These days, Lin Yang was always passively receiving ripple points for one thing or the other, especially after he started writing bad jokes. Of course he'd received a lot of the same during the trial.

Xue Yin and her friend and even elder Hao Feng were there, and those hated him. The grand elder also occasionally gave anger and such ripple points. The matriarch, Ye Lingjun, always gave him appreciative points. 

He had needed to filter out the noise of the passive growth for some time now. 

Still, he had been very careful that most of the points he received in this way were positive. He wanted to have a positive public image in the main world, if he could help it. So why was he getting these kinds of ripple points all of a sudden?

And why was the former trickle turning into a flood all of a sudden?

The matriach's words finally registered. His words were going to make the rounds in the entire empire.

But he'd said these words not even half an hour ago. The old Lin Yang didn't know just how famous he was. 

He was born in a low level noble family. They were mortals. He was discovered by elder Bai and his master Zhou Pingxin, who took him to the Hehuan sect. He'd never so much as stepped out of the sect after that.

He had no idea he was so highly regarded, at least according to his memories. And he couldn't for the life of him fathom why.

The matriarch had told him, just this morning past, right before the trial, that he was once considered the strongest of the young generation. Unofficially, as there had never been any kind of competition or whatever to decide. Most people thought he was just that good. That naturally talented.

But Lin Yang had seen his three friends. Now those were people he'd call naturally talented cultivators. His body seemed normal though.

“Am I really that famous?”

The matriarch and elder Bai shared a knowing look.

Perhaps Lin Yang's assumption was right. The old Lin Yang was so focused on cultivation that he was unaware of many things happening outside the inner sect. Or maybe these things had been concealed from him.

His second assumption made a lot of sense to him. It made sense to try and shield a genius when they were still young. From say, the press, for a sports prodigy in the mordern world, lest they say something unprofessional and ruin their careers.

In a world of internet, where news spreads faster than a forest fire, media training was a necessity for any public figure. Maybe the Hehuan sect was trying to do something like that for Lin Yang. 

Because as he had just witnessed, this may be a medieval world, but communication was definitely fast. Not internet fast, but faster than he would have assumed.

The old Lin Yang had been shielded from the public all the three years he'd been at the Hehuan sect. And when he was supposed to be coming out, he was poisoned and killed. But now Lin Yang had promised he'd get his peak power back in less than half a year.

That information should be with the other major sects in the next day or so. The consequences were somewhat scary to imagine.

He wasn't scared of poison, but the assassination attempts woukd surely start to vary. And there were going to be attempts, of that he was now sure.

The ripple points kept trickling in. Elder Bai and the matriarch kept staring him down.

He shrugged. “But… I can do it."

They didn't believe him at all, based on their expressions. They started to look depressed. 

“The trial by combat is in a week,” Bai Qingling thought out loud. “And senior sister isn't even close to returning. She should be, at a good estimate, a month away from the sect.”

So that was how far Zhou Pingxin was? Lin Yang had been curious about that one. He wanted to escape the sect before she arrived, if that was possible.

“Do you have any idea what disciple she will use to taste Lin’er?” the matriarch asked.

Bai Qingling started shaking his head, but froze mid-motion. “She did recently take in a talented child. Not even worse than Xiao Lin when he first came. She earned her third layer cultivation in one year. She has also never been to the outer sect.”

“A third layer initiate realm fighting a first layer initiate realm? This is going to be bad. Anyway, heal yourself once you lose, Xiao Lin. And… if we have to keep the, ah, castration promise, do you think you can use your healing art to grow them back?”

Lin Yang almost fell back on his ass. He truly hoped she wasn't being serious about that. If it came to it, he hoped she would discard her love for balance in the sect and simply go crazy.

Of course, it wouldn't necessarily come to that.

“Fighting a third layer initiate realm cultivator will not be hard, if I'm at that layer as well,” Lin Yang said with a shrug.

“What are you talking about?” the matriarch said with a dismissive snort. “Perhaps with your high level understanding of martial arts, it's possible to fight someone stronger than you, but growing strong that fast—”

“I can do it!” Lin Yang assured them.

“Listen, Xiao Lin, as Xiao Bai told you, it's impossible. How do you even know such things are possible? There is no precedence.”

Lin Yang was getting frustrated again. This was the same feeling he'd been struggling with all week. The one that had exploded at the end of the trial. And now it seemed it wasn't fully vented. Maybe he needed to explode one time before the matriarch would understand his confidence.

He opened his mouth when a sudden thought struck him. How had this whole relationship with the matriarch started? 

He remembered she was supposed to punish him, even if she didn't want to, but he'd compelled her to protect him instead. He had a reason for getting close to her. He wanted to manipulate her, and so far, his important healing skill was all he had.

But sooner or later she'd be fully healed, and then what else would he have to maintain their proximity. She apparently liked him before, but she'd never so much as said a word to him. He'd only seen her from a distance. 

“The founder said it to me,” Lin Yang lied through his teeth. “That’s why I believe it. She said my cultivation is going to be restored fully within five months. Or even less. She said I'll be as good as new. It'll not be like I'm cultivating, but rather like I'm recovering from an illness.”

The matriarch froze at the first words, and listened to the rest of his explanation carefully. Lin Yang smiled a little inwardly. Why hadn't he thought of such an easy solution before?

After processing this new information for a while, the matriarch looked up at him. “What else did the founder tell you back then? Are you hiding things from me?”

Lin Yang's brain immediately went into overdrive. The way the matriarch was narrowing her eyes, she looked a little displeased. Not that she was upset enough to beat him up or anything, but their fragile relationship could crumble any second if she was unhappy.

Besides, this excuse had worked too well on two occasions. It was the perfect method to stay close to and in the matriarch's ear. To hug her thigh, so to speak; ride on her coattails. 

“Back then, the only other thing the founder told me was that somethings will be revealed at the right time. About recovering my cultivation, she told me that in a dream last night.”

The matriarch scrunched her brow. “Oh.”

The reaction was a little small, but small was good. She probably suspected Lin Yang was hiding something. But most importantly, she probably somewhat believed the founder could talk to Lin Yang in dreams. And no matter how small said belief was, Lin Yang was going to milk it for all it was worth. For as long as he stayed with the Hehuan sect.

Although once his master arrived, in what should possibly be a month, Lin Yang was going to have trouble escaping. She was perhaps the only person who would know he wasn't the real Lin Yang.

“I need your help though.”

Both the matriarch and elder Bai looked at him, their brows raised in question.

“I need to relearn my martial arts,” he said with a goofy smile, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously.

“What?” said the matriarch. “You forgot how to practice your martial arts. But your monstrous understanding… has that been affected too?”

When it came to martial arts, the system said everyone understood certain techniques differently. And thus two people using the same techniques fought very differently, and one was stronger than the other even though they were apparently on the same level. 

This was the reason someone like Yu Mo, with his extra leg meridians, was so much better at movement techniques than other people at the same level. 

So he hadn't known, until this moment, that the original was known for his monstrous understanding of martial arts as well as his rapid growth. That was perhaps why he was considered a genius. Lin Yang needed to find out more on this.

This kind of talent was more intellectual, so it was highly unlikely he had inherited it. But he didn't need it. From what he'd seen, the system gave him the strongest version of every skill he learned. And he could even level them past the maximum level, bringing out even greater effects.

Maybe they would even say the new version of Lin Yang was more talented than the original one. 

At least this new version swore he'd never get fucked over because of a girl. 

“No,” he said to the matriarch's question. “I don't think there is anything wrong with my understanding. I just need a refresher.”

Just like that, Lin Yang had new techniques to practice. Now it was time to start leveling up again. 

 

A/N: Sorry about the two day absence. I suddenly fell ill. And I don't yet have a backlog, which is a mistake I should now start to rectify. Expect better consistency from now on. Onwards we move. Thank you for reading.