561: Dismissed, came on orders (43k)

The He Family.

The two hundred or so survivors of the He Family were still staying where they were, not daring to act rashly.

With He Zhang and the others dead, there wasn't even a single person among them at the third level of the Boundary Realm.

In this city, that was completely insufficient to support a family.

They were now waiting for the major forces in the city to move in and carve up the He Family's assets.

Staying put in the city and waiting for the He Family to be carved up meant they could at least survive.

If they acted recklessly or attempted to hold onto any wealth, it would mean certain death.

After returning and seeing the panicked expressions of the He Family members, He Linxue recalled Lin Yang's words just now.

Gritting her teeth, she announced on the spot:

"Fellow clansmen, our clan has suddenly encountered a great misfortune. We are in urgent need of someone in charge to hold the family together. I, Linxue, dare to step forward and request to take the position of family head. I ask for your support."

As she spoke, she bowed slightly to everyone.

This statement instantly caused an uproar.

"What? This little girl, He Linxue, actually wants to take the initiative to become the head of the He Family at such a critical juncture?"

"Where did she get the nerve?!"

"The He Family's experts have all been wiped out, and some forces have already begun making moves. For a little girl to say this now, is she hoping to gather the remaining strength of the He Family and protect its assets?"

"That's suicide! Although the He Family isn't large, the wealth of a family is enough to tempt people. Those major powers won't allow the He Family to have someone in charge at a time like this."

"It's truly interesting. A little girl who can't even cultivate, saying such things at this moment—is she relying on her brother's master?"

"Even though that person is quite mysterious, he can't possibly support the current He Family, can he?"

"Or perhaps, her brother's master wants to help her ascend at this juncture to take the opportunity to seize some of the He Family's wealth?"

"..."

The people in the city whispered among themselves, offering all sorts of speculations.

The members of the He Family were stunned, and then they looked at each other in dismay.

None of them dared to step up, yet He Linxue actually wanted to be the family head?

Under normal circumstances, if a family's leader died, the others would naturally be eager to fight over who would become the new leader.

But in this city, a family without strong experts to support it was nothing more than a piece of fat meat.

Stepping up to be the new family head at this time would only make one the primary target for elimination by the other major forces.

Otherwise, these people would have already started fighting over it.

An elderly man hesitated for a moment, then gathered his courage and walked out, whispering to He Linxue:

"Linxue, child, you want to be the family head? This is not child's play, nor is it a good thing!"

He wanted to warn He Linxue not to get involved in this muddy water.

"The He Family can no longer be saved!" the old man sighed.

"Great-uncle, thank you for your reminder. I understand," He Linxue replied, but she had no intention of backing down.

"Sigh... You child, you are young. I'm afraid you're being used as a pawn and don't even know it..." The old man cautioned her once more, then said nothing more.

Clearly, the members of the He Family also believed that Lin Yang wanted to take advantage of the situation to seize wealth, which was why he was supporting He Linxue's ascent, so he could enter the He Family justifiably.

Regarding this, He Linxue did not offer much explanation.

She knew that Lin Yang would never do that!

Soon, under the watchful eyes of the people in the city, Lin Yang arrived at the He Family with He Linchuan's coffin.

This naturally caused another wave of surprise and suspicion among the He Family members.

They were also shocked, wondering when Lin Yang had taken away He Linchuan's body.

But at this critical juncture, with the family about to fall apart, they could barely protect themselves and their futures were uncertain, so no one gave it much thought.

They just watched silently as Lin Yang set down He Linchuan's coffin, and then heard Lin Yang speak:

"Members of the He Family, my disciple has died tragically, and the He Family is now in a precarious state. I cannot bear to see my disciple's family scatter, so I intend for my disciple's sister, He Linxue, to become the new head of the He Family and help support it. Does anyone object?"

The members of the He Family were all silent.

No one made a sound.

No one objected, and no one voiced their agreement.

Seeing this, Lin Yang didn't say much more. This phenomenon was already within his expectations, so he immediately said:

"Since you do not object, that means you consent. From this moment on, He Linxue is the new head of the He Family."

After speaking, he carried He Linchuan's coffin and placed it in the He Family's main hall.

Then, standing at the entrance of the main hall, he said indifferently:

"From this moment on, all affairs of the He Family will be fully taken over by Linxue. At the same time, if anyone wishes to leave the He Family, you may collect a severance payment now and leave immediately. But from then on, you will have no further relationship with the He Family."

He looked at the two hundred or so members of the He Family and made the arrangements.

The reason for doing so was to help He Linxue filter out the relatively reliable clansmen.

The He Family members were somewhat surprised to hear this.

Because none of them had expected that after Lin Yang helped He Linxue ascend, the first thing he would do was pay to dismiss them.

This immediately caused everyone to look at each other in confusion.

You must know, at this critical juncture, they didn't really care who became the family head.

In fact, Lin Yang being willing to step forward was actually a good thing for them.

The people in the city who wanted to carve up the He Family's wealth and assets would focus their attention on Lin Yang, and thus would no longer pay any attention to them, the ordinary clansmen.

Even if Lin Yang was helping He Linxue ascend because he wanted to seize the He Family's wealth, it didn't matter to them.

Because they, as ordinary clansmen, were destined to not receive any wealth from it anyway.

Since it was going to be carved up regardless, it made no difference to them who got it.

But everyone never expected that Lin Yang would not immediately go to seize the property legitimately, but instead would offer money to dismiss them.

This made all the members of the He Family feel somewhat surprised.

After all, Lin Yang could have completely avoided doing this.

Even if he didn't offer money to dismiss them, they would have had no choice but to comply.

But yet... he was actually willing to pay!

This left the He Family members surprised and silent for a moment, unable to understand what Lin Yang was up to.

However, very soon, some people stood up one after another, bowed to Lin Yang and He Linxue, and said:

"Thank you, Master, and thank you, Family Head, for your mercy. We know we are incapable of contributing to the family, so we will shamelessly accept the severance pay and seek our own livelihoods. We wish the Master and the family all the best!"

"Thank you, Master!"

"Thank you, Family Head!"

"..."

As some people voiced their choice, more and more people stood up one after another.

In the end, more than a hundred people chose to take the money and leave.

Only seventy or eighty people chose to stay.

Lin Yang did not ask why these people chose to stay. Instead, he had He Linxue register them one by one, and then completely removed the names of the more than one hundred people who left from the family genealogy, severing all ties.

He Linxue looked at those hundred-plus people, glanced at Lin Yang, and said coldly to them:

"Remember, after today, you have no relationship with the He Family whatsoever. From now on, no matter what happens to the family, you are not allowed to step foot into the family again, nor are you allowed to claim to be disciples of the He Family outside. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences yourself!"

Upon hearing this, the hundred-plus people nodded one after another and then left.

Their severance pay was not much, just a few hundred thousand per person.

But this also made these people feel satisfied.

After all, they wouldn't have been able to get a single cent originally.

Now, not only did they get a few hundred thousand for free, but they could also leave without any worries.

The people in the city who wanted to carve up the He Family's wealth would not go looking for trouble with them either.

In their eyes, this could be considered killing two birds with one stone.

Everyone happily took the money and left quickly.

As for what He Linxue said, no one cared.

Not allowed to claim to be disciples of the He Family?

What a joke.

They were dying to even change their surnames!

They even wished they had grown two extra legs right now to escape this place of trouble quickly.

Unless their brains were flooded with water, they would never continue to be associated with the He Family.

Some people muttered to themselves and quickly went far away.

No one believed that the He Family still had any chance to maintain itself.

Let alone rising to a higher level.

"A bunch of idiots!"

In the VIP room of the Star Divination Tower, the young man watched this scene and couldn't help but sneer, then said to the old man:

"Uncle Fu, I am now more than eighty percent certain that this Lin Yang is that mysterious expert."

Uncle Fu nodded: "His posture is indeed very similar; this is the attitude of someone intending to support the He Family single-handedly."

"Go and prepare, Uncle Fu." Gold light flickered in the young man's eyes.

Uncle Fu left again.

Inside the He Family, Lin Yang looked at the remaining dozens of people and didn't say much, only telling them to clean up the corpses in the courtyard and that everything should proceed as usual.

"Master, what should we do next?" He Linxue was actually very nervous. Now that everyone had dispersed, she had no idea what to do.

"Don't be nervous. You stay here. I will go out of the city for a trip. When I return, no one will dare to cause trouble again." Lin Yang's eyes flickered slightly.

"Go out of the city?" He Linxue was shocked and quickly said: "Master, if you leave the city at such a critical moment, I am afraid that not only will underground forces continue to plunder and attempt to seize treasures, but those major forces in the city that originally wanted to carve up the family's wealth will also make a move against you."

Lin Yang was now supporting her ascent, and at least on the surface, the He Family had gathered together again.

This would certainly arouse the dissatisfaction of the major forces.

This was equivalent to Lin Yang ruining their good deeds.

Those forces certainly wanted to kill Lin Yang as well.

"Rest assured." Lin Yang didn't say much more, glanced at He Linchuan's body, and walked away directly.

He had long had a plan.

To let He Linxue securely control the He Family and to make the other major clans and forces in Yun Que City not dare to harbor greed for the He Family's property.

He had to let the people of Yun Que City know.

He was not to be trifled with!

Leaving the city was for the purpose of demonstrating his strength.

The people from Bone Bloom would definitely not give up on plundering him.

Perhaps in the eyes of Bone Bloom, the incident with the He Family was just an accident.

Therefore, he wanted to take this opportunity to go into the wilderness and hunt down the people from Bone Bloom!

There was a Formation Array in the city, and his current power could not yet directly contend with it.

The Patrol Team earlier had only utilized a bit of the Formation Array's power and hadn't been very serious about the investigation, so they had symbolically fiddled around a bit and left.

But if it came to a direct confrontation, although the power of the Formation Array could not break through the concealment power and effects of the Absolute Domain, he also could not penetrate the Formation Array.

The location of Bone Bloom's headquarters had always been a mystery, and the only stronghold known within the city was merely a branch with no one guarding it.

Especially the leader.

Their identity information was top secret.

Many people believed that the leader of Bone Bloom, and even the headquarters, might be covered and secretly protected by the Formation Array, which was how they managed to remain mysterious and undiscovered.

And without knowing their identity, one might pass them face-to-face and not even recognize them.

Therefore, what Lin Yang could do now was counter-hunt.

Since the leader of Bone Bloom might be secretly protected by the Formation Array in the city, he could not, for the time being, break through the power of the Formation Array to spy on the entire Yun Que City.

Then he would go to the wilderness and kill all the people from Bone Bloom who were plundering outside the city.

Force that leader to show themselves!

His plan was simple.

Since Bone Bloom made money by plundering, he would kill the people they sent outside the city one by one.

Kill every batch that came.

Kill until the people of Bone Bloom dared not go outside the city again!

As for hiding his strength?

Lin Yang never thought about completely hiding it.

Not actively exposing his identity was just giving the City Lord's Mansion officials face.

Otherwise, the officials would definitely have to take action, or at least on the surface, they would have to go through the motions to arrest him.

Otherwise, it would cause people to lose trust in the city.

But as long as he didn't admit it, even if others guessed that he might be the one who acted at the He Family, as long as there was no evidence, the City Lord's Mansion couldn't do anything to him, and they wouldn't do anything to him.

This could already be considered an unspoken rule in the entire Mirror Ruins Realm.

If you have the ability to kill in the city, as long as you don't expose it voluntarily, even if people suspect you, the officials won't take action.

Therefore, there was no need to completely hide his strength.

He wanted to intimidate the other clan forces in Yun Que City, and also let Bone Bloom pay the price!

Before mastering the power of Dao Rhythm, doing this would certainly have been risky.

But now, within the entire Yun Que City, Lin Yang estimated that only the leader of Bone Bloom, the leader of the Ghost Ruins, and the City Lord mastered some Dao Rhythm power like him.

With only three opponents at the same level, Lin Yang was naturally fearless.

Moreover, the City Lord would certainly not make a move.

Bone Bloom and the Ghost Ruins were also in a competitive relationship.

Calculating it this way, at most he would only be facing the leader of Bone Bloom at the same time.

One-on-one, what did Lin Yang have to fear?

Therefore, he left the city.

And seeing Lin Yang's move.

The people in the city were once again puzzled.

For Lin Yang to leave the city now was no different from seeking death.

"It seems he does not intend to hide his identity; he intends to intimidate Yun Que City and go hunt down the people of Bone Bloom."

In the VIP room of the Star Divination Tower, the young man watched this scene, his eyes flickering a few times, and said to Uncle Fu:

"Uncle Fu, the situation has changed. Go and tell him the detailed information about Bone Bloom now, and see how he chooses."

"See whether he goes to destroy Bone Bloom first, or continues to leave the city."

Uncle Fu nodded: "Understood, Young Master."

As he spoke, Uncle Fu's figure disappeared directly from the room.

At the city gate.

Lin Yang was only one step away from leaving the city.

However, a voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Sir, please stay your steps. By the order of my Young Master, I am here specifically to deliver a piece of information."

Along with the voice, Lin Yang saw an old man in a grey shirt appear before him, walking towards him from the front.

At the same time, he smiled and handed him a piece of intelligence.

Then, he quickly disappeared into the crowd.

He didn't even see clearly how the old man suddenly disappeared from his sight.

What was even stranger was that the old man's appearance and disappearance did not cause the slightest abnormality among the surrounding crowd, as if people hadn't seen the old man at all.

This made Lin Yang somewhat surprised.

And what shocked him even more was.

The intelligence that the grey-shirted old man gave him was exactly the location of the Bone Bloom headquarters and detailed information about the Bone Bloom leader!

"This..."

Lin Yang's heart skipped a beat instantly, and he was extremely shocked.

"It's actually all the specific intelligence on Bone Bloom..."

Lin Yang's eyes were grave.

An old man whose strength he couldn't fathom at all had delivered such precious intelligence.

This was already incredible.

Yet that old man even said he came under orders!

"Young Master?"

Lin Yang's expression was serious.

To be respectfully addressed as Young Master by that grey-shirted old man of terrifying strength.

One could imagine that the other party's status was extraordinary.

But why would such a noble figure suddenly give him intelligence on Bone Bloom?

Lin Yang stood there for a long time, thinking, and then immediately asked the system:

"System, can you tell what level of strength that old man had just now?"