28: The Lin family patriarch secretly transmitted his voice.

Lin Lingkuang bore the brunt of it!

An overwhelming force crashed down, as if the entire Taihang Mountains had smashed onto his shoulders.

His burly frame sank abruptly, and with a "crack," the hard green bricks beneath his feet shattered.

His bronze face instantly flushed a deep purple, and the veins on his temples and neck bulged like angry dragons, twisting and knotting.

Beads of sweat the size of beans scrambled out of his pores, instantly covering his forehead and rolling down his knotted muscles.

Every inch of his bones let out an overburdened "creak," as if they might fall apart at any moment.

His eyes were blood-red, his teeth clenched so hard they threatened to shatter, and a beast-like low growl escaped his throat; he kept his back straight, refusing to kneel even on pain of death.

He had already made his choice; if he gave in now, he would suffer a total defeat and lose everything.

The pressure swept through like a raging tide.

The clansmen who had just been inspired by Lin Jingyu's courage and stepped forward were struck as if by an invisible hammer of ten thousand tons.

"Pfft." "Pfft." Several muffled sounds rang out as a few men at the Qi Refining First Layer spat blood, their faces turning pale as gold leaf as they collapsed in exhaustion.

Even the stronger ones turned pale as paper, stumbling back several steps; their blood surged in reverse, a metallic sweetness filled their throats, and they could no longer make a sound.

Before the Ancestral Hall, a dead silence descended once more, heavy enough to be suffocating.

Only heavy, painful, and suppressed breaths intertwined; the candlelight flickered on the verge of extinguishing under the terrifying pressure, the shifting shadows reflecting countless faces pale with despair.

The Grand Elder's hunched figure stood before the main seat.

Cold light flickered in his cloudy old eyes, his withered face cold and hard as iron, and a chilling aura that controlled life and death radiated from his body.

He was the heaven of the Lin Family. His will was an iron law that could not be disobeyed.

The Second Elder silently retreated into the shadows; beneath his lowered eyelids, a look of complexity flashed for a moment, finally turning into a silent sigh.

Lin Chengyuan stood beside the Grand Elder, a cruel and satisfied sneer finally blooming on his face.

His venomous gaze was like a poisoned icicle, fixed firmly on Lin Jingyu's still stubborn face.

A bunch of ants who don't know the heights of the heavens. In the face of absolute power, no matter how surging the anger, it is but a mantis trying to stop a carriage.

Let's see how you can still turn the world upside down.

Lin Jingyu was also enduring a weight like a collapsing mountain.

As the instigator, the pressure he bore far exceeded the others, carrying the Grand Elder's cold killing intent.

The Qi Refining Second Layer spiritual power within him was like a candle in a gale, instantly suppressed to the point of nearly extinguishing.

A sweetness hit his throat, a surge of metallic blood that he gritted his teeth and swallowed back, the taste of rust filling his mouth.

He abruptly shielded his sister completely behind him, the muscles in his arms bulging, his legs pinned to the ground like iron stakes.

His back remained ramrod straight as he used his flesh and blood to withstand the terrifying force capable of crushing steel, not retreating even half a step.

"Pfft..." A faint sound of tearing echoed as countless tiny blood vessels beneath the surface of his skin ruptured.

Crimson beads of blood seeped out instantly, quickly staining his coarse cloth clothes like blooming clusters of tragic blood-red plum blossoms.

His bones wailed, his internal organs trembled, and the edges of his vision began to blur and darken.

Those clear eyes were now burning with a terrifying flame.

He gritted his teeth so hard that his gums bled, meeting the Grand Elder's indifferent and cold gaze without flinching.

Word by word, as if erupting from the depths of his Soul with a determination to go down in flames together, he clearly pierced the silence:

“My, Lin Jingyu's sister, Lin Jingxia.”

“Will never marry into the Liu Family.”

“If anyone dares to touch a single hair on her head...” His voice was hoarse yet every word was like a knife, decisive and unwavering.

“I, Lin Jingyu, hereby swear—I will spend my entire life pursuing this, until death.”

“Even if my body is ground to dust and my Divine Soul is annihilated, I will make those villains... pay back in blood.”

The blood-stained youth stood tall like a spear, his oath exploding like a clap of thunder.

Countless shocked, complex, and even subtly admiring gazes focused on him.

A mere Qi Refining Second Layer dared to be so unyielding under the overwhelming pressure of a Qi Refining Sixth Layer Peak.

This determination and courage to protect his sister made one's Soul tremble.

“Brother. Stop. Please stop talking.”

Lin Jingxia watched the glaring crimson blood constantly trickling from the corner of her brother's mouth, and his slightly trembling yet still straight back, soaked in blood.

Immense fear and heart-wrenching pain instantly overwhelmed her.

She knew her brother was using his life to protect her, but that was the Grand Elder. The supreme Dominator of the Lin Family.

If this continues, Brother will really die!

This thought was like the sharpest icicle, piercing through all her fears.

“Don't hurt my brother. I'll go. I'm willing to go to the Liu Family.” A shrill, desperate cry that cracked with emotion tore through the stagnant air.

Lin Jingxia suddenly rushed out from behind her brother, her petite body trembling violently from immense sorrow and determination.

“Thud.”

Her knees slammed heavily onto the cold green bricks, the muffled sound of her kneecaps hitting the floor clearly audible.

Dust kicked up, mixing with tears to leave streaks on her pale little face.

She lifted her tear-stained face toward the high-and-mighty figure above the Ancestral Hall, crying out and pleading with all her strength:

“I beg of you. Let my brother go. I'll marry. I'll agree to anything. Just don't hurt my brother. Wuwuwu...”

The frail figure knelt on the ground, like a helpless leaf in a violent storm, heartbreakingly fragile.

Her brother was willing to risk his life to protect her.

She could also protect her brother, willing to push herself into the abyss.

“Jingxia. Get up. You are not allowed to kneel.”

Lin Jingyu's eyes felt like they were splitting; his heart felt as if it were being squeezed hard by a cold iron hand, the pain nearly suffocating him.

It was a thousand, ten thousand times more painful than the mountain-crushing pressure.

Since his Transmigration, he had never felt such bone-deep anger or such heart-piercing helplessness.

His thirst for power had never been as intense as it was now, like a heart-burning wildfire wanting to consume everything.

If his sister truly suffered humiliation because of this, he swore he would stain this Ancestral Hall with blood and make all those who pressured her follow her to the grave.

He struggled, roaring, trying to reach out and pull his sister up.

However, the Grand Elder's pressure was like an invisible iron wall, keeping him firmly imprisoned.

The hand he reached toward his sister was as heavy as if filled with molten lead, making it incredibly difficult to lift even an inch.

He could only watch helplessly as his sister knelt on the cold ground, enduring the humiliation of the entire Family.

Seeing his sister's shoulders heaving violently from her desperate weeping, every tremor felt like a whip lashing his heart.

Just at this critical moment when his mind was about to break.

A faint yet incredibly clear voice, like a thread of ice, drilled directly into the depths of Lin Jingyu's mind.

The voice carried a hint of exhaustion and weakness that could not be hidden, yet it also contained an unquestionable authority:

“Good. What a fine young man of the Lin Family, with such an unyielding spirit and a heart so determined to protect his sister.”

“I, Lin Lingshan... have failed our ancestors. After two years of secluded cultivation, I've allowed such a scandalous affair of selling daughters for glory and breaking our own backbone to occur within the clan.”

It was the Family Head. The one who had been in seclusion for years, the mysterious Family Head Lin Lingshan.

Lin Jingyu's mind was shaken to its core, and he almost couldn't control his expression.