50: Chapter 50: A single kick shatters the century-old Su family mansion!

Inside the hall, the lights were deathly pale.

Grandmaster Li stomped his right foot hard against the bluestone bricks, using the ground's recoil to launch himself forward, his fists whistling with a dull, heavy wind as they struck directly at Lin Yuan's heart.

"This is Internal Martial Arts!"

Several familiar reporters excitedly raised their long-focus lenses, attempting to capture this scene that looked like a movie special effect.

The corners of Su Changqing's mouth curled into a sinister grin, as if he could already see the tragic sight of Lin Yuan's sternum shattering.

Lin Yuan stood his ground.

He even had the leisure to observe the bulging veins on the back of Grandmaster Li's hands.

Just as the fist was half a foot away from his chest,

Lin Yuan moved.

Still the same as before, he lifted his right leg.

Bang!

A teeth-gritting, dull thud exploded out.

Grandmaster Li's body suddenly arched in mid-air like a shrimp.

Immediately after, this Su Family consultant flew backward at twice the speed he had come.

Boom!

He slammed heavily into a solid wood load-bearing pillar at the back of the hall.

Grandmaster Li slid down like a pile of mud, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Silence.

The sound of camera shutters came to an abrupt halt.

The reporters' mouths were open wide enough to stuff in a lightbulb.

Su Changqing's sinister grin froze on his face, like he was wearing a comical mask.

Lin Yuan withdrew his leg and wiped his leather shoe against the bluestone bricks.

He put his hands back into his pants pockets and looked down at the convulsing Grandmaster Li from above.

"Is that it?"

Lin Yuan's tone was full of mockery. "This is called a Grandmaster? He's far worse than that woman, Grandmaster Ling Suzhen."

Grandmaster Li, who was still struggling to get up, trembled violently.

He stared at Lin Yuan, his voice whistling through his teeth, filled with unconcealable horror:

"You... you know Grandmaster Ling?"

The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled up slightly.

As expected.

That old woman's name was still somewhat useful.

Lin Yuan deliberately lowered his voice, speaking only loud enough for Grandmaster Li to hear.

"Know her? That's an understatement."

Lin Yuan wore an enigmatic smile.

"Last week, she even specifically ran to my apartment to beg me, insisting on borrowing my 'genes' to have a child."

"She set a three-month deadline, insisting on testing my depth." Lin Yuan looked at Grandmaster Li's pale face. "Tell me, should I give her that face?"

Grandmaster Li's brain exploded with shock.

Borrow genes? Test depth!?

He had only seen Grandmaster Ling Suzhen once in his life.

It was ten years ago, when he was summoned by the National Emergency Response Team in the Northern Territory.

Those dogs from the Ninja Guild of the Island Nation had appeared in the Northern Territory of the Dragon Kingdom.

That terrifying woman had pinned a Jonin in a public restroom and beaten him alive for half an hour—that person supposedly went on to become the head of the Ninja Guild later.

Every martial artist who participated in that operation revered her like a god.

The young man before him actually dared to refer to her as "that woman."

Grandmaster Li's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

Unable to care about his broken ribs, he bent his knees and knelt straight down onto the shattered bluestone bricks.

"This old man... this old man was blind!" Grandmaster Li pressed his forehead against the ground, cold sweat mixing with blood as it dripped down.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Seeing that their strongest master had knelt, the dozen or so disciples working as bodyguards for the Su Family all knelt in unison.

The atmosphere in the hall was bizarre to the extreme.

The hand of the Head of the Su Family, gripping his cane, trembled violently.

Su Changqing's face was drained of color, and he slumped back into his chair.

"You... what are you doing! You are kept by our Su Family! Stand up!"

Second Aunt looked at the bodyguards and the Grandmaster kneeling all over the floor and shrieked hysterically.

She turned her head abruptly, staring fixedly at Su Xiaonuan, pointing at her and cursing as if grasping at the last straw:

"So what if you have strength? This is a society ruled by law! The daughter of a sinner returning is an insult to our century-old family!"

She shouted at the group of trembling reporters nearby:

"Film it! Expose him! He's a violent maniac! The bastard he brought here, her father was a thief! She's just here to fight for the family inheritance!!"

Su Xiaonuan's frail body swayed.

"A sinner?"

Su Xiaonuan lowered her head, her voice very soft.

But the next second, she snapped her head up.

Her eyes, which had always been filled with timidity, were now bloodshot.

Tears welled up in her eyes but did not fall.

Because a broad, thick hand rested on her shoulder.

It was Lin Yuan's hand.

This hand gave her the courage to face hell head-on.

"My dad was a gambler, he stole the land deed, and he deserved to be beaten to death!"

Su Xiaonuan gritted her teeth, her voice trembling but growing louder,

"But the night he had his legs broken by you and was thrown out of the gate, my mom knelt outside for the entire night!"

Su Xiaonuan took out her phone from her exquisite Chanel handbag.

"My mom was critically ill, coughing up blood all over the floor. She didn't want the inheritance; she just wanted to borrow ten thousand yuan to get medicine!"

The tears at the corner of Su Xiaonuan's eyes finally fell,

"What did you do!?"

"You probably didn't know, but the last time my mom went to the Su Family to beg for help, she was afraid you would smear her name, so she recorded it."

"She never told me about this until she died; I only discovered it when I was sorting through her belongings."

Su Changqing's expression changed drastically: "Xiaonuan! Family scandals should not be aired in public!"

Su Xiaonuan ignored him completely.

With trembling fingers, she unlocked the screen and played an audio file that she herself dared not listen to a second time.

The volume was turned to the maximum.

In the silent hall, the crackling sound of static electricity could be heard.

Immediately after, there was a woman's extremely weak, begging voice, accompanied by violent coughing.

"Second Brother... please... save Xiaonuan's dad... *cough cough*... just lend me ten thousand yuan... I'll work like a beast of burden for you..."

In the recording, Second Aunt's sharp, shrill sneer could be heard:

"It's not that I won't lend it."

"The Old Master has spoken. Your whole family are jinxes; it's best if you die outside. Get lost! Don't dirty the Su Family's bluestone slabs!"

Following that was the sound of a heavy door slamming shut, and the desperate, wailing sobs of a woman in the pouring rain.

The recording ended.

You could hear a pin drop in the entire hall.

Those reporters who had originally taken their appearance fees and were prepared to watch the Su Family put on a show of righteousness by disowning their own kin, had expressions that became extremely colorful.

A century-old family? A scholarly family?

These people were clearly a bunch of beasts who would eat people without spitting out the bones!

One reporter directly returned the Su Family's transfer.

Several other young reporters were the first to turn their long-focus lenses toward the Head of the Su Family and Second Aunt.

Flashbulbs flickered again, but this time, they illuminated the festering, pus-filled flesh beneath the Su Family's hypocritical exterior.

Second Aunt's face was as pale as paper, and she covered her face while retreating repeatedly: "Turn it off! Stop filming! That's all fake! It's synthesized!"

The Head of the Su Family closed his eyes tightly, his chest heaving violently, and his cane slipped from his hand.

The Su Family's reputation was finished.

Lin Yuan wrapped his arm around Su Xiaonuan's trembling shoulders, half-embracing her, while his other hand brushed against the seam of his pants.

He raised his head, his eyes sweeping over the members of the Su Family, before staring directly into the camera.

"Today, I ask all the media to bear witness." Lin Yuan's voice was icy cold. "From this moment on, Su Xiaonuan and her mother have absolutely no connection to the Su Family."

He patted Su Xiaonuan's back, his words ringing with finality: "The debt the Su Family owes her, I will settle one by one."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Lin Yuan slammed his right foot onto the ground.

Crack.

A hard bluestone floor tile was crushed to pieces.

He flicked his toe.

Whoosh!

A piece of gravel the size of a fingernail shot into the air with a sharp whistling sound.

Bang!

Directly above the hall, the gilded, carved plaque that had hung for over a century, reading "Su Family Estate," was struck right in the center by the gravel.

A massive crack spread wildly from the point of impact.

Crash!

The heavy solid wood plaque snapped in two and crashed onto the offering table.

The incense burner overturned, scattering ash all over the floor.

The Head of the Su Family rolled his eyes back and fainted dead away on his master chair.

Su Changqing screamed as he went to support the old man, and the hall descended into chaos.

Lin Yuan didn't even look at the shattered wood.

He turned his head, locking his gaze onto Second Aunt, who was preparing to shrink away into the back hall.

"Where is Su Muxue?" Lin Yuan asked.

Second Aunt's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the floor.

"In... in the backyard ancestral hall..." Second Aunt's teeth chattered as she scrambled up using her hands and feet. "I... I will lead the way! Please don't kill me!"

Lin Yuan didn't speak; he took Su Xiaonuan's hand and walked toward the back hall.

The reporters automatically parted to create an extremely wide path.

Passing through the winding corridor, the drizzle became denser.

Second Aunt stopped shivering outside the ancestral hall.

A large brass lock hung on the heavy wooden door.

Lin Yuan stepped forward.

He had no intention of asking for a key.

He raised his right hand and gripped the brass lock, which weighed at least two jin.

He exerted force with his thumb and index finger.

Creak.

The pure copper lock core made a harsh, twisting sound as it was actually crushed and deformed by his grip, falling off.

Clang.

The scrap metal fell to the ground.

Lin Yuan lifted his leg and kicked open the heavy wooden door of the ancestral hall.

Accompanied by the smell of decaying dust, the light of the eternal lamp inside shone out.

Lin Yuan's gaze crossed the high threshold and scanned the interior of the ancestral hall.

He looked for only a moment.

A cold chill surged into his eyes, which had previously been as calm as an ancient well.

Su Xiaonuan, standing behind him, felt the hairs on her back stand on end.