C4: The Sect Envoy Arrives

Dawn broke over the Lin Clan estate like a bloody omen. Smoke rose from several courtyards, and the metallic scent of blood lingered heavily in the morning air. Lin Xiao stood inside the newly opened Hidden Family Vault beneath the ancestral hall, his long black hair tied in a high ponytail that still carried faint traces of red-black chaotic energy.

The vault was far richer than he had expected. Stacks of spirit stones, rare medicinal herbs, several high-grade weapons, and sealed jade slips containing advanced techniques — all stolen from his father and hoarded by his uncle.

He swept everything into his new spatial ring with cold efficiency.

【System Notification】
【Hidden Vault fully plundered. +4500 System Points. Acquired: Father’s Legacy Technique – Chaos Emperor Sword Art (Fragmented).】

Lin Xiao’s lips curled into a dark smile as the God-tier Comprehension instantly began deciphering the sword art. Red lightning flickered across his fingertips.

All these years they sat on my father’s treasures while I ate scraps, he thought. Their greed ends with their lives.

A loud commotion came from outside the vault. Lin Xiao emerged calmly, his black robes slightly torn from the previous night’s massacre but radiating an oppressive aura.

Dozens of surviving clan members had gathered in fear. When they saw him, they dropped to their knees instantly.

“New Clan Head!” they shouted in unison.

Lin Xiao scanned their faces. Some had mocked him. Others had simply stayed silent. He felt no warmth, only calculation.

“Clean up the bodies,” he ordered coldly. “Bury the trash. The strong ones who died deserved it. The weak ones who survived may prove useful later. Anyone who tries to run or send messages out will join the corpses.”

His voice left no room for negotiation. The survivors scrambled to obey.

Flashback – Two years ago.

Lin Xiao had secretly found a low-grade spirit herb in the clan mountains. Before he could consume it to finally break through, a group of inner disciples led by Lin Feng had surrounded him.

They beat him unconscious and took the herb. While he lay bleeding on the ground, one of them had urinated on his face while laughing. “This is what happens when trash tries to rise.”

His uncle had known and done nothing.

The memory made the chaotic energy around Lin Xiao flare brighter. He clenched his fist, cracking the air with red lightning.

Just then, powerful auras approached from the sky. Three flying swords descended rapidly toward the main square. On them were disciples wearing the distinctive blue-and-gold robes of the Heavenly Cloud Sect.

The lead disciple was a tall, handsome young man named Zhou Wei — the same outer disciple Lin Feng had often bragged about knowing. He landed gracefully, fan in hand, looking around at the bloodstained grounds with disdain.

“What happened here?” Zhou Wei demanded, his voice full of arrogance. “Where is Lin Feng? We received word that your clan had a genius worth recruiting. I don’t have time to waste on backwater trash.”

The Lin Clan survivors looked nervously toward Lin Xiao.

Zhou Wei finally noticed him. His lips curled in contempt. “You? The famous useless young master? Still alive after all the rumors? Pathetic. Tell Lin Feng to come out. I have better things to do than speak with a waste.”

Inner monologue burned through Lin Xiao’s mind:

Another arrogant insect. Just like Lin Feng. Just like all the others who thought stepping on me made them superior. Today, I start collecting interest from the Heavenly Cloud Sect.

Lin Xiao stepped forward slowly. Red and black lightning began dancing across his shoulders and through strands of his ponytail.

“Lin Feng is dead,” he said flatly. “I killed him. Along with the previous Clan Head and most of the elders.”

Silence fell. Then Zhou Wei burst out laughing, joined by his two companions.

“You? Killed them? A mere Body Refining trash claims to have wiped out the leadership?” Zhou Wei sneered. “Fine. Since you’re so bold, I’ll give you a chance. Kneel, kowtow three times, and call me Young Master Zhou. Maybe I’ll spare your worthless life and take you as a servant.”

The two disciples behind him chuckled. One of them, a woman named Liu Qing with sharp features, looked Lin Xiao up and down with clear disgust. “He’s actually somewhat handsome. Maybe after breaking his cultivation we can use him for menial tasks.”

Lin Xiao’s eyes turned ice cold.

He vanished.

Shadow Step at full power combined with his new Spirit Condensing Realm cultivation made him a streak of darkness and red lightning.

Zhou Wei’s eyes widened in shock right before a brutal palm strike slammed into his chest. Bones cracked audibly. He flew backward like a broken kite, crashing through two stone pillars before slamming into the ground.

【Plunder initiated. Target possesses decent talent and resentment. Efficiency high.】

The female disciple Liu Qing screamed and unleashed a whip made of sword qi. She was at Spirit Condensing 2nd Stage — stronger than most in the outer sect — and her attacks were fast and vicious.

Lin Xiao didn’t dodge. He tanked the whip strike with his shoulder, the chaotic energy absorbing most of the damage while red lightning burned the qi whip apart. Blood trickled down his arm, but he smiled.

“You enjoy looking down on others?” he whispered.

He appeared in front of her instantly. His hand clamped around her throat. With terrifying strength, he lifted her off the ground as she kicked and struggled.

“Remember this feeling,” Lin Xiao said. “This is what you made others feel.”

He squeezed slowly, enjoying her bulging eyes and desperate gasps, then slammed her head-first into the stone pavement, cracking the ground. She survived, barely, but her face was ruined and her cultivation severely damaged.

The third disciple tried to flee on his flying sword. Lin Xiao hurled his iron sword infused with chaotic energy. It pierced through the man’s back and pinned him to a distant wall like an insect.

【Multiple Plunders completed. +2800 System Points. Gained Sword Qi talent fragment.】

Lin Xiao walked over to Zhou Wei, who was coughing blood and trying to crawl away in terror. The arrogant envoy’s fan was broken, his handsome face twisted in fear and disbelief.

“W-wait! You can’t kill me! I am an official envoy of the Heavenly Cloud Sect! My father is an Inner Sect Elder! If you touch me—”

Lin Xiao stomped on Zhou Wei’s right leg, shattering it completely.

“I know,” Lin Xiao said calmly. “That’s why I’m not killing you quickly. You will deliver a message for me.”

He grabbed Zhou Wei by the hair and forced him to look up. Red and black lightning crackled violently around them.

“Tell your father and your sect this: The Lin Clan now belongs to Lin Xiao. Any sect member who dares step foot here without my permission will die. And tell them… I’m coming for the Heavenly Cloud Sect soon.”

Zhou Wei whimpered as Lin Xiao forcibly extracted a portion of his cultivation and talent, leaving him crippled but alive.

【System Level increased to 4. New function: Enemy Scanner unlocked.】

Lin Xiao tossed the broken envoy onto one of the flying swords and sent him flying back toward the sect with a kick.

The remaining two disciples were finished off without mercy. Their storage rings and techniques became his.

He stood in the middle of the square, breathing steadily as the chaotic energy slowly receded. The surviving Lin Clan members stared at him with a mixture of awe and terror.

From useless trash to undisputed ruler in a single night.

Lin Xiao looked toward the distant mountains where the Heavenly Cloud Sect resided.

This is just the start. I will grind every last one of you into nothing.

He turned back to the clan survivors.

“Prepare the best resources. I will enter closed-door cultivation for three days. When I emerge… we march toward the sect.”

As he walked away, his long ponytail swayed behind him, and faint red lightning continued to spark across his body.

The Eternal Grind had claimed its first major external victims.

And the world would soon tremble.