Chapter 19: The Battle to Wipe Out the Family
Hurry.
Hurrying to the extreme.
From conflicts erupting in the wilderness, to the Lin family launching a direct attack, annihilating the Zhou family, this all happened in less than a day.
In just one day, a Golden Core family that had been passed down for hundreds of years was completely wiped out by the Lin family. When the news spread, the surrounding clans couldn't believe it.
"Is the Zhou family made of clay, easily crumbling?"
"Lin Batian is unexpectedly strong!"
The surrounding families were full of doubts. One doubted the Zhou family's strength. It was a family that had been passed down for hundreds of years, and they still had two powerful Golden Core Period members. How did they lose so easily?
Another doubted Lin Batian's strength. He was able to defeat two opponents at once, and they couldn't even escape. How did Lin Batian do it?
Regardless of what others were saying, the Lin family was already pursuing and hunting down the remaining enemies from the Zhou family. The Zhou family's main gate had only half of their total strength. The rest of their members were spread out across different places, such as mines, spirit mountains, and shops. The distribution of members for each family was similar.
Lin Batian took the main force of the Lin family and left, leaving some members behind to guard the prisoners at the Zhou family's main gate. Lin Jiang was one of them. He wasn't very interested in killing and would rather stay.
Also staying behind were Lin Die and Steward Wu. Steward Wu took some people to clean up the battlefield, mainly to search for valuables, while Lin Die was in charge of ensuring safety, afraid that the Zhou family might retaliate forcefully.
"Sixth Brother, are you injured?"
Lin Die approached Lin Jiang and saw that he was covered in blood. She couldn't help but worry and asked.
"I'm not injured, it's all because of the enemy's magic. My mother made this dress with silk from silkworms, and it's three layers thick."
Lin Jiang grinned, even though he was hit by the enemy several times, he wasn't actually hurt. The clothes made from Zhuang Rong's special silkworms were very strong, so he wore three layers of them with a soft armor underneath. The enemy couldn't even break through his basic defense.
"That's good."
"Third Sister, are you hurt?"
"Just a small injury, it'll be fine in a couple of days. I'm used to it."
"You worked hard, Third Sister."
"It wasn't really hard, but this battle was truly satisfying. The Zhou family is so hated by everyone."
Lin Die said, ever since the Zhou family betrayed the Lin family a few years ago, she had been angry. This time, when the Zhou family dared to attack and kill members of the Lin family first, it made her even more furious. It was through this bloodshed that she could release her anger.
"After this battle, the Lin family should stop expanding, right?"
"We can't expand for now, our territory is too big and we can't manage it."
Lin Die said, the population of the Lin family is still too small. So far, there are less than one hundred immortal cultivators in the Lin family, and the backbone is still those recruited guest cultivators. Many territories can only be rented to independent cultivators. Now, if we merge with the Zhou family, the power of the Lin family will be more scattered.
This was very dangerous. If the enemy used guerrilla warfare and ambushes against the Lin family, the Lin family wouldn't be able to keep up. They could only passively endure attacks or be exhausted from running around. That was also why Lin Batian and the others needed to eliminate the remaining enemies, to prevent them from growing stronger.
"Yeah, we can't handle it anymore."
"Old Sixteen is already married. Sixth Brother, don't you want to get married?"
"Third Sister, aren't you the same?"
"I can't get married. There's no one to marry."
Lin Die said she was already in the later stage of Foundation Building. Lin Batian wouldn't allow her to marry someone outside the Lin family easily, otherwise, the loss to the Lin family would be too great. If it was a marriage proposal, it was also difficult because ordinary people were not attractive to her, and the outstanding ones wouldn't choose to marry into the Lin family. So she could only delay it.
"I can't get married either. Mortals don't interest me, and female cultivators don't find me attractive. Haha, let's not get married then."
Lin Jiang laughed loudly. Among the Lin family's second generation, only him, Lin Die, and Lin Ying were not married. The rest of the people were already grandparents. Eldest Brother Lin Shan and second brother Lin He were already married, and their grandchildren were about to arrive.
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"The fifth daughter-in-law committed suicide."
"The thirteenth daughter-in-law also committed suicide."
"The first family's second daughter-in-law, the second family's eldest daughter-in-law, and the seventh family's daughter-in-law have run away."
Five days later, Lin Jiang, who was still at the Zhou family's entrance, received news from his family. These five people were all daughters of Zhou family, but Lin family had already wiped out Zhou family, and this was a grudge beyond avenging their fathers, which made some of the Zhou family's daughters choose to run away from home and some choose to commit suicide.
"This is truly a tragedy."
Lin Jiang sighed, feeling the despair of those five Zhou family women, which was terrifying.
"This is not a tragedy, but a necessary choice in life. From the moment they married into the Lin family, from the moment their natal family and Lin family became enemies, they had to make this choice."
"Lin Die, this is too cruel for them. On one side are their father, siblings, and on the other side is their husband and children."
"What if our Lin family loses?"
Lin Die questioned, "If the Lin family loses, how would they choose?"
"I don't know, I can't imagine such a scene."
"So this might be one of the reasons why Dad didn't arrange a marriage for us. Marriage is chosen by parents and the family for us. If we choose our own, we have to take responsibility, right? You said it yourself, adults should be responsible for their own choices."
"Let's not talk about this. When will Dad and the others come back?"
Lin Jiang promptly stopped this topic, it was too philosophical, and he didn't want to discuss it.
"It should be soon. The Zhou family is weak elsewhere, so we just need to crush them directly."
"That's good, I want to go back to the Spiritual Peach Mountain Villa."
"Okay then."
Lin Die didn't take the opportunity to educate Lin Jiang this time. If Lin Jiang was still a young person and would continue to explore the world in the future, she would sternly ask Lin Jiang to stay and deal with more cruel things, which was something that cultivators must face.
But when she thought about Lin Jiang's age and cultivation level, she didn't have such high demands anymore. In her opinion, this was how Lin Jiang's life would be, so there was no need to force Lin Jiang to go through anything. It was better for Lin Jiang to take good care of his mother and live a good life.
After a few more days, Lin Batian finally returned. After counting the casualties, in this battle, four members of the Lin family died, six elders were injured, and more than twenty people were wounded. However, they completely defeated hundreds of people from the Zhou family.
Lin Batian had already planned the territory of the Zhou family. The important areas were directly occupied and guarded by the Lin family. The remaining areas were divided among the Lin family's elders. Some of the elders had been with the Lin family for decades, loyal and dedicated. Most of them were married with children and had their own families. They could establish their own small family in the future.
But these families had to show their loyalty to the Lin family. They had to contribute some of their profits to the Lin family every year, like protection fees.
As for the remaining territories, they were rented to independent cultivators for cultivation. They just needed to pay rent every year. After arranging everything, Lin Batian returned to the Lin family's gate with a large number of spoils of war.
Lin Batian already knew about the Zhou family women's situation. He didn't have much to say about it. Even if they didn't commit suicide or run away, they wouldn't be able to live in the Lin family in the future. Lin Batian might not kill them, but he would definitely send them away.
Lin Batian held a simple celebration banquet, and then Lin Jiang returned to the Spiritual Peach Mountain Villa. He still liked the pastoral life at the Spiritual Peach Mountain Villa.
One month later, Lin Jiang received a gift from the Lin family. Lin Batian gave him a flying sword, ten Qi Gathering Pills, five Energy Nourishing Pills, and three hundred spirit stones. The total value exceeded two thousand spirit stones. In addition, Lin Jiang's monthly salary was increased to five spirit stones, allowing him to earn sixty spirit stones in a year.
This was considered small compared to Lin Die and Lin Ying, who received a reward of a spiritual mountain. The scale was no smaller than the Spiritual Peach Mountain Villa, and they could manage it themselves. They would have income every year, which was a long-term benefit.
This clearly showed the profits gained by the Lin family in this battle. It was definitely a windfall, as they acquired all of Zhou family's wealth accumulated over hundreds of years.
"The ancient saying is true, the most profitable are the ones written in the law."
Lin Jiang sighed at this. No wonder Lin Batian was so eager to expand. The profits from expansion were indeed the greatest. If one had to work hard and manage everything, it would require so much time and effort.
This slaughter also strengthened Lin Jiang's determination to live in a big city in the future. The cultivation world had no such thing as law, but a big city had its own set of rules. At least, there wouldn't be such blatant killing. Only then could he survive through his weaker years.
