Volume One, Chapter One: The Impostor Young Master

"Young Master Lin, your current physical condition is far from optimistic. According to my calculations, you have at most one year left to live. Unless you encounter someone of great power willing to intervene, but..."
"The most advanced cultivator in Jing'an City is City Lord Song, who has only just broken through to the Qi Sea Realm... In the year ahead, take some time to reflect on any unfulfilled wishes you may have."

Jing'an City.
Lin Family Residence.

The physician sighed, and after finishing his words, picked up his medicine chest and left.

Lin Mu stood frozen where he was, his mind buzzing.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky outside the window, his vision blurring.

Was the boundless expanse before him the sky, or his own future?

Three months ago, during the talent assessment, as the direct heir of a Martial God family, he had not displayed even the slightest aptitude for martial arts.

And three days ago, he had suddenly collapsed, diagnosed with a congenital incurable disease, doomed to a short life.

Was his hard-won rebirth destined to end so soon?

Knock, knock—

At that moment, a sound came from the door.

"Come in," Lin Mu replied, his voice faint.

The door opened, and in the next instant, a striking figure entered his view. The woman wore a pale blue long dress, her features delicate, her expression full of resolute vitality.

Lin Xiu, the eldest princess of the Lin family, and his sister.

Seeing Lin Xiu, a faint smile appeared on Lin Mu’s previously somber face, warmth blossoming in his heart.

Though he had often failed to please her, sometimes provoking her anger, they were family; when trouble struck, she always arrived quickly.

"Sister... I..."

However, just as Lin Mu was about to explain his condition, Lin Xiu cut him off impatiently.

"Don't call me sister," she said, her face showing disdain. "You are not of Lin blood, unworthy of that title."

"I..."

Her words stunned Lin Mu, leaving him utterly bewildered.

"Sister, I... I don't understand what you mean?"

"Stop pretending."

Lin Xiu snorted coldly. "Do you really not know? Have you never wondered why, born into a family of Martial Gods, you remain a useless cripple unable to cultivate?"

"Because my brother was never you! You’re nothing but a stray picked up by the Lin family. Now that the true young master has been found, your time as a fake is over!"

Her face grew even more contemptuous as she spoke.

"From today, you can no longer call yourself a member of the Lin family, nor say you’re my brother. Because you have been of some use to us, I’ve found your real family—they’ll soon come to collect you. Pack up your worthless belongings and return to wherever you came from!"

With that, Lin Xiu turned and left without a trace of nostalgia.

Before stepping out, she paused and tossed back a scornful remark.

"A stray from the mountains—no wonder you never belonged!"

Lin Mu’s expression was conflicted, a bitter taste rising in his throat.

He wanted to speak, but no words came.

After a long silence, Lin Mu could only shake his head helplessly and laugh at himself.

No wonder all his efforts had never earned a single word of concern from her, no matter how much he followed after her or tried to please her.

He had never truly been part of the Lin family, nor had he ever been seen as one of them.

No wonder, after the talent test, he was shunned at every turn, mocked by the other siblings.

He had thought it was due to his lack of talent, but now he realized they had always known he was adopted, and despised his abandoned origins—let alone his innate inability to cultivate.

"So be it..."

Lin Mu took a deep breath, murmuring to himself.

Since the Lin family disliked him so much, he had no reason to stay.

He sighed and walked toward the courtyard where he used to live.

With the mindset of his past life, he had helped the Lin family earn a great deal of wealth, surpassing their rivals and becoming one of the top families in Jing'an City.

It was for this reason that he had received some measure of attention and warmth, even being given a separate courtyard as an example to the other children.

But now...

Everything had changed.

As he walked along the corridor toward the courtyard, the gazes of those around him fell upon him, whispered conversations reaching his ears.

"I heard the true young master has been found, and awakened a divine talent—now the Lin family might rise again!"

"What? The young master has been found? Then who is he?"

"Pfft... Chen, you’re really out of touch. He’s nothing but a fake. I heard he fooled the patriarch into thinking he was the lost young master, so he was brought back. But a fake is always a fake—born in a poor mountain village, how could he ever rise to greatness?"

"So that's it! No wonder his talent was so poor; turns out he’s an impostor!"

"Haha, with Sister Xiu’s Martial God talent, how could a toad like him ever hope to be worthy? So what if he can make money? In this world, martial strength reigns supreme!"

…

The group whispered and laughed openly at Lin Mu, as if he were invisible.

"Move aside!"

Faced with these sharp-tongued bullies, Lin Mu preferred not to engage, his tone steady.

"Oh, and what are you that we should make way for you?"

Lin Mu raised his eyebrow, unwilling to waste words, and kicked out directly.

Though he lacked martial talent, he understood that strength was all that mattered in this world of cultivation. He had never neglected his physical training, and these ordinary servant disciples were nothing to him.

"Ouch... Lin Mu, you... you actually dare to hit me..."

The kicked clansman sat on the ground, furious, shouting at Lin Mu. But before he finished, Lin Mu stepped directly on the hand he had braced against the ground, making him hiss in pain.

"Is there a problem?"

Lin Mu glared down at him, radiating a commanding aura that forced the clansman to swallow his curses and lower his gaze, not daring to meet his eyes.

Lin Mu sneered and turned away.

Only after Lin Mu had gone did the clansman spit after his departing figure.

"Damn it, acting so high and mighty! Wait until you leave the Lin family, I’ll show you what suffering really means!"

Unfortunately, Lin Mu did not hear their barking.

Soon, he arrived at the courtyard where he had once lived.

The place looked just as it always had, the row of bamboo under the eaves lush and green, though now there was no one left to tend them.

At the entrance, many servants hurried back and forth, carrying all manner of items, busy with something unknown.

Lin Mu frowned and was about to step forward and ask when a richly dressed youth emerged from within the courtyard.