WU DONG QIAN - KUN
Chapter 10: The Golden Jade Branch

Lin Xia watched Ling Hong and his brother leave before walking up to Lin Dong, his face smiling: "Lin Dong biao-di, are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you Lin Xia-jie." Lin Dong nodded in confession. Lin Xia and his father had always been kind to him since young. Therefore, their relationship was considered quite good and just because Lin Xia was busy with the training these past few years, their interactions were declining compared to before.

"I just watched your duel with Lin Shan, I guess you've already reached Tempered Body 4th Layer?" Lin Xia asked, surprised. He knew that Lin Dong had only trained for less than a year, yet he had already reached the 4th Layer. Really astounding speed.

“It was just a coincidence.” It was not easy to hide the fact that he had reached Tempered Body 4th Layer. After all, the effect was exhibited in the outermost layer of one's body. Therefore, Lin Dong did not bother to hide it, nodding his head in response to Lin Xia's question.

“Looks like you inherited your father's talent.” Lin Xiao grinned, his expression turning serious: “But right now you are still far behind Lin Hong. According to my knowledge, she had developed into a Tempered Body 6th Layer three months ago, and gave birth to a Yuan Power Seed within her body. Therefore, it is best for you to avoid fighting with him or you will definitely lose. ”

"Yes I know." Lin Dong did not try to appear brave. Based on his current ability, he knew that he was still inferior to Lin Hong. Despite this, he remained confident that he would definitely surpass the latter!

“Hehe, well, keep up the good work, I'll be back now. Remember to work hard for the upcoming Family Competition, you know how much your father cares about the event. ” Lin Xiao smiled as he patted Lin Dong's head. Then, after he greeted Qing Tan and Lin Changqiang, he swung his ponytail and walked away in a friendly manner.

“Hehe, Lin Xia-jie is so cool, even Lin Hong had to retreat in front of him. You know, Grandpa adores him very much, and sometimes he even teaches him martial arts personally.” Lin Changqiang said enviously, as he looked at Lin Xia's slender figure walking away.

"You're just lazy." Lin Dong rolled his eyes towards Lin Changqiang. Without further ado, he immediately gestured to Qing Tan and turned to leave. Lin Changqiang followed them for a short distance, but when he saw the dark sky, he was a bit reluctant to leave the two behind.

“Lin Dong-ge, I'm so sorry. I promised not to sneak to find elixir again.” Qing Tan cried sadly, while pulling up Lin Dong's sleeves on their way home.

"It's okay. Once I become stronger, no one dares to bully you anymore. ” Although Lin Dong originally planned to scold him, his pitiful face was like a bucket of cold water on top of the flames of anger in his heart. He helplessly shook his head, before slapping his chest as he replied with a laugh.

"I want to practice too!" Qing Tan suddenly said, while raising her cute nose.

"Are you not afraid that training will make you ugly?" Lin Dong jokingly asked.

“No way, look how beautiful Lin Xia-jie is. If I could be like him, then Lin Hong would never again dare bully Lin Dong-ge again”. Qing Tan replied sweetly while sticking out her pink tongue.

Lin Dong smiled as he shook his head, his finger moving to flick Qing Tan's forehead. He then told her: “When we return home, don't tell anyone about what happened today. Do you understand?"

"Nrank ..." Qing Tan childishly dragged out her answer, as she frowned at her tiny face.

Although Lin Dong had reminded Qing Tan not to mention anything, in the end, he had not managed to hide the day's events.

"You fought Lin Shan and his brother this afternoon." Lin Xiao casually commented during dinner as he put down the chopsticks in his hands.

After hearing these words, Lin Dong and Qing Tan immediately felt their bodies stiffen. Liu Yan, who was also present, also helplessly shook his head as he gave a disapproving look to the two of them.

“Dad, this has nothing to do with Lin Dong-ge. This is all my fault.” Qing Tan said timidly.

Lin Xiao glanced at the two of them, his facial expression stabilizing. He continued to stare at Lin Dong as he asked: "I heard that you defeated Lin Shan?"

Lin Dong scratched his head, smiling wryly as he nodded.

"Give me your hand". At Lin Dong's confession, Lin Xiao's eyes flashed as he stretched out his wide palm and gripped the latter's arm. Gently tapping his arm, a smile appeared on his normally calm face: "Layer 4 Tempered Body?"

“Haha, amazing!” After receiving Lin Dong's confirmation, Lin Xiao finally laughed out loud, filled with excitement and satisfaction.

As he saw Lin Xiao laughing out loud, Lin Dong's heart finally heaved a sigh of relief. Looks like he won't be scolded at all…

Liu Yan could not help his lips to smile when he saw Lin Xiao's sincere smile. Looking at Lin Dong with affectionate eyes, he understood that Lin Xiao had invested everything he had into Lin Dong. He had always blamed himself for causing the loss of a genius in the Lin Family and destroying their expectations. Therefore, due to his stubborn nature, he had always hoped to 'return' a genius back to the Lin Family and the genius he expected to 'go back' was naturally Lin Dong.

“My correction if I am wrong but you just reached Tempered Body 3rd Layer ten days ago right? How did you grow so fast? ” Although he was overjoyed, Lin Xiao had his suspicions. To advance from Layer 3 to 4 within ten days was an extremely fast step. How did Lin Dong without the help of potions manage to achieve this?

“I am also not too sure..Since I ate Red Ginseng, my training progress felt much smoother than before.” Lin Dong's heart skipped a beat after hearing Lin Xiao's question. After a little hesitation, he finally decided to lie a little. Somehow, he had always felt that it would be better not to reveal the secrets of the stone talisman, or there would be a great disaster heading towards him.

"Oh?" Lin Xiao frowned after hearing Lin Dong's reply. Red Ginseng is just a Grade 1 elixir, how can it be so powerful?

“Maybe Dong-er's body has a special affinity with elixir and can absorb its effect more effectively? I have heard that some people are blessed with this unique gift and their bodies are able to absorb the herb more effectively than most people.” Liu Yan offered a possible explanation as he smiled.

“True, maybe because of it.” Lin Xiao nodded in agreement, he had also heard of similar cases before. If Lin Dong really had this miraculous body constitution, it was not impossible for him to train at this extremely high speed.

"It seems like I have been negligent in the past, if Dong-er really had this gift, it wouldn't be difficult for him to achieve good results in the Family Competition." Lin Xiao smiled in satisfaction as he reached into her clothes. Carefully taking out a bundle wrapped in a roll of cloth, he gently placed it on the table. The moment he opened the cloth, a scent instantly spread throughout the room and young golden branches appeared before their eyes.

The branch was golden in color, and within that golden light, a light green liquid flowed gently, similar to chalcedony.

"This is ...... grade-2 potion, Golden Jade Branch?" Liu Yan gasped when he saw the golden branch.

"Is this like a Grade 2 elixir?" Lin Dong peeked at the golden branch out of curiosity, the corner of his mouth pulled down. Although it looked incredible, the amount of Ling Qi contained within it was nothing compared to the mysterious liquid emanating from the stone talisman.

“Heh heh, I was lucky to get this potion in the mountains yesterday. Liu Yan, boil this herb for Dong-er tomorrow.” Lin Xiao smiled as he said. But soon after, his face turned slightly pale as he coughed loudly twice.

“Dad, I don't need this. Please save it for your own wounds.” Lin Dong hurriedly replied.

"Don't worry. I only spent a small amount of energy to deal with the troublesome beasts yesterday when I obtained this elixir. It's not a big deal. After all, I have been living with my injuries all this time, this potion will barely be able to make a difference to me. ” Lin Xiao said, as he waved his hand from side to side. “In addition, within a few months, it will be a Family Competition. During this period, you should focus on your training. Don't worry about elixir, let father handle the matter. ”

Lin Dong's eyes reddened, as he looked at the happy expression on Lin Xiao's usually stern face. Without a word, he lightly nodded his head as he muttered to himself: “Dad, don't worry. I won't let you down."

“It's night, rest. You still have practice tomorrow”. Lin Xiao waved his hand, gesturing for Lin Dong to go and rest.

"Yes." Yeah."

After Lin Dong replied, he and Qing Tan left the dining table and walked into their room. Even as they left the room, they could still hear Lin Xiao's warm laughter. This laughter was something they had not heard for a long time ……

As he gently clenched his fists, Lin Dong turned his head and gestured for Qing Tan to return to his room to rest. However, he suddenly saw his beautifully sculpted face turn pale as white threads and cold air gradually seeped out from his body, causing frost to grow on the surrounding ground.

"Oh no..... The cold cold has flared up again!"

After witnessing the sudden development in Qing Tan, Lin Dong's expression also changed.