Even nonent.i.ties had the pursuit.

It was impossible to absolutely hold oneself aloof from the world. The eras were alternating, while things were changing. The general trend was rising and falling, and the storm was turbulent. In the mortal world, as long as one was alive, more or less, he or she would be involved in right and wrong, cause and effect.

The biggest difference was nothing more than their distance between right and wrong.

The Lin Clan of Switzerland, a family that was extremely strange to most of the superiors, was undoubtedly the family which was the farthest to disputes in the Dark World. For hundreds of years, with the strength that was overwhelming in the general trend, this family was still willing to be low-key and had been living in an ordinary city in Switzerland. They kept themselves away from disputes, watching the turbulent storms in the Dark World quietly. They had always been there, but they seemed never to exist.

It was a life that most people couldn’t understand; a life full of absolute freedom and carefreeness, not advancing, and yet not retreating.

When a family had more money than it could spend for hundreds of or thousands of years, and they didn’t care about power or status, what else could they do in their daily life?

Besides abandoning themselves to a life of pleasure… It seemed that they had nothing else to do.

The Lin Clan was quite strange, very large, and yet very small. The centuries-old inheritance had given birth to one branch after another of the family, but these branches decreased one after another over time. It wasn’t because others eliminated them but because the Lin Clan itself kept splitting inside.

For centuries, even the patriarch of the Lin Clan himself didn’t know how much money he owned. Not everyone enjoyed this free-spending life of doing nothing. Over time, in this somewhat excessively comfortable environment, some strange things would naturally happen.

Some people in the Lin Clan were fond of traveling. In the previous generation, a couple from a collateral branch left the Lin Clan to travel with their six-year-old child, and then the tour became a long journey. It was decades before they returned to Switzerland three years ago.

Some people in the Lin Clan loved collecting, so they set up a collection hall with their own money. After decades, the collection hall had become a magical place comparable to any large museum in the world.

Some people in the Lin Clan were keen on doing business.

And some people in the Lin Clan liked to scramble for supremacy.

This clan had never had any disputes. The so-called collateral branch and the lineal branch enjoyed the exactly equal status in the Lin Clan. It was no exaggeration to say that everyone in this family could do whatever they wanted if they truly got bored.

Money? They had. You could have as much money as you wanted, and they would give it to you whenever you wanted. Here, the money that everyone loved became pieces of waste paper, which granted the ambitions and hobbies of different generations of the Lin Clan, making this family continue to split.

Yes, split.

The Lin Clan never entered the secular world, but they did not oppose entering the secular world.

Generation after generation of the Lin Clan continued to develop, and the restless members in each generation would receive abundant money and protection when leaving the Lin Clan to the outside world. The people from the Lin Clan were all over the world, forming different Lin families. Today, the Lin family, which was split off from the Lin Clan of Switzerland hundreds of years ago, had long since severed all ties with the latter. They were now two different forces.

Only some of the collateral branches which were split off from the Lin Clan over the last hundred years knew that they came from the same place. They supported each other and grew stronger together. Meanwhile, they scarcely connected with the Lin Clan, but only a few people noticed that. So in their eyes, the Lin families that developed in the outside world were the Lin Clan, or rather, Lin’s Alliance.

But only a handful of people knew that they were just collateral branches that were split off from the Lin Clan, while the real Lin Clan had always lived in the Worry-free Mountain Villa under the Worry-free Mountain in Switzerland.

Worry-free Mountain was located in the northeast of Geneva. The land within a radius of 25 kilometers was the property of the Lin Clan. Although it was called a mountain villa, it was actually comparable to a small, delicate, and prosperous city. It was a dream landscape with magnificent and charming scenery and was truly a place to forget worries beyond the noisy world.

As members of the Lin Clan, as long as they didn’t want to think much, then, throughout their lives, every one of them could really be carefree.

But was it really possible for the patriarch of the Lin Clan—a real core figure in the Lin Clan, to be carefree in his long life?

At nine o’clock in the morning.

The quiet and easeful Worry-free Mountain Villa gradually recovered its vitality. As the bored, free-spirited people of the Lin Clan began to enjoy the new day, a helicopter rose slowly amidst the whistle of its rotors. Bathed in the suns.h.i.+ne of a new day, it sped away.

Lin Fengting, who returned from Zhongzhou State with his daughter just a few months ago, sat in the specially modified cabin, which was extremely cozy. He looked out of the window in silence with a soft expression, but there was a touch of meditation in his eyes.

“Is the message accurate?”

He asked abruptly. His voice was steady and casual, but there was apparent earnestness, even solemnity, between the lines.

“Absolutely.”

Opposite Lin Fengting sat a young man who was about 20 years old. He was tall and slender, with a face that resembled Lin Fengting’s, and was as handsome and tough as Lin Fengting. He sat quietly opposite Lin Fengting in a white casual suit, looking soft and gentle, not aggressive at all. He looked at Lin Fengting with undisguised intimacy in his eyes. “Dad, I went there to see it myself. There is indeed a sword mark that I am familiar with, and there are also traces left by a murderous weapon. It’s just that the area is so desolate that we can’t say for certain when the battle took place for the time being, but at least it happened three years ago.”

Lin Fengting nodded, and his eyes glistened, deep and quiet. “Is it Shadow the Ripper?”

Shadow the Ripper.

One of the 12 Murderous Weapons in the Dark World.

It was also the only murderous weapon in the Dark World that couldn’t be traced in recent years. Thirty years ago, Shadow the Ripper belonged to a superpower named “Tianzhu” in Heng State. At that time, Dragonesque Elephant, the lord of Tianzhu, an Invincible Realm expert who possessed Heavenly King Heart and Exquisite Bone, was known as the best expert in Heng State. With Shadow the Ripper, he even had the ambition to conquer Asia. However, Tianzhu invaded Zhongzhou State in its glorious days. Li Honghe, the War G.o.d of Zhongzhou State at that time, fought against the invaders himself. The 24 Moves of Sword of the Li family shone brilliantly at the border. The battle lasted a day and a night, and the battlefield s.h.i.+fted from Zhongzhou State to Heng State. Li Honghe went to Heng State alone and pursued the enemies for more than 200 kilometers, and finally killed Dragonesque Elephant, the best expert in Heng State.

The murderous weapon Shadow the Ripper had been missing since that day.

Lin Fengting and the Lin Clan themselves did not have much interest in Shadow the Ripper. But 19 years ago, with the fall of the Li family and the treason of Li Kuangtu, and after Infinite Sky, the murderous weapon of the Li family, was destroyed, the Lin Clan gradually had a trace of obsession.

Lin Fengting had been investigating clues about Shadow the Ripper since he took the helm of the Lin Clan. That was largely why he clashed with the Vatican a few years ago. Nevertheless, there were so many rumors about this murderous weapon, true or false. Lin Fengting searched for it many times but found nothing at last. However, it had become an obsession in his heart. That was why he hadn’t given up looking for it for years.

Until yesterday, the collateral branches of the Lin Clan in the outside world finally locked onto a trace of Shadow the Ripper again. Lin Fengting’s eldest son Lin Youxian personally hurried to the scene to investigate, but accidentally, he found another sword mark that he was very familiar with. Lin Youxian rushed back overnight to the Worry-free Mountain Villa and told Lin Fengting about it. Without further delay, the father and son again took a helicopter to the border between Switzerland and Germany.

“Most murderous weapons have owners. Every time they showed up, all sides would receive information about them. But this time, there was no news from the border alone. It shouldn’t be any murderous weapon that has owners, so it is very likely to be Shadow the Ripper. You’ll have to see it yourself, father.”

Lin Youxian shook his head, hesitated, and told the truth.

Lin Fengting nodded and looked at his red-eyed eldest son. Then he whispered, “You’ve worked really hard. Have you been worn out these two days?”

“I’m good.”

Lin Youxian shook his head and said, “Dad, don’t scold me for being worthless. I really feel good now. It’s been the easiest time I’ve had since you came back from Zhongzhou State.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Fengting could not restrain himself from laughing and scolding, “You are indeed a good-for-nothing.”

Lin Youxian grinned, but his eyes lost focus. He whispered, “If I have time, I would like to visit Tianlan. He took my place…”

“You’re wrong.”

Lin Fengting waved his hand and said gently, “That was originally his place. You’ll be the one who takes his place if you go there. Remember, don’t forget your position as the patriarch of the Lin Clan.”

“I see.”

Lin Youxian’s expression changed, and he agreed with a poker face.

“Youxian, you have to remember one thing. The entire Lin Clan can forget worries and be worry-free, but as the patriarch, you can forget anything but worries. Indeed, Tianlan has a hard time reviving the glory of the Li family, while you will also take pains to shoulder the entire Lin Clan in the future.”

Lin Fengting’s eyes were quiet, with many stories being buried deep inside them. He said in a low voice, “The word ‘patriarch’ means hard work itself.”