Cultivation Pet Shop

With this renewed conviction, Lin Tian turned to the youngsters behind him and waved at one of them.

This was a handsome young man who had a bright smile on his face, but there was also a dark look in his eyes as he stared at Lin Fan.

He was just like Lin Tian as he scrutinized Lin Fan.

Lin Tian introduced this young man with a smile, "Great great nephew, this is your cousin Lin Hong. Since he's around the same age as you, I thought that he could show you around our Lin Astral Empire."

Lin Hong cupped his hands to Lin Fan and said, "Cousin, I've long heard your name and only now had the chance to meet you. It truly is an honour meeting you for the first time."

His words and actions were polite, but there was no hiding the hungry look in his eyes.

It was clear that he had ambition and he wanted the position that Lin Fan currently held, so there was no doubt that there was hostility towards Lin Fan in his heart.

Lin Fan was no fool and could easily see through this, but he still acted polite since the other side had acted polite. He also cupped his hands and said, "Cousin, your words are too much. It's my honour to meet you."

The two of them had smiles as they looked at each other, but neither of their smiles reached their eyes.

It was clear that there was a silent war that was currently happening between them.

In the end, it was the Lin Astral Emperor that interrupted by saying, "Xiao Fan, go on and get to know your cousins. You'll be seeing them a lot from now on."

While the Lin Astral Emperor knew exactly what they were here for, he still let Lin Fan go with them.

In a sense, this was a little test for Lin Fan.

After all, in the future, Lin Fan would become the Lin Astral Emperor and the head of the Lin Astral Family. At the same time, these people would become important people in the family since they were the most talented members of the Lin Astral Family's younger generation.

It would be inevitable that they would have to work together in the future since they were one family.

Lin Fan nodded and then followed Lin Hong as this group of young people led him out of the hall.

All the ministers looked at them with unwilling looks, but they were from the Lin Astral Family and they had the orders of the Lin Astral Emperor, so they had no choice but to let them go.

But before they did leave, the Lin Astral Emperor suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait, I forgot to give you something."

Everyone turned and watched as the Lin Astral Emperor waved his hand to create a token that he threw to Lin Fan.

When they saw this token, they couldn't help being shocked.

That was because this was a token that had the character "Lin" on it.

It was a token that could represent the entire Lin Astral Family and a token that only the most important people in the family could own. Even someone like Lin Tian didn't have one of these tokens even though he was one of the important branch family heads.

Everyone assumed that Lin Fan would receive one eventually because of his status, but they had thought that he would only receive it after his debut banquet.

After all, his official status hadn't been set yet, so it was a bit inappropriate for him to receive this token.

But since it was the Lin Astral Emperor who gave it to him, no one could say anything.

At the same time though, they could see just how important of a position Lin Fan had in the Lin Astral Emperor's heart.

It seemed like they had to think over their plans again.

Lin Fan looked at the token and gave a nod of thanks before leaving with Lin Hong.

The Lin Astral Emperor revealed a faint smile before turning back to the ministers.

Since Lin Fan was already gone, there wasn't much else that they wanted, so they all went back to flattering the Lin Astral Emperor. However, before they could do that, Lin Tian still had something else he wanted.

He finally turned to Lin Ao who he had ignored before and said, "Great nephew, you're also new to our Lin Astral Empire, so how about we have some of your cousins show you around as well?"

With a wave of his hand, a few people that were older than the group before came over as well. They were older, but they were still young enough to be considered part of the younger generation just like Lin Ao.

Lin Tian had been planning on ignoring Lin Ao at first since he looked down on him.

However, after experiencing the power and aura that Lin Fan had, he realized that he needed to do more than just try and suppress Lin Fan. He had to start with Lin Fan's weakness, which was this father of his.

The reason why Lin Tian looked down on Lin Ao was because he felt that this father of Lin Fan's truly was worthless.

After all, he was someone who had been brought back based on the merits of his son and his cultivation was very weak.

His son was already in the World Realm, but this father of his was still in the Soul Realm.

All those in the same generation as Lin Ao had already reached the World Realm, so he was considered the weakest one among them.

Lin Tian was planning on suppressing this father of Lin Fan's and then using him to suppress Lin Fan.

The Lin Astral Emperor could clearly see through his plans, so he slightly knitted his brows when he heard this. After all, he also felt that Lin Ao was disappointing when compared to Lin Fan.

While Lin Ao was talented with the sword like Lin Jian had been, his cultivation was…

So he didn't think that Lin Ao would be able to compare to his cousins like Lin Fan could.

But before he could say anything, Lin Jian said, "Ao, go on and have fun at the sword trial with your cousins."

Lin Ao just gave a nod and then headed off with these cousins of his.

Since Lin Jian had already told them to go to the sword trial with Lin Ao, they could only take him to the sword trial.

These cousins had also looked at Lin Tian before heading off and only after seeing him give a secret nod did they head off with Lin Ao.

Lin Tian was surprised that Lin Jian had given them permission to take Lin Ao away, but while he didn't know what Lin Jian was planning, he was still confident in these youngsters from his branch.

They were the most talented people from Lin Ao's generation, so he was certain that they wouldn't lose even if Lin Jian forced them to do something that Lin Ao excelled in.

With the difference in cultivation levels, it should be easy for them to suppress Lin Ao.

With the younger generation all gone, Lin Tian blended into the crowd of ministers that all surrounded the Lin Astral Emperor.

During this time, the Lin Astral Emperor couldn't help secretly asking Lin Jian, "Xiao Jian, is it really alright to let Xiao Ao go with them?"

Lin Jian gave a secret nod before saying, "Ao might seem weak compared to Xiao Fan, but he's still the most talented person to come from my family. He's the one that I'm the most proud of after Xiao Fan."

The Lin Astral Emperor looked at Lin Jian and seeing the confident look in his eyes, he gave a nod in response before putting this matter aside.

As for Lin Jian, he was full of confidence in Lin Ao.

If it was anything else, he might not have felt as confident, but when it came to swords…

Lin Ao had fully inherited his talent and had even surpassed it.

The saying was true, the younger generation would replace the older generation eventually.

…

After they left the palace, Lin Hong brought Lin Fan to the largest business street in the capital.

Of course, since they were part of the Lin Astral Family, they had put on disguises to avoid being recognized.

These disguises really were something.

Lin Fan could feel Sun Realm laws coming from these disguises, so they had to be made by a Sun Realm Expert.

Something like this would be considered a national treasure in any Stellar Kingdom.

He could tell from the look on Zi Ling's face that she was completely shocked by this.

But here, they were used as toys for these younger members of the Lin Astral Family.

It really was a difference in perception.

After walking around for a bit, they brought Lin Fan to a large building that was in the center of the business street.

Lin Hong explained, "This is the Forest Auction House, which is owned by our Lin Astral Family. There happens to be an auction happening today, so we wanted to bring cousin Fan here to participate."

Lin Fan gave a nod in response, but he could tell that they clearly had some kind of plot based on the look in their eyes.

Still, he was willing to play along because he had his own trump card for this situation.

Lin Hong gave an inviting gesture and asked, "Cousin, shall we?"

Lin Fan gave a nod before following him in.