The evening sun was sinking, spilling long shadows across the Lin Family courtyard. What should have been a quiet dusk turned into a scene of brutality. In the middle of the stone-paved ground, Su Mei lay on her knees, shielding her daughter Lin Yan with her frail body. Her thin clothes were torn, her arms bruised and bloodied from the repeated strikes of heavy sticks.
"Keep hitting her! That's what Madam Zhao ordered!" one of the servants barked, his eyes flashing with cruelty.
The other slave grinned and lifted the stick high. "That wretch and her brat need to learn their place!"
Each blow fell with a sickening crack, and Lin Yan cried, clutching her mother's sleeve. "Mother! Stop! Please stop hurting her!"
But Su Mei only tightened her hold around her little girl. "Yan'er… don't be afraid… I'll protect you." Her voice trembled, but there was determination in her eyes even as blood dripped down her forehead.
From a distance, Zhao Lian stood with her two children, Lin Chen and Lin Yue, smirking coldly. Lin Chen folded his arms, his young face twisted with arrogance. "Trash deserves trash treatment. That woman and her daughter are better off dead. Only then will Father's name be clean."
Lin Yue giggled, covering her mouth with slender fingers. "Mother, don't you think it's funny? That useless Lin Xun isn't even here to save them. Perhaps he's already lying dead in a ditch somewhere."
Su Mei's eyes filled with pain at the mention of her son. She wanted to believe he was safe, but her heart had been uneasy all day. Now, she felt despair closing in.
Just as one of the slaves raised his stick again to strike Lin Yan, the great gate of the Lin Family creaked open.
The sound was ordinary, yet in that moment, it thundered like the roar of the heavens.
A thin figure stepped inside. His clothes were torn, stained with dust, and his face was pale, yet his eyes carried a strange depth.
Lin Xun.
Su Mei's heart skipped a beat. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming. "Xun'er…" she whispered, her voice breaking.
Lin Yan's eyes lit up, and she cried out through her tears, "Brother!"
But Su Mei quickly shook her head weakly, raising a trembling hand. "No, Xun'er, run! Don't come closer! If you stay, they'll kill you too!"
Her words were filled with desperation. She had already lost so much—she couldn't bear to lose her son as well.
Lin Xun stopped just a few steps inside the courtyard. His gaze swept over the scene—his mother bleeding, his sister trembling, Zhao Lian sneering, and two slaves looming with weapons in hand.
Something deep inside him stirred. An unfamiliar heat spread through his chest, not his own but overwhelming all the same.
"Mother. Yan'er." His voice was hoarse, but steady. "I'm here."
He stepped forward.
"Ha!" one of the slaves spat. "So the useless young master dares return! Perfect. We'll finish all three in one night!"
They raised their sticks, aiming straight for his head. Su Mei cried out in horror, clutching Lin Yan tightly. "No! Xun'er!"
But Lin Xun did not flinch. He spread his arms, shielding his mother and sister with his own body. His teeth clenched, his blood boiling with a fury he didn't understand.
The stick came crashing down—
And then, everything changed.
From deep within Lin Xun's body, a blinding golden light burst forth.
It was not the weak flicker of a candle, but a radiant, divine brilliance that swallowed the courtyard in an instant. The two slaves froze, their faces twisted in terror as the golden aura enveloped them.
Their bodies convulsed, then dissolved into dust before they could even scream. Not even bones remained, only a faint shimmer of golden particles drifting in the evening air.
The courtyard fell into silence.
The golden light lingered for a moment around Lin Xun, then slowly dimmed, leaving only the shocked faces of those who had witnessed it.
Su Mei stared at her son, her lips trembling. "Xun'er… what… what did you just do…?"
Lin Yan clung to her mother's arm, wide-eyed. "Brother… you… you saved us…"
Zhao Lian's proud expression twisted into horror. She stumbled backward, pointing a trembling finger at Lin Xun. "This… this is impossible! How could a piece of trash like him…!"
Lin Chen and Lin Yue stood frozen, their arrogance shattered. Fear flickered in their eyes as they watched their half-brother glow with an aura they could not comprehend.
Lin Xun himself was stunned. His chest rose and fell heavily, his hands trembling as he looked down at them. They still carried a faint trace of that golden radiance, fading into nothing.
"I…" His lips parted. His voice was hoarse, disbelieving. "I don't know…"
He staggered, confusion clouding his mind. What had happened? Why had his body released such terrifying power?
Inside him, something ancient stirred faintly, like a sleeping beast shifting in its slumber. The sealed memories of Tian Yao pulsed, but remained locked away.
Lin Xun did not know it yet, but the power of the Heavenly Son had awakened for the first time.
As the night fell over the Lin Family courtyard, silence hung heavy in the air, broken only by the trembling breaths of those who had witnessed the impossible.
And Lin Xun, staring at his hands, felt both fear and determination take root within his heart.