Chapter 23 Stay Low-Key as a Person

Night fell quickly. Lin Xing and the others returned to the city gate.

As they were about to enter the city, Lin Xing turned his head and swept a glance behind him, a sharp glint flashing and vanishing in his eyes. He then smiled mysteriously and turned back, though no one beside him noticed.

The trackers following Lin Xing, in the instant Lin Xing turned his head, felt as if a tangible gaze had swept over them. A chill instantly ran down their spines, startling them greatly. They quickly grew alert and scanned their surroundings carefully, fearing that there might be an expert protecting Lin Xing nearby. They worried that their surveillance had been discovered by that expert, and this might be a warning to them!

They cautiously observed the surroundings and found nothing unusual. But then they thought, how could people like them detect an expert capable of emitting such a gaze? In front of such an expert, they were probably as easy to crush as ants!

The expert probably just looked down on them! Such an expert naturally wouldn't bother with the likes of them. Experts are proud and have their dignity. It would be beneath an expert's standing to deal with such minor characters! Moreover, if an expert were to deal with them, they probably wouldn’t even have time to react before being eliminated. There was no reason for the expert to target them; they were only following Lin Xing and hadn’t done anything. Thinking this, the trackers' anxious hearts couldn't help but relax.

They didn't notice Lin Xing's abnormality or his mysterious smile. Otherwise, they might have had many more speculations.

These past few days, Lin Xing had been troubled. When he was in the Prime Minister's manor, it was fine, but as soon as he left the gate, a large group of people would start following him. These people, who thought they were well-hidden, would track him whenever he went out, never realizing they had long been exposed in Lin Xing’s sight. Moreover, among these trackers were experts at the level of Great Sword Masters. And since their masters had sent them, they must have special skills in surveillance.

But while these trackers could evade the eyes of Lin Da and others, they couldn’t escape Lin Xing’s spiritual sense. With Lin Xing's extraordinary perception, he naturally discovered them easily.

However, Lin Xing didn’t want to expose himself too early. Everyone understands the principle that the nail that sticks out gets hammered. Lin Xing didn’t want to reveal his strength to others prematurely. If he didn’t have hidden strength and exposed everything to his enemies—even if they weren’t enemies now, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t become so—then the enemy would know him inside out, and he’d be waiting for death.

Lin Xing wanted to hide his strength and bide his time. By playing weak, as long as he hid his capabilities deeply, the enemy wouldn’t dare act rashly without understanding him. Even if an enemy did attack, they would suffer for underestimating him. Heh…

Hiding his strength, conversely, actually made him safer and also allowed him to carry out schemes to trick others. Only a fool would think of relying entirely on their own strength to fight head-on. Not only would that expose oneself, but it would also be—exhausting! And it might not necessarily defeat the enemy. If it ended in mutual destruction or getting himself killed, then his promising life would come to an end.

But by tricking others, he wouldn’t need to waste so much effort. Perhaps in that instant, he could eliminate a powerful enemy!! And it would be done easily, without wasting extra energy. After all, wasted strength takes time to recover. Instead of using that time to recover, it would be better to use it for cultivation.

So Lin Xing’s current approach was—to keep a low profile!

But his low-profile life had already become anything but low-profile; on the contrary, it had become high-profile. Lin Xing was helpless; there was nothing he could do. Since he had gone from being low-profile before to high-profile now, he would now make it go from high-profile back to low-profile!

But Lin Xing also understood that this process couldn’t be accomplished overnight. It would take a long time. However, Lin Xing wasn’t afraid. He was only seven years old now; he had plenty of time. If one year wasn’t enough, then two or three years. Eventually, one day, people here would become indifferent to this matter because no one would waste their efforts on someone utterly ordinary.

Although this person had once caused a huge stir, who would believe a child could be clever enough to hide himself so deeply and for so long? But they didn’t know that, including his previous life, Lin Xing was already over twenty years old, so his thinking was naturally mature.

However, the old man in Lin Xing’s family seemed not at all surprised by Lin Xing’s various behaviors. From the beginning until now, teaching Lin Feng and others martial arts, the old man didn’t find it strange either. This reaction, however, made Lin Xing feel strange.

Shouldn’t any ordinary person find Lin Xing’s every move strange? Because Lin Xing was truly peculiar: having strength not inferior to an Advanced Swordsman but without any Battle Qi being produced! He always had strange abilities. Take the Lin Feng brothers, for example. Lin Xing performed Meridian Cleansing for them, something unheard of on the continent; even the oldest histories had never mentioned such a Cultivation Method.

Lin Xing also knew the old man was profound and unfathomable; he might have discovered something. But as for his mother and grandmother, Lin Xing’s strange actions didn’t seem strange in their eyes either. This was also something Lin Xing found extremely odd.

Could it be that they knew about his origins? But that was simply impossible; he had absolutely never revealed his origins. Though Lin Xing felt somewhat strange about this, he didn’t delve deeper. After all, they were his family; he already felt a bit guilty for not being completely honest with them. As for their strangeness, Lin Xing didn’t want to figure everything out now. After all, when the time was right, he would know. They surely didn’t harbor any ill intentions toward him, right?

Lin Xing could guarantee that much; after all, what family elder would harbor ill intentions toward their own descendant?

The old man also talked with Lin Xing.

Now, the old man treated Lin Xing as an adult to interact with.

“Lin Xing, regarding the big stir you caused some time ago, what do you have to say?”

Lin Xing smiled wryly and said, “Old man, I didn’t want to either. Making such a big stir, I’ve already become the focus of attention for some people.”

The old man also nodded. “Continuing like this isn’t good for you or for our family’s development. This way, you and our family will be at the forefront of attention. Every move we make now is being watched by many forces; we can’t keep anything secret.”

Just imagine, what can a family do when it’s constantly watched by countless forces?

Lin Xing nodded. He deeply understood this point, so he shared his thoughts with the old man: “The best method I can think of is to continue keeping a low profile, gradually making myself ordinary again, so that the attention of the major forces shifts away from me!”

The old man looked at Lin Xing with appreciation. “Do you have any plan for that now?”

Lin Xing frowned and said, “I don’t have any feasible plan for the time being, but I think in the future, I won’t do anything beyond what an ordinary child could do.” The old man said, “For now, that’s all we can do.”

They talked for a long time. Finally, when Lin Xing was about to leave and reached the door, he heard the old man say, “Lin Xing, your strength isn’t just what you’ve shown, is it?”

Lin Xing turned his head and looked at the old man’s meaningful gaze, smiled slightly, and nodded.

The old man continued, “You don’t have to say it. You must have your reasons for hiding your strength. I don’t want to force you to reveal it. But this is good too; hiding your strength, hiding yourself, will allow you to live better on this continent!!”

The old man said this to Lin Xing with a smile.

Lin Xing also smiled. He understood that the old man must have discovered he was hiding his strength, but how much he had discovered was unknown.

Lin Xing looked at the old man, bid farewell, and walked out.

Only the old man remained, smiling as he watched Lin Xing’s departing figure, nodding silently.