The Love of Lin Kun

During their flight, Sun Yin had her arms around Lu Bang's neck while his arms were under her back and knees. Despite the fact that Lu Bang lost his golden core, he could still balance on a flying sword with utmost stability. With his eyes up front, he missed the gaze the maiden was giving him.

However, her silence was enough to attract his attention. He brought his gaze down to her face. "What?"

"You're so handsome when you wear your serious face." Sun Yin almost whistled in awe as if teasing him without her face showing it. "I've always wondered how Lin Kun sees you truly…"

"If you say another word against my brother, I will drop you." Lu Bang glared at her momentarily before ignoring her.

"Aren't you curious? His spirit gets lifted by your presence a lot. In the toughest times, he looks your way before making decisions." Sun Yin giggled, batting teasing eyelashes towards him. "I can't help but feel envious and mushy on the inside!"

Lu Bang only hummed. His calm answer only proved to Sun Yin that he was aware of Lin Kun's actions. However, he refused to discuss it with her. The woman was too interested to let it go.

Lin Kun was the descendant of the manliest of the cultivators Sun Yin had ever known, Lin Guang. He was brusque, loud, and beefy. He normally used his terrifying build to establish dominance. He loved women and the idea of having women, but he only had one wife. Unfortunately, he was among the men who gave support to the first Chief Cultivator Xu Fanren in tapping into the demonic power. Lin Guwei, who was a slave to his father's ideas, had seemed to follow his father's ways: associating himself with women yet marrying only one of them.

With a history of machismo, it bewildered Sun Yin that Lin Kun had the same blood as they did. Lin Kun who was soft and kind despite the amount of power he had. He could be the most eligible man in Huayuan through his skills and authority, and yet he seemed to shy away from the social spotlight. There were many ladies in the sect temple, who looked up to him; but he drew a rather sturdy line against them.

The way he regarded his half-brother by blood, Lu Bang, also played a part in Sun Yin's confusion. He seemed to adore the man in a more intimate way than he should as a brother. He was even wary of having Lu Bang around women who were in the age to marry. He would not say anything if Lu Bang was being doted by the grandmas helping out in the temple though.

Sun Yin could only annoy Lu Bang to turn it into a conversation. "Are you not talking because you refuse to make it apparent? That despite the glory that showered Lin Kun, he could still be destroyed by one little truth that—"

"Of course, he loves me," Lu Bang spoke in a rather calm manner, giving up on his silence. "I raised him." He heard Sun Yin twitch in confusion. "He was born twelve years after the Fall—and around the time that our father was obsessed with raising the Lin sect back to its glory. In a narrow-sighted view, he was the reason why Madam Gao died. Father refused to see him more than necessary, leaving him with me.

"Unlike Father, I took care of him even though I was drowning in duties in the sect. There were times that I walk around the training ground with a little kid in my arms." He huffed, trying to vanish the image from his head. "My mother helped me with the basics and even played wet nurse for him. However, she stepped back from further responsibilities. She was scared that her dirty hands would taint Lin Kun the same way they tainted me. In the end, all he had growing up… was me."

Lu Bang looked down at Sun Yin's stupefied face. "Regard him as a child who refused to have his father remarried to anyone."

The maiden then hummed and shrugged her shoulders. "That's… pretty anti-climatic. I was hoping for a flavorful confession." She then remembered something, causing her to grin foxily at the placid brother she tried so hard to tease. "By the way… remarried? Did you have a wife before? At your age, you should at least be married once."

"I'm too busy playing father to a child. I don't have time for women." He answered shortly. Even though Lu Bang looked like he was around his late twenties, he was almost sixty.

"So you've never shared the bed with a woman before? Oh, my, how terrible!" Sun Yin laughed out under her sleeve. "I don't know how you keep your appearance young, but you should be able to get any girl you'd like with that"—she patted his face—"handsome face!"

"Quit it. Who would want to sleep with a man with no dignity?" Lu Bang shook the hand off of his face.

Sun Yin only brought her hand back to his neck. She stared at him again, this time, in silence. Her heavy stare was enough to gravitate Lu Bang's gaze back to her face. A smile curled her lips, but it was voided of any mischief. "Lu Bang," she called his name, "do you want to grow your golden core back?"

Instead of being taken aback, Lu Bang removed his gaze off of Sun Yin again. He kept his silence, but his lips quivered as if he wanted to say something. There must be something that was stopping him from talking. The woman only watched and waited for him to respond.

Her eyes then strayed to the men before them. The disciples of the Heici Xu sect seemed to pay attention to their path more than to their formation. They did not even dare guard the back in case Lu Bang turned his sword away. However, Sun Yin knew that they would just make the Huayuan Lin sect pay for further 'damages' if Sun Yin did run.

'How arrogant.' The maiden scoffed inside her mind.

Among all the sects in the Society, the Heici Xu sect was supposed to be the most admirable and respected. That was why the Chief Cultivator was hailed from their sect. That was why the hegemony among the sects belonged to them. Xu Fanren was not oppressive in any way, but he was ambitious. He would try all his options and would only resort to violence and brutality if the need arose. If it was not for Xu Daopian—his daughter, he would not have killed the entire Sun sect.

Even though those people were not human to Sun Yin's eyes, they were still objects of respect. Arrogance should never have been connected to the five major sects to begin with; however, with Xu Niu commanding the Heici Xu sect, that ideal ceased to be true. Sun Yin could only imagine how the other sects could have been moved to a change since that day. If she was lucky, she could still depend on Lin Kun to keep the tradition going.

With Lin Kun's name crossing her mind again, she looked up to see if Lu Bang was ready to answer. However, he was gazing at something else rather than the front side. His eyes were looking past her knees, probably at the forestry in the horizon.

"You know if you can feel such things from a distance, you could still be saved from being 'a man without dignity.' It's not like you lost your core from stupid nonsense."

"You've been gone for fifty years. What do you know of what's nonsensical and what's not these days?" The man tore his gaze from the forestry and brought it back to her face. "You have no idea what they said after I lost my core."

"Whichever it was, it's a bit of heroism." Sun Yin waved her hand to dismiss his bad mood.

Lu Bang only shook his head. Sun Yin stared at him again. Why would he deny the heroic nature of his decision? He did sacrifice his own golden core so Lin Kun did not have to lose his, right? Was there something more than meets the eye? Was he more important than Lin Kun to the Huayuan Lin sect? Was he not just a prostitute's son to their eyes?

Perhaps, he was more important than his brother to his father's eyes? But he loved Madam Gao more than Lu Qin, did he not?

The Bride's mind was filled with questions she could not answer on her own. Back then, she had no need to think about everyone else but the ones she needed to kill. Investigation and uncovering truths were barely her specialty. Then again, if she wanted to keep on staying with Lu Bang, she should at least make an effort to understand his case.