Behind Father Ji stood a middle-aged man who bore a slight semblance to him. It was Ji Liangdong, Ji Mo's second uncle. Standing beside Ji Liangdong was a young man who was around 1.8 meters tall with a valiant demeanor, and slightly resembled Ji Shan. He had a slight coldness in his eyes.
His name was Ji Chun and he was Ji Shan's older brother. He was born in the same year as Ji Mo, but in a later month which made him Ji Mo's younger cousin brother. Unlike Ji Shan, Ji Chun was not sent to Tianyuan Academy for studying. Instead, he cultivated within the clan and his cultivation base was not weak. He was a level higher than Ji Shan and was around the seventh-tier of the Body Tempering Arts.
Besides that, there were many others in the hall although they were all unimportant relatives who previously would not have shown up together at the Ji residence. However, all of them were present that day for a reason, but it was definitely not to welcome Ji Mo because they did not know about his return.
The only explanation was that Ji Lin'er had previously sent a message about her return. With Ji Lin'er's identity as the inner disciple of Tiandi Sword Cave, the relatives of the clan would naturally want to visit her. After all, being a cultivator was deemed to be a level above others, and in the eyes of an ordinary person, they were immortals who no one would dare to disrespect.
Once Ji Lin'er walked in the door, all their gazes were cast on her in unison. She was like the daughter that everybody loved and was proud of, radiating light all the time as though she was a dazzling star.
In comparison, standing beside Ji Lin'er, no one bothered about Ji Mo. At that moment, he kept his aura withdrawn and was no different than an ordinary person. That naturally did not attract any attention. Moreover, Ji Lin'er was standing beside him, so the difference was just too vast.
'F*ck! Coming home this time was a mistake. I didn't get the correct timing. How am I always being ignored, they really don't see me?" Ji Mo thought disgruntledly.
"Lin'er, you're home," Father Ji greeted Ji Lin'er with a warm smile in his eyes.
"Hmm, Father, I've really missed you after not seeing you for so many years. Today's return was because I got 2 months of leave specially approved." Ji Lin'er smiled.
"2 months? Well, that's good. Then, stay at home and accompany your mother," Father Ji replied with a warm smile.
Until then only did Father Ji's eyes turn to Ji Mo, and there was a slight change in his expression. He said, "Little Mo, you're home too. Why didn't you notify the family earlier?"
In between his words, Father Ji looked at Ji Mo, but his glance was totally different from the way he looked at Ji Lin'er. When it came to Ji Mo, his eyes contained an obvious flicker of pity and annoyance or even a kind of displeasure. Although he disguised it very well, Ji Mo could tell from his expression.
JI Mo's heart was moved. Beneath his father's gaze, he could more or less read them. He knew that his father did not like him, so he said, "I missed home, so I came back." After saying that, he turned and looked elsewhere.
Mother Ji, Shen Shuyi, sighed and bowed her head in deep thought.
Until that moment, many people focused their gaze on Ji Mo. His relatives looked at Ji Mo differently from the respectable looks that Ji Lin'er received. Everyone's eyes held a trace of indifference. In the Ji family, Ji Mo's father was the leader and held the most influence. Among his three children, his eldest son, Ji Liao, and Ji Lin'er were high-level cultivators and disciples of decent sects.
Only Ji Mo did not have talent in cultivating. At least, in their opinion, he was unwilling to cultivate because he was not cut out for it. Compared to his genius siblings, it was normal for Ji Mo to be a wallflower since he was young.
Facing their cold gazes, Ji Mo only smiled and did not speak as though he had a good temperament.
However, at that instant, he realized that his second uncle Ji Liangdong and Ji Chun looked at him coldly, especially the latter whose gaze was dark and terrifying.
Ji Mo chuckled in his heart and guessed that the incident whereby he had beaten Ji Shan up had already been reported to his clan. Otherwise, Second Uncle and Ji Chun would not be looking at him that way.
Father Ji shifted his gaze away from Ji Mo and looked towards Ji Lin'er, then he said, "Lin'er, show me your cultivation base now."
"Sure!" Ji Lin'er quickly agreed. She seemed to understand Father Ji's meaning. She immediately let out a shout and violent purple True Qi erupted from her curvaceous body. The massive True Qi was more powerful than usual, causing the atmosphere in the entire main hall to be soaked in solemnity.
Ji Lin'er's clothes fluttered as her head of black hair ruffled. The purple True Qi filled her outer body and turned into sword shadows. Beneath Ji Lin'er's feet were a mass of purple True Qi supporting her body as she ascended and suspended in mid-air.
"Seventh-tier Qi Plundering Boundary!" Father Ji's eyes revealed a shock.
Tss!
Right after that, the hiss of someone drawing a cold breath could be heard.
Even Mother Ji, Shen Shuyi, was also surprised and she looked at her daughter dumbfoundedly. Ji Lin'er's cultivation base had broken through to the seventh tier of the Qi Plundering Boundary. On the cultivation path of attainment, she had already surpassed Father Ji and everyone else in the Ji family.
More importantly, Ji Lin'er was only 18 years old. Even based on
Daughter of heavenly pride!
Describing Ji Lin'er with those four words were not an exaggeration.
"Good, my good daughter, you can disperse your energy." Father Ji laughed out loud and looked around proudly. The triumphant look in his eyes was unabashed.
With a daughter like that, if he were dreaming, he would wake up laughing.
Ji Mo was shocked as well. He never thought that his own sister would already be a seventh-tier Qi Plundering Boundary master. Her talent was indeed terrifying and was way beyond his. Looking at Father Ji's expression again made Ji Mo sigh. Father Ji would never look at him in that same way.
Ji Lin'er dispersed her energy and stood aside as everyone's gaze was focused on the daughter of heavenly pride. The relatives that were present looked at Ji Lin'er, full of intention to suck up to her while they could not care less about Ji Mo.
"Little Mo, what about you?" Finally, Father Ji's eyes turned to Ji Mo and it seemed like he wanted to test his son's cultivation base.
Ji Mo smiled faintly and said, "I'll disappoint you. I'm not like Second Sister."
After saying that, Ji Mo looked up. Both father and son were gazing at each other with no way of closing the gap between them. Meeting Father Ji's indifferent gaze, Ji Mo's eyes turned cold and he did not smile.
"Since you know that, why don't you work harder!?" Father Ji's voice became stern as he did not seem pleased with Ji Mo's attitude.
"Alright, alright. Can't the both of you talk nicely for once?" Shen Shuyi quickly advised because she was afraid that Ji Mo would quarrel with his father and the relatives would turn the whole ordeal into a joke.
At that point, Ji Chun, who was standing nearby, revealed a smidge of chill at the corner of his mouth. "Ji Mo, did you come home this time because you were expelled by Tianyuan Academy?"
"Nope," Ji Mo replied nonchalantly.
Ji Chun's eyelid twitched and he smiled with ill intentions. "A few days ago, someone from the Du family sent a marriage withdrawal letter to cancel the marriage between you and Du Jia. You and Du Jia had a marriage agreement since young, and the Du family's withdrawal from the marriage has brought shame to our clan. Ji Mo, what have you done in Tianyuan Academy that made Du Jia withdraw from the marriage?"