The patriarchs of the five big families already had a rough idea of Xie Feng's temperament after what happened during Yao Mei's birthday banquet; the same was true for the younger ones since, cases like Mu Yin who had seen how Xie Feng had tolerated Lin Tian's attempt to humiliate him by letting him go with just a couple of practical jokes, also had some understanding of him.
With the power that Xie Feng possessed, he could easily end Lin Tian's life without worrying about anything, and even if he wanted to wipe out the entire Lin family it was only a matter of time before he wiped them out of existence. But Xie Feng did nothing of the sort and instead simply humiliated Lin Tian. At first, he let him off with just a "joke" and due to Lin Tian's extreme insistence to look for trouble with him, Xie Feng simply beat him up in front of everyone.