From a chaotic world of folk customs to becoming a god through extreme methods.

Push open the wooden door to the inner room.

A bitter medicinal aroma, mixed with the stench of blood, wafted towards me.

Lin Yuan stepped inside.

Inside the room, on the bed, the eldest brother lay half-reclined, his face pale and his chest wrapped in bandages.

At the bedside, an old doctor was tidying up his medicine box.

Uncle Fu and two maids were cleaning up the blood from Lin Che's wounds and taking good care of him.

Lin Yuan walked straight to the bedside and asked the old doctor.

"Doctor, how is my older brother?"

The old doctor turned around and began to speak.

"Young Master Lin is very lucky. His internal organs were shaken, but no vital organs were damaged, so his life is not in danger."

"only……"

"Just what?" Lin Yuan pressed.

The old doctor continued.

"However, since it takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, Young Master Lin will need to stay in bed for at least half a month before he can get up."

"Take your medication on time during this period, and avoid overexertion and getting angry, otherwise you may develop a chronic illness that is difficult to cure in the future."

I'll be bedridden for half a month.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan's heart sank.

The old doctor gave a few more instructions, then took his medicine box and left.

The maid took the water downstairs, while Uncle Fu went to see the guests off, leaving only Lin Yuan and Lin Che in the room.

The candlelight flickered, and the shadows swayed.

Lin Yuan sat down by the bed, looking at his elder brother with a furrowed brow.

The older brother opened his eyes, saw that it was his younger brother, and, despite the excruciating pain, smiled gently.

"It's okay, you won't die."

"Brother," Lin Yuan asked in a deep voice, "what exactly happened?"

Lin Che remained silent, clearly not wanting to say anything more.

But Lin Yuan persisted, his expression serious.

"Brother, even if you don't tell me, I'll investigate myself."

Now, my parents have gone to the prefectural city, the family business has suffered losses, and my eldest brother is seriously injured and bedridden.

Now that I'm the only one left in the family who can take charge, I absolutely cannot stay in the dark any longer.

Looking at Lin Yuan, Lin Che realized for the first time that his younger brother had changed so much.

He remained silent for a moment, then slowly began to speak.

"Today, the town council held a meeting."

"The village head led the way, and the Zhou family, the Zhang family, the He family, the Wang family... and even the county clerk, Sun, all came."

Lin Yuan listened quietly and then asked a question.

"What are they going to do?"

Lin Che's gaze gradually turned cold.

"They said they wanted to erect a statue for that water demon."

"Erect a statue for the water demon?" Lin Yuan frowned.

"Yes." Lin Che nodded slightly. "But strictly speaking, it's to erect a statue for the largest water demon among them."

"This monster is called the Giant Turtle."

"Two months ago, He came from the east of the Huai River, accompanied by many demons and water monsters. He wreaked havoc along the way, devouring human sacrifices, stirring up storms, and capsizing ships."

"Until we arrived at our Chahe Town."

"Originally, he would have simply consumed a few human sacrifices and then continued his wanderings."

"But the village head and the others heard from the temple keeper that the giant turtle had attained spiritual power and was connected to the divine."

"If worshipped according to the methods of the gods and revered as the guardian deity of the Chahe Town Water Palace, he will protect the land and bring blessings."

Lin Yuan frowned even more deeply.

"What kind of righteous god eats human sacrifices?"

"Is that so?" Lin Che coughed twice, his tone tinged with anger. "Does a monster even deserve to be called a god?"

"They said human sacrifice was useful, so they made it a rule."

"Prepare for a small festival in March and a large festival every year."

"Use young boys and girls, selecting them from house to house."

Lin Yuan was taken aback and exclaimed in surprise.

"Are they crazy?"

Lin Che shook his head, took a breath, and continued to explain.

"They're not crazy, they're just... insatiably greedy."

"Originally, this giant turtle would pass by, occasionally come ashore to catch a few people to eat, and then leave once it was full, without staying for long."

"But they want to keep this demon, worship it as a god, and use it as their protector."

"To keep evil spirits away and to deter bandits from causing trouble."

"Of course, this is only the village head and his side of the story. What other schemes they may have is still unknown."

After hearing these words, Lin Yuan gradually sorted out his thoughts.

This group of people wanted to use the lives of all the townspeople to raise a demon.

And they made this demon work for them.

Lin Yuan then looked at his elder brother and asked.

"Did you object?"

"Of course." Lin Che gritted his teeth. "They've had this idea for a long time, and the village head and others have also talked to my parents about it."

"However, our family firmly refused."

"Worshiping demons and evil spirits? Ha, it's not as easy as they think."

"If something goes wrong, our entire Chahe Town will be buried with us."

"Therefore, my parents rushed to the prefectural city, hoping to find a master to eliminate this calamity."

After the eldest brother finished speaking...

The questions about why his parents went to the prefectural city and why the Lin family has been suppressed recently have all been answered.

Lin Yuan felt a heavy weight in his heart.

The sense of security I had just felt from practicing swordsmanship vanished immediately.

In his memories of playing games in his previous life, he still remembered a lot of information about various fairies, monsters, and bosses.

The giant softshell turtle is one of them.

Its rank is at the initial stage of the first tier. It possesses numerous water-related supernatural abilities, capable of stirring up storms and summoning rain, making it extremely terrifying.

This rank represents the overall combat power classification across all systems, a simple comparison of combat power for each cultivation path.

Level 1, Beginner.

It corresponds to the Qi Condensation Realm in the martial arts system.

This is two major realms higher than Lin Yuan's current Body Tempering Realm.

This is a huge creature; in the early stages of the game, it would definitely dominate the area.

With my current abilities, there's simply no way to solve this.

Lin Yuan's sense of irritation grew stronger.

He looked at his older brother and continued to ask.

"And then, after you objected, what happened?"

The eldest brother closed his eyes.

"At the time, besides me, the Chen family and the Wang merchant also felt that this matter was inappropriate."

"After the meeting, the three of us planned to discuss this matter in detail at a restaurant."

"But as soon as I arrived at the restaurant and passed through the alley, someone attacked me from behind."

Lin Yuan's eyes turned completely cold.

"Did you see who it was?"

Lin Che shook his head and sighed.

"It's too dark. All I can confirm is that he's a masked man. His martial arts level isn't high; at most, he's at the Body Tempering stage. But he's extremely ruthless and skilled in palm techniques."

"He knocked me to the ground with one blow and then uttered some harsh words."

"This is just a warning; next time it won't just be a few broken ribs."

Lin Yuan remained silent.

Lin Che didn't need to say anything more; he knew it was the families who supported erecting the statues who had sent people to do it.

They are becoming increasingly ruthless towards the Lin family.

This is just a warning; next time, it could be fatal.

He cannot sit idly by and wait for his death.

"Big brother, you should rest and recover well."

Lin Yuan stood up and tucked the blanket around Lin Che.

"I'll take care of things at home."

Lin Che was taken aback. He wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words back.

He felt that the younger brother in front of him was really different from before.

"Little brother..."

"Go to sleep."

Lin Yuan walked out of the room and instructed the maid to go in and take care of him.

It was already dark.

The moonlight was cold and clear, and the night wind was sharp as a knife.

He stood in the corridor, looking at the clouds obscuring the moon, his face expressionless.

But in his heart, he had already made up his mind to kill.

Those people were no longer concerned about anything else. Although it was unclear what they were planning to do with the giant turtle, they had already begun to endanger their families.

Today he's the eldest brother, tomorrow he might be Wan'er, Uncle Fu, or himself.

If they don't fight back, the Lin family will only be driven to a dead end step by step.