Is It Reasonable for Me to Start a Sect at 12?

Inside and outside the courtyard, everyone stared at Liu Laoda, who remained motionless, confused by what was happening. Lin Xiao, however, simply smiled and addressed the crowd, "Thank you, everyone, for helping Aunt Liu and her family."

He then pointed at Liu Laoda, who stood frozen in the rain, and said bluntly, "This Liu Laoda, as Yunan's uncle, has never offered any assistance to his struggling nephew and his family. Instead, for over ten years, he has bullied and oppressed them. And now, he even has the audacity to plan on selling his own niece into slavery! Do you think a man like this will easily change his ways?"

The young men in the village, full of righteous anger, immediately echoed his words.

"Definitely not!"

"Exactly! The entire Liu family behaves like this! Just the other day, he secretly dug into my water channel to steal water!"

Encouraged by their agreement, Lin Xiao continued with a smile, "Even if we keep an eye on him today, we can't be here all the time to stop him. Besides... I saw the way he looked at Chief Hu earlier—mark my words, this man is a vengeful one. If he finds an opportunity when no one is looking, who's to say he won't attack Chief Hu?"

Hearing this, the young men from the Hu family became even more anxious.

"The young man is right! We can't let Liu Laoda stay!"

"Exactly! Who knows what he might do to our chief in the future!"

However, a few members of the Liu family quietly muttered, "If we kick them out of the village, the neighboring towns, who don't know the full story, might say we're heartless, driving out an entire family with no means of survival."

Lin Xiao chuckled, "Friends, I have a solution that will address everyone's concerns. We don't need to expel Liu Laoda from the village, and his family can stay without causing further trouble."

Under the eaves, Chief Hu urged, "Lin boy, if you have a good idea, stop beating around the bush and just tell us."

Lin Xiao stopped stalling and pulled out a small, finely crafted dagger from his robes. He had just purchased it with a spirit stone from the system's store while standing outside the courtyard. It was a first-grade magical weapon.

The same spell that had frozen Liu Laoda in place was something Lin Xiao had quickly created using the system's synthesis function—a spell called Binding Spell. Since his private storage was out of ink, he had been forced to spend another spirit stone to buy a hundred units of soot ink from the store.

Everyone watched as Lin Xiao approached Liu Laoda, dagger in hand, walking through the rain.

Someone in the crowd gasped, "Is he... going to kill Liu Laoda?"

Seeing Lin Xiao advance with the dagger, Liu Laoda, too, believed that his life was about to end. His eyes filled with terror, pleading for mercy, though he could neither speak nor move.

But before anyone could respond to the concerned villager, Lin Xiao swiftly swung the dagger at Liu Laoda's hands, severing his tendons cleanly.

And it didn't stop there. Lin Xiao quickly followed up with a slash to Liu Laoda's legs, cutting through his leg tendons as well.

The searing pain etched a look of agony onto Liu Laoda's face, but he couldn't even scream.

Though the dagger was merely a low-grade magical weapon, it was still a magical weapon. Unless a powerful cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage helped Liu Laoda, his tendons would never heal.

The village elders watched in shock as the twelve-year-old boy calmly disabled Liu Laoda, rendering him helpless.

It was only then that the villagers realized Liu Laoda's eerie stillness had been caused by Lin Xiao.

Now that Liu Laoda's ability to cause harm had been neutralized, Lin Xiao stopped using the Binding Spell, freeing him.

Freed from the spell, Liu Laoda collapsed into the mud with a dull thud.

"Ah—!" He curled up on the ground, clutching his maimed limbs, moaning in agony.

Ignoring his cries, Lin Xiao turned to the young men standing outside the courtyard and cupped his hands in thanks. "Could a few of you help carry Liu Laoda back to his house?"

Though the villagers were still unsettled by everything that had transpired, some brave and kind-hearted young men stepped forward, saying, "We'll take him! Let's bring this scoundrel back to his family and see if they dare to cause more trouble!"

With that, Liu Laoda was roughly lifted by the young villagers and carried back to his home.

As the situation resolved, the village elders thanked Lin Xiao and prepared to leave, taking their families with them. Before leaving, the village chief, Old Master Du, gave Lin Xiao a few final words of advice, "Take good care of them. If Yunan's injuries are serious, come to my house. We can use my ox cart to get him to the doctor in town."

With that, Chief Du left, following the other elders as his son helped him along.

None of the elders asked Lin Xiao about how he had immobilized Liu Laoda. Instead, as they walked home, they all gave their families strict instructions not to discuss this matter with outsiders.

As they made their way back, Du Changsheng, the village chief's son, asked, "Father, do you think that Lin boy... could he be possessed by some mountain spirit? I've heard that the Lin boys have been sneaking off to the mountains every morning."

Chief Du shook his head and replied, "If he were possessed by a spirit, Liu Laoda would be dead already, and we'd be talking to the Yama King instead."

Du Changsheng was puzzled. "But... ordinary people don't have that kind of power, to paralyze someone like Liu Laoda. Did you see the fear in his eyes? In all the years he's been a bully, I've never seen him look like that."

Chief Du spoke slowly, almost to himself, "When I was younger, I went to the city with Old Hu and a few others. We happened to arrive during a big event... Son, there are real immortals in this world."

"Immortals?" Du Changsheng was stunned by his father's words, momentarily at a loss for what to say.

Even his wife, who had been quietly carrying the torch, looked up at her father-in-law in surprise.