Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
For Jiang He, the incident with Wang Shaoyu was merely a pinch of spice in his trip to Jiangnan.
Waving and gesturing for the frightfully kneeling Wang Shaoyu to make himself scarce, Jiang He then returned to his room.
“What’s going on?”
Qin Fan frowned at Wang Gang, who wiped the sweat over his brow and felt a dryness in his throat. He spoke a little hoarsely, “I’ll explain later Chief Qin.”
After that, he went outside to handle the problem there.
As for his son…
Needless to say, he would be given some affection of the stick.
As for his classmates…
“Take Zhou Yu to the hospital. Mister Jiang was holding back so he was not too hurt—I’ll come up with something to help him recover.”
Nonetheless, having caused such a major commotion that startled both the hotel’s management and its staff, Wang Gang had to negotiate and pay for damages.
Still, he certainly had things going for him since he could hold the position of Martial Arts Department (MAD) intelligence chief in Jiangnan city, and soon settled everything.
After that, Wang Gang gritted his teeth as he returned nervously to Jiang He’s room, bowing with a fist-palm salute as he spoke respectfully to Jiang He, “Mister Jiang, allow me to apologize in my son’s stead for his misdeeds.”
Waving him off, Jiang He said, “It’s fine. He offended me at first and I taught him a lesson in return, so we’re even. However, as a former classmate of your son, allow me some friendly advice…”
“Your son’s attitude needs changing. If nothing was done and he provoked someone else, he would not merely walk away with a beating.”
Wang Gang nodded, afraid to say much. “You are right, Mister Jiang. I’m grounding him and have him reflect on his wrongs when I get home.”
Inside, he was gritting his teeth in sheer frustration!
“When I get back, I’m breaking that insolent boy’s legs!”
***
“Mister Jiang, Elder Lin, Chief Lin.”
“I have some work back at MAD, so I’ll be leaving first. Allow me to treat everyone to dinner later—I’ll be your host for tonight.” Soon, Qin Fan left as well, leaving Jiang He, Long Mountain Lin, and Lin Tianzheng in Jiang He’s room.
After some idle conversation, Jiang He asked about the auction. Long Mountain Lin himself had been in a coma for almost three months and only woke up today, which was why he naturally was not aware about the auction.
Lin Tianzheng then began, “About that, Mister Jiang…”
“Oh?”
Just as Lin Tianzheng was about to speak, Long Mountain Lin snorted at a corner and bark, “Insolent. I’m brothers with Jiang He now, and you’re still calling him Mister Jiang?”
Lin Tiangzheng blushed and stammered for a long time, before quietly saying, “Uncle Jiang…”
“What’s a big man like you acting coy for? Honestly, what have I always taught you?”
Long Mountain Lin appeared utterly disappointed as he rebuked his son. “Speak louder.”
1
One must say that the old man had quite a quirky temper.
After he regained consciousness, he seemed to have become familiar with Jiang He at first sight, addressing him first as ‘Mister Jiang’ and now ‘Brother Jiang He’.
In turn, Jiang He addressed him as ‘Old Bro Lin’.
With that, it seems appropriate for Lin Tianzheng to address him as ‘Uncle Jiang’.
Be that as it may, having a man nearing fifty calling him ‘uncle’ weirded out Jiang He no matter how he thought about it, which was why he quickly said, “Please, Chief Lin. You are my senior in the martial world, and by reason I should call you uncle instead.”
Lin Tianzheng appeared pleased and politely replied, “You flatter me.”
And yet, Long Mountain Lin coolly said, “Jiang He addresses me as brother—are you brave enough to answer when he calls you uncle? Should I call you dad too?”
Lin Tianzheng looked like he was forced to eat a fly.
1
Still, he understood the old man’s temper, which was why he said compliantly, “Don’t say that, dad. You’ve bonded well with Uncle Jiang on your first meeting and are equals, so I ought to call Uncle Jiang uncle at least once.”
Jiang He, unable to decide if he should laugh or cry, answered, “Let’s just go with suit ourselves, Old Bro Lin. The people of my village always do that.”
As he spoke, he turned towards Lin Tianzheng and asked, “What do you think, Bro Lin?”
Still, Jiang He felt that the title was weird right after he said it. Was he not degrading Long Mountain Lin’s seniority down to his son’s level?
Hence, he quickly said, “Scratch that, it’s alright for you to call me uncle. Age does not matter when it comes to seniority, and there old white-haired folks who call youths uncles back in my village.”
Lin Tianzheng: “…”
Hence, he skipped that part of their conversation and continued about the auction, saying, “The auction this time is organized jointly by the three great clans: the Murong clan, the Long clan, and the Wei clan. This is considered the first public auction of various martial arts resources following the Revival of Qi.”
Long Mountain Lin then added, “The Revival of Qi spreads martial arts far and wide and brought forth the awakening of superpowers. With the government’s promotion of martial arts nationwide, martial art resources are fated to be a giant cake. With the long history of the Murong clan, the Long clan, and the Wei clan, they do have the strength to hold such an auction.”
Beside them, Jiang He was utterly bemused.
Murong clan, the Long clan, the Wei clan, and whatnot…
To tell the truth, he had not heard of any of them. Having only become a martial artist for a month and several days, how was he supposed to know about these martial arts clan with centuries worth of history?
Either way, they sounded awesome—it was said that everyone in those clans practiced martial arts, and had rank-eights or even rank-nines presiding over them. Their centuries worth of legacy also helped them accumulate endless wealth, and they were definitely aristocrats.
According to Long Mountain Lin, there were more of such clans across the nation with varying strength, with some having ancestors reaching divine-tier or the void-tier.
“By the way, I heard that the three clans had even placed a Spatial Ring and a Sword Will Barrenwort on auction to increase the attraction and popularity of their event.”
Lin Tianzheng suddenly added then.
Spatial Ring?
Jiang He’s eyes twitched, whereas Long Mountain Lin abruptly rose to his feet and murmured in disbelief, “The Sword Will Barrenwort?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ve confirmed that the Sword Will Barrenwort is no ruse—the three great clans are investing their blood and sweat in this. Dad, you are a sword will elite who holds profound understanding towards it, so there is hope for you to gain perfect sword will if we could get the Sword Will Barrenwort.”
Lin Tianzheng’s eyes were shining as he quietly said, “And with perfect sword will, you would at least have a greater hope of reaching divine-tier!”
Long Mountain Lin paced around, before he gritted his teeth and said, “That settles it—we will compete for the Sword Will Barrenwort. There are not many sword wielders at rank-eight or nine, and there’s hope if we tried to fight for it.”
Offering Jiang He a fist-palm salute, he said, “Brother Jiang He, I shall be off to gather the funds. Let’s meet again at tomorrow’s auction.”
Once father and son hurried away, Jiang He slapped himself on the forehead when they were gone. “Damn it, me and my memory… Elder Lin is an elite who has grasped the Boundary of Wills too, and I should have asked him about thunder will…”
And it was awkward chasing them down now.
Jiang He thought about it…
“Whatever, I’ll ask about it at tomorrow’s auction… Now that I have fourteen Orirocks, all that’s left are two portions of rank-nine Feral flesh and my farm could level up.”
He then checked the time.
Somehow, it was already four in the afternoon. He took out and finished lunchbox, passing it as dinner before he left the hotel and climbed into his sports car.
“Destination, Chongming Island!”
Jiang He issued a voice command inside.
Since the auction would be held tomorrow morning anyway and it was dull sleeping in the hotel, he could use this time to slay that Black King Drake or whatnot on Chongming Island, gathering all the materials he needed to level up his farm on one go.
Unbeknownst to Jiang He, however, just as he left the Jiangnan city base and headed towards Chongming Island…
***
Jiangnan city’s MAD, around six in the evening.
Wang Gang handed a report to Qin Fan.
There was a somber look on the former’s face as he said quietly, “Chief Qin. It appears that someone has captured images of thunderclouds gathering above Chongming Island, a weird phenomenon that hangs up in the air… That vermin might have ascended!”
Qin Fan’s face dropped and he quickly said, “Contact HQ right away and contact General Zhao, who’s in charge of the garrison in our district. Once the Black King Drake metamorphizes into a King Feral, it would cause unrest amongst the Feral hordes surrounding Chongming Island, and it could cause a Feral swarming!”
