Lin Jin was obviously happy to see part two of the Beast Energy Formation, but it came a little earlier than expected. Initially, he assumed that he would have to wait until visitor number seven brought him twenty DNA samples of rare beasts when the visitation hall re-opened could he reach fifty rare beasts.
Still, he had nothing to complain about.
Lin Jin briefly read through the newly obtained part two. When he gets some free time, he would get Xiao Huo over and pass on the cultivation technique to his contracted pet beast through their blood pact connection.
With this, Xiao Huo could begin cultivating this second part.
As for the Beast Energy Formation Part Three, Lin Jin noticed that he had to record over a hundred rare beasts. But according to his current rate of progress, that would probably take about several days.
Lin Jin remembered when the visitation hall last opened. Since it was accessible once every seven days, the next opening should be tomorrow night.
To be honest, Lin Jin was looking forward to it.
In the afternoon, Lin Jin rushed over to the Friar Association with plans to research cultivation skills. He ended up running into Lu Yunhe the moment he arrived.
“Brother Lin, I’ve been waiting for you.” Lu Yunhe pulled Lin Jin aside secretively. He clearly had something to say.
“Brother Lin, did you get into a fight with Yang Jie this morning?” Lu Yunhe asked softly.
Huh?
Lin Jin was dumbstruck.
He didn’t remember telling anyone about it so how did Lu Yunhe know about it?
Seeing the surprised look on Lin Jin’s face confirmed Lu Yunhe’s suspicion.
“Brother Lin, how should I put this… While I don’t like Yang Jie that much either, he’s not worth fighting against over a woman.” Lu Yunhe’s next statement only served to further confuse Lin Jin.
“What woman are you talking about?”
Lu Yunhe shot him a ‘stop pretending’ look. “Rumors are all over the place now, saying that you’re challenging Yang Jie for the sake of that Chen Yuanyuan woman. The people here also know about Chen Yuanyuan breaking off her engagement with you because of Yang Jie.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Jin’s expression darkened at once.
“Who started this rumor? It’s utter nonsense!”
At that moment, a few cultivators passed by, gossiping among themselves.
“Have you heard? Appraiser Lin Jin of the Beast Appraisal Association passed the assessment and entered our Friar Association.”
“This isn’t news. That Lin Jin was quite pitiful to have a woman call off her engagement with him. How humiliating. And that woman even did it for Senior Yang Jie! That’s probably why Lin Jin’s deadset on entering the Friar Association, hoping to defeat Senior Yang Jie and reclaim his dignity.”
“Seriously?”
“You’re too slow on the uptake. I even heard that Lin Jin found Senior Yang Jie this morning at the Levitation Stone Tower and both of them already exchanged punches.”
“That Lin Jin is a beast appraiser so how on earth could he match up to Senior Yang Jie?”
“I agree. That Lin Jin might have even been crippled by Yang Jie after that.”
“Oh, but is that Chen Yuanyuan that much of a beauty? To think that Appraiser Lin’s so infatuated with her that he’s willing to risk his life to fight for her…”
Their voices weren’t exactly soft so Lin Jin heard them loud and clear.
‘F*cking hell!’
Lin Jin was practically hissing.
Meanwhile, Yang Jie who was practicing his spirit energy finger heard the rumors as well.
Crack!
A wooden target with the thickness of a human palm ten feet away shattered into pieces by a distant shot.
The disciple who passed on this information held his tongue without daring to speak a word, fearing that he would induce Yang Jie’s wrath by doing so.
“And here I was wondering why that person was deliberately challenging me. So it’s for this reason. The incident this morning must have been pre-planned. But the thing is, I don’t f*cking know any Chen Yuanyuan.”
Yang Jie was annoyed.
Previously, he had been curious about Lin Jin’s motives. But now, the answer was right in front of him.
Up until now, half of his body still felt a little numb but he couldn’t possibly tell anyone about it because it was too embarrassing. Hence, the hatred he felt for Lin Jin grew in his heart.
Other than resentment, there was also fear.
Although he didn’t say it expressly, Yang Jie thought of Lin Jin as a threatening foe.
Due to his high self-esteem, after the clash, Yang Jie had Lin Jin’s background investigated and found out the latter was a Rank 2 beast appraiser. But beast appraisers were different from cultivators. Yang Jie still assumed that he had suffered this morning because of carelessness on his part. If he had been a little more serious, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
“Go and investigate who this Chen Yuanyuan is,” Yang Jie instructed his subordinates.
Soon, he received his answer about Chen Yuanyuan’s identity.
There was also news about Lin Jin and Chen Yuanyuan’s clash in front of the association’s gates during the flower festival. After all, there had been many onlookers back then.
In addition to this, Yang Jie also found out that Chen Yuanyuan was Chen Cheng’s cousin sister.
“Call Chen Cheng over,” Yang Jie instructed darkly.
Chen Cheng arrived in a flurry.
“Greetings, Senior Yang,” Chen Cheng greeted respectfully. They were under training the same mentor in the Friar Association but Yang Jie was no doubt the number one disciple among their ranks.
Yang Jie said nothing but stared fixedly at Chen Cheng. The latter looked up with a confused expression without showing any hints of guilt. “Senior Yang?”
After a while, seeing how earnest the other man was behaving, Yang Jie said, “Have you heard about the rumors circulating around?”
He didn’t specify what rumor because it was a test.
Chen Cheng hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Senior Yang must have called me here about the rumors between my cousin sister and Lin Jin. If my memory serves me right, my cousin sister really was engaged to Lin Jin back then. However, because of her admiration for you, she decided to call off the engagement. She had a minor dispute with Lin Jin at the entrance of the flower festival a while back, but Lu Yunhe intervened and got Lin Jin out of the mess. A lot of people saw what happened on that day, so it’s not exactly a secret.”
Yang Jie remained silent.
Chen Cheng was panicking on the inside but he remained composed on the surface.
“Alright, you can leave now.”
Yang Jie didn’t ask anything else.
Chen Cheng saluted and left. Once he was outside and confirmed that no one was around, Chen Cheng let out a sigh. A savage grin appeared on his face and he mumbled to himself, “Thank God I came prepared. Otherwise, he would’ve seen through my lies.”
The rumors running rampant around right now about Lin Jin, Chen Yuanyuan, and Yang Jie were single-handedly weaved by Chen Cheng.
He had been lucky to be inside one of the second-floor assessment rooms in the Levitation Stone Tower this morning, allowing him to witness Lin Jin and Yang Jie’s clash. Back then, he thought this was a good opportunity.
He would use this convenient rumor to intensify the animosity between Lin Jin and Yang Jie, and it was crucial to drag Lu Yunhe into it. It would be better for Lu Yunhe and Yang Jie to end up injuring each other, thus allowing Chen Cheng to take advantage of the situation.
Also, by spreading these rumors, Chen Cheng could trick that silly cousin sister of his. He already had his eyes set on his beautiful cousin sister, Chen Yuanyuan. All his life, he thought of her as the one who was destined to be his woman. Back when Chen Yuanyuan was still engaged to Lin Jin, Chen Cheng had egged her on to call off the engagement. By spreading these rumors, while it seemed like he was feeding Chen Yuanyuan’s vanity, this act simply killed all chances Chen Yuanyuan had with Yang Jie. Knowing that Yang Jie was a proud man, he would never have eyes for Chen Yuanyuan. Especially now, after these malicious rumors, the chances of them getting together were pretty much nil.
The only risk factor in this move was Yang Jie’s incredible intelligence. The mere act of summoning Chen Cheng over implied that Yang Jie was still suspicious of him.
