Ch178 – Rich and Overbearing
There’s nothing in this world that can’t be solved by throwing a pile of money.
If there is, then throw two piles of money.
This was really in-line with Su Mo’s style — he absolutely wouldn’t waste any additional effort on matters that could be solved with money!
Yan Tianhen sighed with emotion, “Incredible!”
Lin Xuanzhi looked askance at Duan Yuyang, “You’ve met with Yuan Tianwen’s parents so soon?”
Duan Yuyang also cast a sidelong glance at Lin Xuanzhi and chuckled disapprovingly, “What nonsense. Uncle Su didn’t actually tell me this.”
“Then how come you know all the details about this?” Yan Tianhen obviously didn’t believe him.
Duan Yuyang was also somewhat puzzled and clicked his tongue twice, “Ji Yunwei, that rascal, actually told me all this. It’s so strange; how could he know this much?”
Lin Xuanzhi understood once he thought about it.
“Ji Yunwei is a beast tamer. I heard that he keeps a kind of bee that can both understand and learn human language. They can infiltrate everywhere and it’s difficult for others to discover them. Perhaps this kind of bee found out about it.”
After listening to Lin Xuanzhi’s conjecture, Yan Tianhen and Duan Yuyang both revealed a ‘so it’s like this’ expression.
Duan Yuyang spoke thoughtfully, “Old Lin, don’t you think that that Ji Yunwei is really a busybody? He doesn’t even specialize in selling news. It’s a waste of talent!”
Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes fell on something beside Duan Yuyang’s left ear. “I see a bee by your ear.”
Duan Yuyang twisted his head to look and indeed found a four-winged bee hovering in midair beside his ear.
Duan Yuyang, “…”
Damn it, he really is a busybody!
Who could have imagined that the Ji family’s young master would be this kind of person?
Yan Tianhen was just about to stretch out his hand to pinch the little bee when suddenly, a shadow leapt from Yan Tianhen’s side like a flash of white lightning and killed the bee with one slap.
Hu Po smugly flicked his tail. He wore an expression asking for praise.
Yan Tianhen awkwardly retracted his hand and touched his nose. He asked innocently, “Dage, Ji Dage’s bee, is it expensive?”
Yan Tianhen also couldn’t stop himself from laughing. After a while, he gradually stopped. “Don’t know what Han Yuran’s situation is like right now.”
Duan Yuyang also withdrew his smile and held his chin. “His Dantian Sea was wasted, his cultivation dropped to Refining Qi Second Layer, and his soul force has also retrogressed……Well, his Dantian Sea originally used to be complete, so he must have relied on using both his spiritual qi and soul force to mutually promote each other when he cultivated in the past. Now that his spiritual qi is lacking, the impact on his soul force must be very great. Simply put, he’s become a complete waste.”
Duan Yuyang swept Lin Xuanzhi a glance, “More thoroughly than you were.”
Anyhow, Lin Xuanzhi only started to cultivate his soul force after his Dantian Sea had been destroyed, so his soul force had nothing to do with his spiritual qi, which made the essence of his soul force extremely pristine. Before he reaches Teal Stage, he will not be affected by the Dantian Sea at all.
Han Yuran was different. He most likely couldn’t even make low-grade magic tools anymore.
Yan Tianhen’s expression was cold. “Back then, when my Dage’s cultivation was wasted, not only did he secretly scheme up all kinds of methods to get my Dage’s money and take advantage of him, but he also spread word that Lin Xuanzhi was a waste everywhere he went. What’s more, he even let the people from Tyrant Martial Hall deliberately lure my Dage to compete in that kind of dirty competition. Now it’s due to his own fault that the Dao of Heaven has shifted directions. Dage, wouldn’t you say so?”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “Indeed, all things have cause and effect, and he could be said to have suffered retribution from his own karma.”
Lin Xuanzhi originally wanted to leave Han Yuran alone until after he had returned to Profound Sky Sect and deal with him then, but he didn’t expect such a surprise halfway down the road, which caused Yuan Tianwen to take care of Han Yuran for him.
However, speaking of the previous life, Han Yuran didn’t have as terrible an impact on Lin Xuanzhi’s life as he had on Yuan Tianwen’s.
After all, in the last life, Duan Yuyang died when he was less than 200 years old, and he never saw Yuan Tianwen again in his entire life. Yuan Tianwen himself was plagued by heart demons, which caused his cultivation to stagnate at a certain stage, and he ultimately died alone.
Breaking apart a marriage was tantamount to desecrating someone’s grave, an absolutely unforgivable offense.
This time, Yuan Tianwen neatly dealt with Han Yuran in such a simple manner, which put an end to the karma that he had with Han Yuran, and everyone got what they deserved.
Yan Tianhen gazed at Duan Yuyang as he blinked, “Yuyang Gege, are you happy that this fellow who pretended to be you has suffered retribution?”
“What’s to be happy about?” Duan Yuyang gave a wry smile, “Now I feel that Yuan Tianwen’s heart is actually very cold and cruel. Han Yuran was still a person whom he protected as his fiancé for such a long time, how can he waste Han Yuran’s cultivation so whimsically……”
“He provoked Yuan Tianwen with this kind of crazy joke and still wants to come out unscathed — how can that be possible?” Lin Xuanzhi swept a glance over Duan Yuyang, “Do you really think that Yuan Tianwen has a good temper?”
Duan Yuyang, “….”
“How can he have a good temper?”
What part of Yuan Tianwen was good-tempered? He was the young master of the Yuan family ever since he was young and was the typical “dad has power and mom has money” kind of child. His entire life had been smooth-sailing so far, and his position in the Yuan family was outstanding and unsurpassed. No one dared to provoke him, and he could be said to be a little overlord. It’s just that his temper had become more restrained in recent years. His essence was still that of a foul-tempered and prideful young master.
Han Yuran had thoroughly touched Yuan Tianwen’s reverse scale and suffered the consequences of his own actions.
When the competition resumed today, Yuan Tianwen did not appear in Profound Sky Sect’s spectating location. Duan Yuyang swept a glance over his empty seat but his heart felt pretty calm.
Nothing special happened on the second day of the competition besides a Foundation Stage First Layer cultivator from a second-class family accidentally killing another second-class family’s Foundation Stage First Layer cultivator during their match.
Lin Yan, who chose to continue issuing challenges, somewhat unexpectedly defeated the second-class Zhang family from Blue City and successfully elevated the Lin family’s status to rank 42nd.
Lin Yan’s successful challenge increased the Lin family’s fame. After all, only the Lin family, a rare flower among third-class families, chose to continue and challenge a second-class family after already obtaining the pass to advance to the next round of the competition on the first day.
The youth from the Zhang family gave Lin Yan a vicious glare when he came off the stage and promised fiercely, “Just you wait!”
Lin Yan gave him the middle finger. Ever since he was young, the thing he was least afraid of was other people’s threats.
Lin Yan withdrew as soon as he saw some benefits. He didn’t continue to draw lots to challenge and withdrew directly instead.
From beginning to end, Yuan Tianwen never appeared.
The most popular round of the martial arts competition in the Hundred Families Gathering was the third day’s competition.
In accordance with the rankings, the bottom fifty families compete first. After the first day’s competition ends, the families ranked from 51st to 60th can compete for the 21st to 50th positions on the second day, while the third day is reserved for the top five families that successfully emerged from the grueling competition on the second day. Those five families would then compete with the remaining twenty first-class families.
As for the publicly-recognized elite families on the Five Continents, they wouldn’t even appear in the normal rankings. There will always be a separate ranking for these eleven families at every Hundred Families Gathering, and they will compete separately as well.
After all, an elite class family’s power was comparable to that of a major sect, and the number of pupils in the family could reach thousands or even tens of thousands. It would be all too easy to find pupils who meet the Hundred Families Gathering’s requirements, so other families couldn’t possibly compare with elite families in the competition.
Everyone from the Lin family had already finished competing, and the one with the best score was Lin Yan’s 42nd place.
Lin Zezhi straight-up withdrew from the second day’s competition. He had already obtained the entry pass to the next round, so preserving his strength was the most important thing now.
Of course, this was already the Lin family’s best performance out of the past few Hundred Families Gatherings.
Lin Xuanzhi was very satisfied. Lin Liuchun was very satisfied. The Lin family’s people, from top to bottom, were probably also very satisfied with this score. After all, for the first time, the Lin family finally had three people who advanced to the second round’s competition, including Lin Yaer.
Lin Yan’s excitement still didn’t abate even when he stepped down from the platform. After all, his opponent was a Foundation Stage Second Layer cultivator, which was one layer higher than his own level.
“Xuanzhi Tangxiong, it’s all thanks to your Rocking Sky Fan.” Lin Yan went to return the fan he borrowed from Lin Xuanzhi.
But it was unexpectedly rejected by Lin Xuanzhi.
“This fan can be thought of as your reward.” Lin Xuanzhi explained.
Lin Yan’s eyes lit up, and he wasn’t humble about it either. He accepted with a smile, “Then many thanks to Xuanzhi Tangxiong.”
The Rocking Sky Fan leaned on the side of an attack weapon and was also capable of generating wind, so it could add an excellent bonus to Lin Yan’s fire-element attacks and raise his attack power by a whole grade. For Lin Yan, this was an excellent weapon well-suited to him.
He didn’t think that Lin Xuanzhi would so casually gift this away with only a sentence.
Bubbles of envy arose within the other Lin family members’ hearts when they saw this, which gave rise to a sense of jealousy, but there was nothing they could do about it. After all, the relationship between Lin Xuanzhi and Lin Yan was very good.
Both Lin Dong and Lin Yao regretted that they didn’t pick the correct choice and side with Lin Xuanzhi back when Lin Zezhi and Lin Xuanzhi were quarreling. Now, it seemed that Lin Zezhi and Lin Xuanzhi’s formerly-tense relationship showed signs of easing up, and there was no more animosity between them, but they, the two little shrimps who followed behind Lin Zezhi, still had to suffer.
Lin Yurou felt a little envious. “Xuanzhi Tangdi, you’re really attentive to pupils from the side branch.”
Lin Xuanzhi swept a glance over her and replied lightly, “Side or main branch, they’re all Lin family members. There’s no need to distinguish too much.”
Lin Dong gathered around Lin Xuanzhi and smiled fawningly, “Then are there any suitable magic weapons that we can use?”
Lin Dong also won a match yesterday, only he had won due to luck. His opponent’s cultivation was much worse than Lin Dong’s own, and he was also very young — only twelve years old. When Lin Dong continued to challenge others, he was knocked off the platform.
Lin Xuanzhi took out several wrist guards from his storage bag. “The Rocking Sky Fan was a magic treasure that I crafted in the past, which happened to be compatible with Lin Yan’s techniques. As for the others, I did not specially refine relevant equipment for them. However, these Precious Jade Wristguards can be used to defend yourself. You should take one each and divide them amongst yourselves first.”
Lin Dong’s sharp eyes saw that the Precious Jade Wristguards were actually high-grade magic tools, so he immediately smiled as he took one and put it on his wrist. He said happily, “Many thanks to Xuanzhi!”
Lin Zezhi also took one and studied it carefully. He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, “Indeed, you’re still the most incredible one. I have the utmost respect for craftsmen now.”
Lin Yurou picked up a light pink Precious Jade Wristguard, which she liked very much. She carefully wore it on her wrist. Duan Yuyang stared so hard that his eyes were about to pop out. He was almost shocked speechless. “High-grade magic tool, you really casually gifted so many just like that. How do you expect me, the Young Master of a first-class family, to conduct myself then?! Your actions are clearly pulling aggro upon yourself!”
“As for you.” Lin Xuanzhi’s smile didn’t completely reach his eyes. “It’s enough to just directly throw money. It’s because I don’t have money that I can only give magic treasures. You’re rich and overbearing, so just give them the money to buy it for themselves.”
“Do you think this is easy to buy?” Duan Yuyang rolled his eyes. “You craftsmen really are terrifying. You don’t even leave any paths open for others to survive on anymore. If this kind of wrist guard is sold on the market, then they’ll be worth thousands of gold at the very least. Where can I get so much money?”
The pupils of several families nearby all looked to this side one after another. They couldn’t help the admiration, envy, and hate that sprang up within their hearts — why couldn’t their young masters be craftsmen?
The young masters of those families saw that and couldn’t help but smile wryly.
They would like to reward their families’ disciples like this, but they lacked both the resources and the skill, so they were unable to help, no matter how much they wanted to!
Shortly afterwards, news that Lin Xuanzhi gifted each Lin family pupil who participated in the competition a high-grade magic tool, the Precious Jade Wristguard, spread throughout the entire Sky Peak City, and Lin Xuanzhi once again became the subject of enthusiastic discussions.
—
