Chapter 135 - 13: High Expectations
Courtyard.
"Thank Brother Hai for me. I’ll remember his words."
Lin Yan saw the servant from the Third Branch off, then closed the courtyard gate.
He had just returned to his courtyard after defeating Lin Kang when Brother Hai sent a servant over with two bottles of Bone Tempering Pills and a message.
"You didn’t bring shame to the Third Branch!"
"Focus more on your cultivation and reach the Fourth-Time of Skin Smoothing as soon as possible. Don’t let one victory go to your head."
"If you find the Disciple’s Quarters too noisy, you can accept an external mission to the Yantian Mountain Range."
Recalling Brother Hai’s words, a smile appeared on Lin Yan’s face.
’It seems the Third Branch is a little more considerate than I imagined.’
’I brought honor to the Third Branch. If the branch was only concerned with suppressing the Fourth Branch, Brother Hai would never have sent me this message. Instead, after sending the reward, he would have encouraged me to keep at it and win even more glory for the Third Branch.’
’He would have egged me on to continue clashing with the Fourth Branch.’
’Just like the Fourth Branch, whose members have no interest in cultivation and just loaf around all day, waiting for someone from our Third Branch to show up.’
’But Brother Hai didn’t do that. Instead, he told me to focus on my cultivation and not get too involved in the disputes with the Fourth Branch. This is his way of protecting me.’
’A mission in the Yantian Mountain Range?’
Lin Yan’s eyes narrowed slightly. He believed Brother Hai wouldn’t have mentioned this mission for no reason. ’I should go to the Task Hall and check it out.’
The Lin Family’s Task Hall wasn’t far from the Library Pavilion. As Lin Yan stepped into the main hall, his attention was immediately drawn to the walls.
All sorts of tasks were posted on these walls. Many people were currently examining them, while others were taking down sheets of paper from the task walls and walking towards the long counter at the front for registration.
Lin Yan walked over and started looking from the leftmost wall, examining them one by one.
The tasks were varied, from picking medicinal herbs to escorting merchant caravans, guarding mines, and patrolling docks...
Each task sheet listed the requirements and the Contribution Points. Some tasks were simple and offered few Contribution Points; others were time-consuming and offered more.
However, after a quick scan, Lin Yan didn’t see anything that particularly caught his interest.
Finally, on the fifth task wall, he saw the Yantian Mountain Range mission that Brother Hai had mentioned.
[Mission: Guard the entrance to the Yantian Mountain Range]
[Requirements: At least Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm, must guard for three months]
[Contribution Points: Fifty.]
’Three months for fifty Contribution Points?’
Lin Yan frowned. The Contribution Point reward seemed a bit low. ’Could I have found the wrong one?’
However, after reading through all the tasks, he didn’t see any other missions related to the Yantian Mountain Range. Lin Yan then knew that this was the one Brother Hai had been referring to.
’Could there be some hidden benefit to this mission?’
’Guarding the Yantian Mountain Range...’
After reading the mission description several times, a possibility occurred to Lin Yan. ’If I’m right about this, then it’s definitely worth taking.’
’Besides, Brother Hai wouldn’t try to screw me over.’
Holding the task sheet, Lin Yan walked to the registration counter.
After showing his Identity Token and registering for the mission, he quickly received a Document with a more detailed description of the task.
Leaving the Task Hall and heading back towards the Disciple’s Quarters, Lin Yan encountered many branch clan members along the way, receiving many stares.
Yesterday’s battle didn’t even cause a ripple in the Lin Family as a whole, but among the branch clan members, it had caused quite a stir.
"So that’s Lin Yan from the Third Branch. Besides being decent-looking, he’s pretty average in every other way."
"You can’t judge a book by its cover. To be able to send Lin Kang flying with three punches, he must be among the absolute top tier in the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm."
"Looks like we’ve got a show to watch. More people from the Fourth Branch have appeared. Don’t tell me they’re going to issue another challenge?"
...
Lin Yan stopped and looked at the five people in front of him. All wore yellow sashes and were blocking his path.
"You’re Lin Yan?"
Lin Yuming looked at Lin Yan. Yesterday, Lin Kang was defeated, causing the Fourth Branch to lose face, which in turn led to him being reprimanded by the main family.
"What is it?"
Lin Yan looked at the man. From his aura, and the way the other four from the Fourth Branch stood half a step behind him, he could tell that this person was a Fourth-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist.
"You injured one of my Fourth Branch members yesterday. Did you really think we’d just let it go?"
Lin Yan tilted his head slightly, as if seriously pondering the question. After a moment, he nodded earnestly. "So, what do you plan to do about it? Are you going to stand up for Lin Kang and attack me right here? Go ahead. I won’t fight back."
The expressions of the four men behind Lin Yuming changed. One clenched his fists, another took half a step forward, but none of them actually dared to make a move.
The clan rules were absolute!
Seeing Lin Yan’s calm and even unguarded posture, Lin Yuming’s face tensed. He desperately wanted to slap that smug look right off Lin Yan’s face.
’Calm down. He’s deliberately trying to provoke me, to force me to attack.’
Lin Yuming took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart. "Lin Yan, don’t get too cocky. You’re just in the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm, and you only won by a fluke."
Lin Yan retorted, "So?"
The question immediately silenced Lin Yuming.
He hadn’t actually come looking for Lin Yan specifically; they had just run into each other. And since they had met, he couldn’t just pretend he hadn’t seen him and walk away.
But now he didn’t know what to say. In his heart, he naturally hoped Lin Yan would agree to face him on the Combat Platform, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. There were members from other branches watching. If word got out that he, a Fourth-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist, had challenged someone in the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm, he would be the one to lose face.