In the early morning, Mu Wansu sat in front of the bronze mirror and made up meticulously, believing that a beautiful woman would never show her floppy appearance to the public.
She was undoubtedly beautiful, mature and enchanting, like the seductive Charites.
When Wang Lin came for a visit, she had finished making-up and showed an exquisite feature with brightness and charm.
“What is it for in such an early morning?” she asked with a little bit surprise.
“It’s about Lin Xun,” without holding anything back, Wang Lin spoke out what he saw and learned last night while completely unaware of Mu Wansu’s gloominess in her beautiful and charming face.
When Wang Lin said he had helped Lin Xun kill a few sub-chiefs of Green-bamboo Gang, Mu Wansu couldn’t help interrupting him with coldness and blame, “Who allowed you to help him?”
After a short silence, Wang Lin said, “Miss Wansu, you ordered me to keep an eye on Lin Xun’s every movement several days ago. Yesterday, however, I found that Gu Yanping of Golden Hall had taken action before me. Do you know what he did?”
Frowning with impatience, Mu Wansu said, “Just come to the point!”
When it came to Lin Xun, she would just be ill-tempered unconsciously, without usual ease or elegance.
“Being an overmatch of Gang Spirit Realm, Gu Yanping guarded Lin Xun willingly as well as asked his own son Gu Liang to do so.”
Wang Lin sighed with emotion, “At first, I didn’t get it, but finally I realized that there must be something special about Lin Xun.”
Mu Wansu was completely confused with deeper frown, “What are you trying to say on earth?”
Seeing that Mu Wansu was obviously out of patience, Wang Lin thus said straightly to the point, “To tell the truth, Lin Xun owned more than one Flaming Spirit Saber and therefore he must have something to do with the mysterious ‘spiritual tattooist’!”
Mu Wansu was shocked, “How did you know that?”
She indeed cared about the mysterious ‘spiritual tattooist’ who was now being sought by all big businesses in the whole Donglin Town!
It was clear that whoever once manipulated this mysterious ‘spiritual tattooist’ would gain inestimable fortune.
Although Keystone Business was one of the top forces with firm foundation in the empire, Mu Wansu was clear that to gain ground in this remote Donglin Town, she had no way but to count on herself.
“Last night I saw Lin Xun give Gu Yanping a Flaming Spirit Saber with my own eyes.” Wang Lin said, “And this morning, Gu Yanping sent out news about the saber and caused quite a stir. Just have a check and you’ll know it for sure.”
Mu Wansu fell silent, and she knew that Wang Lin didn’t lie to her. She just failed to imagine how could Lin Xun build unusual relationships with a ‘mysterious spiritual tattooist’ in less than one month as a young man coming to Donglin Town from Feiyun Village?
This was too much amazing!
After a long time, Mu Wansu asked, “So, in your view, to find that mysterious spiritual tattooist, we have no way but to get along well with Lin Xun?”
Wang Lin nodded, “That’s right.”
He paused before continuing his talk, “You may not know yet, last night, Lin Xun killed the leader of Black-tiger Gang which was the biggest gang in Civilian Area.”
“You mean Tiger Lyu?” Mu Wansu was totally stunned, “Lin Xun is merely a practitioner at the fifth level of Martial Realm. How could he kill an overmatch of Gang Spirit Realm?”
Wang Lin nodded, “At first, I also thought it ridiculous. But later on, when I thought the mysterious spiritual tattooist who could create a Flaming Spirit Saber might have interfered the event, it all makes sense.”
Such explanation was also sensible, even Mu Wansu couldn’t help agreeing with it.
Although neither of them knew that what they thought was wrong…
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
It was easy to understand, that Shia Zhi had always seemed insignificant and been neglected for being too young and rarely showing up in public. Besides, no one would believe that Lin Xun could refine a spiritual weapon like Flaming Spirit Saber with the cultivation of Martial Realm. So subconsciously they believed there must be a master behind him.
And a series of misunderstanding resulted in many deviations.
In this case, even if the information Wang Lin gained clearly showed that it was Lin Xun and Shia Zhi who broke in den of Black-tiger Gang, Wang still neglected Shia Zhi directly and regarded all as the contribution of the ‘mysterious spiritual tattooist’.
Only in this way was everything entirely reasonable.
Mu Wansu struggled heavily in her mind. Rationally she knew that what Wang Lin said was true, but thinking of Lin Xun’s hateful face just dejected her a lot. Should she really yield to the sly and wicked bloke?
“Right, you did help Lin Xun last night, didn’t you?” Mu Wansu asked abruptly.
This was already enough for Wang Lin to realize that Mu Wansu had changed her mind. He nodded immediately, “Not exactly a favor, I just made some amends for previous fault.”
“Did that bloke appreciate it?” continued Mu Wansu.
Wang Lin thought over before he answered, “At least he didn’t reject my help.”
Mu Wansu nodded, pondering, “It should be for the County Test that Lin Xun came to Donglin Town this time. Well, go to invite him to come and meet me after the test.”
Wang Lin said with hesitation, “Miss Wansu, I’m afraid that…you need to visit him in person.”
Being in a daze for a while, Mu Wansu finally understood what he meant and felt frustrated and upset, and taking a deep breath, she eventually said, “OK, I will call on him in person by then!”
Feeling a little bit bitter, she finally yielded to that little bastard…
But Mu Wansu soon pulled herself together and murmured, “If that little bastard thinks he has defeated me this time, then he is definitely wrong and he will pay the price for underestimating me!”
…
Three days later.
When Lin Xun finally restored his badly-broken yard, Shia Zhi woke up from cultivation.
The first words she said after opening her eyes was, “I’m very hungry!”
And it was already enough for Lin Xun to be extremely surprised and delighted and his last worry disappeared completely. He rushed into the kitchen and tried his best to make a bumper delicious meal for Shia Zhi.
During the meal, Lin Xun found that Shia Zhi seemed to have increased a faint and unpredictable ethereal qi after waking up.
“You have gotten stronger?” Lin Xun couldn’t help asking.
“Mmm.” Shia Zhi said vaguely while eating, “This fight is not bad for my cultivation, and it won’t be so troublesome anymore if we are going to fight with someone like Tiger Lyu again.”
Taking a deep breath after hearing this, Lin Xun was totally shocked. This was more than not bad. Her progress was actually horrifying!
“What about you?” Shia Zhi asked randomly.
Lin Xun immediately shut up with embarrassment. By a bloody battle, he merely got a deeper comprehension of Six-word Saberplay, which was hardly comparable to what Shia Zhi got.
Fortunately, Shia Zhi was more interested in eating than Lin Xun, so she didn’t ask anymore.
Lin Xun breathed a sigh of relief, “Since you’ve woken up, I needn’t worry anymore, I might go to Donglin School after a while for registration. The County Test will begin in six days and I need to register for the test in the two days right at Donglin School.”
“Um,” Shia Zhi said, “Remember to bring me some books. I don’t want boring novels on gods or ghosts for the protagonists know nothing but fighting and killing.”
Lin Xun promised with a smile.
…
Donglin School.
In the usually quiet school could bustling pedestrians and carriages be seen everywhere these two days.
Some students in navy blue uniform were helping direct or lead the way around the school.
These two days were the registration period of County Test which was an annually big event in Donglin Town!
In addition to imperial recognition, one would gain a considerable fortune as rewards and the qualification for attending State Test as long as he could past the County Test.
Besides, once passing the test, one would acquire a chance of being recruited by some clans and forces and might thus gain numerous cultivation resources!
Although the test was simple, no one dared underestimate it, a way of selecting talents.
Those practitioners who could pass the test were all young boys and girls under fifteen with cultivation and great potential. And if everything went well, they would grow into real overmatches in the future!
Some with preeminent aptitudes might even reach very promising levels in cultivation.
They were a flock of potential saplings in cultivation. Although seeming to be nothing now, they were doomed to be something in the future.
So, the whole Donglin Town had focused on the coming annual County Test, waiting to see which lucky fellows could pass the test.
Meanwhile, it would be also a great chance for forces in Donglin Town to enroll and recruit talents.
What Lin Xun saw at Donglin School when he arrived was such a noisy spectacle like he was in a bazaar where was a sea of people.
Some boys and girls coming to register for the test were accompanied with even whole family, which made Lin Xun sigh with emotion.
All parents in the world love their children whole-heartedly.
Indeed, the status and privilege a practitioner owned was incomparable for an ordinary being in the whole Ziyao Empire.
But being merely a practitioner was far from enough. It was really honorable and even could bring glory on the ancestors to be a practitioner recognized by the whole empire.
And the strategy - layers of screening and selection of talents, worked in the forms of the four tests, namely County Test, State Test and Nation Test, which was indeed forward-looking and wise.
The annual testing selections had transported numerous talents to the empire, making it increasingly strong and mighty!
Lin Xun knew such a selection system of talents was really something even if he didn’t get the big picture.
And he was also looking forward to seeing how far he could go on earth. County Test? State Test? Province Test?
Or even…Nation Test