In an independent yard of the inner mansion of the Clan of Wen-

Wen Mingxiu was seated alone beside a window with a furrowed brow. Outside was a drizzle which was as dense as the mist and could be neither wiped off nor cut off just like the gloom in her heart at the point.

She felt rather surprised that she ran into Lin Xun today, but she held a mixed feeling at the thought of Lin Xun’s warning.

She felt both furious and frustrated.

Should she really let go of the past and let bygones be bygones?

She clearly knew that she was behind what had happened today. If she didn’t take any action, all the others would think that she admitted defeat, which would definitely tarnish her reputation and affect her influence among the young generation in Mist City.

“What should I do?” Wen Mingxiu was in a daze.

“Lady, there is news,” said a maidservant while coming into the room in a hurry.

She continued with her face full of excitement, “This time, Clan of Yuan, Azure-light Pavilion, Clan of Qian, Clan of Zhou, and Clan of Zheng...”

After saying seven or eight clan names in succession, she got to the point, “have decided to send someone to assassinate Lin Xun!”

Wen Mingxiu felt shocked, “Why are there so many forces trying to hunt him down?”

The maidservant sneered and said, “Lady, Lin Xun is just a yokel from a poor family. Now he even has the guts to act wildly in Mist City. So which clan can tolerate him? Evil and bold, he deserves to be slaughtered. Otherwise, all the other poor juniors will follow his example and act unscrupulously. Then the whole world would be in chaos.”

Wen Mingxiu frowned and asked in a cold voice, “Who told you that Lin Xun was born poor?”

The maidservant trembled and stuttered in terror, “I...I heard it from someone else.”

Wen Mingxiu flared at her with a wry smile, “A bunch of idiots!”

If Lin Xun was a yokel, how could he have been qualified to join the Bloodthirsty Camp? How could the grandchild of the Blood King Ning Bugui make friends with him? How could the third son of Fortune God Shi think so highly of him?

More importantly, he even enjoyed distinctively special treatments in the Bloodthirsty Camp!

So even a peanut head could tell that Lin Xun was anything but a poor junior!

But now, so many forces considered him a poor practitioner of the lower class and even humiliated him as a yokel. What was the difference between them and idiots?

With her face turning pale with fear, the maidservant hemmed and hawed, “Lady, don’t...don’t you want to kill him?”

Wen Mingxiu felt stunned first, and then she became a little frustrated. As all her anger vanished, she waved her hand and said, “You can leave now.” The maidservant immediately ran away.

“Maybe the best thing is to do nothing...”

She finally made the decision after keeping silence for a long time.

...

As the capital of Southwestern Province of the empire, Mist City was quite prosperous and vast and dozens of clans, big or small, were entrenched in the city.

This day was no difference from any other day to ordinary people. But it meant something different to most forces and practitioners.

As the night fell, all forces in the city almost knew that the boy named Lin Xun was going to bear his misfortunes.

Some well-informed practitioners also noticed that and felt sorry for him. Would such a powerful teenager, who had defeated Yuan Shu and Qi Yunxiao, be killed in this manner?

The Governor’s Mansion-

Governor Liu Wujun couldn’t help but frown while reading the intelligence sent by his subordinates. “These guys are too impatient.”

Beside him was a middle-aged scholar with three clumps of long beards under his jaw. “My Lord, they’re only planning to punish the boy as a warning to the other poor practitioners in the city in case that similar situations happen again.”

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Liu Wujun said with a snort, “But have they ever thought it though? Since talents like Lin Xun have signed for the Province Test, even if he is from a poor family, the empire would attach importance to him. They have gone too far.”

The middle-aged scholar said approvingly, “You’re right. The Province Test is set up to select real talents for the empire. Lin Xun is definitely preeminent based on his capacity of defeating Yuan and Qi, and he’s more likely to pass the test. If he passes this test, he will have the chance to take part in the Nation Test. Under such circumstances, the influence will be apparently bad if he is killed now.”

After a pause, he changed the topic. “However, since there are many preeminent talents in the world, it isn’t a big deal for the empire if a poor teenager is dead. In my opinion, you don’t need to feel bothered by this. You can just give an order, requesting those influential forces to minimize the influence of killing him.”

Liu Wujun said with a nod after thinking for a while, “I’ll leave this matter to you.”

The middle-aged scholar said while cupping one hand in the other before his chest, “Mission accepted, My Lord.”

...

In the southwestern region of Mist City-

The southwestern region was where the bottom civilians from all walks of life gathered. Some powerful people thereby felt humiliated to set foot on this region.

At this moment in a yard of this region, Can Yunxiu burst into laughter, and said, “Luckily, Lin Xun refused to join our Qingyun Commune. Otherwise, we’ll be tied down by him this time for sure.”

Next to him were over ten young men and women who were also members of Qingyun Commune. They couldn’t help smiling on hearing this.

Then the smile on Cao Yunxiu’s face was gone and he heaved a sigh, “But, Lin’s misfortune makes me realize that it’s too difficult for us poor practitioners to rise.”

All the others were in a trance and fell into silence.

The forces of Mist City were furious, just because Lin Xun defeated Yuan Shu and Qi Yuanxiao. They thereby tried to kill him, which was indeed terrifying.

“Humph! The influential forces who boast themselves to be superior and treat our poor juniors as lowly servants who are at their disposal. Now, they attempt to kill Lin Xun in order to give us a warning as a way of deterring us from revolting!” someone sneered.

“That’s right. The reason why I founded Qingyun Commune is that I want to free us from this shackle and stop them from bullying us.”

Cao Yunxiu took a deep breath and said firmly, “Anyway, Lin Xun is one of our own kind even if he refused to join us. The unfair treatment he suffered today is too chilling. Thus, I’ve decided to do something for him!”

All the others felt stunned. Cao Yunxiu felt lucky just now that they failed to rope in Lin Xun, but why did he suddenly change his mind now?

Cao Yunxiu continued, “I do this for our future. I want to test the bottom line of the influential forces with Lin Xun’s case. Only by doing this can we avoid ending up like him in the future.”

All the others felt refreshed, “Brother Cao, what are you going to do?”

Cao Yunxiu said with a gentle smile, “Spread the news and make it known to the whole city, even the whole world: as a poor junior, Lin Xun owns the ability of attending the Province Test, but he suffers the oppression from the influential forces and would even pay at the cost of his life!”

Someone felt confused and asked, “So simple?”

Cao Yunxiu burst into laughter, “The news seems simple, but when it gives rise to much discussion, it will be difficult to wind this matter up. What’s more, the real big shots in the Forbidden City will probably pay attention to this matter. By then, we’ll figure out the real attitude the empire holds towards the poor juniors!”

All the others soon understood and looked at Cao Yunxiu in admiration. His means was ingenious.

“I hope someone could kill Lin Xun. This way, it’ll make things more explosive,” said someone excitedly.

“That’s inappropriate, isn’t it?” someone retorted, since Lin Xun was also one of their kind and such a curse was really too much.

Cao Yunxiu said while waving his hand, “We can just ignore those things, as long as we can get what we want.”

Even if he said so, he clearly knew that the news would spread faster and things would become more influential if Lin Xun had died.

“Let’s wait and see. The result will perhaps come out tonight. By then, all the members of Qingyun Commune should make a contribution and exercise all forces at hand to seek justice for Lin Xun!” said Cao Yunxiu in a muffled voice after taking a deep breath.

Many of them laughed when they heard “seeking justice for Lin Xun”. They all knew that this was just a gimmick because no one really cared about Lin’s life.

...

It was at dusk.

Lin Xun sat in his own yard. Before him was a stone table, where all delicious dishes and a jar of Soul-burning liquor were placed.

Sitting at the other end of the table, Shue Jin was enjoying the dishes and the alcohol.

It was still drizzling, but both of them could still enjoy themselves.

“The Province Test will be held half a year later in September. Do you have any other plans during the period?” asked Shue Jin in an unclear voice while gnawing a piece of beast meat.

Lin Xun gave him a brief answer, “Practice and make money.”

Shue Jin spat out the bones in his mouth, gave Lin Xun a sideways glance and said, “Ha ha, good idea. But, I have an intuition that a lot of troubles will come to you recently.”

Lin Xun shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not afraid of anything since I’ve beaten them anyway. Besides, even if I run into big troubles, I still have you, right?”

Shue Jin was in a trance and then said while pointing at him, “Damn it. Since when you’ve become a bad boy.”

Lin Xun said with a smile, “I have no choice. There are too many bad guys out there in the world, so I have to make some changes. After all, only the good die young.”

Shue Jin said sulkily, “Stop talking nonsense. Let me ask you. Have you really been fully prepared for the upcoming troubles?”

Lin Xun asked with surprise, “I just taught two playboys a lesson. Is it really so serious?”

Chu Feng pushed the door open and rushed in before Shui Jin said anything.

Chu Feng, chief director of the Commune of Spiritual Tattooists, who used to be decent and graceful, looked quite anxious now and shouted, “My little brother Lin Xun, a great disaster is hanging over you. How could you still be in the mood to enjoy yourself here?”

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