Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After leaving the Patriarch’s yard, Jing Yan trotted toward his own little yard.
On his way back, he spent the whole time thinking.
As nice as the Patriarch had been to him today, Jing Yan didn’t feel relaxed or relieved at all.
Jing Yan detected hostility from the First Elder, Jing Chunyu. Perhaps the First Elder wouldn’t do anything to Jing Yan directly, but Jing Yan had to be prepared. If someone like the First Elder simply indicated his dissatisfaction with Jing Yan, a bunch of people would go against Jing Yan.
In the Jing Clan, there were tons of people who would take any chance they could to kiss the First Elder’s *ss. After all, he wielded tremendous power. Not to mention that his son was the manager of the Jing Clan’s treasury vault, which meant, to a great degree, that he was in charge of allocating the Jing Clan’s sources.
“Now that Grandpa isn’t with me anymore, I can only rely on myself.”
“As long as I regain my Precelestial rank, the First Elder won’t be able to put any more pressure on me.”
“At the end of the day, my strength will decide everything!”
“Now, I have to hurry up!” Jing Yan furrowed his brows.
He was well aware of the difficulties he would face.
In a family like the Jing Clan, it was difficult to focus on one’s cultivation in peace to improve one’s abilities.
It might be different if a warrior didn’t have much potential, because not many people would pay attention to him. The less attention he got, the less jealousy he might induce.
Yet, if a warrior did well in martial arts but couldn’t become overwhelmingly stronger than those who were jealous of him, troubles would find their way to his door.
Even when Jing Yan’s grandfather, the old Patriarch, was alive, quite a few people had attempted to provoke Jing Yan. Now, people’s attempts to mess with him would only be worse. If he wanted to be left alone, he had to be so intimidatingly strong that those jerks wouldn’t dare to interfere with his business.
“Jing Yan!”
When Jing Yan reached the gate of his little yard, he saw Jing Chuanling standing there.
“Chuanling, what’s up?” Jing Yan asked, meeting the other man’s gaze.
He could tell that Jing Chuanling wasn’t planning to pay him a pleasant visit. This time, Jing Chuanling had even called Jing Yan by his name—he wasn’t even bothering to keep up the appearance of politeness.
“Jing Yan, I’m not here for small talk. I’m simply asking, do you dare to accept my challenge for a fight?” Jing Chuanling said in an aggressive tone, eyes blazing.
In truth, Jing Chuanling still felt a sense of inferiority in front of Jing Yan.
In Jing Yan’s heyday, Jing Chuanling used to follow Jing Yan around, although he never really wanted to. He would support Jing Yan and listen to him no matter what. As respectful as he used to act in front of Jing Yan, deep down in his heart, he had cursed Jing Yan so many times that he had lost count. When Jing Yan’s rank started falling, Jing Chuanling thought it was an opportunity to finally get rid of Jing Yan’s influence.
Moreover, he wanted to stand on top of Jing Yan and stomp on him. He had waited too long for this day.
At first, everything was going well. Jing Chuanling’s status in the Jing Clan was slowly on the rise. But now, out of nowhere, Jing Yan was showing signs that he was preparing to climb back to the top. Because of that, he had already heard many voices accusing him of being ungrateful. If Jing Yan never had a chance of coming back up, all this would never have happened.
So, it was all Jing Yan’s fault!
That was why among all the Jing Clan members, Jing Yan was the last person Jing Chuanling wanted to grow strong.
As a result, he came to see Jing Yan today to challenge him. The way he saw it, as long as he defeated Jing Yan in front of other Jing Clan members, it would prove that he was better than Jing Yan.
“I don’t have time for that,” Jing Yan said, suppressing his urge to roll his eyes. He was well aware of Jing Chuanling’s plan.
“You think you can trample me underfoot? You?” Jing Yan thought.
He gave Jing Chuanling a scornful glance.
In fact, Jing Yan still wasn’t sure if he could beat Jing Chuanling. Jing Chuanling was at the Eighth Heaven. Among the disciples in the younger generation, Jing Chuanling was considered one of the top performers.
If he wasn’t 100 percent sure, Jing Yan wouldn’t take the risk.
Once he reached the Seventh Heaven, Jing Chuanling would be as weak as a kitten by comparison. At that point, beating someone like Jing Chuanling would be sickeningly easy. He might as well wait until his rank went up.
“Jing Yan, are you too much of a coward to take the challenge?” Jing Chuanling’s face contorted. He looked like he was about to lose it.
“Chuanling, if you don’t have anything else that I can help you with, please go home. Oh, right, I have a word for you. If you want to be my opponent, you have a long way to go,” Jing Yan waved his hand breezily.
“You…” Jing Chuanling gritted his teeth in rage. He didn’t want to leave like this.
But he couldn’t do anything about it if Jing Yan didn’t want to fight him.
“F*ck!” Watching Jing Yan enter the little yard, Jing Chuanling stomped furiously on the ground. The expression of cold hatred in his eyes didn’t start to fade away until he saw Jing Yan enter his room.
About half a zodiac hour later, two Jing Clan guards arrived and took up positions outside of Jing Yan’s little yard.
The two guards were sent by the Fourth Elder, Jing Tianying.
Their responsibility was to make sure that no random people showed up to interfere with Jing Yan’s cultivation.
Inside the room, Jing Yan sat down cross-legged on the bed.
“It’s about time to get ready for the breakthrough. Once I do, I will be at the Seven Heaven and become a High-ranking warrior.”
“With the help of the Soul Crystal, I shouldn’t have any problem breaking through.” Jing Yan’s eyes lit up.
The Soul Crystal he got from killing the Shadow Gale Wolf in the Blackrock Mountains was a tremendous boon for Jing Yan.
Using only a small piece of the Soul Crystal had taken Jing Yan from the Fourth Heaven to the Fifth Heaven. The rest should be enough to help him break through from the Sixth Heaven to the Seventh.
“What’s that?”
Suddenly, noises came from outside the door. Jing Yan furrowed his brows.
“B*stards! How dare you try to stop us?” someone yelled.
“Get out of the way! If you still won’t let us in, I will find a way to kick your *sses out this place for good!” a high-pitched voice screamed. It sounded extraordinarily aggressive and arrogant.
Something flashed through Jing Yan’s eyes the second he heard the voice. He certainly recognized it. Besides Jing Yuqin, who would act so outrageously arrogant?
Of course, if someone ordinary had come to see Jing Yan, they would undoubtedly have left as soon as they saw the guards sent by the Fourth Elder. Only extremely well-connected people like Jing Yuqin would treat the guards sent by the Fourth Elder like they were nothing.
“That d*mn woman!” As much as Jing Yan was unwilling to see her, if he didn’t go to meet her, she would never go away. With her making this much noise, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his cultivation anyway.
Besides, if he really didn’t show up, someone like Jing Yuqin might actually come in by force. What a hag!
Creak!
Jing Yan pulled the door open and walked out.
“What?” Jing Yan knitted his eyebrows tightly when he saw the people outside.
Several people were standing outside the yard, yelling at the two guards. The leading person was the one that Jing Yan furrowed his brows at.
The person, wearing a long white gown, was standing with his hands behind his back. Each breath he took was long and deep. Something intimidating glistened in his triangular eyes.
Jing Tianlong!
He was the First Elder’s grandson, and he was a mighty warrior.
Before Jing Yan’s rank dropped, he had unquestionably been the most talented Jing Clan member in the last decade. But Jing Tianlong had been considered the No. 1 warrior the decade before that.
Jing Tianlong was about ten years older than Jing Yan. He had been a genius of the Jing Clan, and the family’s senior members had held high expectations for him. He didn’t disappoint them. By the time he was 24 years old, Jing Tianlong had become a Precelestial warrior and was enrolled in one of the three major institutes.