Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Jing Clan, the Fourth Elder’s yard
“Jing Yan?”
The Fourth Elder was a little surprised to see him.
In the past few days, Jing Tianying had spent some time talking with the patriarch, Jing Chengye, about the upcoming fight between Jing Yan and Jing Tianlong at the Jing Clan’s Great Competition. But even Jing Chengye didn’t have a practical solution. As long as it was voluntary and consensual, fights between any two of the family’s disciples were not only compliant to the family’s rules, but also encouraged. If they wanted to stop the fight, their only option was to talk to the First Elder, Jing Chunyu.
After all, Jing Tianlong was the First Elder’s grandson. If Jing Chunyu wanted Jing Tianlong to give up on the fight with Jing Yan, Jing Tianlong might listen.
But both Jing Tianying and Jing Chengye knew that it would be hard to get Jing Chunyu to step in and tell Jing Tianlong to cancel the fight. Neither of them held much hope for that.
“Fourth Elder, I’m wondering if I can borrow some Spiritual Stones from you,” Jing Yan asked straightforwardly.
If Jing Yan wanted to borrow Spiritual Stones from somebody within the Jing Clan, the Fourth Elder was probably his only option.
“You want to borrow Spiritual Stones?” Jing Tianying was a little surprised.
Then he smiled and said, “Why did you say ‘borrow’? I will give you some. Now that you are in the process of rank recovery, I bet you need a lot of Spiritual Stones.”
Jing Tianying assumed that Jing Yan was merely short of Spiritual Stones for his cultivation.
“Fourth Elder, I do need a lot of Spiritual Stones. If things go well, I should be able to pay you back in a couple of days,” Jing Yan said, slightly shaking his head.
He had come up with a way to earn Spiritual Stones, but he only had about 2,000 of them, which fell short of meeting his needs. He needed to prepare as many as possible.
“Really? How many do you need?” The Fourth Elder seemed to have figured out that Jing Yan needed the Spiritual Stones for something other than his cultivation.
“As many as possible.” Jing Yan smiled.
“Alright, kid.” The Fourth Elder gently shook his head, but he was smiling. “I have about 2,000 with me. You can have them all.”
Jing Tianying took out a small pile of Spiritual Stones and handed them to Jing Yan.
Although Jing Tianying was a mighty Precelestial warrior, he didn’t have many Spiritual Stones. The majority of his assets were in various kinds of sources.
Of course, solo Precelestial warriors would have a lot more Spiritual Stones with them, but warriors at the Precelestial rank who belonged to a family generally wouldn’t have many Spiritual Stones.
“This should be enough. Don’t worry, Fourth Elder, I will pay you back as soon as possible,” Jing Yan said as he packed the Spiritual Stones away.
“Don’t worry about paying me back. Just take them if you need them. I don’t need Spiritual Stones for now,” Jing Tianying said gently.
He didn’t even ask what Jing Yan needed those Spiritual Stones for.
In fact, 2,000 Spiritual Stones wasn’t a small amount. Even for warriors at the Precelestial rank, giving away that many stones was a substantial loss.
Yet Jing Tianying didn’t seem to care.
After Jing Yan left the Fourth Elder’s yard, he left the Jing Clan’s mansion.
In the central area of Dong Lin City, there was a plaza surrounded by all kinds of busy shops.
The majority of this area was under the control of the City Lord’s Office.
But there was one building among the stores that even the City Lord’s Office couldn’t get their hands on.
It was a giant building that belonged to the Extreme Combat Association.
Dong Lin City wasn’t the only place that had a branch of the Extreme Combat Association. There were subsidiaries of the Extreme Combat Association in every city of the Lan Qu Province. They didn’t operate independently. Instead, all the locations were part of the organization.
As far as Jing Yan knew, the headquarters of the Extreme Combat Association was in Lan Qu City itself.
Lan Qu City was a capital city. Small cities like Dong Lin City were no match for a place like Lan Qu City. Jing Yan was quite familiar with Lan Qu City. Previously, he had studied at the Wind God Institute, which was located in Lan Qu City.
That place was a paradise for warriors.
Jing Yan stood outside the Extreme Combat Association, studying the building for a brief moment. Then he strode in.
There were a lot of warriors coming and going inside the building. Most of the visitors were warriors, in fact, with only a few ordinary people mixed in here and there.
The method Jing Yan had come up with for earning Spiritual Stones had to do directly with the Extreme Combat Association.
“Isn’t that Jing Yan from the Jing Clan?”
“He used to be the No. 1 genius of Dong Lin City. But I heard that his rank dropped a lot, and his cultivation is about to fall apart.”
“Yep, that really is Jing Yan. I don’t know what he’s doing here. He wants to take a punt?”
The second Jing Yan entered the building, he immediately drew a lot of attention. He used to be so famous that many warriors recognized him. Although most warriors at the Extreme Combat Association were adventurers who traveled a lot, enough of them knew Jing Yan that the rest would soon learn about him as well.
Jing Yan only slightly furrowed his brows upon hearing those comments. Then he paid no more attention to them.
“I want to participate in an arena contest,” Jing Yan said as he walked up to a purple counter.
In the vast lobby, there were numerous counters. Behind each counter, there was a good-looking female warrior responsible for registering all kinds of information on bets and wagers.
The Extreme Combat Association was sort of like a casino.
In addition to the warriors who frequented the place, ordinary people were also allowed inside as long as they had Spiritual Stones with them.
Everyone could bet on the contests between warriors at the Extreme Combat Association. If you won, you could make a lot. If you lost, you simply had to swallow it.
In this place, many made fortunes overnight, and a lot of others, of course, lost everything.
Many members from the Four Legendary Families of Dong Lin City would come to the Extreme Combat Association to have a good time, including the Jing Clan Disciples.
“Um… what?”
The female warrior behind the counter paused in surprise as she heard Jing Yan’s words.
Most people were there to make bets. It was rare for warriors to apply to participate in the arena contests.
It took the female warrior a moment to react.
“I want to take part in an arena contest,” Jing Yan repeated.
“What? You… you’re Jing Yan?” The female warrior recognized him.
“Yes, I am.” Jing Yan gave the girl a friendly smile.
“Well… I will write down your information now. May I ask what rank are you currently at?” The girl seemed to have regained her composure. She quickly took out a form.
“The Seventh Heaven,” Jing Yan said with a smile.
“The Seventh Heaven?” She jerked her head up again, eyes filled with surprise.
She knew about Jing Yan, and she had heard the rumors about him as well. When she and her friends talked about the talented warriors of Dong Lin City, Jing Yan was obviously one of the warriors they had discussed. She had felt bad for Jing Yan in recent years. After all, Jing Yan was once the No. 1 genius of Dong Lin City.
But, hadn’t Jing Yan’s rank fallen to the Third Heaven? A lot of warriors in Dong Lin City knew about it. How could it suddenly have returned to the Seventh Heaven?
“Yes. It’s the Seventh Heaven of martial arts,” Jing Yan confirmed, still smiling.
“You are a High-ranking warrior then,” the girl said in a lowered voice. “Mr. Yan, contests between High-ranking warriors need to be handled by the Manager. Please come this way, I will take you to her.”