Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 461 Changes on Canglan Island
The backyard of Canglan Club.

Chu Zining was extremely excited as he told Lin Chen about Canglan Island, mainly the changes that had taken place in Daliang during this period.

"Not long after you left with the adults of the Canglan Sect, many islands came to visit our island. For example, Jiushan Island showed goodwill towards our Great Liang..."

Lin Chen listened quietly as Senior Brother Chu mentioned Jiushan Island. Back when he was on the Dragon King's ship, he met a young man named Wei Xuan from Jiushan Island. During his time on the ship, he got along well with the other young men and even won first place in a competition.

Wei Xuan and his fellow youths must have relayed this news back to their respective islands, and these islands, aware of their martial arts potential, came to befriend them in advance.

"With the introduction of the strongmen on these islands and the elders of our Martial Arts Alliance, our Great Liang has also made contact with many sects in the East Sea Region. However, at the beginning, these sects did not think much of the young people of our Great Liang. It was very difficult to send the young people of our Great Liang to their sects. At that time, Lord Kong and the others tried every means to help the young martial artists of our Great Liang go out."

As someone who had always followed Kong Qifeng, Chu Zining knew best how much effort Kong and his men had put into this during that period, and how their faces had become much more haggard.

While the East China Sea region is indeed vast, the reality is that the number of martial artists far exceeds the number of sects.

Each sect needs to cultivate its disciples, and with limited resources, it needs to strictly control the number of disciples.

“Junior Brother Lin, there are very few geniuses like you in the entire Yan Dynasty. People like Meng Xing are considered geniuses in the Nine Kingdoms, but in the East Sea Region, they just barely meet the requirements of these sects to recruit disciples. However, there are quite a few such young people in the entire East Sea Region. For those sects, they are in the range of those who can be recruited or not.”

Lin Chen nodded upon hearing this, understanding what Senior Brother Chu meant.

In terms of talent, Junior Brother Meng and his companions are not bad at all. However, their disadvantage lies in the fact that the Great Liang Dynasty had not established contact with the Yan Dynasty before, resulting in a lack of martial arts resources. As a result, their cultivation level is much lower than that of other young people in the East Sea Region. All sects measure a martial artist's potential based on age and cultivation level.

Although this method is unfair, and some people from well-off families are at the same age and level, the latter's potential is obviously higher than the former's, the major sects will not care about these things unless their potential is extremely outstanding, like themselves. Otherwise, the major sects do not care whether this method is fair to the young people participating in the assessment.

Family background is also a part of potential.

To achieve absolute fairness, extremely detailed assessment rules would be required. No sect would go to such lengths to ensure that its disciples, who at best only reach the middle level of the sect, would be able to achieve such a high level of success.

In this situation, if all the conditions are met but the number of sect disciples is limited, then the only option left is for the forces behind the young man to use their unique abilities.

"Originally, the esteemed elders were thinking of training a new batch of young people, but Lord Kong rejected the idea. Lord Kong felt that this batch of young martial artists should not be sacrificed, so he decided to use the innate energy of Daliang as a bargaining chip to exchange for the opportunity for Meng Xing and the others to join the sect."

Chu Zining recounted the predicament Kong Qifeng had faced. Kong Qifeng enjoyed a very high reputation in Daliang, but even so, his proposal was opposed by many officials in the court.

Even if Meng Xing and his group join a sect, they won't receive much attention. However, if they use their innate energy to exchange for more martial arts cultivation resources with other islands or in the East China Sea, and use that to nurture the next generation of youths, within three to five years, the new generation of youths will be seen as having greater potential by the major sects, and will be able to enjoy more sect resources after joining a sect.

"Everyone was not acting out of personal selfishness, but out of consideration for the future of the Great Liang. They discussed this matter in court several times. In the end, it was only after Lord Kong met with His Majesty that His Majesty finally agreed, and the officials in the court stopped arguing."

Lin Chen nodded. Whether it was Lord Kong or the other officials who opposed him, none of them were wrong. In fact, to some extent, Lord Kong seemed to be acting more emotionally.

But this is the Master Kong I know.

As the Minister of the Martial Arts Department, Lord Kong was responsible for every student. He couldn't bear to see Meng Xing and his fellow students, who were about to be discovered in the wider world of martial arts, end up in Daliang, their talents fading away.

"Fortunately, news of your ascent to the top of Martial Arts Mountain soon followed. When it was learned that you were from our Great Liang, the entire East Sea Region was in an uproar. Many sects took the initiative to go to Great Liang to recruit disciples. Meng Xing and the others did not need Great Liang to provide resources in exchange. As long as they met the entry requirements of the major sects, they were able to enter the sect smoothly."

At this point, Chu Zining looked at Lin Chen with deep emotion. Back then, when Lin Chen became a model student in Jiangnan Dao, all the students in Poyang County benefited from it. He even said at the time that the students in Poyang County were lucky to have caught up with the times and benefited from Lin Chen's success.

But who could have imagined that just a few years later, all the martial artists in the entire Liang Dynasty, and even the entire island, would benefit from Lin Chen's influence?

When one person attains enlightenment, the whole island benefits.

Even the Han Kingdom, which had always been at odds with the Great Liang, has now submitted and paid tribute. The Han emperor even erected a statue of Lin Chen in the capital, and the other countries followed suit.

"Later, Lord Hu from the East Sea Divine Palace visited our Great Liang and suggested that the island be named Canglan Island. This would avoid some unnecessary troubles, such as some powerful people not knowing the situation on the island, not knowing that Junior Brother Lin came from the island, and thus having conflicts with our Great Liang."

Chu Zining then explained to Lin Chen why the island was named Canglan Island.

Any innate expert who hears the name "Canglan" will inevitably associate it with the Canglan Sect.

There are many powerful individuals from other regions in the East China Sea who search for treasures on various islands. Some of them even hide their identities and forcibly plunder the resources of some islands. Every year, many islands in the East China Sea are ravaged.

Especially for those with fewer innate experts, it would be one thing if they only looted martial arts resources, but some ruthless ones would even slaughter the island's martial artists. The East Sea Divine Palace also arranged for stewards to patrol, but the East Sea is too vast, and the stewards of the East Sea region cannot arrive immediately. Moreover, those looters hide in the vast ocean afterward, and the stewards cannot find them.

Unless a powerful expert at the fifth or sixth level of the Innate Realm is dispatched to track them down, but would such a powerful expert be dispatched just because an island has been looted? The looters dared to do this precisely because they knew this.

Now that the island has been renamed Canglan Island, the powerful individuals who come to the island will try to learn about its situation. When they learn that Lin Chen, currently the number one in Martial Arts Mountain and a direct disciple of the Canglan Sect, has emerged from the island, they will become wary.

"Of the islands that emerged from the annihilation storm with us, seven have already been sacked, and on one island, more than half of the warriors have been slaughtered."

Hearing Chu Zining's explanation, Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. Isn't this just pirates?
However, these pirates were all experts at the Innate Realm, and they specialized in plundering small islands with no background or backing.

"Are there many innate martial artists on Canglan Island right now?"

"Currently, our Martial Arts Alliance has seventeen elders, all of whom are at the Innate First Realm. Among the many islands revealed this time, their strength is already considered the strongest."

In Chu Zining's eyes, seventeen experts at the first level of the Innate Realm were already a terrifying force. However, after stepping into the second level of the Innate Realm, Lin Chen knew even more clearly that even if these seventeen experts at the first level of the Innate Realm joined forces, they would not be a match for a single expert at the second level of the Innate Realm.

The steward Hu from the East Sea Divine Palace did indeed offer a good idea. If a second-stage Innate Realm expert were to covet the treasures on Canglan Island, the elders of the Martial Alliance wouldn't be able to deter them. On the contrary, his presence would make them hesitant to act rashly.

Half an hour later, Chu Zining finished recounting the changes that had taken place on Canglan Island. He then looked at Yin Yue, who had been sitting quietly in a chair to the side, and asked with a smile, "Junior Brother Lin, who is this little girl?"

“A junior of one of my senior brothers, upon learning that I was going home, insisted on coming along to play. He was very mischievous, and my senior brother couldn’t control him.”

Lin Chen fabricated an identity and background for Yin Yue, which he had thought of on the way back. If anyone asked in detail, he would pin it on his third senior brother.

Naughty?

Chu Zining's expression was a bit strange. This little girl had been sitting here for half an hour without moving an inch, which was really not related to the word "mischievous".

My own daughter, at this age, couldn't sit still for a moment, that's what you call really naughty.

"So you're a junior of your senior brother. Welcome to Canglan Island, young lady."

Chu Zining spoke with a smile, but Yin Yue did not respond and remained seated.

"Senior Brother Chu, this little one is unruly, don't take it personally."

Hearing Lin Chen come to his rescue, Chu Zining understood that this girl was not just unruly; her behavior was no less refined than that of other young ladies from noble families. She must be of noble birth and looked down on him, which was why she didn't want to talk to him.

Chu Zining didn't care about this. During his time in Linhai City, he had met many descendants of innate experts, and they were all very arrogant. The descendants of the first innate realm were better, but those of the second and third innate realms wouldn't even give him a glance if he weren't the curator of the Canglan Hall and had Junior Brother Lin standing behind him.

The second-rank realm is equivalent to the strength of someone's bodyguard, not even the strongest one.

"Junior Brother Lin, you need to return to Canglan Island. I'll arrange a boat for you..."

"No need for that trouble. I've already booked the Dragon King Ship, and I should be able to board it in the next few days."

"That's true. With your current status, Junior Brother Lin, you'll definitely be traveling on the Dragon King's ship. I didn't expect that."

Chu Zining slapped his thigh. He realized that even if he arranged it himself, he would only arrange an ordinary ship. But given Junior Brother Lin's current status and position, he would definitely have to ride the fastest and most comfortable Dragon King Ship.

"What was Junior Brother Lin's appearance just now?"

"People are afraid of becoming famous, just as pigs are afraid of getting fat. Many people have seen me after my battle at Wudao Mountain. If I were to travel with my true face, I would probably have to deal with a lot of social obligations along the way. So I might as well change my appearance to avoid wasting time."

Hearing Lin Chen's explanation, Chu Zining smiled knowingly. Given Lin's current fame, if he were to travel in his true form, he would indeed have many more social engagements along the way. If he were to refuse them all, it would seem disrespectful to others.

Burdened by fame...

Who would have thought that this kind of experience, which is usually only available to strong people who have cultivated for many years, was already experienced by Junior Brother Lin at the age of only twenty?

(End of this chapter)