This martial saint is too cautious.

Chapter 99 Status (Please Subscribe)

"Let me go? No way!"

Inside the water fortress, Huo Shen sneered as he stared at Zhu Daren: "Did you speak ill of me to Grandfather again, Zhu Daren? You must remember, I am Grandfather's only grandson, and you are just a dog by his side."

Zhu Daren's expression remained unchanged: "This was the decision made by the old alliance leader. Four water fortresses were destroyed today, and the old alliance leader was afraid that something big might happen at Duanlongtan, so he asked you to leave and hide first."

"Pah!"

Huo Shen spat out a mouthful of phlegm: "Isn't it just some Blood Exchange Realm martial artist coming to avenge his family? This kind of thing has happened before. Perfect—I'll wait here and see if that guy dares to come here."

In Huo Shen's view, the identity of the murderer who destroyed the four villages was quite simple.

It's not uncommon for a relative of one of the people they killed to come seeking revenge, but most of those who come for revenge end up feeding the river fish.

The only difference is that most of the previous visitors were skin-grinding martial artists who secretly lurked in Duanlong Beach to seek revenge, while this time a martial artist at the Blood Exchange Realm has arrived.

Although Zhao Heizi was a first-stage Blood Exchange martial artist, his blood and qi were too low. After just entering the fourth stage of the Skin Refining Realm, he spent all his wealth and impatiently exchanged the Blood Exchange Realm technique from his grandfather. He was the most useless type of Blood Exchange martial artist.

Being able to kill Zhao Heizi doesn't necessarily mean that the other party is very strong.

"Go back and tell my grandfather that he's not leaving, so how can I abandon him and leave alone!"

Hearing Huo Shen's words, Zhu Daren said no more. The old alliance leader would not force Huo Shen to leave.

Because the old leader was most susceptible to Huo Shen's filial piety rhetoric.

A courtyard by the river.

Lin Yan continued his daily cultivation as always, but unlike when he first arrived, Zhou Chuan began to visit the courtyard less and less frequently.

For the first few days, Zhou Chuan would come to the courtyard to report on the day's patrol after his daily patrol, even if there was nothing else to do. But now—he hasn't come for two days in a row. Zhao Tong, on the other hand, still comes to the courtyard every day and is always very respectful to him.

Noon.

Zhao Tong frowned as he looked at Zhou Chuan returning from patrol: "Old Zhou, aren't you going to report today's patrol situation to Young Master Yan?"

"No need, nothing will happen as usual."

-

Zhou Chuan shook his head, then walked straight towards his courtyard. Zhao Tong hesitated for a moment, then quickly walked up to him and lowered his voice: "Old Zhou, don't overstep your bounds. No matter what, Young Master Yan is a member of the main family, and a Blood Exchange Realm expert at that."

"I acknowledge the existence of Blood Exchange Realm experts, but the disciples of the main family vary from person to person."

Zhou Chuan curled his lip and lowered his voice as well: "They're clearly from a branch, but they insist on acting like they have powerful backers. Now they've been humiliated by a river bandit and can't even get revenge. If you ask me, Lao Zhao, you're the one who should be angry the most. Wasn't your action in the first place for his sake?"

At Lin Yan's request, Zhao Tong's act of erasing the rouge-stained writing could not be kept secret, and Zhou Chuan naturally found out as well.

"Old Zhou, you've gone a bit too far with that."

"I'm telling the truth. Old Zhao, it's fine if you patrol towards Huluzui, but when I patrol towards Blackwater Bay, I run into Yan Su of the Black Dragon Society passing by by boat. He directly used this incident to mock me. The news that Huo Shen sent rotten fish and shrimp has already spread throughout this area."

It's true that the Black Flood Dragon Society are river bandits, and it's also true that Zhou Chuan's patrol of the river was to chase and capture river bandits. But the key point is that Yan Su is one of the four Blood Exchange Realm experts of the Black Flood Dragon Society. Even if he wanted to take action, he wouldn't have the ability.

On the contrary, the other party did not attack them because they were wary of the Lin family.

"No matter what, showing your face to Young Master Yan every day won't cost you anything. We can't afford to offend someone of his status."

"There's no need for that. In my opinion, this guy won't stay long and will probably give up on his mission and leave on his own. Besides, he's a member of the Lin family's main branch, and so is my brother-in-law."

Compared to Zhao Tong, Zhou Chuan still felt somewhat superior. His older sister married a member of the second branch of the Lin family, a member of the "Shou" generation. It was with his brother-in-law's help that he was able to break through to the fourth level of skin polishing.

Although his brother-in-law hadn't reached the True Qi Realm either, his older brother was an absolute True Qi Realm expert. With that connection, he didn't need to curry favor with Lin Yan, and as long as he hadn't made any mistakes, he wasn't afraid of Lin Yan making things difficult for him.

"Hey, Lao Zhou—"

"You don't need to try to persuade me anymore. You know I'm just a stubborn person."

Hearing Zhou Chuan say this, Zhao Tong stopped trying to persuade him. Although he also felt that Young Master Yan's actions were somewhat naive, it was undeniable that this at least showed that Young Master Yan was not a cold-blooded person.

Just as Zhao Tong was about to lead his team on patrol, a subordinate's voice suddenly came from the riverbank: "A boat is coming, it's the master's boat."

On the river, three boats flying flags with the character "林" (Lin) were speeding towards the shore, less than a hundred feet away.

"It is Lord Shouzhi."

Zhao Tong looked around and found that Lord Lin Shouzhi was on the deck, but then he made an even more shocking discovery: Lord Lin Shouzhi was only third in position on the deck, and there were two other people standing in front of him.

On the ship, according to the rules, the person of the highest rank stands at the front on the deck.

On the decks of the other two ships stood many young people, all wearing white belts.

"People from the third branch of the main family, are those two True Qi Realm experts from the third branch? Has the third branch mobilized most of its clan? But what are they doing here?"

Zhao Tong murmured subconsciously, and the next moment a flash of lightning struck his mind. If he remembered correctly, three days ago Young Master Yan wrote a letter, and it was someone he arranged to deliver it.

So, the people from the third branch of the family came to support Young Master Yan?

"Old Zhou, who said Young Master Yan has no backing? Even if he's from a prominent family, he might not be able to summon so many people with just one letter—"

"Zhao Tong turned his head, but his words came to an abrupt halt. Old Zhou had already run more than ten feet away, and he was running towards the courtyard where Young Master Yan lived.

"Old Zhou, what are you doing?"

"Someone from the third branch of the main family has arrived. I'll go and inform Young Master Yan."

Zhou Chuan didn't turn his head, but quickened his pace.

Zhao Tong: ————

"Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle."

Lin Yan bowed and greeted them from the bow of the ship.

He had already seen the boat on the river before Zhou Chuan announced the news, and even saw the people on the boat earlier.

To be honest, when he saw the person who came, he was deeply moved.

I thought that even if someone from the third branch came, it would probably just be Hai Ge and his group. I didn't expect that two elders at the True Qi Realm would come. You should know that there are only five True Qi Realm experts in the entire third branch. It's almost half of them coming at once.

As for the young clansmen on the other two ships, they were almost half of the younger generation of the three branches of the clan. Those who didn't come were either in seclusion for cultivation or out on missions.

"Lin Yan, why didn't you tell me about Huo Shen? If you had, I would never have let him off!"

After Lin Yan finished greeting him, Lin Shouzhi spoke up from the side, his tone reproachful.

"Uncle Shouzhi, I thought you'd been quite busy lately dealing with those bandits, so I didn't want to bother you," Lin Yan explained.

"No matter how busy you are, you should tell me about this. Although I am from the first wife's family, I am still your elder."

"It's my nephew, I didn't think it through."

Lin Yan apologized sincerely. Whether Uncle Shouzhi truly didn't know or was pretending not to know was irrelevant.

"Shouzhi, it's getting late, let's go straight there."

Lin Shouheng spoke up to help Lin Yan out of the predicament: "Lin Yan, go to Minghai's ship."

Soon, Lin Yan's patrol team also boarded the ship, but they boarded the last ship, together with the Lin family's third branch of the skin-grinding clan and their sub-clan members.

"Brother Hai, this commotion—I'm a little apprehensive."

Lin Yan boarded the second ship and saw Hai Ge looking at him with a playful expression. He explained with a wry smile.

"So you're already feeling apprehensive? Who wrote in the letter that they were so wronged? If none of us came, we'd probably be heartbroken."

"No, Hai-ge, you've misunderstood me." Lin Yan chuckled, denying it.

"But what you wrote in your letter is right. Don't hide your grievances. You're from our third branch of the family, so naturally we'll support you. I'll tell you something else: besides Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle, there's someone else sitting in the cabin of that boat ahead. Can you guess who it is?"

Seeing Hai Ge winking at him, Lin Yan was stunned. A figure flashed through his mind, and he couldn't believe it:

;

Uncle Qi is here too?

"I have to say you have a lot of influence. Huo Shen gave you three boxes, and you gave him four True Qi Realm experts in return. Now you know your status in our Third Branch, right? Even I don't have that much influence."

After receiving confirmation from Hai Ge, Lin Yan couldn't help but look at the ships ahead. It was beyond his expectations that even Uncle Qi had been mobilized.

"Lin Yan, don't let Minghai trick you."

Lin Mingcheng, standing to the side, laughed and said, "Our third branch has kept a low profile these past few years, which has led many forces in Qingzhou Prefecture to think that our third branch is no longer viable. This time, our third and fourth uncles brought everyone here to make an example of them and intimidate these forces. As for our seventh uncle—that blind man Huo is also a True Qi Realm expert. We can't let him get away."

There was something Lin Mingcheng didn't say: the Water Bandit Alliance, the Black Dragon Society, and the Swallow Gang—these three water bandit forces were also showing signs of joining forces. The only fear was that these two groups might act rashly and help Huo the Blind escape, as if one of them were to fall and the other would be left vulnerable.

With Uncle Qi around, neither of these families can cause any trouble.

"Mingcheng, I was hoping to see Lin Yan moved to tears, but you just exposed me. How boring."

Lin Minghai was somewhat dissatisfied. Lin Yan's lips twitched. He knew that Brother Hai was joking, but no matter what the main reason was for his third uncle, fourth uncle, and even seventh uncle to come, it proved one thing: the elders of the third branch of the family truly regarded him as a real junior.

Otherwise, there are many ways to establish authority; there's no need to make such a fuss in the Dongjiang River area.

On the third ship, Zhou Chuan and Zhao Tong, with their keen insight, stood only in a corner on one side of the deck, leaving the main positions to the two groups of young people from the Lin family.

"It's been so long since our three branches of the family have mobilized like this. When we're killing the river bandits later, don't try to take it from me. I'm going to kill a hundred of them."

"Stop bragging. Killing a hundred? Do you think you're Uncle San or the others?"

"Hehe, I'll kill them all I see."

The young man who spoke didn't seem to care, and looked at the second ship: "Brother Yan's influence is really useful. Almost all of the younger generation from our third branch of the family have come this time, except for those who are in seclusion or on missions."

"If you could be like Brother Yan, reaching the Blood Exchange Realm at twenty and comprehending Sword Qi, and suppressing the Fourth Branch several times, you would also have such great influence."

"I only ask to reach the Blood Exchange Realm by the age of twenty, and to comprehend the spear intent. I don't even dare to dream of the Great Perfection level sword intent merging with the sword aura."

The younger generation of the third branch of the family chatted freely, mentioning Lin Yan in every conversation. Their tone was not one of jealousy or dissatisfaction, but rather one of genuine recognition and admiration. This made Lin Zhaowu and other branch members who came with them look on with deep envy.

Although they came from the same branch, Lin Yan had already gained the recognition and admiration of the younger generation of the main family, while they hadn't even had their names remembered by their peers in the main family.

By now, they no longer felt jealous of Lin Yan.

They might be jealous if their strength and status were similar, but as the gap between Lin Yan and them widened, their jealousy naturally disappeared.

Zhao Tong and Zhou Chuan, who were standing in the far corner, were particularly stunned.

Is Lin Yan's status in the third branch of the family really that high?

The two originally thought that Lin Yan was from a branch family. Although he had entered the Blood Exchange Realm and had the identity of a member of the Third Branch Family, it was just an identity. In terms of real status, he certainly couldn't compare with the Blood Exchange Realm experts from the Third Branch Family.

The reason is simple: those from the main family have their closest blood relatives standing behind them, while Lin Yan, who comes from a branch family, has a relationship with the elders of the third branch that is not even as close as that between Zhou Chuan and his brother-in-law's eldest brother.

They've got eyes but can't recognize a great person!

Zhou Chuan regretted it even more, wishing he had asked his brother-in-law about the situation back then.

Now, he only hoped that Lin Yan hadn't noticed his recent neglect.

It's all that damned Huo Shen's fault. After we wipe out the river bandit alliance this time, I'll go back to my brother-in-law and see if I can ask him to put in a good word for Lin Yan. Otherwise, it would be too easy for Lin Yan to make things difficult for me. He could just say a few words and arrange for me to patrol the river all day.

A river breeze is beginning to rise.

Three large ships spread out in a fan shape, silently approaching the reed marshes of Duanlongtan.

There were already experts at the Blood Exchange Realm clearing the way and eliminating the lookouts.

The Duanlong Beach stretches for three hundred miles, with reed marshes extending endlessly, crisscrossing waterways, numerous underwater spies, and even lurking bandits watching from within the reed marshes, seemingly making it difficult to besiege.

However, this is only what it seems!

Lin Zhishou had been stationed in the Dongjiang River area for several years and had long since thoroughly investigated the outer areas of the three bandit strongholds.

Originally, there was simply no need for a major undertaking.

Now that the third branch of the family has decided to strike decisively and completely wipe out the pirate alliance, the so-called sentries and wooden stakes are nothing.

The three boats were approaching the reed marshes. Half an hour earlier, the three True Qi Realm experts from the Lin family had each taken up a seat on one boat, and the Blood Exchange Realm warriors, including Lin Yan, had also split into two groups and boarded the other two boats.

As for Uncle Seven, he did not appear.

The members of the three branches of the clan all wore white belts and had their right hands resting on their weapons.

No one spoke, no one whispered.

Only the mournful sound of the river wind sweeping across the deck and the splashing sound of the bow cutting through the water could be heard.

The boat stopped in front of the reeds, and Lin Shouheng was the first to step into the reeds.

"Walk!"

One word.

It's not heavy, but it's clear enough.

Behind them, dozens of figures followed silently.

A series of footprints of varying depths were left on the muddy beach, which were quickly trampled and flattened by those behind.

Dozens of people disappeared into the depths of the reeds, like water seeping into sand, silently and without a trace.

Holding the Abyss Sword, Lin Yan led Zhao Tong and his group off the ship and headed straight in one direction.

That was the location of the water fortress where Huo Shen was hiding.

This time, many members of the third branch of the family were mobilized as a training exercise. The third and fourth uncles would not take the lead but would control the overall situation and only intervene if the situation became unfavorable.

Water village.

Inside the converted cabin, Huo Shen's laughter echoed throughout most of the water fortress.

"Why are you crying? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll play with you a little longer. If you keep crying, I'll cut out your tongues to eat with my drinks."

The cabin was lit by seven or eight oil lamps, making it as bright as day.

Thick felt carpets were laid on the ground, and several disheveled women huddled in a corner, shivering.

Huo Shen sat in a grand chair, looking at the women on the ground with a wicked glint in his eyes.

"I'm giving you a chance to live. Whoever can finish a jar of wine will live. Whoever drinks the slowest will only get to have some fun with my brothers."

Upon hearing this, the women on the carpet turned pale instantly. They disregarded everything else and hurriedly scrambled to the nearest wine jar, grabbing the wine and chugging it down their throats.

"Ahem!"

"Cough cough————"

Even though they were choked by the strong liquor, the women still dared not put it down.

Although they knew that falling into the hands of these river bandits meant their fate was sealed, they still clung to a sliver of hope and refused to give up until the very end.

"Haha, just as I thought—people really will stoop to low levels to survive!"

Huo Shen's expression gradually turned frenzied. He stood up from the armchair and was about to walk towards the women when, in the next moment, the cabin door was pushed open.

"Hurry, the Lin family has broken in!"

It was Zhu Daren who arrived. With his Blood Exchange Realm strength, he was sweating profusely, which showed how fast he had traveled all the way here, almost at full speed.

"The Lin family, what are you joking about? This is Duanlongtan. Even if Lin Shouzhi came, he wouldn't get away with it."

Huo Shen didn't care. With his grandfather there and so many bandits around, would the Lin family dare to attack?

If the Lin family really wants to die, they can just kill them all and then run away from Qingzhou.

"The Lin family has sent three True Qi Realm experts and more than a dozen Blood Exchange Realm warriors. The old alliance leader has already been stopped by two True Qi Realm experts from the Lin family. If he doesn't leave now, he won't be able to leave at all."

Zhu Daren looked coldly at Huo Shen. Upon hearing this, the madness on Huo Shen's face disappeared, and panic flashed in his eyes.

"Okay, I—I'll go."

Catching the panic in Huo Shen's eyes, Zhu Daren's eyes held a mocking glint. Huo Shen's arrogance stemmed entirely from the old alliance leader, and now that the old alliance leader was in trouble, he immediately lost his composure.

If he truly had guts and chose to fight the Lin family to the death, he would think more highly of Huo Shen.

But Huo Shen happens to be the old leader's only grandson, and he owes the old leader a life-saving favor, so he has no choice but to do everything in his power to rescue this fool.

"Stay close to me."

Zhu Daren led the way, leading Huo Shen out of the water village and about to disappear into the reeds when, in the next moment, a sword beam shot out from the reeds.

PS: Brothers, you guys are awesome! The average subscription has increased by 500. I owe you all an update. I originally wanted to continue writing, but if I wrote any more, it would be too late to publish. I really didn't intentionally hold back the chapter.

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