Ch139 – Fully Equipped for the Journey

　　Soul Bead almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

　　Frankly speaking, he felt that this kid had thick skin, a dark conscience, an ambitious heart, and very talented, which made him regard the kid very highly. But there was just one point of his that had always made him sneered at and looked down upon.

　　“Kid, you’re totally devoted to him now, but in the future he would just come to think of your goodwill as something that’s par for the course. You’re raising a white-eyed wolf!” Soul Bead exhorted earnestly.

　　“I would rather he bore no gratitude towards me, and treated my goodwill as par for the course.” Lin Xuanzhi said with the face of an indulgent parent.

　　“…” Soul Bead shuddered, and cursed ‘rotten wood can’t be carved’, then he shut up and pretended to be dead.

　　That kid has already suffered a Qi deviation and can’t be saved anymore!

　　Yan Tianhen walked out from behind the screen. The robe was a magic treasure that can tailor itself to the cultivator’s figure, so it looked absolutely fitting for him.

　　Yan Tianhen looked down at his clothes and asked, “Dage, does it look good?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled and studied him, then nodded, “It does. Ah Hen has a good figure, so anything would look good on you.”

　　Yan Tianhen chuckled and lunged forward into Lin Xuanzhi’s embrace. He hugged Lin Xuanzhi’s neck and wiggled into his arms, then said with crescent-shaped eyes, “Dage, you’re so good to me. I like Dage the best.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s heart felt absolutely warm. He thought that there was nothing more important in this world than Yan Tianhen’s happiness.

　　“Since you like it, I’ll make a few more for Ah Hen in the future ba.” Lin Xuanzhi smiled.

　　“It’s better if you don’t.” Yan Tianhen rubbed his nose and grinned, “It’s a bit of a waste for me to wear it.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen for a moment, then nodded pensively, “Yeah, then I’ll make it for Ah Gu next time!”

　　Yan Tianhen, “…”

　　Yan Tianhen spoke out of a sense of righteousness, “No, Ah Gu doesn’t like wearing new clothes. It’s better for Dage to make them for me ba.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi laughed.

　　Ling Chigu who had just climbed in through the window: “…”

　　No, he likes them QAQ!

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Ling Chigu with a profound gaze, “That corpse has some intelligence. He knows when to run and when to come back.”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Ling Chigu too and nodded, “Ah Gu is very smart. He can feel my thoughts. Even if I don’t say anything, he’ll know what to do, so don’t worry about Ah Gu getting discovered easily.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “I just wonder what his current combat level is.”

　　Even though Ling Chigu’s cultivation had been maintained at the Hardened Body stage, that’s only on the surface. In fact, no one can be sure of the level that could be brought into play in battle unless one actually engaged in a battle.

　　Yan Tianhen scratched his head and grinned, “Although I don’t know that, one thing I can be certain of is that Ah Gu must be a lot stronger than me.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, “…”

　　Well, that is true.

　　Since that’s the case, there’s nothing for him to worry about.

　　As soon as he turned around, Lin Xuanzhi saw Yan Tianhen walk over to a small basket covered with a piece of cloth. He uncovered the cloth, revealing a gray and bald bird deep in slumber.

　　Ah Bai and Hu Po went over to look at the bald bird.

　　Hu Po looked disgusted. He didn’t expect that Ah Hen had actually picked up an ugly and useless fellow who could really sleep a lot.

　　Yan Tianhen looked at the bald bird a little sadly, “Dage, Maomao has always been sleeping. Do we take it with us?”

　　“Maomao?” Lin Xuanzhi asked.

　　“Yeah, that’s the name I gave the bird. It looks so bald, so it must wish to have a lot more hair (mao). Daddy used to say that when parents name their children, the names would always embody wonderful hope.” Yan Tianhen said with a lot of reasoning.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth twitched and thought, a fallen phoenix really isn’t even as good as a chicken.

　　Lin Xuanzhi had no energy to comment on the name of this phoenix. His gaze swept over the phoenix that was probably almost done absorbing an earth-level medicinal pill, “It’s such a small bird. Even if you do bring it along, it wouldn’t take up too much space.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded, “I think so, too. When we set off tomorrow, we’ll have one bald bird, one Ah Gu, and two tiger cubs!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “Just now, I went to our residence. Tomorrow, we’ll probably have to set off together with the other people in our family for the Middle Continent.”

　　Yan Tianhen was a little disappointed and pouted, “I don’t want to go with them. I only want to be with Dage.”

　　The other pupils from the Lin family don’t treat Yan Tianhen very well. In fact, most of them have insulted him before. In any case, it was only a matter of course for Yan Tianhen to dislike them.

　　However, Lin Xuanzhi had other considerations.

　　“Ah Hen, Dage wants to set off with you alone, too. But, this Hundred Families Gathering will begin with families in its opening. If we split up right after leaving, others would easily think that the Lin family has a lot of internal strife. In that case, people with malicious intentions would take the chance to drive a wedge between us. Although I don’t count on the Lin family, I don’t want the Lin family to fall apart so early either.”

　　When he heard this, Yan Tianhen stuck out his tongue and blinked charmingly, “Dage, I was just saying that casually. I know what the pros and cons are.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “Okay then. We’ll split up into a few carriages tomorrow to leave. By then, it’ll be enough, as long as we don’t sit with the annoying ones.”

　　Early next morning, hundreds of Lin people gathered in the main mansion of the Lin family to send off the ten pupils who are about to represent the Lin family in the Hundred Families Gathering.

　　The three elders stood on a high platform as they looked at the ten young men who were in high spirits, and for a moment, no one spoke.

　　“I wonder what our transportation will be this time.” Lin Yurou said expectantly.

　　Lin Zezhi cast a glance at her, “Apparently, it’ll be a carriage driven by three Chasing Sun horses, and they can travel thousands of miles a day.”

　　“Ah!” Lin Yurou uttered a surprised cry.

　　Chasing Sun horses are the most suitable horses for long journeys. Although they weren’t demonic beasts, they are intelligent animals, and each horse costs at least 10,000 gold. These 15 Chasing Sun horses could be said to be the treasures of the Lin family.

　　For the Hundred Families Gathering thirty years ago, the Lin family only dispatched 3 people to attend it, and only gave them three Chasing Sun horses — one horse per person. They didn’t even have a carriage. In comparison, it could be seen how much hope the Lin family was placing on the Hundred Families Gathering this time.

　　A few Lin family pupils revealed satisfied and pleased expressions.

　　Lin Dong couldn’t help from rubbing his palms together, “When can we leave? I really want to see what it would look like for three Chasing Sun horses to pull one carriage.”

　　Lin Yao nodded, “Once we reach Middle Continent, we’ll definitely become the center of attention there!”

　　“Yeah. After all, we have 15 Chasing Sun horses!” Lin Dong clicked his tongue.

　　Lin Zezhi was really happy at first, but after he cast a glance at Lin Xuanzhi by some chance, he realised that the other party merely maintained a composed expression, and didn’t reveal a single trace of joy.

　　Lin Zezhi asked, “Xuanzhi Tangdi, you don’t look very proud of your achievements.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi lightly replied, “It’s merely a means of transportation. If we were to talk about being proud, although Chasing Sun horses are rarely seen in Qing City, it wouldn’t be as conspicuous in the Middle Continent. There’s nothing to be proud of.”

　　When Lin Zezhi heard that, he felt extremely displeased and said with a long face, “Xuanzhi Tangdi, why do you need to praise others and extinguish your own might at this kind of timing?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi cast a glance at him, “I was just being realistic.”

　　“Tsk, a bunch of brats who haven’t seen the world.” Lin Yangzhi sneered and walked over with Feng Jianian.

　　When they saw Feng Jianian, a few Lin family pupils bowed.

　　But Feng Jianian walked up to Lin Xuanzhi and greeted, “Fellow Xuanzhi.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “Fellow Feng, did you have a good rest last night?”

　　Feng Jianian nodded.

　　Feng Jianian said, “The Hundred Families Gathering is at hand, so I’ll have to leave first and go to the Feng family to have a look. Therefore, I won’t be travelling with you guys.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled lightly, “I won’t send you off then.”

　　Lin Yangzhi’s cold glance swept across Lin Xuanzhi, “My younger sister and I will leave with Shixiong, so we’ll leave first, too, and won’t travel with you guys.”

　　Lin Yaer revealed a mocking smile and said slowly, “Xuanzhi Tangdi, we’ll arrive at the Middle Continent very soon, the rest of you can slowly make your way there.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi just said lightly, “I approve it, the two of you can leave now.”

　　Lin Yangzhi’s expression changed, “You–!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s gaze turned slightly cold, “I was appointed by the head to be the supervising officer of the Lin family in the Hundred Families Gathering, so you should report to me. Now that I’ve approved your leave, what else do you have to say about it?’

　　Lin Yangzhi was so stifled his breathing became irregular. He grit his teeth and pointed at Lin Xuanzhi, “Lin Xuanzhi, don’t be too arrogant. Otherwise, you’ll suffer what you deserve one day!”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “You don’t need to worry about that. The time has come, you can go now.”

　　It was as if Feng Jianian didn’t see the shadows of the swords they exchanged and smiled, “I’ll wait for your arrival in Sky Peak City.”

　　After Feng Jianian spoke, he took out a magic treasure that was about as long as a finger from his storage bag and tossed it up into the sky. The magic treasure turned into a boat that looked like a green leaf. Feng Jianian waved his sleeves and jumped onto it, with Lin Yangzhi and Lin Yaer following close behind.

　　Within the blink of an eye, the leaf boat had vanished into the sea of clouds.

　　The Lin family pupils stared at the shadow that had disappeared into the sea of clouds with both envy and jealousy, and couldn’t help themselves from commenting.

　　“That transportation tool is really flashy. It would be great if I had one, too.”

　　“Lin Yangzhi Tangxiong should be the most impressive person in our generation ba.”

　　“In comparison, the Chasing Sun horses really don’t seem to be worth mentioning anymore.”

　　Lin Zezhi’s complexion turned pale. He walked over to Lin Xuanzhi and asked, “Xuanzhi Tangdi, when you said that the head asked you to be the supervising officer of the Lin family during this Hundred Families Gathering, was that true?”

　　He would rather Lin Xuanzhi had just said that in order to anger Lin Yangzhi.

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at him, “Of course, it’s true.”

　　Lin Zezhi’s heart sank, “Then, who would follow us? Don’t tell me they intend to let us go by ourselves?”

　　One must know that during the Hundred Families Gathering every year, it was very easy to suffer ambushes on the way to the said gathering. On the way there, many families’ young sprouts die, and thus, the protection of an expert was necessary.

　　Lin Xuanzhi said lightly, “The head has already dispatched 20 experts who are at least of a Foundation Stage and above to protect us. There’s even a primary-level cultivator amongst them, so you don’t need to worry about safety.”

　　“Primary-level cultivator?” Lin Zezhi’s eyes widened, “Who is it?”

　　“Me.” A young man dressed in a purple robe had one leg over his other knee as he sat on a blue Luan, and jumped down from the air.

　　He leaned lazily against the blue Luan with a feather fan in his hand, and cast a glance at Lin Xuanzhi, “Lil’ Xuanzhi, it’s only been a few days, so why have you grown so tall? And you’re even getting more beautiful by the day.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “Fourth Elder, I haven’t seen you in about five to six years.”

　　The one who came was the Lin family’s fourth elder, Lin Liuchun. He was an elusive person who traveled outside all year round, seldom spotted in the Lin family.

　　The last time Lin Xuanzhi saw Lin Liuchun was six years ago.