Chapter 104: A Large Number of Powerful Individuals Take Action

  Huo Tian's hands trembled as he took the pill, his tension almost rendering him speechless.

  As Lin said, after entering the second rank, he spent decades cultivating, although his progress was steady, but it was too arduous and long to reach the third rank, so much so that he had been bitter and never relaxed for a moment, until now he still can't break through. As the years went by, being able to rush up and break through, stepping into the third rank, has almost become his most sought-after pursuit.

  Today, Lin Hong unexpectedly gave away this fourth-grade inner elixir and advanced to the third-grade Plank of Nails!

  ...this taught him how to be calm and composed, and how not to lose his temper?

  Three Treasures, this is the dream that has been sprouting and running through since he started practicing martial arts! This almost extinct in Qingniu Town, and became countless people's eager expectation, at this moment it was within his reach. It can be said that with the value of this elixir, once it spreads out, it will inevitably attract countless people to come and frantically grab for it!

  Lin Hang, everything is Lin Hang.

  He was filled with gratitude, and if he hadn't chosen Lin Huan under tremendous pressure at the beginning, and had not persisted in trusting him through thick and thin, would they have developed a father-son-like bond between them today? Would he have given himself this priceless treasure of inner dan without hesitation? It was precisely that day's all-or-nothing choice that brought back enormous returns.

  He felt unprecedentedly proud of his lofty aspirations for that day.

  He looked down at the dan medicine in his hand, as if he was in a dream, everything wasn't that real.

  Lin Heng saw him being overwhelmed by immense joy, and smiled: "Time is pressing, I will go inform a few elders to protect you, tonight we will rush through the stages!"

  Inside "Duobao Hall", the faint light flickered in the silent room.

  "Latest intelligence shows that the Qiu family of Jinyuan City has already mobilized its troops, deploying a large number of powerful individuals to launch the first step in invading Qingniu Town. Among them are ten third-grade strongmen and one fourth-grade strongman... not including the family head, Qiu Lian."

  Lu Zizhen said calmly, "What a big move, for the sake of a small Qingniu Town, the Qiu family has almost gone all out! He is so eager to make a big show, it's also a sign that he looks up to Cao Guan. Such a grand attack and mobilization, although Cao Guan is formidable, but he doesn't have three heads and six arms, the Cao family can't withstand 90% of it. Unless the Cao family can join forces with other powers like last time, send people to secretly spy on the empty Qiu family, make Qiu Ze unable to take care of both ends, and dare not act rashly, otherwise, disaster is imminent."

  "This shouldn't be possible, the Qiu family came out in full force and must have considered this factor, making sufficient preparations. By the way, there's another piece of news: Cao Guan was heavily injured after being ambushed by the Qiu family that day. The internal report from the Cao family says that Cao Guan only has a few days left to live. I think this intelligence is accurate. This also explains why the Qiu family launched such a strong attack at this time. — Once Cao Guan dies, the Cao family will be leaderless, and with such a swift and decisive move, Qingniu Town will be doomed, almost becoming a possession of the Qiu family."

  Lu Fuzi sighed and said: "Is our Baobao shop going to relocate again?"

  In recent years, the Qiu family's encroachment on Zhou Bian Town has been rapid. The "Duobao Hall" had already withdrawn to Qingniu Town, but unexpectedly, the Qiu family followed suit and arrived in Qingniu Town as well. With Duobao Hall's strength, it would be no problem to eliminate the Qiu family, let alone Jinquan City. However, they have a strict rule: they can only use force for self-defense and cannot use force to intervene in worldly disputes.

  "Jin Yuan Cheng is so indulgent to the Qiu family, I suppose their purpose is not simple? Doesn't he fear that the Qiu family will grow stronger and turn against them? Does Jin Yuan Cheng really have such confidence in being able to completely control the Qiu family?"

  "It started with a somewhat indulgent idea, thinking of getting tribute from the Qiu family. But now it's probably out of control, and the Qiu family is becoming more and more unscrupulous, which proves this point. Its strength has gradually become able to contend with that of Jin Yuan Cheng, if he doesn't stop it anymore, the Qiu family will gain another piece of land in Qing Niu Town, and Qing Niu Town, after being managed by Cao Guan, is also a rich and prosperous place, which will inevitably add wings to the tiger, and its strength will increase again. Hmph, if Jin Yuan Cheng still doesn't make up his mind and holds onto his wait-and-see attitude, he'll be the next one."

  Luffy snorted coldly.

  "By the way, I almost forgot one thing. The third-rank official killed by Lin Huan yesterday was confirmed to be Qiu Ze, the only younger brother of Qiu Lian. And the third-rank official who escaped is Xu Fu, a former guest minister of the Qiu family and now the commander of the prefectural guard. Also, Prefect Cao Guan appeared at Qi Li Gou yesterday, and Qiu Ze's target was him. Unexpectedly, the assassination failed, and he was killed by Lin Huan instead! It seems that the Qiu family is extremely enraged about this, which is why they mobilized troops so quickly, also related to this."

  Luffy's eyes, which had been unrelated to the matter at hand, suddenly came to life.

  "Is Lin Huan also involved in this war? This is getting interesting! Why did Cao Kun secretly arrive at Qili Gou? He and Lin Huan should be sworn enemies, so why is Lin Huan helping him eliminate his assassin?"

  "Is Cao Guan really only left with two days of life?" Rourouzi frowned, and immediately nodded: "It must be so! Cao Guan's trip is to make amends with Lin Yang and invite him to join forces against the Qiu family. That's why Lin Yang was able to defeat the Qiu family! If Cao Guan wasn't injured, he wouldn't have let Lin Yang take action. With just a casual move from him, Qiu Ze would have been annihilated. Cao Guan's fourth-grade cultivation can deceive others, but it can't deceive the eyes of Duobao Hall."

  "Interesting, really interesting." Roronoa Zoro said calmly, tapping on the edge of the table.

  At the same time, he couldn't help but admire Cao Guan's courage and wisdom. Faced with such a crisis, he was able to put aside his grudges and take the initiative to make amends with Lin Hong, joining forces to fight side by side. No wonder the Cao family prospered under his rule, entering its most glorious era? No wonder the Qiu family had been trying to extend their influence into Qingniu Town for years, but had always found it difficult to do so?

  This Cao Zhen is indeed a capable person, and I really underestimated him before.

  Mr. Wan laughed and said, "Because of a single Cai, Lin Heng made the Cao family so flustered that they were covered in shit, and their prestige plummeted. Now with the arrival of the Qiu family, no one dares to provoke them, but this jinx is provoked instead. This time, who knows what kind of disastrous consequences the Qiu family will face!"

  Lufu's eyes were fixed on him with interest, and a hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

  What's gotten into you, that you've actually taken a liking to Lin Heng?

  "I was also caught off guard by this little guy's explosion, in short, since he made a bet with the Cao family, I've found that any common sense doesn't work on him. The more unlikely the situation, the more impossible the victory, the more astonishing the win, the more likely he is to defy everyone's expectations and turn things around. This time, judging from their strength, the Cao family almost had no chance of winning and was waiting to be defeated by the Qiu family. But I don't know why, as soon as Lin Yang made his move, I felt that something wasn't right, that common sense would definitely not apply. So this time, I'm going to watch the Cao family with you."

  His words were self-contradictory, confusing and topsy-turvy, others might find them bewildering, but to Lu, they were crystal clear expressions of his feelings.

  Lufu saw him speaking humorously and smiled: "You finally know that Lin Huan is an interesting person."

  Mr. Liang was taken aback, and it wasn't until then that he realized what the old man meant by "interesting". He once again felt the gap between himself and this old man, something he had sensed from the beginning but only now understood. Alas, he still had a long way to go in learning from this old man's abilities.

  He recalled the previous appointment with Lin and Cao, where they gambled, and he promised that if Lin won, he would go to the northwest wilderness to develop the "Duobao Hall", but now he regretted it. It turned out that everything had been planned by him long ago, and he had fallen into this guy's trap.

  "Lu Ru Zi, Lin Hong has refused our invitation, but such a rare talent, are we just going to give up on him?"

  When it comes to this matter, Lu Fuzi also felt very depressed and sighed slightly, then said: "The more precious and rare the talent is, the less likely it will be easily obtained. It's easy to recruit people but hard to win their hearts, there's no need to rush, one must have patience."

  "Lin Heng seems to be unaware of our strength, so it's hard to impress him for the time being. Although there is a confidentiality clause in the contract, I think it's worth breaking it once to recruit him."

  "Useless," Ruo Fu Zi waved his hand and said. "From my observation of him, he has high aspirations and doesn't want to be restricted by freedom or controlled by others. That's why he is extremely cautious about joining a sect's power. Without sufficient understanding and considerable cost, it's hard to move his heart."

  The two of them talked for a while and then turned back to the war between the Qiu family and the Cao family.

  "If the estimate is correct, Cao Guanjun knew he wouldn't live long and joined hands with Lin Huan, indicating that he had temporarily handed over the decision-making power of the Cao family to Lin Huan. The useless sons of the Cao family were too incompetent, and there was no other way to let the Cao family have a glimmer of hope for resistance. This has its advantages, which is that Lin Huan can possess basic strength and counter the Qiu family; but also has its disadvantages, that is, the Cao family will definitely be in internal strife, dissatisfied with Lin Huan's insertion as an outsider, and it is unknown whether Lin Huan can handle it."

  Lufu said: "Lin Heng has always been tolerant and peaceful, but he is not a soft-hearted person. His decisive killing makes me also feel admiration, it's easy for him to take down the Cao family's young masters. Now he faces the biggest problem, the large-scale strongmen of the Qiu family who have come out this time. One fourth-rank, ten third-ranks, and due to the influence of Qiu Ze's death, even Qiu Lian, a fourth-rank, may arrive, it can be said that they are coming out in full force. While on his side, not counting the five secret guest officials of the Cao family, only he is a third-rank, the gap in strength is too great."

  Mr. Twenty Thousand also sighed: "From the look of it, he has no chance of winning at all!"

  But then he laughed and said, "However, this is also the most exciting part. I'm really curious to know what method Lin Heng used to stage a shocking reversal, leaving the Qiu family covered in shit and returning empty-handed!"

  Thanks for the reward of "The Lost Love"