Chapter Eleven: Forgive My Frankness, but You Are All Worthless!

"Negative emotion value from Xiao Shuihan, +756!"
"Negative emotion value from Li Ji, +345!"
"Negative emotion value from Shangguan Feihong, +425!"
"Negative emotion value from Qian Jin...!"
"..."

Lin Fan paid no heed to the expressions of Xiao Shuihan and the other youths in their splendid robes. Deep in his heart, he was genuinely delighted; in just this short moment, his negative emotion value had already surpassed five thousand.

He felt he had finally mastered the method to earn negative emotion value. No, not earn—'farm' was the better word, just like grinding in a game!

"You bastard—!" Xiao Shuihan roared furiously and rushed forward. In a flash, he dashed out, only to be flung back in another lightning-fast move by Lin Fan.

Pfft!

Lin Fan flicked the hem of his robe and glanced at the faces of Xiao Shuihan and the other youths. He realized that harvesting any more negative emotion value here would truly forge lasting grudges.

One must develop stealthily—never act recklessly!

Yet, he couldn't resist making one last bold move...

Lin Fan flicked his robe and pointed at Xiao Shuihan and the other youths, suddenly shouting, "Forgive my bluntness, but all of you are trash!"

Xiao Shuihan: "???"
Li Ji: "???"
Shangguan Feihong: "???"
Qian Jin, Sun Hao, and Ou Hu: "?????"

For three full breaths, the area fell into a brief silence, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

"Damn it, I can't take it anymore! Brothers, let's get him—beat him up!"

Unable to endure any longer, Xiao Shuihan shouted, rallying the others to pummel Lin Fan. He truly couldn't hold back; it felt as though leaving home today without consulting the almanac had doomed him to a tragic fate.

The other five youths in their fine robes followed suit, charging at Lin Fan. They had already noticed that Lin Fan was far stronger than Xiao Shuihan.

All of them were on par with Xiao Shuihan; one-on-one, none stood a chance. Now that Lin Fan had angered them so thoroughly, their rage had reached its peak. With Xiao Shuihan's rallying cry, they all attacked, determined to teach Lin Fan a lesson.

"Negative emotion value from Xiao Shuihan, +999!"
"Negative emotion value from Li Ji, +999!"
"Negative emotion value from Shangguan Feihong, +999!"
"Negative emotion values from Sun Hao, Qian Jin, and Ou Hu, +999, +999, +999!"

While dodging their attacks and countering casually, Lin Fan kept an eye on the barrage of notifications in the system's backend.

Heh, he had never been so happy, never so satisfied!

After about half a cup of tea’s time, Lin Fan and the six youths with panda eyes sat around a tavern table, joined by the fiery Xiao Meier.

Lin Fan drained his wine in one gulp and asked, "So, you're all planning to enroll in the Heavenly Book Academy? But isn't it said that only cultivators who’ve reached the Qi Induction Realm are admitted?"

"That's right. But there are still three months before the academy recruits. With our progress, we will surely break through to Qi Induction within three months," Xiao Shuihan said, clenching his fists and brimming with confidence.

"Exactly. We're all perfect Body Refiners. If we weren't aiming to achieve perfection at the tenth stage of Body Refinement, we would have advanced to the Qi Induction Realm long ago. Among the cultivators of our age in nearby cities, we've yet to encounter any true opponents!" Li Ji nodded, his eyes shining with pride. When he noticed Lin Fan looking at him, he gave a wry smile. "But who could have predicted meeting a monster like you."

"Right, Brother Fan, you're such a freak. I can't imagine how your Lin family managed to raise someone like you!" Ou Hu, sporting his panda eyes, chimed in from the side.

Originally, they were simply eager for a challenge and wanted to spar with Lin Fan.

Who could have guessed Lin Fan would be so provoking, riling them up until they couldn't resist attacking together? Yet, even with all six joining forces, Lin Fan utterly crushed them within half a cup of tea’s time.

"Haha, it was just a lucky coincidence, with help from some extraordinary individuals. Unlike your families, which are strong and offer ample support." Sensing the grievance in Ou Hu's words, Lin Fan laughed.

They had become acquainted through battle; though he had beaten them, he hadn't dealt any serious damage—just superficial injuries. The others clearly understood this, which was why they invited him for drinks.

At this point, he learned that all of them came from remarkable backgrounds. Upon reflection, only families capable of producing perfect tenth-stage Body Refiners could not be ordinary. Even with talent, without resources, it would be impossible.

Take his own Lin family, for instance. If he had shown perfect aptitude from the start, the family would never have nurtured him, for doing so would mean sacrificing the advancement of five Qi Induction cultivators—a loss the Lin family could not afford.

After all, even a tenth-stage Body Refiner cannot defeat a Qi Induction cultivator!

He knew the cultivation ranks began with nine stages of Body Refinement, followed by Qi Induction, Qi Meridian, Meridian Passage, Stream, and River realms.

In Xiao North City, the top experts reached the Qi Meridian Realm, with Qi Induction beneath them. A family's strength was determined by its Qi Meridian experts, but when it came to clan wars, the true deciding factor was the number of Qi Induction cultivators!

Why was the Lin family weak? Because there was only one Qi Meridian expert—his father, Lin Xiong—and just three or four Qi Induction cultivators.

Meanwhile, the other three great families boasted five or six Qi Meridian experts and as many as twenty-one or twenty-two Qi Induction cultivators, constantly suppressing the Lin family.

If not for the old patriarch being an early Meridian Passage expert, while the strongest members of the other families were only late Qi Meridian level, and the fact that those families had their own internal conflicts, the Lin family would have been wiped out long ago.

Nevertheless, the three great families continued to pressure the Lin family, because the old patriarch had been gravely injured over a decade ago, entering seclusion, and the Lin family appeared to have no strong defenders.

Now, the three families only hesitated because they hadn't determined whether the old patriarch still had the strength for one final battle, so they dared not push the Lin family to extinction.

Yet, their attitude had grown ever more aggressive in recent years; from Madam Liang Yuyan’s actions alone, one could glimpse the whole picture!

Each family wanted to destroy the Lin family while the old patriarch was incapacitated, for the threat he posed was too great. Should he recover, his strength would make the Lin family the sole ruler of Xiao North City.

However, none of the families wanted to be the first to act, for if the patriarch could still fight, the first to strike would lose most of their elite warriors.

Even if the Lin family were destroyed, the other two families would then wipe out the weakened victor.

No one wanted to be the mantis stalking the cicada, with the oriole lurking behind...

"These youths, though, have no family worries, and each of their clans far outstrips those of Xiao North City!"

Lin Fan returned from his thoughts and looked at the youths gathered around him. On his left sat Xiao Shuihan, son of the city's lord, followed by his sister, Xiao Meier.

Next was Li Ji, young master of the Li family from Snowfall City; Ou Hu, son of General Ou Long of Snowfall City; Shangguan Feihong, young master of the Shangguan family from Capital City; Qian Jin, young scion of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce; and Sun Hao, son of King Sun!

Xiao Shuihan, naturally, was cheerful and straightforward—a true martial fanatic.

Li Ji, handsome as a demigod, had the bearing of a refined gentleman and was very popular with the ladies. It was said he was the target of countless young hearts in Snowfall City, and he was quite proud.

Ou Hu was the strongest physically, built like a young bull, honest and direct, and his physical strength was unmatched among them, boasting nine thousand pounds of force.

It wasn't that he trained harder or had more resources, but rather that he possessed the bloodline of a fierce tiger, granting him innate strength far above the norm.

Imagine other children playing with wooden swords at age five or six, while he was already hefting a twenty- or thirty-pound iron hammer around!

Shangguan Feihong was somewhat slender and quiet, but Xiao Shuihan explained that among them, Shangguan Feihong was the most ruthless—not only to his enemies but to himself as well.

Once, ambushed by family rivals, he stabbed his own lung with his sword to catch his assailant off guard and kill them. If not for timely rescue, he would have died then and there.

This story made Lin Fan regard Shangguan Feihong with renewed respect. Such fierce determination at a young age—if he survived and rose in the future, he might well become a dominant overlord!

Qian Jin was the most talkative and shrewd, but fiercely loyal to his brothers. Not only did his family own the Four Seas Tavern, but the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce spanned dozens of prefectures.

By rights, his family’s influence surpassed anyone present—even the Shangguan family’s dominance in Capital City paled in comparison.

Yet, he was not favored in the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce because he was an illegitimate child, making him the proverbial orphan unloved by both grandmother and uncle...