Chapter Sixty-Four: The Jiang Family

“Brother Fan is finally being serious!” Seeing Lin Fan’s demeanor, Xiao Shuihan and the others couldn’t help but cover their foreheads. Although they all acknowledged and respected Brother Fan, his penchant for retorting and his mischievous antics were sometimes just too much to bear. Were it not for being in a private box, they might have wished for a hole to crawl into from embarrassment.

“Yes, at least he didn’t cause a scene with the final auction items!” Qian Jin was even more exasperated. The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce enjoyed an excellent reputation, but Brother Fan’s actions made him look like a plant! He feared Qian Xin might think he orchestrated this, and if word reached the family, even if it wasn’t a big deal, they’d be laughed at for ages.

“Alright, wasn’t I doing this for your sake?” Lin Fan gave them a sidelong glance. “You think I was bidding randomly? I was purposely making my intentions unclear so nobody could guess which items I truly wanted. Look at the items they didn’t dare to bid on in the end—every single one was worth the money. Which of them is useless?”

After hearing Lin Fan’s words, the group pondered for a moment, and their eyes lit up. Indeed, from the start until now, although Brother Fan’s bidding seemed chaotic, the items he actually won—including those others tried to use to trip him up—were all of great use to them.

First, the weapons: all of them were treasure-grade, three swords, one saber, a pair of gauntlets, and a spear, costing over five million taels of silver. Then came ten blood ginseng roots, heavenly lingzhi, and fleeceflower root, another eight million taels. After that, there was armor and soft armor. Of course, there were a few useless items, but very few.

“Brother Fan, you prepared all this for us?” Xiao Shuihan and the others found it hard to believe, and were deeply moved. They all knew Brother Fan had destroyed the Zhang family and must be wealthy, but to spend so much silver on them still touched their hearts. It’s like this: no matter how rich a friend is, their money isn’t yours. If they spend on you, you should be grateful—after all, not spending is expected, but spending is a matter of sentiment.

So, they were all genuinely moved.

Seeing their expressions, Lin Fan waved his hand and smiled. “No need for all that. We’re brothers. I know your families are large, but with great families come many descendants and heavy expenses. They may invest rare treasures in your training, but the actual allowances you receive aren’t much. Originally, I planned to have you all go out for tempering some time ago, but the Zhang family incident delayed things. Tempering means life-and-death trials. Even though you have treasure weapons, it never hurts to have spares. Besides, I can’t accompany you on your journeys now, so I’m buying you these things for your own protection.”

In truth, Lin Fan had intended to personally lead them on their adventures, but now, gravely wounded and with Lin family affairs to manage, he could not go with them. The least he could do was equip them properly.

While he had spent the auction sowing chaos and collecting negative emotions, he would never skimp on things that mattered. Many believed they’d tricked him, but what they didn’t know was that every “trap” was something he’d wanted all along.

“Brother Fan, what about those things? Are they useful to us too?”

Hearing this, while feeling grateful, Xiao Shuihan and the others couldn’t help but glance at the pile of seemingly useless antiques. They were quite curious about these: a handkerchief from a beauty a thousand years ago, a mirror from the most famous courtesan of Qingxue City a century ago, and even a dudou… and such things.

Lin Fan coughed awkwardly, his face reddening. When you spend your time quipping and causing mischief, you’re bound to slip up sometimes. Lin Fan was no exception—he’d been tricked out of quite a few things he never should have bought.

“Well, it’s like this. Everyone has their quirks. My grandfather, for instance, loves collecting old things—not just weapons and armor, but vases, mirrors, handkerchiefs, that sort of thing. I bought these to honor him.” Helpless, Lin Fan had to come up with an excuse. He certainly wasn’t going to take the blame, so he threw it on his grandfather—after all, his grandfather would never know.

“Oh, so that’s it!” The group understood at once, each secretly considering whether they should also send some old trinkets to Grandpa Lin. If Lin Fan had known what they were thinking, he’d have been beside himself with frustration. But as he remained blissfully unaware, his woes were inevitable…

In the end, Lin Fan won the Seven-leaf Lotus for twenty-four million. Following that, several more highly contested items appeared, including Lin Fan’s own God-breaking Crossbow. As he’d hoped, the God-slaying Crossbow fetched a staggering fifty-five million, taken by a bidder after fierce competition.

Another hour passed, and when the final item was auctioned off, the event drew to a close. The moment it ended, Lin Fan divided the auctioned goods among Xiao Shuihan and the others, instructing them to set out for their trials and agreeing to meet again at the Celestial Tome Academy.

Afterward, he collected his remaining silver, exited the Four Seas Auction House through a secret door, hired a carriage, and headed directly to the first family of Qingxue County—the Jiang family.

Back when he first heard of the Jiang family’s bounty at the Four Seas Inn in Panlong City, he’d already set his sights on the 550 million taels. His plan was to cure Jiang Beicheng. As long as he succeeded and the Jiang family kept their word, the money would be his. If they reneged, there was nothing he could do but sell everything he’d gained in Panlong City and make new plans for the Lin family.

Two hours later, the carriage stopped before the Jiang family’s grand gates. Lin Fan looked at the guards and nodded to himself. “As expected of the first family of Qingxue County. These guards alone are probably all at the late stage of Qi Vessel Realm.” Sixteen robust, fierce guards stood at the entrance. In smaller cities, such strength was reserved for clan heads. Even in the former Zhang family—ranked over sixtieth in the county—only the patriarch and elders matched this level. Yet here, they were merely gatekeepers. The Jiang family’s might was clear.

“Halt! Who goes there?” At first, the guards paid him little attention—many passed by the Jiang family each day. But as Lin Fan approached the gates with the intent to step inside, all sixteen guards stepped forward, hands on their sword hilts, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

Lin Fan smiled, hands clasped behind his back, and addressed the guards. “Please inform the Jiang Patriarch that I can heal Jiang Beicheng.”

“Please wait a moment.” The guards exchanged glances. If it were just any youth making such a claim, they’d have driven him off. But now that the young master’s condition had worsened and time was running out, the patriarch had instructed them to notify him of anyone claiming to be of help, never to turn them away lightly.

“Please wait here.” One of the guards ran back into the estate. Before long, he returned and respectfully invited Lin Fan inside.

Lin Fan didn’t know the exact size of the Jiang family residence, but the front courtyard alone was twenty times the size of the Zhang family’s. Jagged rocks and blooming flowers turned the compound into a living painting—luxurious yet not ostentatious, elegant without being dull, every corner carefully tended. Every plant and stone was rare, even century-old purple ginseng and heavenly lingzhi grew at random in a small medicinal garden.

They walked for more than ten minutes before reaching the assembly hall. Clearly, the guard who came and went so quickly must have used his cultivation to dash.

“Patriarch, the young man has arrived,” the guard announced with a bow outside the hall.

“Let him in,” came a strong, aged voice. The guard straightened, gestured to Lin Fan, and departed.

Lin Fan stepped into the grand hall. At that instant, he felt several sharp gazes fall upon him, a wave of pressure bearing down. Looking up, he saw an elderly man of seventy or eighty seated at the head, his hair white but skin ruddy, eyes bright and piercing like a tiger’s, fixed upon him.