After finishing lunch, Lin Yan, his aunt, and his younger brother left the Cai Mansion.
He had wanted to bring his younger brother along, as he’d anticipated they would be staying for a meal at the Cai Mansion. However, his aunt thought his brother was too little to behave, so she’d left him at home.
In the end, a servant from the Cai Mansion had to go to their home and personally invite his brother to be a guest.
"Yan’er, from now on, you will make the decisions for this family."
Once they were some distance from the Cai Mansion, the woman from the Liu Family broke the silence. She still hadn’t fully processed their visit to the mansion today.
She had never met Master Cai before, and the Third Madam’s attitude was a world of difference from the past. She knew all of this was because of Yan’er, but it was still difficult to get used to.
She thought about how, before they left, Yan’er had wanted to bring Mo’Er. At the time, she had refused. Mo’Er had looked aggrieved, but Yan’er had comforted him, saying someone would come to pick him up later.
At the time, she had only thought Yan’er was spouting nonsense to comfort Mo’Er, but now it was obvious he had predicted the Cai Mansion would send a servant to fetch him.
In that moment, she finally understood. Yan’er had become a Martial Artist, and the family’s situation was completely different. She was just an ordinary woman who didn’t understand many things; it would be better to let Yan’er make the decisions from now on, lest she muddle through and cause trouble for him.
"Aunt, you’re our elder. You should be the one in charge of the household."
Lin Yan smiled faintly. He knew why his aunt was saying this and said reassuringly, "Just act as you always have. There won’t be any problems."
"Really?"
"Would I lie to my own aunt?"
The woman from the Liu Family listened to her nephew’s answer, smiling as she agreed. In her heart, however, she made a decision: ’I can still handle the small, everyday household matters like always, but anything to do with the outside world, especially things concerning Yan’er, I have to let him handle himself.’
「The next day.」
His aunt took his younger brother to visit her family, leaving Lin Yan at home with nothing to do. His friends, Zhang Wei and Monkey, were also busy visiting relatives.
After some thought, Lin Yan decided to make another trip to Great Mist Mountain.
This time, Lin Yan left town heading in a different direction. He had already thoroughly searched the side of Great Mist Mountain nearest to Qingtian Town, but he had yet to explore its other side.
Once out of town, he avoided the main road and stuck to the smaller mountain paths, hoping to find some valuable wild herbs.
But after crossing two mountain peaks, he had unfortunately found nothing.
Lin Yan felt a little helpless. ’Those who live by the mountain, live off the mountain,’ he thought.
He figured these peaks had probably long been scoured by the local populace; any valuable wild herbs would have been picked clean.
The only reason he ever found anything on Great Mist Mountain was because of its miasma. Not even Martial Artists dared to venture in recklessly, which was why he came away with a harvest every time.
’The Tang Family has territory in Sanshan County where they cultivate medicinal herbs,’ Lin Yan mused. ’If I get the chance, I should make a trip over there.’
Lin Yan had also learned the origin of the Treasure Meat in Guangping County Town—most of it came from Sanshan County.
Sanshan County was surrounded by three mountain ranges, and its forests were teeming with wild beasts and Rare Birds. However, the mountain forests in this world were not without owners. If people from other counties stepped into Sanshan County’s territory to hunt, the local Martial Artists would inevitably stop them. Success would only be possible by leveraging the Tang Family’s influence.
Just as Lin Yan was about to head down the mountain, several figures emerged from the woods ahead.
There were five of them in total, all dressed in matching green robes.
Though it was the first month of the year and the mountain air was still harsh and cold, these five were dressed in thin robes, a clear sign they were all martial practitioners.
Upon seeing Lin Yan, the five men instantly spread out, forming a fan-shaped encirclement. The man in the lead sized Lin Yan up and down, demanding in a low voice, "Who are you, and what are you doing on this mountain?"
"I’m here to gather medicinal herbs."
Lin Yan’s tone was calm. ’All five of them are Martial Artists,’ he noted, ’but only the one who spoke has the long, steady breath of a Skin Smoothing Martial Artist. The other four are breathing heavily, clearly struggling with the mountain path. They haven’t even reached the Skin Smoothing stage.’
Still, having no quarrel with them, Lin Yan didn’t want to stir up trouble.
"Gathering herbs?"
The man in the center frowned, studying Lin Yan for a moment before waving his hand impatiently. "Just go."
Out of Lin Yan’s line of sight, however, the man made a gesture with his right hand behind his back for his companions to see.
Lin Yan dutifully turned as if to leave. But just as he was about to take a step, he suddenly put explosive force into his waist and twisted his body in an unnatural way.
Instead of walking away, he lunged forward!
He had clearly seen the man move his right hand behind his back. Though he didn’t know what specific gesture was made, he could deduce their intent from the other four men. They had all held their breath—a clear sign that they were about to attack.
’Since they have no intention of letting me go, my only option is to strike first,’ he thought.
Lin Yan wasn’t sure if there were others, so he had to end this fight quickly.
Stone Waist Barbarian Ridge erupted with power!
He shot forward like a taut bowstring suddenly released, crossing the two-zhang distance in a single bound!
"You—!"
The leader’s pupils constricted. Before he could finish his word, Lin Yan’s fist was already in his face.
He had sensed Lin Yan was no ordinary person, which was why he’d planned to lull him into a false sense of security before he and his brothers swarmed him from behind with drawn knives. He never imagined his target would be the one to strike first.
In his panic, all he could do was raise an arm to parry.
CRACK!
The crisp sound of shattering bone was accompanied by the man’s face twisting in agony.
There was nothing fancy about Lin Yan’s punch. It was the purest form of the Mountain-Splitting Fist, powered by his Second-Time Skin Smoothing and amplified by the explosive force of Stone Waist Barbarian Ridge. The blow shattered the man’s arm, leaving it dangling, before slamming viciously into his face.

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