Chapter 444: Big Brother, I've Been Watching You for a Long Time (5/5, Autumn Subscription)

That's right, a human-shaped nuclear bomb.

In the eyes of outsiders, Lord Han was just like a human-shaped nuclear bomb.

Fine as long as it doesn't detonate, but the moment it does, everyone has to be buried with it.

This cautious attitude was clearly a fear of the nuclear blast going off.

Only now did Fang Yue truly feel the terrifying influence Lord Han wielded.

Even though he had lost his power now, his fearsome reputation still lingered outside, and no one dared to challenge Lord Han's nerves.

Looking at it this way, as long as Lord Han didn't make a move and didn't show his face, it was an invisible protection for the people of Gu Yue Cun.

To describe it in one phrase — very apt.

Lord Han had long retired from the Jianghu, yet legends of Lord Han still circulated in the Jianghu.

"Lord Jun, I'll explain everything clearly to Lord Han's side. Don't worry — Lord Han isn't the unreasonable type."

"Of course I know that. After all, it's that Lord Han."

Lord Jun seemed to truly admire Lord Han, with the air of a die-hard fan.

"By the way, Captain Ye, I've discussed it with You Sisi. We'd like to ask you to go over to her side and help investigate the Qingluan Lou case."

"Me? Aren't you afraid she'll find out the 【Severed Dragon Head】 matter was my doing?"

"Don't worry. With a case keeping her busy, she's long forgotten about that."

"It's fine, but why do you need me to help? I'm just an outsider—"

"You're not an outsider. I believe what you said — repelling the Wuyu tribe, defending the village, plus the fact that you yourself have a clean background as Captain of the Guard of Gu Yue Cun — entering the Qingsi County is a foregone conclusion. So I want you to get familiar with Qingsi County's procedures early, so you can pick up seamlessly once you officially take office — our Qingsi County is seriously short on reliable people like you."

Stop flattering, stop flattering, you're blowing me away.

"Alright, I'll go back and tell the others, then head over to cooperate with You Sisi on the Qingluan Lou case."

"Mm."

Business had to be handled, and the gifts had to be collected too.

Fang Yue discovered that what Lord Jun had sent was actually just some basic supplies — nothing too valuable. He wasn't sure if it was poverty or a guess at Lord Han's attitude that kept him from sending anything too pricey.

"Lord Han, do you think I should drop him a hint?"

"…"

Fang Yue's suggestion was ultimately rejected by Lord Han — let things take their natural course.

He told Jing Yan and Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu not to go out for now — one to recover from injuries, the other to properly raise Xiao Xuedou — and only then did Fang Yue step out.

Not long after Fang Yue left the inn, Lin Ling also went out.

The Qingsi County was out of the question; he needed to find a suitable sect to enter and cultivate, to grow stronger.

The question was which sect would suit him, and which sect would be willing to take him in.

Back when he was in Gu Yue Cun, whenever Lin Ling saw someone from a sect, he'd go take a test, hoping to join a sect — but every attempt ended in failure.

Logically speaking, given the situation, Lin Ling basically had no hope of joining any sect.

But in reality, there was a problem hidden in this.

That was — the sects Lin Ling had come into contact with in Gu Yue Cun were actually all medium-to-large sects within Heiqing Shanmai.

Because all those people had gone there to pay a visit to Lord Han, their baseline standards were already quite high, so it was normal they wouldn't take Lin Ling.

But Qingsi County was different.

In Qingsi County, sects of all sizes existed. If his standards weren't high, finding a sect to intensively cultivate the Martial Dao wasn't actually difficult.

What Lin Ling was looking for this time was exactly this kind of small sect.

With a clear goal in mind, Lin Ling quickly found a few sects willing to take him as a Disciple.

This made Lin Ling very excited.

Finally, finally — after being kicked around like a ball every day, there's a day when someone actually looks up to me!

However, that excitement plummeted to freezing point at lightning speed the moment he saw those sects — all of them were inside Qingsi County, and each considered itself a sect with nothing but a small courtyard. Lin Ling's face went blank and he turned around on the spot.

Good lord, what a good lord I am!

Lin Ling thought bitterly, how the hell can this even be called a sect? Just call it a street-side martial arts gym and be done with it!

The most outrageous time — when Lin Ling was tricked into one of these martial-arts-gym sects again — he actually discovered that everyone inside practicing the sect's martial arts was an old person, and they were all doing slow-motion moves!

Damn! Scamming money out of old people, and the Qingsi County doesn't even bother to manage this?

Righteous Lin Ling could not sit idly by.

And then, he discovered that the Qingsi County really didn't bother with this kind of thing.

"The elders practice voluntarily, the sect's paperwork is legal and reasonable, the price isn't expensive — there's nothing we can do. Moreover, this sect only practices martial arts for fitness, never gets into fights. If you treat it like a shop, there's no problem."

This was the reply given by the Qingsi County after their inspection. The person from the Qingsi County who came took one look and quickly gave that reply — clearly this martial arts gym had been quietly reported by many uninformed people.

Fine, since it was so reasonable, Lin Ling had no choice.

After all, the head of this small sect was especially amiable — you don't hit a smiling face, right?

Anyway, this sect was a no-go, so Lin Ling kept looking.

His goal was to find a sect that wasn't a martial arts gym — preferably one with a mountain stronghold outside Qingsi County — and with stronger Martial Arts, at least stronger than his Heart Method and spear technique, otherwise what was the point of learning it.

Believe it or not, Lin Ling's requirements were pretty low. After searching hard for most of the day, he actually found a suitable sect.

Or rather, he was found by one.

"Hello, big brother. I've been watching you for a long time. You're looking for a suitable sect, right?"

Lin Ling looked up at the girl before him and calmly nodded.

"Great!"

The girl blinked her cute big eyes.

"Let me tell you, when I first came to Qingsi County and wanted to push my cultivation further, I was just as lost as you — running around looking for a sect, but I just couldn't find one that suited me. But every time someone came to find me, it was one of those small sects — just a tiny courtyard for a venue, not even a proper Martial Technique. I was so frustrated back then, just as frustrated as you!"

Lin Ling was momentarily stunned. This girl wasn't very old, yet she'd been through quite a lot, and had even shared the same kind of worry he now had.

"So what happened after? Did you find a sect?"

"Of course!"

The girl flashed a toothy smile, a sweet, innocent grin.

"I later joined the Ning Guang Sect. Although the Ning Guang Sect only has Master, me, and my junior brother — three people in total — Master is a great figure in martial arts, with strength reaching the Xiantian Realm! The martial arts he teaches all follow the orthodox sect lineage. They say Master used to be an Elder of a major sect outside, but later some upheaval occurred, and he ended up eking out a living in the Heiqing Shanmai. Now that he's getting on in years, he wants to find a successor to pass down his inherited martial arts."

After a pause, the girl sighed, a worried look crossing her face: "Unfortunately, Master's strongest martial art can only be learned by men — and it has to be a hot-blooded man like you. Girls like me, or little brats like my junior brother who are only in their teens, aren't qualified to learn it. So I want to ask — are you interested in joining our Ning Guang Sect?"

(End of Chapter)