24. Chapter 24 Calling for Backup Isn't Shameful

Calling for Backup Isn't Shameful

At the banquet, cups clinked and wine flowed; host and guests alike were having a fine time.

Only when everyone raised their cups to toast Jiang Lan did Su Qinghan lift hers as well, offering a distant toast to Jiang Lan at the head of the table.

Then, she gently patted her younger sister Su Qingyao's back. Su Qingyao had drunk too hastily, and having never drunk before, she kept choking and coughing. Her jade-white cheeks were flushed crimson.

Great Scholar Zhao Tianhe and his granddaughter Zhao Dieyi were also present at the banquet.

City Lord Wang Anming naturally did not dare neglect a Great Scholar. While hosting the feast, he had also sent someone to deliver an invitation.

He had assumed Zhao Tianhe would not honor him with his presence, but unexpectedly, he had come after all.

Jiang Lan naturally knew why Zhao Tianhe had come.

When Lin Fan had fled for his life, Zhao Tianhe had chosen to intervene and stop him, all to draw a complete line between himself and Lin Fan.

The old fellow was no fool. At a critical moment, he calculated more clearly than anyone. Though he thought highly of Lin Fan and had thus wished to befriend him, he could not possibly get tangled up with the "true culprit" behind the assassination of the Prime Minister's son and needlessly cut off Zhao Manor's future.

Lin Fan had thoroughly offended Prime Minister's Manor. In the vast Great Xia Dynasty, there would no longer be a place for him to hide.

If Zhao Tianhe did not want Zhao Manor to be implicated afterward, the wisest choice was naturally to sever all ties with Lin Fan.

"Lin Fan has lurked in Yuyi City for so many years and even plotted such an assassination. It is absolutely impossible for him not to have accomplices..."

"After he fled, those accomplices will most likely have gone to meet him. Carrying a man so badly wounded, they should not have gotten far."

"Rest assured, Young Master Jiang. I have already contacted many colleagues in the surrounding area. Guards have been dispatched to strictly patrol every entrance and exit of every city in Jiangling Commandery. Not even a fly will be let through easily."

City Lord Wang Anming raised a cup to Jiang Lan, then gave his assurance in a stern voice.

Jiang Lan glanced at him and gave a faint nod.

In truth, he had never worried that Lin Fan would remain unfound.

As long as Su Qingyao—the woman Lin Fan regarded in this life as his forbidden treasure and reverse scale—remained with the Su Family, he would certainly find a way to contact her once his injuries recovered.

If he were sensible and clever, he could first lie low, gather strength, and wait for a chance at revenge.

But what if Su Qingyao encountered danger?

The old hero-saves-the-beauty routine had always worked like a charm on Sons of Fortune.

The only question was whether Lin Fan would still be alive by then.

After all, such a major incident as an "assassination attempt" against him had occurred, and the culprit had even escaped before everyone's eyes.

He had already had Uncle Ying pass the news on to his parents. It was time to call for backup.

They certainly would not be able to sit still. They would send experts far stronger than Uncle Ying to protect his safety.

In the original plot, Lin Fan had never truly displayed his real strength at this point.

As a result, every one of his enemies happened to underestimate his true power. Though they were stronger than Lin Fan, they were not stronger by much, so they just happened to be killed by him.

After disposing of each enemy, Lin Fan's cultivation and strength would steadily rise. The next foe he encountered would be a little stronger than the last, and then would just happen to be slain by him as well...

This sort of nested-doll plot was fine once or twice. Keep piling it on, and it was simply insulting people's intelligence.

Without the trump card he used to escape, even Uncle Ying, with his Sixth Realm Divine Ability Realm cultivation, could kill Lin Fan.

"This halo of fortune is really no different from an intelligence-lowering halo..."

Jiang Lan could understand it, though. The original novel had been a wish-fulfillment story that did not require readers to use their brains in the first place.

Moreover, after Lin Fan fled while badly injured, Jiang Lan already had a pretty good idea of where he was most likely to appear.

In the original plot, aside from becoming acquainted with Great Scholar Zhao Tianhe in Jiangling Commandery, Lin Fan would later meet an extraordinary woman.

That extraordinary woman was named Xiao Yingyue, a Grand Elder of Medicine King Valley.

Medicine King Valley was one of the Immortal Dao Sects within the Great Xia Dynasty. Its legacy stretched back more than several thousand years, and its reputation was illustrious.

Its disciples cultivated medicine scriptures and possessed superb medical skills. Their traces could be found in apothecaries and clinics throughout every city and commandery.

As for Grand Elder Xiao Yingyue, she was elusive as an immortal trace and exceedingly mysterious. In order to study medicine, she sought out hidden places and ancient traces, sampled a hundred herbs, and delved deeply into all kinds of medicinal principles and healing arts.

Jiang Lan remembered that she had even inherited a complete ancient Medicine Immortal Scripture. Her marvelous medical skill could be described as bringing the dead back to life and putting flesh upon bare bones without the slightest exaggeration.

Later, she was even revered by the world as the Medicine Immortal.

In the original plot, Lin Fan became entangled with her because of... another clichéd hero-saves-the-beauty incident.

While searching for a hundred herbs and compiling the Compendium of Hundred Herbs, Xiao Yingyue accidentally consumed an herb she had never seen before. It caused her cultivation to vanish and her divine sense to be sealed, reducing her for a time to an ordinary person too weak to truss a chicken.

Without cultivation, Xiao Yingyue could not even open her Sumire Ring, much less contact her sect.

To find a solution, she had no choice but to disguise herself as a barefoot doctor traveling the four corners of the land. She made her living treating patients in villages and towns throughout Jiangling Commandery, while studying her own symptoms in search of a cure.

Though Xiao Yingyue had lost her cultivation, medicine and poison had never been separate families. With her peerless medical arts, she still had more than enough means to protect herself, enough to deal with the village gentry and bandits who secretly coveted her.

Unfortunately, those peaceful days did not last long.

Her beauty eventually caught the attention of a Shapeshifting Demon King who had cultivated in the deep mountains and bottomless ravines for many years.

A Shapeshifting Demon King possessed strength comparable to a human cultivator of the Sixth Realm Divine Ability Realm. It condensed a demon core within its body, possessed vast demonic power, and was extraordinarily formidable.

At her peak, Xiao Yingyue naturally would not have feared such a Demon King.

Unfortunately, back then she had no strength to truss even a chicken, not a shred of cultivation to her name.

Faced with the many Demon Race subordinates the Demon King had sent to capture her, she had been utterly helpless.

At the critical moment, Lin Fan, who had gone deep into the mountains to temper his sword intent, appeared. With his sword, he slew the demons and saved the beauty.

That was how the two came to know each other.

Later, with Xiao Yingyue's poison arts supporting him, Lin Fan relied on his exquisite swordsmanship and numerous powerful trump cards to forcibly slay that Demon King, obtaining its demon core and many treasured artifacts. His cultivation and strength greatly increased.

"Lin Fan is currently fleeing with severe injuries, and he was wounded by my Azure Sea Heart Jade. Going by the usual script, Xiao Yingyue will most likely save him later on..."

Jiang Lan's long fingers lightly stroked the golden goblet as he sank into thought.

Of course, this was only one of his guesses.

His appearance had already caused the plot to stray from its original course. It would be normal enough if Lin Fan encountered Xiao Yingyue ahead of time.

So, just in case, and to avoid any unforeseen developments, he still had to eliminate this threat completely as soon as possible, uprooting it to prevent future trouble.

There was no shame in calling for backup.

At present, his greatest reliance was not his Golden Finger, but the overwhelmingly invincible backing behind him.