Ding Province Martial Meet

"This..."

Following closely behind Lin Xiao, the old man and woman who had rushed over saw the corpses strewn across the ground and the blood-reddened earth, their faces turning pale with fright.

In all their years, they had never witnessed such a scene.

"Y...Young man, are you alright?"

Seeing Lin Xiao standing alone in the midst of it all, the old man mustered his courage to ask.

Lin Xiao slowly turned around, smiling, and said, "I'm fine, just a few bandits."

The old man couldn't help but bow in gratitude.

"Thank you, young hero, for saving our lives. If it weren't for you here today, our entire village would have been slaughtered and looted by these bandits."

Lin Xiao asked curiously, "Are there many bandits like this around Ding Province?"

The old man nodded with a bitter smile.

"To be honest, young hero, I've heard of countless. Chen Family Village has been fortunate until now, never having been harmed by bandits."

"But I didn't expect we'd face such a disaster today. A month ago, I heard that Li Family Village, upstream on Lingyun Lake, just over fifty miles from our village, was completely wiped out overnight."

"And we have a major bandit force here called the Blackwind Bandits."

"Their stronghold is in Blackwind Gorge, about a hundred miles north from here. They have sixteen leaders, each with formidable martial skills, who come down the mountain every month to collect protection money."

"If any village can't pay the protection money, they'll be slaughtered without hesitation."

"As for other bandits, large and small, who knows how many there are."

Lin Xiao frowned. "How can there be so many bandits?"

"Doesn't the imperial court send anyone to deal with them?"

Hearing Lin Xiao mention the imperial court, the old man's face showed disdain.

"The imperial court is a bunch of good-for-nothing officials. They're quick to collect taxes, but when it comes to suppressing bandits, they run faster than rabbits."

Hearing the old man's words, Lin Xiao's heart sank further.

It seemed the situation in Ding Province was far worse than he had imagined.

"Alright, let's gather everyone to clean up this place."

Lin Xiao didn't continue the topic.

After a night of hard work, although the village suffered some losses, they were still within manageable limits.

The next morning, Lin Xiao had just gotten up when he saw the old man bringing a middle-aged man.

"Young hero, this is the boatman I found for you. He's crossed Lingyun Lake countless times and knows all the conditions of Lingyun Lake. There will be absolutely no problem with him taking you across the lake."

"Greetings, young hero, thank you for saving our lives last night. We will never forget your kindness."

Lin Xiao waved his hand. "No need to be so polite. Can we cross the lake now?"

"Yes, yes, we can."

The boatman said quickly.

"Good, let's go then."

In a small boat, the boatman stood at the front, and Lin Xiao stood in the middle.

The old man and a group of villagers waved goodbye from the shore.

"Young hero, if you ever have free time, be sure to come back! You are the benefactor of our Chen Family Village."

Lin Xiao waved his hand. "Alright, go back, I'm leaving."

The boatman rowed the oars, slowly heading into Lingyun Lake.

Along the way, the boatman explained many interesting facts and the origins of Lingyun Lake to Lin Xiao.

"Young hero, you wouldn't be going to participate in the Ding Province Martial Meet, would you?"

Lin Xiao asked in confusion, "Ding Province Martial Meet? What's that?"

The boatman slowly explained.

"About half a month ago, I also ferried a young man across Lingyun Lake. I heard him say that Ding Province is preparing to hold a martial meet recently."

"The participants are all geniuses within Ding Province."

"As long as you are no more than twenty-five years old and a local of Ding Province, you can participate. It seems the main purpose of this martial meet is to re-rank the various forces."

"That young man was a disciple of a sect in Ding Province. He was out training and heard that Ding Province was holding a martial meet, so he rushed back."

Although the boatman didn't explain it in great detail, Lin Xiao had already guessed.

It was nothing more than using the name of a martial meet to re-rank the forces and then divide the benefits.

This was a common method used by Jianghu forces.

Of course, it was also the most effective method.

Everything depended on strength.

However, it's usually a competition between the strongest martial artists from various forces.

I didn't expect it to shift to the younger generation.

"The Ding Province Martial Meet? Sounds interesting."

He was just thinking about how to find a breakthrough in Ding Province's current situation, and the Ding Province Martial Meet might be a good opportunity.

He's now in Ding Province on duty, so he can be considered a person of Ding Province. He believes no one would refuse his participation in the Ding Province Martial Meet.

Then let me see just how talented the geniuses of Ding Province are.

As Lin Xiao was enjoying the beauty of Lingyun Lake, a huge ship suddenly approached from behind.

The ship was decorated very luxuriously.

On the deck stood a young man with effeminate features.

Beside the young man, an old man with a bowed back carefully accompanied him.

"Young Master, the family head has high hopes for you in this Ding Province Martial Meet."

The young man smiled effeminately. Although he was clearly a man, his smile was even more beautiful than a woman's.

That's not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is that the young man's voice was also like a woman's.

If it weren't for his Adam's apple, people would definitely think he was a woman at first glance.

"Hehe, it's just those people from One Sect, Four Gates. Although I can't say I can definitely beat them, I've improved a lot under my master's guidance during this trip. My strength has reached the Innate Realm Third Level. I'm not without a chance of winning against those people from One Sect, Four Gates."

"Young Master is already at the Innate Realm Third Level?"

The old man was slightly surprised.

You must know that this young master was only just entering the Innate Realm when he went out to train.

It's only been half a year, and he's already broken through from the Innate Realm First Level to the Innate Realm Third Level.

This kind of cultivation speed is probably comparable to those freaks in the top fifty of the Hidden Dragon Rankings, right?

If it continues to develop like this, it won't be long before the young master breaks through to the Grandmaster Realm.

At that time, it wouldn't be impossible for their Yin Family to take another step forward.

The young man has a feminine name, Yin Ke Ren.

When he was born, they originally wanted to give him a boy's name, but seeing that his appearance was no different from a girl's, they gave him a girl's name.

But as he grew up, Yin Ke Ren became more and more effeminate.

When he was seven years old, an old man came to the Yin Family and said that Yin Ke Ren's physique was very suitable for cultivating a certain technique. After that, Yin Ke Ren's cultivation was always taught by that old man.

Yin Ke Ren lived up to expectations. He started cultivating at the age of seven, and this year, at the age of twenty-two, he has cultivated to the Innate Realm Third Level in fifteen years.

He enjoys the reputation of a genius throughout Ding Province.

He is also ranked eighty-seventh on the Hidden Dragon Rankings.

If the list is updated next time, with Yin Ke Ren's realm, he might be able to move up a rank.

While the master and servant were talking, their ship had already arrived behind the flat boat Lin Xiao was riding.

"Hmm?"

Yin Ke Ren looked down at Lin Xiao on the flat boat.

But he only glanced at him before withdrawing his gaze. He didn't even bother to warn him that his ship was about to crash into Lin Xiao's flat boat.

This is the cruelty of the world where the strong prey on the weak.

The Yin Family is one of the One Sect, Four Gates of Ding Province. The life and death of an ordinary person is insignificant to them.