Poor Little Qing Tan

Deep in the back mountain of the Lin Family!

Lin Yun moved through the dense forest, searching for a suitable Demon Beast to target.

If it was too strong, he could not handle it; if it was too weak, there was no challenge; if it was too fast, he could not catch it.

After crossing mountains and ridges for a while, he finally found a big one.

In the woods, a huge black bear was running toward Lin Yun. It had a thick, massive body, and its back was smooth and hairless, hard as iron.

Lin Yun recognized it. This was an Ironback Azure Bear. Once fully grown, it possessed the strength of the Body Tempering Fifth Layer. It was extremely tough and good at fighting, and ordinary sabers, spears, bows, and swords could hardly break through its defenses.

Before making a move, Lin Yun first tried to establish a mission.

Mission: Kill the Ironback Azure Bear. Reward: Low-Grade Cosmos Sack, Physique +1.

"The reward's pretty good."

Before Lin Yun could rejoice.

"Roar!"

The Ironback Azure Bear had already discovered him. Toward this human who had trespassed into its territory, it showed no courtesy at all. After an angry roar, it charged at Lin Yun.

Lin Yun hurriedly mobilized the Yuan Power within his body and channeled his strength into both fists.

Crack!

Crack!

Lin Yun used Tongbei Fist, meeting the Ironback Azure Bear head-on. Ten punches struck out in succession, and the Ironback Azure Bear, weighing over five hundred jin, was sent flying.

Between the Body Tempering Fifth Layer and Sixth Layer, the gap was enormous. Once one had Yuan Power, it was a dimensional crushing.

The Ironback Azure Bear could not possibly be Lin Yun's opponent.

However, this thing could take a beating. After enduring a full perfected set of Lin Yun's Tongbei Fist, it still was not dead, and as soon as it climbed up, it prepared to flee.

How could Lin Yun possibly give it the chance? He chased after it and finished it off with more punches.

Falling Rock Fist was powerful and heavy, shaking the Ironback Azure Bear's internal organs apart.

Mission: Kill the Ironback Azure Bear. Reward: Low-Grade Cosmos Sack, Physique +1. Completed. Claim?

"Claim!"

Physique 8 (Nothing Special) - Physique 9 (Nothing Special)

A flash of white light passed, and a palm-sized cyan cloth bag appeared in Lin Yun's hand. The cloth bag flickered with a faint silver-cyan luster and was printed with special runes, its touch wondrous.

The space inside was fairly roomy, about the size of a room.

Lin Yun put the Ironback Azure Bear into the Cosmos Sack and continued hunting.

After searching through the forest for a while, Lin Yun hunted another two Wild Boars. Unfortunately, neither was as powerful as the Ironback Azure Bear. When he established kill missions, he only obtained the reward of two Qi Blood Pills and did not receive any attribute rewards.

The sky had already grown late, and Lin Yun prepared to go home.

Luckily, he had the Cosmos Sack, so he could put all the Demon Beast corpses inside and save a great deal of effort. However, to avoid drawing attention, he still carried one Wild Boar on his shoulders.

On the way back, Lin Yun reflected on today's battles.

"My fist techniques are strong enough, and my attack power is sufficient, but my speed is too slow. I can't catch up to slightly more agile Demon Beasts at all. Looks like after I go back, I need to learn a movement martial art to increase my speed."

As he approached the Lin Family, scattered figures could be seen in the forest.

Most of them were people from the Lin Family, searching for herbs in the forest.

This back mountain of the Lin Family was connected to a vast forest. Aside from dangerous wild beasts and Demon Beasts, there were also opportunities, namely Spirit Herbs.

Spirit Herbs were highly valuable. If one found a graded Spirit Herb, not only could it be used for cultivation, it could also be sold for quite a bit of money.

The nearby forest had all been cleared by the Lin Family's hunting patrol, so there generally would not be any Demon Beasts. Because of this, many clan members liked to come here and try their luck, making the place rather lively.

Lin Yun had come here before as well, but his luck had been poor, and he had never encountered any Spirit Herbs. Even this time, after going deep into the forest to hunt and killing a Body Tempering Fifth Layer Demon Beast, he had not come across even a single first-grade Spirit Herb.

"Eh, what a pretty girl!" Lin Yun suddenly saw a figure like a butterfly flash stunningly through the woods ahead of him.

"That seems to be that little loli Qing Tan!"

Lin Yun recognized Qing Tan, though they had not been familiar before. He had only seen her in the clan.

Qing Tan was Lin Dong's younger sister, adopted—the daughter taken in by Lin Dong's mother, and she did not belong to the Lin Family bloodline.

In the original novel, Qing Tan secretly admired Lin Dong. Unfortunately, that fellow Lin Dong either truly did not know or was pretending not to know, and actually treated Qing Tan as his own little sister. He simply did not know how to appreciate favors! Did not know what was good for him! Such a waste! Shameful! How could such an adorable little loli be left to grow old alone?

Lin Yun slightly quickened his pace and soon saw her. It was indeed Qing Tan, around thirteen or fourteen years old, very tender.

She wore a simple set of light-colored clothes. Her skin was like snow, her face delicate, her brows and eyes like a painting, her gaze lively. Her large black eyes blinked and flickered, and she was like a little girl picking mushrooms, searching all around the woods, looking extremely adorable.

Lin Yun slowly followed behind her, in no hurry to go home.

It was still very dangerous for this little girl to be alone in the forest. Though this place was close to the Lin Family, and usually no Demon Beasts came over, what if?

"Wow, this is Crimson Sun Grass!"

Suddenly, Qing Tan seemed to find some treasure and cried out in surprise.

Lin Yun looked over and saw the little girl's fair, tender hands smeared with quite a bit of mud. Right now, she was clutching a fiery-red plant.

"A first-grade Spirit Herb, Crimson Sun Grass." Lin Yun recognized the Spirit Herb and sighed softly. "As expected of the protagonist's little sister. That luck."

However, it was only a first-grade Spirit Herb. To Lin Yun, who was already at the Body Tempering Sixth Layer, it was not very tempting.

Having gained something, Qing Tan immediately prepared to go home. She wanted to hurry and give the Spirit Herb to her Lin Dong.

Recently, Lin Dong had been practicing martial arts with great effort, and Qing Tan had seen it all. She had always wanted to help her brother a little, so during this period, she had been frequently running into the back mountain to look for Spirit Herbs.

The happy little girl held the Crimson Sun Grass and skipped her way home.

Lin Yun followed behind her, and she did not notice him either.

Before long, they arrived at the fork in the road home. A round little fatty came out, smiling as he followed Qing Tan, his face full of ingratiation as he chatted with her.

Lin Yun recognized him. That guy was called Lin Changqiang, Qing Tan's little shadow, and he liked Qing Tan.

Qing Tan was carved like jade and powdered like porcelain, lively and adorable. Not just in the Lin Family, but across all of Qingyang Town, there were plenty of people who liked her.

If not for the fact that she was still young, the people coming to propose marriage would probably have worn down the threshold of Lin Dong's home.

As the two walked on, a group of people suddenly appeared ahead and blocked their way.

Lin Yun recognized that group. The one leading them was called Lin Shan, the second son of Lin Mang from the Lin Family's Second Branch. This guy did not get along with Lin Dong and had bullied him plenty. Now that he had run into Qing Tan, he was probably planning to bully her a little.

Qing Tan and Lin Changqiang's expressions instantly turned ugly. Seeing that things were going badly, Lin Changqiang ran off ahead of time.

That left Qing Tan, a little girl, to face Lin Shan's group alone.

Lin Shan and the others' target was not Lin Changqiang either, so they did not chase him. Instead, they surrounded Qing Tan.

Several sturdy youths blocked the road completely, trapping Qing Tan in the middle.

"Yo, isn't this Crimson Sun Grass? Qing Tan, you picked it for me." Lin Shan stared shamelessly at the Crimson Sun Grass in Qing Tan's hand.

"What do you mean, picked it for you? Go away, this is mine."

Qing Tan scolded him and protected the Crimson Sun Grass in her arms, not caring that the mud on the grass was dirtying her clothes.

"I'm guessing you wanted to take the Crimson Sun Grass to that guy Lin Dong, right? That trash would only waste it if he used it. Better give it to me." Lin Shan said with a wicked smile.

"Lin Shan, don't go too far," Qing Tan said angrily.

Lin Shan was not in a hurry either. He folded his arms and looked at the furious Qing Tan without restraint, chuckling. "We already found this Crimson Sun Grass yesterday. We were just waiting until today to come and take it. You took our thing, and you still say I'm going too far?"

"You're lying!" Qing Tan snapped, her little face flushed red with anger.

Lin Shan showed no pity at all. Seeing Qing Tan get angry, looking all soft yet fierce, only made him even happier. "I'm telling the truth, Qing Tan. Give me the Crimson Sun Grass, and I'll let you leave."

"Don't even think about it!" Qing Tan bit her silver teeth and hugged the Crimson Sun Grass tightly.

"In that case, it looks like you'll have to spend the night here today." Lin Shan chuckled, glanced at Qing Tan, and said, "That brat Lin Changqiang seemed to have run off just now. He's probably gone to find Lin Dong, right? That's fine. Last time, I still hadn't had enough."

"You... bastard." Qing Tan immediately grew a little anxious.

Lin Shan stepped forward and threatened her in a low voice, "You don't want your brother Lin Dong to get beaten, do you?"

Thinking of how Lin Dong had previously been beaten by Lin Shan until he was unconscious, Qing Tan felt a wave of lingering fear and said with a sob in her voice, "No!"

At this moment, Qing Tan was small and helpless, looking so pitiful. Her large, dark, lively eyes shimmered with moisture, tiny tears frantically spinning in her eye sockets, yet she stubbornly held them back and refused to let them fall.

That appearance made one's heart ache.

There were also people around who saw this scene, but unfortunately, none of them stood up for Qing Tan. Lin Shan's father currently managed the Lin Family's finances, and no one dared offend him. This had caused Lin Shan to become a notorious little tyrant among the younger generation.

Lin Yun could not watch anymore.

How could he bear to let such an adorable little girl be bullied?

The old him might not have dared offend Lin Shan, but now, he had a cheat. What the hell was there to be afraid of?

"System, create a mission."

Mission: Teach Lin Shan a lesson and help Qing Tan out of trouble.
Reward: One pair of Golden Silk Gloves.

"Give me the Crimson Sun Grass, and I won't hit him. How about it?"

"Are you giving it or not? If you still don't, I'm afraid Lin Dong will be coming over to take a beating."

As Lin Yun walked over, Lin Shan was still threatening Qing Tan in that disgusting way.

Qing Tan was already visibly on the verge of breaking down.

She was unwilling to give the Spirit Herb to Lin Shan, but she also did not want to see Lin Dong get bullied.

At this moment, how she wished someone would come help her, stand up for her, and teach Lin Shan a harsh lesson.

"Whoosh!"

Just then, a black shadow flew over. A Wild Boar weighing several hundred jin smashed fiercely toward Lin Shan.

It sent Lin Shan flying straight away, the heavy pig body pressing down on him.

The people surrounding Qing Tan were instantly shocked and all turned to look in the direction the Wild Boar had flown from.

Qing Tan also froze with tears streaking her face. Her lively big eyes looked toward Lin Yun as he walked over, and she was slightly stunned before hope finally appeared on her face.

Someone really had come to help her.

"Lin Yun!"

Lin Shan's lackeys were a little stunned. They had never expected Lin Yun to actually dare to hurt Lin Shan.

He was an orphan with no backing left in the Lin Family. How did he dare offend Lin Shan? Wasn't he afraid of revenge?

Behind Lin Shan were his older brother, Lin Hong, and his father, Lin Mang—neither of them were people Lin Yun could afford to provoke.

However, they knew Lin Yun had always cultivated bitterly and had long since reached the Body Tempering Fifth Layer, so none of them dared to make a move lightly.

"Cough, cough. Lin Yun, you damned orphan, are you looking to die? You actually dared to hurt me."

Lin Shan shoved the wild boar off his body, pointed at Lin Yun, and cursed in utter fury.

"Get him! Beat him!" Lin Shan directly ordered his lackeys.

So what if he was at the Body Tempering Fifth Layer? They were all at the third and fourth layers of Body Tempering. If they ganged up on him, outnumbering him, why would they be afraid they couldn't win?

As long as he hadn't reached the Body Tempering Sixth Layer and didn't have an Origin Power Seed, the gap in strength wouldn't be too great.

Besides, Lin Shan was in a rage right now and didn't care about any of that.

An orphan dared to hit him? How could he tolerate that?