Top Twenty

Lin Jiao had lost!

The entire Martial Arts Arena fell deathly silent; one could hear a needle drop.

All the Fang Clan Inner Hall disciples watching, including those ranked in the top ten, wore astonished expressions.

They had imagined Fang Han might be defeated, and they had imagined he might barely hold on through a bitter fight, but they had never imagined that Lin Jiao, already at Tendon Refining Mid-Stage, would lose.

And lose so cleanly, so miserably.

"Gasp... Tendon Refining... Mid-Stage?!"

After the silence, Fang Rui, the Inner Hall disciple ranked seventh, sucked in a sharp breath and cried out in shock.

"What? Fang Han has already broken through... to Tendon Refining Mid-Stage?!"

That cry exploded like a thunderclap.

Only then did everyone belatedly realize that the power Fang Han had unleashed just now had already surpassed Tendon Refining Early-Stage.

"How long has it been since Fang Han broke through to Tendon Refining Early-Stage? He actually broke through to Tendon Refining Mid-Stage in such a short time—what terrifying cultivation speed!"

A disciple cried out in disbelief.

"With the strength Fang Han displayed today, he is likely... already capable of challenging the Inner Hall's top twenty..."

Fang Rui, the Inner Hall disciple ranked seventh, spoke in a grave voice, his eyes filled with solemnity and apprehension.

"What? Fang Han is already capable of challenging the top twenty of the Inner Hall rankings?"

The moment those words came out, the expressions of the Inner Hall disciples ranked below twentieth changed drastically. Fang Han had silently surpassed them already.

The expressions of those ranked from tenth to twentieth also changed at once, their gazes toward Fang Han filled with tension and a powerful sense of crisis.

At Fang Han's outrageous rate of improvement, their rankings would likely soon be trampled beneath the feet of this "newcomer."

They had to work harder!

At the edge of the crowd, Fang Lin's face had gone slightly pale. He looked at Fang Han standing on the platform with sword in hand, his aura soaring like a rainbow, then at Lin Jiao sitting collapsed on the ground in utter disarray.

An immense, insurmountable sense of disparity swallowed him whole like an icy tide.

The last flicker of fire in his heart, the fire that had urged him to catch up, was thoroughly doused, leaving only endless dejection and helplessness.

The person he had once looked down upon had not only surpassed him, but had long since left him so far behind that he could not even see his shadow.

Whoosh, whoosh—!

Two figures arrived at the Martial Arts Arena like wind and lightning, just in time to witness Fang Han defeat Lin Jiao. They were Fang Yuan and Lin Shan.

Mid-Stage Tendon Refining? This kid actually broke through again without a sound, and even defeated Lin Jiao so cleanly once more!

Fang Yuan froze for a moment, then uncontrollable delight and excitement bloomed across his face. He nearly burst into laughter.

Mid-Stage Tendon Refining? How could it be this fast?! This Fang Clan brat... is he human or a ghost?!

Lin Shan, meanwhile, looked as though he had been struck by a bolt from the blue. The "anger" on his face froze completely before turning into incredulous shock and humiliated fury.

He stared fixedly at Fang Han, as though he were seeing this young man for the first time.

Killing intent even rose in his heart. If such a genius were allowed to grow, it would be no good thing for the Lin Family.

Yet given how highly the Fang Clan valued this child, an assassination would be anything but easy.

Moreover, if they broke the tacit understanding the Five Great Families had maintained for so long, they would set an extremely bad precedent and make their own family's geniuses targets for assassination as well.

"Jiao'er!"

Suppressing his thoughts, Lin Shan strode forward with an ashen face and pulled up Lin Jiao, who looked utterly lost, his eyes vacant.

He could not even spare a word for appearances. He barely cupped his hands toward Fang Yuan and said in a dry voice,

"Brother Fang Yuan, my family discipline has been lax. You have seen something shameful. Farewell!"

With that, he practically dragged the dispirited Lin Jiao away under the mocking gazes of the Fang Clan disciples. They left in miserable haste, their backs no longer carrying even a trace of the imposing momentum they had arrived with.

Watching their panicked retreat, Fang Yuan could no longer hide the smile on his face and burst into hearty laughter.

"Hahaha! Good! Well done!"

Such a matter, one that raised their brows and greatly boosted the Lineage's prestige, had to be reported to the Clan Head at once.

After offering Fang Han a few words of encouragement, he hurried off to see the Clan Head.

Sure enough, when Clan Head Fang Lingyuan received the news, he was even more delighted than last time.

Not only did he reward Fang Han generously once again, but he also ordered that Fang Han's clean defeat of Lin Jiao be widely publicized throughout Liangshui City.

For a time, news that "the Fang Clan's Qilin Child, Fang Han, had defeated the Lin Family's Lin Jiao again" seemed to grow wings, spreading through every street and alley of Liangshui City.

Inside the Fang Clan Restaurant, the manager Fang Zheng greeted customers with a face full of smiles.

At a neighboring table, several well-dressed merchants were loudly discussing the city's latest event.

"Have you heard? That Qilin Child of the Lin Family, Lin Jiao, lost to Fang Han of the Fang Clan again—and he was publicly defeated in the Fang Clan Inner Hall! Tsk, tsk, he lost even worse this time!"

"Really? Didn't they say Lin Jiao had broken through to Tendon Refining Mid-Stage?"

"Heh, breaking through was useless. Fang Han of the Fang Clan broke through too. I heard he knocked Lin Jiao's saber flying in just a few moves. The Fang Clan has truly produced a genius this time!"

"Incredible, truly incredible! At this rate, it probably will not be long before the Fang Clan presses the Lin Family beneath its head..."

Listening to the customers' awed and envious discussion, a sense of pride welled up in Fang Zheng's heart. He stood taller, and the smile on his face grew even brighter.

Just then, an old customer who recognized Fang Zheng walked over with a wine cup in hand, his face glowing red as he called out loudly,

"Manager Fang, congratulations, congratulations! Your son Fang Han is truly a young genius! Come, let me toast you!"

"Hahaha, Boss Li, you are too kind!"

Fang Zheng hurriedly raised his cup in return. As their cups clinked together, the pride in his heart nearly overflowed.

Inside the room, the flame of the oil lamp flickered, casting Fang Han's long shadow across the wall.

He sat before the table, where two wooden boxes lay open.

One contained Snowflake Silver ingots stacked neatly together, gleaming with a soft silver light beneath the dim yellow lamplight.

The other held ten small white-and-blue porcelain bottles, filled with Blood Vitality Pills.

"Another hundred Blood Vitality Pills!"

Satisfaction appeared in Fang Han's eyes.

After breaking through to the Tendon Refining Realm, his physical constitution had grown stronger, and his consumption of Blood Vitality Pills during cultivation had increased.

His original monthly allotment of ten Blood Vitality Pills had been ample during the Flesh Refining Realm, with even a little to spare.

But after entering the Tendon Refining Realm, it had become somewhat insufficient.

The hundred Blood Vitality Pills he had been rewarded previously, added to the hundred he had just received, would ensure that he would not need to worry about running short of Blood Vitality Pills for quite some time.

"Five hundred taels of silver!"

Fang Han's gaze finally fell upon the pile of silver ingots, and the corners of his mouth could not help but rise.

Sure enough, using cultivation to package himself as a genius, then using that to fleece the Lineage for money, was the most suitable way for him to make money at this stage.

"Seven hundred and seventy-seven taels..."

Five hundred taels, plus the two hundred taels remaining from the Lineage's previous reward and the seventy-seven taels he had saved himself.

The silver Fang Han possessed had now reached the astonishing sum of seven hundred and seventy-seven taels!

He murmured the number, his heart beating slightly faster with excitement.

Activating the Tier-Three Root Bone Amplification required a full thousand taels of silver.

Previously, that sum had been like a star beyond reach, but now he had already reached three-quarters of the way there. Only two hundred and twenty-three taels remained between him and his goal.

He could already see hope of activating it.

Once he activated the Tier-Three Root Bone Amplification, it should grant an eightfold Root Bone Talent amplification.

What kind of terrifying cultivation speed would that be?

The mere thought of it made his heart surge with excitement.