Golden Great Accomplishment 9 (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

After finishing lunch, Lin Yan, his aunt, and his little brother left the Cai Mansion.

Before they had even left, he had wanted to bring his little brother along, anticipating that they would be staying for a meal at the mansion. However, his aunt had felt the boy was too ill-mannered and left him at home.

In the end, it was the Cai Mansion servants who had personally gone to their home to fetch him.

"Yan'er, from now on, you shall make all the decisions for this family."

Once they were some distance from the Cai Mansion, Liu spoke up. Even now, she still hadn't fully recovered from the day's events.

Master Cai went without saying, as she had never met him before, but Third Mistress's attitude had also been a world apart from the past. She knew this was all because of Yan'er, yet she still found it hard to adjust.

She recalled how, before they left, Yan'er had suggested bringing Mo along. She had refused at the time, leaving Mo looking aggrieved, but Yan'er had comforted him, promising that someone would come to pick him up later.

At the time, she had assumed Yan'er was just spouting nonsense to soothe the boy, but it was clear now that Yan'er had long since anticipated the Cai Mansion would send servants for him.

Only now did she realize that Yan'er had become a martial artist and their family's situation had completely changed. As a simple woman who didn't understand many things, it was better to leave the decision-making to him.

That way, she wouldn't accidentally cause him trouble out of ignorance.

"Aunt, you are the elder; the family affairs must be decided by you."

Lin Yan smiled gently. He knew why she said this and comforted her, "Just carry on as you always have. There won't be any problems."

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you, Aunt?"

Hearing her nephew's reply, Liu smiled and agreed, but she had already made up her mind: she would handle the trivial household matters as before, but anything involving the outside world—especially matters concerning Yan'er—would be left entirely to him.

The next day!

His aunt took his little brother to visit her maiden family. With nothing to do at home and both Zhang Wei and Monkey out visiting relatives, Lin Yan decided to make another trip to Great Fog Mountain.

This time, Lin Yan left the city in a different direction. He had already searched the side of Great Fog Mountain near Qingtian Town quite thoroughly, so he decided to explore the other side instead.

Once outside the city, he avoided the main roads and stuck to the mountain trails, hoping to discover some rare wild herbs.

However, after crossing two mountain ridges, he was disappointed to find absolutely nothing.

Lin Yan felt a bit helpless. It was the old saying: those who live by the mountain live off the mountain.

These hills had likely been picked clean by the local villagers long ago; even if there had been rare wild herbs, they would have been harvested ages ago.

It was only because of the miasma on Great Fog Mountain, which deterred even martial artists from venturing deep, that he had been able to find things every time he entered.

"The Tang Family has territory in Sanshan County where they cultivate medicinal herbs. If the opportunity arises, I should make a trip there."

Lin Yan had already inquired about the origin of the rare meat in Guangping County; most of it came from Sanshan County.

Sanshan County was surrounded by three mountain ranges and was teeming with wild beasts and rare birds. But in this world, the mountains were not ownerless property. If an outsider from another county stepped into Sanshan territory to hunt, the local martial artists would certainly block them.

Only by leveraging the Tang Family's influence would it be possible.

Just as Lin Yan was preparing to head down the mountain, several figures appeared in the woods ahead.

There were five of them in total, all dressed in identical green robes.

Although it was the first lunar month, the mountain air was still biting, yet these five were dressed thinly, clearly indicating they were martial artists.

"Who are you, and why have you come to this mountain?"

Upon seeing Lin Yan, the five immediately spread out, forming a fan-shaped encirclement. The leader looked Lin Yan up and down and questioned him in a deep voice.

"I am here to forage for herbs."

Lin Yan's tone was calm. Although all five were martial artists, only the man who had spoken possessed a steady, long breath characteristic of a Skin-Toughening martial artist. The other four were breathing heavily, clearly struggling with the mountain path, and had not even reached the Skin-Toughening stage.

However, having no grudge or enmity with them, Lin Yan did not want to stir up trouble.

"Foraging for herbs?"

The man in the middle frowned, stared at Lin Yan for a long moment, and then waved his hand impatiently. "Be off with you."

In a direction Lin Yan couldn't see, the man made a gesture behind his back so his companions could clearly see it.

Lin Yan turned around honestly, intending to leave. But just as he took a step, he suddenly exerted force from his waist, his body twisting in a strange, fluid motion.

Instead of walking away, he lunged forward!

He had clearly caught the man's hand gesture behind his back. Although he didn't know what the signal meant, he could tell from the change in the other four men's breathing.

The other four had held their breath—a clear precursor to an attack.

Since the other party didn't intend to let him leave, he had no choice but to strike first.

Lin Yan couldn't be sure if there were others nearby, so he had to end this quickly.

Stone Waist Savage Spine, explosive power unleashed!

His entire body snapped forward like a taut bowstring suddenly released, covering the two-zhang distance in a single flash!

"You!"

The leader's pupils constricted; before he could finish his sentence, Lin Yan's fist was already before his eyes.

He had sensed that Lin Yan was no ordinary person, intending to lower the man's guard before having his brothers draw their blades and swarm him from behind, yet he never expected the other to strike first.

In his panic, he could only raise his arms to parry.

BOOM!

A crisp sound of shattering bone rang out, accompanied by the man's face twisting in agony.

Lin Yan's punch held no frills—it was the purest form of Mountain Splitting Fist. With the force of his second skin-tempering stage combined with the explosive power of his Stone Waist Savage Spine, he shattered the man's arm, sending it dangling limp before slamming his fist into the man's face.

BANG!

The sound of the skull cracking was as dull as smashing a ripe watermelon.

The man didn't even have time to scream; he flew backward, snapped a tree as thick as a bowl, and collapsed limply to the ground.

The remaining four men froze.

They hadn't even reacted yet—how had their hall master been sent flying?

"Kill him!"

One of them finally snapped out of it and roared.

All four drew their blades from their waists, but Lin Yan was faster.

After killing the leader with a single punch, Lin Yan didn't stop; using his momentum, he crashed directly into the middle of the four.

BANG!

Another punch landed squarely in the chest of the man on the left. The man's chest visibly caved in, blood sprayed from his mouth, and he was already lifeless by the time he hit the ground.

The remaining three panicked; they didn't even bother with their blades and turned to run.

"Run!"

One of them turned to flee.

Lin Yan shifted his feet, caught up to him, and drove a fist into his back.

The man collapsed, twitched twice, and went still.

The other two had already made it a yard away in the interim.

Lin Yan took a deep breath, pushed off the ground, caught up in a few strides, and struck out with both hands.

BANG! BANG!

Two more bodies hit the ground.

From the first strike to the end, it had taken no more than five breaths.

Lin Yan stopped, adjusted his breathing to calm his inner energy, then walked over to the leader's corpse, crouched down, and began to search him.

Shattered silver, copper coins, and a wooden tablet.

A "Green" character was carved on the front, with a bamboo pattern on the back.

"What a coincidence, they're actually from the Green Bamboo Gang?"

Seeing the tablet, a look of surprise crossed Lin Yan's eyes.

Yesterday, Senior Brother Li had asked him to step forward and negotiate with the Green Bamboo Gang, and today, he had run into their members.

The Green Bamboo Gang had been driven out of the city to live as bandits in the hills, and these five had shown killing intent the moment they saw him. Was it because their stronghold was right here, and they feared that letting him go would expose their location?

Lin Yan's eyes flickered, and the next moment, he looked to his left and shot off in that direction.

In the woods to the left, a man was currently fleeing frantically. He had stepped away to relieve his stomach pain and had fallen behind the hall master and the others; he never expected that upon catching up, he would witness the death of his superiors.

This person, who could kill the hall master in one move, was definitely not someone he could handle.

However, just three breaths later, feeling the whistling wind behind him, the man felt despair. He rolled on the ground and shouted, "Don't kill me! I can tell you a secret about the gang!"

"Speak."

The man looked up at Lin Yan standing before him and stammered, "Our gang leader was severely wounded by your gang's vice-leader last time and died within three days. The vice-leader was also injured. The... the vice-leader taking over the mountain to collect tolls is just a front. He's only waiting to make a fortune before taking us all and leaving Guangping County."

The man hadn't heard the conversation between Lin Yan and the others; in his mind, Lin Yan was someone sent specifically to hunt down the Green Bamboo Gang, and only the Four Seas Gang would do such a thing.

To save his life, he spilled everything he knew like beans from a bamboo tube.

"Actually, I've long wanted to defect to your gang, but I was always watched by the vice-leader and the hall master, so I never had the chance."

Lin Yan looked down at the man's sycophantic words with an unchanging expression, though he felt a sense of irony inside—the vice-leader of the Green Bamboo Gang was quite the schemer.

By hiding the gang leader's death and demanding an exorbitant fifty percent toll from merchants, he was waiting for them to pull strings and negotiate. Eventually, under the "negotiation pressure" of the martial artists hired by the merchants, he would likely lower the toll to ten or twenty percent. Feeling that he had lost face, he would then demand the toll be paid for a full year in advance.

Those merchants, including the martial artists they hired, wouldn't see anything wrong with that demand; they would only think the Green Bamboo Gang was trying to save face.

Indeed, anyone serving as a deputy in any organization was a talent.

As for why this man knew, it was because the vice-leader had shared the plan to keep morale up and prevent the remaining members from deserting.

Knowing they could make a quick fortune, the members naturally wouldn't run.

"How many people are left in your gang?"

"Besides the vice leader, there... there are also three hall masters... no, wait, only two left now. There are fifteen gang members remaining; many ran off back when the vice leader first led us out of the city."

Listening to the man, Lin Yan calculated the combat strength of the Green Bamboo Gang: one injured second-stage skin-tempering martial artist, two first-stage skin-tempering martial artists, and a dozen or so lackeys. It seemed... he could plan something.

The prerequisite was that this man was telling the truth.

"Is there only one group responsible for patrolling?"

"No... no, there are two groups in total. Another team is patrolling on the other hill."

"How long is the patrol shift?"

"One hour."

Lin Yan glanced at the opposite hill; at his pace, it wouldn't take long to reach it.

"How long has your vice leader been in the second stage of skin-tempering?"

"Half... half a year."

Bang!

With a kick to the man's chest, Lin Yan ended his life instantly. From start to finish, he had never promised to spare him.

Dragging the corpse into the bushes to pile it with the other five, Lin Yan turned and dashed toward the opposite hill.

The mountain path was rugged, but for Lin Yan, who had reached the second stage of skin-tempering, it was as flat as level ground.

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had arrived at the waist of the opposite hill.

Voices drifted from ahead.

Lin Yan slowed his pace, using the trees as cover to approach quietly.

Behind a large rock, five figures sat or stood, chatting idly.

"Hall master, why do you think the vice leader had to lead us away? When other gangs had their territory seized by the Four Seas Gang, they just moved to a new spot."

"Where could we go? Do you think the Four Seas Gang will stop just because they took the west side of the city? Once they unify the west, they'll eventually target the north. As for the east and south... do you think there's any room for us there?"

The man sitting on the rock snorted. Just as his voice fell, a whistling wind erupted behind him.

"Watch out!"

The man's expression changed drastically, and he tried to stand, but he was a step too late.

A terrifying fist-wind struck. The next moment, the man felt unbearable pain in his back and collapsed onto the ground.

Lin Yan's sneak attack killed him on the spot.

The remaining four finally reacted; some grabbed spears, others reached for the blades at their waists.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After a few consecutive punches, only one person remained alive.

"Don't... don't kill me..."

Lin Yan looked down at him, staring into his eyes. "I ask, you answer."

A cup of tea's time later, a dull thud echoed. Only Lin Yan remained alive at the scene.

After a practiced routine of looting the corpses, Lin Yan began to contemplate his next move.

Two interrogations confirmed that the first man from the Green Bamboo Gang hadn't lied. The leader of the Green Bamboo Gang was indeed dead, and the vice leader was injured.

A vice leader who had only entered the second stage of skin-tempering half a year ago and was currently wounded...

It was hard not to be tempted!

Lin Yan looked inward at his mind, where the Martial Dao Tree was now laden with several fruits. Combined, they could be exchanged for a total of twelve years of cultivation time.

With his current strength, he might not be able to wipe out the Green Bamboo Gang, but what if he poured twelve more years of cultivation into his Mountain Splitting Fist?

Lin Yan's mind stirred, and he consumed all the Martial Fruit.

Boom!

Twelve years of grueling practice surged into his mind like a tidal wave.

It wasn't just memory, but experiences branded into his very body.

Every punch thrown, every muscle tensed, every breath taken—it all transformed into instinct in that moment.

Springs came and autumns went, winters passed and summers arrived. Twelve years of splitting mountains, shattering stones, and breaking wood exploded in the depths of his consciousness.

Fist shadows, fist shadows, fist shadows filling the sky.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

A breath? Or a quarter of an hour?

Lin Yan opened his eyes.

He threw a punch!

No technique, no buildup—just the most ordinary straight punch.

But where the fist-tip passed, the air roared.

The fist landed against the mountain rock.

BANG!

The boulder shattered, sending shards of stone spraying like rain.

Lin Yan retracted his fist, standing still as he looked down at his hand.

His skin remained the same, his bones unchanged, yet Lin Yan knew it was different.

The power of this strike was far beyond anything he could have compared it to before.

Lin Yan turned his inner vision toward the leaf in his mind representing the Mountain Splitting Fist; it had now turned completely golden.

Mountain Splitting Fist, Great Success!

Twelve years of bitter cultivation had refined the Mountain Splitting Fist from mere moves into instinct, and from instinct into momentum.

Before the fist was thrown, the momentum arrived.

After the fist was retracted, the momentum lingered.

"The Mountain Splitting Fist has reached Great Success, just as I expected; my strength has increased significantly."

A smile played on Lin Yan's lips. In his plan, he had intended to use these two patrols from the Green Bamboo Gang to push his Mountain Splitting Fist to Great Success.

If the Mountain Splitting Fist reached Great Success and his strength improved sufficiently, he would move against the Green Bamboo Gang.

If his strength did not improve enough, he would immediately head down the mountain and abandon any designs on the Green Bamboo Gang.

Unexpectedly, the Mountain Splitting Fist had actually developed fist momentum, causing his strength to skyrocket.

As for what came after fist momentum, he could ask his master next time they met. Now was not the time to ponder such things; he had to head to the Green Bamboo Gang's stronghold. Otherwise, once that vice-leader discovered the patrol members hadn't returned, he would surely sense something was amiss, and given that man's calculating nature, he would likely flee with his wealth.