Young Friend, Would You Like to Become a Symbol Master?

Outside the Curio Pavilion.

After finding an open space, Lin Yan stopped.

Then, looking at the men and woman who had followed close behind, he said quietly,

"Let's do it here."

"You can all come at me together."

The men frowned deeply at this. Seeing Lin Yan's arrogance, their resentment toward him grew even stronger.

The people nearby began to gather around. But when they saw the woman, they quickly recognized her.

"Isn't that Liu Qingxu of the Liu Clan? What happened? Did she get into a dispute with someone?"

"Those men don't look like they're from the Liu Clan. I think one of them is among her many followers. Oh, right, right—the one in front looks like the Yun Clan's young master! The others are probably his lackeys."

"Well, that makes sense. Another one trying to win a beauty's smile. It's just a shame for those two young men. They've offended a spoiled young master like this, so they're bound to come to a bad end."

The crowd continued to chatter.

Liu Qingxu seemed unable to watch any longer. She stepped forward and said to Lin Dong,

"If you don't want to sell it, then forget it."

"You should know that I was only asking."

"But your attitude was even worse than mine."

Then she turned to the Yun Clan's young master. "This has nothing to do with you. It's my business, and I don't need you to interfere. So please leave."

Having said that, Liu Qingxu looked between the two sides, hoping to let the matter drop.

But the Yun Clan's young master was clearly unwilling.

He had intervened in the Curio Pavilion earlier only to win the beauty's favor.

He hadn't expected to suffer such a humiliating setback. Not only had he failed to win her favor, he had even incurred her displeasure.

That left the Yun Clan's young master rather vexed.

What was more, so many people were watching. There was no way he could back down now. Otherwise, he might as well give up on ever showing his face in Flame City again.

"Qing Xu, this has nothing to do with you anymore."

"This is between them and me."

With that thought, the Yun Clan's young master spoke directly to Liu Qingxu.

Then he waved his hand, signaling for the other men to attack with him.

"Truly courting death."

Lin Yan shook his head calmly at the sight.

He let the men charge at him, then quickly moved to meet them.

It didn't take long for him to see how strong they were. The lackeys were all at the Early Earth Origin Realm, while the so-called Yun Clan young master was at the Late Earth Yuan Stage.

But these worthless weaklings posed no threat to Lin Yan now.

After all, even Lei Ying, who was at the Early Heaven Origin Realm, had been suppressed by Lin Yan. What could these mere Earth Origin Realm cultivators do?

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The Yun Clan's lackeys charged at Lin Yan, but he easily dodged their attacks one after another.

Then Lin Yan punched each of them squarely in the abdomen.

The moment his fists landed, the lackeys felt a terrible pain. It churned and twisted in their stomachs.

"Ugh!"

They quickly cried out in pain. One by one, unable to bear it, they clutched their stomachs and fell to the ground.

"Damn it!"

The Yun Clan's young master's eyelids twitched at the sight.

He couldn't understand how Lin Yan could be so powerful when they were both at the Late Earth Yuan Stage.

But he was already riding a tiger and couldn't get off. Though he was now wary of Lin Yan, he had no choice but to attack.

Lin Yan easily dodged one of the Yun Clan young master's strikes.

Then, with a punch packed with astonishing force, he swung straight at the young master's face.

The Yun Clan's young master felt his heart leap in alarm. Even just looking at it, he could tell how powerful that punch was. If it hit him, he might well be disfigured.

At the thought, even the Yun Clan's young master felt afraid. After all, a person's appearance was quite important. No normal person would want to be disfigured.

"Hey."

"You can leave."

"We have no grudge between us, and I don't want to hit you that hard."

"Let's call it even. How about that?"

But in the end, Lin Yan stopped his fist just short of the Yun Clan young master's face.

When the young man's fear had reached its peak, and he had even begun to regret what he'd done, Lin Yan halted his punch.

Then he looked at the Yun Clan's young master and smiled as he spoke.

"Fine, fine, fine!"

"Thank you for showing mercy, brother!"

"We'll leave right now!"

The Yun Clan's young master was overjoyed.

The stark change from certain disaster to sudden relief filled his eyes with gratitude as he looked at Lin Yan.

He quickly hauled his lackeys to their feet and fled as if his life depended on it.

"This young man... he's truly impressive!"

The people nearby watched, full of admiration.

They weren't just impressed by Lin Yan's strength. They were also impressed by how skillfully he had handled the situation.

If he hadn't fought, a spoiled young master like that wouldn't have let things go so easily. But if he'd fought to the bitter end, it would inevitably have brought trouble.

Lin Yan had shown excellent judgment. First, he'd made the Yun Clan's young master understand the gap between them. Then, when the young man was nearly in despair, he'd let him go.

Not only had he beaten his opponent into submission, he'd even made the Yun Clan's young master feel deeply grateful to him.

Watching Lin Yan now, everyone felt a surge of admiration.

Who would have thought that Flame City had such an outstanding young man?

They just couldn't understand why a young man of such talent had remained unknown until now.

"My name is Liu Qingxu. May I ask what your name is, big brother?"

After watching the whole affair, Liu Qingxu was clearly surprised.

There were countless outstanding young talents in Flame City, and she knew almost all of them.

But she had never met anyone like Lin Yan before. She admired the way he had handled the situation, so she stepped forward and asked him.

"Lin Yan."

Lin Yan answered with a smile.

Liu Qingxu nodded and quietly committed the name to memory.

As for Lin Dong, he turned to Lin Yan and said, "Brother Lin Yan, is this what you told me about when we went fishing last time?"

"The Art of War?"

He suddenly remembered something Lin Yan had said while fishing with him and Qing Tan. It seemed to fit exactly with what Lin Yan had just done.

"Heh, I didn't think you'd remember, little brother Lin Dong."

Lin Yan smiled at Lin Dong.

Then he went over it with him again.

"As the saying goes: 'When an army is returning home, do not block its way. When you surround an army, leave it an escape route. Do not press a cornered enemy too hard.'"

"It means that when an enemy retreats to its own country, you shouldn't stop it. If you block its road home, it will fight you to the death."

"When you surround an enemy, always leave a gap. Let the enemy know there's a way out, and it will lose the will to fight to the death. Otherwise, even a rabbit will bite when cornered."

"Lastly, don't push an enemy with nowhere left to run too far. A foe driven to the brink may lash out in desperation."

"In short, leave a little room for others, and you'll meet again on better terms."

"When you're out dealing with people, if you leave no one any way out, the only one who'll suffer the backlash in the end is yourself."

Lin Yan gave Lin Dong this advice quite earnestly.

"I'll remember, Brother Lin Yan."

After listening to Lin Yan's advice, Lin Dong nodded seriously.

He always took Lin Yan's teachings to heart. And Lin Dong had always been quick to grasp things, so he understood the wisdom and reasoning behind the lesson. It made sense.

"This man is impressive. In terms of shrewdness, he leaves all those so-called Flame City prodigies in the dust."

"Compared to him, the so-called geniuses of Flame City are all thickheaded fools."

Liu Qingxu was secretly astonished. After hearing Lin Yan's words, she thought even more highly of him.

Lin Yan, Lin Dong, and Liu Qingxu returned to the Curio Pavilion, planning to look around some more.

But as soon as they walked in, an old man came straight over. His eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Lin Yan.

"Hahaha! Young friend, your words just now truly opened the old man's eyes!"

"Admirable, admirable!"

"Tell me, young friend, I see you have exceptional talent. Would you be interested in becoming a Symbol Master?"

The old man praised Lin Yan without holding back.

As for Liu Qingxu, standing beside him, she couldn't hide her astonishment when she saw the old man. Surprise flickered across her pretty face.

"You are..."

"Master Yan?"