Truly Famous

Ye Wan knew that because of all the previous incidents, the Third Elder had always harbored prejudice against Chen Fan and would likely seize this chance to stir up trouble. But judging by this, the Hall Master had not believed the Third Elder's one-sided words. She let out a slight breath of relief, yet she was also curious why Chen Fan had appeared again today. Could he have come looking for that little witch again? Hmph!

Chen Fan had been watching Ye Wan. After their gazes met, he suddenly saw her pout, clearly angry. Ah, so she must suspect me of something. Indeed, the only two people he knew in the inner court were them. This was troublesome. He had to find a chance to explain things properly to Wan'er.

Just then, the Third Elder suddenly roared, "Chen Fan, you are a spy from another sect. Now that we have captured you, even if you sprouted wings, you could not escape. No one can save you today. Confess truthfully, or do not blame the law for showing no mercy!"

Torture? Were they trying to force a confession through beatings? Chen Fan's heart sank. This situation truly was difficult. Since it concerned a spy, everyone would rather kill the wrong person than let the guilty one go. It would be hard for Wan'er to plead for him. Clearly, she had already defended him once before. If she stepped forward again, even she would likely come under suspicion.

"This junior came here with another person during the day. But when we returned, it was already late, and your people discovered us and brought us here. If this junior is guilty, at most it would be for mistakenly entering a forbidden area. How could I be called a spy? This is an imposed crime without a shred of evidence. I have truly been wronged! I ask Hall Master to judge wisely." With no other choice, he could only seek the Hall Master's help and hope she was a reasonable person.

"You still dare quibble? Junior Sister Qin did not leave Sword-Imperial Pavilion today, and Junior Sister Ye has remained here all along. Who, then, did you come with?" The Third Elder's imposing aura surged. He had long expected Chen Fan to say this, and now Chen Fan had contradicted himself. That only made him more suspicious. As long as everyone decided he was a spy, he would not be able to clear himself even with a hundred mouths.

When one is determined to accuse, what lack of words can there be? Chen Fan thought. It seemed the Third Elder was dead set on killing him. What kind of mentality was that? Did I have some grudge against you? Chen Fan was speechless.

"You say there is no evidence? Fine. Bai Shuang, search him. This brat must be carrying clues!" the Third Elder ordered.

Upon hearing this, Bai Shuang immediately stepped forward, walked to Chen Fan's side, and reached directly toward him. He was not afraid Chen Fan would resist. After all, the gap in their cultivation was right there.

Chen Fan did not panic. He spread his arms, signaling that Bai Shuang could search as he pleased. Go ahead and feel me up. Are you enjoying yourself now? Later, I'm afraid you'll really be Bai Shuang—white and miserable.

The places where Chen Fan hid his concealed weapons were fairly secretive and could not normally be discovered through ordinary means. He had nothing else to fear being found. Oh, right. There was one thing.

At that moment, Chen Fan saw Bai Shuang take the item away and hold it in his hand. Bai Shuang examined it, seemingly puzzled.

Most of those present did not think much of it. Yet a small number of people, along with every steward and elder, revealed looks of horror.

The Third Elder even suddenly shuddered and nearly collapsed. "Fire... Fire Spirit Sword..." he muttered.

"You... How do you have this sword?" He stared at Chen Fan in disbelief.

Liu Ruyu, seated in the place of honor, examined the sword several more times. She had noticed it earlier, which was why she found the Third Elder's firm insistence that Chen Fan was a spy rather ridiculous. Now, she realized it was merely a scabbard. Both the hilt and the aura of the treasure sword were wrong. Still, the matter was rather strange. Why was her elder sister's scabbard in this man's hands?

Ye Wan's eyes widened as well. This man of hers was becoming more and more unfathomable. Still, as long as it was Chen Fan, no matter what happened, it was reasonable.

Everyone present who recognized the sword broke out in a cold sweat for the Third Elder. The reason was simple: the item in Chen Fan's hands could never have been stolen by him. It could only have been personally bestowed by the Vice Sect Master. Yet the Third Elder had called this man a spy...

"Bai Shuang, give it back to him..." The Third Elder waved at Bai Shuang.

The other elders had already begun leaving one after another. This farce could no longer be watched.

Liu Ruyu suddenly spoke. "Enough. Disperse. I hope no one mentions what happened in the hall today ever again. What a pack of fools." Even with her normally gentle and refined temperament, she could not help but curse.

The crowd departed in succession. Bai Shuang turned to the Third Elder and asked, "Master, this... should I not continue the search?"

"Search? Search your damned head!" The Third Elder pointed at Bai Shuang, his finger trembling uncontrollably with rage. Then he too stormed away.

Bai Shuang gave Chen Fan another cold look before leaving as well.

"Wan'er, escort him back to the outer court." After saying this, Liu Ruyu also left.

The Hall Master was indeed the Hall Master. She had long seen that Ye Wan's relationship with this man was somewhat unusual. Now that her elder sister had even given him a treasure, she found it unsuitable to interrogate him herself, so she sent Ye Wan to escort him instead. This would also conveniently let Ye Wan find out what had happened.

Ye Wan and Chen Fan walked side by side, their steps as slow as they could possibly be. Clearly, they wanted to remain together a while longer.

"What exactly is the story behind that sword of yours?" This was a question that had to be answered.

"It was only a scabbard given to me by a senior. What about it?" Chen Fan said indifferently. From everyone's reactions, he could tell this sword had an extraordinary origin. Combined with that person's cultivation, he had basically figured out the status of the person who gave him the scabbard within the sect. But now that the scabbard was in his hands, could he not show off a little?

"Do you know who gave you that scabbard?" Ye Wan asked.

"Wushuang. She said her name was Wushuang," Chen Fan answered casually. There was nothing worth hiding.

"Wu... Wushuang." Ye Wan was completely thrown into chaos. Could that old woman also be interested in him...

Ye Wan asked Chen Fan about the earlier details, and Chen Fan told her everything truthfully. Ye Wan also told Chen Fan about how the three palaces had previously discussed investigating the spies at Cloud Sea Pavilion.

When he learned that Senior Wushuang was the Vice Sect Master of Swordcry Mountain, Chen Fan was still astonished despite having expected it. Why would a Vice Sect Master be from Black Dragon Pool?

But he did not tell Ye Wan any of this. Some secrets, as a man, he still had to shoulder himself. What if they decided to silence her later?

"All right, I'll see you off here." Chen Fan's residence was not far ahead, and Ye Wan spoke reluctantly.

"Mm, go back. After this incident, I really need to keep my head down and behave." Chen Fan looked at Ye Wan, his eyes equally filled with reluctance.

Time flew by, and more than half a year passed.

During this time, Chen Fan once again entered a phase of bitter cultivation. After the incident at Hundred Herbs Garden, Qin Ziyan and Ye Wan seemed to have been placed under house arrest by their inner court elders. They never again set foot in the outer court to meet Chen Fan. Thus, Chen Fan simply emptied his mind and settled down. Cultivating this way became even more efficient.

Chen Fan discovered that the phenomenon that had appeared after his cultivation dropped—his inability to raise his Internal Qi cultivation for a time—was gradually easing. Though he still did not fully understand the reason, recovery was enough. So Chen Fan resumed his days of eating poison and meditating.

He first consumed poison made from ordinary ingredients. After gradually stabilizing and raising his cultivation somewhat, he became bolder and tried poisons made from the rare treasures of Hundred Herbs Garden. Starting with poison liquid, he drank it a small mouthful at a time. Only after confirming he could endure it did he slowly increase the dose, all while continuously circulating the Golden Wheel Scripture.

Chen Fan discovered that whenever he consumed poison and circulated his cultivation, the wonderful sensation of letting the poison flow through his entire body made him feel incomparably comfortable, as though the poison nourished him far more strongly than the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Moreover, as long as the poison he consumed was within his tolerance, the more potent it was, the more refreshed both body and mind felt. After meditating, the effect on improving his Internal Qi realm also became more obvious.

However, Chen Fan had long grown accustomed to this. If someone told him he was actually a snake demon, he would believe it. Speaking of snake demons, Eastern Evil and Western Poison had, under the catalysis of all kinds of high-quality poison, become true demonic beasts. Not only had both entered the second rank, their individual combat strength had also increased.

Little West's transformation ability had strengthened further. Although it could no longer grow larger in its original form, it had become exceptionally adept at shrinking. It could now shrink to the length it had at birth, and the smaller its body became, the faster it moved. This had become one of Chen Fan's great killing moves. When he went out, it could even coil directly around his wrist, making it more convenient.

As for Little East, it still possessed the divine ability to transform into a staff. Though the serpent staff it became looked the same as before, Chen Fan had tested it many times. Its hardness could now fully rival his Soul Reaper Sword. In other words, he could already bring it out and use it in battle. This serpent staff was formed from Little East's own body, so it was far more than an ordinary weapon. Naturally, the snake head at its tip could instantly bite an enemy whenever needed.

Given the current venom of these two snakes, ordinary cultivators below the third realm would almost certainly not survive if bitten. Chen Fan was extremely satisfied with the current cultivation of both himself and the snakes, and he decided it was time to go out and move around.

Swordcry Mountain's outer court had a rule: every outer court disciple had to complete at least one sect mission every two years. After all, they could not eat and live for free every day without contributing anything.

Of course, the difficulty of the missions could be selected according to one's own ability, and corresponding rewards could be claimed based on their difficulty after completion. The sect imposed no punishment for failing to complete one. After all, those low-level missions were merely bounties or pleas for help from ordinary people. Even for outer court disciples, they posed little difficulty. They were simply a matter of lifting a hand. Who would give up free rewards to take on a mission they could not complete? Naturally, no one would endlessly accept missions just to exchange them for rewards either, because that would delay too much cultivation time.

Chen Fan arrived at the outer court's deliberation hall. Normally, unless something special occurred, the outer court had no need for the deliberation hall. At most, a few outer court elders would communicate privately, and that was enough. Its management system was rather lax.

Therefore, this place had become the distribution area for outer court missions. At the moment, an elderly man sat inside. Chen Fan recognized him as one of the outer court stewards, though he had forgotten the man's name. On the long table before the elder sat all kinds of registers, files, and scrolls.

"Are you here to accept a sect mission?" The elder did not waste words. There were too many outer court disciples. He issued at least dozens of missions a day and had no time to exchange pleasantries with every one of them.

"Yes. This disciple is receiving a mission for the first time and does not know how the process works," Chen Fan said.

"These three mission registers are divided into three grades, from easy to difficult. The rewards differ as well. Choose for yourself." As he spoke, the elder directly tossed over three booklets.

Chen Fan caught them without another word and lowered his head to read. It had to be said that the lowest-grade missions truly held no difficulty whatsoever. They involved either killing demonic beasts that might not even be first rank, or going to some dangerous place to rescue someone—though those dangerous places were only dangerous to ordinary people. Chen Fan did not want to accept such missions. That would simply insult him. Besides, the rewards were pitifully small, only some worldly silver and one or two Spirit Stones. These rewards probably were not given by the sect at all, but provided by the ordinary people who issued the missions.

There was no helping that. So many people sought aid from cultivators; without spending some money, who would pay attention to them? The intermediate missions were somewhat more troublesome, but generally similar to the low-level ones. They merely required higher cultivation. Chen Fan had no interest in them either.

At last, he looked at the highest-grade missions. The missions here were much more interesting. Not only did their formats and requirements vary, their difficulty was also considerably greater. Chen Fan read carefully, eliminating the missions he did not want one by one. There were things like treating incurable diseases, searching for people lost for more than a decade, escorting caravans, and even acting as a bodyguard for a few days to give someone face. There was truly everything under the sun. Chen Fan found these missions both boring and time-consuming. Unless he truly had no better choice, he did not want to take them.

As he continued reading, he noticed something strange. Among these high-level missions, many were related to finding missing children. He also saw investigative missions involving the theft of precious treasures and materials.

Chen Fan's heart stirred. It seemed those people were still stirring up wind and rain. He returned the three booklets to the elder and asked, "May I ask, Senior, besides these missions, are there any other missions of greater difficulty? Or matters connected to the missing children and stolen treasures from before, but somewhat more special?"

After seeing these missions, Chen Fan naturally recalled the man in black. Until that man was eliminated, Chen Fan felt the anger in his heart would not dissipate, and it could easily affect his cultivation. He might as well investigate these matters while carrying out a mission. It would benefit him both publicly and privately.

"Oh?" The elder looked Chen Fan over curiously, then said, "Your cultivation is not weak. Very well, take this. But do not force yourself. The sect has already sent some inner court experts for these missions. Still, you do not need to complete them alone. As long as, after the mission is completed, an inner court disciple acknowledges that you also assisted, you can receive the reward."

Chen Fan accepted the missions and examined them. There were not many, but they were clearly more complicated, with greater unknown risks. The rewards for completion were not specified, only stating that the inner court would decide according to the circumstances. Presumably, they would not be too stingy.