"Heh, junior of the Ji Clan, don't you go spitting blood and slandering us!"
"Our Wang Clan came to congratulate the Lin Clan. How could we possibly come empty-handed?"
Feeling the pressure around him, Great Emperor Chiyan's face darkened. With a smile that never reached his eyes, he looked at Wang Kun. "Didn't you deliver the congratulatory gift I gave you to the Lin Clan?"
The Wang Clan had lost a late Great Emperor deathsworn, yet now they still had to give their enemies a congratulatory gift. Anyone would have worn an ugly expression.
"A-Ancestor, this lowly one was useless and actually forgot. I'll make up for it now."
Wang Kun froze at first. When had the ancestor ever given him a congratulatory gift? But, true to his nature as an old fox, he quickly caught on, casually took out a jade box, and delivered it to Lin Fan.
"Let's go!"
With the gift delivered, everyone felt the breath of death dissipate. Great Emperor Chiyan swept a cold glance over Lin Fan, then looked at the Lin Clan members and the utterly fearless Ji Dameng before leaving with the Wang Clan's people, their tails between their legs.
"Oh, I was wondering how a mighty clan could possibly come empty-handed. Weren't you afraid of being laughed at if word got out? So your subordinate simply forgot! No matter, making up for it is fine."
"Take care now!"
Watching the Wang Clan leave after eating dirt, Lin Fan secretly felt delighted. But after taking the jade box and opening it, he frowned at its contents.
"Wait..."
"What... is this thing?"
"A Sacred Heart Fruit? Are you tossing scraps to stray cats and dogs?"
Lin Fan held the jade box open, revealing a fruit like a red agate inside. He called for the Wang Clan's people to stop, gave Wang Kun a look of feigned surprise, then turned to Great Emperor Chiyan and spoke with disbelief all over his face.
"Are you sure you gave me the right thing?"
"To be honest, even my chickens eat better than this!"
"Surely the mighty Wang Clan, a supreme imperial clan, wouldn't give such a shabby gift?"
A Sage-grade Sacred Heart Fruit was certainly incomparably precious to ordinary people. Consuming it could produce a Sage, but to Lin Fan, it wasn't worth a damn.
He had several imperial weapons, even more Quasi-Emperor weapons, and no shortage of Great Emperor pills.
Something of this Sage grade simply couldn't catch his eye.
Since it couldn't satisfy his appetite, he naturally wouldn't let the Wang Clan off, mercilessly slapping their faces once again.
The lineages aligned with the Wang Clan had originally intended to follow its example, give some trifling gift, and leave. But after Lin Fan's move, would they still dare?
He still called it shabby after they gave him something?
Ji Dameng immediately burst out laughing, utterly unafraid of Great Emperor Chiyan's warning. "A mighty imperial clan should at least give a Great Emperor-grade congratulatory gift, shouldn't it? Our Ji Clan, for instance, gave two Great Emperor-grade pills. Good things come in pairs!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
As though the trouble wasn't big enough, the Lin Clan elders added fuel to the fire.
The various lineages of Archaic and everyone present looked at the Wang Clan's people with contempt.
Great Emperor Chiyan stopped, feeling he had lost all face. Not wanting to stay a moment longer, he turned to Wang Kun beside him with a cold expression. "Useless fool! I'll deal with you when we return!"
Wang Kun lowered his head, his asshole clenching. A mighty Quasi-Emperor, yet he didn't dare utter a damn word.
Great Emperor Chiyan waved his hand, and a palm-sized black stone flew toward Lin Fan. It contained terrifying power, gave off a sharp, piercing sensation, and held imperial might.
"This is black flame emperor stone!"
"It can serve as a primary material for forging imperial weapons, increasing their sharpness and toughness. It weighs a full two jin! Enough to forge an imperial weapon."
"This is our Wang Clan's congratulatory gift, to congratulate the Lin Clan on producing a monstrous prodigy!"
Lin Fan's eyes lit up at the sight of it. Black flame emperor stone was something many Great Emperors coveted. It was formed through refinement after absorbing a Great Emperor's blood essence and also contained a Great Emperor's slaughter Qi.
"Now that's more like it!"
Lin Fan accepted the black flame emperor stone and nodded in satisfaction. He still didn't have a life-bound weapon, and thought he could add some black flame emperor stone in the future to forge a weapon that suited his hand.
[Ding! The host has swindled Great Emperor Chiyan and the others of the Wang Clan out of treasure, leaving them so frustrated they want to vomit blood. This qualifies as villainous behavior. Villain Points +20,000]
Hearing the system notification, Lin Fan's heart bloomed with joy.
He had gained a Great Emperor treasure, earned twenty thousand Villain Points, and angered the Wang Clan's people until they wanted to vomit blood. What could feel better than this?
Unfortunately, he hadn't managed to keep them here, but there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
Seeing Lin Fan accept it, Great Emperor Chiyan coldly eyed his smug expression, viciously flicked his robes, and turned to leave without making any threats.
Having repeatedly lost to a little child, staying even one more second was humiliating.
Looking at the Wang Clan experts' faces, as though their mothers had died, Lin Fan saw that his original 4,000 Villain Points had now risen to 84,000. Only then did he feel considerably better. He smiled and enthusiastically waved goodbye.
"Take care! You're all welcome to visit the Lin Clan again!"
Hearing this, Great Emperor Chiyan and the others left even faster, simply tearing open the void and departing.
Watching the Wang Clan experts eat dirt and flee in disarray, Lin Dong, Ji Ningshuang, the Lin Clan elders, Ji Dameng, and the others couldn't help laughing, casting approving looks at him.
"Well done, brat! You really have a knack for this!"
"Only you could anger a Wang Clan Great Emperor until he wanted to vomit blood!"
"We're just letting the Wang Clan leave so easily?"
Somewhere in the void, several Lin Clan ancestors watched Great Emperor Chiyan and the others depart. Ancestor Virtue frowned. This wasn't like the Lin Clan at all.
Although the Lin Clan concealed its strength, who could tolerate the Wang Clan coming right to their doorstep to bully them?
Extreme Emperor Ancestor asked, "Which of you will go?"
The four exchanged glances, a cold gleam flashing through each of their eyes.
Ancestor Virtue said, "I'll go. After lying around for millions of years, my hands are getting a little itchy!"
Extreme Emperor Ancestor said, "Follow them secretly and just kill them. Wait until there's no one around before finishing him off. No one will know our Lin Clan did it anyway."
Ancestor Virtue chuckled, rubbed his hands, and quietly left, heading in the direction Great Emperor Chiyan and the others had taken.
As long as there was no evidence, so what if the Wang Clan suspected them? They could do nothing to the Lin Clan and could only swallow the loss in silence.
Watching this, Extreme Emperor and the other ancestors twitched their lips. After so many years, this fellow was still just as sneaky. They could already imagine Great Emperor Chiyan's fate.
Drunkard Ancestor took a sip of wine and chuckled. "That old bastard from earlier is in for a real treat!"
The Lin Clan.
Quite a few forces allied with the Wang Clan left with dark expressions, including the Feng Clan and the Luo Clan.
They had originally wanted to follow the Wang Clan's example and give some trifling gift, but after seeing its fate, they could only grit their teeth and bring out some good things to satisfy Lin Fan's appetite.
With the departure of the Wang Clan and its affiliated forces, the atmosphere of drawn swords and bent bows dissipated.
Only then did Archaic's other lineages dare step forward to congratulate the Lin Clan, offering extraordinary gifts one after another.
Such were the ways of human relations.
They had to give gifts no matter what, or they would easily give others something to criticize.
If you gave one, they might not remember, but whoever didn't give one, they would remember perfectly clearly.
Everything was warm and harmonious. The Lin Clan elders warmly received their guests, leading allies such as the Ji Clan into the Lin Clan's banquet and treating them generously, fulfilling their duties as hosts.
[Ding! The presence of a Son of Fortune detected.]
Just as Lin Fan was about to leave, a system notification sounded in his ears.
Hm?
A Son of Fortune?
Lin Fan couldn't help feeling delighted. He had just been thinking of searching for a Son of Fortune after breaking through to the Spirit Sea realm, yet unexpectedly, news of one had already come to him.
His gaze locked onto a middle-aged man and a young man wearing black-and-white Daoist robes. With a thought, he brought up their data panels to examine them!