Lin Fan and Angela were currently on a giant airship flying through the sky.
For the first city to set up a branch in, Lin Fan chose to head to Green Wood City which Mu Bo Hai was from.
Before leaving, Mu Bo Hai had given him a token to take with him so he could go find the Mu Family for help. Since he had a connection in another city, it would be foolish not to take it since he had to set up three branches in six months. That meant that he only had two months for each branch store!
The main form of travel between cities on the Blue Star Planet was by airship which traveled at more than three times the speed of sound, but even then, it would take them close to two days to go from Snow Wind City to Green Wood City.
It was a good thing they were only traveling on the Eastern Continent. If they were to travel between continents, the only method would be to use transportation arrays that could allow them to travel large distances, but it would cost quite a bit.
The Blue Star Planet had a surface area that was more than ten times that of earth, but it also meant that it had a greater population, having over a hundred billion people living on it.
But people in this world could only live in scattered strongholds because of the Beast Clan invasion that left beasts wandering the wilderness in this world. These strongholds were established by experts gathering together who ruled over them.
Snow Wind City was considered a B Rank Stronghold since it was a stronghold with four royal families and a population of over a hundred million people, but it was considered weak since most B Rank Strongholds had five royal families.
Then above the B Rank Strongholds were A Rank Strongholds which had a population of five hundred million people and had ten royal families.
And further up above that were S Rank Strongholds which usually had populations of a billion people and had at least one Legendary Realm Family.
Green Wood City that they were heading to was one of these S Rank Strongholds.
There were only a total of twenty five S Rank Strongholds in this entire world, five main cities on each of the five continents, ruled over by a single Legendary Realm Family each.
And then under the B Rank Strongholds, there were even smaller strongholds.
C Rank Strongholds only had a population of ten million and were ruled by a single royal family.
D Rank Strongholds only had a population of one million and were ruled by a gathering of several noble families.
Anything smaller than that couldn't be considered a stronghold, they were just considered trading outposts.
The S Rank Stronghold they were heading to now was the largest city on the south of the Eastern Continent and it was a stronghold found in the center of a giant forest, hence the name Green Wood City.
But since the trip would take them two days, Lin Fan and Angela found that it was quite boring since most of the entertainment on this ship was designed for people of lower cultivations.
There were also more adult entertainment options such as a brothel or bars, but neither Lin Fan and Angela were interested in this.
So they headed to the restaurant in the center of the ship and sat there bored in the lounge after ordering their drinks.
This area was an open lounge mixed with a cafe, where one could order both alcoholic drinks and coffee based drinks. There was a large open space with many tables set up for one to relax in.
There weren't many people currently there. Other than the two of them, there was only a single old man who was playing chess alone.
After a while, they decided to leave since there was nothing to do here, but the old man playing chess suddenly spoke up, "Young people, if you have nothing to do, how about a round of chess with this old timer?"
It was true, they really had nothing to do during this two day trip and neither Lin Fan or Angela wanted to be cooped up cultivating the entire time.
Since they had nothing better to do, Lin Fan decided to accept this match, but he did say, "Old timer, I won't be holding back."
Lin Fan had learned quite a bit about chess from observing Brainy and Momonga play, so he could be considered an expert in chess now.
Lin Fan took the white side and in just a few minutes, he had taken everything from the old man's black side except for a pawn, a knight, a rook, a bishop, and the king while he had only lost three pawns.
He couldn't help feeling sorry for the old man as he said, "Old timer, how about we just end it here and call it a draw?"
The old man suddenly revealed a smile as he said, "Young man, you shouldn't be so sure about things without seeing them through to the end."
Then in just a few minutes, the old man took every single one of his pieces other than his king and he was completely surrounded.
Lin Fan couldn't believe it!
The old man had been playing horribly at first, but then it was like Lin Fan couldn't read through his moves at all!
The old man just smiled as he said, "Owner Lin, sometimes you shouldn't judge a book by the cover. You need to have a more open mind."
Lin Fan was still shocked by the sudden turnaround of the game, so he didn't react right away, but then he realized that something was wrong. From beginning to end, he had never mentioned his name or his occupation, yet this old man had called him "Owner Lin"...
Lin Fan immediately narrowed his eyes and vigilantly looked at the old man, but the old man quickly raised his hands and said, "Now, now, I'm not an enemy. If possible I wish to become friends with you."
Lin Fan didn't say anything as he released his spiritual senses, but he found that he couldn't see through this old man. There was only one explanation for this, this old man was in the Legendary Realm!
Where did all these Legendary Realm Experts come from?
First there was Mu Bo Hai, then there was the Lin Family, and now there was this old man.
Why did all these Legendary Realm Experts all come looking for him?
Lin Fan calmed down and then said, "Old timer, what do you want?"
The old man had allowed Lin Fan to scan him and once Lin Fan spoke, he replied, "Well, I wanted to see what kind of person the infamous Owner Lin was. After all, you are someone who's caused quite a bit of trouble for the Union Government by destroying an entire royal family. These royal families don't just grow on trees, they take hundreds of years to nourish. Each one loss is one that we can never recover from and it weakens the overall power of the human race."
Lin Fan narrowed his eyes again, "Then are you here to address this issue?"
The old man gave a chuckle, "Now, now, I've already said it, I'm not here as your enemy. Young man, you really are too hasty sometimes."
Lin Fan just said in a cold voice, "After saying all that, you still aren't getting to the main point."
The old man had the same smile, "Now, there's no need to rush this. To be honest, I want to see just how strong you are, but we can't just fight here. So I propose that we play another game."
Lin Fan asked in a curious voice, "What game?"
The old man waved his hand and a ball suddenly appeared, "Well, let's go to the training room and play with this ball. If you can take it from me within twenty minutes, it'll be considered your win."
Then Lin Fan asked, "Yes, but why should I play with you?"
The old man just said, "Well, I'm sure you would love to hear some news on the Lin Family after all they've done."
Lin Fan suddenly stood up and said, "You! Are you from the Lin Family!"
The old man waved his hand, "No I'm not, but I'm someone with connections."
Then the old man waved for Lin Fan to sit down, "Young man, sit down. Now, both of you will have the chance to take the ball from me and if either one of you can do so, then I'll tell you the information I have."
Information on the Lin Family was definitely something Lin Fan wanted since information would make it easier for him to come up with a way to deal with them.
But then he suddenly revealed a smile when he realized what this old man had said, "You're saying that if either of us can take it, you'll tell us?"
Seeing the shady smile on Lin Fan's face, the old man couldn't stop a chill from running down his back, but he still said, "Yes."
Lin Fan just said in a refreshing manner, "Alright, let's do this."
Angela on the side just shook her head as she knew that this old man had been played.
