Chapter 163: Trouble is Here
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A crowd gathered at the entrance of the Hunter Association looking at a piece of white paper on the right side of the door. A girl in ponytail stood outside the crowd and smirked.
"Lin Huang, it took me quite awhile to find your name on the list. How dare you decline my offer to work together. Now, you'll have to pay the price!"
The piece of white paper on the right side of the door had a bunch of words written in a graceful handwriting. The handwriting wrote, "The weed that was mentioned in the assessment tip is an advanced drug called ZC. All of you can find a portion of the information about the drug on the Heart Network. Such a drug is only available in a powder form on the market and only the manufacturer has the black crystal, its crystal form. The empire that manufactures the drug is called Heisen Castle, a strong empire endorsed by three transcendents. There’s a division of in Beixian City. The division is located in a jungle in the south of the city. It's in a castle and you can find the exact location on the map.
However, Heisen Castle was invaded by one of the participants. His name is Lin Huang, he had stolen all the drugs. He told me that if any of you wants to pass the assessment, you would have to purchase the drug from him at 1,000 Life Crystals each…"
A picture of Lin Huang taken during the registration was attached at the bottom of the handwriting, it was enlarged to the size of the paper.
"How dare he ask for 1,000 Life Crystals from each of us! There are a total of 5,000 weed crystals, wouldn’t he be making five million from that?!"
"This is too much!"
"We can still considering paying him if the price is reasonable, but the price he is asking is just ridiculous!"
Many were furious when they read what had been written on the piece of paper. Some of them began to browse the Heart Network to see if the news was true. Soon, they found an image of the ZC crystal and confirmed that it was exactly the same one that was shown to them by the head examiner earlier. They also found some information about Heisen Castle and confirmed that they were the manufacturer of the drug.
Since the information shown on the network was true, many began to believe that Lin Huang really did steal the drugs. An uproar broke out within the crowd and they asked to see Lin Huang. Since the writing on the paper revealed Lin Huang’s location - a jungle south of the city, many headed to the jungle via the monster car. They wanted to get Lin Huang to give them the weed crystals.
"Lin Huang? Isn’t that the kid who was not even iron-level? If that's really him, I'll teach him a lesson!" Bai Yan who was wearing a red coat frowned as he read the messages on the paper. He remembered seeing Lin Huang a couple of months ago, the Imperial Censor who was finding fault with him. Because of Lin Huang, he was accused of being a coward on the Heart Network.
After mumbling to himself, Bai Yan summoned a Crimson Eagle and headed to the jungle in the south while the rest was admiring him. The girl in ponytail disappeared too. Lin Huang who was in the jungle in the south of Beixuan City was not aware of the events that had happened at the Hunter Association.
It was almost noon, he was relaxing while eating snacks that he bought online while waiting for the night to come patiently. Suddenly, he heard flapping above his head. Lin Huang then activated Boundless Vision as he looked up.
"A Crimson Eagle?!" Lin Huang recognized the Crimson Eagle immediately as the one he saw when he bumped into Bai Yan, the eagle was now a silver-level.
"Bai Yan had found this place too?"
Lin Huang found it strange, he did not expect Bai Yan to find this place that quick as he had only been here for less than half an hour. Theoretically, it should take quite some time for Bai Yan to get information on the drug.
"Come out, Lin Huang!" Bai Yan shouted from the sky. Fortunately, there was quite a distance between him and the ancient castle. Lin Huang was worried that the girl in the ponytail would look for him again, which was why he went two to three kilometers into the jungle. Otherwise, the people in the ancient castle would definitely hear Bai Yan.
"He’s here for me?" Lin Huang frowned. He did not expect Bai Yan to come for him instead of the castle.
"Bai Yan, are you crazy?!" Lin Huang stood up from the branch and glared at Bai Yan who was flying in the air. Bai Yan patted his Crimson Eagle as it landed slowly on the ground. He then recalled the Crimson Eagle and looked at Lin Huang who was on a branch, "Lin Huang, I can’t believe it’s really you. Because of you, I was criticized by the netizens that called me a coward for running away. I will teach you a lesson today and take a video of this. I shall show everyone who is the real coward!"
"You’re crazy! Maybe you’re just a lunatic." Lin Huang stared at Bai Yan from above, "So you're here for me just because people are calling you a coward? Did I accept any interview requests from the media and badmouth you?"
"You…" Bai Yan did not know how to react to Lin Huang's reply. He then recalled that it was two other people who revealed what had happened to the media and not Lin Huang. Lin Huang did not participate in any interviews by any media, nor did he badmouth Bai Yan. He had no comeback for Lin Huang's reply.
"However, I think what they said was right because you really are a coward!" Lin Huang proceeded to reply when he saw Bai Yan unable to reply.
"Damn it!" Bai Yan hated being called a coward.
"Since you don’t have a comeback for me. Would you like to fight me instead?" Lin Huang laughed, "Now that I think about it, why did you choose to run away the other day? Were you really scared that you would die? Aren’t they right to call you a coward?"
Veins were bulging on Bai Yan’s forehead because he did not have anything to rebut Lin Huang with.
"Also, the time you ran away was not the only proof of you being a coward." Lin Huang smirked.
"What do you mean by that?! Lin Huang, if we don’t talk things out today, I'll kill you. I don’t care if I’m blacklisted by the Hunter Association, I'll kill you!!!" Bai Yan was so furious that he was shaking.
"Alright then. Since you want to know, I'll tell you." Lin Huang was proud.
"Half a year ago, you were given the priority to join the association as a hunter, there was no need for you to join the Reserve Hunter assessment like everybody else did. However, you decided to join anyway. As for the reason you joined? Perhaps it was really like what you said. You wanted to test where your ability stands. That’s not it! You just wanted to show off that you were more powerful than the rest of us.
"Right now, you've joined the Regular Hunter assessment with the same purpose - to show off that you're more powerful than all of us."
"What’s wrong with that?! I really am more powerful than all of you. What gives you the right to call me a coward?" Bai Yan still had no idea what Lin Huang really wanted to say.
"Have you realized that you've been comparing yourself to people who are weaker than you? You enjoy showing off your strength before the weak to make yourself feel content. That's the reason why you've been participating in assessments unnecessarily."
"If I were you, I would spend the time you took to participate in assessments in my training so I can strengthen myself instead of wasting my time on unnecessary assessments."
"Real power comes when one is brave enough to face the risk before them. They are those who dare to challenge someone who is more powerful than them to break through their personal barriers… Unlike you, who have already placed yourself in your comfort zone while you show off to people who are weaker so you feel superior."
"You’re afraid to challenge people who are more powerful than you. This is why you've been joining unnecessary assessments again and again instead of challenging those who're on the same level with you or those who're stronger such as Copper Hunters. You're afraid that you will lose so you put all your attention in winning your fights with the weak."
"Tell me, are you not a coward for your fear of a real challenge?!" What Lin Huang said made Bai Yan speechless.
Bai Yan did not realize that he had such issue himself, all he knew was that he loved surprising the weak. He had never looked at this issue on a deeper level. What Lin Huang said had made him realize his real fear - avoiding real challenges. He had nothing to say.
Bai Yan was furious. Although what Lin Huang said was right, his pride could not take it. He did not want to admit that Lin Huang was right. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a spear. He pointed the spear at Lin Huang who stood on the branch, "Lin Huang, we shall forget about everything that has happened between us after this battle. I won't be looking for trouble with you anymore. To prevent you from a humiliating defeat, I won't summon any of my monsters. Please try to … Withstand my attacks without losing too fast since the difference of ability between your mouth and your actual combat abilities is like the distance between heaven and earth."
Lin Huang smirked when he heard what Bai Yan said. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a sword. He then leaped from the branch and dove towards Bai Yan like an eagle attacking a rabbit. A red flash flashed through the air like a meteor in the night sky, so fast that Bai Yan was shocked. He managed to avoid the slash just as Lin Huang dove towards him.
"Such speed…" Bai Yan exclaimed. The spear on his hand was sliced into half by the slash and there was a light stain of blood on his neck. Feeling pain from his wound, he touched his neck and saw the blood on his finger, realizing that he was wounded. He was in total shock, "How did this happen? Why are you so powerful?" It finally dawned upon Bai Yan that Lin Huang could kill him with that slash. Another centimeter deeper and his neck would have definitely got cut off.
"This is what I've achieved during the past six months. While you wasted your time on useless things like this, I have been strengthening myself." Lin Huang explained.
"It was you who said that we will forget whatever things that had happened between us once this battle ended. I hope you'll keep your promise and stop bugging me." Lin Huang said and walked away.
"Wait!" Bai Yan shouted and stopped Lin Huang from leaving.