However, that wasn’t the end of the piece of bad news that Tian Tian had given them.
After comforting Lala, Tian Tian added, “The Mercenary Guild can stop them from coming for at least two months, but after that…” As she said this, her eyes turned to Lin Fan with a clear meaning in her gaze.
Even if Lin Fan was a fool, he would have been able to understand what she was trying to tell him with this gaze.
Lin Fan just gave a nod in response and said, “How strong will they be?”
When Tian Tian heard this, she revealed a difficult look and said, “Much stronger than you think.”
Lin Fan revealed a confused look in response to this, but he waited for Tian Tian to explain.
Tian Tian saw that Lin Fan wasn’t saying anything, so she added, “While the Qian Family’s first young master won’t be acting personally, he still has many cultivator friends and those friends are quite strong.”
Lin Fan knitted his brows to think before asking, “Is the Qian Family’s first young master an inner disciple?”
Tian Tian didn’t understand what he meant at first, but then she quickly looked around before leaning in and saying in a lower voice, “This isn’t something that can be discussed that easily.”
Lin Fan didn’t say anything as he waited for Tian Tian to reply.
Seeing the look on Lin Fan’s face, Tian Tian had no choice but to say, “He’s not one yet, but he’s close to becoming one. So while his friends haven’t broken through yet, they are still much stronger than you.”
Lin Fan just calmly asked, “How strong?”
Tian Tian just looked at him with a difficult look as she said, “You know that I can’t talk about that this much.”
But seeing that Lin Fan wasn’t saying anything again, she had no choice but to tell him, “Seventh and Eighth Qi Gathering Realm.” After a pause, she revealed a serious look and said, “I can’t give you any more information than that.”
It was only then that Lin Fan gave a nod and said, “That’s more than enough.”
Tian Tian let out a sigh of relief when she heard this before saying, “Right, if you’re looking for a way to get stronger, there’s going to be an auction in around a month from now. I heard that there were some good things there, so I’m sure that you’ll be able to find a few good things to help you get stronger.”
Lin Fan knitted his brows to think, “Auction? Is it being held in this city?”
Tian Tian shook her head and said, “How could an auction be held in a small city like this? It’s being held in Inferno City by the One Martial Chamber of Commerce.”
Lin Fan raised a brow and asked, “Inferno City? Where’s that?”
Tian Tian was even more surprised than Lin Fan as she asked, “You don’t even know this? How have you been getting around all this time?”
Lin Fan revealed an awkward smile and said, “Well I’ve only had to go around the local area for my missions, so I haven’t needed to learn about the geography of any other places?”
Tian Tian was still confused as she asked, “Then how did you get to this city in the first place?”
Lin Fan revealed an even more awkward look before saying, “Well, I was wandering around before I met Xiao Yue.”
Tian Tian shook her head with a bitter smile when she heard this and then she went back behind the counter to take out something. She brought back a large piece of paper that she spread out on the table that they had been talking at.
Lin Fan looked down with a curious look to find that the piece of paper that she had brought back was actually a large map.
When he looked carefully, he saw that there were many different cities marked on it, including the small city that they were currently in.
Tian Tian pointed at the small city and then pointed out the way to Inferno City.
After that, she introduced the other cities that were around the area to him.
Once she was done, she rolled up the map and said, “I can’t give you this copy of the map since it’s the official copy that’s used by the Mercenary Guild, but I can give you a smaller version that we give to mercenaries.”
She headed back to the counter to take out a smaller piece of paper for Lin Fan.
Lin Fan graciously took it and then opened it to take a look.
He found that it was a map as well, but the area that it covered was much smaller than the one that the large map covered, as well as providing less detail of the terrain. However, this map was definitely something useful, so he was grateful to Tian Tian.
Lin Fan then returned to the topic of the auction by asking, “You should have an idea of what kind of items will be sold since they usually release a list of items, right?”
Tian Tian shook her head and said, “Not this time. For some reason, the One Martial Chamber of Commerce has completely hidden all details about the auction, but they’ve promised that they’ve prepared something special this time. If it wasn’t for the fame of the One Martial Chamber of Commerce, they wouldn’t have been able to get away with something like this.”
As she said this, there was a hint of suspicion that appeared in her voice.
Lin Fan nodded before asking with an awkward smile, “Well, I don’t know much about these kinds of things, so I still have to ask…” After an awkward pause, he said, “How much money should I prepare?”
Tian Tian looked at Lin Fan with a surprised look before breaking out in laughter, “Ha, ha, ha, you really are something.” Then after thinking about it, she said, “Well, in cases like this, it would be best if you prepared as much money as you can, that way you won’t be lacking.” Then after a pause, she said, “But that probably isn’t the information that you wanted.”
She went on to think about it a bit longer before saying, “To be safe, I’d say at least twenty thousand gold coins to get something that can help you with your cultivation. However, you should know that it’s an auction, so anyone can raise the price of the items that you bid for, so it’s best if you prepared more money.”
Lin Fan gave a nod before thanking Tian Tian for all this information.
There wasn’t much else for him to ask, so he headed off to the mission board to find some missions.
After all, he didn’t have much time left before the auction, so it was best if he made best use of the little bit of time that he had.
The news that the Qian Family would be sending people to take personal revenge really gave him pressure.
After all, they would be sending people who would be in the Seventh and Eighth Qi Gathering Realm while he was still in the Fourth Qi Gathering Realm.
Like how there was a gap between the Third and Fourth Gi Rathering Realm, there was also a gap between the Sixth and Seventh Qi Gathering Realm. That was the division between the Mid Gi Gathering Realm and the High Qi Gathering Realm.
It was a bottleneck that many cultivators were stuck on because just like in the Mid Qi Gathering Realm, there was a qualitative change in spiritual energy when reaching the High Qi Gathering Realm.
Even if Lin Fan were to reach the Sixth Qi Gathering Realm, it was very unlikely that he would be able to face them.
So that meant that his only chance to survive was to reach the Seventh Qi Gathering Realm before they arrived.
He wasn’t worried about his life though since he could just hide in the Pet Storage Space if he was forced to that point, but that would be the worst case scenario since he didn’t want to live in the Pet Storage Space.
So with that mindset, Lin Fan quickly chose two missions that were near each other and then headed off with Lala.
He first dropped Lala off at the house that he had bought.
The Merchants Guild had just handed him, or rather Xiao Yue the key this morning since they had only finished refurbishing it for him this morning. That was the key that he had received from Xiao Yue when he left the inn.
Xiao Yue was already there cleaning up the rooms and when she saw Lala, she wasn’t surprised since she had already heard the story last night.
While she had been antagonistic towards Lala when they had first met, since she had accepted Lin Fan’s desire to have a harem, she was quite friendly towards Lala when she arrived.
Leaving the two girls to clean up, Lin Fan headed off to the store.
When he arrived, he found that there were more people than he had expected.
Of course, none of these people were customers since the store was opening tomorrow. These people were the staff that Yue Lan had hired to work in the store.
The other surprising thing was that all of these workers were girls.
He hadn’t helped her pick out her workers since they would be her subordinates, so he didn’t know anything about them. But seeing all these girls in the store, he couldn’t help revealing a bitter smile.
It was almost as if…
Yue Lan had been teaching two girls some things when she noticed Lin Fan coming into the store.
She wrapped it up with them and then came over to ask, “Why are you here? Did something happen?”
Lin Fan revealed a bitter smile and said, “Well…”