“Brother Lin, take care!”
Zhang Baoyi smiled and saw Lin Yuan off at the gate, attracting many strange glances from passersby.
It seemed that even the temperamental Deputy Branch Hall Master of the Whale Gang, Zhang Baoyi, was so respectful to a strange young man…
It must be noted.
Even if he were the son of the county magistrate, he could not be treated like this, at most being polite when speaking.
Zhang Baoyi ignored the strange looks of the people around him.
What do these people know!
A Blood Exchange Realm Ninefold Warrior, let alone a mere Branch Hall Master or a Hall Master, should be treated politely when meeting.
Moreover, Lin Yuan is only sixteen years old!
Sixteen years old!!
What level of cultivation was I at when I was sixteen?
Zhang Baoyi carefully recalled that he seemed to be at the Skin Refinement Realm Triple…
And he is already thirty years old this year, still stuck at the Fourth Level of Blood Exchange, and if nothing unexpected happens, the end of his life will be the True Gang Realm.
But what about Lin Yuan?
The True Gang Realm is just the beginning for him.
“Someone, prepare the carriage, I want to meet the Branch Hall Master!”
Zhang Baoyi suddenly shouted.
“Boss, your injuries….” a confidant nearby voiced concern.
“Just minor injuries.”
Zhang Baoyi waved it off indifferently, having only fractured three ribs, which was indeed a minor injury for a Blood Exchange Realm warrior like him.
Obviously.
Lin Yuan was careful in his actions.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have just stopped at breaking ribs.
Young, talented, strong, decisive yet able to differentiate between severity and lightness…
Such a person, as long as he doesn’t die prematurely, is almost guaranteed a place in the upper echelons of the Whale Gang’s headquarters in the future!
“Boss, the carriage is here!”
Soon, a carriage stopped outside the gate.
Zhang Baoyi strode into the carriage, sat down majestically, and then said in a low voice:
“Let’s go!”
Although he told Lin Yuan to come back tomorrow, he planned to handle things now so that when Lin Yuan arrived tomorrow, they could exchange directly!
Displaying a proactive and reliable character!
*
Leaving the Giant Whale Gang, Lin Yuan went directly to the largest bookstore in the city.
Similar to a library from his past life, you could read books in the store directly, but here you had to pay, three coins per hour, which was still very cheap.
Buying books directly would be much more expensive.
Although it was an era where martial arts were respected, there were still scholars in the world.
Since its founding, the Great Li Dynasty had implemented an imperial examination system, offering a chance for ordinary people without martial arts qualifications to turn their lives around.
Lin Yuan was a scholar.
His father’s expectation for him was to pass the imperial examination…if it weren’t for his sudden passing, following the normal trajectory, Lin Yuan would probably be preparing for the township exam this year.
After all, no one had ordained that scholars couldn’t practice martial arts.
“Xiao Yuan has arrived?”
The bookstore owner was an elderly man with a scholarly aura, white-haired, who had once run a private school and was quite knowledgeable.
“Yes, I’m here to read a few books.”
Lin Yuan smiled and nodded, he was a regular here.
Placing three coins on the table, as he was about to go inside, he paused suddenly, “Mr. Yue, do we have any books here recording the origins of Black Mountain City?”
“The county annals?” Mr. Yue furrowed his white eyebrows, “That’s something that’s usually not allowed to be read, only the County Office has it.”
“It’s not really an annal, just folklore and legends.”
“Okay, there is that. There aren’t many people who like to read that kind of book normally, I’ve placed them in the innermost corner of the east side, you can go find them.”
Lin Yuan nodded in thanks and walked to the location pointed out by the bookstore owner.
Books were neatly arranged on the shelves, wiped clean.
It was evident that the owner took good care of them.
Lin Yuan’s gaze scanned over them, casually picking out a book titled “Legends of Black Mountain,” and began to quietly flip through it.
Time passed bit by bit.
Lin Yuan’s reading speed was not slow, and he quickly skimmed through more than a dozen books, all containing various bizarre stories.
Among them was one that recorded the legend of Mountain Lord Temple.
It spoke coherently, claiming to have truly encountered that Tiger Demon, barely surviving.
But most of it was made-up stories, far-fetched and illogical.
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up as he finally saw his target.
It was a book titled “Travel Records of Xu Jianke,” with the author’s name signed as Xu Jianke, the real name unknown, likely a warrior who enjoyed traveling and playing in the mountains and waters.
The writing was easy to understand, all in plain language throughout.
One of the titles on the contents page boldly read “Black Mountain Old Demon.”
Quickly flipping to the corresponding page.
Lin Yuan carefully read through every word, and indeed, he came across a passage that read:
“….During a thunderstorm, I accidentally stumbled into a cave, only to find stone beds, stone tables, stone stools inside, evidently someone had lived here, but now it was abandoned.”
“Tired and sleepy, I dozed off.”
“Awakened by the urge to urinate in the middle of the night, the thunderstorm outside didn’t stop, so I had to relieve myself in the cave.”
“Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the cave, and I was astonished to find a few lines of small characters engraved on the cave wall, so I brought a torch to examine carefully.”
“Unfortunately, most of the characters were already blurry and hardly visible, only a few words could be made out, all in ancient text.”
“Fortunately, with my broad knowledge, I barely understood the content.”
“It turned out that the legendary ‘Black Mountain Old Demon’ did exist here, once a mountain god protecting all people, and the entire Black Mountain Range was its transformed body!”
“My goodness! How enormous must its original form be?’
“I endured the fear in my heart and finished reading the discernible words, learning of the Old Demon’s past glory….”
Lin Yuan let out a breath, flipping the page slowly.
Then…
Hmm?
An expression of astonishment flashed in his eyes.
Where the name was supposed to be written, it had been torn off by someone, leaving a small blank space!
Damn it!
Lin Yuan almost swore on the spot, who the heck has no manners?
Just then.
A voice filled with doubt suddenly came from behind:
“Huh, who ripped this off?”
Engrossed in the reading, Lin Yuan had not noticed when the bookstore owner stood behind him, frowning with his gray hair.
“Xiao Yuan, wait a moment.”
Elder Yue apologetically took the book from Lin Yuan’s hands.
He trembled as he walked to the table, skillfully cut a small piece of paper, carefully pasting it in the gap.
After carefully drying it, he picked up a pen.
Lin Yuan walked over slowly, stood behind, and watched as Elder Yue carefully added a few words to the repaired section.
In his heart, Lin Yuan subconsciously softly pronounced the words.
“Great…Dark…Ancestral…Lord…”
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