Chapter 409: One Person’s Success to the Benefit of His Whole Family
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Yang Qing could feel ripples of mana coming closer and closer. They were bearing down on him fast and they were all foundation establishment cultivators.
There was a faint trace of an aurous core stage cultivator nearby as well but he did not come near and seemed to be quietly observing at the side.
Once they were near, the several foundation establishment stage cultivators all stopped in their tracks. Most of them remained hidden in the shadows while only one individual stepped out in front of Yang Qing. He got a good look at Yang Qing and his eyes sparkled as he asked a probing question, "May I ask if you are the direct disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, Yang Qing?"
Yang Qing replied with caution. "Yes. I am Yang Qing. Who are you?"
The foundation establishment stage cultivator heaved a sigh of relief while the other cultivators hidden in the shadows, who were originally wary and on guard, became a lot more relaxed as well.
The foundation establishment stage cultivator in front of Yang Qing placed his hands together in greeting and said, "Hello, Yang Qing. We are all cultivators from the Great Qin Empire, and we are under orders to protect Wang Lin’s family from sneaky troublemakers."
"Wang Lin came back home half a year ago, so we don’t have to be too concerned about the safety of the place, but we are under orders from above so we still have remained here since then."
Back at the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, even though Yang Qing was not as eye-catching or outstanding as compared to Zhu Yi, Shi Tianhao, Wang Lin or Yue Hongyan, he still received widespread admiration and respect from the outside world. Even though he was still in the foundation establishment stage, he had already fallen under the radar of the great powers of the world.
It was for no other reason than the fact that he was one of the six renowned direct disciples of Lin Feng. For that reason alone, he was already well-known by the world.
At this moment, the other foundation establishment stage cultivators in hiding stepped out and respectively greeted Yang Qing.
In the eyes of immortal soul stage and nascent soul stage grandmasters, Yang Qing was still a little child but to these foundation establishment stage cultivators, Yang Qing was worthy of their respect. At the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, Yang Qing was only in the intermediate level of the foundation establishment stage yet he defeated Fang Zhong of the Heavenly Lake Sect, who was already in the advanced level of the foundation establishment stage. This was enough to prove his standard and strength as well as the fact that all of Lin Feng’s direct disciples were supernaturally talented and prodigious.
As a person, Yang Qing was casual and polite. In front of everybody’s greetings, he did not harbor a single trace of arrogance or self-centeredness and this pleased the rest of the foundation establishment stage cultivators.
All of a sudden, a middle-aged man with three strands of beard appeared in front of Yang Qing. This was the aurous core stage cultivator assigned by the Great Qin Empire to stand guard.
Yang Qing greeted him with the same tempered attitude and this impressed the middle-aged man.
"The reason why I’m here is to find my senior Wang Lin, Do you know if…" Yang Qing glanced at the sprawling town in front of him. The middle-aged man smiled faintly and replied, "This place is an important part of our power expansion from the southern borders."
"The population here is becoming more and more dense and businesses have been thriving as well. The Great Qin Empire is already planning to convert this place into a city – in fact, they intend to begin work not long from now."
Yang Qing’s mouth gaped open but he did not say anything.
The middle-aged man was not very clear about it, but Yang Qing knew that all this was brought about by Wang Lin. In other words, it was the effect of Wang Lin’s arrival by his association to the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
One person’s success to the benefit of his whole family was but as such.
As normal individuals enter sects to learn skills and practice their mantra, to be able to return home to visit or to become the pillar of development for the community was already something extremely commendable.
Put more bluntly, the particular individual’s family would now be able to receive more respect and power by mere association with that person.
Wang Lin’s neighborhood, however, was currently undergoing drastic and epic changes. A small village had upgraded itself to the status of "bustling town in the southern border of the Great Qin Empire" overnight, and was destined to become one of the grand cities of the Great Qin Empire.
The lives of people for miles and miles around would change as a result.
The aurous core stage cultivator pointed to the busy town and said, "Wang Lin’s family is located at the eastern end of the town and Wang Lin is currently residing with his parents."
Yang Qing nodded his head and said, "Thanks you. I will head over to look for him right now."
As he watched Yang Qing leave, one of the cultivators of the Great Qin Empire shook his head. "Lucky he is still of the foundation establishment stage. If not, I would have been utterly convinced that I have wasted all these years of cultivation."
All the others present, including the aurous core stage cultivator, nodded their heads with understanding and contemplation.
Wang Lin’s return half a year ago, after confirmation of his ascension to the aurous core stage, stunned everybody. They all felt as if their experiences from all those years of cultivation had been wiped clean and the world before them was foreign and new.
At the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, not long before he returned home, he was only at the foundation establishment stage. However, when he returned home he was already an aurous core stage cultivator.
In the span of just two months, his cultivation mastery explosively jumped from the foundation establishment stage to the aurous core stage and this was absolutely incredible and unbelievable to everybody else.
Some said that he was hiding his mastery, but that did not make sense as there were nascent soul stage grandmasters at the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai and a whole bunch of immortal soul stage grandmasters as well. Whether or not Wang Lin was in the aurous core stage or the foundation establishment stage was no mystery to people like them.
It was because of this that led to the disbelief of many.
When the news reached Xiling City of the Great Qin Empire, everybody began to watch the Celestial Sect of Wonders and Wang Lin immediately skyrocketed in the important-people rank.
The person that most powers’ intelligence factions paid the most attention to was undeniably Lin Feng.
Among the rest of the people, the people that were accorded the most attention after Lin Feng was naturally his direct disciples.
Even though the two law enforcement officers, Miao Shihao and Kang Nanhua were nascent soul stage cultivators, their backgrounds were not difficult to find out and their relationships with Lin Feng were naturally not as close as the Xiao Yan, Wang Lin and the rest.
In the whole gang of disciples, the attention accorded to Zhu Yi and Shi Tianhao was the greatest as the influence of their families were the greatest.
As for the eldest disciple, Xiao Yan, his level of attention was fundamentally similar to that of Zhu Yi and Shi Tianhao. The main difference was that his family background was not as complicated. However, his standards were high enough and even though he did not participate in the Spiritual Conference of Huang Hai, his battle with Prince Chongyun atop Xingyun Peak was enough to make him name known to the world.
The next tier of reputation belonged to Yue Hongyan. The history and background of the Arctic State and the Covenant of Liefeng was not difficult to figure out either. Her relationships, both positive and negative, with the Great Zhou Empire was worthy to be point of focus to many concerned individuals.
Even though Wang Lin was the third in the seniority hierarchy, the attention accorded to him was not proportionate.
However, at this point, the level of people’s focus on him had overtaken that of Yue Hongyan and was borderline greater than that of Xiao Yan. In fact, he was catching up with Zhu Yi and Shi Tianhao.
For disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, everybody was being watched from the shadows. They came to realize that everybody they were watching from the Sect had frightening potential and talent.
The cultivators that were assigned to protect Wang Lin and his family were clearly aware of this fact.
The understanding of the other foundation establishment stage cultivators were not as profound, but the aurous core stage cultivator saw a lot more. Back when Wang Lin returned home, even though he looked like just a plain and normal person, everybody could feel the pressure.
The middle-aged aurous core stage cultivator sighed inside. "What kind of sect is the Celestial Sect of Wonders, exactly? What is the legendary leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders actually like?"
Even though Yang Qing was unaware of what the cultivators were thinking about, Wang Lin’s extraordinary progress no longer came as a surprise to people in the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
…The reason was simple. Initially, the time that Wang Lin took to advance from the beginner stage of the foundation establishment stage to the aurous core stage was so incredibly short that even his seniors and juniors were shocked.
Typically, what he did was usually unsurprising or unimpressive. But in the next moment he achieved something bordering on supernatural; Wang Lin was living this exact statement.
As Yang Qing walked along the street, he politely inquired the local citizens about exact location of Wang Lin’s residence. He followed their directions the whole way and walked towards Wang Lin’s home.
In the process of his inquiries, Yang Qing overheard many topics of gossip.
"Rumor has it that Wang Lin is of divine origin. I don’t see him doing anything impressive on usual days – he’s not that much different from my own son."
"I think it’s true. Even Wang Lin’s family admits it. I’m sure you’re not aware that previously, Wang Lin’s father had no position in the local social hierarchy. But now, even the elders and the most senior people in the family are extremely polite with him."
"But aren’t the saints all-powerful or something? Wang Lin is just helping with his parents with household chores every day. If his family wanted to, they can afford to hire some servants to help out. I can still understand if his parents are not used to that kind of life, but why is Wang Lin doing all those kinds of rough chores?"
"Ah. You do not understand. He’s trying to be filial to his parents. All this simply shows that the man is filial and has not forgotten his roots. I’m sure you all have heard that it is because of Wang Lin that our town is thriving – we are even on the road to becoming a proper city."
"Even if Wang Lin is not a saint, he must have found an amazing teacher whom he can really rely on. If not, the other members of the Wang family have also found their respective sects and masters as well, so if Wang Lin’s master is not one of extreme power or importance, why would everybody accord so much respect to him?"
As he heard all these discussions, Yang Qing chuckled and shook his head. He mostly ignored them and continued to walk.
He walked past a big mansion when, all of a sudden, a streak of aurora light surged over his head. Yang Qing looked up and thought, "This person looks familiar. Oh, I remember now – I’ve seen him before at the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai. He looks like one of Wang Lin’s younger cousins."
The ray of light was in fact a long knife, and atop the blade stood a grey-clothed youth. He was Wang Zhuo, one of Wang Lin’s cousins, and was only in the Qi Cultivation Stage.
When Wang Zhuo spotted out Yang Qing, a look of shock came over his face as if he was wondering why Yang Qing was walking along the streets like a normal person.
Still, the long blade stopped in its tracks and he greeted Yang Qing. This was his respect for Yang Qing as a foundation establishment stage cultivator and a direct disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
Yang Qing put his hands together and returned the greeting. Wang Zhuo’s lips moved a little bit but his eyes told a more complicated story and he eventually rode away into the distance on his blade.
Ever since the Spiritual Conference of Huanghai, Wang Zhuo knew that he was not on the same level as Wang Lin anymore. However, this time he wanted to look up to Wang Lin.
Not long after Wang Lin returned home to visit his family, Wang Zhou returned. When he saw Wang Lin again, he shockingly realized that while he was still looking up to him the last time, now he could not even see the bottom of Wang Lin’s feet.
Yang Qing watched Wang Zhuo leave and shook his head. He opened his stride and continued to walk when he suddenly felt something. He looked up and immediately saw Wang Lin watching him in silence from the side of the street.
The Wang Lin of current did not have a single tinge of coldness or solemnity. One could not even feel the ripples of mana from around him. Based on disposition and demeanor alone, he was no different from a normal youth.
This look – it was no wonder that those who did not know the truth would question his real level of mastery.
When he saw Yang Qing, Wang Lin nodded his head and said, "Master has already told me your intentions of coming here. Follow me."