Chapter 14: The Ambitious Young Man Bears the Weight of His Mother's Milk

  Hai Yunfan's dejected appearance when leaving the backyard caught many people's attention and sparked countless speculations.

  This prodigy, who has been the focus of attention, wants to find a breakthrough on the village head, is no longer a secret. There are already twenty or thirty trialists gathered in the village, most of whom have tried their luck at the village head's house, but unfortunately, no one has such a good opportunity. Ha Yunfan's achievement is not surprising, what is surprising is that after achieving such success, he showed a look of loss after talking to Wang Lu, that is to say...

  Hai Yunfan was humiliated by that mysterious person in the backyard!?!

  Unfortunately, Hai Yunfan, who has thoroughly entered his role, would never consider other people's opinions, and completing the task at hand is more important than anything else.

  He didn't choose any of the three plans that Wang Lu had mentioned, but instead took the most troublesome yet also the most comprehensive approach. He separately talked to the village head, He Lüshi and Liu Dàniáng, using astonishing rhetoric and various means to achieve his goals.

  The village head, under his persuasion, gave up his improper thoughts about Liu Dama and re-examined the silent dedication of his wife for decades, with old tears flowing.

  He Lü forgave the village chief's past mistakes, reflected on his own impatience, and even made amends with Liu Dàniáng.

  As for Mrs. Liu, she devoted herself to running her own pastry shop, pouring all her energy into her newly adopted grandson, Wen Bao, and no longer thinking about the grudges of her youth.

  Hai Yunfan accomplished all this in nearly three days, just three days, and the grudges of several decades were gone with the wind. The village chief and the other two were like puppets on strings in his hands, thinking and doing according to the predetermined script. This twelve-year-old prince performed his skill of manipulating people's hearts to the extreme.

  People who watched all this couldn't help but sigh, at least in this aspect, Hai Yunfan's performance had already reached the extreme, unless using treasures or cheating methods, it was impossible to do better than him.

  His extreme performance also earned him a generous reward, and he extinguished the fire in the backyard of the village head. Hai Yunfan's favorability with the old village head was greatly increased, and now when he visits the village head's home as a guest, his treatment is even slightly higher than that of Wang Lu. He has almost become the village head's adopted grandson. For someone who had no connections to begin with, achieving this is quite difficult, not to mention that he also became especially lovable in the eyes of Liu Dama and He Lüshi.

  Unfortunately, after completing such an important link, the Taoyuan Village stage is not over yet, because after Haiyun Fan, there was no entrance to the next stage. Indeed, the village chief's problem was solved, and he also became a red man in the eyes of the village chief, but then? Nobody knows.

  If it's said that the village chief's favorability is too difficult to accumulate, then choosing simple task trial players have not a few who even brush their favorability close to full value. For example, a certain youth who likes older sisters has already pushed a certain village girl sister again and again. If you don't consider the village girl's high weight of over 200 and her dense whiskers, it's actually a praiseworthy good marriage.

  Even so, he still didn't get any further hints, so two days later, the boy who had been enduring humiliation and hardship couldn't bear it anymore, and with a pale face, he knocked on Wang Lu's door.

  "Lord Wang Lu, save us!"

  ——

  Although Wang Lu almost never left the house after entering the village, his reputation spread rapidly with Hai Yunfan and Wen Bao's activity. Those two people didn't get any further hints, but their progress was surprisingly fast, obviously they had a master guiding them from behind. In these few days, even that little book boy started to take action!

  So when people are at their wit's end, Wang Lu becomes a lifesaver.

  "Oh, you said that the past two days have been more miserable than being screwed by a dog, but can't get any further clues, to the point of losing confidence in life? Alas, I advise you to just end it yourself early on."

  "Ahh!?"

  "You think the road to ascension is too simple, don't you? Indeed, Peach Blossom Village is a place that basically excludes all violent behavior and protects everyone's safety. However, this safety is not a welfare provided by the Lingjian Sect, but rather to increase the difficulty in another aspect, making it an unspoken condition for exchange. This level is actually very difficult, you think passing it in two days is too easy, underestimating the village."

  "What should we do then?"

  "When two days are not enough, then let's make it ten years. Ten years on the road of domestic fowl, wishing you ascend to the Western Heaven."

  "Ah?!"

  "What the, this is a very fair and reasonable condition, right? As long as you're a duck for ten years, you can continue on the path to ascension. If this condition were put outside, all the ducks in the world would be grateful and overjoyed!"

  "I, I am a member of the imperial family in Youzhou, how can I be compared with ordinary ducks?!"

  "Hmm, I don't like your attitude. As the saying goes, 'love the job you do'. You're doing a duck's job now, why look down on your own colleagues? How can you expect to be treated like royalty? Besides, if you want to speed up, it's easy. Just learn from Xiaohai and take on some high-difficulty tasks. Probably in a few months, you'll pass the test."

  The young man who loved his sister left Wang Lu's room in a daze, the long and arduous journey of ten years made him exceptionally desperate, but he brought out an important piece of information.

  Several months! According to Wang Lu's inference, even Hai Yunfan would need several months to pass the test, let alone others who would have to count in years... The Peach Source Village trial was indeed a long and absurd one. However, from another perspective, considering the status of the Lingjian Sect in the Wanshen Alliance, setting up such an ascension conference was also reasonable. In the past, the Wanjie Gate had tested new recruits by letting hundreds of trial-takers survive for two years in the swamp, while the Kunlun Immortal Mountain had even created a legend of selecting and eliminating all trial-takers over thirty years.

  After learning about the astonishing length of Taoyuan Village, most of the trial-takers couldn't help but slow down their pace. After all, there's still a long way to go, why rush?

  So Hai Yunfan's unwavering efforts were particularly noticeable. After solving the village chief's problem, Hai Yunfan continued to move between three people every day, constantly expanding his influence. Some things didn't need Wang Lu to say, he naturally understood that good feelings had no bounds. Now, Hai Yunfan was just a benefactor to the village chief and others... not even as close as Wen Bao's relationship with Liu Dama. So without getting any further hints, Hai Yunfan wasn't surprised at all, as long as he continued to work hard, success would come sooner or later.

  It's easy to imagine how exhausting it must be, especially for a twelve-year-old child. However, Hai Yunfan was sweet and persistent.

  ——

  "Tsk tsk, second-rate talent, first-rate emotional intelligence, super-first-rate willpower, Xiao Hai, you're really a hero."

  "Brother Wang's mistaken praise."

  "But because of this, we'll probably have to say goodbye soon."

  Hai Yun Fan's eyes lit up: "You mean... isn't it supposed to take several months?"

  "That refers to clearing it perfectly, with your personality you shouldn't be pursuing that, right?"

  "I see, I've had that feeling too lately. The village chief seems to want to talk to me about something, but the time hasn't come yet... That should be the key to the next step, right?"

  ————

  Hai Yunfan's next move came quickly. On the fifteenth day of his entry into Taoyuan Village, the village chief, who had been deeply moved by him, finally said to him.

  "Son, there's something I think it's time I told you..."

  Even if Hai Yun's face was deep and calm, at this moment he couldn't help but smile: "I've been waiting for you to say that for a long time."

  Three days later, Hai Yunfan left Taoyuan Village, taking a total of eighteen days to do so. He was ranked first among the trial-takers, far exceeding everyone's expectations.

  The reason is very simple. Before leaving, Hai Yunfan shared all the intelligence he had obtained from his mission with Wang Lu - this was also a prior agreement between the two.

  According to Wang Lu's estimate, it would take several months to perfectly complete the village head-level tasks. However, if one doesn't aim for perfection and only seeks to pass with the lowest standard, they can greatly compress the time needed to complete the main storyline of Taoyuan Village.

  Of course, there will inevitably be some side effects. This is also the conclusion that Hai Yunfan got by comparing Wang Lu with the village chief.

  To put it simply, the results of Taoyuan Village will directly affect the starting point of the next level, just like Yunbo Tu's results will affect Taoyuan Village. Haiyun Fan barely completed the task with a mediocre score on the grid line, so his starting point won't be too high, but he took the village head route, and the reward is not low either. According to Wang Lu's speculation, Haiyun Fan's completion rate was at most only 30%, if he didn't rush through it in one go, with a perfect strategy, he would have gained a huge advantage on Youming Road, even possibly making him breeze through that level, but Haiyun Fan's impatience ruined everything.

  However, for most of the examinees, this side effect is undoubtedly a great gospel in reverse.

  Lingjian Sect, as a top sect, the second half of its ascension path is extremely difficult and notorious, with places like Ice Wind Valley and Chi Ji Mountain being particularly treacherous. It's said that in the past 300 years, there hasn't been a single successful case of passing through this stage. In previous Ascension Conferences, even if they managed to recruit a few people, they were only small fries from the outer sects like Xianyao Peak. The way Lingjian Sect recruits its elite disciples is still the same as most ancient sects: by sending out elder members to travel the world and search for those with a predestined fate. Maybe it takes ten years, or maybe a hundred years to find a good seedling.

  And this time the Ascension Conference, most of the programs are still the same, but the appearance of Taoyuan Village is very abrupt. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was the Lingjian Sect's change in direction that lowered the difficulty.

  Thinking of this, Haiyun Fan, who completed the A-level task and left early, became a great motivation for others. Haiyun Fan and Ge Xian's scores passed, but others didn't need to rush, the Immortal Ascension Conference wasn't a sprint competition, as long as they could reach the finish line, it was considered passing.

  Unfortunately, in practice, there are few people who can do just enough. In the week after Haiyun Fan left, not only did no one catch up with her footsteps, but two trialists also made mistakes due to their haste and lost all their hard-earned favorability overnight.

  For example...

  "Xiao Fang, Xiao Fang listen to me explain, I truly love you! I don't mind your robust waist and sensual mustache at all. You have to believe me, I have no interest in Xiao Lan whatsoever. What's the softness of her skin or the smoothness of her hair compared to that? Forgive me, Xiao Fang!"

  "Get out of here, you heartless rascal!"

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