Second Senior Brother Fengyun

Chapter Eight: Awakening Duan Lang

"Oh! What should I do next? How can I get Xiong Ba to accept me as his brother?" Yan Lin lay on the bed, his face full of worry.

Since Xiong Ba brought Yan Lin, Nie Feng, and Duan Lang back to the World Society, he has not paid any attention to the three of them. Fortunately, because the three of them are all young, the steward in charge of arranging accommodations did not separate them, but arranged them all in the room of Qin Shuang, who is also young.

Of the three, Yan Lin was the first to wake up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Qin Shuang with a big smile on her face. Yan Lin was quite surprised at that time. In the end, Kong Ci explained that it was Xiong Ba who brought him back to the World Society and made him a disciple of the World Society.

After spending more than a month together, Yan Lin had gotten to know Qin Shuang a little better. He was cheerful and generous, and always had an approachable smile that made everyone who spoke with him feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze. No wonder he was called a role model of an older brother by netizens.

As for the maid Kong Ci, Yan Lin had a very good impression of her. She possessed all the virtues of being gentle, innocent, kind, and simple. More importantly, at such a young age, she was already a beauty in the making, with bright eyes, white teeth, and fair skin. No wonder she could make Bu Jingyun, who was known as the God of Death who never cries, fall in love with her.

There are five beds in this large room, each occupied by a sleeping child. The children are Qin Shuang, Yan Lin, Bu Jingyun, Nie Feng, and Duan Lang. Bu Jingyun joined the World Society second only to Qin Shuang in terms of time. The maid Kong Ci, being a girl, has her bedroom in the next room. She is only responsible for taking care of the five children's daily needs, and she doesn't have to do anything else, which gives her a lot of free time.

"Hmph! They're sleeping soundly, but I'm in trouble. I still have so many things to think about." Yan Lin pouted, somewhat annoyed. However, Yan Lin knew very well that if he didn't plan what to do in the future, he wouldn't be able to become a great hero. He would be lucky to even keep his life. This was a world of heroes and villains, where killing was punishable by death. If he wanted to live a carefree life, he had to have the strength to make people fear him.

Unable to sleep the more he thought about it, Yan Lin simply brought up the Hero System's quest log. The transparent quest log appeared silently before his eyes. He opened his inventory and saw that it only had two slots, and both slots were filled with items. The items in these two slots were the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique and his treasured sword, the Monarch Sword, that he had taken from Yan Bufan.

Although the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique was classified as a practice skill by the system and included in the martial arts section of the Hero System, its original form did not disappear. Yan Lin stored it in his inventory. Yan Lin also discovered something interesting that time: no matter how many items he put into his inventory, each item would immediately create a slot. In other words, Yan Lin's inventory could store an unlimited number of items, with no limit on the quantity.

After checking the package, Yan Lin then opened the task list. It contained the same three tasks as before, except that this time the blue task had the words "Completable" added to it.

Although he had completed a task, Yan Lin was far from happy. Why? Because the reward for this blue-level task was utterly rip-off. It only gave him a few survival points and a couple of taels of loose silver. If the system were a person, Yan Lin would definitely raise two long fingers and curse: "FCK!"

Despite his disdain, even a small piece of meat is still meat. Adhering to the principle of never wasting anything, Yan Lin still chose to complete it. Then, Yan Lin's gaze fell on the remaining red and purple tasks. Looking at those rewards, Yan Lin felt both love and hate.

The rewards for the purple mission were incredibly generous, practically the best. However, when Yan Lin saw the completion conditions, he immediately deflated. He was joking, after all. Xiong Ba was the most powerful figure in the early stages of the game "Story of the Conqueror," and killing him was harder than climbing to heaven. Therefore, Yan Lin temporarily excluded this mission, deciding to wait until he was stronger before making any plans.

The red mission is relatively simpler, but to become a hall master, one must have formidable martial arts skills. Becoming stronger is not something that can be achieved overnight. Based on his own situation, Yan Lin knew that it would probably take another ten years to complete this mission.

Putting away the Hero System, Yan Lin had a sudden flash of inspiration and thought of a very serious problem: to become a hall master, one must be Xiong Ba's personal disciple; otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to sit on the hall master's throne. Even if one is very strong, it is useless. Duan Lang is a living example. In terms of talent and martial arts, he is definitely not inferior to anyone in Feng Yun, but he is not given important positions simply because he is not Xiong Ba's personal disciple.

"How can I get Xiong Ba to take me in as his personal disciple?" Yan Lin racked his brains trying to think of all possible ways.

"The reason why Xiong Ba accepted Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun as his disciples is all because the prophecy given to him by Mud Bodhisattva contained the words 'wind and cloud.' If my name were in the prophecy, would Xiong Ba accept me as his disciple?" Yan Lin thought to himself.

“By the way, the Mud Bodhisattva’s prophecy says: ‘The golden carp is but a creature of the pond, but it will transform into a dragon when it encounters wind and clouds.’ Isn’t the first line about a carp? If we find someone whose name contains the character ‘gold,’ it would be even more fitting. Each line of poetry contains two people. In this way, given Xiong Ba’s character of ‘better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free,’ he might actually succeed.” Yan Lin thought about it more and more and felt that it was very likely.

The problem is, where can we find someone whose name contains the character "gold"? Yan Lin scanned the dark room and finally settled on Duan Lang's bed. He had come up with a solution. Although Duan Lang's name didn't contain the character "gold," it could be changed. After all, Xiong Ba didn't know his real name, and since they had just arrived and hadn't interacted with anyone else, naturally no one would recognize Duan Lang.

Thinking of this, Yan Lin could no longer hold back. He decided to immediately implement his plan in case anything changed. It's always good to make plans in advance.

Yan Lin gently crawled out of bed and came to Duan Lang's bedside. She reached out and gently shook Duan Lang's shoulder twice. To Yan Lin's surprise, Duan Lang was not asleep yet; he had only closed his eyes. Yan Lin quickly put her finger to her lips and made a shushing gesture. Although Duan Lang did not understand, she nodded.

Yan Lin pointed to the door and went out first, followed shortly by Duan Lang.

The two found a secluded spot, and Duan Lang couldn't help but ask first, "Brother Lin, why did you call me out?"

"kindness"

Yan Lin nodded, then continued, "Duan Lang, what are your plans for the future?"

"Of course, it's to learn martial arts, become stronger, and restore the prestige of our Duan family," Duan Lang said without hesitation.

"So how do you plan to become stronger?"

Duan Lang looked at Yan Lin with surprise and said, "Brother Lin, is there something you want to tell me?"

“That’s right. If we want to stand out from the crowd, we must learn superior martial arts. In the World Society, to learn superior martial arts, we must become Xiong Ba’s disciple.” Yan Lin looked at Duan Lang meaningfully.

"Then how can I become Xiong Ba's disciple?" Duan Lang asked.

Yan Lin didn't answer Duan Lang directly. Instead, he walked straight up to Duan Lang, placed his hands on his shoulders, and said with a heavy expression, "Duan Lang, are you willing to trust your older brother this once?"

"I believe you," Duan Lang hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

At this moment, Yan Lin finally felt relieved. If Duan Lang hadn't listened to him, things would have been difficult. In fact, Yan Lin had long planned to help Duan Lang. Duan Lang had great potential. If he could befriend him, wouldn't it be wonderful for the five of them to kill Xiong Ba together in the future?

Yan Lin said, "From now on, don't tell anyone your name is Duan Lang. From now on, your name is Duan Jin, understand?"

"Why is that?" Duan Lang was puzzled.

"Don't ask why. Just know that this concerns your future and destiny, as well as mine," Yan Lin said in a deep voice.

After a moment's hesitation, Duan Lang nodded in agreement, then asked, "How do we explain this to Nie Feng and the others?"

"Go apologize to them later and tell them you lied to them. Then tell them your real name is Duan Jin," Yan Lin said gently, patting Duan Lang's arm.

"Hmm," Duan Lang nodded heavily.

The two then quietly returned to their rooms and went back to sleep. Qin Shuang and the others slept soundly and did not notice anything unusual about Yan Lin and the other person.