Two more days passed and it was the day that Lin Fan was going to head into the ruins with the Mercenary Guild group.
Normally he would have taken Xiao Yue and Lala along if he was going on a mission, but it was different this time.
He had found the divine artifact in that cave, so he knew that whatever had formed inside of this cave wouldn’t be simple. It would be dangerous, so he didn’t want to let them get into trouble.
Instead, he had them hide in town just in case any of their enemies came.
At the very least, if they were in town, they could get help from the Mercenary Guild who was now fully backing Lin Fan after he accepted this mission from them.
When he arrived at the Mercenary Guild, he found that there was already a group gathered. However, when he looked at them closely, he was surprised by the aura that they released.
Tian Tian was the one that was leading this group and when she saw Lin Fan come over, she waved her hand and said, “Young master Lin, over here.”
When Lin Fan came over, she introduced everyone to him.
There were five people other than her in this group and three of them were A Rank Mercenaries, while the other two were B Rank Mercenaries just like him.
After introducing these people to him, Tian Tian also introduced the others to Lin Fan.
When they heard that Lin Fan was only a B Rank Mercenary, they couldn’t help revealing looks of disdain.
They were A Rank Mercenaries and now they were supposed to follow a B Rank Mercenary on this mission?
It wasn’t something that their pride could easily accept.
One of the A Rank Mercenaries, a red haired young man named Huo Duo came forward to say, “I don’t think that it’s appropriate for someone like him to be our leader. I think that we should choose our leader based on skills, rather than connections.”
When he said this, it was clear what he was implying with his words.
Tian Tian slightly knitted her brows when she heard this and she was about to come forward to say something, but Lin Fan raised his hand to stop her.
Tian Tian was surprised, but Lin Fan made his way up to Huo Duo and said, “So you can’t accept me as the leader of this party? Then how about we see who’s stronger? I think that’s the easiest way to choose based on skill.”
Huo Duo was surprised to hear this from Lin Fan.
After all, to be an A Rank Mercenary, one’s cultivation had to be at a certain point.
Most A Rank missions involved beasts that were at least in the Fourth Qi Gathering Realm, so those that could become A Rank Mercenaries were all in the Fifth Qi Gathering Realm.
This B Rank Mercenary was actually daring to challenge him to a fight?
That was just seeking his own death.
But this was also what Huo Duo wanted to see since he wanted to take over as leader of this mission.
He knew how important this mission was to the Mercenary Guild, it was something that even the president was involved in. Since that was the case, if he was able to lead the group that took care of this mission, naturally his position in the Mercenary Guild would become higher.
Since Lin Fan was giving him this chance, naturally he wouldn’t turn it down.
So after being surprised, Huo Duo looked at Lin Fan and asked, “Are you sure that you want to do this?”
He couldn’t accept right away since Tian Tian was here. He had to give Lin Fan, or rather Tian Tian some face and act a bit hesitant.
Lin Fan just looked at Huo Duo with a smile and said, “Let’s do this.”
Huo Duo narrowed his eyes to look at Lin Fan and then he asked, “How do you want to do this? Do you want to go outside or do you want to take it to the training hall?”
Lin Fan just calmly said with the same smile, “Why not just do it here? You can punch me right now.” Then after a pause, he said with a bit of provocation, “That is unless you’re scared.”
Huo Duo knitted his brows when he heard this.
He looked at Lin Fan like he was crazy.
This B Rank Mercenary was trying to provoke him, an A Rank Mercenary?
He simply didn’t know the heights of the heavens!
But since he was offering, why would Huo Duo turn him down!
Huo Duo gave a soft snort before saying, “Alright, since you’re offering, then let’s take care of this right now.”
He stepped up in front of Lin Fan and everyone else took a few steps back.
They were currently in a corner of the Mercenary Guild, so there weren’t as many people around, but naturally the signs of a fight attracted attention and soon there was a crowd gathered around.
It wasn’t everyday that these people saw A Rank Mercenaries and Huo Duo was quite a famous one.
Seeing that there was an audience, Huo Duo was even more inspired.
He looked right at Lin Fan like he was looking at a stepping stone and he slowly raised his fist, gathering his spiritual energy around it. As his spiritual energy appeared, they started morphing into flames.
As his name suggested, he specialized in a fire attributed cultivation technique, so after he reached the Mid Qi Gathering Realm, he was able to condense his spiritual energy into flames.
After he finished gathering his spiritual energy, he was surprised to see that Lin Fan was still standing there in a casual manner.
This was a “friendly” match after all, so he couldn’t just hurt Lin Fan or it would be like slapping Tian Tian and the Mercenary Guild that she represented in the face.
So Huo Duo said, “Brother Lin, I’m prepared to attack. Shouldn’t you be putting up your guard?”
Lin Fan just raised a hand and waved it, giving an inviting gesture as if he was taunting Huo Duo.
A vein popped out on Huo Duo’s forehead and he no longer said anything else. Instead, he raised his fist and prepared to punch Lin Fan right in the face.
However, even if he was angered by Lin Fan’s actions, that didn’t mean that he completely lost himself to his anger.
He controlled his spiritual energy output to only 50% of his full power, but that would still be more than enough to deal with his B Rank Mercenary. After all, most B Rank Mercenaries were only in the Third Qi Gathering Realm.
The Third and Fifth Qi Gathering Realm, there was no comparing the two.
Huo Duo sent his fist right out at Lin Fan’s face and during this time, Lin Fan didn’t make a single move. He didn’t even raise his guard as he crossed his hands behind his back, waiting for Huo Duo’s attack.
Huo Duo was certain that he was going to hit Lin Fan and was preparing to hold back, but before he could do that, Lin Fan’s hand suddenly flew out.
To his shock, not only did he not hit Lin Fan in the face, Lin Fan had actually caught his fist in his hand. After catching his fist, he found that all of his flames had dissipated and he wasn’t able to move his hand at all.
No matter how he tried to push or pull, his fist was firmly stuck in Lin Fan’s hand.
It was as if his hand had been caught inside of a steel vice.
However, Huo Duo wasn’t willing to give up now that he had come this far, so he decided to no longer hold back his power.
He gathered all his spiritual energy and transferred it to his hand, trying to push right through Lin Fan holding his fist. However, even when he used all his power, he found that he wasn’t able to move Lin Fan a single inch.
Lin Fan just stood there with a calm smile on his face, as if nothing had happened.
But of course, he could feel the change in Huo Duo’s energy and knew that he was going all out, so he responded in turn.
Huo Duo suddenly felt a pain coming from his hand.
Like a steel vice, Lin Fan’s hand holding his hand had started to tighten and as it tightened, there was a pain that came from his fist. It was as if his hand was about to be shattered like an egg.
Lin Fan applied pressure slowly, but he didn’t apply enough pressure that he forced Huo Duo to his knees.
He was going to be working with this person, so there was no need to create a grudge between them.
All he had to do was demonstrate his power to make this person submit to following him.
Huo Duo tried all he could, but he found that he wasn’t able to resist the force from Lin Fan’s hand at all.
It seemed like this B Rank Mercenary wasn’t simple. However, when he thought about it, he realized that this was normal.
After all, the Mercenary Guild had trusted him enough to lead this mission, so naturally he wouldn’t be weak.
Once this thought passed through his mind, Huo Duo revealed a smile and said, “Brother Lin, you truly are powerful.”
Lin Fan let go of Huo Duo’s hand at this time and said, “I’m just lucky.”
After that, he turned to the rest of the group and asked, “Is there anyone else that wants to try for the leader position?”
Everyone in the group looked at each other before shaking their heads.
They had already seen what Lin Fan had done to Huo Duo and they weren’t fools, they knew that Lin Fan definitely wasn’t as simple as he seemed.
With this settled, the crowd dispersed and their team was led outside.