Chapter Three
'Ugh... How much more do I need to walk?'
Ren let out a low groan from annoyance that vibrated through his newly thickened chest. Even with his monstrous strength, the logistics of his "Starter Pack" were a pain in the ass. He had the two yokes stacked across his massive shoulders in a "X" shape, with all four wooden buckets dangling from the hooks.
In one of the front buckets, Ren had carefully tucked away the outfit and the magical map provided by the system, keeping them far from the soot still flaking off his skin.
'Don't you have an inventory or something, system? Where you can keep this stuff and I can withdraw it whenever I want.' Ren asked, hoping the blue screen would appear and tell him that it forgot about the inventory function.
However, reality has always been known to crush a person's expectations.
This time was obviously no different.
[It will be available only at Farmer Lvl. 50. For a trash mortal like host that cannot cultivate, there is no inventory. Host should remember that poor and weak people can only suffer in their life. If the host wants privileges from the system, please work harder and farm.]
Ren sighed at the blue screen before continuing his journey ahead.
The word 'trash' had lost its effect on Ren's soul a long time ago.
'How can a billionaire's son be a farmer?! Have you gone crazy!? If you want to be poor then go be poor! I don't have a son like you!'
Even though humans had a tendency to forget important stuff. Their ability to hold onto useless words and hurt was worthy of applause.
Ren adjusted the crossed yokes on his shoulders and kept walking.
'Why am I feeling sad about the past?' Ren squinted his eyes, his feet moving faster as if he was trying to outrun something. "Lin Fan. I'm Lin Fan. Not Ren, anymore. It's all done and over. If I didn't feel bad for the last twenty years, what is the point of pitying myself now when I have a completely new opportunity? It's such a waste of time.'
Sssshhh… Ssssshhh...
Lin Fan froze, the sound of rushing water acting like a tonic that lifted his spirits instantly.
"Finally!" he breathed, a grin breaking across his face. "I can have a bath, at last!"
Lin Fan sprinted toward the sound, his wooden buckets clanking together as he scrambled forward like a child chasing an ice cream truck that was just about to pull away.
He burst through a dense thicket of thorns and oversized ferns, the yokes on his shoulders acting like a battering ram against the foliage. As he cleared the final bush, the air suddenly turned crisp, carrying a scent of crushed mint and steam.
Before him laid the Azure Wellspring in all its glory.
Lin Fan let out a satisfied grunt as the yokes slid off his massive shoulders, the wooden buckets clattering onto the soft, mossy bank with a dull thud.
He didn't even glance at his "Starter Pack" clothes.
The only thing that mattered to the man covered in soot was the warm, shimmering, steam shrouded pool of turquoise water sitting right in front of him.
It looked like something ripped straight out of a high-budget xianxia cultivation manhwa.
Lin Fan didn't even bother stripping off the scorched remnants of his old clothes. They were basically fused to his skin by sweat and ash anyway. Instead, Lin Fan took a short run up as he launched his muscular frame into the air.
'CANNONBALL!' Lin Fan screamed internally as he landed into the water with a huge splash and a happy grin.
The soot dissolved instantly, trailing away from him like dark smoke in the wind as he scrubbed the rags away from his body.
Lin Fan stayed under for a long moment, enjoying the silence and the way the warm water seemed to hum against his skin, relaxing his tensed body muscles.
"Haaaah!"
He broke the surface with a loud gasp, shaking his head like a wet dog. Then, running his fingers through his hair, slicking his hair back like a hero in some movie that knew damn well how handsome he was.
For the first time, Lin Fan looked at the reflection of his new face in the water.
The jawline was sharp enough to cut glass, and his eyes were shimmering like onyx. Even with his skin slightly flushed from the warmth of the spring, he looked less like a 'trash mortal' and more like a young god who had decided to take a day off from the heavens.
"Not bad," Lin Fan muttered, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he stared at his face like a self obsessed man. "Even though I'm a trash mortal, at least I have an SSS Rank face. If I'm going to be a farmer, at least I'll be the best-looking one in the field. Maybe it will help me sell my harvests to female cultivators at a premium price."
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH! SAVE ME!"
A female scream filled the air, making Lin Fan's ears perk up as he immediately exited the water body, making way to his clothes to dress up and take a look at the situation.
But, before he could put them on, warm marshmallows crashed into his hard chest out of nowhere, making his arms freeze up and his eyes open wide.
'...Is a woman hugging me while I'm naked???' Lin Fan's mind glitched completely as he looked straight ahead, refusing to tilt his head down to look at whatever blasphemy that had happened.
"Hey miss... Could you let me put on my clothes?" Lin Fan gulped the lump in his throat, still refusing to look at the female trembling in his arms. All he could concentrate on was the softness against his chest that was making his virgin brain malfunction.
"Please, help me! Please!" The woman clutched onto Lin Fan's body even tighter, refusing to let him go at all as if scared that he would abandon her and run away.
"Look, guys! Isn't this Leaf Sect's Outer Discipline whose core was crushed after challenging an Inner Discipline to death match?"