Exalted Toxin Lord - Chapter 36

As everyone listened to Hua La claim that Hua Yan was his son, they were all shocked. None of the thugs believed him.

Hua La wasn’t that old himself; he was probably only somewhere in his 30s. For him to have a son that was already in the later part of his teen years was madness.

Furthermore, there had never before been any mention of Hua La having a family. All everyone knew was that Hua La was not from Gin Town and had come here from one of the surrounding villages.

Now, learning that he had such an old son, quite a few people were taken aback.

And, this wasn’t even their greatest surprise. They truly wondered how someone as strong as Hua Yan could be the son of someone as weak and cowardly as Hua La. Their faces didn’t match, but thinking about it, Hua La really had no reason to lie.

After all, Hua La was the type of person that only looked after his own interests. This was something that was known throughout the entire courtyard.

If Hua Yan really were his son, then it would make sense that he would look out for him and bring him here with a recommendation for Hua Pan to take him under his wing.

Hence, it was easy for the thugs to buy the explanation of Hua Yan being his son after he reluctantly made up some more details.

“I had him back when I was still in my hometown. His mother recently passed away, so he came here looking for me.”

It was an ordinary story and there were many like it being told almost everywhere. Since Hua La had also told it, Hua Pan chose to believe it.

Anyway, Hua Pan wasn’t really that curious about Hua Yan’s origins.

What he wanted to know was why Hua Yan was so strong and why Hua La had brought him here.

His second question was answered, but he still hadn’t been satisfactorily enlightened on the first. He wanted to ask, but he held himself back.

For someone that didn’t have any cultivation like Hua Yan to beat someone else that was in the Continuous Ballooning Stage was a miraculous feat that could not be accomplished through ordinary methods.
Even though the thugs he fought with were somewhat drunk and not of the same caliber as the guards that did frequent combat training, it was no laughing matter that a youth as young as Hua Yan had been able to do something like taking them out one after another without losing an arm or so in the process.

Hua Pan hence came to the conclusion that Hua Yan had some kind of a great secret on him that he really couldn’t expose to others. Some kind of great secret that would turn the clan itself upside down if exposed.

Of course, though Hua Pan was curious about this secret, he thought he wouldn’t get any positive results by directly asking about it.

He thought that it would just be better to observe Hua Yan some more. Naturally, what this meant was that he was agreeing to accepting Hua Yan into his group of thugs. Hua La’s involvement in this matter also played a large role in Hua Pan’s easy acceptance of Hua Yan.

“He’s strong enough,” Hua Pan announced to everyone that was gathered, “From tomorrow on, have him do daily collections with Squad 3.”

The minions also agreed with their boss’ decision. Hua Yan was truly someone that had the power to be respected. The only weird part was the squad their boss decided to assign Hua Yan to.

Hua Pan was actually assigning Hua Yan to the same squad which the two thugs, Hua Lei and Hua Kin, were a part of.

Thinking of the shame that Hua Yan had inflicted on them, there was sure to be tension in this squad if Hua Yan joined it. The two defeated thugs would not like sleeping dogs lie and probably make things difficult for Hua Yan somewhere along the way.

This was all a part of Hua Pan’s plan to get Hua Yan to reveal his true colours. Because, only when truly tested would someone reveal all their cards. Assigning Hua Yan into this group was Hua Pan’s method of forcing Hua Yan to play all his cards, or face severe setbacks by holding back.

Sometimes, the competition and jealousy between co-workers could be scary. Hua Pan was trying to get Hua Yan to feel this fear.

Hua Yan didn’t care. He had accomplished his task. He had also noticed how everyone reacted to his assignment into Squad 3, but he was not concerned enough to worry about it or spare it an extra thought.

His trip here today had accomplished two things that would be greatly helpful in his future efforts. Firstly, he had become a part of the cleaner’s clique that represented the top dogs in the Cleaners’ Courtyard. Secondly, he had given himself an identity.

It was a big problem for him to walk around without a means of identifying himself to others. Now that he had established himself as Hua La’s son, and even a member of Hua Pan’s group, he had an identity. Additionally, it was such a great identity that people in the surrounding courtyards would have to be wary of it.

These were the first small steps that Hua Yan had taken to accomplish his goals.

“Boy,” Hua Pan addressed him, “What’s your name?”

Hua Yan looked at Hua Pan. The latter was trying to suppress him with his gaze alone. This didn’t work on Hua Yan though, and Hua Pan had also noticed that it wasn’t very effective. Even surrounded by around 30 thugs, Hua Yan didn’t feel the slightest bit nervous.

Hua Pan’s curiosity towards just what kind of secret Hua Yan had continued to grow. An ordinary person would not have this kind of demeanour.

Perhaps because Hua Yan had already tasted death once, or because he had killed stronger foes, or because of the overbearing Frenzy that lived inside of him, he was unafraid of everything and anything Hua Pan threw at him.

I am Hua Yan.”