Chapter 54: Strike When the Enemy is Unprepared

At dusk, Feirong County closed its city gates.

This was one two-hour period earlier than originally scheduled.

As a result, many travelers and laborers were locked outside the city.

Fortunately, the area guarded by 'Jin Guang Taowu Zhenjun' of Feirong County was vast enough; within one hundred meters outside the city walls, no wild anomalies would be encountered.

Those who failed to enter the city could stay beneath the walls, huddle together for warmth, light fires, and spend the night.

At this moment, Li Lin was hiding in a pavilion.

It was the topmost floor of a certain brothel, a storage room he had inspected; thick layers of dust covered everything, suggesting no one had cleaned it for over half a year.

He found a corner, blew away the dust on the floor, and sat down.

First, he swallowed two Life-Reviving Pills, then slowly gnawed on the dried rations he had prepared long ago.

Outside on the streets, squads of Constables and batches of Retainers from Qin Fu were searching everywhere.

Whether in inns, hotels, or private residences, they would knock on doors and burst in to search.

Naturally, the brothels were not spared either.

Li Lin was not afraid of their search; even if they reached the pavilion, he could simply enter his Stealth state.

However, three groups came to search, yet none ascended to the pavilion.

This was because the madam downstairs insisted that no strangers had come to spend money, and everyone upstairs was a familiar regular.

Some Constables came up to check, found this to be true, and left.

In fact, these people dared not search too thoroughly; what if they truly forced the murderer to reveal himself?

This was someone who had dared to kill two young masters of the Qin family consecutively; they could not defeat him.

The lives of servants are also lives; making a show of it was enough.

Such a large-scale search caused the entire Feirong County city to turn into chaos.

Li Lin had originally thought this situation would last for two or three days.

But he never expected that shortly after nightfall, the situation changed.

While Li Lin was feigning sleep with his eyes closed, he suddenly heard a piercing sound outside rising from low to high, finally ending with a sharp 'Bang!', audible throughout the entire county.

Li Lin poked his head out of the pavilion's small window and discovered it was a signal arrow; the final sound was from a firework.

It was the first time he had seen a signal arrow, but having heard of them, he naturally recognized it.

Immediately after, he saw squads of Constables and several groups of Retainers from Qin Fu rushing toward the direction of the signal arrow.

Isn't the murderer right here?

They must have found something!

Li Lin was quite curious; he put on his full set of Anomaly-Cloaking Robes again, took his short sword, bent his waist, and began to move in Stealth.

Moving at a moderate pace, he traversed the rooftops.

Not long after, the sounds of fighting and shouting came from ahead.

"Wang Tianyou, you actually dare to kill members of my Qin family; you must be tired of living."

"I did not kill them," Wang Tianyou laughed heartily: "But I can only say, it was a good kill, a wonderful kill. I came here specifically to kill you all; with the help of a high expert, I am extremely happy now."

Li Lin hid behind the eaves of a roof and poked his head out.

He saw Wang Tianyou standing on a rooftop, surrounded by three middle-aged men, while four of Wang Tianyou's attendants followed nearby.

Both sides appeared evenly matched.

Seeing this situation, Li Lin felt somewhat helpless.

He came to kill members of the Qin family because they had been causing trouble around him recently; he never expected to implicate Wang Tianyou.

However, this was also normal; previously, the Qin family had secretly set Wang Tianyou up, nearly causing his death, so it was quite normal for the latter to retaliate.

Should he go up to help... but then Li Lin's eyes lit up; since the main force of the Qin family should all be here to surround Wang Tianyou, wouldn't the Qin family's main residence be... very empty?

Li Lin immediately stopped worrying about the situation ahead, turned around, crouched low, and headed toward Qin Fu.

Not long after, he arrived on the roof of a wine house opposite Qin Fu.

Although it was night, the interior of Qin Fu was brightly lit with lanterns, yet it was clear that there were far fewer people.

Li Lin found a corner, flipped inside, and immediately crouched down.

Then, he felt that cold, sinister aura again.

He immediately hid behind a potted plant.

Soon, he saw a white-robed female anomaly drifting in from a distance, scanning the surroundings, before drifting away again.

This anomaly was indeed still here.

This time, Li Lin did not retreat; instead, he followed behind that female anomaly.

Shortly after, the female anomaly drifted into the main hall within the fourth gate.

Li Lin followed to a nearby window and listened at the wall.

"Ancestral Matriarch, how is the situation?" a woman's voice asked.

"A fleeting trace of living human aura," the female anomaly snorted and said: "It must have been some careless thief trying to profit from the chaos, but sensing my arrival, he fled again."

At this moment, a young man's voice spoke: "Ancestral Matriarch, I want to go out and help!"

"No! If you dare to run around recklessly, I will break your legs. Now you are the only remaining sprout of the Qin family; if anything happens to you, our Qin family's eldest branch will have no heirs." This was a woman's voice.

The young man seemed to dare not speak again.

At this moment, the female anomaly's cold voice rang out: "Have you found the woman I asked you to locate yet?"

"There are few young girls born in the Yin Year and Yin Month left in the county."

"Troublesome; a girl born in a Yin Year would suffice, but if I possess her, my strength will be restricted to a very poor level," the female anomaly's voice carried some anxiety: "I suppose the Ding family knows I was injured by that wretch Liu Zhe, so they came to trouble our Qin family. Those few children were also foolish; how could they be lured outside? If they were within our Qin Fu, this old woman could have helped."

Hearing this, Li Lin's eyes lit up.

The other party's current state seems to prevent them from leaving Qin Fu?

At this moment, he heard the female apparition inside say: "Granddaughter-in-law, go to my altar and burn two sticks of incense; I feel my spirit body is unstable again... The Ding family really knows how to pick their timing."

"Yes, Great Grandmother."

Not long after, a woman and four servants, carrying incense, candles, and spirit money, walked toward the back courtyard.

Li Lin stealthily followed them.

Then, he saw a rockery that looked normal from the outside, but the woman ordered the servants to turn a wooden crank nearby; soon, the rockery flipped over, becoming a bluestone altar.

Although Li Lin's eyesight was excellent, it was late at night, so he could only see runes and formations on top, along with a few characters, but he could not make out what the characters said.

However, he could feel that yin energy was surging within this altar.

So it was here!

Li Lin crouched and left Qin Family; when he vaulted over the wall, he naturally broke his stealth state for an instant.

The female apparition came to check again, naturally finding nothing.

Then Li Lin arrived once more on the roof of the tavern opposite Qin Fu.

From here, he could overlook the entire Qin Fu, and naturally, he could also see that rockery.

Green smoke curled there.

Li Lin calculated the distance; the rockery was within the range of his Fallen Thunder Incantation attack.

In his heart, he couldn't help but laugh loudly.

Having a ranged attack method is truly good.

Next, he wasted no time; his hands began to form seals, sending the yin force within his body out in one go.

A massive amount of yin energy triggered a strong qi fluctuation; the Qin Family female apparition, who had been wandering near the hall, suddenly looked toward Li Lin's position.

Li Lin looked back at her.

The female apparition's face was hideous; she recognized Li Lin.

And Li Lin revealed a gentle smile.

Fallen Thunder Incantation!

A huge chain of green-red lightning tore through the night sky.

(End of this chapter)