Chapter 58: More Hands Make Light Work

Qin Feng returned to the Qin Fu with his men, his face clouded with gloom.

He arrived before the main hall and said, "Come out; that bastard is not stupid."

Not long after, a man dressed in scholar's robes emerged from the inner chamber.

"Head of the Qin Family," the man in scholar's robes bowed his hands: "I failed to achieve merit; I am deeply ashamed."

"It is not your fault." Qin Feng waved his hand, his face still as dark as ever.

At this very moment, several constables emerged from various rooms within the Qin Fu, and before long, over a hundred had gathered.

Most of them held long bows, while a few held items resembling fishing nets, with hooks attached to the edges.

"Then I shall return first to report to the County Magistrate."

"Another day, once this matter is settled, I shall invite Registrar Ji to share fine wine."

"Too polite, you are too polite."

After Registrar Ji exchanged a few polite words, he departed with a large contingent of men.

At this moment, a young man approached from the side; it was Qin Huan, the only remaining heir of the Qin family.

"Father, where has Mother gone?" Qin Huan's expression appeared very anxious: "Why have I not seen her all day?"

"I sent her back to Dafeng Village first; after all, this place is very dangerous."

Qin Huan breathed a sigh of relief.

Qin Feng asked again, "Have you seen your Second Uncle?"

Qin Huan shook his head.

At this time, Qin Feng's ominous premonition grew stronger; handling a corpse was not too difficult, unless something had gone wrong.

It couldn't be!

Qin Feng's eyes filled with increasing hatred; he shouted, "Men! Organize some people to find Second Master! If he lives, bring him back; if he dies, bring back his corpse! Do not let any suspicious clue slip away."

A group of servants in the Qin Fu immediately ran outside.

Meanwhile, Li Lin, carrying newly purchased miscellaneous items, arrived at the attic of another wealthy household.

He had discovered that the homes of these wealthy families were particularly large, but many areas were largely neglected; hiding in such places was actually quite good.

Spreading out the bundle, Li Lin took everything inside out and sorted it into piles by category.

Then he took out white paper, a knife, and cinnabar.

First, he cut more than ten white paper figures, roughly the size of a palm, then used cinnabar to dot eyes and mouths on these paper figures.

Afterwards, he drew talismanic patterns on the backs of the paper and then infused yin energy into them.

The white paper gradually gained color, turning pink.

【Paper-Figuring Art +1】

Li Lin could not help but freeze; he took out the book 'Daoist Details' to look at it, then gazed at the pink paper figures he had made, saying with some confusion: "After infusing yin energy, shouldn't they be blood-red? How did they become pink!"

He tried controlling these paper figures and found them very easy to control; running and jumping were both very agile.

It seemed there were no errors; how had they lost their color!

Li Lin tried making several more paper figures; they were all pink, not blood-red.

Then he stopped caring... as long as they worked, what color did it matter?

Blood-red paper figures were too terrifying; pink paper figures were actually quite cute. Besides, when he cut the paper and drew the paper figures' eyes, he had habitually used that Q-version art style.

He made over a dozen paper figures in one go, then dispatched them all.

He ordered them to find Wang Tianyou.

These little paper figures hopped and skipped, floating out from the attic.

They seemed not very intelligent; although they followed Li Lin's intent to head specifically toward hidden, dark places, their autonomous movement was still quite clumsy.

Thus, some fell into stinking ditches, while others were snatched and torn apart by cat spirits.

But in the end, a few did find Wang Tianyou.

Wang Tianyou was hiding in a dilapidated house, cultivating his energy to heal his injuries, with three martial men guarding nearby.

Not long after, one of the martial men suddenly drew his long sword.

A pink paper figure that had just run out from the corner was sliced into two halves.

Wang Tianyou opened his eyes.

"Paper figures seeking the path," the martial man said, holding his long sword: "This place cannot be stayed in."

Wang Tianyou nodded.

Just as the four were about to leave, several more paper figures suddenly appeared around them.

"The Qin family truly has ghosts that won't disperse," one martial man angrily said: "They have even resorted to the Paper-Figuring Art."

One martial man watched for a while, then said, "Why are all these paper figures faded?"

"What color does it matter; they are not good things anyway."

The martial man who had spoken earlier sliced through several paper figures with his long sword in succession.

Just as he was about to slice off the last paper figure as well, Wang Tianyou spoke.

"Wait; these paper figures do not seem to be from the Qin family."

The martial men looked and discovered that this last remaining little paper figure was using its 'round' hand to keep pointing outward.

This did not seem like the intent of discovering an enemy; rather, it looked more like it was 'inviting' them.

Wang Tianyou walked over; the paper figure immediately walked outward, and after a certain distance, pointed again toward some direction outside.

"It seems to want us to go meet someone."

One martial man said, "Could it be a trap?"

"If people from the Qin family had discovered us, the paper figures would never have revealed themselves for us to see." Wang Tianyou covered his chest and coughed twice: "Let's take a gamble; I feel this is not the Qin family's trick."

The three martial men exchanged glances, then nodded as well — they felt the young master had spoken reasonably.

The paper figure led the way at the front. Though it didn't walk especially fast, it stuck to shortcuts, so its speed was actually not bad.

It was fortunate that Wang Tianyou and the others knew lightness techniques, otherwise they really wouldn't have been able to keep up with this little paper figure.

After walking for a while, they arrived at a stretch of wasteland south of the county.

Then the little paper figure collapsed limply to the ground, the pink color on its body gradually fading.

It seemed the little paper figure's time limit had been reached — after all, the yin energy fed into it was limited.

Wang Tianyou looked left and right, and quickly spotted a figure walking out from the darkness.

All four of them went on guard, but once they saw who it was, Wang Tianyou cried out in surprise: "Brother Li, how is it you!"

"Why couldn't it be me!" Li Lin said with a smile.

Wang Tianyou let out a breath of relief: "So it was you who killed the two young masters of the Qin family?"

"Yes."

Wang Tianyou said with some admiration: "It's only been two months since we last met, and you've already entered the ranks."

"Thanks to the Yin-Nurturing Heart Art Brother Wang sent me," Li Lin said with a smile. "This isn't the place for idle chatter — let's move somewhere safe and talk."

Wang Tianyou naturally agreed.

Soon, the five of them arrived at the attic where Li Lin had been hiding earlier.

Then he took out his dry rations. Wang Tianyou and the three martial men ate with desperate, monkey-like haste.

They were truly starving.

These past few days they had been driven from pillar to post, with hardly any time to eat — nothing like the comfort Li Lin had enjoyed.

After eating two hard pieces of dry ration, Wang Tianyou patted his belly: "Brother Li, I owe you a favor. Once we get back, you'll be handsomely repaid."

Li Lin waved his hand: "We'll talk about that later. Right now we should think about how to kill Qin Feng, and how to bring down Qin Fu."

"Why does Li Lin also have a grudge against Qin Fu?" Wang Tianyou asked curiously.

Li Lin naturally told him the earlier matter, though of course he said nothing about the two Ghost-Concealing Garments — and besides, what he was wearing now wasn't a Ghost-Concealing Garment either.

Wealth should not be shown to outsiders — he understood that well.

"Running into us, that Qin family has kicked an iron plate," Wang Tianyou said, suppressing a smile. "The family sent me to handle the Qin family's affairs, but I didn't expect Qin Feng to be more tenacious than we imagined. What we need to do now isn't a frontal assault, but to find more helpers."

"There are still helpers in this city?" Li Lin asked.

"The Ding family has informants planted here too," Wang Tianyou said with a smile. "There was never a chance to contact them before, but now with Brother Li's paper-crafting art, we have a way. Speaking of which… Brother Li, you actually know paper-crafting art too?"

"I learned it long ago, but only in the last few days did I fully master it," Li Lin said with a slight smile. "Then let's contact the Ding family's people first — more people make things easier. Tell me how many paper figures you need me to make!"

(End of chapter)