Chapter 327: with translation of chapter title

333. Chapter 333: Under the Curtain

The next day.

Lin Ke refused the senior brother's offer to accompany him and went out alone from the branch hall.

He had visited the provincial capital twice before and had even looked at its most detailed map, so the city wasn't as unfamiliar to him as others thought.

Without any disguise, Lin Ke set out in the early morning following his planned route, wandering through the streets and alleys of the provincial capital all day until the moon was high in the sky, then he returned to the martial hall.

Although Seventh Senior Sister Li Sisi had been studying in the provincial capital for less than a year, Lin Ke visited every place she frequented, whether she went there often or only once or twice.

Everything was done openly, so anyone watching the Eight Extremes Martial Hall and Lin Ke could see his actions clearly.

He wasn't the slightest bit worried about encountering an assassination or any other tricks.

He even hoped that whoever was hiding behind the scenes would lose patience and reveal themselves right now.

After all, Lin Ke only had an incomplete memory of his time in the womb before his reincarnation and before the age of three; after three, his memory returned.

Um… except for the wizard world's magical knowledge.

He had a profound and clear understanding of his situation and goals.

Having spent seventeen years in this life and accumulated enough strength to leave the mountains and cause trouble, he certainly couldn't continue living as peacefully as he had for the past seventeen years.

After investigating and dealing with Seventh Junior Sister Li Sisi's early romance, Lin Ke planned to make a trip to Tianshui Commandery to visit the Jiang family there and see how that overly innocent single mother has been faring these years.

"Junior Brother, how did it go? Any gains?"

Senior Brother Shi seemed to have been waiting especially for Lin Ke's return, and as soon as they met he asked with concern.

"Nothing much, I just checked the places Seventh Sister had been to, looking for anything suspicious."

Lin Ke didn't hide anything and explained truthfully.

A casual glance makes it hard to spot the problem at first sight.

Finding nothing is to be expected.

However, whether he had any suspicions or conjectures in mind is another matter.

"Which direction do you plan to investigate next?"

Senior Brother Shi furrowed his brows slightly and said in a low voice, "How about I accompany you tomorrow? I've stayed in the provincial capital quite a while, so I know it better than you."

Lin Ke still refused: "Senior Brother, you're busy with the hall's affairs. I'm fine investigating alone; besides, if I find anything in time, Seventh Sister currently has no issues, and there's no rush to settle this immediately—we can take it slow."

"Alright."

Senior Brother Shi didn't insist.

The provincial capital branch hall is more than just a martial school; there's an entire industry surrounding it.

Currently, there's also a lack of capable assistants who could help Senior Brother Shi.

The secret-transmission disciples that Master Li later accepted have already reached the graduation standard, so they were prioritized to be sent to Fourth Senior Sister and the others.

If Senior Brother Shi wants assistance, he must either train his own helpers or wait for the few junior brothers and sisters who are about to graduate.

Thus, Senior Brother Shi indeed has many things to keep him busy each day.

His previous neglect of Seventh Junior Sister's affairs had its reasons and wasn't done out of malice.

"Senior Brother, you should rest early; I'm a bit tired too, so I'll head back to my room."

Lin Ke and Senior Brother Shi get along without pretense; they speak openly and never hide anything.

"Alright, you should rest early."

Senior Brother Shi nodded, rose from the main hall, and walked back to his room with his hands behind his back.

Lin Ke glanced at his senior brother's back, then turned toward the small courtyard that the brother had arranged for him.

After returning to his room, Lin Ke didn't rush to sleep; he first spent about half an hour practicing his exercises, then shook his body to rid himself of sweat and dust, feeling fresh and clean before finally going to bed.

The song never leaves his lips, the fist never leaves his hand.

Since restrictions prevent him from using wizardry, he must adapt to local customs and improve his strength through this world's cultivation methods.

Whether facing an enemy or defending himself, he has some leeway.

As for this world's cultivation methods…

Lying in bed with his eyes closed, Lin Ke appeared to be asleep, but he was actually using his mental power—far surpassing that of a Return-to-One realm martial artist and nearly comparable to the mid-stage Void Abyss realm of his master Li Shuwen—to sense everything in the bedroom.

Even over ten years, even if his sea of consciousness is sealed and his knowledge blocked,

but through self-study and vague intuition, Lin Ke still managed to figure out some ways of manipulating mental power similar to those of the True Spirit Wizard system.

"Watching"—an eyeball-shaped, intangible surveillance device hovering at the window, directly facing the bed—caused a slight ripple in Lin Ke's mind.

"In this world, there's still such dark arts?"

The eyeball-shaped surveillance device, under mental perception, emits a nauseating, eerie aura.

Even though wizardly knowledge is sealed, Lin Ke immediately recognized that the eyeball-shaped surveillance device, which wasn't present when he left this morning, was truly crafted from a human eye using dark rites.

In other words, this world's extraordinary cultivation system includes, besides the openly known Immortal Martial Arts and Mechanical Martial Arts, some taboo dark arts that cannot see the light of day.

After careful thought, Lin Ke found this quite reasonable.

The Immortal Martial Arts system emphasizes balance of essence, energy, and spirit, without bias.

The Mechanical Martial Arts system pays little attention to energy, slightly values essence, and places greater emphasis on spirit.

During the development of Mechanical Martial Arts, or even before its emergence, it's highly plausible that a system based entirely on spirit, resembling wizardry, could have arisen.

However, looking at the cultivation history of this world, practices like contemplation and meditation have existed before, but they cannot greatly increase mental power.

Therefore, cultivators in this world who wish to perform wizard-like techniques based on spirit cannot rely solely on their own spirit; it's far insufficient.

When in dire straits, change brings passage.

Those with deceitful minds and unkind natures naturally scheme to take others' spirit.

And thus the origin of dark arts came about.

Lin Ke recalled that he had noticed the abnormal changes on his seventh junior sister Li Sisi's body, and it was precisely because this change resembled very much the cognitive tampering technique of the True Spirit Witch in his vague impression.

After mutual verification, Lin Ke immediately confirmed that some dark‑arts organizations or societies secretly exist in this world.

Nowadays, some dark‑arts organizations or societies, for reasons still unclear, have set their sights on the Eight Extremes Martial Hall.

"Some rats in the gutter!"

He muttered quietly, Lin Ke set a precaution, then fell asleep peacefully.

Just a bunch of rats that dare not show themselves in the sunlight and act openly; no need to worry too much.

Find them, beat them to death, drag them out and leave them to bake in the sun.

And as for how to find them, Lin Ke already has a plan.

As the saying goes, "When a person passes, they leave traces."

Also, as the saying goes, "When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back."

The fact that they dared to, and were able to, leave dark‑arts surveillance in Lin Ke's bedroom means they must be prepared for Lin Ke to track them down by following the clues.

Otherwise, what awaits them will be a merciless iron fist!

While Lin Ke slept peacefully, some people were very anxious.

"Yun sister, how is it?"

Wei Bowen sneaked out of his house, keeping it from his father Wei Hanshan, and found his forbidden cousin Yun Xinying.

Through the washbasin in front of her, looking at a rather blurry image, Yun Xinying said lightly, "What's there to panic about? What's there to panic for?"

"I can't not panic, Yun sister."

Wei Bowen's face showed a panicked expression: "Li Sisi's father is none other than Li Shuwen, who dominated the southern jianghu twenty years ago and now goes by the name Li Shuwen."

After learning of this last night, Wei Bowen today deliberately went to look up materials, to see just how terrifying the person who makes his father Wei Hanshan so afraid really is.

If you don't look, it's fine; you have no idea.

After seeing it, Wei Bowen has been trembling with fear since noon, and even now he hasn't shaken off the shadow.

No wonder the development of mechanical martial arts in the southern jianghu is slower and worse than in the north; it turns out that twenty years ago, the one called "Spear and Fist Dual Absolute," Li Shuwen, single‑handedly, killed an opponent straight through.

He earned the reputation "Unmatched in Fist, Divine Gun Li Shuwen."

But later, some people in the mechanical martial arts world set a trap for him, he accidentally injured a righteous person, and he changed his name and went into seclusion.

If Li Sisi comes to no harm, that's fine; but if something really happened to her, the entire Wei family wouldn't be enough for Li Shuwen to slaughter.

How could Wei Bowen not be afraid?

"It's just Li Shuwen; why be so scared? Pathetic!"

Yun Xinying turned off the technique, cutting off her surveillance of Lin Ke, and said with a sneer of disdain.

"Huh?"

Wei Bowen let out a startled cry, quickly realized, and hurriedly asked, "Do you have a way to deal with Li Shuwen?"

"Of course."

Yun Xinying said proudly, "If we couldn't handle Li Shuwen, why would we go to all this trouble just to make Li Sisi like you… this trash."

The truth hurts the most.

Wei Bowen usually dresses in a refined manner, his outward appearance splendid, but in reality he is truly a good‑for‑nothing rotten at the core.

At his young age, he is obsessed with love and romance, with no pursuit of study or career.

He can't endure the hardship of cultivating the human‑immortal martial way.

He can't stand the pain of cultivating the mechanical martial way.

As a result, Wei Hanshan was once deeply disappointed in Wei Bowen; if it weren't for being his only son, he would have long since chosen another heir.

Hearing his cousin Yun Xinying's undisguised belittlement, Wei Bowen still had to save face, and couldn't help but give an embarrassed smile.

When Yun Xinying calls him trash, she's not just spouting nonsense.

They've already changed Li Sisi's perception, and Wei Bowen still hasn't truly won her over—if that's not trash, what is?

Thus a mishap occurred, letting the Eight Extremes Martial Hall notice the clue.

However, this Lin Ke is indeed somewhat troublesome.

Today it seemed he was just glancing around, but in fact, according to Yun Xinying's covert observation, Lin Ke has already discovered some clues.

Fortunately, they have already severed ties, treating those places and people as disposable.

Otherwise, they might really have been found out by him.

"Hmph!"

Yun Xinying gave a muffled snort, her resolve unshaken.

She decided to give the relentlessly pursuing, arrogant Lin Ke a little taste of his own medicine.

Seeing the sinister smile curl at the corner of Yun Xinying's mouth, Wei Bowen couldn't help but recall how she had teased and tormented him, and he involuntarily shivered.

Without even saying goodbye, Wei Bowen slipped out of the room and hurried home.

"Trash!"

Yun Xinying glanced at Wei Bowen's fleeing back, snorted contemptuously, and stopped paying attention to him.

She began to concentrate on how to give Lin Ke a lesson without letting herself be discovered by him.

After a moment, a brilliant idea popped into her mind.

"Hehehe…"

Yun Xinying couldn't help but let out a creepy, sinister laugh.

Wei Bowen sprinted a few steps to his own manor next door, pushed off hard, leapt up, and vaulted over the wall.

"I thought you were sleeping at your cousin's place again tonight."

As soon as he landed steadily, he heard his father Wei Hanshan sigh in a low tone, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat from fright.

"No… nothing's wrong."

? ￠o

Wei Bowen's tongue stumbled a little, and he replied with a stutter.

"Nothing happened? I think you just don't dare anymore, right?"

Wei Hanshan recalled the previous incident where Wei Bowen was turned into human jerky overnight by that demoness Yun Xinying, and his anger flared.

This good-for-nothing, despite repeated lessons, after suffering a lesson once, actually still dares to get involved with Yun Xinying.

Aren't you afraid that one morning you might not wake up?

Not at all alert.

He let out a deep sigh, Wei Hanshan suppressed his emotions, and coldly asked: "Speak, what did you say when you went to see her tonight, and what reply did you get?"

Seeing that his father had no intention of pursuing the matter, Wei Bowen felt a stone drop from his heart; as long as he wasn't blamed, it was fine.

After steadying his mind, Wei Bowen replied: "Yun sister has been monitoring that Lin Ke's movements, and she also mentioned that they targeted Li Sisi just now in order to deal with Li Shuwen."

"Heh..."

Wei Hanshan heard this and let out a cold laugh.

"Father, what do you mean by this?"

Wei Bowen couldn't quite figure out what deep meaning his father had in reacting this way.

"With just them, they still want to deal with Li Shuwen?"

Wei Hanshan's eyes filled with a mocking expression: "With just their petty tricks that aren't even fit for the table, can they deal with Li Shuwen? Even if more people go, it's pointless."

"Impossible, right?"

Wei Bowen gathered his courage to retort: "How miraculous are Yun sister's techniques? I've witnessed them myself."

"Miraculous?"

Wei Hanshan snorted with laughter, turned and walked away.

"Father, what is something I don't know? Please tell me in detail."

Wei Bowen hurriedly followed up, probing deeply and asking relentlessly.

He was indeed very curious about these, wanting to know why, in his father's mouth, Yun sister's miraculous techniques, compared to Li Shuwen, were considered not worth mentioning.

"There's plenty you don't know."

Wei Hanshan walked and said, "Do you know why Li Shuwen retired and no longer ventures into the martial world?"

"It's said he was set up by the mechanical martial arts, accidentally injuring a righteous person."

Wei Bowen spoke the account recorded in the information he had looked up that morning.

"That scheme, the faction your Yun sister belongs to also hid inside it. You guess, besides accidentally injuring the righteous person, what else did Li Shuwen accomplish that time?"

Wei Hanshan replied with a meaningful counterquestion.

Wei Bowen immediately shook his head: "I can't guess."

"Hehehe..."

Wei Hanshan laughed before speaking, then his tone suddenly sank, and he said word by word: "Li Shuwen slaughtered 187 people without sustaining a single injury!"

"Ah!!!!"

Hearing this, Wei Bowen immediately exclaimed aloud.

One person killing 187 people is already shocking, hard to believe.

And without injury?

No wonder, over these years in the southern martial world, whether it's human immortal martial arts or mechanical martial arts, few people mention Li Shuwen's deeds.

Indeed, it's overly perverse.

It makes mechanical martial arts look incapable, and contemporaries of human immortal martial arts also lack any glory.

Terrifying indeed.