Chapter 328: Who Is the Hunter?

334. Chapter 334 Who Is the Hunter?

Slept until dawn.

Lin Ke woke up leisurely, did his morning practice, had a meal, then went out.

However, this time he didn't act openly; after leaving the Martial Hall, he quickly found a place to disguise himself and change his appearance.

Those tailing him soon lost track of Lin Ke.

This news was passed back, causing many people and factions to have different thoughts.

There was worry, such as the Wei father and son; anticipation, such as some Human Immortal Martial Dao martial artists and forces opposed to the Wei family; excitement, such as Yun Xinying, who was looking for a chance to strike.

"Huh huh huh..."

Yun Xinying stared at the blurry reflection on the water surface in the basin before her, letting out a smug laugh: "No matter how crafty you are like a ghost, you'll have to drink my foot-washing water."

The formless Surveillance Eye floated leisurely behind Lin Ke, presenting all of his movements for Yun Xinying to view.

And Lin Ke was completely unaware.

This attitude made Yun Xinying look down even more on the Human Immortal Martial Dao, which has been showing increasing decline in recent years.

So-called rising stars—aren't they just something she can toy with at will?

Yun Xinying laughed happily for a while, then began making preparations.

She first took a clear mirror, transferring the Surveillance Revelation Technique from the water basin onto the mirror surface, then tied her usually loose hair into a bun, took off her long skirt, put on clothing convenient for movement, and lightly applied makeup.

Soon, a completely different Yun Xinying appeared.

The kind that even men who have been intimate with her would not recognize.

After strolling around the room, she took out some spellcasting materials needed for the technique, triggered the mechanism, opened the hidden door, and sneaked out of this manor through the underground tunnel.

Outside the manor, Yun Xinying glanced at the mirror to confirm Lin Ke's latest whereabouts and direction.

Unbeknownst to him, Lin Ke had already left the bustling main city district, heading toward the western suburbs where Li Sisi had once gone.

There stood a haunted house that had witnessed many strange incidents.

Li Sisi grew up in the Martial Hall from childhood, developing a fearless personality.

Invited by a few classmates, she eagerly agreed to go explore that haunted house.

"Huh huh, you've got good eyesight."

Yun Xinying pursed her lips and said disdainfully, "But what does it matter if you notice something's wrong here?"

This haunted house is indeed where Yun Xinying first made a move against Li Sisi.

However, the Organization had long severed all ties between her and the haunted house.

Clues left in the haunted house that Lin Ke could uncover would point to extremely misleading places.

According to the original plan, Yun Xinying should have let Lin Ke investigate on his own.

But now, Yun Xinying intends to personally take care of this somewhat troublesome guy.

She doesn't have the patience to play hide-and-seek.

Taking two yellow talismans from her upper garment pocket, Yun Xinying held them in her left hand, formed a seal with her right, chanted an incantation, and activated the talismans' effects.

She then stuck the two yellow talismans onto each calf, instantly making her body light as a swallow and greatly increasing her speed.

Choosing a direction, Yun Xinying hurried toward that haunted house.

Not long after, she arrived near the haunted house.

This haunted house was a spot Yun Xinying carefully selected based on Li Sisi's personality.

She was very familiar with the surroundings.

Knowing the area well, she found a spot suitable for concealing her form and even better for launching a spell attack, and hid there.

However, before hiding, Yun Xinying carefully set a trap inside the haunted house.

Even if the trap isn't triggered, it won't affect this ambush.

But what if it is?

Then she'd really strike it rich.

On the other side.

Lin Ke multitasked: focusing on his investigation, using the Surveillance Eye to reversely monitor the movements of the caster, and, inspired by the Surveillance Eye, developing a surveillance method to observe the people inside the Martial Hall.

Being able to place the Surveillance Eye in his bedroom is definitely collusion between inside and outside.

In other words, there is a traitor in the Martial Hall.

External threats must be eliminated, and internal worries must be rooted out.

Not long after, before Lin Ke had left the city and before heading to the western suburbs, he made a discovery.

The previous evening, accompanying Senior Brother Shi to the dock to pick up a Martial Hall disciple, he sneaked into the disciple's room with furtive steps and began a careful search.

The focus of the search was placed on the bookshelf and desk.

It seemed they were looking to see if Lin Ke had made written records of his investigation results.

After the search ended, the insider who found nothing slipped out of the room, face full of disappointment.

Lin Ke's left-behind surveillance carrier hurriedly followed after.

This pursuit yielded results.

The insider left the Martial Hall with a normal expression, winding left and right, arriving at a teahouse where he pretended to drink tea and listen to storytelling.

In fact, shortly after the insider ordered refreshments, someone sat down behind him, back-to-back.

Lin Ke controlled the surveillance carrier, maneuvered to face that person, and got a clear look at his appearance.

After a moment's thought, Lin Ke recognized him as the usual attendant of Wei Bowen, the refined young man who was Li Sisi's early love interest.

"As expected, you also have a problem."

Lin Ke's face remained calm, while thoughts flashed in his mind.

The insider and the attendant who came to meet began talking, reporting the investigation results.

After the conversation ended, the attendant warned the insider not to reveal his identity and not to act rashly, lest suspicion arise.

Even if his identity were exposed, he must not betray the attendant and Wei Bo Wen; otherwise, the insider's elderly mother hospitalized would not receive proper care.

The insider put away the money pouch left by the attendant, sat a while longer after the attendant left the teahouse, then returned to the martial hall with a complex expression.

After hearing their conversation and observing the insider's demeanor, Lin Ke felt no disturbance in his heart.

His resolve to purge the insider remained utterly unmoved.

All beings suffer.

Those who, because of their own suffering, seek to harm others do not deserve sympathy.

Since another clue has been found, it must not be let go.

The monitoring carrier abandoned the insider, quickly sought out Wei Bo Wen's attendant, and followed him back to the Wei Family Manor.

However, Lin Ke temporarily could not pay attention to the Wei Family Manor side, as he was about to reach the Western Suburb Haunted House and needed to focus.

Having issued a command to the monitoring carrier to record video and audio, Lin Ke no longer paid attention to that side.

Last night, inspired by the Eye of Surveillance Evil Method, Lin Ke smoothly devised this monitoring method/technique, which is extremely powerful.

It can both monitor images and sounds in real time and record them for later review.

Performing this method/technique consumes little essence-energy-spirit, but maintaining it continuously is quite draining on the mind.

However, with Lin Ke's current mental energy reserves, he can sustain it for over six hours without affecting his combat ability.

Therefore, after using the Eye of Surveillance Evil Method for reverse scouting and discovering signs that the behind-the-scenes person intended to act against him, Lin Ke quickly decided to seize that person at the Western Suburb Haunted House.

One purpose was to ask some questions; the other was to interrogate the opponent's evil methods.

Lin Ke certainly would not cultivate evil methods; he merely used them as reference and a primer, hoping to pry open more knowledge locks.

Soon, the Western Suburb Haunted House arrived. Lin Ke pretended not to have noticed Yun Xin Ying's hiding place, circled the exterior of the haunted house once to ensure no other traps, then entered the haunted house with the hidden personnel.

He prepared to act inside the haunted house, carrying out capture and interrogation.

The haunted house is a typical three-room, standalone residential building.

In front of the door is an open space; entering leads to the hall, with rooms on either side; behind the hall are the kitchen, toilet, pigsty, and a room for storing miscellaneous items.

Beneath the storage room lies a large cellar.

The rumored strange occurrences all take place in the cellar.

Lin Ke pretended not to notice the traps laid in the cellar and dove straight in.

"Hahahaha……"

The wild, triumphant laughter suddenly echoed throughout the entire haunted house.

Lin Ke, hung upside down by a golden hook, suspended in midair, bound in his blood, vigor, and true qi, showed a timely expression of panic on his face.

He began to struggle violently, yet could not break free from the net entangling him.

"Who? Come out!"

After the failed attempt, Lin Ke, "enraged to the point of anger," shouted furiously, "Despicable villain, scheming in the shadows—if you have the guts, show yourself and fight me one-on-one!"

While cursing, Lin Ke continued to struggle.

But the more he struggled, the tighter and stronger the net became.

"Is this the genius secret heir of the Eight Extremes Martial Hall, Lin Ke? I'm somewhat disappointed!"

Yun Xin Ying was actually quite surprised that her meticulously laid trap could actually achieve great success; at first she doubted, thinking it a trick, so she did not immediately reveal herself.

Even this trap, in fact, is a simplified version of the organization's method for dealing with Li Shu Wen, specifically targeting mortal immortal martial artists.

Upon realizing that Lin Ke truly could not cope with the net, she conceived the idea of mocking him to his face.

Yun Xin Ying herself did not know why she had this thought; she simply felt intuitively that doing so would not be bad.

Thus, Yun Xin Ying, while feeling disdainful, entered from her hiding place outside the haunted house.

"How? Feeling stifled?"

Yun Xin Ying entered the cellar, lightly waved her hand, and lit several torches on the wall.

These torches were still those left by Li Si Si and her companions during their previous expedition.

"No, not stifled."

After Yun Xin Ying entered the haunted house, Lin Ke stopped struggling and waited calmly.

Upon actually seeing Yun Xin Ying, his mental power scanned silently, and his mood became quite complex.

This showed on his face as a failure of expression control, which was quite remarkable.

Lin Ke never imagined he would make such a discovery in this world.

The Supreme Council sent the sixty-four most outstanding young wizards of the entire Wizard World into Ai Rui Si. Ke La Ke's trial—could it truly be just to help her complete the trial?

Or are there hidden other purposes?

Or perhaps it was never meant to help Ai Rui Si. Ke La Ke at all, but merely to achieve other ends?

Lin Ke could not help but arise doubt in his heart, then immediately gathered his focus to concentrate on the matter at hand.

Since the key figure hidden behind the scenes has now appeared before him, there's no need to worry about any strange escape methods; why continue the act?

In Yun Xin Ying's astonished gaze, Lin Ke, who was bound by the net and hung upside down like a golden bell, turned into a mist and vanished instantly.

A ghostly silhouette flickered into appearance behind her.

Pa-pa several times.

The real Lin Ke, using methods of this world's mortal immortal martial arts, sealed the veins and acupoints, restraining Yun Xin Ying's blood flow.

Then, using the tendon-splitting bone-misplacing technique, he dislocated all joints of her limbs and likewise her jawbone to prevent suicide.

Thereafter, at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, he withdrew several silver needles, stabbed them into several vital points on her body, and sealed her mental power.

Fundamentally, he eliminated the possibility of Yun Xin Ying employing evil arts.

A muffled thud sounded.

Yun Xinying, who instantly lost her ability to move, speak, and cast spells, collapsed heavily to the ground.

However, she had no time to feel the pain; her eyes showed a complex mix of shock, panic, and fear.

All day she hunted geese, never expecting today she'd be the one pecked in the eye.

She thought she was the hunter, but in fact she was the prey.

The sudden role reversal dealt Yun Xinying a massive psychological blow.

"Let me introduce myself..."

Lin Ke crouched, expressionless, looking down at Yun Xinying, and said indifferently, "My name is Lin Ke, I am the eighth junior brother of Li Sisi. I think you should know very well that falling into my hands won't end well for you. If you don't want to suffer more, tell me straightforwardly what I want to know."

As he spoke, Lin Ke reset Yun Xinying's jawbone and lightly added, "If you dare to shout, dare to scold, you must dare to endure torture. Each shout, each curse will bring you ten times this."

Before he finished speaking, Lin Ke pressed his right index and middle fingers together as a sword finger, casually striking a painful spot on Yun Xinying's body.

Yun Xinying instantly curled up, bending like a cooked shrimp, unable to cry out from the pain.

She merely opened her mouth wide, unable to utter even a sound to vent her pain.

"Do you understand?"

Lin Ke watched Yun Xinying barely endure the sudden intense pain, gasping heavily, and asked indifferently.

"I... I understand."

A flicker of gloom and hatred flashed in the depths of her eyes, and Yun Xinying nodded in reply.

"Good that you understand."

Lin Ke now missed his gold-thread glasses.

Even without gold-thread eyes, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses that say "Everyone here is trash" on the bridge of his nose would do.

Otherwise, he always felt something was missing, something that could make the current scene's atmosphere more friendly.

Setting aside his mixed feelings, Lin Ke got to the point and asked, "Why did you target Li Sisi?"

Yun Xinying concealed nothing and deceit nothing, answering truthfully: "To lure out your master, Li Shuwen."

"Um... aren't you afraid of dying?"

Lin Ke had stayed at the Baji Martial Arts Hall for ten years; how could he not know that Li Shuwen was merely his master's alias?

Lin Ke had long known his master's true identity and past deeds clearly.

Thus he wasn't too surprised by that answer; he only wondered what gave them the nerve to provoke the "Divine Spear" that had long stayed out of the martial world!

"The organization has a way to deal with Li Shuwen."

At this moment, Yun Xinying's sole aim was to buy time, so she answered every question.

"Oh? Like that trap just now?"

Lin Ke became slightly interested.

That trap just now was indeed quite ingenious.

If it had been our eldest senior brother or second senior sister, they'd probably have already fallen victim to foul play and been unable to resist.

That is, Lin Ke hides many strange trump cards, so he's unaffected.

If that trap's power were multiplied several times, perhaps it could also harm our master Li Shuwen.

"Exactly."

Yun Xinying's answer confirmed Lin Ke's speculation.

"What's the reason?"

Lin Ke, however, didn't delve deeper into the trap and switched the question.

Yun Xinying fell silent for a moment, gritted her teeth, and ultimately still answered truthfully:

"To turn Li Shuwen into a puppet!"

Go conquer a secret realm.