Apprehending the White Lotus Sect Daoist Child, Second Master's Favor

Apprehending the White Lotus Sect Daoist Child, Second Master's Favor

Apprehending the White Lotus Sect Daoist Child, Second Master's Favor

"Second Master, your skills truly make this junior green with envy." Lin Mo cheerfully played the flatterer, then added, "Surely, with this, you can claim the chief merit in this matter and exchange it for your Free Body before long."

Capturing them had been far easier than he had expected, but Li Erlang merely stroked his beard and shook his head disapprovingly.

"These are only a few small fish. Even if I had not caught them, the Prefecture City Inspector would likely have pieced it together in a few days. The big fish behind them, the White Lotus Sect, is the true priority."

Though Li Erlang said so, these few small fish clearly still had some use, and he gave them sufficient respect.

He stepped forward and drew a paper-talisman-like Ghost Cry Cudgel from behind his back. With only a light flick across their bodies, their meridians shattered inch by inch.

Not only had Li Erlang crippled their cultivation of qi and blood, he had also ruined their hands and feet, lest they entertain thoughts of taking poison to kill themselves. Only then did he set his mind at ease and sit down in the underground chamber.

Yet in Lin Mo's view, all three appeared to be people of high status and great authority, especially Zhao Fugui and Zhou Qiankun. They did not look like death warriors who would swallow poison and kill themselves.

If the White Lotus Sect truly possessed such means of training death warriors, it was enough to make one shudder.

"The two of us need only wait here for the Li Lineage's people to arrive." Li Erlang sent a burst of force through the chair, scattering away the dust and broken stones, then sat down leisurely. He warmly beckoned, "Boy, come sit too. Let Second Master have a look at you."

Have a look?

Lin Mo was somewhat suspicious, but he still walked over.

Before a Half-step Martial Master, he had neither the means nor the ability to play petty tricks.

Seeing Lin Mo sit down openly beside him, neither servile nor overbearing, Second Master Li found it a rare sight. Still, that was merely the garnish...

He explained, "I carried you all the way here just now, so I sensed a fair bit about your bone structure. I presume it is a [Bee Waist Ape Back]?"

Hearing this, Lin Mo was not surprised. Once a fate trait upgraded and one's bones and physique changed, it naturally showed on the outside.

For an unparalleled expert like this to see through it was perfectly normal.

It was just that he had once possessed only ordinary bone structure, and there were generally only two ways to alter one's bones and physique.

The first was to defy fate and alter one's destiny, seize the creation of heaven and earth, and consume spiritual treasures of heaven and earth. That was contending with the Great Dao.

That path lay incomparably far from him. It was not something ordinary Precious Medicine of a few decades' age could accomplish.

Under such circumstances, only the second path remained.

The second was the so-called poor-gentry Lineage. Here, "poor gentry" did not refer to Lin Mo, nor did it refer to the impoverished commoners of Big Fishing Village.

By this standard, they could not even be considered poor gentry.

Poor gentry was a Lineage concept, influenced by bloodline. They could practice martial arts broadly suited to them later in life and gain opportunities to alter their bones and physique.

As for people like Chen Qing, they had been born with it. It was not something Lin Mo could envy his way into obtaining.

"This junior is dull-witted and does not know much about such matters..."

Lin Mo cupped his hands and vaguely brushed it aside, but Li Erlang pressed on. "Were your bones and physique innate?"

"My master only ever said that my bone structure was ordinary."

Ordinary bone structure?

Li Erlang's eyes lit up, and a trace of interest appeared on his face. He tapped the table and probed, "Lineage?"

"I do not know about that. I only know that I grew up in Big Fishing Village from childhood..."

"So that is how it is. Perhaps you truly are descended from poor gentry. Maybe the bloodline has grown too distant, yet producing a talent like you still counts as bringing glory to your ancestors!"

Li Erlang praised him, and it was not empty praise. It was genuine appreciation for talent.

To fight across realms at First Stage Perfected and kill someone at the Second Level—this was no ordinary genius.

He was someone who could rank among the notable figures of the prefecture city.

Just the fact that he had killed someone at Second Level Minor Accomplishment, crossing two minor realms, might have caught the eye of some middling Lineages in the prefecture city.

One had to know that even the smallest force in the prefecture city could casually produce a Martial Master to hold it up. How could Changhe County's self-important Lineages compare?

"May Second Master feel your bones?"

Li Erlang reached out. Though he phrased it as a question, Lin Mo reckoned he had no standing to refuse.

That rough, calloused hand roamed over his shoulder blades and spine, pressing and feeling. Clearly, Second Master was more proficient than Master Yang in reading bones and acupoints.

Not only did Lin Mo feel no pain from the pressure, he instead sensed two places within his limbs and bones where qi and blood had suddenly been congested. In an instant, the blockage opened, leaving him immensely refreshed in body and spirit.

After feeling around for a while, Li Erlang finally confirmed his guess, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

"Sure enough, it is an acquired [Bee Waist Ape Back]. Looking at these bones, your Lineage's ancestors were likely not to be underestimated. The potential in your bone structure has not yet burned to ashes."

Li Erlang let out a long breath. After weighing it over and over, he finally said, "Are you willing to inherit my sole legacy? Rest assured, old man's legacy is no worse than Yang Yun's. When we were young, I kept him pinned beneath my head!"

Take him as a disciple?

To be honest, Lin Mo was deeply tempted. Although Li Erlang did not know the details, Lin Mo himself knew them clearly.

He was merely a Registered Disciple, given only a few taels as encouragement.

In the months since entering the sect, he had only learned the White Ape Eight Section Fist. Even that fragmentary volume of the Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique had been something he had fought with his life to snatch.

If he had a proper master-disciple inheritance, his path ahead would only grow smoother and smoother...

But he was, after all, under Yang Yun's tutelage. Betraying one's master and destroying one's ancestors was no small matter.

"Lin Mo is terrified, but Lin Mo is already under Master Yang's tutelage. Moreover, Master Yang took me in when I had nowhere else to go..."

Took him in?

Li Erlang was a shrewd old hand. Merely turning over those words in his mind, he understood Lin Mo's current situation. He immediately made a decision. "I am on good terms with your master. We have had thirty or forty years of friendship. Rest assured, once this matter is settled, I will certainly visit him and ask about it."

While the two were chatting idly, the Li Family Chief Patrolman finally hurried over with his men. The moment Li Erlang saw him, he launched into a fierce scolding.

"Li Zhiming, was it you little brat who called me out? If Lin Mo had not been quick-witted, the moment this old man stepped out of that courtyard, I might have been detained by the prefecture city the next day. I would have had to hand over the rest of my old life as well..."

Li Zhiming was covered in blood. For the first time, a trace of panic appeared on his ordinarily resolute face. He explained, "Do not worry, Second Master. I rendered meritorious service in clearing out the water ghosts this time. I will surely be able to secure a Free Body for you."

As he spoke, his gaze blazed as he looked at the few people whose meridians had been shattered. His eyes swept over Zhao Fugui and Zhou Qiankun before finally settling slowly upon the Daoist Child in robes.

His pupils suddenly contracted. "So they are people of the White Lotus Sect. Second Master, this time it is surely in the bag!"

"Got it, got it. You have trained martial arts until even your brain has grown slow..." Li Erlang waved his hand in distaste and urged them to quickly seize the prisoners and send them to the wine-cellar dungeon in the Li Lineage's rear courtyard. He added, "That old man from the Zhao family and the Zhou family of the Qianjin Escort Agency were mixed into the group as well. Send some clever people to notify them."

"Yes, Second Master!"

Li Erlang stood up and pointed at Lin Mo, fulfilling his earlier promise to share the credit. "This time's great merit belongs partly to this boy Lin Mo. This old man thinks highly of him!"