Lin Takes Revenge Before Nightfall (Please Add the New Book to Your Favorites~ Please Vote~)

Rustle.

The night wind stirred the dense treetops, revealing a pale silhouette atop the wall.

The young man sat against a tree on the high wall, wrapped in a luxurious fur cloak. Like a theatergoer, he stood apart from the rest of the world.

But now, every gaze on the stage was fixed on him.

"Lin Shu?"

When he recognized the newcomer, the vicious grin Master Liu the Third had forced onto his face became a little more genuine.

It would have been a lie to say he wasn't worried.

This was West City. With just the few of them here, never mind running into one of the city's cultivators—even some random constable would be more than enough to make them pay.

The shock instantly chased the drink from his eyes, and his lust gave way to murderous intent.

So it was this wretched piece of trash.

He'd been lucky enough to scrape together another day of life and still wasn't satisfied. He'd actually dared to leave the courtyard... If they let him live, who knew what kind of trouble he'd cause?

"How the fuck did you get out? Where's Wang Xu?" The two brothers had been interrupted in the middle of their fun, and their faces soured.

Seeing the troupe leader's expression change, they knew the night was a wash. Their disappointment swiftly turned to fury at Lin Shu.

"..."

Yun Niang opened her eyes in silence, her pupils clouded with confusion.

She'd guessed that whoever came might not be confident of succeeding. Otherwise, he wouldn't have crouched nearby for so long.

But she hadn't expected it to be this man.

She'd never seen the young man's somewhat boyish face from a distance, but she had once seen that cloak when she'd roamed with the Opera Troupe. She also knew her mother-in-law had gone to report the crime with him.

This young man was just another helpless wretch trapped in the Opera Troupe. How could he possibly save her and the child inside?

"You got my mother-in-law killed, and now you're going to get the two of us killed too... Run!"

Yun Niang didn't try to talk him out of it. She knew that words alone wouldn't dissuade a hot-blooded, stubborn do-gooder like him.

With no other choice, her face stricken with grief, she forced out one last, hoarse cry, hoping to keep another innocent life from being dragged into this.

"Whew."

Lin Shu regulated his breathing, his expression plainly disappointed.

In the memories left by his predecessor, cultivators who had learned Immortal Methods utterly overpowered ordinary people.

But neither his predecessor nor anyone else in the Opera Troupe—not even the troupe leader—had ever actually seen one of these so-called Immortal Methods.

To be safe, Lin Shu had still chosen the approach he was best at.

After all, he'd taken just one Evil Coin from that old woman. That was the price of this mother and child's lives, not a purchase of anything else, such as her chastity.

But he hadn't expected Master Liu the Third to be so wary, even while drunk.

Lin Shu glanced at the sharp shard of roof tile in his hand and tossed it away.

Crack.

As the tile shattered, the white figure leaped from the wall and landed steadily in the courtyard.

Master Liu the Third's pupils twitched. He'd personally watched Lin Shu take a hundred full-force lashes.

Anyone else would have been beaten to death. Yet just one afternoon later, Lin Shu looked as if nothing had happened.

Thinking of this, he reached behind his waist, flexing his fingers around the hilt of his knife.

"Quit playing dumb. I asked where Wang Xu is!" The brothers weren't as perceptive as the troupe leader. Seeing Lin Shu toss aside that laughable piece of tile, they sneered. They couldn't bring themselves to be wary of such a cowardly weakling.

"Him?"

Lin Shu spread his hands and walked toward them, harmless as could be, stopping at the most advantageous spot.

The young man curled his lips into a smile. "I'll take you to him."

Before the words had even left his mouth, the white fur cloak whipped up. A sharp dagger shot from his sleeve and landed in his hand.

Lin Shu had positioned himself so that the three burly men stood in a line.

When he struck, Eldest Ma's view was blocked by his brother's body. For a moment, he couldn't even tell what had happened.

"You... you..."

Only when a flash of silver swept past his eyes and cold crept across his skin did Little Ma come to his senses.

The blade slid across his neck with a sound like a knife cutting into cowhide.

From Little Ma's perspective, Lin Shu's somewhat delicate face twisted into something monstrous, like a vengeful ghost come to claim his life. The malice in it was no less than Master Liu the Third's. This was plainly a seasoned killer who had lived by the blade!

"So this is what a martial artist is like."

Lin Shu quickly realized the blade hadn't felt right and sighed inwardly.

Such a clean strike had left only a gash in Little Ma's neck instead of severing his head outright.

But Lin Shu didn't slow down. He dropped his shoulder with practiced ease and slammed it into Little Ma's chest.

Thud!

The burly man staggered backward.

The sight made Eldest Ma's pupils contract. His drunken mind seemed to short-circuit.

That skinny kid, so weak he couldn't even truss a chicken, had just knocked aside his younger brother, who'd trained in martial arts for years?

But he had no time to think. The instant his brother was knocked away, a dagger shot out with lightning speed, aiming straight for his chest.

"Fuck!"

Instinct, carved into Eldest Ma's bones, made him slash back with his knife. Twenty-odd years of tempering his body had made his strike faster and stronger than Lin Shu's.

But the man facing him seemed to have anticipated it. He tossed aside the dagger he'd used as a feint, ducked in close, and crashed into Eldest Ma's arms. Then came a brutal elbow strike to the burly man's lower abdomen.

Boom!!

With a muffled thud, Eldest Ma flew back three meters, faring even worse than his brother!

Only Lin Shu could see how every collision between their bodies sent the mist within him shuddering.

It was that mist that gave him the strength to grapple with martial artists like these.

But apparently, that was all it could do.

"Ah!"

Yun Niang stared blankly at the scene unfolding right in front of her.

The young man had forced his way in, brutally driven back the two men, and placed himself between them and her.

But although it had all happened in a flash, Master Liu the Third had had plenty of time to react—ten times over.

Yet he still hadn't moved. He, too, had been waiting for an opening.

And now the young man, having spent his momentum, had exposed his entire back to him.

Yun Niang had been biting her lip, afraid to distract Lin Shu. But the moment she saw Master Liu the Third draw a short dagger with cold indifference, she couldn't hold back her warning cry.

"Watch out!"

"You hid yourself well. Even I was fooled."

Master Liu the Third's icy voice sounded beside Lin Shu's ear.

He'd watched quietly for so long because he'd sensed something was wrong earlier. No wonder Lin Shu had endured the family punishment—he was a trained fighter too.

Now that the opening was right in front of him, he wouldn't give Lin Shu the chance to fight back.

"Too bad you still need to toughen up."

Master Liu the Third couldn't understand why Lin Shu had endured being fed pig slop and beaten, only to reveal himself over a few people who meant nothing to him.

Of course, there was no need to think about it any longer.

As he spoke, the short dagger flashed like a tiger's claws pouncing on its prey, aimed straight at the weakest point in its defenses!

But Yun Niang, standing directly in front of Lin Shu, saw that the young man didn't panic. Instead, he let out a soft breath.

As though an angler had finally seen ripples spread across the water.

"..."

Lin Shu's expression was no longer twisted with rage. He licked his cracked, blood-stained lips.

His right hand, which he'd lowered in advance, opened. Silver shimmered over his long fingers, like sharp nails stretching out three inches.

In the next instant, Lin Shu suddenly turned. His bare palm swept upward, catching the dagger as it came at him.

His fingertips met the blade as if slicing through tofu. They sheared off Master Liu the Third's hand, then drove savagely into his jaw!

Splurt! Splurt!

Master Liu the Third's pupils quivered. Unable to understand, he lowered his gaze to the bloodied fingertips protruding from his mouth.

"Kh... kh..."

His body hung suspended in midair. He tried to say something, but blood kept welling up from his throat, nearly choking him.

The Immortal Method he'd spent his whole life yearning to see had finally appeared—at the moment of his death.

"Do you like spitting so much?"

Lin Shu raised his right arm, staring at the head in his palm as his fingers slowly tightened.

He murmured the words, a cruel edge creeping into the corner of his mouth.

But Liu the Third would never answer again.

Lin Shu pulled out his hand. His palm, warm and scarlet with blood, brushed over his face, casually wiping away the filth the other man had spat onto his forehead at noon.

It also covered the streak of blood the old woman had left on the tip of his nose.

The debts were settled.

To Lin Shu, the greatest threat had been the troupe leader, Master Liu.

According to the memories his predecessor had left behind, this man was at least a cut above the Ma Brothers.

And Lin Shu could rely only on that Immortal Method.

In every other way, whether endurance or footwork, he was far inferior to the troupe leader.

He had only one chance. If he gave himself away, Liu San's cautious nature meant he'd never again let Lin Shu get close.

Fortunately, although Lin Shu had left that life behind in his previous world and had no need to return to his old trade, he hadn't grown so complacent that he'd stopped using his brain.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Lin Shu's gaze fell on the brothers, who stood frozen in shock.

"..."

In the cramped, shabby courtyard, there were still four living people. Yet now, not a sound could be heard.