"Take down those two wild dogs!"
Liu Zhen's furious, hoarse growl shattered the gambling den's silence.
He drew his long saber, and dazzling white flames streamed from its sheath alongside the blade, flowing out like a bubbling spring.
The flames roared as they swallowed the saber, lighting the surroundings as bright as day.
More than a hundred strands of Spiritual Power surged into the air, and the terrifying pressure made it hard to breathe.
Dong Cheng, with barely a dozen strands of Spiritual Power to his name, felt his legs go weak.
On top of that, as Liu Zhen drew his saber, he formed a Cultivation Method seal with one hand, and his figure suddenly blurred into several shadows.
The same white-flamed saber swept across the long table from three different directions, pointing straight at the young man opposite!
"..."
Lin Shu sat in his chair, his hair flying as the saber light reflected in his pupils. He couldn't tell which figure was real.
But he didn't look at Liu Zhen. Instead, he stared quietly at a certain spot.
The conversation just now, and even those unnecessary movements, had all been meant to distract.
All for the sake of the black mist slowly rippling into view behind the constable.
It took human form, clinging tightly to Liu Zhen's back.
And the instant the constable erupted into action, the black mist finally burst outward, sweeping through the entire gambling den with him at its center.
The bone-chilling cold turned the place into an ice cellar.
Like sand, the black mist snuffed out the white flames on the saber.
The three figures froze at once. The distance that had been within easy reach of Liu Zhen's saber suddenly stretched much farther.
"Haah."
Lin Shu felt more than half of his Spiritual Power drained away in an instant.
He raised his head slightly, and red mist welled up in his pupils, illuminated by the saber light.
His scarlet eyes were like two crimson moons.
Under the Dharma Eye, the three figures before him began to merge.
"Back off!"
Liu Zhen roared and swung his saber, carrying a torrent of Spiritual Power as he tried to force back the eerie black mist around him.
But at the same time, a strange heat spread across his body, which had been growing numb with cold. It stung and itched, making him want to claw his own flesh to shreds.
Crack, crack, crack!
Lin Shu released his clasped hands and slowly curled his fingers toward the figure engulfed by the black mist.
A horrifying, deathly white shape reached out from the fog.
The bony claws were grotesque and terrifying, sharp as knives. With mournful cries, they ruthlessly dug into the flesh of Liu Zhen's limbs and torso, like countless water ghosts trying to drag him by force into a dark, silent river of mist.
Fear welled up in Liu Zhen's heart. He racked his brains, searching through everything he'd learned over the years. Apart from those Lower Three Grades, the only truly high-class Immortal Methods he knew were a Sixth Rank saber technique and a Fifth Rank movement technique.
Yet now, he could smell a hint of something in the black mist that he had never experienced before.
Worse still, in his rage, he hadn't even noticed when the black mist had closed in around him.
Rip!
The bony claws suddenly pulled, tearing great chunks of flesh from him.
His bloodied remains were swallowed by the fog. One moment, he had been whole; the next, he'd been ripped down to half a skeleton.
"Argh!"
The disfigured constable let out a piercing shriek.
What terrified Liu Zhen most was that, thanks to his abundant Spiritual Power, he was still alive and fully conscious.
The deathly white claws clamped tightly over his face. He could only look out through the gaps between them.
All he could see were those crimson eyes, so unlike a human's.
He clearly still had the strength to fight back, but the bizarre sight had shattered his nerve. He struggled desperately like an ordinary man.
"There's a monster! Save me—"
His final plea was drowned out as his body was dragged completely into the mist.
But the plea itself was pointless.
The black mist had already spread everywhere, and deathly white claws covered the floor.
Inside the entire gambling den, everyone but Dong Cheng, who stood there like a wooden chicken, was being hunted down.
"Run!"
The constable who had been preparing to attack alongside Liu Zhen desperately swung his saber, cleaving through a swath of mist, then bolted for the stairs, terror tearing through him.
But before he could dash away, someone suddenly grabbed him by the hair from behind.
The sudden force sent him flying backward, and he crashed onto the table with a bang.
"Ah... ah..."
The constable's head spun. Eyes wide, he stared at the pale, youthful face above him.
Lin Shu released his head. Weariness flickered in his eyes as he took the long saber from the constable's trembling hand.
"Officer, this is what resisting arrest looks like."
The corners of his lips lifted. His voice was calm as his five fingers closed around the hilt, unhurried.
Clang!
In an instant, silver light plunged straight into the constable's chest.
The blade's momentum didn't abate. It pierced three inches into the tabletop before finally stopping with a hum.
Blood dripped from the tip and seeped into the cracks between the stone tiles, spreading to Dong Cheng's feet.
"Ah—"
Dong Cheng's face turned deathly pale. He suddenly snapped back to his senses and let out a scream on instinct.
He was a cultivator, sure, but he was only a Young Wolf with little experience in spell combat. How could he have ever seen such savage methods?
Only now did he realize that the ghostly black mist around them had already faded, as though the whole scene had been an illusion.
The gambling den's candlelight flickered.
Shopkeeper Wang, his two henchmen, and another constable lay on the floor in strange poses. Their bodies were covered in gaping wounds, every one of them fatal.
Their features were twisted as if they'd seen ghosts, and somehow, they also looked as if they'd died of fright.
"What's with all the screaming?"
Lin Shu glanced at him. "Go search this place."
"Glug."
Dong Cheng swallowed frantically. Only now did he realize that Master Lin had killed six people in all, including Liu Zhen, who was in the middle stage of Qi Condensation.
But... Lin Shu hadn't moved from that spot once.
At the thought, he suddenly felt the hard object in his arms. His terrified expression twisted into something almost like a laugh or a sob.
With skills this terrifying, he was already planning to wipe out an entire household, yet he'd insisted on bringing the account book along. What the hell for?
"I-I'll go right away!"
Dong Cheng scrambled up the stairs, clutching the railing. He had a feeling the bottom floor was unclean, as if bony white claws might reach up at any moment and grab his ankle.
"..."
Lin Shu watched him go upstairs and waited a moment.
Only then did he sit back down.
He reached for the Qi-Replenishing Pills at his waist, only to find his fingers too weak and trembling to grasp them.
It took seven or eight pills in his mouth before their bitter taste gave way to a surge of medicinal power.
Lin Shu slowly closed his eyes.
When he'd first learned this White Bone Soul Burial technique, he'd already felt something was off.
The scene in the Lone Wolf Howling at the Moon Painting was far too vast. Compared with the Fifth Rank Ghost Moon Bone-Splitting Hand, it was far beyond it—almost as if they belonged to completely different levels.
Now that he'd used it himself, he finally understood, more or less.
At least half the damage this Immortal Method inflicted came from the illusions it created.
No wonder it was called Soul Burial.
They hadn't even been clawed to death before they were scared to death.
Even so, using Bone Burial Soul Entombment and the Red Moon Dharma Eye at the same time had nearly drained Lin Shu dry.
[Kill and burn for a golden belt; build bridges and mend roads, and leave no bones. Kill a lowlife, receive seventy-six Evil Coins.]
Among all the messages that had appeared, this one was undoubtedly the most eye-catching.
The others had only a little fighting ability and weren't cultivators. The most valuable was worth four coins; Fatty Wang, the cheapest, was worth just two.
All five of them together had only added up to fifteen Evil Coins.
Both were in the middle stage of Qi Condensation, yet this Liu fellow was worth only twice as much as Fatty Tian.
Was it because of the amount of Qi he'd absorbed?
Lin Shu looked away. What he cared more about was the Virtue Coins listed afterward.
There were seventeen messages in all, presumably covering everyone in the Zhao Family, from the oldest to the youngest, including servants and maids.
Every single one was worth one Virtue Coin.
But that made sense. If anyone in the family could fight, that man wouldn't have charged in with a broom.
"That should do it."
Lin Shu wasn't disappointed by the small amount. Judging by how he'd gotten two Virtue Coins from a casual remark earlier, as long as he raised his status and secured his position, earning Virtue Coins shouldn't be too slow.
For now, he needed to absorb these coins as soon as possible.
When dawn came, he still had to deal with the aftermath.
Even a corrupt constable was still part of the Yamen.
Though Yan Jin had once cleared out an entire street, he was still no match for her strength. It couldn't hurt to make a few preparations.
That was why Lin Shu had told Dong Cheng to bring the account book.
As for how to hand it over and whom to give it to, he'd already thought it through.
Before you continue