Cooperation (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Liu Heihu's gaze was sharp, like a fierce tiger's, locking onto Lu Lin. "What did you just say? You can get rid of Li Zitian?"

"That's right!" Lu Lin met his eyes and nodded openly.

"Oh?" Liu Heihu leaned forward slightly, scrutiny and suspicion in his eyes. "Who's behind you? Which gang do you represent?"

That was the first possibility that came to his mind: some faction wanted to cooperate with them and deal with the increasingly arrogant Blood Wolf Gang together.

But Lu Lin shook his head, his tone calm yet certain. "No need to guess. It's just me."

"Just you?" To Liu Heihu's left, a nearly two-meter-tall man built like an iron tower immediately flew into a rage, his voice like muffled thunder. "Kid, are you making fools of us?"

Everyone knew Li Zitian not only had a cultivation of the sixth level of Body Tempering, but had also long since cultivated the "Demonic Ape Palm" to the minor accomplishment stage.

In this Black Iron Vein, without several experts of the same level lying in ambush to surround and kill him, no one could take his life alone.

Bang!

Lu Lin knew full well that empty talk with these people was useless. Only solid, undeniable strength could win him the right to speak.

He suddenly exerted force underfoot, his figure shooting out like an arrow loosed from the string. His fist drove straight toward the giant man's face, the wind howling around it!

"Seeking death!" the giant man roared. Blood and qi surged through his whole body in an instant, the muscles of his right arm knotting and swelling, giving off an iron-gray sheen. His palm, carrying a fierce rush of wind, smashed hard toward Lu Lin's fist with heavy, crushing force, as if it could split stone tablets and crack boulders.

Fist and palm collided head-on!

Two surging currents of blood and qi slammed violently against each other, sweeping out a circle of crimson ripples visible to the naked eye. The airflow churned and stirred up a faint veil of dust from the ground.

The next instant!

With a faint, crisp "crack," the giant man's expression froze, disbelief spreading across his face. His entire arm trembled violently in an unnatural way, as though the bones were about to split, and his huge body staggered backward in a violent retreat.

Lu Lin pressed the advantage without mercy. With one shift of his steps, he followed like a shadow. Before the momentum of his right fist had even faded, his left fist was already shooting out like a venomous dragon leaving its cave, aiming straight for the vital point at the man's throat!

At the side, Liu Heihu's expression changed drastically. In shock, he let out a low roar and lunged out to intervene like a fierce tiger descending the mountain. His two cattail-fan-sized palms wrapped in thick, almost tangible blood and qi, he struck toward Lu Lin's flank, intending to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao.

Yet Lu Lin neither dodged nor avoided. His right fist still drove straight ahead, while his left fist abruptly turned back, meeting Liu Heihu's two palms without the slightest flourish!

Boom!

Another explosion rang out, even duller and more terrifying than before! The force of blood and qi blasted outward in all directions!

Liu Heihu felt an overwhelming, terrifying force slam viciously up along his arms. In an instant, the bones of his entire arms went numb and stabbed with pain, while his blood and qi roiled without end.

He gave a muffled grunt, completely unable to steady himself. "Thud, thud, thud..." He retreated more than ten steps in succession, each step leaving a deep footprint in the hard ground, before he barely managed to stop.

One of his arms hung limply down, trembling nonstop. His face was pale, and even a thin thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He abruptly raised his head, eyes filled with shock and horror as he stared fixedly at Lu Lin, whose breathing remained steady. Only after a long while did he squeeze a few words out through gritted teeth. "Such... such powerful strength! You... you were born with divine strength?!"

He, Liu Heihu, had stepped into the sixth level of Body Tempering as early as five years ago, and now he had reached the very limit of the sixth level. He was only one step from attempting to break through to the seventh level.

Added to that, his "Demonic Ape Palm" had also been cultivated to the peak of minor accomplishment, pressing close to the major accomplishment stage. He had believed that among the sixth-level Body Tempering martial men in this vein, he would be hard-pressed to find an opponent.

And yet, before Lu Lin, he had been forced into such a sorry state by even one punch. The other party's strength was simply appalling; Liu Heihu had only ever felt pressure like this from experts who had broken through to the seventh level of Body Tempering.

But he did not suspect that Lu Lin had already reached the seventh level.

That was because advancing from the sixth level of Body Tempering to the seventh required drawing blood and qi into the bones, completing the thousand hammerings and hundred refinings of "blood and qi like a hammer, bones like iron," making the bones throughout the body as hard as refined steel.

This process was extremely dangerous. The slightest carelessness meant one's bones would shatter and one would die. It absolutely required the protection of the precious "Bone-Protecting Pill."

And one pill was not enough. One had to take one every ten days, continuously for half a year, before breaking through.

But the Bone-Protecting Pill was worth over a thousand taels of patterned silver each, and it had a price but no market. Ordinary martial men had no way of obtaining it at all; only by applying to the Demonic Sect and receiving approval would it be issued.

Once the breakthrough succeeded, one would be chosen by an immortal master and become an exclusive guard or enter the "Martial Army." They would never remain here mining.

Without Bone-Protecting Pills, attempting a private breakthrough was no different from suicide. Therefore, the strongest people in the Black Iron Vein were only at the sixth level of Body Tempering.

Yet while they were both sixth level, Lu Lin possessed strength that could absolutely crush him. Other than the legendary "born with divine strength," Liu Heihu could think of no other explanation.

"Now then, is just me enough?" Lu Lin withdrew his fist, his tone still calm.

"...Enough!" Liu Heihu took a deep breath, wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth, and looked at Lu Lin with complicated eyes. But immediately afterward, doubt rose in him again. "With your strength, if you only want to kill Li Zitian, you alone would be enough. Why come to our Black Tiger Gang?"

"Cooperation," Lu Lin said, spitting out two words.

"Cooperation?"

"I want the Rich Ore Zone controlled by the Blood Wolf Gang."

A sharp glint flashed in Liu Heihu's eyes, and he instantly understood. "I see! You want to borrow the hands of our Black Tiger Gang to hide your tracks and truly occupy that Rich Ore Zone? Hmph, good scheme! But there is no free lunch under heaven. Why should we help you? And what benefit do we get?" As expected of a gang leader, he immediately grasped the key point.

"After the matter is done, the Blood Wolf Gang's Rich Ore Zone will be split between you and me, half each," Lu Lin stated his terms directly.

With his current strength, wiping out the Blood Wolf Gang was not difficult. The difficulty lay in how to occupy that Rich Ore Zone afterward in a way that seemed right and proper.

It was impossible for him to occupy it alone for the long term without drawing suspicion, especially since the steward behind the Blood Wolf Gang would never let the matter rest and would certainly investigate thoroughly.

He needed the Black Tiger Gang as this "cover" to share the attention and muddy the waters.

"Half?" Liu Heihu exchanged glances with several Black Tiger Gang higher-ups around him. All their eyes flickered, and even their breathing grew slightly hurried.

Half the income of a Rich Ore Zone meant a steady stream of Inferior Spirit Stones, and even rare Low-grade Spirit Stones. That represented generous rewards from the sect; no one could help being tempted.

Liu Heihu pondered for a moment, a trace of ruthlessness and decisiveness flashing through his eyes. Clearly, he had already made his decision. "If we want to truly take down the Blood Wolf Gang's Rich Ore Zone, killing Li Zitian alone probably won't be enough."

"Oh?" Lu Lin raised his brows slightly. "Who else needs to be killed? The leader of the Blood Wolf Gang, Huang Lang?"

"Good!" Liu Heihu nodded heavily. "We must pull out their core experts along with them. Only then can we completely dismantle the Blood Wolf Gang, and only then can we take over smoothly."

Lu Lin pondered for a moment, then asked, "Killing several sixth-level Body Tempering experts in succession won't cause a small disturbance. Do you... really have the confidence to suppress it? To ensure the stewards behind them won't interfere and investigate too deeply?"

"Stewards?" Hearing that, a hint of self-mockery appeared on Liu Heihu's face. "To those high-and-mighty stewards, it doesn't matter at all who controls the Rich Ore Zone down below. What matters is that the monthly 'filial tribute' owed to them is not short by a single coin, and arrives on time."

He paused, then lowered his voice. "After killing them, we only need to dispose of the bodies cleanly and throw them deep into the Poison Mine Zone, creating the false appearance that they were blinded by greed and trespassed into the Poison Mine Zone to search for treasure, only to meet with disaster... When the time comes, the stewards we've already greased up behind the scenes can make a few moves, and this matter will most likely be covered up without a sound."

"The Poison Mine Zone..." Lu Lin's gaze narrowed slightly.

Within this vast Black Iron Vein, even in broad daylight, it was by no means absolutely safe.

Some mine tunnels had been designated forbidden zones because extremely bizarre and evil things had been dug out of them. They were called the "Poison Mine Zone."

Someone had once dug up a puddle of pitch-black, foul-smelling filthy blood; the moment it touched him, his entire body festered and turned into bloody sludge.

Someone had chiseled out half of an ancient sword covered in rust, and it actually triggered Sword Qi on its own, cutting the nearby people into mincemeat.

Others had even seen half an indescribable corpse, from which leaking poisonous mist instantly spread through several mine passages, poisoning every menial worker and martial laborer to death...

But danger often existed alongside opportunity. The interior of the Poison Mine Zone and its surroundings were also the places where Inferior Spirit Stones, and even pure Low-grade Spirit Stones, were most likely to appear. Occasionally, some strange and eccentric objects would be brought out as well, and the Demonic Sect's rewards for such items were usually extremely generous.

Therefore, there was never a lack of desperadoes who took the risk, trying to sneak into the edge of the Poison Mine Zone and stake their lives on a chance at wealth, but most went in and never returned.

"Good!" A cold gleam flashed in Lu Lin's eyes, and he made the decision on the spot. "Then that's what we'll do. Your Black Tiger Gang will be responsible for locking down Li Zitian and Huang Lang's exact whereabouts. I'll do the killing."

He paused, his tone icy and resolute. "There's no time to lose. The sooner, the better."