Chapter 20: Decisive Killing Intent
When Li Lin arrived at the Han residence, it was extremely lively.
Several banquet tables had been set up in the courtyard, and they were treating the porters who had helped them move to a feast.
But not a single villager from Shangtikou Village was present.
At least, Li Lin did not see any.
He walked up to the fence, and quite a few people noticed him.
However, they were all outsiders and assumed Li Lin had come to attend the housewarming banquet as well.
One rather simple and dark-skinned man even stood up. “Young sir, are you here for the feast?”
Li Lin smiled gently and said, “No. I am a Spirit Hunter. I currently suspect that the Han family is colluding with gui and practicing sorcery and witchcraft. I am here to investigate. All uninvolved persons, please leave immediately. Otherwise, you will all be regarded as accomplices of the Han family.”
Hearing this, everyone at the banquet froze.
When Li Lin saw that they had no reaction, he swept his spear horizontally, and a huge gap was instantly torn open in the low fence wall.
Wood chips and splinters flew to the right and scattered all over the ground.
“If you don’t leave now, it will be too late. Understand?”
This time they understood. The porters and carriage drivers immediately jumped to their feet and ran for their lives.
A few bolder ones even grabbed a plate or two of meat dishes before running.
In no time, almost everyone had fled, leaving only two members of the Han family in the courtyard.
A middle-aged man and a young man.
The middle-aged man was furious. He strode over and pointed at Li Lin’s nose as he shouted, “You’re just a mere Spirit Hunt... Ah!”
Li Lin swept his spear horizontally again, directly sending the middle-aged man flying to one side.
He had not used much force, yet the middle-aged man was still knocked away and could only clutch his chest while gasping for breath.
Over this period of time, Li Lin had been cultivating diligently. Coupled with his considerable talent, he had long since distanced himself from ordinary people.
An attack that seemed to contain little force was already terrifying to a normal person.
Had Li Lin used just a little more strength, several of the man’s ribs would certainly have been broken.
“Father!”
The young man rushed over and held the middle-aged man, who was gasping on the ground, then glared angrily at Li Lin. “In broad daylight, you actually dare injure someone!”
“In broad daylight, there are actually gui roaming around. That’s even more remarkable.”
Li Lin replied, then carried his red-tasseled spear and walked inward. He kicked over the tables and stools blocking his path, then strode forward and thrust out his spear. The red tassel left behind a blurred crimson afterimage in the air.
“Ah!”
A scream came from inside the house.
Li Lin remained unmoved. He pushed forward with the spear, advancing step by step, before stopping at the doorway.
Because the interior of the room... was impossibly dark. Looking in from outside, nothing could be seen.
It was as though the room were a black hole that devoured all light.
At the same time, the white jade plaque at his waist glowed increasingly red, yet even that failed to illuminate the interior.
Li Lin did not know what ambush awaited inside, nor did he intend to enter.
He retreated coldly and withdrew his spear.
Blood dripped from the spearhead... but the blood was black.
Upon contact with sunlight, it boiled away into vapor.
Li Lin glanced sideways at the father and son in the courtyard and asked, “What exactly is going on in there?”
The father and son looked at Li Lin with hatred in their eyes.
The middle-aged man said venomously, “Why should we tell you?”
“Then you’ve lost your last chance.”
Li Lin snorted coldly. With a flick of his hand, the spear left his grip and pierced straight through the young man’s chest.
The young man’s expression froze.
He had never imagined that Li Lin would act so decisively.
“Feng’er...”
Seeing the spear lodged in his son’s chest, the middle-aged man’s eyes filled with disbelief.
Li Lin leapt forward like a tiger. Both palms struck downward directly onto the man’s head.
Afterward, the man’s neck disappeared, and his head seemed to grow directly from his shoulders.
He coughed twice and then fell silent forever.
In one smooth motion, Li Lin turned and pulled the spear from the young man’s chest.
Blood sprayed out.
The young man collapsed, his eyes wide open, unable to die in peace.
“According to the rules of the Spirit Hunters, those who collude with gui are to be executed without mercy.”
Li Lin spun the spear in a flourish and spoke calmly.
Then he looked toward the house.
A shrill sound suddenly rang out from within, piercing and harsh, making one’s heart restless and agitated.
Li Lin instinctively stepped back several paces.
But the scream abruptly ceased, as though something had interrupted it.
Not long afterward, a woman slowly walked out of the house.
She appeared to be around twenty-five years old. Her appearance was fairly attractive, but her eyes were terrifying.
They were completely black, with no whites at all.
“So it really is a possessing gui.”
Li Lin sighed.
Although he had not been in the profession long, he still knew some basic knowledge.
The only type of gui capable of moving around during the day and deceiving a local guardian like the Tree Immortal Lady was a possessing gui.
A guardian generally referred to a gecko. Since geckos were believed to possess the ability to protect a household, gui such as the Tree Immortal Lady, who were bound to an altar and maintained a form of transaction with humans, were collectively known as guardians.
The gui slowly walked over to the dead father and son, a sneer appearing at the corner of her mouth. “Good that they died. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to completely take control of this body.”
Then the gui turned her gaze toward him and smiled. “Spirit Hunter, let’s make a deal.”
Li Lin sneered. “I don’t make deals with gui...”
He felt something was off. This gui did not seem to be on the same side as the Han family.
“Nonsense!” The female gui covered her mouth and laughed softly. “The one behind you is covered in your scent. You’ve already made a deal with her. What’s one more?”
Li Lin turned around and saw that the Tree Immortal Lady was floating behind him.
She hovered in the air behind him, seemingly protecting him.
Li Lin turned his gaze back to the possessing female gui and asked, “What deal do you want?”
“Give me half the living people in this village. What do you think?”
Whoosh!
The spear shot forward, aiming directly for the woman’s forehead.
The female gui neither dodged nor avoided it. The spear tip was blocked by a stream of black qi.
Since they could not reach an agreement, there was naturally only one option left.
Attack.
When the strike failed, Li Lin did not panic. He shook the spear shaft, and the iron spearhead slanted toward the woman’s chest.
At this moment, qi and blood had attached themselves to the spear, and the tip emitted a distinct red glow.
The possessing female gui finally lost the relaxed expression she had worn earlier.
She quickly retreated three steps, escaping the spear’s range.
But at that moment, a massive shadow descended from the sky.
The possessing female gui looked up.
It was a long snake tail.
She dodged hurriedly. The tail smashed down, blasting a huge crater into the ground.
Because the tail was so long, its tip struck the Han family’s house directly, collapsing the entire structure.
A cloud of dust billowed up.
Li Lin sucked in a breath.
He had truly not expected the Tree Immortal Lady to be this powerful.
The possessing female gui’s expression also turned grave.
Possessing a human body had advantages, but naturally it also had disadvantages.
The advantage was freedom of movement and immunity to the blazing sun.
The disadvantage was that her full strength could not be unleashed.
She retreated two steps and sneered. “Liu Zhe, with strength like yours... how much male essence have you absorbed?”
The possessing female gui’s words were answered by an even fiercer tail strike.