Chapter 52: Revenge Does Not Wait Overnight
After observing for a while, Li Lin memorized the general layout of the Qin Residence.
After finishing the food on the table, he paid and left.
He found an inn and stayed there, because it was already dark.
Feirong County had a smaller population than Yulin County.
Naturally, it was not as lively as Yulin County.
At night, it was much quieter.
Li Lin could sense the aura of this county’s True Lord.
He had heard it was called the Golden Light True Lord.
He swallowed two Shengxi Pills and lay down on the bed without changing clothes.
Two shichen later, he suddenly sat up.
He changed into the Gui-Hiding Cloak, one of the garments he had taken from the two men who had been digging graves.
This thing also functioned as night attire.
Pitch black in color, it concealed the wearer’s figure extremely well at night.
Li Lin did not bring the red-tasseled spear.
Instead, he concealed a short sword on his person.
Since he intended to hide his tracks, he could not reveal any information about himself.
It was deep into the night.
There were barely any pedestrians on the streets.
Occasionally, a night watchman would call out a few times while slowly passing through the road.
Li Lin pushed off a wall with his feet and floated onto a rooftop.
Then, crouching low, he moved swiftly forward.
The Willow Catkin Thirteen Drifts lightness skill that Zhao Hao had given him was truly excellent.
He ran across the rooftops for a while, making almost no sound and remaining unseen by anyone.
Then he arrived on the roof of a tavern opposite the Qin Residence and crouched there.
He was waiting.
After all the lamps and candles in the Qin Residence had gone out, Li Lin flipped down and landed in the courtyard.
The moment he entered the courtyard, he felt a wave of coldness pressing toward him.
Alarm bells rang in his mind.
He immediately crouched and hid behind a tree.
Then he rolled over, using a blind spot in the line of sight to reach the back of a cluster of greenery.
Only then did he completely conceal himself.
Under the effects of his stealth skill, no one should have been able to see him.
The coldness grew stronger and stronger.
Peering through the gaps in the foliage, Li Lin saw a woman in white drifting over.
She floated in exactly the same manner as the Tree Immortal Lady.
When the woman came closer, Li Lin finally saw her face.
She was an ordinary-looking woman.
But her complexion was frighteningly pale.
Judging by appearance alone, Li Lin had never seen her before.
But from the “taste” of her resentment, he immediately recognized her.
This female ghost was the one who had gone to Shangtikou Village to cause trouble some time ago and had ultimately been driven away by the Tree Immortal Lady.
The female ghost searched around for a while, looking rather puzzled.
At that moment, a fat man waving a paper fan walked over from the side.
“Great Ancestor, what’s wrong?”
The female ghost looked at the fat man and said in confusion, “Just now I sensed a living person who doesn’t belong to our Qin Family entering the residence. But after coming over, I can’t see anyone.”
“Could you have been mistaken?” the fat man said with a smile.
“That’s possible as well. That bitch Liu Zhe isn’t easy to deal with either. The blows she gave me left my spirit body unstable even now.”
After thinking for a moment, the fat man asked, “Do you need me to find a few more young girls for you to eat?”
“That would be good.”
The female ghost smiled.
“You’re quite thoughtful. In a few days, I’ll teach you the complete Nether Fetus Mysterious Treasury Method.”
The fat man’s expression became delighted.
He cupped his fists and said, “I’ll handle it immediately. Please wait a little while, Great Ancestor.”
The female ghost nodded lightly before drifting away.
The fat man then shouted toward a side room.
“Li Si, Zhang Wu, come out. We’ve got work to do.”
Two servants jogged out of the room while yawning.
“A few days ago, I told you to investigate something. Have you found anything?”
“Yes, yes.”
One of the servants said, “In Waterlogged Alley on the eastern side of the county, there’s a family. The husband accidentally fell into the water while fishing two years ago and died.”
Hearing this, the fat man laughed.
“A fisherman who couldn’t swim? That’s rather ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“They say a ghost grabbed his feet and prevented him from surfacing.”
“Oh, that’s much more reasonable.”
The servant continued, “The wife has recently fallen ill as well. She has two sons and three daughters. We’ve heard she no longer has money for medicine and plans to sell her two youngest daughters in exchange for treatment money.”
“How much?”
“One tael of silver.”
“Too expensive. Two lowly girls and she wants one tael of silver? Does she think my money blows in on the wind?”
The fat man sneered.
“I won’t pay such an unjustified price. Bring the tools for the job and go there. Bring the people back for me.”
“Young Master, isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”
The servant hesitated.
“What’s inappropriate about it? If you’re unwilling to do it, then get out of the Qin Family right now.”
Slap!
The servant struck himself hard across the face.
Blood even flowed from the corner of his mouth.
“Young Master, I misspoke just now. Please don’t take it to heart.”
“That’s more like it.”
The fat man smiled, looking satisfied.
“Then we’ll go take care of it now.”
The servant was just about to leave.
“Wait.”
The fat man suddenly asked, “Is that widow good-looking?”
“Passable.”
“Good. I’ll go with you.”
The fat man suddenly became interested.
The two servants naturally dared not object.
The three of them left together.
The fat man waved his paper fan while walking with a swaying gait.
He looked extremely excited.
It was already deep into the night.
There was almost no one on the streets.
Li Lin had already returned to the rooftops.
Crouching low, he followed behind them.
[Stealth +1]
The proficiency notification for his stealth skill appeared once more.
Li Lin had discovered something.
As long as he moved while bent at the waist, he could continue improving his stealth skill.
However, the concealment effect produced by hunching over was far weaker than the effect of a true crouch.
Still, it was sufficient.
Most importantly, hunching over was much faster than walking in a crouch.
Li Lin followed the fat man all the way to an area where the houses were noticeably shorter.
The buildings here were densely packed.
All of them were old, cramped, and dilapidated.
The two servants led the fat man to a tiled-roof house.
“Young Master, they’re inside.”
“You two stand guard. I’ll go have some fun and come right out.”
With that, the fat man walked inside.
His greasy face was filled with a lewd grin.
The two servants stood on either side of the wooden door like guardian statues.
Very soon, screams came from inside the house.
The two servants remained calm.
They had seen such things many times before.
Li Lin had already moved onto the roof behind the house.
He gently lifted a roof tile and quickly saw what was happening inside.
The five children inside all bore injuries.
They huddled in a corner, too frightened to move.
The fat man had already removed his clothes and trousers.
He was tearing at a woman’s clothing while pinning her to the ground.
At that moment, the fat man’s back happened to face Li Lin.
The enormous red frame shone with its unique luster.
In Li Lin’s eyes, it glittered brilliantly.
Li Lin dropped down.
The fat man let out a pained howl.
Veins bulged across his face.
His body spun violently.
His hands swept through a circle with remarkable speed, producing a sharp Whoosh.
It was obvious that he knew martial arts and was attempting to attack whoever stood behind him.
But Li Lin had already retreated.
The short sword in his hand dripped with blood.
The fat man cast him an incomparably hateful glance.
Not even bothering to put on his clothes, he immediately turned and lunged through the window.
He did not care in the slightest that running naked might be considered indecent.
Seeing their young master burst out in such a state, the two “guardian statues” were stunned.
Just as they were about to speak, both men almost simultaneously felt a sharp pain in their kidneys.
Then they lost consciousness.
Li Lin flipped back onto the roof and continued his pursuit under the cover of stealth.
“Help! Murder! Someone’s trying to kill me!”
The fat man knew a lightness skill and ran very quickly.
At the same time, he screamed miserably while fleeing.
His voice echoed through the nearby streets.
Yet the more this happened, the less anyone dared come outside.
Instead, more people tightly shut their windows.
The fat man ran for a while.
His body was growing weak.
He had run a great distance, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
It had to be said that his physical constitution was indeed strong.
Despite losing so much blood and running so far, he still had not fainted.
The fat man ran a little farther.
His face and lips had already turned pale.
He could feel his body becoming cold.
In the distance, he could already see two lanterns being used for illumination.
The character Qin was written on them.
Clutching his lower back, the fat man quickened his pace and stumbled toward them.
As long as he found Great Ancestor, he could be saved!
Not long afterward, enduring the pain, he arrived before the gates.
His vision had already begun to blur.
Dark specks rapidly appeared and vanished before his eyes.
This was a sign that he was about to lose consciousness.
He glanced behind him.
No one was there.
The assassin had not followed.
The fat man unconsciously relaxed.
His left hand hammered against the wooden gate.
Thud!
But at that very instant, his movement froze.
His eyes began to lose focus.
Behind him came the sound of a blade entering flesh.
Several breaths later, the towering vermilion gates of the Qin Family opened.
As the gates swung inward, the fat man’s body pitched forward and collapsed.
“Ah! Young Master, what’s happened to you?!”
The gatekeeper let out a terrified scream.