Immortality by Merit and Sin Coins

Chapter 71: Chapter 68: The Clues are Complete

"Where did you go? Why are you ignoring me?"

"Big thief, where are you!"

"Lin Shu!"

"Master..."

The series of childish cries, which began as questions, gradually turned frantic.

The little chick tried all sorts of names but still received no response.

「Inside the Xia Mansion.」

Lin Shu slowly opened his eyes, a horrifying exhaustion etched deep within his pupils.

He retracted the split soul before him back into his body.

After three whole days, he could finally master the Divine Technique, Soul-Splitting Thousand Threads Guide.

Although he could still only create one split soul, his speed in separating it from his body and his proficiency in controlling it had both improved by leaps and bounds compared to when he first started.

"Stop shouting. I’m fine."

Lin Shu regulated his breathing. After all, anything involving the Divine Soul required his full concentration, and only now did he have a moment to spare to respond to the little one.

"You’re finally alive!" Yu Sheng leaped up from the bed excitedly, her little mouth chattering nonstop. "I heard from Miss Yun that it’s all over the streets now. Everyone’s saying you’re in for some terrible luck!"

She made a pained face. "Those people are saying that the two leaders of the Black Water Gang had a dispute, and you got too greedy. You tried to take the opportunity to cozy up to the third leader to climb the ranks, but then the two leaders quickly made up. You’re the only one who ended up looking like a clown, and now you’re hiding somewhere, too scared to show your face."

"You scared me to death!"

"I know. You just keep an eye on the Woodshed. Let me know if anything happens."

Lin Shu’s expression was calm and unfazed.

It was obvious that even Miss Yun had heard these rumors. Overseas Dragon was definitely the one fanning the flames behind the scenes.

It was all to create the impression that he, the Greedy Wolf, was isolated and helpless, setting the stage for what was to come.

Of course, even though Cheng Yi was acting a bit foolish, Lin Shu didn’t completely trust him.

The man might just be putting on an act for his benefit, with another scheme planned behind his back.

But no matter what, if he wanted to get concrete information about the city’s lockdown, Lin Shu had to take the bait back then. Angering Mountain-Smashing Dragon was unavoidable.

And on top of that, he had killed Xia Mingtang.

Even without Overseas Dragon’s meddling, his situation wouldn’t be much different from what it was now.

But this all hinged on the premise that he was merely a Qi Cultivation Cultivator.

As long as he revealed his Foundation Establishment Power and could influence the situation within Black Water City, things would be completely different.

Neither the Government Office nor the Black Water Gang would want to push a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to the opposing side.

This was the source of his confidence.

With this confidence, he had a margin for error in his actions, allowing him to operate with much more ease.

Lin Shu had no intention of following Cheng Yi’s plan to become the Gang Leader, but he didn’t disrupt the man’s arrangements either.

Instead, he planned to use this opportunity to do something else.

But before that, he needed to make a few more preparations.

*Huuu.*

Over the past few days, besides familiarizing himself with Soul-Splitting Thousand Threads Guide, he had also been experimenting with the uses of the Filthy Moon Wolf Lord.

At this thought, Lin Shu raised his right hand.

A wisp of Cyan Qi emerged from his palm.

Yu Sheng had once said that to bring out the maximum effect of an Immortal Technique, one had to let their Spiritual Qi be tainted with the same "flavor."

Simply put, every Immortal Family’s Magical Power was tailored to their Magic.

It was somewhat similar to the Martial Arts Sects from his own understanding, where the Heart Method and Martial Arts formed a self-contained, complementary system.

Lin Shu had indeed felt something was off.

When he used the Cyan Sparrow’s Spiritual Qi to cast White Bone Burial Soul, it always felt wrong, and he could only unleash forty to fifty percent of its full power.

His gaze focused. The Cyan Qi in his palm suddenly trembled, then turned a shadowy black from the inside out, laced with wisps of blood-red mist.

Through his experiments these past few days, Lin Shu discovered that the Filthy Moon Wolf Lord could actually change the Immortal Flavor of his Spiritual Qi.

This meant he was no longer limited to a single Immortal Sect.

As long as he could nurture enough phantoms of the Immortal Families, he could cultivate the Immortal Techniques of countless sects, and each one would be executed at maximum efficiency!

The disadvantage of a Loose Cultivator’s "flavor" being too chaotic had instead become Lin Shu’s advantage.

For example, this Immortal Descendant, the Filthy Moon Wolf Lord, specialized in Illusion Techniques, and its corresponding Immortal Techniques were almost all related.

If he encountered a Cultivator who happened to counter Illusion Techniques, he would be as helpless as Xia Mingtang had been. But now, he had more options.

’Unfortunately, there aren’t many Immortal Techniques in Black Water City. If I get the chance in the future, I’ll have to learn a few more tricks to protect myself.’

Lin Shu sighed to himself.

He reached out, took the medicinal prescription from the table, and stood up to walk out of the courtyard.

It was about time.

...

North City was empty and sparsely populated.

Except for the families who relied on working for the White Tiger Hall to earn silver, almost everyone else had found a way to move out, getting far away from that pack of mad tigers.

After all, no one wanted to lose focus for a moment only to find a family member had been thrown into one of White Tiger Hall’s Pill Furnaces.

Lin Shu was walking toward West City when a figure suddenly appeared before him.

"Don’t trust Overseas Dragon."

Yan Jin was as direct as ever in stating her purpose.

With a grave expression, she reached out to block the young man’s path. "No matter what he asks you to do, ignore him. Go find Gu Nanzhi. She can help you."

Clearly, even she felt somewhat helpless about Lin Shu’s current situation.

Back on the day the gang members had gathered, Cheng Yi’s sudden provocation had surprised everyone.

But unlike most people, who thought it was the third leader expressing dissatisfaction with the first leader’s cowardice and trying to seize power, Yan Jin had noticed something more.

As an Immortal Sect Disciple, she was extremely familiar with the fear in Mountain-Smashing Dragon’s eyes.

It was definitely not fear of Cheng Yi’s Cultivation. It was the natural awe a Loose Cultivator felt toward an Immortal Family—an inherent sense of inferiority even before a fight began.

"What’s in your hand?" Lin Shu didn’t take the bait, instead turning his gaze to the woman’s tightly clenched right fist.

"..."

Yan Jin pursed her lips and opened her palm. Inside was a piece of grayish-black medicinal dreg, which vaguely resembled some kind of plant root.

"I felt something was wrong, so I paid a visit to Winged Tiger’s mansion. He’s the tiger Overseas Dragon trusts the most."

Having noticed something amiss, she began to investigate.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yi’s Cultivation was too high. Yan Jin had no confidence she could sneak into his mansion, so she had to settle for the next best thing: visiting the courtyard of the tiger with whom Overseas Dragon had the closest ties.

To her surprise, she actually found something.

"I found this, and a Nameless Pill Recipe."

As she spoke, a desolate look filled Yan Jin’s eyes again, even more intense than before. "These are the dregs of an Awakening Pill. A pill recipe of this level shouldn’t be in the hands of a Loose Cultivator, and the ingredients for refining this pill definitely don’t exist in the city."

The so-called Alchemy of the White Tiger Hall was a complete mess.

But Winged Tiger possessed a genuine Foundation Establishment Pill Recipe.

And according to the records left in the Pill Workshop, he had been refining this elixir for a very long time. Yet he didn’t even know its name or its effects and was still diligently studying it.

If possessing the pill recipe wasn’t strange enough and could be explained away by other reasons...

...then the fact that this tiger could still produce the ingredients to refine Awakening Pills after a decade-long lockdown was simply too bizarre.

It could only mean that the person who ordered him to perform Alchemy had known long in advance that the city would be trapped.

They had prepared a massive supply of ingredients for this elixir, so much that there was still some left even after all this time.

If an Immortal Descendant had used some technique to trap Black Water City, the Cultivators inside might still be able to sneak out when their captor wasn’t looking.

But what if that Immortal Descendant had also left a warden behind?

After finding these clues, Yan Jin no longer held any expectation that Lin Shu could get her out.

She had come today specifically because she was worried he would underestimate the third leader’s background and end up being eaten alive, leaving not even the bones behind.

"Hah!"

Yan Jin drove the distracting thoughts from her mind, afraid that the more she thought, the more her composure would completely shatter.

"Believe me, he absolutely has no good intentions. You won’t be able to gain any advantage from him either."

She didn’t believe that someone with Lin Shu’s personality would really try to climb the ranks by relying on Overseas Dragon, only to be played for a fool, just as the rumors said.

This Greedy Wolf was most likely hiding other intentions. He might have even noticed something was wrong with Overseas Dragon, just as she had, and deliberately walked into this trap.

But there was really no need.

’It’s unwinnable.’

Cheng Yi had even prepared the medicinal ingredients so thoroughly. He must have other self-defense measures bestowed by an Immortal Family.

"What are the effects of an Awakening Pill?" Lin Shu knew his greatest weakness was his unfamiliarity with the Cultivation Realm.

Whenever this topic came up, he would try his best to gather more information.

"It’s similar to a Spirit Gathering Pill. It also enhances a Cultivator’s perception and Divine Soul. It’s typically used to help a Cultivator better control a Magical Artifact or to assist in tasks that require complete focus, like Alchemy."

Yan Jin released Sword Silk from her palm, destroying all the remaining medicinal dregs, and let out a rare sigh.

"Sigh... just focus on staying alive for now. As for everything else, we can only take it one step at a time... There will always be a way."

She turned around, her expression somewhat dazed.

Although her words were meant to persuade Lin Shu, it was obvious that even she didn’t believe them herself.

If Overseas Dragon was truly a disciple backed by an Immortal Sect, then Cultivators like them, cut off from the outside world, were in no position to fight him.

"You be careful. I’m heading back now." Yan Jin’s voice was forlorn as she took a step and headed back the way she came.

"..."

Lin Shu’s gaze grew increasingly clear.

Yu Sheng’s speculation about Black Water City being trapped surfaced in his mind again, and he connected it to Overseas Dragon’s constantly yawning, weary appearance.

The information he had gathered recently began to connect rapidly.

’A dignified Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator needs someone else’s hands to perform Alchemy.’

’So what else could he be doing with so many Awakening Pills besides controlling a Magical Artifact?’

At this moment, it seemed all the clues had finally come together.

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