The monster looked frightened. Knowing he couldn’t win, he tried escaping out of fear again.
He was no fool.
The Eight Wind Blade had been his strongest attack and the human didn’t even have to move to dispel it. The attack failed to even make a scratch on Lin Jin’s skin, which was a testament to the difference in strength between them.
Now that fighting became impossible, it was time for flight.
What a pity that with just one step, Lin Jin could cover a distance of a hundred feet, blocking the monster once again.
“If I were you, I’d give up. You can’t possibly escape by running around like this,” said Lin Jin out of goodwill.
The weasel understood his speech. He was sensible enough not to attack again. After all, even though he had unleashed his full strength, the human undid his attack without even moving a single muscle. He was so strong that if the weasel monster was to keep up the fight, he would surely get into trouble.
The next instant, the wind stopped and the sand fell to the ground.
The boss and his men remained hidden in the distance but they didn’t run away.
Some wanted to but their boss stopped them. When asked why the boss stayed silent and instead focused on the situation further ahead with a glint in his eyes.
Meanwhile, the weasel felt immense pressure when facing Lin Jin. Mimicking the humans, he held his fist and saluted before saying, “My name is Huang Qi, one of the seventy-two bannermen of the Dark Wind Cave’s lord. May I inquire who you are and why are you challenging the will of Dark Wind Cave?”
While it seemed like he was surrendering, he was indirectly issuing a warning to Lin Jin.
Boiled down, the weasel was saying, ‘I’m backed by a strong organization, so you better be careful.’
This only further piqued Lin Jin’s curiosity.
In the past, the monsters Lin Jin encountered were all lone wolves. For instance, Hu Yuzhen of Mount Cangliang. Even Heavenly Spiral’s Xuanwu didn’t seem to enjoy working as part of a group too.
Lin Jin did not expect to meet a group of cultivating monsters here at Arid Continent. It was just that rare to see monsters working together.
From Huang Qi’s statement, it seemed like his Dark Wind Cave was packed with his comrades. Lin Jin deduced that they had a cave leader and seventy-two bannermen. If that was the case, there must be tons of smaller monsters.
Lin Jin was thrilled.
Perhaps he could increase his experience here in Arid Continent. He also wanted to record all of these monsters in the Museum of Deadly Beasts. What’s more, Curator had yet to obtain a pet beast. Back in Heavenly Spiral, after witnessing how mighty Xuanwu was, Lin Jin decided he would gain an equally high-leveled companion for Curator.
With this, Curator would have someone to rely on during fights.
Of course, monsters were fickle creatures, making them hard to control. Thankfully, Lin Jin had an idea he wanted to try out.
The museum’s Feed Mill had animal food prescriptions and Lin Jin was able to craft a ‘monster-locking pill’.
In Lin Jin’s opinion, this item was like Tianshan Tonglao’s Life and Death Talisman, capable of controlling others through overbearing means. Although the technique was a little ruthless, results were guaranteed.
With this, not only would Curator gain powerful assistance, but he could also help the world uphold justice by taking away these harmful monsters. It was like killing two birds with a stone.
Lately, Lin Jin had taken the time to craft a few monster-locking pills in the Feed Mill. The pill had to be consumed by the target once every hundred days or the pill would activate, causing the target excruciating pain that would make it seek death. Then, the pill would lock up the monster’s soul and petrify its body. When that happens, the monster’s soul would be tormented eternally by the pain of not being able to die.
It was vicious, but Lin Jin thought it was fine to be used on evil monsters.
In his words, this was salvation by forcing the monsters to give up the dark side and to do only good deeds.
With this in mind, Lin Jin glanced at Huang Qi. The creature looked like a Rank 3. It had a refined hyoid bone, which allowed him to speak the human language. However, his Transfiguration skill was all over the place, which explained his bizarre half-human half-beast form.
Lin Jin went over and Huang Qi backed away in fear. Blood red energy surged around Lin Jin’s body, and with the help of his second pet beast, the blood ghost, Lin Jin grabbed Huang Qi by the neck.
The latter was half a head taller than Lin Jin but he couldn’t even put up a struggle when he was strangled.
“Open your mouth!” Lin Jin’s grip tightened. Huang Qi shrieked and was forced to open his mouth.
Lin Jin popped in a monster-locking pill.
“Swallow it!” commanded Lin Jin with an expectant tone.
It was his first time using the monster-locking pill.
A mere Rank 3 monster couldn’t possibly resist Lin Jin. After Huang Qi swallowed the pill, Lin Jin released him. The latter yelled in shock, “Wh-what did you feed me?”
Instead of beating around the bush, Lin Jin told Huang Qi of the pill’s effects. “Understand? From now on, your life belongs to me.”
There was panic in Huang Qi’s eyes and then he turned to run.
He didn’t believe it.
Lin Jin invoked a spell and chanted softly. Huang Qi who hadn’t gotten too far away stiffened and fell to the ground. Not only was he paralyzed, but he was assaulted by a wave of mind-numbing pain as if thousands of needles were stabbing into his body. That feeling was so frightening that Huang Qi immediately surrendered.
Lin Jin had used the monster-locking pill’s spell to activate it and the effect of the pill was very satisfying for him.
Of course, the monster-locking pill wasn’t perfect. It had its flaws and weaknesses too.
Though, if Lin Jin didn’t speak of them, no one would know what they were.
Huang Qi who was utterly overwhelmed dared not resist anymore. After all, he would be the one to suffer and he didn’t want to go through that a second time.
Inside one of the abandoned wooden houses in Bull Village, the boss and his men were tidying up the house while Lin Jin sat in a corner snacking on some grapes.
These grapes were a local specialty. Although Arid Continent was dry and rarely had any rain, the land around its many oases was quite fertile. Due to the weather here, these grapes were sweet and fragrant.
Bull Village had plenty of them and it was also the best they could offer.
Lin Jin finally saw the women and children the boss had mentioned. Each of them looked just as skinny and malnourished that Lin Jin completely forgot about them trying to rob him earlier.
“The area around here will be dangerous for the next few days. Hide somewhere safe for the time being.” Lin Jin had a plan, but no matter how he went about it, he couldn’t avoid bloodshed. If these common folks stayed, they might get caught in the crossfire. Hence, his advice for them to leave was made out of concern for their safety.
The boss nodded and arranged for a few men to take the women and children away. Meanwhile, he and a few other stronger men stayed.
They came up to Lin Jin and got on their knees.
“Sir, we’re all ruffians here and have offended you earlier. Not only did you not blame us, but you also had the yellow wind monster protect us from time to time. We will never forget your grace. You must have something important to do here. I, Niu Pi, may not be skillful but I would like to offer my assistance.”
Having said that, he knocked his forehead on the ground.
The men around him did the same.
Lin Jin stared at the boss with a startled expression. He mused, ‘He’s a clever guy.’
Ordinary folks would have escaped as far as they could when situations like this arose. They wouldn’t dare to get involved, but it seemed like Niu Pi was looking at the bigger picture.
