Although he was fully concentrated, Lin Jin’s psyche covered the range of this yard and the nearby area so he would know immediately if someone came close.
And just now, someone came close.
“The villagers?” This was Lin Jin’s first thought. He glanced at the coffin and shook his head. If the villagers came and saw this coffin, they would be frightened so it was best to hide it.
At this, Lin Jin immediately drew out his needles, imbue them with his spirit energy, and cast the Camouflage spell.
This was the key to Lin Jin’s spell-casting. Relying on spirit energy wasn’t enough so he required magical artifacts to supplement his cause. The needles he crafted were his artifacts.
Once the spell was cast, the naked human eye couldn’t see the targets anymore.
Right after Lin Jin’s Camouflage worked, he could clearly hear the footsteps outside, stopping shortly after they arrived at the gates.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah, this is the one.”
“Looks like we got here first. Let’s get a move on. If we’re lucky, maybe we can find the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll.”
“Alright, let’s hurry. I heard that the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll has spiritual powers and only appears once every year this day. If we miss it, we might have to wait another year.”
As they spoke, the men entered with their pet beasts.
‘Beastmaster Fourth Scroll?’ Lin Jin thought. He knew about the Beastmaster Scrolls.
It was a widely known cultivation method for blood-bound pet beasts. Once an individual’s blood contract realm achieves fifth realm, they could begin cultivating the Beastmaster Scroll.
The greatest purpose of this cultivation was to combine the pet beast and his blood pact owner into one. In other words, fusing two entities together. For example, Lu Bin, who had never revealed his pet beast.
He wasn’t deliberately hiding it, nor was it because he didn’t have one. He did. Lu Bin’s pet beast was a cloud sea scorpion at the peak of Rank 3. No one could see it because Lu Bin cultivated the Beastmaster Scroll.
With this, Lu Bin and his cloud sea scorpion were one. This, in turn, improved his physical constitution and allowed him to perform the skills of his pet beast. It was one of the most regularly used methods by friars of the modern-day.
Another example would be Minister Yu whom Lin Jin had met before. There was a shadow of a dragon around the man’s body so he must have used the Beastmaster Scroll too.
Of course, there were also friars who opted not to practice it. For example, the expert cultivator, Ye Yuzhou. His blood contract level was eight realm and his pet beast Rank 4. Lin Jin had met them several times but never once did he witness Ye Yuzhou use it.
This was a matter of personal preference. Just because Ye Yuzhou didn’t use it didn’t mean he couldn’t.
At present, everyone knew that there were only three volumes to the Beastmaster Scroll, and their effects varied from one another. First Scroll was easiest to cultivate but after merging with one’s pet beast, the individual could only draw out less than half of his pet beast’s potential; Second Scroll was much better. After merging, seventy percent of power could be drawn; Third Scroll was said to be able to use the pet beast’s full power.
And of course, the first scroll was easy to obtain while the third scroll was rare.
The better the item, the rarer its existence and the more valuable.
Lin Jin had only heard of the Beastmaster Scroll having three volumes, but just now, he specifically heard Beastmaster Fourth Scroll.
Was there a Beastmaster Fourth Scroll?
Thus, Lin Jin’s curiosity was piqued.
With Camouflage, even if Lin Jin, Xiao Huo, White Ape, and the coffin right there inside the yard, no one could see them. At least not the people who just came in.
The strongest of their pet beasts was only Rank 3 while most of the others were Rank 2. Neither had unique bloodlines so they couldn’t see through Lin Jin’s Camouflage. However, scents were difficult to conceal and this unnerved the pet beasts.
“Be quiet!” one of the guys reprimanded the pet beasts. Then, someone explained, “It’s alright. I heard that the Guo family escaped here with the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll and built this place, planning to take their time in studying it. Too bad news leaked out and this attracted disasters where the entire family was killed in one night. From then on, the villagers around here called this place a haunted house, but I think it’s nothing. It’s only natural to leave some aura of resentment when a person was wrongly killed. If this aura turns into hostility, I understand why pet beasts would get upset.”
With this, the others ignored their pet beasts’ woes.
Lin Jin was thinking if their scent would expose them, but before he could even worry, the other party’s wild imagination came up with an excuse for him.
This was great. Perfect!
‘How interesting!’ Lin Jin had been listening carefully just now as the group chat. To think he would hear about a story, and what an amazing story it was.
White Ape had woken up and was enjoying the story as well. Lin Jin made a hushing gesture, signaling him to stay silent.
Lin Jin counted four in their party. Each one of them looked menacing and hostile. Judging by their face, Lin Jin assumed they weren’t good people. The four looked around before beginning their search.
“The Guo family was quite rich. To think they were able to build such a nice place here in this wasteland.”
“Who knows what they were thinking. I heard that the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll is a magical item that only glows at a certain time late at night. Why don’t we wait here to catch that opportunity?”
“Sure!”
The four thieves nodded and sat down, taking out meat and alcohol as they got ready to dine.
Most of their discussions were about this Guo family’s past and how tragic the disaster that befell them was. There were also stories about the past battle experiences.
After listening to them, Lin Jin confirmed his suspicions. These four were indeed crooks.
‘From their words, it looks like this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll genuinely exists and it’s even a precious cultivation method,’ Lin Jin contemplated. He thought this was a great chance encounter. If he didn’t happen to be here, then so be it. But now that he was, he would wait and see. Perhaps he might be able to reap some benefits later.
Once he was sure that Camouflage worked, Lin Jin continued to practice Exhale-Inhale as he waited.
Less than half an hour later, there were footsteps again.
Besides Lin Jin, the four villains heard it as well.
“Someone’s here.”
“Be careful. We’ll play it by ear.”
There were glints in their eyes as they put their guards up.
A voice shouted from outside, “The four people inside, you guys are early.”
It was a rough and savage voice laced with hostility.
Following the sound, two people pushed the door open and entered.
One was tall, the other short. It was the tall person who spoke and he had two bears following behind him.
Of these two bears, one was tall while the other was also short, but their skin was visibly tough. One had crimson eyes while the other had sapphire eyes. They obviously weren’t good guys either.
“North Ridge Duo!”
The expressions of the four villains inside changed.
It seemed like the two newcomers were tough competition. At least tougher than the four.
“You Four Devils of Mount Kui are quite famous yourselves in the villain’s community. Still, to be honest, you guys wouldn’t be able to match up to us. If you still have some sense in you, leave,” one of the North Ridge Duo warned with an eerie smile.
“That might not be true!” The four in the yard wore equally malicious expressions. “Both of you are our seniors in the villain’s community and logically speaking, we should be showing you respect. After all, the North Ridge Duo is powerful enough to rank in the top fifty of our community’s ranking. But we four aren’t half bad either. What’s more, there’s also something called first come, first served.”
