Lin Jin’s eyes coincidentally met Yang Qingshi’s the instant he looked over. With resentment and malevolence in his eyes, the man was gripping onto something tightly. Although Lin Jin had no idea what it was, he knew that the man must be on the brink of a mental breakdown. Lin Jin shot out a needle, planning to restrain Yang Qingshi first. To his surprise, his target managed to roll over on the ground, narrowly avoiding the needle the instant he sensed something was off.
“Roar!”
Simultaneously, Xiao Huo let out a roar and Lin Jin whipped his head over to find a serpent-like tongue darting at him.
In the midst of their battle, Patriarch Xue Pao’s blood refined beast sent out a huge tongue, planning to kill Lin Jin off. Patriarch Xue Pao, being the devious being that he was, had been reserving this skill for the crucial moment to spring an attack on Lin Jin while he was dealing with Yang Qingshi.
Lin Jin knew he couldn’t escape from this. He had no spell that could counter the tongue, which was as sharp as a sword.
He couldn’t block it either.
“Open!”
At the final moment, Lin Jin opened the door of the Visitation Hall. Once the door appeared, Lin Jin’s aura surged rapidly and he raised his finger to swipe unleash his Sword Intent.
The cloud was now imbued with his Sword Intent. The tongue that targeted Lin Jin was at least ten meters long from its tip to the base. The Sword Intent sliced it up into twenty neat little pieces of meat.
He didn’t just stop there. The Sword Intent hacked away half of the blood refined beast’s face. This Nimbus Sword Intent was the strongest skill in Lin Jin’s arsenal for now. If he hadn’t borrowed the museum’s aura, Lin Jin wouldn’t have been able to perform the spell, even if he had three hundred stones’ worth of energy
Patriarch Xue Pao was momentarily startled by the attack. The shock was clear on what remained of his face.
How could Lin Jin ever let go of this prized opportunity? Enduring the dizziness and abrupt depletion of his spirit energy, he bit down on his own tongue, invoked ‘Spell Negation’, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
In an instant, the blood imbued with Spell Negation splattered onto the blood refined beast’s face.
Like hot water on snow, half of the beast’s body was melted by Lin Jin’s blood. Lin Jin had performed this attack exactly because it was the blood refined beast’s weakness.
The museum had described the clone to be a ‘condensation of mana’. Hence, Lin Jin only had to break the opponent’s sorcery. However, Spell Negation alone might be ineffective so Lin Jin came up with the idea of using his own blood as a medium.
Didn’t the enemy use blood as a medium to create this blood refined beast as well?
It was the same concept. Lin Jin was merely responding to his enemy’s attributes and this paved the way to a surprise attack.
The blood refined beast possessed an undead body thanks to Patriarch Xue Pao’s endless mana supply. If his mana was limitless, the beast could regenerate again and again without perishing.
However, if the mana supply was cut, the blood refined beast would perish on its own.
Xiao Huo took this chance to fire a jet of flame which scorched the blood refined beast. As the sorcery was broken, the creature gradually melted away under his flames.
“Young man, are you sure you want to make me your enemy?”
From the flames came Patriarch Xue Pao’s grudging voice.
Lin Jin remained silent.
“Let my disciple, Yang Qingshi go, or there will be no end until either of us is dead. Young man, you better consider this wisely…”
That was the end of his warning.
It was so because the blood refined beast was completely burned away. Under the scorching heat, its flesh and bones were reduced to nothing but ashes.
Although he didn’t get to finish, Patriarch Xue Pao’s warning was obvious enough.
A pursuit to death did sound scary, particularly when Patriarch Xue Pao wasn’t an average villain. A mere blood refined beast was enough to put Lin Jin in so many tough situations after all.
However, Lin Jin had already made his decision. Even if God himself were to show up today, Lin Jin wouldn’t give him that honor. If this would result in offending Patriarch Xue Pao, so be it. A pursuit to death? They would just have to wait and see.
Moreover, Lin Jin wasn’t some naive maiden from a rural village. He wouldn’t follow just anyone with the promise of benefits. Patriarch Xue Pao was a devious man so what he said could have just been a move to buy his disciple time to escape. If it did turn out to be a lie, what would the betrayed do about it? Hence, it was safer to move to the beat of his own tune.
Lin Jin had faith in himself too. With the Museum of Deadly Beasts, his potential was practically limitless. Moreover, he was able to win against Patriarch Xue Pao’s blood refined clone alone. If the man did show up next time to give him trouble, he could have Shang’er, Little Five, Goldy, and White Ape fight alongside him. If a solo battle wouldn’t do, he just had to fight it with his comrades!
“Get out here!”
Once the blood refined beast was taken care of, Lin Jin’s biggest problem was gone. Finally, the time had come for him to deal with Yang Qingshi.
Although Yang Qingshi had gone to hide, inside this Nebula Barrier, there was no place for him to escape Lin Jin’s senses. It was akin to being stripped naked. There was no use hiding.
The fire had yet to die away, albeit it was slightly smaller now. Although Lin Jin’s spirit energy was almost exhausted and he was tired, Xiao Huo could still fight. Even without Xiao Huo, Lin Jin could take on Yang Qingshi himself.
There was no response to Lin Jin’s call.
“Knowing that hiding is useless, you still won’t come out. Are you an idiot?” Lin Jin scolded. He turned to a certain direction, ready to make a move when Yang Qingshi finally stood up of his own accord, accepting the harsh truth that he had nowhere left to escape.
However, he was no longer arrogant as he was earlier. His eyes were filled with fear.
Yang Qingshi was a middle-aged, well-respected man at headquarters. And yet, at this moment, his robes were battered and his hair disheveled. In such a worn-out state, he looked nothing like the gentleman he used to be.
“Lin Jin, we have no grudge between us. You…w-why did you have to target me? Even after you found out about the Du family, I never even thought about harming you. I only wanted to leave so why wouldn’t you let me go?” Yang Qingshi was confused.
It was true, that he had no intention of going after Lin Jin. Even after he learned that his secret had been exposed, he only planned to escape. If Lin Jin had turned a blind eye to his activity, Yang Qingshi would have been on his way to freedom right now.
Lin Jin couldn’t be bothered to answer him. Yang Qingshi had used sorcery to harm the innocent and since Lin Jin had stumbled upon it, he would remove the trouble-maker, that’s all.
Noticing Lin Jin’s gaze, Yang Qingshi trembled in fright. Although he was resistant and resentful, he understood one thing now.
That he was no match for Lin Jin. Even his mentor’s clone he had sacrificed his pet beast to summon was eliminated by Lin Jin.
So, if he wanted to live, he would have to beg.
“Appraiser Lin, please spare me!” Yang Qingshi was like a wretch begging for mercy. He took something out of his robes that were wrapped in beast skin. Opening it up, it was an orb-like item enveloped in a thin membrane that looked somewhat like an ‘egg’ that had yet to take shape.
Lin Jin could smell an indescribable stench from this under-developed egg.
The eight-headed viper!
Sure enough, Yang Qingshi said, “If you let me go, this eight-headed viper is yours. This creature will be a Rank 4 the instant it is born and has limitless potential.”
Lin Jin took a closer look. Under that thin membrane, the eight-headed viper had begun to take shape. Even if it wasn’t fully grown yet, its Rank 4 aura remained highly intimidating.
