At the mention of Jade Dragon Kingdom, Lin Jin immediately raised an eyebrow. He studied the face of Incense Master Chu carefully but still failed to recognize him. Lin Jin did not remember meeting him at all.
“Let’s talk while we eat. I’m famished.” The other middle-aged man was dressed in extravagant clothing compared to Incense Master Chu.
The older gentleman who held a walking stick that had a snake’s head at the top chuckled when he heard that comment, but he said nothing else.
Upon closer observation, one would notice that the snake was actually alive. From time to time, it would hiss and flick its scarlet tongue out to taste the air.
“Come, sit!” The young master urged everyone to sit down while the bald shopkeeper hurried outside to have the dishes served.
His subordinates sensibly retreated from the room as well to stand guard outside. With this, only the four of them remained inside the private room.
No.
Lin Jin was inside too.
Lin Jin could tell how unusual the old man’s snake staff was. It was probably a unique pet beast and if his judgment was correct, this aberrant snake should be Rank 4.
If the opportunity ever arose, Lin Jin wanted to research the staff. He was curious as to how it was constructed, or whether it was merely a certain form taken on by an aberrant beast.
The form of a staff?
Now that was strange.
Their subsequent conversation revealed their true identities.
“The recent expansion of our Demonic Appraisal Association has given us more influence across the countries of United Continent. Based on our current strength, we might be stronger than the Beast Appraisal Association,” said the middle-aged man who had been complaining about hunger. This person was such a glutton that he consumed almost half of the dishes on the table once it was served.
Demonic Appraisal Association.
Just as Lin Jin suspected.
He could tell that the glutton had his pet beast stowed away with the Beastmaster Scroll. The creature was probably hiding in his stomach or mouth.
Lin Jin wasn’t making baseless speculations. It was because when the man ate, he would reveal a mouth full of sharp fangs.
Those weren’t the teeth of a human being.
More importantly, Lin Jin realized that the Beastmaster Scroll which he practiced was of a version that Lin Jin hadn’t heard of. None of the Beastmaster Scroll versions to date allowed the blood contract owner to take on the characteristics of his pet beast.
Still, it made sense since the man was a member of the Demonic Appraisal Association. People like him had a tendency to use strange techniques so this human and beast combination was probably a taboo art that he had somehow acquired.
With this, the only normal person among them was this Incense Master Chu.
At the moment, he was explaining how he managed to escape from Jade Dragon Kingdom. It was at that moment that Lin Jin fully appreciated how lucky he was today.
Here was the main culprit who had robbed the wooden plate from the Qiao family. He was also the person who tricked Daluo Temple’s Zhi Yin and their Exorcist Hall’s rector into fighting White Ape and Shang’er.
He never expected that he would track down his target so easily, especially after searching high and low for him!
Lin Jin’s face was cold and hostile. No matter what happened today, he had no intentions of letting this person off the hook.
Now that he so painstakingly found the guy, the only option left was to destroy him.
Unaware that he had just been added to the kill list by Lin Jin, Incense Master Chu continued talking.
“Our development at Reed City was stable, and we were ready to infiltrate other parts of Jade Dragon Kingdom when out of nowhere, a malefic appeared.” Incense Master Chu scoffed with visible resentment.
“I heard about it too. Our branch at Jade Dragon Kingdom was destroyed. Who is that person? From now on, our Demonic Appraisal Association will be his sworn enemy,” said the young master. The others present nodded in agreement.
“We carried out an investigation and his name is Lin Jin, the chief of Jade Dragon Kingdom’s Maple City Beast Appraisal Association branch.” Venomous hatred was now clear in Incense Master Chu’s eyes.
“The branch chief of a tiny city’s Beast Appraisal Association is only Rank 2 at most. How did he manage to wipe out our entire branch?” Elder Ye with the snake staff asked.
The young master was just as curious.
Incense Master Chu revealed a savage grin. “Elder Ye, as you guessed, a Rank 2 beast appraiser definitely isn’t capable of such destruction. Lin Jin is a Rank 3 beast appraiser.”
“A Rank 3 beast appraiser would surely be difficult to handle but that doesn’t mean…”
“I’m not finished!” Incense Master Chu put down his chopsticks and continued, “This Lin Jin is no average Joe! I’ve investigated him in detail and his rise to power was way too quick. He was a talentless brat not too long ago. Without external support, he couldn’t have improved so quickly. Out of nowhere, I caught wind that he had someone backing him up, someone called ‘Curator’.”
Curator?
Of the people present, some were confused while some mulled over that name.
Clearly, they had heard the name before.
“Let’s talk about Lin Jin first. He is currently Jade Dragon Kingdom’s number one beast appraiser with an unrivaled status. Not only did he destroy our branch in Jade Dragon but he also discovered and killed our mole in their Beast Appraisal Association Headquarters.”
“Yang Qingshi?” Elder Ye’s eyes widened in disbelief.
It was obvious that he was acquainted with Yang Qingshi.
“That’s right!” Incense Master Chu nodded. “Yang Qingshi was an extraordinary man. He seemed to have received some sort of inherited teaching, granting him knowledge of many odd spells. He was the man who gifted our Demonic Appraisal Association with the Reverse Beastmaster. Everyone knows how powerful this blood contract cultivation technique is. Zhou Weng, it’s because of this Reverse Beastmaster cultivation that you were able to merge successfully with your cloud tiger. Even during the era of ancient immortals, you’ll probably be considered quite a powerful physical cultivator.”
Zhou Weng was the lavishly dressed middle-aged man who was eating freely earlier. He nodded in response. “That’s right. This Reverse Beastmaster is indeed amazing and now, I am my pet beast and my pet beast is me. I can’t even begin to describe how liberating it feels. The only troublesome problem I have is that my appetite is like a beast’s. I have to eat eight meals a day now.”
Having said that, he devoured an entire half of a chicken.
Those razor-sharp teeth were just like the fangs of a tiger, and the chicken was gone in a flash.
“It’s been a few years since Yang Qingshi joined our Demonic Appraisal Association. Although we know next to nothing about his background, there is no doubt that he contributed greatly to our organization. Since Lin Jin has killed Yang Qingshi, I don’t think we’ll let him off so easily. That Lin Jin will be dead meat,” said the young master. His guests were in agreement but they also had other thoughts in mind.
“But Curator must be a tough hurdle to clear. He’s a mysterious figure whose origins remain unknown. He rarely appears in public, but whenever he does, a shocking event would follow. I heard that the first time he took action, he had killed the old dragon deity in Jade Dragon Kingdom!”
The fact that Incense Master Chu was capable of conveying this precious piece of information reflected how knowledgeable he was.
“While not everyone might have heard about that incident, I’m sure you’re all familiar with Curator’s one-man invasion of Daluo Temple, right?” Incense Master Chu asked.
