Chapter 388 387: Elder Deng

'What a grandiose title.' Mu Lin pursed his lips. 'It's hard to imagine someone with such a reputation would do something so outrageous.'

Mu Lin mulled it over. He could let the man live, but he couldn't let him live comfortably.

He slapped a palm against Wu Jiao's body. Wu Jiao spat out a mouthful of blood, and Mu Lin unhurriedly caught a drop of it on a piece of talisman paper.

"The Life and Death Talisman! Are you from a Daoist sect?"

Mu Lin said, "How could I be? This is just some loot left behind by a few clueless fools. It'd be a waste not to use it."

Wu Jiao's mouth went dry. He hadn't expected Mu Lin's record of victories to be so illustrious.

"You're going to listen to me, understand? Otherwise, I'll kill you. It'll be quick and easy."

Wu Jiao nodded repeatedly, not a single thought of resistance in his mind.

"Don't move. Just lie in wait here. If anyone approaches, tell me immediately."

Wu Jiao breathed a sigh of relief. 'Mu Lin isn't so bad after all. For me, it's just like getting a new boss.'

Wu Jiao said humbly, "I understand. I will definitely help you."

After subduing Wu Jiao, Mu Lin returned to the villa and immediately asked:

"Uncle Qiao, how are things? Is Auntie feeling better?"

Qiao Canhua said, "Ah, Mu Lin, your auntie was much better as of ten minutes ago. She's completely back to normal now."

Mu Lin nodded. 'So, by taking down Wu Jiao and disrupting his spell, everything's back to normal.'

"So, Uncle Qiao, do you know who Yu Jianglan is?"

Qiao Canhua flinched, his expression turning incredibly solemn. "How do you know about him?"

Mu Lin said, "The old man who was cursing Auntie told me. He said Yu Jianglan sent him to curse her."

"So it was him?" Qiao Canhua's eyes widened in fury, as if he might transform into an Asura at any moment and slaughter everyone.

He Zheng said, "Isn't Yu Jianglan the real estate king of Nanjiang? Uncle, what's the issue between you and him?"

Mu Lin asked, "Is this person very powerful?"

Qiao Canhua nodded, his face tense. "He's more than just strong. The financial backing of the force behind him is almost incomprehensibly vast. It's no exaggeration to say they're as rich as a nation."

Mu Lin frowned. 'Competition is one thing, but why go after the old, weak, women, and children? His methods are simply despicable.'

"Uncle Qiao, if there's anything I can do to help, just say the word. I don't think we can let someone like him get away with this."

Qiao Canhua chuckled. "We certainly can't. And I won't be shy about asking. When I need your help, I'll let you know!"

With that, he took his wife upstairs to rest.

Now, only He Zheng and Mu Lin were left downstairs.

He Zheng's eyes swept up and down Mu Lin, her expression full of curiosity.

Mu Lin sensed something and turned his head. "Miss He, what are you looking at? Am I that good-looking?"

He Zheng huffed, "Don't be so full of yourself. Who's looking at you!"

Mu Lin couldn't be bothered to respond. 'It's such a trivial matter anyway.'

He Zheng held it in for a moment before suddenly asking, "Mu Lin, are your medical skills really good?"

Mu Lin replied, "They're average, I guess. I can handle minor illnesses, no problem. Is someone sick? Just tell me."

"It's not me, or anyone else in the family. It's Zizi's grandmother... She's been bedridden for two or three years now. If you have some free time, could you go take a look at her? I always see Zizi crying in secret. It's so pitiful."

Mu Lin said, "That's no problem. Just arrange a time with her. I'm free whenever."

He Zheng shot to her feet, overjoyed. "Then I'll go tell her the good news."

She turned and headed upstairs.

Mu Lin returned to his room and let out a long breath. 'What a hassle. Finally, I have some time to cultivate my Yin Spirit.'

The yin qi was extremely dense in the middle of the night, making it the perfect time to strengthen his Yin Spirit.

「Meanwhile, in a quaint courtyard estate...」

An old man was being helped to his feet, looking quite displeased. "Is it really appropriate to wake a man in the middle of the night?"

This old man was Elder Deng, who had clashed with Mu Lin several times before.

A middle-aged man was kneeling humbly in the courtyard. "Elder Deng, it was wrong of me to come in the middle of the night. Please, punish me as you see fit! I'll bear it all."

Elder Deng said coldly, "Do you take me for some capricious tyrant? I'm already awake, so what's the use in scolding you! Just hurry up and tell me what's going on!"

The middle-aged man said, "Elder Deng, we must kill Mu Lin at once!"

Elder Deng replied, "The successive assassination attempts have all failed. Aren't we already trying to come up with a new plan? Everyone knows this can't be rushed!"

The middle-aged man said, "I know it can't be rushed, but we have to get rid of him. If we don't, your prestige will be dragged through the mud!"

Elder Deng grew serious. "Explain. Why would this affect my prestige? How did you come to that conclusion?"

The middle-aged man said, "He injured Ding'Er. I had to spend a full three hundred million to ransom him!"

Elder Deng flew into a rage. "Gong Jintang, you useless piece of trash! How did you fail to protect Ding'Er?"

The middle-aged man kneeling in the courtyard was indeed Gong Jintang, and Ding'Er was, of course, Gong Ding.

Gong Ding's relationship with Elder Deng was truly extraordinary.

"It was indeed my incompetence that ruined things. I will have no complaints no matter how you punish me!"

Elder Deng was furious, but he wouldn't actually punish his trusted subordinate. "Let's not talk about that for now. How is Gong Ding?"

"Ding'Er's body is mostly fine, but after being humiliated by Mu Lin, he's become somewhat despondent and self-destructive. It truly breaks my heart to see."

Elder Deng's expression was grim.

Gong Jintang continued, "Mu Lin has ruined our major plans several times now. The Golden Dragon Association has been absorbed by him. The director of the City Third Hospital has been replaced by one of Mu Lin's cronies, thanks to Li Hong."

"He also dismantled the array at Qiao Canhua's construction site, and the Poisonous Gu Elder choked to death at his hands."

"What's more, Ye Ying was cut down by him in a single blow. If we don't take him down soon, I'm afraid we'll have no cards left to play."

Elder Deng was lost in thought. 'I never thought this boy would be so uncanny. So many of my forces have fallen at his hands.'

"You're right. We can't let him live."

"Butler, please summon Divine Master Xu for me."

The old butler, his back hunched, turned and left. He returned a while later, now accompanied by a middle-aged man who looked to be around fifty.

It was Divine Master Xu.

Divine Master Xu bowed respectfully to Elder Deng. "Greetings, Elder Deng!"

Elder Deng made a gesture as if to help him up, a polite return of the gesture. "Ah, Divine Master Xu, you can kill from a distance, can't you?"

Divine Master Xu nodded reservedly, his pride evident. "This is a secret technique of my sect, never to be shared. It provides a way to strengthen one's spiritual sense without having to form a Yin Spirit or a Yang Spirit. The final effect is comparable to the time-consuming and laborious process of condensing a Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit."

"Therefore, I can directly attack a target's spiritual sense and annihilate them instantly!"

Elder Deng said to Divine Master Xu, "I'm entrusting my grand plan to you, Divine Master Xu!"

Divine Master Xu replied, "You're too kind, Elder Deng. It is my honor."

「In the Qiao Family Villa.」

Mu Lin was absorbing yin qi to strengthen his Yin Spirit.

The Yin Spirit had to constantly absorb and be nourished by yin qi; otherwise, its progress would stagnate or even regress.

'It's quite a hassle to maintain, but for the sake of power and a stronger spiritual sense, it's a necessary effort.'

As Mu Lin repeatedly inhaled and exhaled, his Primordial Spirit grew more and more condensed, becoming visibly stronger.

Mu Lin sighed. 'If only there was a way to cultivate my spiritual sense directly. That way, even if I can't find pure Yin Yuan Power, I could still cultivate my Yin Spirit.'

As he was lamenting, alarm bells suddenly went off in his spiritual sense. He felt an extremely strong killing intent rushing directly toward it.

'What the hell?' Mu Lin was quite startled. A formidable spiritual sense was surging toward his mind.

He didn't know how his opponent was doing it, but he knew their goal was clearly to kill him.

The part of his consciousness that had transformed into the Yin Spirit perceived all of this with perfect clarity.

Without his Yin Spirit, Mu Lin likely wouldn't have even known where the attack was coming from until the moment his spiritual sense was annihilated.

In that case, it would have been a perfect assassination.

But now, Mu Lin was waiting at his ease for an exhausted enemy. He could see his opponent's actions clearly and prepare an adequate countermeasure.

Otherwise, his life would have been forfeit, and becoming a drooling imbecile would have been the luckiest possible outcome.

'To dare launch a sneak attack on me... my opponent must have already prepared to die.'

Mu Lin gathered his power, preparing to counterattack.