Chapter 261 – Mu Lin: Can't Leave Ping'an Ancient Town Without You? Says Who?

Watching the cultivators of the Yin Eight Gates use the spirit veins of Ping’an Ancient County to cultivate, raise zombies, nurture ghosts, tend to paper figures, nourish coffins, mystic treasures, spirit medicines… and so on, Mu Lin felt his heart bleeding.

He had already regarded the cultivation resources within Ping’an Ancient County as his own. Thus, seeing the Yin Eight Gates freely using these resources naturally pained Mu Lin deeply.

“No matter what, I will bring all of you evil forces to justice!”

…

Inside the Netherworld Law Domain, while Mu Lin was conducting Nether Communication Soul Summoning to build his own army of Yin soldiers, he also pondered how to reclaim his cultivation resources.

While he was busy, the various workers and stewards of Ping’an Ancient Street had returned to their territory and immediately sought out Lord Seventh Bai, Third Master Hu, or other leaders.

The leader known as Lord Seventh Bai was not an old man but an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man who simply wore a shroud.

He did not reside in any luxurious place but lived in a coffin shop.

The shop was not large, but ordinarily, no one dared to approach it.

This was both reverence and fear.

But today, with a clamor, a group of disheveled, even limbless people arrived at this place, filling the entire courtyard.

After finding Lord Seventh Bai, these workers, as if finding a parent, quickly recounted everything that had happened at the Demon Suppression Division.

“Seventh Lord, it’s terrible—a fierce man has come to the Demon Suppression Division, killing anyone he sees.”

“Seventh Lord, your grandson is almost beaten to death…”

“Save us, Seventh Lord, save us…”

After the sorrowful weeping and accusations, the agitated workers and stewards all pleaded, requesting Lord Seventh Bai to lead them in fighting back.

“Seventh Lord, that guy completely disregarded your grandson’s life and recklessly attacked us. He wasn’t just hitting us—he was slapping your face, Lord Seventh Bai!”

“Exactly! That bastard thinks there’s no one in our Ping’an Ancient Street!”

“So arrogant, Seventh Lord—we absolutely cannot let him go. Otherwise, anyone could step on us.”

“What? My son was beaten and captured? Father, you can’t ignore Shan’er’s life! We must take revenge!”

…

The chaotic voices caused the middle-aged man named Lord Seventh Bai to narrow his eyes.

However, he did not act immediately. Instead, he subtly signaled his trusted subordinate to investigate the situation thoroughly.

At the same time, he also ordered his subordinates to summon the other stewards of Ping’an Ancient Street.

After completing all this, he finally turned his gaze to the workers below and calmly said:

“Don’t panic. What kind of state is this?”

“Father, that bastard has Shan’er—”

“I said, don’t panic!”

The cold, stern words and profound gaze immediately silenced the portly middle-aged man.

After stopping his son’s outburst, Lord Seventh Bai scanned everyone in the room and calmly said, “I told you, don’t panic.”

“This old man does not seek trouble, but he is not afraid of it either. If that person truly bullied us without reason, I will make him pay—a price he will never forget!”

By the end, Lord Seventh Bai’s voice was icy and bone-chilling, sending shivers down the spine. Yet, feeling this, the workers crowded in the courtyard were not afraid. Instead, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew… With Lord Seventh Bai taking action, that bastard is as good as dead!”

…

Lord Seventh Bai’s subordinates acted swiftly indeed.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the leaders of Ping’an Ancient Street had gathered together. Meanwhile, the subordinates they had sent to gather information returned one after another, reporting all the intelligence they had obtained to Lord Seventh Bai and the others.

—By this time, Lord Seventh Bai and the other leaders of Ping’an Ancient Street were no longer in the outer courtyard but had moved into a secret chamber.

There, they listened to their subordinates’ reports.

After hearing everything, Lord Seventh Bai’s expression remained unchanged, but the atmosphere around them grew increasingly oppressive. This suffocating heaviness made it difficult to breathe, clearly indicating Lord Seventh Bai’s fury.

“Hah, it seems we’ve been too low-key. To dare insult us like this—just how lightly does that fellow regard us?”

Lord Seventh Bai was furious, his gaze icy cold, and the other leaders of Ping’an Ancient Street felt the same.

Whether it was the humiliation of being slapped in the face or the fact that their grandsons had been beaten by ‘Lin Qiu’ until their tendons were severed and bones broken, they all harbored an extreme hatred for ‘Lin Qiu.’

Thus, someone with a face ashen and corpse-like immediately proposed, “Seventh Lord, I suggest we assassinate or bury him tonight. Thousand Faces is most skilled at this—let him handle it.”

Hearing this, Thousand Faces, who had an extremely low presence, shook his head and said:

“No, killing him outright is too easy. I propose turning his body into a zombie and imprisoning his soul as a specter, tormenting him day and night—only then can we truly vent our hatred. Such torture is something you, Zombie King Wu, are most familiar with. It should be left to you.”

“Ahem, his family and friends cannot be spared either. It’s said that before our little ones clashed with Lin Qiu, they also had an argument with some peripheral cultivators from the Demon Suppression Division. Since Shan’er and the others suffered so much, we cannot ignore his enemies. I will take action and kill all those cultivators in the cruelest way possible…”

Everyone in the secret chamber was clamoring for ‘Lin Qiu’s’ death. However, if any perceptive person were present, they would notice that while they all expressed the intention to act, everyone was hoping someone else would do the deed. Not a single person volunteered to deal with ‘Lin Qiu’ themselves.

This scene made Lord Seventh Bai frown, and he slammed the table hard.

“Enough! Since none of you dare to kill Lin Qiu, stop putting on this act in front of me.”

Indeed, none of the leaders in the room dared to kill ‘Lin Qiu,’ and each was urging others to do it.

This situation… was actually quite normal.

‘Lin Qiu’ was too confident and too unrestrained.

His behavior easily led people to think of two possibilities—either ‘Lin Qiu’ was a purely arrogant and ignorant fool who had no idea of the consequences and cared nothing for his own life.

However, such a person would never have survived until now, let alone become a Silver-ranked Demon Subjugator in the Demon Suppression Division.

Thus, they considered the second possibility—that he was a scion of a great family.

‘Those descendants of noble clans have deep backgrounds, and when they go out to gain experience, they even have guardians watching over them. With such confidence, it’s no wonder they develop such unrestrained personalities.’

Such speculation was quite reasonable, but it also gave the group in Ping’an Ancient Street a headache.

They were unwilling to lose face and harbored intense hatred for ‘Lin Qiu.’ However, these people also understood that powerful aristocratic families were not to be trifled with. The so-called Yin Eight Gates were, after all, only a second-rate faction.

And that was only when the Yin Eight Gates were united as a whole.

Yet, the Yin Eight Gates had never produced a strong enough figure to unify everyone, and their Ping’an Ancient Street could not represent the Yin Eight Gates either.

Therefore, if they killed ‘Lin Qiu’ and provoked the family behind him, they risked being completely uprooted.

Realizing this, they refrained from taking action themselves and instead offered suggestions, urging others to do the dirty work.

Unfortunately, those who had survived in Ping’an Ancient Street until now and become its leaders were all cunning old foxes—not a single one fell for the trick.

…

After Lord Seventh Bai exposed their scheme, everyone in the room stared at each other, wide-eyed.

They felt no embarrassment at having failed to trap anyone or having been exposed. Instead, they were simply unsure how to deal with ‘Lin Qiu.’

In the end, Third Master Hu was the first to speak: “No matter what, we cannot let Lin Qiu go. Otherwise, being humiliated by a junior will completely destroy our authority.”

“And without authority, the cohesion of our group will fall apart, making it difficult to lead.”

This was indeed a more serious problem than their grandsons being beaten.

Yet, even after realizing this, they were still troubled. Their only dilemma was: “Who will take action?”

Silence once again descended upon the secret chamber.

After a long while, Lord Seventh Bai sighed and spoke first: “Let’s do it together. Of course, until we’ve investigated the people behind that little bastard, we’ll only teach him a lesson—let him know that Ping’an Ancient Street is not to be trifled with.”

This made Third Master Hu frown.

“Is that all the retaliation we’ll do?”

“Of course not.”

At this point, Lord Seventh Bai’s gaze turned fierce.

“Without investigating that little bastard’s background, we cannot touch him. But as for the others, there’s no need to hold back.”

“Hu San, didn’t you say someone had clashed with our grandsons before? Send people to deal with them first.”

“And don’t spare the others from the Demon Suppression Division either.”

After saying this, Lord Seventh Bai turned his gaze to Thousand Faces and Zombie King Wu.

“Don’t you have a few heinous criminals under your command? I remember they’ve always craved human souls and flesh, wanting to enhance their strength through blood sacrifice. Tell them I give my permission.”

“They are free to act as they please in Ping’an Ancient Town.”

At this point, the man in the shroud named Lord Seventh Bai spoke with utmost malice: “As quickly as possible, I want Ping’an Ancient Town to run with blood. I want the people in the Demon Suppression Division to know who decides the peace in this town.”

Upon hearing this, the others in the secret chamber let out sinister chuckles.

“We should have acted long ago.”

“Speaking of which, I also have a treasure that requires a blood sacrifice. This is a perfect opportunity for ritual refinement.”

“Hmph, if they provoke us, I’ll make that little bastard understand that Ping’an Ancient Town cannot do without us!”

In the secret chamber, among those who had made the decision, some grinned cruelly, others wanted to see ‘Lin Qiu’ filled with regret and remorse, and still others saw this as a chance to kill more people and plunder some wealth.

And just as they were plotting, “Bang, bang,” urgent knocking sounds came from outside.

Following that, the panicked shouts of their subordinates also came through.

“Seventh Master, Lord Thousand Faces, it’s bad, that bastard has brought his army to attack!”

“What!”

(End of Chapter)