Tianxiang Restaurant, located in the inner city, was considered a rather good eatery in Lin'an County.
On the second floor, by a window, Lin Sheng and Wang Dehai sat opposite each other, the table before them already laden with exquisite dishes.
"Black market? Brother Lin, you want to go to the black market?"
Wang Dehai looked at Lin Sheng with some surprise.
"That's right, I want to go to the black market to buy some things."
"That makes sense. After all, things in the black market are cheaper, and you might even find something good."
Wang Dehai nodded. He glanced around before leaning closer and lowering his voice.
"Their black market in Lin'an County is in the outer city, at Old Zhang's General Store on Furong Street. Someone will come to find you there."
"Furong Street." Lin Sheng noted down the name.
The two chatted for a while over the food on the table. Lin Sheng seemed to remember something and suddenly asked,
"Brother Wang, do you know the background of the Black Wind Bandits?"
"Black Wind Bandits!!?"
Hearing Lin Sheng's words, Wang Dehai's expression immediately changed.
"Brother Lin, why are you asking about this? Did you provoke these Black Wind Bandits?"
"No, I just heard people mention them and was a bit curious."
Lin Sheng shook his head in denial.
Seeing this, Wang Dehai finally breathed a sigh of relief and said,
"That's good. Brother Lin, you haven't been in the County Town these past few days, so it's normal that you don't know about the Black Wind Bandits. Speaking of which, these Black Wind Bandits are extremely brutal. It's said they were originally a group of major bandits from Tongzhi County, but somehow, they've now moved to our Lin'an side."
"These Black Wind Bandits number dozens of people. Their leader is called Black Bear, a master who has been in the Forging Tendons Late Stage for many years. Originally, this wasn't much, as his strength, no matter how great, was still within the Forging Tendons Realm. However, a few days ago, the old master of the White Elephant Martial Hall encountered this group of Black Wind Bandits outside the city. Not a single person from their group of dozens survived."
"So many people are already speculating that this Black Bear is very likely to have broken through to the Blood Transportation Realm. Otherwise, with the strength of the White Elephant Martial Hall's old master, a Forging Tendons Realm Black Bear wouldn't have been able to keep him. You should know that the group the old master brought with him included many masters from the White Elephant Martial Hall."
"A Martial Artist suspected to be in the Blood Transportation Realm!?"
Lin Sheng was startled. He really hadn't expected that the Black Wind Bandits he had just heard about would have such strength.
Blood Transportation Warriors, Martial Artists of this level were already among the extremely few at the top in Lin'an County. In the entire Lin'an County, you might not even be able to count them on two hands.
And within such a group of bandits, there would be such a powerful existence.
While surprised, he also agreed with the speculation that the Black Bear had a high probability of having entered the Blood Transportation Realm.
After all, the strength of the White Elephant Martial Hall was not weak. Unless the difference was enormous, it would be impossible for the entire group to have no survivors.
At this moment, a commotion suddenly came from downstairs.
It attracted the attention of both of them. Below, on the street, several carriages were slowly passing by.
They were a dozen or so constables from the County Yamen, but the things on the carriages were actually corpses.
Although they were covered with white cloth, blood still seeped out, staining large areas of the white cloth red.
"This is... what happened again!?"
Wang Dehai's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but exclaim.
Roughly looking at these carriages, there were at least twenty to thirty people. So many deaths and injuries occurring consecutively, it had been many years since something like this had happened in Lin'an County. And now, there had been two incidents in just a few days.
Lin Sheng didn't speak, but his gaze swept over the corpses covered with white cloth. Suddenly, he paused at one of the carriages. A corpse placed on the left side of the carriage, due to being close to the edge, had one arm exposed, and on the sleeve of that arm, there was clearly a white elephant pattern.
"These are people from the White Elephant Martial Hall?"
This thought surfaced in Lin Sheng's mind, but soon he felt something was wrong.
"Brother Wang, have the bodies of the White Elephant Martial Hall's old master and his group been sent back?"
"Ah, of course they were found. They were sent to the White Elephant Martial Hall by the County Yamen a few days ago," Wang Dehai replied with some confusion.
Hearing this, his gaze swept over the white cloth boots exposed on the corpses in the carriage again, and he had already made a conclusion.
These people on the carriage should be the ones from the White Elephant Martial Hall he saw at the funeral procession on the street that day.
He hadn't expected that so many people from the White Elephant Martial Hall would die again this time.
Lin Sheng frowned. Two groups of people had died consecutively, especially this last group who were accompanying the old master's funeral. They were either his blood relatives or his disciples. This time, it was likely that the White Elephant Martial Hall would be wiped out.
This kind of thing obviously couldn't be hidden for long. Even many people on the long street below had noticed something and were discussing it in low voices.
The news quickly spread upstairs. Such a devastating and complete annihilation of a family was definitely a tragedy that hadn't happened in Lin'an County for many years.
Originally, only a few tables that had just arrived were discussing it in low voices, but soon it spread throughout the entire restaurant and became the main topic of conversation.
"It's people from the White Elephant Martial Hall again."
Wang Dehai stretched his ears to listen. After he understood the general situation, his fat face was full of astonishment.
"And it was done by the Black Wind Bandits. These Black Wind Bandits are a bit too rampant, aren't they?"
"However, besides this White Elephant Martial Hall, I haven't heard of anyone else being attacked by the Black Wind Bandits."
A look of confusion appeared on his face.
"Maybe the White Elephant Martial Hall had a grudge with those Black Wind Bandits."
"That's probably it. The first attack on the White Elephant Martial Hall's people can be explained, but the second time, a group of people at a funeral didn't have much valuable stuff, so there wasn't much value in attacking them."
Wang Dehai agreed with Lin Sheng's words.
This kind of ruthless method of wiping out a family is something that ordinary people couldn't do.
At this moment, another group of officials on horseback, majestic and imposing, headed straight out of the city.
Leading them was a big man, eight feet tall, stout and strong, wearing heavy armor, with a large saber hanging at his waist.
"I didn't expect even the County Lieutenant to take action. Now those Black Wind Bandits probably won't be rampant for long."
Seeing this heavily armored man, a look of surprise appeared on Wang Dehai's face.
"County Lieutenant?"
Lin Sheng's gaze had also been on that heavily armored man.
Although they were hundreds of meters apart, he could still feel a deep sense of threat from him.
Clearly, the strength of this County Lieutenant was extremely formidable.
"That's right, that heavily armored man is our Lin'an County Lieutenant, Duan Tong, a great master in the Blood Transportation Realm. His strength is definitely top-notch in our Lin'an County."
"Blood Transportation Warrior!?"
Lin Sheng's gaze towards the other party was also somewhat shaken.
This was the first time he had seen a Blood Transportation Warrior. As expected, their power was extraordinary, far beyond what the Forging Tendons Realm could compare to.
The two chatted for a while longer about the situation of various forces in the County Town. After eating and drinking their fill, they got up to leave.
Declining Wang Dehai's kind invitation for another round, Lin Sheng slowly walked towards his home.
He had already inquired about the black market on this trip, and it was time to go back and prepare. After all, in addition to buying cultivation methods and Secret Manuals, he also planned to sell some things. He had accumulated quite a bit of wealth during this time and it was a good time to deal with it.
Before long, he returned to his doorstep. He glanced around, and a strange look flashed in his eyes.
The two guys who had been staking out his front door seemed to have disappeared.
Given the effect of his enhanced perception, Lin Sheng usually chose to integrate with the Horned Owl for most of the time.
So not long after returning home, he discovered the two people who were always loitering outside his alley.
At first, he was startled, thinking these two were from the Ya Gang, but soon he realized something was wrong.
Although the two were wearing plain clothes, he still felt that they looked somewhat familiar, as if they were from the Hunting Beast Hall.
As for the only person he had some enmity with in the Hunting Beast Hall, it was only Ma Long.
Considering that Ma Long was deader than dead, he didn't plan to make a move on the two of them.
He hadn't expected that these two would disappear.
"Could it be that they received the news of Ma Long's death?"
Lin Sheng thought to himself, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, whatever commotion Ma Long's death would cause in the Hunting Beast Hall had nothing to do with him.
