Lin Mu would have never expected that the man he was looking for the past few weeks would turn up in front of him, dead. Indeed, the dead body that he found behind the rock was none other than Gan Ma, the leader of the hunter group, and also one of the only five cultivators in the town.
Lin Mu could not understand why he would turn up dead here. It was obvious that it was the six men that had killed Gan Ma and but the question was why?
Lin Mu looked around and did not notice any specific signs of struggle, which made him think that Gan Ma was killed rather quickly. He checked Gan Ma's body and found that the only wound he had was on his neck. Though weirdly, it was bandaged, and it seemed as if it was done after his death.
"Why would they bandage his neck after his death?" Lin Mu muttered.
"Check the other men, maybe you'll get some hints." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu nodded and withdrew every dead body that he had stored in the ring and checked them. Out of the six people, two were cultivators while the rest of them were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm. One of the cultivators was at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm, while the other was at the early stage of the qi refining realm.
In a small town like the Northern town, any cultivator was a big deal and commanded great respect. For two unknown cultivators to just appear randomly was extremely strange. Even the other four men that were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm could be considered to be at the top levels of strength in the town.
Lin Mu removed the cloth that was covering their faces and tried to identify them. He did not find any of them familiar, except for one person. It was the person named second brother that he found familiar. He could not place his finger on where exactly he saw that person, but knew that he must be influential.
Lin Mu also checked the bodies for other items and found many things on them. He took their swords and the thin chain mail armor that they were wearing under their clothes. He also found a set of throwing daggers on all of them. The total number of daggers was around 29.
Lin Mu then found a small vial that was filled with a black liquid that smelled sweet on the person called second brother.
"Careful, that's the Pulse cutting poison." Xukong sternly warned.
Lin Mu's eyes went wide as he hurriedly closed the small vial.
"That was close, but why does it smell so pleasant?" Lin Mu asked.
"So that people find it easy to drink, it's also sweet in taste. Though it does not have any effect unless it enters your body, either through a wound or your mouth." Xukong answered.
Lin Mu then remembered the small dagger that had nearly hit him before. That dagger seemed to be covered with a black liquid too. He went to the place where the dagger was lying and picked it up. He caught a whiff of the same sweet smell.
"It's covered in the pulse cutting poison. I was luckily saved by my spirit sense and skills." Lin Mu spoke.
"Indeed, having a spirit sense is a big advantage for you." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu then thought to the two cultivators and how they did not seem to be using spirit sense.
"Umm senior, why were the two men not using their spirit sense." Lin Mu questioned.
"Oh, that's simply because they couldn't use it. They were not at the stage where they could refine it." Xukong answered.
"But then how could I refine it? I was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm when I first started refining it." Lin Mu spoke with confusion on his face.
"Well, you are a rare case. Most Qi refining realm cultivators can't start refining their spirit sense until they reach the late stage of the qi refining realm, at the very least. They are either restricted by their cultivation technique or they just don't have the sufficient talent to do it on their own." Xukong answered.
Lin Mu nodded in acceptance and continued checking the bodies. He found another glass vial that was filled with some kind of translucent powder. He did not open the vial this time, as he had already learned his lesson and did not think he would be lucky every time.
"What is this senior?" Lin Mu asked.
"Hmm, this seems like Memory confounding powder. If someone inhales it, they will enter a confounded state and then lose their memories for up to an hour. The person affected by it will be incapacitated and will not respond to any stimulus, though it does not cause any physical harm other than that." Xukong replied.
'Could this have been used to kill Gan Ma?' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu had not found any signs of a struggle on Gan Ma, thus Lin Mu guessed that he did not resist much and was killed rather instantly. This hypothesis would work if the Memory Confounding powder was involved. The powder would incapacitate the victim while the killers would quickly slit their throat.
Now that Gan Ma was dead, Lin Mu wondered if he could consider senior Xukong's first test complete.
Senior Xukong seemed to have sensed Lin Mu's thoughts as he spoke in his mind. "You killed two cultivators, thus you can consider your first test complete, and anyway that man Gan Ma is already dead."
Lin Mu was about to store the bodies back into the ring when he saw a small piece of paper that had fallen to the side. It was stained with blood and was lying near the place where he had killed the first brother.
Lin Mu picked it up and opened it to read what was written inside.
"The town and the routes surrounding it will be blocked on account of a wandering spirit beast tonight.
Your orders are the same as before, capture the target but make sure that it does not lose too much blood. Master has specially told us to save the blood.
Once you are done with the task, deposit the target at the same location as before and return to your posts.
Though it should not happen, ensure that no one sees you. If someone does spot you, make sure that they don't live to tell the tale.
Three other teams are out doing the same tasks as you, so remember to tell the password before you talk to them. If they don't say the password kill them, you have my permission."
Lin Mu took a deep breath after reading the letter. He was shocked by the machinations that were happening.
"Seems like someone was targeting Gan Ma specifically. Is that the reason why he had disappeared from the town, these past weeks?" Lin Mu thought out loud.
"That's not all. According to the letter, there are three more teams out there. You need to be careful, Lin Mu." Xukong advised.
'Those fifteen mercenaries that disappeared from the campgrounds, could they too have been abducted by these men?' Xukong thought.
Lin Mu then walked back to the town and halted near the entrance after seeing some people there. He saw a couple of townsmen that were trying to enter the town but were currently being blocked by the guards.
"Halt! All entrances to the town and its roads are blocked. Where are you coming from?" The guards spoke to the townsmen.
"We were just returning from the fields." One of the townsmen replied.
"Why are the roads closed?" Another townsman asked.
The guards looked at the faces of the townsmen closely before answering.
"A warning was issued on account of a spirit beast. Someone spotted it wandering outside the forest." The guard spoke.
The townsmen looked visibly shocked and scared upon hearing the guard's words.
"We didn't know that, if we knew this we would have never gone out." The townsmen replied.
One of the guards gestured to the other and then nodded.
"Come with us, you need to show us your goods and let us examine them." The guard spoke.
The townsmen did not protest and went ahead with the guard's orders. The guards examined the satchels that they were carrying and then let them through after examining them.
Lin Mu was standing behind a tree in the darkness while watching all these events. After observing this, he was about to walk towards the entrance when senior Xukong spoke in his mind.
"Stop! Don't go there, something seems wrong. Go a little farther away and climb up the wall instead." Xukong ordered with a stern tone.
Lin Mu did not question senior Xukong's words and just obediently followed them. He walked a little distance from the entrance and found a suitable spot. He looked up at the tall wall and thought of a method to climb.
Lin Mu gauged the wall's height and estimated it to be a little more than ten meters. He then found a tree that was close to the wall and climbed it. The branch on which Lin Mu was standing was about halfway at the height of the wall, yet it was a little too far from it horizontally.
Lin Mu strengthened his legs and jumped towards the wall. While he was in mid-air, he extended his spirit sense and then used the second skill 'Blink' to teleport to the top of the wall. After reaching the top of the wall, he spied the other side and saw a guard following townsmen.
Lin Mu climbed down and followed the guard from afar. He suddenly saw a glint in the guard's hand and became alert.