After shaking hands, both of the men developed an understanding. Lin Mu returned all of the masked man's weapons except for the poisoned needles. The masked man also tacitly understood and did not ask for them either.
"From the bandaged wounds, we can assume that this has been done by the same people who attacked you before. Now we only need to find some more clues here if we can." The masked man spoke.
Lin Mu nodded his head and went around to search for clues. It didn't take him long to find them either, as it was right in front of him. He looked at the first corpse and checked it. He soon found a small vial filled with some kind of colorless powder in it.
The vial was hidden in the sleeve of the corpse and was dangling by its tassel. When the masked man turned the corpse a little, it must have gotten loose. Lin Mu picked up the vial and saw that its cap was actually a little loose and some of the powder had actually spilled out onto the sleeve of the corpse.
The masked man saw the vial in Lin Mu's hand and suddenly exclaimed,
"The Beast Inciting powder!"
Lin Mu's eyes narrowed upon hearing the masked man's words, and he looked at the small vial.
"So this is what caused the stray dogs to attack Xiao Lu." Lin MU stated.
"The stray dogs came in contact with the powder that was spilled onto the sleeves while eating the hand and probably went insane." The masked man deduced.
Lin Mu nodded and then continued,
"Now the question is, why did this person have this powder? I originally thought that the culprits spread the poison, but now it seems otherwise."
"Still, it is not easy to get this poison. It is a mystery how this mercenary came upon it. Even an elite mercenary doesn't have the capabilities or the reach to obtain a poison such as this." The masked man spoke.
"It's also a little strange that the attackers didn't search his corpse." The masked man added.
"That is true, but we still don't know what their objective is." Lin Mu replied.
"That's not all, Lin Mu, you're forgetting something." Xukong interrupted.
"What senior?" Lin Mu asked.
"The effect of the Beast Inciting powder is to send the beasts into a mindless rage, but when the stray dogs encountered you they ran away," Xukong answered.
Lin Mu realized the meaning of senior Xukong's words and spoke to the masked man.
"Was there an abnormality in the Beast Inciting powder or the stray dogs? Because they ran away after encountering me."
The masked man felt confused upon hearing Lin Mu's words, but tried to think over it. He had not paid attention to the occurrence at first, but now that he was remembering it, something like this shouldn't happen according to his knowledge. Beasts affected by the Beast Inciting powder don't even fear death and plunge in headfirst into conflict, them being afraid of Lin Mu was extremely strange.
"You are right, but I don't know what the abnormality could be." The masked man spoke.
Lin Mu suddenly realized something as his eyes went wide,
"It couldn't be because of your imprint, could it senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Hmm, that should not be possible as the imprint is only detectable by cultivators or beasts of a higher cultivation," Xukong spoke and took a pause.
"But if it was detected by the stray dogs then that vial of Beast Inciting powder is certainly abnormal. If it was also able to increase the sensing capabilities of a normal animal, then it's probably not simple." Xukong explained.
After hearing senior Xukong's explanation, Lin Mu thought of something before looking at the masked man.
"Do you know anyone that is more knowledgeable about this Beast Inciting powder?" Lin Mu asked.
The masked man snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Lin Mu speak and looked up at him.
"I myself don't know, but there should be someone my comrades know." The masked man answered.
"Well then, I would like to meet them as well." Lin Mu stated.
"That can be arranged." The masked man simply replied.
Lin Mu turned to look at the corpses and spoke.
"Now that we have that behind us, what do we do with the corpses?" We can't leave them here."
"Yes, that is a problem. I'll have to inform my superiors about this." The masked man spoke.
"Though if these corpses are left here and the entire neighborhood is asleep, then I think that they may be coming here to collect them or do something else." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.
"Also, if the culprits find you, I doubt you will be able to fight against them alone." Lin Mu added.
The masked man realized the severity of Lin Mu's words and understood that it will indeed be pretty difficult and may even result in his death. He then grasped a small necklace on his neck with his hand for a second for a moment before releasing it.
'Not now at least.' The masked man thought.
But suddenly as if to prove Lin Mu's words, the main door of the warehouse suddenly opened. A group of eight men dressed in black clothes walked in and saw both of them standing near the corpses.
The men were covered from head to toe and could not be identified. They were all equipped with similar looking swords on their waists and seemed to have armor hidden beneath their clothes.
The Eight men looked at the duo with wide eyes before one of the man shouted,
"KILL! Don't let them escape."
"Heaven's tongue, it really happened!" Lin Mu spoke with shock.
"Focus now. You have to defeat them first." Xukong sternly warned.
The masked man drew his sword and muttered to himself,
"Shouldn't have hesitated."
Lin Mu drew his short sword and extend his spirit sense. He quickly detected the strength of the eight men and informed the masked man.
"Four of them are Spirit Qi cultivators, the rest are Body Tempering realm experts. Two of the cultivators are at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm while the other two are at the early stage."
The masked man narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the handle of the sword.
"I'll have to reveal a few of my skills, I'm afraid." Lin Mu spoke to senior Xukong.
"It's fine. Better to kill them now and deal with the situation later. You can't hesitate in moments like these." Xukong advised.
Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "So be it."
In the next instant a fierce expression appeared on Lin Mu's face, as he started chanting the severing heart sutra.
All of the eight darkly dressed men were approaching the duo at once, so Lin Mu chose to target one of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivators. The masked man heard the strange chants that were being uttered by Lin Mu and felt a chill in his spine.
Suddenly Lin Mu disappeared in front of the eyes of the eight men, surprising them. Even the masked man was rather surprised at this occurrence, after he could not see Lin Mu beside him. The masked man then turned to face the attackers and saw Lin Mu standing behind them.
Lin Mu triggered the second skill Blink and appeared right behind the eight men. He slashed his short sword at the neck of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator and instantly decapitated him. Because his companion was under the effect of the Severing heart sutra, he didn't react fast enough.
Taking this opportunity, Lin Mu strengthened the short sword with spirit qi wisps and waved his blade again, severing the heads of the three Body tempering realm experts. Now there were only four attackers left, three qi cultivators and one measly body tempering realm expert.
The first person to react was the masked man as he threw one of his daggers at an early stage qi cultivator and then slashed at another. The early stage qi cultivator could not dodge in time as the dagger was buried in his throat, killing him.
This reduced the number of attacker to only three, relieving most of the burden on the Duo. The remaining Mid stage qi refining realm cultivator finally reacted and cut at Lin Mu with his own sword while shouting curses at him.
Lin Mu dodged the sudden attack by using the first skill Flicker and let the attack pass through him effortlessly. Spinning around, Lin Mu seamlessly withdrew a spear from his ring and impaled it into the one remaining body tempering realm expert.
The masked man had also clashed with the early stage qi refining realm cultivator and was crossing his sword with him. They exchanged a few blows and seem to be at nearly the same strength. Lin Mu was still fighting with the other cultivator and was dodging one cut after the other.
Lin Mu's superior speed and agility were proving advantageous here.