Autumn wind blew through the courtyard gently. At the center of it, the weeping willow had turned golden yellow.

The autumn sky was clear and the air was crisp. Lin Xun and Shia Zhi sat by a stone table in the courtyard, fixing their eager eyes at the five pots of stewed animal meat on it.

Though the meat looked plainly but tasted as good as it smelled, as Lin Xun had carefully matched different spiritual ingredient with different kind of animal meat.

Next to the stone table, there was an iron pot full with rice cooked from spiritual grain.

Hadn’t eaten anything for four days, both of them were too starving to talk.

Shiao Tianren sat on the other side of the table, watched them and smiled, while he was telling them all the things happened these days.

After the fight, he had led the villagers back, shocking but excited and happy to see the dead bodies scattered in the village.

Lian Rufeng’s death meant a less potential threat yet more concerns demanding urgent addressing.

Such as the six strangers died with Lian Rufeng. They were no ordinary people judging from their outfits, and they being killed in Feiyun could come with consequences.

Such as no guardians in Feiyun any longer, meaning no one could transport their spiritual grain to trade in Green-sun Tribe.

After four bowls of rice and one pot of meat, Lin Xun felt alive again.

He then made a spiritual herb tea himself to clear his thoughts. “Uncle Shiao, do you know the strangers coming with Lian Rufeng?”

Shiao Tianren suddenly got up. “Follow me and see for yourself.”

Lin Xun gave a glance at Shia Zhi, who was still concentrated in eating, nodded and left with Shiao Tianren.

…

On the empty practicing field at the center of the village piled a lot of things, including dozens of weapons, accessories like boots, belts and jade pendants, and other assorted items.

Besides, there lied six dead bodies.

All of these were guarded by Zhou Zhong and several other hunters in the village.

“These are the things searched from Lian Rufeng. The six strangers were not from Feiyun, so I ordered no one to touch them, hoping you could find some leads.”

Shiao Tianren explained.

Lin Xun secretly admired his caution. With on delay, he went straight to Wu Henshui’s body and examined with great care.

When he first met this old man with a goatee, he had sensed great danger.

Now he saw the old man lied there quietly with a shocking bloody hole in his chest, clearly killed by a sharp weapon.

It reminded him of Shia Zhi, who must have been even more powerful than he had expected.

Shiao Tianren and Zhou Zhong and the others came around, all looking at Lin Xun in curiosity and awe.

They had realized how terrifying this young boy had been when they returned to the village and found the bodies of Lian Rufeng and the others.

It had beyond their imagination that a young boy alone had killed more than a dozen of spiritual practitioners, including Lian Rufeng who had reached the fourth level of the Martial Realm.

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Therefore, Lin Xun had changed in their eyes, more horrifying beneath the usual handsome and warm appearance.

Lin Xun did not notice these of course. He groped the body for a while and only found a black ring, nothing else.

“Is it…”

The ring was heavy, black as iron and chill as jade.

His finger moved and a wisp of spiritual energy flew into it.

It hummed and a room-like space emerged in his brain, containing coins, tokens, spiritual herbs, bottles and jams.

It was a storing artifact for sure.

Lin Xun felt pleased, for he knew how precious it was. Made of a rare spiritual ingredient called “Ethereal Crystal”, it could store things hundreds of thousands of times larger than itself.

Only rich people could afford such a valuable item.

Lin Xun murmured, “So it looked like he was not that simple.”

He was curious about the token, so he took it out of the ring. It was the size of an adult’s palm and was made of “Serpenggiante”, a spiritual ingredient similar to the warm jade. On its front, there was a herb pattern, seemingly some kind of unique sign.

On its back, a line of imperial seal characters was engraved: Great Deacon in Green-sun Tribe, Branch of Wu’s Herbs.

Just as expected, the old man was a big shot in Green-sun Tribe.

Soon, Lin Xun found an incomplete scroll with records about the “blood marrow grit” and an animal-skin bag weighting several kilograms. It was filled with the seeds of different spiritual herbs, more than enough to plant in more than one hundred acres of spiritual land.

“So this was what he came for?”

Lin Xun looked thoughtful.

Shiao Tianren couldn’t help but ask, “Any discovery?”

Lin Xun told him in a calm voice, “If I guess right, Lian Rufeng and the guardians have colluded with the great deacon of Wu’s Herbs Store, trying to occupy our spiritual lands to grow spiritual herbs.”

Occupying the spiritual lands!

The truth was like a bomb among Shiao Tianren and the villagers. Lian Rufeng had planned to work with an outsider to take the spiritual lands their lives depending on from them, clearly he had not been going to let them live at the first place! How ambitious and greedy he had been!

They felt lucky that Lin Xun had killed Lian Rufeng and all the bad persons and thus discomfit their evil scheme, or else the consequences would be too grave to bear.

Lin Xun found it was in no one’s benefit to mention the blood marrow grit, so he kept silent. He took the Sky Breacher and cut Wu Henshui’s belly open, blood spilling out.

What was he going to do?

The villagers almost threw up when they saw the colorful viscera and red blood.

Lin Xun, on the contrary, was focused. He searched every viscera and meridian with his hands and fingers, which were covered with blood soon.

The villagers couldn’t bear any longer, so they turned their heads and looked away.

Fortunately Lin Xun finished his searching in several minutes. He rose up, went to the pool by the side of the practicing field and washed the blood off his hands. “He was really good. His cultivation was in the eighth level of the Martial Realm!”

He looked easy on the outside but was actually shocked on the inside. Slitting up the dead body was just a means to check his cultivation.

Lin Xun had not been able to deduce it from the old man’s appearance, as there was no sign of “Gang Qi” to prove that he had reached the Gang Spirit Realm.

It was clear now that the old man had not just amazing background, but also his cultivation was much higher than Lin Xun. If it wasn’t for Shia Zhi, he would have been killed.

Shia Zhi!

She was able to kill Wu Henshui, so she must be more powerful.

Shiao Tianren looked grave and worried. “Such an important person have died in our village, will trouble follow him here?”

Lin Xun shook his head. “I don’t know for sure yet. I will go to Green-sun Tribe later. Maybe I can find out then.”

He surprised Shiao Tianren. “Are you sure?”

“Sure I am. Now that Lian Rufeng is dead, I have to go there and bring some supplies for the villagers.”

Shiao Tianren was touched. “Lin Xun, I…”

Lin Xun waved his hand to interrupt him. “Uncle Shiao, no need to thank me. Feiyun is my home and that’s what I should do.”

Shiao Tianren took a deep breath and calmed his mind. “Good! In the future, whenever you are in need and whatever you need, we will do our best to help you, no matter what.”

Zhou Zhong and the other villagers nodded repeatedly.

Lin Xun gave them a smile to express his gratitude, and then turned to check other “trophies”, which were mediocre compared to the storing ring.

They were less valuable. Only a pair of long boots inscribed with “Gusty-wind Spiritual Tattoo” appealed to him.

They were taken off from Lian Rufeng, sort of some spiritual equipment, but the poorly inscribed Spiritual Tattoo greatly lowered its price.

At last, Lin Xun took the storing ring and the boots and left the rest for Shiao Tianren to distribute.

Later, the dead bodies were moved outside of the village and burned to ashes.

Before he returned home, Lin Xun recollected one thing. “Uncle Shiao, now that the crisis has abated, I think we should dig out the Feiyun Fire Copper in a few days.”

Shiao Tianren got excited at this. He nodded, “Anything you say. Only when these treasures are grabbed in our hands can we sleep tight at night.”