Chapter 37 - 36: The Resolute Li Zhaolin

Chapter 37: Chapter 36: The Resolute Li Zhaolin

The night was as dark as ink, slowly staining the sky.

The last ray of dim yellow light was swallowed.

Lu Jing’an stepped over the threshold of the Lu Residence.

Electric lights were already on in the courtyard.

A dim yellow halo wavered on the stone-paved ground,

stretching Lu Jing’an’s hurried figure, making it long one moment and short the next.

Lu Jing’an didn’t linger. He walked straight through the corridor and toward his father Lu Huaiqian’s study.

When he knocked and entered, Lu Huaiqian was poring over a document,

his brow furrowed with deep worry.

Seeing Lu Jing’an, he closed the booklet.

Lu Jing’an relayed the two important pieces of intelligence to Lu Huaiqian.

After listening, Lu Huaiqian fell silent for a moment.

His knuckles tapped lightly on the hardwood desk, making a soft TAP TAP sound.

After a moment, he spoke slowly,

"Getting the truth out of the Li Family is impossible.

We’ll be lucky if they don’t use this opportunity to bite back at our Lu Family.

And even if they did talk, I’m afraid it would be full of traps.

Even if they did lay a trap, it would be hard for us to find any real evidence.

They would just have to claim they didn’t know if the body was eaten by the Tiger Demon, and we would be helpless." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

This was what Lu Jing’an had thought as well.

He was just reporting it; his main goal was to discuss accessing the case files.

Lu Huaiqian didn’t refuse.

He immediately wrote a formal, strictly formatted document requesting the files.

But even as he wrote it, his tone was pessimistic.

"The Anping Bureau has always been arrogant, looking down on our Public Security Bureau.

They never listen to orders or summons.

Even if we send someone with this document tomorrow, I’m afraid we won’t get the files back."

Lu Jing’an looked at the official document, a determined light shining in his eyes.

"Don’t worry, Father. If we act within the rules, there will surely be a response this time."

The conviction in his words made Lu Huaiqian pause for a second.

’My son is still young, after all,’ he sighed internally. ’He thinks the dealings within the Government Office are so simple.’

’He just gave them a couple of silver coins. If that’s all it took to get on the good side of the Anping Bureau,

I would have just thrown money at them long ago.’

The Anping Bureau wasn’t a problem money could solve.

But Lu Huaiqian didn’t say this out loud.

He figured that when Lu Jing’an failed to retrieve the files tomorrow, he would naturally understand.

After settling this matter,

Lu Jing’an took his leave and returned to his room.

Not long after Lu Jing’an had returned to his room,

he saw the [Refining Complete] notification.

Lu Jing’an had previously begun Refining the Divine Soul of that mysterious Martial Cultivator.

Now was the time to officially check his rewards.

[Refining Complete]

[Obtained Orange Entry: Absolute Guardian]

[Obtained one Wang Xiong Memory Pearl]

[Obtained 3 Energy Points]

"Another brand new orange entry."

Seeing the color of the new entry, Lu Jing’an was very pleased.

He immediately began to inspect the information on his newly acquired entry.

[Absolute Guardian] (Orange)

[Note]: This entry permanently increases the Defense Attribute by 5 points.

Equipping this entry reduces damage from Cultivators of the same level by 80%.

Damage from those one level higher is reduced by 40%.

Damage from those two levels higher is reduced by 10%.

Can be triggered (actively or passively) once to activate Absolute Guardian for three seconds.

Usable once per day.

After reviewing the entry’s details, Lu Jing’an was extremely satisfied with its abilities.

Especially that final Absolute Guardian.

It only lasted three seconds,

but the protection had no level restriction.

That meant the protection would work against any level.

’Even if it’s someone a dozen levels higher than me now,

a supreme existence among Cultivators,

I could still block them for three seconds.’

After examining the entry,

Lu Jing’an felt even more strongly how powerful his master, Chen Xuan, was.

To be able to refine such an entry from a Divine Soul...

That Wang Xiong must have been a Great Martial Cultivator who specialized in Defense when he was alive.

With this thought, Lu Jing’an’s estimation of his master Chen Xuan’s strength rose another level.

To be able to so cleanly eliminate a Martial Cultivator who specialized in protection...

His Cultivation was likely even greater than he had previously imagined.

It was truly a blessing from the heavens for the Lu Family to have such a Tributor.

Having finished Refining Wang Xiong’s Divine Soul,

Lu Jing’an began Refining the three remaining Divine Souls.

The Divine Souls of the two remaining Martial Cultivators and the one Smoke Cultivator were not as strong as Wang Xiong’s or Lawrence’s.

The Refining time for all three of them combined was about the same as for Wang Xiong alone.

...

「Thirty li from Yin Mountain County, deep within the Black Pine Forest.」

The moonlight was shredded by the dense canopy,

leaving only a few bleak patches of light.

They barely illuminated several figures standing rigidly in the woods.

They were silent, like stakes driven into the ground.

Only when the night wind blew, causing the hems of their clothes to sway slightly, did the scene become even more eerie.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly,

a low, violent tiger’s roar exploded from the depths of the forest,

startling the crows roosting for the night.

Hearing the sound, the motionless figures all trembled in unison.

Then, they began to move through the forest, stepping forward in a strange and uniform manner.

Their gait was stiff, their movements synchronized, like puppets controlled by invisible strings.

The one in the lead was a short, stout old man—it was the Li Family’s Martial Cultivator, Elder He.

But at this moment, the keen light in his eyes was completely extinguished,

leaving only empty, deathly gray voids. His skin looked pale and bluish in the dim light.

Behind him followed Li Zhaolin and several Li Family servants.

Every one of them had a wooden expression and vacant eyes. They had all become Chong Ghosts, controlled by the Tiger Demon.

The Tiger Demon hid in the deepest darkness.

Its enormous demonic eyes flickered with a cruel and playful light

as it tested out its new toys.

With a slight thought, it drove the Chong Ghosts to probe the edges of the forest.

However, just as Elder He and the others were about to step outside the core area of its Demon Power,

something unexpected happened!

In the depths of Li Zhaolin’s vacant eyes, a follower at the back,

a flicker of extremely faint but exceptionally clear sharpness suddenly flashed!

The next moment, his originally rigid body suddenly lunged forward,

like a spring that had been coiled for a long time. He actually broke free from the invisible restraint

and fled desperately toward the outside of the mountain forest!

His steps were staggering yet astonishingly fast, a complete contrast to his earlier dazed state.

"ROAR!"

The Tiger Demon clearly hadn’t expected this dead toy to be able to resist.

Shocked and enraged, a much more powerful roar erupted.

The sound wave was so solid it was visible, sending out a ripple in the air.

The branches and leaves of the surrounding trees rustled and fell madly, and the dust on the ground trembled.

The fleeing Li Zhaolin was struck as if by a heavy hammer.

His mind went BUZZ, and his vision turned black.

A coppery taste rose in his throat, and he nearly collapsed.

But he bit his tongue hard, and the sharp pain stimulated him.

Relying on a surge of insane ferocity, he managed to hold on.

He didn’t stop. In fact, he ran even faster!

This time, even the Tiger Demon in the shadows was stunned for a second.

It clearly remembered its sharp teeth piercing this human’s neck.

His breath had stopped; he was deader than dead.

Why... could he still move, and even retain his consciousness?

The reason Li Zhaolin could come back to life right now was naturally not due to his own Cultivation.

Years ago, while studying abroad, he had a chance encounter.

He had paid a hefty sum to enter a certain mysterious sect and found a Technique for returning from the dead.

He had intended to use it as a final trump card, a Golden Cicada Shell to escape at a critical moment.

He never expected to waste it in this desolate wilderness, at the claws of a mere beast!

After all, this Technique could only be used once in a lifetime.

As he ran wildly, Li Zhaolin suddenly felt a cold, sticky sensation in his abdomen.

With the violent jolting of his run, it felt like something was constantly slipping out, dragging behind.

He instinctively glanced down.

By the bleak moonlight,

he saw that the hem of his long robe was soaked in blood.

A shocking gash stretched from his ribs to his lower abdomen,

the flesh grotesquely peeled back.

With the rise and fall of his running, blurry, cold clumps of his internal organs

were uncontrollably oozing out and drooping down,

even dragging on the ground littered with sharp stones and dead branches!

"Hnngh..."

A gasp like a broken bellows escaped Li Zhaolin’s throat.

Boundless terror and nausea seized him in an instant.

This Secret Skill could only keep a mutilated body alive for a short time.

With such severe injuries, his organs displaced, even if his true spirit had not dissipated,

this shell of a body couldn’t hold on for much longer. It would completely disintegrate.

After the fear came a towering resentment,

blazing like fire, incinerating what little sanity he had left.

He hated the Li Family for their poor decision-making, hated his own bad luck.

But the deepest, most fiercely burning toxic flame, the one that seemed to want to set his very soul alight,

was directed at the Lu Family, especially that Lu Jing’an who had repeatedly ruined his plans!

"If I can’t live... you all can forget about having an easy time!"

A plan of ultimate malice began to grow wildly in the half-heart of this dying man.

He suddenly veered off, no longer running in a straight line.

Relying on his faint memories from scouting the area during the day, he stumbled and charged toward a certain part of the forest.

The Tiger Demon finally snapped out of its astonishment.

The anger of being resisted by its prey, and a sense of shame from being fooled, filled its chest.

It roared lowly, its massive yet nimble body leaping through the trees, closing the distance in just a few bounds.

Li Zhaolin seemed oblivious to the foul-smelling wind approaching from behind.

He rushed into a cave half-hidden by vines.

A thick, beastly stench hit him in the face.

The cave was dark, but in a pile of dry grass in the corner,

he could vaguely see a furry tiger cub, snuggled up and fast asleep,

letting out a faint purr.

A savage delight appeared on Li Zhaolin’s face.

Using his last ounce of strength, he whipped a shiny Browning from his coat.

He trembled, aiming the muzzle at the defenseless cub.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

A series of piercing gunshots exploded, deafeningly echoing within the cave.

The muzzle flashes lit up Li Zhaolin’s blood-splattered, twisted, and crazed face.

It also lit up the spray of blood and the shrill, short-lived cries that instantly erupted from the pile of grass.

Eight bullets, all emptied without missing.

When the Tiger Demon, riding a ferocious gale, charged into the cave, this was the scene that greeted it:

Its cub lay in a pool of blood,

its small body riddled with several terrifying bloody holes.

The dry grass was soaked with hot blood, and a thick, metallic smell filled every inch of the air.

"ROOOOAR—!!!"

This time, the roar was beyond anger.

It was madness, a heart-wrenching impulse for destruction.

The entire cave seemed to tremble in the sound wave, and loose stones rattled down from the ceiling.

Li Zhaolin casually tossed the empty pistol aside.

The metal clattered against the stone wall with a crisp sound.

He leaned against the cold cave wall, blood pouring from the wound in his abdomen like a fountain.

Life was rapidly draining away with his body heat, but he was laughing, louder and louder.

His laughter was hoarse and insane, echoing in the cave:

"Cough... haha... cough cough!

Come on!

You vile beast!

If you have the guts, then just swallow me whole.

I, of the Yinshan Lu Family, will never associate with a beast like you."

Every word was crystal clear.

He spat the words "Lu Family" with particular venom, laced with bone-deep resentment and the catharsis of success.

"ROAR!!"

The answer he received was the endless darkness and tearing pain of a gaping, bloody maw.

The Tiger Demon’s sharp teeth easily cut off Li Zhaolin’s crazed laughter.

However, in the last moment before his consciousness was completely devoured and he sank into eternal chaos,

Li Zhaolin’s last remaining sensation

was the cold, triumphant curve of his lips, which had fully blossomed into a smile mixed with blood.

He knew he had succeeded.

This Tiger Demon, having lost its cub, would be driven into a heaven-shaking rage.

Its boundless fury and hatred would inevitably be directed at the Lu Family.