Chapter 83 - The Masked Man's Misunderstanding
Flitting around in the warehouse, Lin Mu dodged each and every blow. He glanced at the masked man every few seconds to check how the fight was going. Seeing that the masked man would not be able to defeat his opponent quickly, Lin Mu decided to give him a little helping hand.
The Fierce look reappeared on Lin Mu's face and sent a chill down the spine of the Mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator that was fighting him. He then started chanting the Severing heart sutra again and targeted the early stage qi cultivator that was fighting the masked man.
A dull look suddenly appeared on the face of the early stage qi cultivator as he faltered for a moment. Talking grasp of this opportunity, the masked man ended his life and accomplished his task. Having done this, he looked at Lin Mu and his opponent.
But he was shocked as soon as he looked at them. The Mid-stage Qi cultivator was no longer alive. Lin Mu had used this short time period when the cultivator was distracted by his companion's death to split him in half.
Lin Mu looked at the short sword in his hand and marveled at its effectiveness.
'Truly an excellent specimen of a blade.' He praised.
Unlike Lin Mu, who was marveling at his blade, the masked man was rather shocked and a little fearful at his display. He was surprised at Lin Mu's sudden disappearance at the start but attributed to some kind of speed skill, but when he produced weapons out of thin air, he understood that the boy also had a spatial treasure.
The masked man was no stranger to spatial treasures and had seen many of them, but in the case of Lin Mu, he was truly shocked. The first point was that how would he get a spatial treasure in such a backward place, even in Wu Lim city only influential or rich people had spatial treasures.
The second point which was more shocking was that the spatial treasure was unlike anything he had seen. The speed at which Lin Mu was able to withdraw a weapon was instant. Even the best spatial treasure he knew of couldn't do a feat like this. And even if he had the highest quality of spatial treasure, just the cost to get one forged would be sky-high.
That's Right, the highest quality spatial treasures couldn't just be bought. There was a big demand for it, but no supply. One could only commission an expert to forge a spatial treasure, and that too only top-grade spirit tool refiners could actually make spatial treasures.
Even from them, only a master grade spirit tool refiner could do it, thus making a high-quality spatial treasure no small feat and would require months if not years of work.
Just the basic ingredients required to forge a spatial treasure would be worth a huge fortune and needed a long time to gather. This reduced the supply of spatial treasures in the Great Zhou Empire. Besides, there were only a handful of master spirit tool refiners currently in the entire Great Zhou empire.
This resulted in the highest quality spatial treasures being monopolized by the powerful sects and the nobles of the empire and the residing kingdoms. It was in fact considered a sign of authority and influence. If someone saw a person with a spatial tool of this quality anywhere, one would have to be careful with their words and had to avoid offending them.
This entire thought train of the masked man led him to misunderstand Lin Mu's status and made him think that he was the disciple of a hidden expert or the heir of a Noble clan.
'This… this… I need to Inform the lord quickly. I can't let him make a mistake and offend someone he can't afford to.' The masked man thought.
The masked man actually had a method of contacting his superiors rather quickly, but it was only meant for the most extreme of the extreme emergencies. Even the arrival and the attack of the culprits was not worth using it according to him, but this demonstration of strength that Lin Mu had just done completely turned his viewpoint and sent his caution reeling.
Lin Mu was thinking that revealing his skills had put him at a disadvantage, but unknown to him, it had actually given him a huge advantage.
After all the attackers were dead, Lin Mu used his spirit sense to scan their bodies for any hidden weapons and other dangers. Senior Xukong had informed him beforehand of certain tactics that cultivators used in order to eliminate their enemies even after their death.
Lin Mu's caution turned out to be beneficial, as he did end up finding something dangerous. There were tiny packets of poison placed behind the face covers of the black-clothed men, which would burst and spread to the person trying to uncover them.
A simple yet effective mechanism made it so that the packets of poison did not break from impact and only burst when the face covers were pulled apart.
Even the masked man was shocked by this as he exclaimed,
"These are no normal cultivators, they are death warriors."
Lin Mu turned his head and looked at the masked man with a little confusion.
"What are death warriors?" he asked.
The masked man gulped before speaking,
"Death warriors are a special kind of warriors trained by certain clans and organizations for committing highly illegal acts. Just the mere existence of a death warrior is deemed forbidden in the Shuang Qian kingdom, as they don't have true identities and only live to die for their owners."
"Is this true senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked in his mind.
"It is indeed true, death warriors are a unique breed of warriors in many of the worlds. Though the standard may greatly vary. These dead men can barely even be considered cultivators not to say about true death warriors." Xukong spoke with disdain in his voice.
Lin Mu was rather surprised, as this was the first time he had heard senior Xukong talk in such a disdainful tone. It was as if he felt offended by the mediocrity of these death warriors and did not deem them worthy of their title.
Unwilling to question senior Xukong, Lin Mu just accepted his words calmly. Lin Mu then carefully removed the packets of poison that were hidden in the face covers of the attackers. There was a small clasp hidden near the back of the neck which when released would allow one to remove the face cover without breaking the poison packets.
After removing the face covers of the eight men, Lin Mu tried to identify them. But he did not find anyone familiar and could not find any common points between them either. They had no identification marks such as tattoos or brands either. Neither did they carry any piece of intelligence such as the letter Lin Mu obtained last time.
The masked man also observed the faces of the culprits and did not find them familiar. His eyes then went towards the swords of the eight culprits. He picked them and observed them closely. He then disassembled the handle of the sword and revealed the base of the sword.
There were a few words carved on the base of the sword. They read: Xiangwei Jin Armaments.
Lin Mu curiously looked at what the masked man was doing and paid attention to it. After the words that were carved on the base of the sword were revealed, he was a little surprised.
"What is that?" Lin Mu asked.
"This should be the marking of the manufacturer." The marked man replied.
"Xiangwei Jin Armaments? Wait, are these from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu questioned.
"They are indeed. They are from one of the biggest armament producers of Xiangwei." The masked man answered.
"Then does this mean that the culprits are from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu wondered.
"Not exactly. The Xiangwei Jin armaments produce so many weapons that they can be found all over the Shuang Qian kingdom. This won't help us much." The masked man replied while shaking his head.
The masked man then stood up and spoke,
"I need to immediately contact my superiors."
"So you'll leave now?" Lin Mu asked.
The masked man sighed before replying,
"No, I have another method."
"What?" Lin Mu asked curiously.
The masked man did not answer, but instead removed his necklace from his neck and held it in his hand. The necklace looked like a small and thin tube that was hollow. Its thickness was about the same as a chopstick.
The man gently lifted the bask of his mask and revealed the bottom part of his face. He then brought the tube-shaped necklace up to his lips and blew on it.
No sound was produced after the masked man blew on the tube, but a small disk shaped hole opened on the tube and started spinning.
The man kept on blowing on it for a few minutes without stopping. Only when he was completely out of breath did he stop.