Chapter 280: Before the Beastmaster Hall
General Lion was at a loss of what to do with Lin Jin’s apology. He was the type to be persuaded by reason but not be cowed by force. Furthermore, he couldn’t seek out the immortal either. Ever since he was tasked to guard this door, General Lion had never again seen the immortal who built this place. Even before all this, he had only ever heard of the immortal’s voice but not seen his face.
The barbaric Hu Yuzhen wasn’t afraid of General Lion, but those blade attacks falling from the sky earlier frightened her so she was now silent and docile as a cat.
General Lion had also witnessed how Lin Jin’s pet beast stirred up a gust earlier, creating an ice dome out of nowhere. Although that didn’t block off the immortal’s Sword Energy, it somewhat delayed it. From this, General Lion knew not to take Lin Jin lightly.
Since he had already apologized, shouldn’t he just go with the flow and forgive the tigress’ wrongdoings?
General Lion pondered before letting out a hearty laugh. “Since you’ve apologized, as a forgiving man, I’ll overlook your misconduct. I can see that Mr. Lin is an extraordinary man. It just so happens that I’m carrying out the immortal’s decree. Every year, I am to lead some mortals in here to assimilate the phenomenal study of immortality. Now that Mr. Lin is here, I can be considered to have fulfilled my duty. Mr. Lin, you are now free to look around. As for that tigress, haven’t you always wanted to come in here? I’m going to show Mr. Lin respect this once and let you come along. If you dare to cause trouble again, the immortal’s blades will definitely slice you open.”
At this, Lin Jin could tell that the trouble was resolved.
He immediately saluted General Lion in gratitude. The latter was clearly a prideful creature so Lin Jin just had to stroke his ego. Moreover, Lin Jin couldn’t sense any murderous energy from him so the lion must have been enlightened by and bound to someone. According to how the ancient books described it, this lion would be a sacred beast who was being kept by an immortal.
That should be it.
Now that he was willing to let them enter, it was obviously the best outcome he could ask for.
Lin Jin thanked him before entering through the enormous gates. Carrying the coffin on his back, White Ape hurried after Lin Jin, glancing around with great curiosity. As for the tigress, Hu Yuzhen, she kept her head down and followed Lin Jin quietly. There was also a trace of excitement on her face. Once inside and away from General Lion, she spoke softly, “Mr. Lin, I’ve long heard that there was an impressive immortal’s cave here. But for the last few times I came, that lion wouldn’t let me in. If you hadn’t spoken up for me back there, I wouldn’t have been able to enter. I might even be killed by the immortal, so thank you for saving my life. I will never forget this grace.”
Then, she bowed sincerely.
“It’s good that you’re aware.” Lin Jin nodded before asking, “How much do you know about this place?”
Hu Yuzhen answered quickly, “I’ve only heard that a family once moved here after obtaining the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll. Disaster befell them thereafter and they died. Then, there was a rumor that the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll would appear at a specific hour on this day every year so some people would always show up. But those people all ended up missing and I know they must have been taken away by that lion’s mist. They must have ended up here. I’ve always wanted to come but the lion wouldn’t let me. And this time, I got too angry that I ended up fighting him.”
Lin Jin mused, ‘You only fought him because you knew that I would teach you how to get a Dharma body, didn’t you?’
Speaking of which, this tigress was intelligent enough to know what to say and when to say it. After all, if a monster who had lived this long, even turning into a demon, didn’t have that much tact, she wouldn’t have been able to survive.
As they talked, they arrived at a flight of stairs heading downward. Descending the stairs, as the fog dissipated, they saw the summit of a mountaintop. It was flat as a river. A large hall stood in the middle on level ground and they could see the silhouettes of many people. But overall, this scene looked just like a painting.
Lin Jin looked up again only to find that the words in the sky were gone.
“Master Lin, there are a lot of people down there,” White Ape commented.
Hu Yuzhen was stunned. She studied White Ape up and down, feeling shocked.
As a monster who had practiced cultivation for several hundred years, she had a good eye. The white ape had a solid foundation but he definitely hadn’t been cultivating for very long. Less than a year even.
Capable of refining his hyoid bone and speaking the human language in such a short time was too much.
Also, the white ape might just know Transformation so what she was seeing right now wasn’t his true form.
Recalling her cultivation days at Mount Cangliang, she had had to spend at least sixty years to reach this white ape’s level. Upon comparison, their differences were too vast.
The white ape couldn’t possibly have relied on himself to come this far. Meaning to say, it must be Mr. Lin’s doing.
‘When I was cultivating back then, why didn’t I meet a great teacher like him?!’ Hu Yuzhen lamented inwardly. However, when her mind told her that Mr. Lin would soon teach her how to obtain a Dharma body, Hu Yuzhen became happy again.
Her respect for Lin Jin continued to grow.
When they arrived at the bottom, the fog behind them had disappeared completely. Looking back, the flight of stairs was gone.
Hu Yuzhen immediately exclaimed, “Oh no, that lion cut off our returning path.”
Lin Jin was thinking the same but he knew that it might not have been the lion. It was probably due to the restriction spell of this place.
Since they were already here, better make the best of it.
Panicking was useless anyway.
On this platform of the mountaintop, there were indeed many people and many pet beasts. However, most of them were either sitting cross-legged or strolling back and forth. Everyone was frowning, seeming to be in deep thought.
Even if Lin Jin and his group showed up, the people here didn’t seem to care.
Lin Jin was obviously curious. But someone else’s curiosity was much stronger than his as Hu Yuzhen couldn’t resist going over to ask.
The target of her inquiry was a middle-aged man. This guy’s clothes were battered and his hair disheveled. God knows how long he hadn’t tidied himself up. The man was visibly annoyed, being interrupted by Hu Yuzhen.
“What are we doing? Trying to comprehend the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll, of course. If you want to study it, go and take a look at it yourself on that stone tablet in front. Don’t disturb me.” Having said that, his head lowered again, seeming to be in full concentration.
An ominous glint flashed in Hu Yuzhen’s eyes. Had Lin Jin not been around, she might have just devoured this insensible fool.
But since Lin Jin was here, she wouldn’t do it.
“Let’s go over and look.” Lin Jin noticed the stone tablet before the hall.
As they got closer, Lin Jin’s eyebrow twitched.
Carved on this stone tablet were the full contents of the Beastmaster Scroll volumes one to three. This was a blood contract cultivation technique that was difficult to obtain in the outside world, yet, they were simply imprinted on this stone right here.
Not only that, written right after volumes one to three was the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll.
However, the words on this fourth volume were rather obscure and difficult to understand. There were even strange characters, making the contents harder to decipher. But if he focused on the parts he could understand, Lin Jin knew that this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll was undoubtedly incredible.
Lin Jin understood now. It was no wonder why these people here were so infatuated. So they were all trying to comprehend this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll.
As he read, Lin Jin couldn’t sense that time was trickling away. His mind was fully occupied with wanting to understand the secrets of this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll. There was even a voice inside him, saying that he would achieve unbelievable strength if he could successfully figure this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll out.
Thus, Lin Jin lowered his head in deep thought as well.
But at that instant, a bell resonated inside the Museum of Deadly Beasts, startling Lin Jin from his reverie.