Chapter 572: No One Returns
Lin Jin wouldn’t just wait around and do nothing, of course. Since he would be dealing with hordes of monsters, he had to prepare for the battle.
The sun began to set, signaling the speedy arrival of dusk.
A group of people who looked like travelers arrived at Bull Village. However, these people were in such a hurry that they didn’t even talk among themselves. While they seemed normal at first, one would notice how odd they were by looking closely.
On the surface, they looked like a bunch of human beings, but they lacked life energy. Their sudden appearance in the evening made the atmosphere even weirder.
The group entered Bull Village in search of something.
They found nothing.
They couldn’t be blamed because Lin Jin had set up a formation and hid them both with Camouflage. When the group walked past Lin Jin and Huang Qi, they weren’t able to see a thing.
Huang Qi’s jaw dropped, staring at them.
Both he and Lin Jin knew full well that while these seemed like ordinary people, they were actually ghost servants.
These beings would never come out when the sun was high. They only dared to do so after the sun begins to set.
There was a saying that ‘ghosts act as the paw of the tiger’. Since there were ghost servants, there must be a tiger monster nearby.
Lin Jin had met these before and they reminded him of Hu Yuzhen of Mount Cangliang. He wondered what her cultivation level was right now. Did she heed his advice and stopped eating humans?
The ghost servants failed to find anything useful, so they went and stood in different parts of the village. With a glint in their eyes, they shouted in unison, “Welcome, Banner Master Foul Wind, Banner Master Fire Wind, Banner Master Ominous Wind.”
The real deals were finally here.
Lin Jin’s ears perked up.
Just like Huang Qi had said, three banner masters showed up.
Dark, ominous wind blew and clouds of black fog surged. Soon, three individuals came into view.
The three had varying appearances but looked more human compared to Huang Qi. At least they didn’t look like half-human, half-beast. This along, proved that they were much stronger than Huang Qi.
At least their Transfiguration cultivation was better.
Of the three monsters, two were male and one female.
One was muscular with a large head and walked like he was being carried by the wind. He exuded a hostile aura as he moved. The other man had a head of flaming red hair. The last woman oozed femininity. She was dressed in a skimpy outfit, but thanks to the veil that covered her face, she possessed an air of exotic mystique.
The ghost servants approached the muscular guy and knelt down.
“Banner Master Bing, we didn’t find traces of Banner Master Huang or any other humans,” reported one of the ghosts.
“That’s odd!” The large man looked displeased. He then surveyed the area with his dark eyes. “That Yellow Wind guy isn’t very strong but he’s still a banner master. He shouldn’t have any problems dealing with normal humans. How could he have suddenly gone missing?”
“Banner Master Foul Wind, this Bull Village is rundown to this extent. Perhaps the humans have escaped, and Yellow Wind had gone off to track them down?” suggested the redhead.
“No. Even if that was the case, he would have been back by now. He may not be strong but he would never dare to break the cave’s rules. Something must have happened,” said the female monster. Suddenly, she sensed something and swept her arm across the air.
More than ten little snakes darted out of her sleeve and slithered in all directions. One of them just happened to move toward Lin Jin so the Camouflage was affected.
They had been sniffed out.
Despite his shock, Lin Jin did not hesitate.
He flicked his fingers and fired out a few needles.
Lin Jin’s mastery of needles had now reached an incredible level. Although the three monsters were much stronger than Huang Qi, they were still weaker than Lin Jin by a long shot.
Once the needles were deployed, the Camouflage spell was instantly undone. The three monsters were startled but they reacted quickly.
Too bad, Lin Jin’s needles were still faster.
The first victim was the redhead. He was just about to send forth a fire blaze when two needles lodged themselves into his acupoints. He fell to the ground immediately, groaning in pain.
Sensing danger, the muscle man let out a roar that didn’t actually do anything. Then, he was pierced and rendered immobile, just like the redhead.
Only Banner Master Ominous Wind was left. She used her snakes to shield herself from the needles. Knowing that she couldn’t win the fight alone, she decided to retreat from the battlefield.
Lin Jin naturally wouldn’t let her do that.
His Beast Deterrence influence came crashing down on her. Although Banner Master Ominous Wind was Rank 4, at Lin Jin’s level, Rank 4 monsters could intimidate him no more.
Needles were once again launched, and Banner Master Ominous Wind shared the same fate as her two companions.
Lin Jin’s attack overwhelmed the enemy.
Huang Qi watched the entire thing unfold, and was now trembling in fear.
This human was too strong.
Foul Wind, Fire Wind, Ominous Wind. Either one of these banner masters was stronger than himself, and yet, even when they came as a group, they were defeated with two swift strikes.
He couldn’t believe it.
Huang Qi was too frightened to move right now. He didn’t need the monster-locking pill to influence him this time. He was genuinely scared.
Without exceptions, all three banner masters were fed Lin Jin’s monster-locking pill. At first, they had been wilful and ferocious. However, after the effects of the pill set in, they started to behave.
As he watched the three banner masters wail in agony, for some reason, Huang Qi felt a different sensation bubbling inside him.
He was actually a little delighted at their misfortune.
He was experiencing schadenfreude, probably because they suffered the same pain as he did.
This also made Huang Qi understand that if he wanted to live, he had to obey this human’s order.
Thus, his attitude changed.
Lin Jin conducted a round of interrogation for the three new banner masters. Lin Jin had experience now. Those who had consumed the monster-locking pill could never hope to be free again unless they died.
The only difference now was the level of suffering.
About four hours later, the three of them finally caved in. Lin Jin had Huang Qi tell them the rules. In a way, Huang Qi received somewhat of a ‘promotion’. This, of course, made Huang Qi feel a little more loyal to Lin Jin.
Back in Dark Wind Cave, he faced constant bullying because he was the lowest ranking bannerman. Now, thanks to Lin Jin, he was given a limited degree of authority.
Huang Qi figured that this strong human wasn’t so bad after all.
Now that these three were dealt with, Lin Jin had to find out what was Dark Wind Cave’s next move. Would they send everyone out of the cave to track down the missing bannermen?
If that was the case, wasn’t it better for him to go for a preemptive strike?
After Huang Qi analyzed the possibilities, he advised Lin Jin to wait.
“One of the rules of Dark Wind Cave is that if the banner masters exceed the stipulated time for their missions, a search party would be dispatched. They wouldn’t report incidents like these to the cave master yet, so a few more banner masters would probably be sent out again. Perhaps there would be a larger search party, but that’s it.”
Looks like Huang Qi was adjusting well to this role.
This was good.
Lin Jin needed sensible creatures like Huang Qi.