He used a concealment technique to block ordinary people, but this person was visibly very sensitive to the killing intent.
Lin Beichen’s illusion technique was still at an initial stage; it was barely enough to deceive ordinary people. For someone like the person in front of him, it was evident that he could resist the disguise.
"You intend to kill me, and they only sent you alone?"
Lin Beichen asked.
"Is one of me not enough?"
The man slightly squinted his eyes, a sinister cold light flashing in his gaze.
"I’m fair with my pricing. If you can offer a higher price, I can help you kill the Second Young Master as well."
Lin Beichen was momentarily stunned, then suddenly began to laugh.
Shameless people were not new to Lin Beichen, but someone like Fire Wolf, who made shamelessness his personality, was a first for him.
He looked Fire Wolf up and down and silently nodded in approval.
This man indeed had the strength to be so audacious.
Ordinary assassins might at most use a few guns, their skills not necessarily great.
But this man was different.
His body had almost no excess fat.
Though not large in build, every muscle was perfectly defined, indicating immense strength.
Once targeted by someone like him, unless he stayed hidden forever, he would be assassinated somewhere as soon as he stepped out in public.
Lin Beichen suddenly changed his mind.
Such a good test subject, it would be a pity to kill him.
"I don’t have money, but I have something that money can’t buy."
Lin Beichen said, taking out a candy-like pill from his hand case.
"Swallow this, and you will break through human limits. You can choose not to eat it, thinking it’s poison."
The Power of the Five Elements infused the pill.
The surface of the pill glowed, with colorful fluorescences flickering inside.
The man caught the pill, his face slightly changed, but ultimately put it in his mouth.
As soon as the pill went down his throat, the man’s face drastically changed.
"Is this an Immortal Pill?"
He widened his eyes, staring at Lin Beichen with a near-crazed look.
"How many more do you have? No matter the price, I’ll buy them all!"
"Tell me who the Second Young Master is, and I’ll give you a few more."
Lin Beichen said lazily.
He had many ways to make this man tell the truth, but they were all too troublesome.
It was just an elixir.
Perhaps to Fire Wolf it was an Immortal Pill, but to him, it was merely a candy he could create at will.
The person called the Second Young Master probably never imagined that the killer he hired at a hefty price would betray him without a second of hesitation.
Before revealing who the Second Young Master was, Fire Wolf introduced himself.
He was from the Liu Family of Nu Province, named Liu Nuyan.
According to him, the Liu Family used to be reasonably well-off centuries ago, doing dirty and tough jobs for the great and powerful households.
But in modern times, the ancestors of the Liu family felt this livelihood was too dangerous and wanted to clean the family’s reputation and become independent.
The notion was good, but it touched the sensitive nerves of the great families.
Though low in status, they knew many secrets from doing dirty and tough jobs.
Great families never trusted human nature; they only trusted the dead.
Thus, in the past few decades, Liu Nuyan’s branch had been constantly oppressed, leaving only a house and two old maids by his generation.
When Liu Nuyan grew up, the first thing he heard was about life and death choices.
"Do you want to be a dog, or a human?"
It was a question posed by the old butler sent by the great family.
Looking at his parents lying in a pool of blood beside him, Liu Nuyan chose the former without any hesitation.
Being a human meant immediate death, but being a dog, at least one could live.
For the next 30 years, every time Liu Nuyan thought of this, he felt extremely fortunate.
Being a dog for the great families was much more comfortable and well-off than struggling in the city.
Aside from training his body and occasional silencing jobs, his life was very peaceful, even leisurely.
However, he noticed a problem with this life before this year.
Nearing forty, he felt he was losing his edge, so he went to the Imperial Capital this time to submit his resignation and retire to a secondary role as an instructor.
"The Second Young Master told me that if I helped him complete this last task, I could retire."
At this point, Liu Nuyan looked at Lin Beichen and said no more.
Who he was meant to kill needed no further words.
Another candy-like pill appeared in Lin Beichen’s hand.
Greed flared in Liu Nuyan’s eyes.
"Does the Second Young Master you mentioned also have this candy?"
Lin Beichen asked playfully.
"Mr. Lin, the Second Young Master’s Immortal Pill doesn’t taste as good as yours."
Liu Nuyan said as he licked his lips hard, still looking unsatisfied.
Most families in the Imperial Capital had a lineage of hundreds, even thousands, of years.
Such ancient families naturally had some special things.
The most affluent ancient families were the imperial households, but they were not sustainable in the long run.
To the common people, there is an old saying: ’A scholar laughing at a nobleman.’
The ’scholar’ here does not refer to literati, but to members of powerful families.
Though the ancient rulers’ territories were large, they controlled only a few direct regions. The rest of the vast lands belonged to the powerful families.
These families recruited talents and researched Daoist Arts, obtaining countless pill formulas and miraculous elixirs through numerous experiments.
"It seems the waters of the Imperial Capital run very deep,"
Lin Beichen remarked with a faint smile.
The elixir he gave to Liu Nuyan was not on a whim.
Before returning from Japan, Lin Beichen had already submitted a batch of elixirs to the higher-ups.
This batch of elixirs was specifically for recovering injuries left from training.
Ordinary people using it would over-supplement due to its potent effects, but only martial artists undergoing extreme daily training had the need for it.
"Aside from the Second Young Master, who else is targeting me?"
Lin Beichen asked.
One elixir for one question.
How could Liu Nuyan be dissatisfied with this?
"I was only hired to kill; I don’t know many names, but when I met the Second Young Master, I saw someone from the Medicine Immortal Pavilion and Zhongcheng Hall."
Medicine Immortal Pavilion and Zhongcheng Hall?
Lin Beichen tapped his finger on the car window.
Two more families he had never heard of before popped up.
It seemed there were quite a few people who wanted him dead.
From the north to the south, spanning over a thousand kilometers, how could these people’s greed be so vast?
"I’ve heard of Zhongcheng Hall. Their traditional Chinese medicine business is very prosperous."
Lin Beichen suddenly said.
Liu Nuyan nodded.
"Zhongcheng Hall has been selling various ancient elixirs for centuries. To this day, their ancient elixirs are the first brand recognized by powerful families.
Moreover, they occupy more than ninety percent of the high-end traditional Chinese medicine market in the country."
As Liu Nuyan said, he pointed to the mountain road beneath Lin Beichen’s car.
"This highway was donated by Zhongcheng Hall."
"But the Medicine Immortal Pavilion is different. Their family has always been keen on exploring the mysteries of the human body. Some say their family heritage spans over a thousand years, but others say they merely inherited some secrets from alchemists."
One was renowned for refining ancient elixirs, the other focused on studying human mysteries.
If Liu Nuyan had not said it himself, Lin Beichen could hardly have imagined that those sent to assassinate him would come from such families.
The study of the human body had never disappeared.
It was just that domestic security bred too many overprotected people, making them blind to external darkness.
Every year, tens of thousands of organ transactions happen secretly in the international market.
In fact, in many countries, trading human organs is not illegal.
To them, ordinary people were just tools for storing organs, while geniuses might unlock the secrets of the human body.
So from the start, Lin Beichen knew he was never truly safe.
He had issues.
Previously, he could still use intelligence as an excuse for his problem-solving abilities. But as events escalated, intelligence alone could no longer cover it up.
Even so, Lin Beichen chose to trust his country, hence never feared underhanded schemes.
But now things were different.
He could still choose to trust his country, but also desired some freedom.
Always hiding under others’ wings was unrealistic.
Children eventually grow; why not start with the Medicine Immortal Pavilion and Zhongcheng Hall?
Lin Beichen pondered and said to Liu Nuyan:
"Take me to them."