The crowd’s expression eased substantially after Lin Xun withdrew his aura. However, their gazes were still filled with wariness as if they still viewed him as a dangerous person.
There was nothing Lin Xun could do. Thankfully, a shuttle train soon began to power up, indicating that it was about to set off.
After handing over the fare of one silver coin, Lin Xun and the other travelers boarded the rune shuttle, and it soon dashed into the clouds amidst a rumbling noise.
In the spacious carriage, there was a clear empty space around Lin Xun. No one dared to approach him and Lin Xun was more than happy for the peace it provided. He took the opportunity to begin sorting through his spoils from the past few days.
Lin Xun had encountered three ambushes during the seven days after he left the Blood Wolf Plains
The first occurred in a forest. There were a total of forty enemies who were all adept in forest assassination. Each enemy had been equipped with a specialized Bramble Crossbow and had been assigned to different districts in the forest. They moved like ghosts, making them very troublesome to locate and deal with.
However, such tactics were mere child’s play against a formidable expert who had walked out from Blood Kill Camp like Lin Xun. He used their own specialty against them and swiftly dispatched them one by one. In the end, only thirteen people managed to escape.
After the battle, Lin Xun ended up with seven injuries, dozens of medicinal pills, sixteen undamaged Bramble Crossbows, and twenty-three aeth weapons.
The second ambush occurred in the swamp. There were fifty enemies in total who excelled at array combat. Through a killing array that had been set up in advance, they attempted to slay Lin Xun.
However, this tactic was clearly wrong from the start!If Xue Jin, Chu Feng, and the others were told that someone tried to use a rune array against Lin Xun, they would definitely laugh themselves to death. Anyone who knew Lin Xun would never do such a deranged and stupid thing!
Sure enough, the outcome was Lin Xun using his superior mastery of runes to easily seize control of the rune array, slaughtering all of the enemies inside.
In this battle, he not only came out unscathed but he also effortlessly obtained an astonishing amount of battle spoils.
The third ambush occurred on a lake where the enemy gathered a large fleet of ships in an attempt to surround Lin Xun on the water.
The enemy had clearly learned from their previous attempts and made sure to be extremely prepared this time. Ships weren’t the only thing they had. They also outfitted two hundred elite cultivators with a huge amount of battle gear.
Unfortunately for his opponents, they could never predict that Lin Xun would somehow use the Heavenly Water Sacred Bead in his mind-sea to slip away by traveling along the lake bottom. By the time the enemy realized that something was wrong, Lin Xun was already long gone.
A meticulously prepared ambush had whiffed completely. It made everyone involved feel very awkward.
Even Lin Xun could not help but smile awkwardly when he recalled it. This was the power of luck. When you were lucky, even the heavens would be on your side. When fortune turned its back on you, even the most well-prepared ambush would end in failure…
Of course, the enemy would only grow increasingly vigilant after these failures. The next time they moved, the forces they dispatched could not be underestimated.
Lin Xun likewise understood this and made sure to make his own preparations in response.
After sorting through the battle spoils, Lin Xun could not help but sigh. The most violent method of raking it in was definitely killing and looting.
He was a prime example. The overall value of his battle spoils was at least ten thousand gold coins!
“Big Brother, there’s a lot of blood on you. My mother said to give these clothes to you.”
A young voice roused Lin Xun from his thoughts. He raised his head and saw a small girl who seemed to be between three and four years of age in the carriage nearby. Her tiny hands were clasped around a set of clothes as she stumbled toward him.
The little girl’s hair was twisted into a stalk above her head, making her look especially adorable when paired with her large innocent eyes.
Lin Xun was stunned. He looked further up and saw a woman in simple clothes smiling at him.
A warm feeling filled his heart. Lin Xun was touched by the kindness shown by the mother and daughter despite being strangers that had met by chance.
“Thank you, Little Sister.”
Lin Xun knelt down and smiled as he rubbed the little girl’s head before receiving the clothes from her.
He did not lack clothes but could not bring himself to reject the kindness behind the gift.
“Bye bye Big Brother.”
The little girl waved goodbye before she turned around to return to her mother.
Lin Xun smiled and nodded at the mother as he carefully packed the clothes. He began to ponder about how he should find a chance to give the mother and daughter a few gifts after crossing the Maple Night Mountain Range to express his gratitude.
“Big Brother, can I chat with you?”
The little girl suddenly walked over again and looked at Lin Xun with large expectant black eyes.
“Of course you may.”
Lin Xun chuckled and lifted the little girl onto his leg. “Little Sister, what do you wish to talk about with Big Brother?”
“Big Brother, they are all very scared of you. Is it because you’re very fierce?”
“Oh, do you think Big Brother is fierce?”
“Not really, I feel that Big Brother is very pretty like the dolls in my house.”
“Pretty? Hahaha, Little Sister, the word ‘pretty’ is usually not used to describe boys.”
The two of them engaged in their childish conversation. The little girl was in high spirits as Lin Xun tirelessly indulged her.
The other passengers gradually began to relax, becoming less wary and stopped subconsciously shunning Lin Xun.
All of this was attributed to a small act of kindness from a young child. Perhaps, this was the power of kindness.
……
……
A certain old mansion in the Forbidden City.
Xu Qianjing was seated before the table. Cold intelligence shone in his clear eyes as he went through the reports.
Detailed reports about the past few days were placed on the table together with several report summaries that were personally written by Xu Qianjing.
In the end, Xu Qianjing arrived at three precise conclusions.
The target, who was a Blood Kill Camp graduate, was extremely proficient in ambushing and counterattacking. In addition, he was exceedingly perceptive toward danger.
He had discovered this from the forest ambush plan a few days ago. Although it had been mentioned before in previous reports, it had never been talked about with much emphasis.
None of them, including Xu Qianjing himself, had expected the target to perfectly display the skills he had learned in Blood Kill Camp in such an outstanding manner.
As a result, the forest ambush plan ended in failure.
However, that did not affect Xu Qianjing’s mood. It was enough for him to have exchanged a single failure for a deeper understanding of the target.
What truly surprised him was the battle in the swamp!
The killing array they had set up in the swamp was called the Nine Dragons Bind Array, which was invented by a rune grandmaster from the Chi Clan. It was an extremely formidable trapping array that even Spirit Sea experts would be hard-pressed to escape from, let alone a mere Human Dipper expert.
Xu Qianjing had invested a tremendous amount of resources and manpower into the array and had originally believed it would be sufficient to checkmate the target. Who could have imagined that the plan would end in such a catastrophic failure?
Xu Qianjing had already discovered the reason for their failure. Not only did the target possess strong combat abilities and seasoned battle tactics, he was also a skilled rune master!
This was far too inconceivable.
When Xu Qianjing arrived at this conclusion, he could not help but feel doubtful. However, the bloody reality told him that it was true. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the target to seize control of the array and wipe out all of their forces!
Instead of feeling dispirited after this revelation, Xu Qianjing grew increasingly interested in cornering the target.
Hence, he came up with a seemingly perfect plan to destroy the target on a lake.
However, not even in his most ridiculous predictions could Xu Qianjing have anticipated that the target would have the means to slip away undetected via the lake bottom…
After finding out all of this, Xu Qianjing could not help but be stunned for a time. He never imagined that a Human Dipper cultivator would be able to traverse the lake bottom as if it was flat ground. It must be known that no matter how strong a cultivator’s foundations were, it was impossible to survive prolonged periods underwater without Spirit Sea stage cultivation!
And yet, the impossible had been done by the target. Moreover, he had used it to safely avoid all danger.
Since the target first appeared, they had attempted four operations against him. However, all four had ended in failure.
Xu Qianjing was unaffected, but the assistants could no longer maintain their composure. They made a constant din and some even believed that Xu Qianjing was undeserving of his Master Tactician title.
Take now for instance. While Xu Qianjing was reading the reports, the assistants were bickering nearby until their faces turned red.
Some of them believed that they should gather all of their forces to directly crush the target. Others felt that even if they didn’t use everything, they should stop being so reserved.
Essentially, they were indirectly displaying their dissatisfaction with the person in charge: Xu Qianjing.
Xu Qianjing did not say anything. After all, it was very normal for them to grumble and complain. Unless they dared to go against his instructions, he was still the one making all the decisions.
Someone sarcastically asked, “We just received news that the target is taking a rune shuttle to cross Maple Night Mountain Range. Has Young Master Xu come up with any high-level strategy yet?”
The others looked toward Xu Qianjing.
Although the words were barbed, Xu Qianjing seemed completely unaffected. He calmly replied, “It will not be too late for us to wait until he crosses Maple Night Mountain Range. I’ve already made some preparations that I believe will give the target a ‘pleasant surprise’.”
Someone coldly snorted, “Hmph, that’s too conservative. If memory serves me right, didn’t we have six of those new series Violet Hero Battleships? We should use this opportunity to blast the target to death in the air. Wouldn’t that be far better?”
The others nodded. It was impossible for a rune shuttle to avoid the attacks of a Violet Hero Battleship, making it an excellent opportunity for them to easily kill the target.