Chapter 498: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey!
"No matter who you are, if you dare to lay a hand on my son, you will die today!"
The next moment, Yan Shiming stormed out of his private room. But when he saw Lin Mu, he froze. His face turned deathly pale, and a look of terror washed over him.
"Dad, it’s this little bastard! He dared to hit me and even killed Wu Da! Dad, kill him quickly!" Yan Chao sneered, "No, don’t kill him yet. Keep him alive for now. I want to torture him to death slowly!"
However, Yan Chao noticed his father hadn’t said a word. Instead, something terrifying happened.
THUMP!
Yan Shiming’s knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground. "Yan Shiming pays his respects to the Venerable Master!"
Venerable... Venerable Master? Yan Chao felt like his brain had short-circuited. His father, the mighty head of the Yan Family, was calling that kid Venerable Master? What in the world is happening?
"I’m very curious how you plan to torture me to death." Lin Mu’s eyes flashed with a cold light. "Yan Shiming, explain yourself. If you can’t give me a perfect reason for this, I will annihilate your entire Yan Family today!"
When he heard this, even Xu Shanhu was shocked. The Venerable Master... such ruthless methods! It seems the Yan Family has truly enraged him. So he’s planning on making an example of them by killing the chicken to warn the monkeys.
"Venerable Master, this is a grave misunderstanding!" Hearing Lin Mu’s threat, Yan Shiming was terrified. Still half-kneeling, he cried out, "Venerable Master, I didn’t know it was you! If I had, I wouldn’t have dared, not even if you gave me ten times the courage!"
"Wouldn’t dare?" Lin Mu’s tone was glacial. "Did I mishear, then? Your son kept saying he wanted to kill me, and you, Yan Shiming, claimed this was your turf. Come now, tell me. Since when did River City become the Yan Family’s territory?"
Yan Shiming’s expression changed drastically. River City belongs to the Venerable Master! They had all sworn an oath! Everything the Yan Family has today was granted by him. How could I ever dare to claim it as my own?
Yan Chao finally realized who he had provoked. He was so terrified his limbs gave out, and unable to stand, he too fell to his knees with a THUMP.
"Venerable Master, there must be a misunderstanding," Yan Shiming pleaded, his face pained. "My son, Yan Chao, though a bit of a libertine, has always been well-mannered and reasonable. He would never do anything to displease you. This has to be a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?" Lin Mu sneered. "Your son leaked my home address to the Eight Extremes Gate. Is that also a misunderstanding?"
"What?" Yan Shiming genuinely didn’t know about this. He had heard that the Eight Extremes Gate sent men to deliver a challenge to the Venerable Master, but he never imagined his own son was the one who gave them the address. This... All information about the Venerable Master is top secret in River City. Not a single detail is allowed to be revealed. And my son leaked it to an enemy?
"I... I didn’t know it was you! I truly didn’t know!" Yan Chao finally knew fear, crying out, "If I had known they were looking for you, how would I have dared? Venerable Master, please, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!"
He had provoked the very person who propped up his family. The Yan Family had only reached its current position because of Lin Mu. The scale of the disaster he had just brought upon them was unimaginable. To make matters worse, he had even boasted about torturing Lin Mu to death.
"Venerable Master, he is my only son. Now that he knows he was wrong, please spare him this once," Yan Shiming promised. "Rest assured, Venerable Master, I will take this rebellious son back and discipline him strictly!" He then roared at his son, "You ungrateful whelp, get on your knees and confess to the Venerable Master immediately!"
The Venerable Master has always been lenient with his subordinates. As long as I’m sincere in my apology, he’s sure to let this slide. That’s what Yan Shiming believed.
"Venerable Master, I know I was wrong! Please, just let me off this once," Yan Chao kowtowed frantically. "I’ll never dare again! I truly won’t!"
Unlike his earlier arrogance, Yan Chao was now consumed by genuine fear. He could never have imagined Lin Mu’s identity was so terrifying. The Venerable Master! He was the sky over River City! Forget the Yan Family; not even the combined forces of every family in River City could afford to provoke such a ruthless man.
"You still think there’ll be a next time?" Lin Mu’s expression was glacial. "It seems my leniency has made you all forget your place. In that case, I’ll be happy to remind you!"
Yan Chao shrank back, his face a mask of terror.
"No, don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me..." Scared out of his wits, Yan Chao lost control of his bodily functions. "Someone put me up to this! I didn’t mean to do it!"
Lin Mu arched an eyebrow. "Speak. Who?"
"I don’t know! I only know his surname is Lu. He said he was from Jiangling and part of the Martial Alliance!" Panicked, Yan Chao no longer dared to hide anything and spilled everything.
"Lu Tong?" Hearing the name, a surge of murderous intent flared within Lin Mu. That damn Lu Tong. He hadn’t even gone looking for him, yet here he was, courting death. Lu Tong vanished right when the Fang Family was destroyed. He clearly knows something. In that case, his head is mine for the taking!
"You little beast, you’ve doomed the Yan Family!" Yan Shiming scrambled to his feet furiously and struck Yan Chao across the face with a heavy slap. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done?"
Yan Chao looked bewildered. "I... Dad, I really didn’t know! The man gave me an address and told me to give it to the people from the Eight Extremes Gate. How was I supposed to know...?"
"You... you beast! I’ll kill you!" Yan Shiming roared, knowing perfectly well his son had been used.
"Venerable Master, my son was used by someone else. Please, spare him this one time," Yan Shiming said, his voice laced with terror. "I’m willing to give you everything the Yan Family owns, as long as you spare my son."
Lin Mu leaned back in his chair. "Yan Shiming, everything your family has, I gave you. And as I’ve said before, anything I can give, I can also take away."
"If you’ve done wrong, you must be punished!"
As the words fell, Lin Mu pointed his finger.
In the next moment, everyone in the private room watched in horror as Yan Shiming aged at a visible rate. In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged man became a decrepit elder, exuding an aura of death.
Lin Mu had once given these men an Essence Cultivating Pill, which not only made them martial experts but also extended their lives.
But now, he had taken it all back.
"No..." Yan Shiming collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with sheer terror. But as he opened his mouth to speak, his teeth began to fall out one by one. In an instant, the once-vital man lay motionless on the floor.
Seeing Yan Shiming die, Xu Shanhu felt a chill of horror. The Venerable Master’s methods are simply terrifying.
"I’ll leave the rest to you." Lin Mu stood up and walked toward the exit.
"I don’t wish to see this sort of thing happen a second time. You all know what to do."
After saying this, Lin Mu left the hotel without another word.
「That night.」
The entire Yan Family of River City was annihilated.
When the Liang Family, the Song Family, Cheng Bugui, Qiao Tianhao, and the others heard the news, they were deeply shaken.
The Venerable Master... he was making an example of them!