Chapter 299 As Silent as a Cicada in Late Autumn

Rui Qing yelled angrily and made the imposing middle-aged man take a look at Lin Xun.

Lin Xun appeared to be a handsome, gentle and harmless youngster, but when the middle-aged man met Lin Xun’s deep and dark eyes, he inexplicably felt a sense of fear surge to his heart.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, swept a glance around, and said in bewilderment, “A fierce battle seemed to have happened just now?”

Lin Xun smiled inwardly. He knew that the imposing middle-aged man was a cunning old fox and had already sensed that something was wrong.

“That’s correct.” Lin Xun nodded.

Rui Qing interrupted, “Father, don’t waste time talking to him. Just kill him!”

Lin Xun smiled. “Friend, if I hadn’t thrown you out of the restaurant just now, do you think you would still be alive?” He directed him to the rubble of the restaurant as he was speaking.

Rui Qing fumed, “What the hell do you mean by you saved me? Do I need you to save me?”

He stormed toward Lin Xun and swung his hand towards his face. He knew that he didn’t need to fear anything with his father as his backing.

However, Rui Qing had just moved when his father stepped forward with a frown and lashed out with a slap to his face. He stumbled and fell on his buttocks while clutching his face and screaming.

“Father...you...what are you doing?” Rui Qing’s face twisted with disbelief. Even the people standing behind them looked perplexed.

However, the middle-aged man ignored him and bowed his head at Lin Xun. He said gratefully, “Thank you, little friend, for forgetting about the past and repaying hatred with kindness. If I hadn’t witnessed this with my own eyes, I would have been deceived by my son and caused a big misunderstanding.”

“Don’t mention it. It was nothing,” Lin Xun replied casually.

“Father, you believe that guy’s nonsense?” Rui Qing fumed.

PA!

The imposing middle-aged man slapped him again and scolded, “Are you blind? If it wasn’t for this young master, would you still be alive?”

“I…”

Rui Qing wanted to weep but no tears came out. What do you mean he saved my life? He just threw me out of the restaurant!

How did he save my life?

“Shut up!” The middle-aged man shot a glare at him and made him shudder all over.

The middle-aged man was very furious. Given the state of the destruction, anyone with brains would know that Rui Qing wouldn’t have been able to survive if he was inside the restaurant.

Even if Rui Qing was beaten, humiliated, and thrown out of the window, it didn’t matter as long as he was still alive.

“Little friend, I’m sorry you had to see this. My son grew up in Qingliu Town and so is like a frog at the bottom of a well. He is arrogant and ignorant. He doesn’t know how tall the sky is. Please forgive him if he has offended you,” the imposing middle-aged man sincerely explained with a cupped fist salute.

Lin Xun couldn’t help but wonder whether the father and son were a real father and son pair. One was as intelligent as an old fox and the other was as stupid as an idiot. The difference between them was too huge.

“Little friend, if you don’t mind, please come to our humble abode so we can prepare a banquet for you to express our gratitude,” the middle-aged man invited Lin Xun.

He could tell from one glance that, although Lin Xun was dressed plainly, he had a unique air around him and wasn’t an ordinary person.

“There’s no need. But I would like to ask Elder for a little favor,” said Lin Xun

The middle-aged man was taken aback at first but he immediately urged, “Little friend, just tell me what it is?”

“There are fifty-one corpses nearby and in the rubble. Elder, can you send your subordinates to help me collect the items on them?” Lin Xun asked with a smile.

The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes, waved his hand, and told his subordinates to act as instructed. Then, he looked surprised at Lin Xun and whispered, “Little friend, can I ask if you are the one who…killed all those people?”

Lin Xun just smiled and didn’t deny it.

However, his answer was obvious and the imposing middle-aged man couldn’t help but inhale sharply. Judging from the state of Maple Night Restaurant, the battle was no doubt not a small one.

The youngster’s opponents had to be extremely powerful, at least at the Human Dipper Stage!

“Amazing,” the imposing middle-aged man marveled. He didn’t ask about the cause of the battle, and he also didn’t want to get involved.

Before long, a group of subordinates came back to report to him, all carrying a heap of various aeth tools, crossbows and bows.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The imposing middle-aged man’s eyes went wide as he swept a glance over the various weapons. Divine Arm crossbow, Violent Armor crossbow and Blood-Breaking crossbow…

There are dozens of them! Together they are worth thousands of gold coins!

Moreover, that was only a small part of the youngster’s spoils. In addition to weapons, there were dozens of armors, combat boots, and wrist protectors as well as upper human-grade aeth tools and hundreds of kinds of medicinal herbs!

The middle-aged man was most astonished that all the equipment, tools and medicines were high-quality products that couldn’t be found on the market!

The subordinates were also in stunned silence. Their breathing was rapid and their eyes were red and blazing with greed.

Rui Qing looked even worse. His eyes almost popped out and his jaw dropped. A voice echoed repeatedly in his head. How much are those worth?!

“Everyone, although the items on the corpses are valuable, it’s not a good idea to pocket them as they may bring you danger,” Lin Xun suddenly spoke. His voice was indifferent, but it was as terrifying as a rumble of thunder in the imposing middle-aged man’s ear.

His face suddenly paled and a terrifying cold glint flashed in his eyes. “Whoever has pocketed any must return them this instant. Otherwise don’t blame me for being impolite!”

The subordinates all stiffened and many people’s expressions turned awkward. But no one dared to admit that they took advantage of the chance to pocket some of the items.

Lin Xun smiled. “All right, since you’re not afraid of retaliation from the influential figures in Forbidden City, I don’t need to remind you further.” As he was speaking, he started to pick up spoils on the ground.

However, the middle-aged man and his subordinates assumed terrified expressions.

All of these dead people were cultivators from the Forbidden City, the capital of the empire!?

The imposing middle-aged man yelled, “I’ll give you one last chance to hand them over now and I won’t pursue matters further. If anyone dares to hide anything, I will kill their whole family!” He was extremely afraid and didn’t dare to take a chance on whether or not what Lin Xun said was true.

Immediately, eight subordinates sprang up and glumly handed over some aeth tools.

“You all deserve to die!” The imposing middle-aged man was so furious that his hair seemed to sizzle.

Lin Xun smiled, put away the spoils, and waved. “Everyone, farewell.”

Before his voice faded, he was already strolling away from them.

As the middle-aged man watched Lin Xun’s figure disappear into the distance, his expression changed indefinitely. In the end, he sighed and retracted his gaze.

“Father, are you just going to let him go?” Rui Qing said bitterly.

The middle-aged man didn’t get angry. Instead, his face grew overcast and he said, “Those things are not something we can touch.”

“Do you really believe what that kid said?” asked Rui Qing.

The middle-aged man waved his hand, signaling the subordinates to bring over the nearby corpses.

The miserable way they died sent a chill down the middle-aged man’s spine and made all his hair stand on end.

He drew a deep breath and said, “Take a look. These cultivators are all at the Heavenly Dipper Stage but they were all shot to death. It was the doing of the youngster.”

Everyone became paralyzed with shock and horror. Even Rui Qing was no exception.

The middle-aged man continued, “Think about it. The aeth tools just now were all high-grade products that can’t be found on the market. What sort of people could dispatch so many top experts at once and equip them with such weapons and armor?”

Everyone was so terrified that they shuddered all over.

“I have a hunch that the young man didn’t lie to us. These corpses...are all cultivators from a certain major clan in the Forbidden City. Only they can dispatch so many elite cultivators at once.”

The middle-aged man’s expression was complicated—a mixture of fear, gladness, and shock.

“Father, that kid killed so many people. He...Is he not worried about them retaliating?” Rui Qing asked in a trembling voice.

“We shouldn’t get involved in that kind of matter. And we shouldn’t mention this matter again in the future. Although no one in Qingliu Town dares to touch our Rui Family, we are nothing to the true major forces and clans in the empire. Once we’re swept into the storm, we could be wiped out in it!”

The middle-aged man drew several deep breaths before he said through gritted teeth, “Everyone, remember to not disclose what happened today. I will slaughter the entire family of whomever dares to disobey!”

Everyone nodded in unison and remained as silent as cicadas in late autumn.

……

Meanwhile, Lin Xun had just left Qingliu Town. Ahead was a dense forest.

He surveyed the surroundings and he reckoned that he was halfway to the Forbidden City and would reach it in seven days.

He was well aware that his journey ahead would be increasingly more dangerous and it wouldn’t be smooth.

However, he wasn’t afraid of any danger that would come his way as long as he didn’t encounter cultivators of the Spirit Sea Stage or above.

Luoluo was already deep asleep in the basket. Lin Xun was worried that the battle would frighten her so he had hypnotized her using his mind-sea power before the battle began.

“Xu Qianjing...a master tactician….the attacks that I would face would be more and more dangerous. Fortunately, I have just broken through to the Earth Dipper Stage. Even Xu Qianjing likely doesn’t know about this…”

Lin Xun analyzed his situation as he hastened his journey to the Forbidden City.