As notices were posted one by one, from East City to the South Suburbs,
the great river outside the city gradually lost its inky blackness. Though still murky, the water was clearly much more normal.
In truth, after the Black Water Gang’s masters were annihilated and the rest scattered in disarray, the Government Office had moved quickly to settle accounts.
There weren’t many Evil Constables as audacious as Liu Zhen, but most of them were hardly clean either.
Their numerous deeds were recorded in detail. Everyone from the bottom to the top, including the County Magistrate himself, would have to await judgment from the Court.
Black Water City was now possibly even more stable than the lands outside.
But perhaps due to the impression left by the last ten years, many of the poor still chose to leave.
Large crowds gathered on the riverbank. The river was several dozen yards wide, and a good swimmer could cross it directly.
Others had felled trees to build crude sampans, which they floated on the water, cautiously paddling toward the opposite shore.
Just then, the sound of a gentle wind arose, quickly swelling into a gale, causing the nearby commoners to look up involuntarily.
A procession of more than ten lavish carriages appeared.
Their surfaces were painted with patterns of mountains and rivers, adorned with jewels. A soaring Cyan Bird had thumb-sized Red Jade set into its eyes.
Even more bizarrely, none of these carriages were pulled by fine steeds.
The gentle wind around them acted like vast wings, a slight vibration enough to send the procession soaring across the sky.
Wind-Riding carriages, incarnations of the Mountain God.
Anyone with a bit of worldly knowledge knew this meant the Yu Family had arrived.
Unfortunately, the common folk didn’t recognize them. They could only kneel and kowtow, crying out their welcome to the Immortals. In their hearts, they even connected the unsealing of the Black River with this group of Immortals who had suddenly appeared.
「Sifang Street.」
The youtiao street vendor glared resentfully at the large restaurant next door.
’Damn that black-hearted Shopkeeper. I don’t know what tricks he used, but he managed to lure Master Lin away.’
He averted his gaze and looked down at the pot of oil before him.
’Forget it. I should probably think about changing the oil anyway.’
Everyone on the street had seen the pile of corpses dragged stiffly out of the Old Woodshed a few days ago.
The Black Water Gang ostracized Master Lin, and then the Black Water Gang was no more.
There were no more Fierce Wolves or White Tigers in the city.
Even that Master Wolf, Bai Feng, though still alive, had changed into simple clothes. Rumor had it he was planning to leave the city to learn a trade.
Master Lin didn’t just garrison Sifang Street; he now held sway over the entire city!
On the second floor of the adjacent restaurant,
the Shopkeeper hadn’t cleared the room, but the other patrons had voluntarily gone downstairs.
Only three people remained at a single table.
"Master Lin, are you leaving?" The cripple had no appetite despite the table full of dishes. Beside him sat a quiet Jin Gui.
"I suppose so."
Lin Shu tightened the lid on the food box containing the braised pork knuckle, then tied the cloth strip securely to prevent the broth from spilling before finally looking up.
He glanced at the bundles beside them and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "And what’s this?"
"Heh."
Old Yang scratched his messy bird’s nest of hair in embarrassment. "She doesn’t mind that I’m a cripple, and she doesn’t want to do... that work anymore. I thought about it, and if you’re leaving Black Water City too, then I might as well take her and go."
"Her parents sold her to the Foxes to pay off a debt. Now that the Foxes are gone, the rest of the debt doesn’t need to be paid."
Ever since Cunning Fox Hall was wiped out, the city’s brothels and back alleys had become quite chaotic.
Now the Black Water Gang was gone too, and on top of that, the Government Office had begun to investigate the old scams and deceptions of the Foxes.
Many of the Brothel Madams who had been sold into the trade against their will were gradually finding new paths in life.
If there was anyone left who could unify the city’s flesh trade, it would be Master Yang, who garrisoned Cyan Willow Lane under Greedy Wolf’s orders.
But it was obvious that Master Yang had little interest in earning that kind of silver.
He was once an enforcer for a theater troupe, but in the years after being crippled, he had endured enough torment and humiliation to feel a sense of empathy for other wretched souls.
"Thank you, Master Lin."
Jin Gui stood up, first bowing deeply, then taking out a rusty Copper Ring with both hands.
Her face was full of reverence and gratitude.
Old Yang had said she didn’t mind him being a cripple, but he, for his part, had never looked down on her for having been a whore.
At the very least, when Master Lin wasn’t in Cyan Willow Lane, Old Yang, despite his limp, would dare to stand in front of the many Brothel Madams to shield them from the disciples of the Martial Arts Hall.
That, too, was a kind of courage.
"Some rascal tried to skip out on his bill earlier. I stopped him and found this on him. The kid seemed like a graverobber. Jin Gui said when she sleeps with this thing, she always has nightmares."
"There must be something strange about it. The two of us talked it over and decided to give it to you for safekeeping."
Old Yang chuckled, pressing his palms together in a pleading gesture.
Lin Shu fell silent for a moment.
’In Black Water City, something that can stir a person’s emotions...’
’Anyone with a functioning brain would associate it with Immortal Relics, not just dismiss it as something ’strange’.’
’Old Yang and Jin Gui survived at the very bottom of society; they couldn’t be that foolish.’
Lin Shu just didn’t understand. Whether it was Miss Yun or Old Yang and Jin Gui,
why was it that when faced with opportunities that could change their lives, they always thought of him first—someone they had known for less than a month?
"Please, just take it." Jin Gui placed the Copper Ring on the food box and smiled shyly. "We’re not very smart, the two of us. We wouldn’t be able to comprehend anything from it."
"Master Lin, we’ll be going now." Old Yang furtively rubbed his eyes.
Although he wanted to follow Lin Shu, he also knew that with his two crippled legs, he could never keep up with the pace he was on now.
"Wait."
Lin Shu called them back and, with a flick of his finger, produced something he had originally prepared for Old Yang.
Several wisps of Cyan Qi floated out, then split into two groups. Three wisps silently entered each of their bodies.
Now that the city’s lockdown was lifted, the Array that Yu Sheng had previously set up was useless, so he had dismantled it completely.
"Ah!"
Jin Gui and Old Yang both froze, their expressions quickly turning to alarm.
They instinctively tried to kneel but were held up by a surge of Spiritual Power.
"We are all friends. This is just an exchange of farewell gifts. Why be so formal?"
Lin Shu withdrew his gaze and gave a slight nod. "Go on. Be careful on your journey."
"You too... stay safe. A lot of the things that have happened these past few days sound terrifying."
Hearing the word "friends," Old Yang suddenly choked up. He finally let go of some of his deference and said what a friend would say.
The earlier incident with the Martial Arts Hall had served as a warning to him.
Back then, Lin Shu had been on the verge of violently attacking several disciples from the Martial Arts Hall right in front of a constable, clearly to vent Old Yang’s anger for him.
’This old cripple could easily become something an enemy uses to threaten him.’
If not for that, Old Yang would have long since been unable to stop himself from grabbing a kitchen knife and rushing over to Sifang Street.
With that said, the two of them finally picked up their bundles and limped downstairs.
Lin Shu let out a breath.
He watched them walk out of Sifang Street before reaching for the Copper Ring on the food box.
Even after passing through several hands, the Immortal Aura on the object had yet to be absorbed.
He had a pretty clear understanding of his own limitations.
Instead of trying to comprehend anything from it, Lin Shu directly took out ten pitch-black Copper Coins from the string of Sin Coins he had left and casually tossed them toward it.
"Hm?"
He stared at the ring in his hand, a look of confusion on his face.
A wisp of Golden Light had appeared on it, but no prompt had lit up.
Ten Sin Coins were enough for the Moonlight Claw Technique to break through to Qi Cultivation Sixth Grade, yet it wasn’t even enough to make this Golden Light fully reveal its true form.
The next moment, a glint appeared in Lin Shu’s eyes.
’A Foundation Establishment Immortal Technique?’
He truly hadn’t expected that the other methods he had been waiting for would arrive in such a manner.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know what kind of Immortal Technique it was.
The only string of coins Lin Shu had left needed to be saved to replenish the Moonlight Wolf Lord.
His Heartless Body was still borrowing life from this Wolf Lord to survive; it was, in the most literal sense, his lifeline.
Using it all to gamble on an unknown Immortal Technique was far too risky.
Before he could ponder it any further, BOOM! BOOM!
The sound of sonic booms exploding across the sky instantly drew the attention of the entire city’s populace.
The extravagant carriages traversed the heavens and landed near the Old Woodshed.
’They’re here?’
Lin Shu quickly put the ring into his Storage Bag.
He placed his palm on the food box with the large pork knuckle, but he had no intention of going back directly. Instead, he connected to Yu Sheng’s vision through his Essence Blood.
If the Yu Family showed any sign of anything he felt was amiss,
Lin Shu would immediately change his original plan.
This bizarre world, with its strange Immortal Families, made it truly difficult for him to trust anyone completely.

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