Chapter 248 - Fear And Respect

Lin Mu had not expected that after all these weeks he would finally find a clue to the culprits and not only that from the looks of it these men seemed to be part of the culprit's organization as well.

"This will make it much easier, now I just have to capture them before they kill themselves." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu had known that the previous ones that were captured had killed themselves after being caught to prevent any information from being revealed. Thus he now had to be quick enough and incapacitate them before they can react or do anything.

Lin Mu stood up from the bench he was sitting on and did a quick sweep of the area with his spirit sense, ensuring that he knew of all the paths that they could run to. 

'I'll have to attack them instantly after I probe them with my spirit sense, as they may get alerted if they have experienced spirit sense before.' Lin Mu thought to himself as he approached the alley.

He took a look up and blinked to the top of a house that was attached to the alley. Now he was right on top of the three men and could attack them easily, and that's what he did once he discovered their cultivation to be at the early stage of the qi refining realm.

Lin Mu jumped from there on top of one of the men and punched another when he was down. The two men had no time to react and fell down to the ground unconcious. The third man was dumbstruck as the companions that he was taking with till now had been taken down instantly.

But his shock only lasted a moment as he immediately realized the severity of his situation. He did not even look towards Lin Mu and instantly started running while pulling out something from his sleeves.

Lin Mu had his spirit sense locked on him from the very start, thus knew what he was attempting to do.

"Oh no, you won't!" Lin Mu spoke before gesturing with his hand.

~Shing~

~Splatter~

"AHHHHHHHH!" The third man screamed in pain as blood spilled on the floor of the alley.

His scream was extremely loud and attracted the attention of people who were surprised by it. Some of them directly peeked in and saw the bloody scene. Lin Mu standing over two men whose heads were bleeding, while a third man was lying a little farther, whose right hand was missing and two legs were severed.

Lin Mu had used his short sword to cut off the hand of the man which had the poison in it, and after that he cut the legs of the man as well to prevent him from running.

The people that witnessed this horrific scene screamed with terror.

"GUARDS! MURDER!"

"THERE IS A MURDERER HERE, RUN!" 

Lin Mu paid no attention to the people's scream and instead went to the legless and handless man. The man was now crying in pain and had his face covered in snot and tears. He saw a shadow looming over him and looked up with difficulty as he was lying on his chest.

"Wh-why?" The man uttered.

"Can't have you running away or killing yourself before we get some answers." Lin Mu answered in a cold tone.

By now the guards had reached the alley after listening to the screams of people. Their numbers had already been increased ever since the past incidents, thus there were some posted at every corner. The guards had their weapons drawn and were ready to act as they approached the alley.

"HALT! You are under arrest!" A guard shouted as he looked at Lin Mu with a stern gaze.

Lin Mu turned around to face the guards and their expressions fell.

"Se-Senior… Senior Lin Mu!" The guards uttered with shock.

Lin Mu looked at them with a calm expression before speaking, "Gather these three men… They're part of 'them'." 

~Gulp~

The guards swallowed their saliva, trying to suppress their fear. Two of the guards were part of the Hei Corps, thus knew exactly what Lin Mu was talking about. They were also the ones that were the calmest among the group of guards that had arrived at the scene.

They saw that the other guards had still not lowered their weapons and had them pointed at Lin Mu. A horrifying memory reappeared in their mind as they remembered their first meeting with Lin Mu.

"What are you all doing, lower your weapons!" One of them shouted while the other approached Lin Mu.

"We'll do it right way senior, don't worry." The send guard spoke.

"Hmm, you know where to take them. Inform me later when you have obtained something, I'm going out to the forest for a bit." Lin Mu replied.

"It shall be done." The man replied.

Just as Lin Mu had taken a step, he stopped and turned back to the man.

"They were talking about there being more of them at the eastern town and their workload of sacrifices being transferred there. Tell this to Hei Bao." Lin Mu added before leaving the alley under the gazes of everyone.

The people stepped back in fear as Lin Mu got closer to them and gave way to him. Although Lin Mu had become an influential figure in the town, he still wasn't known by everybody and even the ones that knew him, only knew his name and did not know how he looked like.

But seeing him dismember someone and nearly kill them was still terrifying to these people. They were used to beasts killing people but not humans killing other humans, at least not so openly. They were used to hearing bandits killing people, but seeing something with their own two eyes was completely different.

Lin Mu noticed the change in their demeanors and was a little surprised inwardly.

"Such is the truth of the world. Fear is often more powerful than respect. And for a cultivator, if they have a choice, it's better for them to be feared than respected." Xukong suddenly spoke.