Chapter 30: Being Targeted
"Taoist Friend Jiang, are you going home again?"
At the bustling market in Yunzhong City, Lin Jiang quickly sold out his spiritual talismans. The beautiful young woman next to him asked, her face filled with envy.
"Not bad, Taoist friend Liu. I'll be leaving now."
Lin Jiang waved his hand. After years of setting up a stall at the market, he had gained some reputation. Moreover, his spiritual talismans were of the highest quality, so they were selling out at an extremely fast pace these days.
Of course, this also depended on the quantity of goods. Now, Lin Jiang had pushed himself to the limit. He could only draw around seven spiritual talismans a day. What could he sell with just seven talismans? They would be sold out in less than an hour.
Now, Lin Jiang regretted not stocking up on more spiritual talismans. He also regretted selling the previous first-grade middle-quality spiritual talismans to the commercial firm. Otherwise, he would have earned hundreds of extra spirit stones for no reason.
"Taoist Friend Jiang"
Just as Lin Jiang arrived at his doorstep, a sudden unfamiliar voice sounded. Lin Jiang realized something was wrong, but it was already too late. Someone appeared beside Lin Jiang in a swift motion, with something hard pressed against his waist.
"Don't move. With the Qianque Crossbow in my hand, even if you have treasures on you, it can pierce through your body and destroy your dantian."
A chilling voice came, making Lin Jiang's heart tighten. Then, another person approached, hugging Lin Jiang's shoulder, acting very familiar.
"Taoist friend Jiang, you wouldn't want your energy center to be shattered, would you?"
"Gentlemen, did I offend you in any way?"
"Stop talking nonsense, open the door and come inside."
"Okay."
Lin Jiang opened his protective barrier and then opened the door to go inside.
Lin Jiang finally saw the faces of the two people clearly. He recognized one of them, called Mo Lin. Mo Lin was a vendor at the big market and also one of the rich woman's followers.
"Dear Taoist friend, I don't know when I offended you all."
"Hehe, Mr. Jiang, you didn't offend me."
"Then why are you treating me like this?"
"Of course, we have our eyes on your valuable spirit stone."
Mo Lin sneered and then took Lin Jiang's storage bag. He looked inside and a look of surprise appeared on his face. He found that Lin Jiang's storage bag was a super-sized one, worth at least seven to eight thousand spirit stone. It was much more valuable than the trash they had on them.
"He really is rich, to be able to afford a super-sized storage bag."
"Quickly ask him to open the storage bag."
"No need, just kill him slowly."
"Wait a moment."
Lin Jiang saw that they were about to attack, so he immediately spoke.
"What, do you have any last words?"
"Yes, even if I die, I want to understand how you knew I lived here."
Lin Jiang said, he was a very cautious person, even though he had been setting up stalls with the beautiful young woman and Zhang Ruifeng for years, he had never revealed where he lived, he shouldn't have exposed himself.
"Hehe, you guess."
"Taoist Friend Mo, I have no other intentions, I just want to know who I offended, let me understand before I die."
"Since you sincerely asked, I will let you understand. I have been watching you for several years. It's not just me who knows you have money, half the street at the market knows you have money. You damn well leave after less than four hours of setting up your stall, wasting stall fees for nothing, without any savings, how is that possible?"
"Wow, you must be really rich to live alone in such an expensive house in Yunzhong City. I didn't dare to mess with you before because I knew you were more powerful than me. But now, I'm also in the later stage of Qi refining. So, who's afraid of who?"
"I don't think I've ever revealed where I live."
"Of course, someone told me."
"Who?"
"Haha, nice try to trick me, but no way! I'm not foolish. Once you're dead, I'll gladly tell you who it was. Prepare yourself."
Mo Lin laughed and said. He was not stupid. Anyone who could survive in the lower levels of Yunzhong City must be smart.
As soon as Mo Lin finished speaking, Lin Jiang attacked. Without his storage bag, he lost his flying sword, but he still had his silver needle tool hidden on his body.
"Explosive Element Technique, explode!"
With a loud shout, Lin Jiang's spiritual power surged in a mysterious manner, increasing his strength by ten times.
"Ding"
Two silver needles flew out, one of them pierced Mo Lin's forehead directly, while the other one collided with an arrow in another person's hand. The arrow hit by the needle deviated from its original path towards Lin Jiang. The needle also flew away, and nobody knew where it went.
"Karate chop, explode for me!"
Lin Jiang shouted again and struck with a palm. The powerful force went through the person's body from several meters away and sent him flying like a deflated basketball, crashing into the wall, leaving behind a pool of blood before sliding down.
Lin Jiang looked coldly at him. His chest had completely caved in, and although he hadn't died yet, his body twitched spasmodically, clearly beyond saving.
"Snap"
Only now did Mo Lin's body completely lose its life, falling heavily to the ground.
"Fortunately, I had learned some martial arts before."
Lin Jiang sighed. The karate chop was a mortal martial technique, but he, as a cultivator, still wielded it with great power. Of course, this was also due to him using the Explosive Element Technique, which increased its strength tenfold.
And the cost he paid was two hundred years of lifespan, but was that a lot? Even with a reduction of two hundred years, he still had over twenty thousand years of lifespan, which was irrelevant.
Lin Jiang stepped forward, took back the storage bag, took out the flying sword, and then made sure to be cautious. He didn't want to make any mistakes. He continued until they were completely dead, and then he stopped.
Lin Jiang took off their storage bags and used his divine sense to erase the imprints on them. Because the original owners had already died, it only took him two hours to erase the imprints on both storage bags.
"Two poor guys."
Lin Jiang poured out the contents of the storage bag and couldn't help but curse.
The two of them had very few things. In total, they had less than one thousand spirit stones, two flying swords, a few bottles of elixirs, a few medicinal herbs, and various other miscellaneous things. There were even some dry rations. The total value would not exceed eight thousand spirit stones. Compared to Lin Jiang's wealth, it was not an insult to call them poor.
Of course, this was the normal state for ordinary cultivators in Yunzhong City. Lin Jiang was the abnormal one. His wealth had been accumulated over the past hundred years. If Lin Jiang were the same age as them, he wouldn't be much wealthier than them.
"I'm a damn good person who takes care of both killing and burying."
Lin Jiang dug a hole in the yard and buried the two of them. He also threw in everything from their belongings that could easily expose their identities. Then he covered it with soil and even transplanted a tree. It looked like nothing had happened.
"Who could be targeting me and exposing my whereabouts to them?"
After Lin Jiang tidied up everything, he returned to his room and pondered over this question. Clearly, these two people were not the masterminds behind it all. The real culprit was someone else, as they themselves admitted.
If Lin Jiang didn't eliminate this problem, he would feel restless. After all, there was no such thing as being too prepared. He didn't know who the mastermind was. What if they tried to break into his home again? Next time, he might not be so lucky.
"Mo Lin is an independent cultivator at the big market. He knows I have money, but doesn't know where I live. He has been keeping an eye on me for years. Besides the fact that his cultivation is not as advanced as mine, he probably doesn't know where I live because the market is not a good place to make a move."
"As for who knows where I live, there shouldn't be anyone in the market. Or maybe there should be one person - my former neighbor, Taoist Friend Zhang. But Taoist Friend Zhang has been dead for many years now."
"Few others know where I live, most likely just the neighbors around here. Even though I keep to myself, I have been living here for many years. If the neighbors happen to know those people, then it all makes sense. But who could it be?"
Lin Jiang analyzed the situation carefully. He thought that the mastermind behind it all should be one of his neighbors. At least, the probability was quite high. But he still didn't know who it was.
"Whoever it may be, once this is resolved, I will have to move. It's too risky to stay in one place for too long. Just the fact that I live alone in a yard is enough to give away my wealth and arouse greed in some people. Other neighbors may also have the thought of killing for treasure."
Lin Jiang pondered for a long time, but still didn't find any useful clues. Whoever the real culprit was, after this incident, Lin Jiang wanted to move to a new home. It was dangerous to stay in one place for too long. If he lived for another hundred years, even his secrets could be exposed.
"Learn another advanced Disguise Skill, and then move homes every three to five years. Yunzhong City is so big, it's enough for me to move dozens of times. If I have nowhere else to go, I'll make a plan then."
Lin Jiang quickly made up his mind. He also needed a special skill for disguises, a very advanced one. He already knew the basic kind, but now he needed to move frequently to keep himself safe.
