Chapter 159: Dark Clock: Part 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Mr. Kenhardt is a naturalist from Olro. He has a close relationship with Redwin’s lieutenants, who are also here today.” Luo Xinna emphasized his last sentence.
Did he just threaten our Big Brother? Sarroux’s eyes were wide-eyed. For a moment, he could not believe what he had heard. At first, he thought that Dao Ling and Luo Xinna would admit their mistake and apologize, and then they would be forgiven. They had done nothing wrong except for the desertion. But now they were using Redwin’s pennant to intimidate President Lin.
“President, if we could make a deal with the Redwin military through Mr. Kendhardt, it would be—” Before Luo Xinna could finish, a gust of gale came toward him from the side. Shocked, he quickly parried with his arms. Then, he heard the briskly crackling of the bone of his arm. Before he knew it, he was sent flying out backward, slamming his head on a piece of solid metal of the ship and instantly pa.s.sed out.
Lin Sheng retracted his right hand, stepping forward with an intimidating aura of a dragon. The tourist and the crew had their hearts in their mouths and scrambled backward like a fragile breakwater pounded by powerful waves.
Taken back, Dao Ling’s face went pale before he quickly regained his composure. “President, why did you do that?” He demanded.
“Haven’t you felt your sacred power is leaving you?” Lin Sheng reached out his left hand, fingers slowly closing. As simple as the movement was, they seemed to move like phantoms at elusive speed.
“Repent…” Lin Sheng struck forward with his left hand in a swirling motion, hand seemingly extending out from his shoulder. His fist changed into a palm, aiming straight at Dao Ling. In a split second, the muscles of Dao Ling’s body sprang into action. He gritted his teeth, and with the fighting technique of Blackfeather City he had learned, he focused all his strength on his hands before sending out punches to meet Lin Sheng’s palm.
Shockwave burst out when their hands collided. Dao Ling stood still, his body quivering involuntarily as if a bolt of lightning had struck him. Blooding was oozing out of his eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils, his skin pale as if a sheet of white paper. A second later, he collapsed on his knees, with two streaks of blood rolling down his cheeks. Dao Ling died without leaving behind a single word. Lin Sheng drew back his hand, turned around, and calmly left.
The pa.s.sengers of the cruise ship screamed at seeing what happened. Some of them with family quickly covered the eyes of their children, preventing them from seeing the gruesome murder. But no one dared to come forward to stop Lin Sheng. The Ironfist Society had risen from utter obscurity to instant notoriety. Especially after the mantis attacks, the Ironfist Society had grown to become the top dog in the underworld of Huaisha. Many people among the crowd knew about this rising forces of influence, but they mostly stayed as fence-sitters when things did not concern them
Mr. Kenhardt, the gentleman of the tour group, just shook his head regretfully upon seeing Dao Ling kneeling dead on his knees. The money he received was only payment for his nods at the crucial moment. Other than that, he would be concerned. But if there was anything that he was concerned about, it was the sudden burst of physical power that Lin Sheng had displayed.
Disembarking from the ship, Lin Sheng left the rest of the matter to Sarroux and other disciples. He needed to go to deal with the person who lured the monster into the Ironfist Society in the first place. From what he knew, the stranger woman whom he saw in the hall was likely the culprit. It looked like he had met this woman before, but he could not tell when. He also heard the monster calling ‘Utiya,’ but he had no idea what it meant, nor was it her name. But he remembered her face and the sea hawk on her head. With this information at hand, he could quickly a.s.semble a photo of her and find her. Especially the sea hawk, which looked like the bird in the wanted list of the Defense Affairs Division.
Quickly, he disembarked from the cruise ship, his mind unruffled. The curious tourists gathering in the surroundings had mostly dispersed; it was not as crowded as before. As he stepped his foot on the harbor, an army officer in Redwin’s military uniform came up to him. “President Lin, you’re suspected of disturbing public order and security and being involved in a murder onboard the cruise ship. Come with me!” The military man held a gun in his hand, staring deadly at Lin Sheng.
“Are you speaking on behalf of the Defense Affairs Division or yourself?” Lin Sheng asked darkly.
“Either way, you have no right to question me! Take him!” The military officer’s face was stern, and he motioned the soldiers behind him to arrest Lin Sheng. He bet that Lin Sheng would not resist arrest as he was representing the Defense Affairs Division of Redwin. Defying arrest meant going against the Defense Affairs Division of the military, which not even the Ironfist Society could afford to do.
Lin Sheng stay put, letting the soldiers come near him. A golden light flashed in his eyes as one of the arresting soldiers took out a handcuff. The soldier began to shiver as he came closer with the handcuff to Lin Sheng. The nearer he came, the worse his shivering became. The soldier did not feel a thing when he stood far away. But now, a fearsome feeling coming out of the person whom he was going to arrest was terrorizing him. Then, one of the nearest soldier with a handcuff gritted his teeth, came up, and snapped the cuff on Lin Sheng’s wrists, closing his eyes all the time.
As the handcuff click locked, Lin Sheng twisted his hands slightly and raised them in the air, and the handcuff just snapped open. “It’s broken, officer,” said Lin Sheng, looking amusedly at the military man. “Do you have a new one?”
Another soldier came with another pair of handcuffs and snapped it on Lin Sheng’s wrists. But this one also broke apart with a slight twist of Lin Sheng’s hands. The face of the military officer went ghastly pale, and cold sweat started to trickle down his brow and temples, yet he dared not even raise his hand to wipe it away.
After three pairs of handcuffs were broken in succession, Lin Sheng nonchalantly strutted past the military officer and left the scene while his disciples bringing Dao Ling and Luo Xinna following from behind. Before leaving, Sarroux shot the military officer a glare. He did not intervene earlier because he knew that Lin Sheng would handle the situation with ease unless the president ordered so.
At late noon, Lin Sheng tossed Dao Ling’s body for cremation and then brought Luo Xinna, who was half-dead, into a quiet room. He ordered that no one should come in. Luo Xinna was valuable while he was alive, as his soul was the subject of Lin Sheng’s study. Especially the Exhortation ability, which if he could master, he would be able to make the toughest-willed prisoner talk and divulge information. What was even more important was that he would gain a more in-depth knowledge of the anatomy and nature of the souls.
Unfortunately, Luo Xinna had breathed his last before three hours had pa.s.sed, that leaving only Sarroux the only Transcendent in the Ironfist Society, notwithstanding Lin Sheng himself. Following that, Lin Sheng selected eight new, talented men and women and trained them from scratch. It was a little slow process. But these recruits, who were saved by and lived off the Ironfist Society, possessed a higher sense of loyalty than others.
After the betrayal incident such as by a martial art veteran like Dao Ling, Lin Sheng became more careful in the bestowal of Ashen Seal. He would not give out Ashen Seal until he found the right persons.
After giving instructions to Sarroux and the others earlier, they had come back with tons of ingredients for Lin Sheng. One of the hardest-to-find ingredients was white spiders. A bottle could contain up to a hundred of these eerie creatures. Other than the spiders, most of the other materials were bought off the market. Lin Sheng had now enough ingredients to carry out at least tens of summoning ceremony with some to spare. He could currently really feel the strength in numbers. But he must first find a suitable, powerful enough summoned creature—the sooner, the better. After all, he could not bluff his way out of the situation when it came to the Defense Affairs Division in Redwin’s military. A powerful summoned creature that he could conveniently use its ident.i.ty was what he sorely lacked right now.