Chapter 152: Something’s Fishy

If Lin Jian hadn’t possessed Thought in this pitch-black environment, combined with the opponent’s unorthodox style of mixing feints with genuine strikes, probably very few people could have dodged the assault.

To be honest, Lin Jian had broken out in a cold sweat. He had previously exchanged blows with Xu Fengbin, Xu Yunzong, and Young Master Chu. However, their moves were completely different from the man in front of him! This man possessed not only formidable Inner Strength but also an absolute mastery of combat techniques, making him a true expert among experts.

However, when the opponent realized that Lin Jian had somehow dodged his unpredictable assault, he couldn’t help but feel shocked. After all, this unorthodox method was an excellent lethal art for assassination and robbery. Even Grandmasters had fallen by his hands before. Yet, this lowly police officer had managed to weave through his feints and real strikes to retreat safely. That was truly impressive!

Naturally, his mission was total annihilation—leaving no survivors behind. So, he pressed forward. This time, his left hand launched the real strike, the Bone-Carving Knife glinting in his grip, while his right hand became a feint. The real threat was in the front; the deception lingered in the back! This was the essence of alternating between illusion and reality—his opponents could never figure out his true trajectory.

But Lin Jian dodged once again, though he was forced into another retreat! At the same time, Lin Jian was getting annoyed. He thought, "You like playing with illusions and reality, huh? Fine, then I’ll show you who the true master of deception is."

Thus, when the robed man launched his third attack, he suddenly found that the target in front of him had disappeared! That’s right—he had vanished into thin air in a split second!

The robed man froze for a moment, but immediately heard the rush of wind near his right ear. He quickly sidestepped and crouched, sweeping his Bone-Carving Knife toward his right rear. But just as his blade slashed through the air, he heard another gust of wind by his left ear!

Terrified, he scrambled to evade. He was a step too late. Though he protected his vulnerable temple, a heavy fist smashed squarely into his face! The opponent’s punching power was so immense that he felt all the teeth on the left side of his mouth loosen!

However, he had no time to worry about the pain. He thought frantically, "Where is he? Where did he go! How could he just vanish into thin air?"

Just then, he detected another gust of wind near his right ear. This time, he was smarter; instead of dodging, he launched an attack to his left! However, right as he struck at the empty space, Lin Jian’s fist slammed directly into his right temple!

In an instant, intense dizziness flooded his brain. His entire body spun in place, and he swayed, nearly collapsing to the ground! At that exact moment, Lin Jian clamped him in a scissor hold. With a forceful twist, he quickly brought the man down to the earth. Crossing his arms, Lin Jian grabbed the man behind both ears and gave a violent wrench!

CRACK!

The robed man instantly went limp! His neck bone had been snapped completely. Blood began to ooze from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

At this point, Lin Jian finally breathed a sigh of relief. This guy was definitely a highly technical fighter; Lin Jian felt that the bastard was even harder to deal with than a Grandmaster.

"Hmm, nice knife!" Lin Jian snatched the Bone-Carving Knife and pulled its sheath out from the man’s robes. The blade was about twenty centimeters long, incredibly thin, and razor-sharp. "I happen to lack a handy weapon. I’ll keep this for backup!"

Lin Jian tucked the Bone-Carving Knife into his waistband. After patting down the corpse, he suddenly tore open the opponent’s long robe. As the fabric ripped, a silk handkerchief tumbled out from inside.

Lin Jian picked it up and saw rows of neat, tiny characters embroidered onto the silk. They were stitched vertically, meant to be read from right to left in the ancient style. The first line consisted of three characters, reading "Pill Stone Technique"—a very bizarre name. The rest of the tiny text resembled classical Chinese, giving Lin Jian a headache just by looking at it. Still, he recognized quite a few characters, noticing that the text included the names of many acupuncture points.

Lin Jian knew this was likely a legendary Ancient Martial Arts Cultivation Technique, or perhaps it could be called a Qi Cultivation Skill. However, since he couldn’t actually comprehend the ancient writing, he could only carefully stow the silk cloth away.

Right at that moment, Shen Ke slowly approached his location, her gun raised. After noticing that her lover had gone quiet for a while, she couldn’t suppress her worry any longer and took the risk to come over!

Lin Jian hurried toward her. "Shen Ke," he called out in a hushed voice.

"Lin Jian, are you okay?" she asked with concern, running quickly to his side.

"I’m fine, but... I killed someone." Lin Jian took a deep breath and continued, "The opponent was an Ancient Martial Arts expert. Do you know what Ancient Martial Arts are? It’s..."

"I know. Are you saying the person sent to kill us was an Ancient Martial Arts expert?" Shen Ke asked in disbelief.

"You actually know about Ancient Martial Arts experts?" Lin Jian breathed a sigh of relief. "It’s good that you know. The opponent was an Innate Eighth Grade. If I hadn’t killed him, he would have wiped us all out!"

"An Innate Eighth Grade? You... you killed an Innate Eighth Grade expert?" Shen Ke was instantly dumbfounded.

She came from a family with a military background and had previously handled similar cases, so she had some understanding of Ancient Martial Arts and the Ancient Martial Circle. Naturally, she had never delved too deeply into it, nor did she have the qualifications to enter that circle. But she knew exactly what an Innate Eighth Grade represented. Therefore, when Lin Jian mentioned he had killed one, she was utterly shocked.

"I killed him. Are we going to be in trouble?" Lin Jian asked quietly.

"What trouble could there be?" Shen Ke scoffed. "I’ve got you covered. Who would dare do anything to you?"

"You’re the best, Shen Ke." Lin Jian held her face and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Tch, stop messing around. How did Old Cat manage to hire an Innate Eighth Grade expert? Was it really just to take me out?" Shen Ke took a deep breath. "But even now, he still hasn’t shown up."

Lin Jian asked with an odd expression, "Is that person still on the grave mound?"

"Yes, he’s still digging away. He hasn’t stopped once."

"Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong!" Lin Jian frowned. "This guy is just a decoy to attract our attention. Old Cat might have arrived a long time ago, just not from this direction."

"But..." Shen Ke paused mid-sentence, then suddenly asked, "Do you think they might have dug a tunnel from further away? That way, they could send out a scapegoat to draw our eyes while the rest of them successfully enter the tomb from elsewhere?"

"That’s definitely possible; it happens on TV all the time. Your guess is probably spot on. Old Cat must be tunneling from another direction, and it’s highly likely the tunnel was completed a long time ago. Tonight is just their final window of action."

"Right, right, right! They must be at another location." Shen Ke took a deep breath. "Come on, let’s go find them!"

"Aren’t you going to call for backup?"

Lin Jian shook his head. "This place is huge, and it’s pitch-black. How are the two of us supposed to find them?"

"I already called for backup; they’ll be here shortly," Shen Ke replied.

Lin Jian nodded in understanding. After thinking for a moment, he suggested, "Why don’t we go up to the mound and subdue that guy first? If we stand on the grave mound, we’ll get a clear view of the exact situation in the other directions!"

"No, we can’t alert the snake in the grass before spotting Old Cat." Even though Shen Ke knew the person on the mound was a scapegoat, she wouldn’t arrest him just yet. She had to locate the hidden Old Cat first.

Lin Jian sighed. Old Cat had probably anticipated this exact hesitation, right? The police couldn’t see him, so they wouldn’t dare make a massive scene to arrest anyone out of fear of startling him and causing him to flee. That meant he would have plenty of time at his actual location to infiltrate the tomb and loot it. By the time the police finally realized what was happening, he would have already escaped with the tomb’s treasures from another direction.

"Shen Ke, do you trust me?" At this point, Lin Jian didn’t want her searching blindly. Moreover, finding and killing Old Cat was his true purpose for coming to Anxi!

Therefore, he was going to use his own methods to root Old Cat out.