Following that, Lin Yun left the One Thought Clarity Tower space and returned to the inn room.
“While waiting for the effects of the Heaven-Returning Divine Stone to wear off, I’ll just take a good rest,” Lin Yun let out a long sigh of relief.
After continuous closed-door cultivation, Lin Yun was indeed quite exhausted.
In any case, he would only go to see his master again after stepping into the Tribulation Realm.
Shortly after, Lin Yun pushed the door open and walked out of the inn room.
This time, during his seclusion in the small town, although more than seven months had passed in the One Thought Clarity Tower, only a little over a month had passed in the outside world.
At the inn’s ground floor.
“Boss, bring me a pot of wine,” Lin Yun placed ten spirit crystals on the table.
“Coming right up, sir!”
The innkeeper immediately brought over a pot of wine.
“Sir, you must be a foreigner, right? Our little town is remote, and we don’t usually get many outsiders,” the innkeeper said while placing the wine on the table.
“Yes, I’m indeed from out of town,” Lin Yun picked up the wine and poured himself a cup.
“If you’re planning to move around the town lately, sir, be careful. Our town hasn’t been peaceful recently,” the innkeeper lowered his voice.
“Oh? What’s happened?” Lin Yun seemed curious.
“Recently, some of the smaller villages below the town have shown signs of demon beast activity, and there have been frequent cases of people going missing. Everyone suspects they’ve been eaten by demon beasts,” the innkeeper explained.
“Oh?” Lin Yun was startled.
The innkeeper continued, “It’s strange, though. According to records, this area hasn’t had any trace of demon beasts for over ten thousand years. No one knows why they’ve suddenly appeared now, or where they’ve come from.”
“Didn’t you report it to the authorities?” Lin Yun asked.
“Of course we did. The town’s constables investigated but found nothing. They reported it to the county and the prefectural city, but I heard there were no results either. They just told everyone to reduce going out,” the innkeeper said.
“So careless? I really don’t know what these people are doing! A bunch of useless drunkards, do they think this is a trivial matter?” Lin Yun slapped the table, sounding somewhat annoyed.
Speaking of which, this Haiqing Prefecture was considered a border region because it neighboured the Endless Sea, and this small town was the closest to the sea!
In a place like this, anything unusual should be taken seriously enough.
“Sir, keep your voice down! You can’t just say things like that!” The innkeeper hurriedly lowered his voice, suddenly growing tense.
*Bang!*
At that moment, the sound of a table being slammed came from nearby.
At the same time, four burly men stood up angrily and marched straight over to Lin Yun’s table.
Lin Yun noticed that all four of them were wearing imperial armour.
Now he understood why the innkeeper had been so nervous.
“Gentlemen, what’s the meaning of this?” Lin Yun looked at them.
Judging by their aggressive demeanour, they clearly weren’t here with good intentions.
“We’re the useless drunkards you were talking about. We’ve come down from the prefectural city specifically to investigate this matter. I’m a captain of a thousand men in the prefectural city guard!” the leader declared arrogantly.
Lin Yun glanced at their table, which was laden with wine and meat. There was also a young, attractive woman sitting with them, clearly there to keep them company.
“Since you’re here to investigate, why aren’t you investigating instead of gorging yourselves here? If that’s not being useless drunkards, what is it?” Lin Yun sneered.
At those words, the innkeeper froze as if struck by lightning. How dare this man speak to a captain like that?
The captain’s anger flared instantly.
“You little brat, you’re asking for a beating!”
The captain immediately revealed his Void Penetration Realm cultivation and swung his sheathed sword fiercely at Lin Yun.
“Get lost!”
Lin Yun frowned and, with a sudden wave of his hand,
*Boom!*
The captain was sent flying backwards, crashing hard into a distant table and smashing it to pieces.
This scene utterly dumbfounded the innkeeper and the other guests in the inn.
This guy actually dared to attack a captain from the prefectural city? His guts were unbelievable!
“Sir!”
The other three soldiers hurriedly rushed over to help the captain up.
“What level is this guy at?”
The captain’s face turned ashen. They hadn’t even sensed the slightest fluctuation of Lin Yun’s cultivation level, meaning he had sent them flying purely with physical strength.
“Sir, this kid seems really strong. What do we do?” The three subordinates all looked to the captain.
Raging fury burned on the captain’s face.
“Kid, you dare attack us! The empire stands behind us! Do you know how serious the consequences of laying a hand on me are?” the captain roared.
He knew Lin Yun was far stronger than him, but with his status, he certainly wasn’t afraid.
“And do you know the consequences of your negligence?” Lin Yun stood up, his gaze cold as he looked at him.
Lin Yun’s eyes narrowed as he continued, “Go back immediately and tell your prefectural city lord to come here and meet me!”
“Hah, you’ve got some nerve! You want to meet the city lord? You’ll have to get past me first!”
“Men, bring everyone from outside the city here right now. If we don’t deal with him today, where’s the empire’s law?” the captain ordered his soldiers.
Such a command made the innkeeper and all the guests tense up.
It felt like a storm was about to descend.
“You still know about the empire’s law?” Lin Yun sneered.
The next moment, the aura of Lin Yun’s Third-Order Mahayana Realm erupted forth.
“What? Third, Third-Order Mahayana Realm?” Sensing this level, the captain’s expression changed drastically.
“Good heavens, Third-Order Mahayana Realm?!”
The entire inn burst into an uproar.
A cultivation level like that wasn’t just rare in a small town, it was among the absolute top even in the entire prefectural city!
In their eyes, this was an unimaginably powerful existence, far beyond their reach!
Lin Yun slowly stood and walked towards the captain.
“You, who are you? What’s your identity!” The captain looked at Lin Yun warily.
Lin Yun’s cultivation level had intimidated him.
“This, you should recognise it, right?”
Lin Yun flipped his hand, revealing a golden token given to him by his master, engraved with the words “Fire Cloud.”
This token was a symbol of identity and a mark of imperial authority!
“This, this is an Imperial Golden Feather Token!”
Upon seeing it, the captain was so terrified that he went limp and could barely stand.
“Go, tell your city lord to come here and meet me. I need to get to the bottom of this!” Lin Yun commanded coldly.
Though Lin Yun currently held no official position, as the disciple of the Fire Cloud Emperor, even an ordinary prefectural city lord would fear him!
For other matters, Lin Yun wouldn’t casually reveal his identity.
But when it came to anything involving the demon race, Lin Yun took it extremely seriously!
