Chapter 41: The Inn with a Secret

  "Lin Zhennan, Lin Pingzhi, I know you're nearby. Now that Mrs. Lin is in our hands, I advise you to come out quietly, otherwise..."

  Luo Renjie swung his whip and lashed at "Mrs. Lin" hanging from the tree with a joyful expression.

  Lin Ping's eyes bulged with rage, his hair stood on end, and he was about to rush forward recklessly to rescue his mother.

  At this moment, a hand suddenly appeared to press his shoulder, scaring him out of his wits. He quickly turned his head and was shocked, saying: "Dad, how are you here?"

  "Calm down, don't be rash!" Lin Zhen Nan was after all the head of the household, with a calm and steady temperament. He felt that something was off, and a subconscious intuition told him that the woman hanging from the tree was not his wife of twenty years, with whom he had shared a bed and a life.

  "Mrs. Lin, it seems your husband and son are not going to bother with you anymore, if that's the case, don't blame me when you arrive at the underworld, blame your husband and son for not showing up to save you." Luo Renjie taunted loudly.

  While speaking, Luo Renjie inserted a sharp sword into the ground just below "Lin Furen", and ordered a Qingcheng disciple to ignite the rope with a torch. He cruelly said: "Lin Zhennan, Lin Pingzhi, I advise you to come out and go with us to see Master, explain the matter of killing Yu Shixiong clearly. Otherwise, you can only be separated from Lin Furen by Yin and Yang."

  Seeing the rope was about to burn through, Lin Ping couldn't bear it anymore and, disregarding Lin Zhennan's dissuasion, forced his way out, shouting: "Let go of my mother!"

  At this moment, the rope was burned off, and "Lin's wife" who was hanging from the tree fell down sharply. Just as she was about to hit the sharp sword, a small stone suddenly shot out from somewhere and deflected the sword, narrowly avoiding it. Her life was almost lost on the spot.

  "Mother!" Lin Ping shouted, rushing over and lifting the hood. He was suddenly stunned, his eyes wide with shock. The woman in front of him, dressed just like his mother, was not Mrs. Lin at all, but a strange woman brought by Luo Renjie to lure him into a trap.

  "Alas!" Seeing Lin Ping's exposure, Lin Zhennan and Madam Lin, who was hiding elsewhere, had no choice but to reveal themselves, making a last-ditch effort. The outcome was predictable: Luo Renjie and Hou Renying, both at the second-rate peak level, along with many Qingcheng Sect disciples, effortlessly captured the three members of the Lin family alive, netting them all in one go.

  "Haha, junior brother, see? I told you this method would work!" Luo Renjie said proudly to Hou Renying.

  "Brother Shifu is indeed formidable, with a hundred strategies and endless layers! Brother Shidi admires him!" Hou Renying flattered Luo Renjie.

  The cruel reality made Lin's father and son clearly realize how shallow their martial arts cultivation was, and how arrogant their previous understanding was.

  Lin Ping paid the price for his own impulsive and hot-blooded actions, and his parents were also captured together with him. He was deeply trapped in self-blame and pain.

  "You know you were wrong, impulsiveness is the devil!" Looking at Lin Ping's dejected and self-reproachful expression in secret, he muttered to himself, "Fortunately, your future senior brother is here, otherwise the Lin family would end up like the original story, only to suffer a downfall."

  Impulsiveness and hot-headedness can lead to mistakes, but it's precisely this kind of temperament that Lin Pingzhi has that wins Leng Qian's admiration. If he were to see his own kin being harmed by someone yet was afraid of getting involved himself and hid instead of going out to help, then Leng Qian would have looked at him differently, perhaps even turning his back on him and ignoring his existence altogether.

  Luo Renjie and Hou Reng ordered the Qingcheng disciples to trap Lin's three people tightly, then directly took them to Hengshan to meet with Yu Canghai who was attending Liu Zhengfeng's Golden Basin Washing Hands Conference.

  Linghu Chong was hanging far behind and did not directly take action. This time, it was to train Lauderno and Yue Lingshan. Until the crucial moment, he did not plan to intervene with his hands, and he also wanted to see what kind of tricks the mature and steady Lauderno and the ancient spirit Yue Lingshan could play together.

  This place is a poor and remote area, desolate beyond compare. Therefore, the people of Qingcheng Sect escorted Lin's three men to rush overnight, and it wasn't until dawn that they walked out of the dense forest. After another hour's journey, they found an inn by the side of the main road.

  "Big brother, everyone has been busy all night, I think it's better to eat something in this inn and rest for a while before continuing on the road." Hou Renying said to Luo Renjie.

  Everyone had been busy for a whole night, and they were already very tired and hungry. Fortunately, they finally came across an inn, but their eyes were sunken and their legs felt like lead, making it hard to move.

  "All right, we've been traveling for so long and I'm getting hungry too. Let's go in and take a break." Luo Renjie agreed. He instructed the waiter to take the horses to the stable and take good care of them, then led his disciples into the inn.

  "Waiter, quickly bring up the good wine and dishes. If you're slow, my brothers will tear down your restaurant." Hou Renying sat down and slapped the table, instructing.

  "All right, ladies and gentlemen, please wait for a moment, I'll go prepare it immediately." The shopkeeper said cleverly.

  "Those three are the culprits, let them starve then, no need to prepare food for them." Luo Renjie ordered, "First lock them in the woodshed under guard, tie them up tightly."

  Linghu Chong also leisurely followed into the inn, sat down in a corner position, changed his attire, and put the Xuan Tie heavy sword into a long wooden box, not afraid of being recognized by the Qingcheng Sect disciples.

  "Is there a Gap Inn? The name is quite meaningful." Linghu Chong thought to himself with amusement. Compared to the Yue Lai Guest House, the Longmen Guest House, which often appears in martial arts stories as a common product, the Gap Inn seems much more vivid and interesting. It seems that the owner of this inn is also an interesting person, and it's worth getting to know him if there's a chance.

  Luo Renjie slammed a silver ingot on the dinner table, urging: "Bring out whatever signature dishes you have, and hurry up. If the service is poor, I'll smash your crappy restaurant."

  "Yes, yes, yes. Gentlemen, please wait for a moment, I'll arrange it immediately." An old man with a long beard and white temples hastily came forward and quickly put the silver into his pocket. Judging from his clothes, he seemed to be the owner of this inn.

  "Quickly, Xiao San, take a few of the masters and lock these prisoners in the woodshed." The old shopkeeper instructed a slender young shop assistant who was following beside him.

  "Very well," replied the shop assistant in a clear voice, "please follow me, gentlemen."

  Luo Renjie made a gesture, and two Qingcheng disciples immediately escorted the three Lin family members to the woodshed with the shopkeeper.

  Linghu Cong hid in the corner, sipping fine wine, when he suddenly heard this familiar and clear voice. A mouthful of wine sprayed out from his mouth, and he secretly thought: "I've been fooled again! The disguises of my second brother and little sister are getting more and more impressive, and they're even addicted to dressing up as shop assistants. Last time it was in a teahouse, this time they've directly mixed into the wine tower."

  It turned out that the old shopkeeper was actually Laudorno in disguise, and the thin and weak shop assistant who took people to the woodshed was Yue Lingshan. The two people's makeup skills have become more mature, if they don't speak, Linghu Cong really can't recognize them, no wonder the Qingcheng Sect disciples were fooled by the two several times without knowing.

  Needless to say, the original shopkeeper and the store's Xiao Er must have been knocked unconscious by Yue Lingxuan and hidden in some corner. No wonder the Xiao Er who received him earlier didn't come up after going down.