Star Martial Era: The Way of Star Light Cultivation

Chapter 29: Chapter 25 Evil Technique

”Dad, close the door first.”

Xu Jin, having confirmed that Deng Hu was dead, gasped and shouted at his father, Xu Dajiang.

The gasping now was no longer a response to the stress but the consequence of having no experience, exerting too much force, using his full strength with every step and every attack.

Xu Jin finished speaking and, by the starlight, realized that his father was sprawled on the ground motionless; the ruffian was also lying on the ground without any signs of life.

Xu Jin was terrified.

He prayed his father hadnʼt suffered some fatal injury in the chaos.

It wasnʼt uncommon for people to die unjustly on the battlefield from stray bullets and arrows.

He hurried over in a few large strides to check.

”Dad, whatʼs happened to you, where are you hurt?” Xu Jin was frantic.

Xu Dajiang gasped heavily and glared at Xu Jin, ”What could possibly happen to your old man? Look at the trouble youʼve gotten yourself into, you rascal!”

He reached out to smack Xu Jin, but his hand wouldnʼt obey.

Xu Jin tried to help him up but couldnʼt manage, as if trying to lift a pile of mud.

”Let me catch my breath.”

Xu Jin first ran to close the courtyard gate, peering out to make sure no one was around before or after closing it, then he came back.

”Dad, are you just weak or what, should I get you something to drink?”

”Itʼs not about being weak; my legs and arms are just soft, I just need to catch my breath.”

”Iʼve been in plenty of fights with a hoe at the head of the field, but truly killing someone, this is a first for me.” After saying a few words, Xu Dajiang felt a lot better and slowly got up.

Xu Jin looked and saw that the escaping ruffian had long since died, his skull having been smashed open directly by Xu Dajiangʼs indiscriminate bludgeoning.

”Rascal, look at the mess you created, think fast about how to handle the aftermath,” Xu Dajiang panted.

”Alright!”

Xu Jin thought for a moment and then he and his father Xu Dajiang moved the five bodies into the house one by one.

Afterward, they searched all five bodies.

They had killed the men.

It would be senseless not to take their money.

The loot wasnʼt much, each of the four ruffians had four to five taels in their pockets, with Scar having a bit more, just under ten, totaling just over twenty taels among the four ruffians.

Deng Hu hadnʼt much silver on him either, aside from the forty-eight taels Xu Dajiang had already paid back, there was just a handful more, totaling just over sixty taels of silver.

Xu Jin was inclined to let it go, but Deng Hu had been shouting about having two hundred taels of silver to buy his life.

Where was this scoundrelʼs silver hidden?

Xu Jin searched the house as quickly as possible and found nothing but a stack of IOUs.

Could it be hidden in the Hidden Gate?

Xu Jin immediately dismissed the idea.

The inner room was divided into two bedrooms, one with only a quilt and the other with five or six piled up, presumably where these men bunked together.

If Deng Hu had hidden the silver in the house, he wouldnʼt feel safe with such random coming and going.

Glancing at Deng Huʼs corpse, Xu Jin started to search through it again.

In less than a minute, he found something.

Tucked into a non-descript pocket sewn into Deng Huʼs undergarment was an oil-paper packet.

The next instant, Xu Jinʼs eyes lit up.

There were two Tianyang Bank silver notes, each worth one hundred taels.

”Hm?”

Inside the oil-paper packet was also a piece of paper full of dense writing, but the light was too dim to see clearly.

Xu Jin didnʼt care and put the packet back into his bosom.

”Are you out of your mind, you rascal? Money over life? We need to get out of here fast,” his father Xu Dajiang urged.

Indeed, they couldnʼt stay long, but how should they take care of the loose ends?

Xu Jin had found lamp oil and alcohol in the house.

Quickly, Xu Jin dismissed the idea of setting fire.

Although fire would destroy the bodies and eliminate traces, it would also reveal the deaths of the gang immediately.

Then the government and even the Heavenly River Gang behind them would get involved right away and start investigating.

But, if the government were to trace the event afterward...

Pondering the situation, Xu Jin suddenly grinned.

The rate at which the government of this world solved homicide cases was nothing compared to his previous life.

He worried for nothing.

Still, major clues had to be destroyed.

Fingerprints werenʼt a concern at all.

Of course, there might be supernatural methods, since Xu Jin had managed to cultivate Star Skill.

If there were such methods, Xu Jin couldnʼt stop them.

The Tracking lessons from the Taoist Instituteʼs Star Martial Six Arts course mainly focused on scent tracking and judging various traces, not teaching anything about Star Skill.

After some thought, Xu Jin drew several buckets of water from the well in the courtyard, washed off the blood from his body, then brought half a bucket of night soil from the privy, mixed it with water, and poured it over the bodies of the gang.

The smell was immediate!

No tracking art, no matter how sophisticated, could overcome such odors.

He also used the remaining alcohol the ruffians had drunk to mask the smell of blood on himself.

Then, Xu Jin told his father Xu Dajiang to go out first, while he himself bolted the courtyard door from inside before scaling the wall.

As he climbed the wall, Xu Jin looked across several warehouses to another courtyard.

No lights were lit, no sound was made.

But this afternoon when I passed by, the door was open.

The loud pleas for mercy from Deng Hu just now should have been heard.

After some thought, Xu Jin sighed and jumped down from the wall.

Perhaps he had shown a bit of womanly compassion.

But to completely conceal the clues and go next door to kill everyone, Xu Jin really couldnʼt do it.

He was not that callous and crazed.

The green-clothed man on the rooftop had seen all of Xu Jinʼs hesitations on the wall.

”Acts with a baseline of conscience, really a treasure, letʼs watch a bit longer.” With a move, he leisurely followed, his figure completely blending into the darkness, invisible to anyone.

Father and son rushed home in the night. Maybe the nightʼs events were too stimulating; Xu Dajiang was stumbling along, relying on Xu Jin for support.

Fortunately, they made it home without incident, save for encountering a few stray dogs along the way.

Securing the home door, both Xu Dajiang and Xu Jin leaned against it and sat down, gasping for air.

It took a while before they fully calmed down.

Xu Jin heated up some water and burned all of their inner and outer garments, including shoes and socks, in the stove. After a hot bath, Xu Jin finally relaxed, donning clean old clothes.

The green-clothed man, now perched above Xu Jinʼs old home, nodded at Xu Jinʼs actions, ”Cautious enough. Although there are many oversights, for a first time, itʼs quite good.”

All possible tracking traces were erased.

Now, it was just a matter of when the hooligansʼ deaths would be discovered.

Time is the best destroyer of evidence.

The later itʼs discovered, the smaller the chance of being tracked.

After such an ordeal, they were famished. Xu Jin simply took out the two catties of old liquor, peanuts, and hard wheat cakes that he had brought in the afternoon. The pair ate wheat cakes, peanuts, and took sips of liquor.

While eating, Xu Jin clarified to Xu Dajiang the reason he had acted.

Xu Dajiang was terrified, his eyes bloodshot and ferocious as if he wanted to devour someone!

Luckily Xu Jin had turned back and listened in. Otherwise, he and his father might have been killed by the ruffians tonight.

Who knows what kind of inhuman torture poor Jiangʼer would have had to endure!

Theyʼre incensed, lamenting not stabbing enough!

Those ruffians died too easily!

The old man, though seemingly timid and wobbly-legged after tonightʼs killing, would truly step up when it mattered.

Moreover, once someone threatened his children, he would become as ferocious as an enraged lion.

After eating the wheat cakes and a few drinks of old liquor, Xu Dajiang, as if making a firm decision, said, ”Jinʼer, you get up at the fourth watch tomorrow morning and head early to the Taoist Institute.

You didnʼt spend the night at home.

Remember, if anything happens, it was me who did it, it has nothing to do with you.

You donʼt know anything about it!

Understand?”

”Dad!”

Before he could continue, Xu Jin raised his liquor bowl first, toasting with his father. He wasnʼt much of a drinker before, but drinking this old liquor after killing someone today had a different sort of thrilling sensation.

”Dad, if we really do get tracked, neither of us, father and son, will escape.

Donʼt worry, no one will know it was us.

They wonʼt find out!” said Xu Jin.

”But, in the evening as we entered the alley in front of Deng Huʼs place, we ran into someone who took a good look at us,” Xu Dajiang worriedly said.

”He doesnʼt know us.

Plus, there are several families living in Warehouse Lane, not just Deng Hu,” Xu Jin reassured him.

They had no choice.

Xu Jin and Xu Dajiangʼs original intent today had been to repay a debt.

Once the debt was paid, they were free and light—one focused on cultivation, the other focused on making money for his sonʼs dowry.

Who would have thought, after repaying the debt, the thugs still sought to kill his entire family and target Jiangʼer?

Finally, Xu Jin advised Xu Dajiang to show himself less in the county city recently. When going out, wear a straw hat and let his beard grow, probably then even if someone saw him face to face, they wouldnʼt recognize him.

Xu Jin would also need to keep a low profile.

Father and son agreed, after drinking more than half a catty of the old liquor, Xu Dajiang was sound asleep. After tending to him, Xu Jin wanted to sleep but couldnʼt.

He decided to make up for the missed evening practice in the courtyard.

Drinking Radiance Style and Five Battles Killing Fist in rotation.

He didnʼt know if it was an illusion, but after killing someone today, Xu Jinʼs Five Battles Killing Fist flowed extraordinarily smoothly, his movements almost revealing a hint of killing intent.

It was too late, and he didnʼt use the majority of the leftover Starlight on the Candou Platform, deciding to save it.

After three and a half rotations of Drinking Radiance Style, feeling mentally and soulfully exhausted, probably a sign that his Divine Soul Power was spent, he finally went to sleep.

”Adding diligent and hardworking to the list, why am I growing fonder of this kid?” The green-clothed man, who had been blown by the cold wind on the rooftop all night, peeked at Xu Jinʼs waist token as Xu Jin finally fell asleep before leaving for the county city.

Since someone likes to pretend to be an evil demon, today they shall meet a real one!

Dawn hadnʼt broken when Xu Jin was punctually awoken by his biological clock of three months.

After a sip of water and some tidy up, Xu Jin prepared to wait for the first light to perform his morning routine.

While waiting, he suddenly remembered the piece of paper pressed under the silver notes from last night and took it out for a closer look.

After just a glance, cold sweat streamed down Xu Jinʼs forehead.

Blood Introduction Star Casting Technique!

Evil Technique!

The technique of an evil demon!