Chapter 655 - Introspection
Once the Hui clan was eliminated, only the Fei clan was left. This was the same clan that had sent a marriage offer to the Mu clan and had asked for Mu Bing to marry their son, in exchange for getting a part of their business and paying off the debts of the clan.
The Fei clan was also a merchant clan, but they didn't particularly focus on one business. Rather, they preferred to have partnerships in other businesses and own them partially while letting the other party run.
In other words, they liked to take profits but didn't like to work.
Most of the businesses that ended up in a partnership with the Fei clan did not do it intentionally, rather they were forced to do so. The terms of it were unfair and the Fei clan would only provide enough amount to make the business function at the start and then keep on taking the profits.
It was still fine if they were taking a minority of the profit, but they often went for partnerships where they took over sixty percent of the profit.
Of course, most businesses were aware of the Fei clan's predatory practices and avoided them like the plague, but the Fei clan knew how to pick their targets. Most of the people that ended up with them were those that were unfortunate and had no other choice.
Lin Mu was rather surprised that Jing Luo had been able to gather so much information about these three clans in less than a day.
"He's rather good at this, isn't he?" Lin Mu said.
"Well, we do know that he and his family were involved in what was basically a rebellion against the empire. If they had survived till now, it is obvious that they had some skills and had learned them very well." Xukong replied.
"Hmm… I didn't think of it like that. But it does make sense now." Lin Mu agreed.
Lin Mu looked at the Fei clan below and scanned the area. The Fei clan was located at the border of the city, which was a rather strange location for a clan as big as this. They had around four hundred members and nearly the same number of servants.
~Sigh~
"Let's get this over with…" Lin Mu muttered as he quickly got the location theft targets that he was supposed to get rid of.
In the Fei clan, Lin Mu to kill all members except for the children and also around half of the servants as they were often involved in the business as well. The more Lin Mu killed, the more he found it to be easier.
Especially since these were people that had no chance of resisting or fighting back against him. He was basically trampling on ants with the cultivation base that he had right now.
Plus, the severing heart sutra made it so that the Fei Clan members had no chance of responding at all. Lin Mu did not notice this, but his eyes only got colder and colder by the time he was done getting rid of the Fei clan members.
Within the Mysterious ring, the ethereal altar flickered slightly at this moment, but calmed down before it could be noticed by Xukong or Lin Mu.
By the end of the massacre, there was not even a single drop of blood spilled and yet hundreds of lives were taken. Lin Mu ransacked the vaults of the Fei clan as well and cleared them out before retreating to the residence of the Mu clan.
It had merely taken him an hour to finish killing all three clans, which now that he thought of was a terrifyingly less amount of time to kill such a large number of people.
"The power is immense… but also puts pressure on oneself…" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he entered the main hall of the Mu clan.
"Welcome senior Lin Mu!" Mu Niu along with a few other clan members was sitting in the hall.
It was evident that Mu Niu had already informed the other clan members of Lin Mu and why he was here.
"How's Mu Tao?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Patriarch Mu Tao is at the spirit Qi gathering formation that senior Jing Luo made earlier. He will be breaking through as soon as senior Jing Luo is done with the final parts of the formation." Mu Niu answered.
"I see… I'll wait till then." Lin Mu said before taking up a seat in the hall as well.
He closed his eyes for the time being and silently chanted the calming heart sutra, feeling a bit strange.
'Killing all of them was so easy and yet… why doesn't it feel that bad to me?' Lin Mu questioned himself.
Lin Mu wondered if he had gotten too used to killing people and realized that he truly had. He no longer felt averse to the act nor the idea of doing so, as he knew that his life would hang in balance because of that.
Lin Mu spent about an hour in introspection before he was woken up by a spirit Qi fluctuation that came from outside.
"It's time," Lin Mu said as he stood up.
Mu Niu and the rest stood up as well and walked out to the area where the new spirit Qi gathering formation was made. Jing Luo had set up the basic part of the formation and it would function for now, but if he wanted it to last a long time, he would need to work on it mores.
But for Mu Tao's breakthrough, it was the perfect addition.
"Seems like your part went well?" Jing Luo questioned.
"Mmmhmm, it went smoothly." Lin Mu answered.
"There hasn't been any commotion though?" Mu Tao questioned, a few spirit Qi fluctuations coming from his body.
Lin Mu nodded his head before speaking. "they should be coming to their senses soon enough. It has been long enough…" Lin Mu said and looked in the direction of the city.
And just as he did, a faint cacophony of cries echoed from afar.