I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

"This is an insult to scholarship!"

"You fucking have the nerve to call yourself civilized?" Li Lin squatted down and grabbed Jian Qiu by the collar. "Even if I burned down the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce in the middle of the night, I'd still be a hundred times more civilized than you!"

Xingqiu, who was innocently caught in the crossfire, felt that he should say something, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything.

“Because you have no evidence—” Jianqiu’s face was swollen and bruised, his eyes were half-closed, and his speech was slurred, “You have no evidence, right? According to Liyue’s laws, this is false accusation!”

“We simply ran away on our own and never committed such a crime. I don’t know any adventurer woman, and Hua Chu knows nothing about her!”

Jianqiu's face was no longer handsome, but his mind had become clearer than ever before, each word as sharp as a blade: "You have no evidence, how can you convict me? This is against the contract!"

He hissed and laughed, like a victor.

Li Lin suddenly laughed: "Do you know who I am?"

Jianqiu's expression turned serious as he sized up Li Lin: "You are... from the General Affairs Department?"

"Hahahahahaha." Li Lin laughed, then the laughter stopped abruptly, and he said expressionlessly, "I am your father."

Jianqiu's eyes widened: "You!"

Before he could even speak, Li Lin's voice swept through like a cold wind:

"You think I'd talk nonsense with you? You think I'd talk about contracts with you? I'm not even a Liyue citizen, and you're just a fucking NPC—I've already shown you respect by saying a complete sentence to you."

"How do you think I need evidence?"

Li Lin stood up, grabbed Jian Qiu by the hair, and dragged him out the door: "But since you want fairness, I'll give you fairness. Do you see that statue of the Rock King Emperor?"

The Rock King Emperor statue, seated against the mountain in the distance, has a calm expression and compassionate eyes.

Jianqiu realized what Li Lin was about to do, and his eyes were filled with terror.

"Hua Chu, run!"

"No, I won't run away!" The young lady, who had been lying on the ground since earlier, bit her lip, pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from her bosom, clasped her hands together, and pointed the paper at Li Lin.

"Put down Jianqiu!"

A mysterious light flashed across the yellowed talisman, just like the arc of a crane spreading its wings, truly wondrous.

The immortals possess three closely guarded secrets: alchemy, talismans, and external landscapes. The most typical example of talismans is the "Talisman of No Taboos," which embodies a certain contract with the heavens and earth and can be seen, to some extent, as a part of the power of the rock god.

However, after the war between the demon gods, the "Tags of No Taboos" were no longer issued, and the number of immortal talismans remaining in the mortal world gradually decreased. After all, even a mortal holding a "Tags of No Taboos" could ask a high-ranking immortal to do something that did not go against their nature.

How many Unrestricted Talismans are still left in Liyue? There are probably around thirty, but they will never be used so easily.

At this moment, the Hundred Taboos Talisman was already emitting green smoke in Hua Chu's hand, and the immortal power that had been sealed within it for thousands of years was pointing straight to Jueyun.

"Let us go, or I'll detonate this Unrestricted Talisman!" Hua Chu shouted through gritted teeth.

"No need for all that trouble." Li Lin dragged Jian Qiu over and, amidst Hua Chu's angry and frightened gaze, pinched the wisp of smoke.

“True Lord Liuyun Borrowing Wind, let me ask you, did you issue this talisman that has no taboos?”

A wisp of smoke curled upwards, and from within came the ethereal voice of the True Lord of Clouds and Wind: "Indeed... it was me three hundred years ago..."

"I understand." In front of Hua Chu, Li Lin crumpled the Hundred Taboos Talisman into a ball, then released it, letting it fall to the ground.

"And what makes you think I don't hit women?" Li Lin slowly pulled a crowbar from his crotch. "You don't think that because you're De'an's daughter, I'll spare your life, do you?"

bang——

In front of everyone's shocked faces, Li Lin swung the crowbar and smashed it into Hua Chu's cheek, turning her delicate and beautiful face into a bruise.

"Hua Chu!" Jian Qiu cried out, but Li Lin grabbed her hair and she couldn't break free. She could only watch helplessly as her beloved was smashed to the ground.

"It hurts?"

Li Lin's voice was like the wind in the land of winter: "Why didn't you think about how cold that night was?"

"Stop! If Miss Hua Chu is truly guilty, she should not be punished by vigilante justice."

Xingqiu stepped forward once again. In the end, having not seen the evidence with his own eyes, he found it hard to believe Li Lin, who had given him the ill will.

"Why only Hua Chu?" Li Lin turned around and stared at Xing Qiu. "Is it because her father, De'an, owns one of the top banks in Liyue, and has some kind of shady relationship with your family's Feiyun Merchant Guild?"

Xingqiu's face turned extremely ugly, and Chongyun beside him gestured for him to stop talking.

"So what? You're going to tell everyone in Liyue that it was all a misunderstanding, that a damn schoolteacher took advantage of a woman's beauty and killed a complete stranger, a widow, and that Miss Huachu will go back to being a young lady, marry into a good family of equal standing, and further solidify her family's power—"

"But who will pay the price for that widow's death? Who will remember that she died in the dead of night? Who will know her unspoken last words? Who will take care of the child who lost his parents at the age of ten?!"

"Yes, all you ever say is that it's all because they didn't work hard enough."

"Zhongli, look at your Liyue! In the past 3,700 years, you've only raised a bunch of capitalists like this!"

Li Lin's voice boomed like thunder, "Damn it, you dare to call this rule by people? Who are you relying on? Ke Qing and Gan Yu? If it were someone as pragmatic as Ning Guang, that would be one thing, but this group of people can't even compare to Ning Guang's toes!"

Zhongli's face was ashen. He stared at the turbulent surface of the water in the bowl without saying a word.

Li Lin put the crowbar away and shook his head indifferently: "I've changed my mind. Your heads shouldn't be placed in front of the statue of the Rock King Emperor."

He grabbed Hua Chu's long hair expressionlessly: "You should use your own heads to beg that mother for forgiveness, if she can still open her eyes and see all of this."

"I'm sorry, I still can't bear to watch all of this happen."

This time, it wasn't just Xingqiu, but also the Taoist priest Chongyun. The two young men stood up at the same time, and the Divine Eyes at their waists shone brightly.

However, it was merely a bright and shining light.

Because a pair of white jade-like antlers grew from the top of Li Lin's head, and among the branches of the antlers, clusters of hawthorn flowers bloomed, their rich fragrance lingering around Li Lin. Golden purple twilight rippled in his eyes, and a snow-white owl had landed on his shoulder at some point.

[Tier 1 Secret Technique: Forked Antlers]

[Level: canon! 】

[Sexual characteristics: Qi (Start), Dong (Winter)]

The antlers grow outwards and fork.

Li Lin turned around, his gaze sweeping over them as if he were dissecting them, and then all the strange phenomena disappeared, as if it were just a fleeting glimpse.

"Let's go back to Liyue."

Zhongli silently got up and followed behind him.

After they left, the swordsmen and sorcerers who had been too intimidated to draw their swords finally came to their senses.

"Quickly, let's get back to Liyue Harbor before them."

Xingqiu said anxiously. He had never thought that he would dare to confront a celestial being head-on, and what kind of impact would Liyue, which was the first to bear the brunt, suffer.

Both morally and logically, I should tell Lord De'an and the other members of the Liyue Seven Stars about this.

Chongyun nodded silently, picked up the few pieces of Mora meat from Boss Zhu's counter without saying a word, put down the money, and rushed out.

He hasn't eaten yet.

191. Towering Wall (Piercing Duke Limited Edition)

Li Lin and Zhong Li's return speed should have been fast, but Master Li's use of Jian Qiu in his left hand and Hua Chu in his right hand severely slowed down their overall speed.

In this situation, Xingqiu and Chongyun, who had taken shortcuts, made it back to Liyue Harbor first.

When they saw the majestic city walls of Liyue Harbor in the drizzle, the lights on Scarlet Cloud Slope that moved like stars, and the hustle and bustle of the world, a faint sonata sound came from the rain.

The musicians, hired at great expense, played their instruments with great effort, producing music that symbolized joy.

Standing in the rain, Duke De'an rushed towards the blurry figure in the distance without a second thought, seemingly oblivious to Li Lin and Zhong Li, and grabbed Hua Chu's wrist.

The old man muttered, "Look at your silly daughter, where did she run off to... In this heavy rain, hurry home and have a bowl of ginseng soup..."

He pulled hard, but nothing happened.

Duke De'an's gray eyebrows trembled in the rain. He raised his eyes, glanced at Li Lin, and seemed to awaken from a dream:

"Oh dear, this is Lord Li. I'm so confused. It's all thanks to you that I was able to rescue my daughter, Hua Chu, from this murderer. It's raining heavily here, so why don't you come back to my residence with me? I'll definitely have a generous gift for you."

"Yes, yes, it's a joyous occasion that Duke De'an has found his beloved daughter."

"Lord De'an, don't forget that you'll be hosting a grand banquet at Tiger Rock and Scarlet Cloud Slope in the future."

Such noises echoed in the rain, some praising the speaker and others making sarcastic remarks from the sidelines.

"Young man, don't be ungrateful. This is the owner of the largest bank in Liyue. You can't refuse Lord De'an's request!"

"The benefits you've received from Lord De'an are enough for you to live comfortably in Liyue Harbor for the rest of your life. Don't be ungrateful."

But all was quiet in the rain.

De'an Gong's sparse, gray hair clung to his forehead. He looked up at Li Lin and said, "After you left, I investigated your identity in Liyue Harbor... Before today, no one had ever seen you in Liyue Harbor—you were an unregistered person."

"Master Hu Tao of the Hall of Rebirth, Guest Elder Zhongli, Ke Qing of Liyue Harbor, Mr. Bai Shu of the Bubu Lodge, and legal consultant Yan Fei, they are all prominent figures, but you are not."

"Since that corpse isn't my daughter Hua Chu, then it has absolutely nothing to do with her!" Duke De'an stared solemnly at Li Lin. "Aren't you going to release my daughter?!"

The rain was silent. Li Lin shrugged and said to Zhong Li behind him, "See that?"

“I saw it, but that doesn’t prove anything. Every country has its filth.” Zhongli’s voice came from behind. “If you have the chance, you should also see the light of Liyue.”

De'an Gong's forced dignified face twisted in pain; he felt like a complete clown.

"Father...save me."

As if sensing something, Hua Chu's voice rang out.