At five in the morning, the usually bustling streets of War Dragon City were deserted.
Suddenly, a thin figure appeared on the main street, moving swiftly. Before long, he stopped outside a high perimeter wall.
After a cautious look around, he leaped onto the wall and promptly vanished from sight.
Though the sky was still dark, the vague silhouettes of pavilions and towers projected an impressive air.
The figure moved as if he knew the place intimately, and after navigating a series of twists and turns, he stopped in a courtyard.
Then, with extreme care, he unlatched the bolt on a room's door and slipped inside.
As a martial artist, after all, Yi Mingcheng was instantly alerted, despite his Martial Dao Cultivation being only at the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm.
But just as he rolled over to sit up, a gleaming dagger was already pressed against his neck.
"This is the Lin Mansion! You have some nerve!" Despite his shock, Yi Mingcheng didn't panic. Instead, his voice was harsh as he berated the intruder.
The Lin family was one of the most prominent great families in War Dragon City. To secure the position of housekeeper in the Lin family and hold it for ten years required more than just being a smooth operator.
Though the blade was cold against his skin, Yi Mingcheng knew that if his assailant had wanted him dead, they would have acted already.
'Since they haven't killed me, they must be after something. My life is safe, for now.'
"My, how you've changed. Housekeeper Mo, now that you're the Lin family's dog, you even carry yourself differently," the intruder's voice was low and dripping with sarcasm.
Hearing this, Yi Mingcheng breathed an even deeper sigh of relief. There were many housekeepers in the Lin Mansion, but only one was surnamed Mo, and he was still on Tianduan Mountain and had yet to return.
"You have the wrong person. I am Yi Mingcheng, not Housekeeper... UGH!" Before Yi Mingcheng could finish, a fist slammed into his stomach. He gasped to cry out, but something was shoved into his mouth, melting instantly before sliding down his throat.
"What did you make me eat..." He didn't need to finish the question; the searing pain erupting in his gut was answer enough.
The oil lamp in the room flickered to life. Yi Mingcheng, who had rolled off the bed and onto the floor, looked up with a deathly pale face to see a youthful, smiling face.
"It's you!" Yi Mingcheng's eyes widened in terror, as if he had seen a ghost.
Illuminated by the oil lamp, the delicate face was smiling with exceptional radiance. Who else could it be but Lin Hao?
"Young Master Lin... no, Young Master! I can't believe you've recovered. This is wonderful news!" Yi Mingcheng's expression, which had been one of terror, instantly morphed into a look of pleasant surprise.
"Yi Mingcheng, oh, Yi Mingcheng. To think you're still so silver-tongued. I, Lin Hao, am nothing but a piece of trash whose bloodline was forcibly stolen," Lin Hao said teasingly, sitting boldly in a chair and looking down on him.
Though the pain in his gut felt like a thousand ants gnawing at his insides, Yi Mingcheng endured it and forced a smile. "Y-Young Master, you must be joking. I, Yi Mingcheng, have been with the Lin family for over thirty years, and the person I admire most is the Third Master. When he left the family, I desperately wished I could follow him, but my status was too low. A great man like him would never have noticed someone like me."
The Third Master whom Yi Mingcheng mentioned was Lin Hao's grandfather, but Lin Hao remained completely unmoved.
"Later, the Third Master returned with your honored father and mother to save the Lin family from crisis. I, Mingcheng, worshiped him as a god. You are the Third Master's grandson; in my heart, you are the one true Young Master of this family! I had my suspicions about what happened three years ago, but I was powerless to do anything, Young Master."
By the end of his speech, tears were streaming down Yi Mingcheng's face.
If this were the old Lin Hao, he might have fallen for such a "heartfelt" speech. But the Lin Hao of today would not be fooled for a second.
"The pill you just swallowed is called the Heart-devouring Pill. The poison will flare up at dawn every day. Without my antidote, you will die in excruciating agony in ten days! And on the entire Celestial Yang Continent, no one can cure it but me," Lin Hao stated calmly, completely unmoved.
Yi Mingcheng's face stiffened. He pledged, "Y-Young Master, even without this pill, this old servant would still toil for you like a beast of burden!"
"It's almost time for work to begin. You can go. At noon, I will tell you what I need you to do." Having said his piece, Lin Hao paid him no more mind, leaning back in the chair and starting to doze off.
Yi Mingcheng struggled to his feet and was stunned to find the pain was gone. He stared at Lin Hao, whose eyes were shut tight. A series of expressions flickered across his face before he bowed respectfully and exited the room.
Of course, Lin Hao wasn't actually sleeping. Not even though he hadn't closed his eyes for a day and a night since coming down from Tianduan Mountain just to get into the Lin Mansion.
Activating the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, Lin Hao pushed his Spiritual Sense to its absolute limit. When he heard Yi Mingcheng's footsteps fade into the distance, his eyes snapped open. He darted out like a cheetah and rolled underneath the bed.
The Lin family had many secret passages for escaping during a crisis, known only to the Patriarch. Lin Hao's grandfather had served as Patriarch twice and naturally knew them like the back of his hand.
His grandfather had placed high hopes on him since childhood, so Lin Hao also knew the locations of most of these passages.
The front courtyard of the Lin Mansion was originally the servants' quarters, but one of the secret passages just so happened to be located in Yi Mingcheng's room.
This, above all, was the main reason Lin Hao had chosen to target Yi Mingcheng.
Lin Hao was prepared for the worst. If Yi Mingcheng dared to call his bluff, he could still make a clean getaway.
But after waiting patiently for an hour with no disturbance, Lin Hao knew he had succeeded. Yi Mingcheng didn't dare take the risk.
Crawling out, Lin Hao sat back down in the chair and began to doze for real this time.
An unknown amount of time passed before the sound of light footsteps approached. Lin Hao's body twitched slightly, then fell still once more.
"Young Master, it's time to eat." A sharp glint flashed in Yi Mingcheng's eyes as he looked at Lin Hao, still seated in the chair. The moment Lin Hao's eyes opened, he quickly lowered his head.
A large bowl of rice was piled high with steaming meat. Without a word, Lin Hao picked up the chopsticks.
But just as he brought the food to his lips, he paused and set it down. He glanced at Yi Mingcheng, whose head was still bowed. "I just realized I'm not that hungry. You eat it."
"Young Master, you have suffered so much. This meal is my apology," Yi Mingcheng said, his tone one of utmost deference.
"When I tell you to eat, you eat! Enough with the nonsense!" Lin Hao snorted angrily.
"I... I..." Yi Mingcheng stammered for a moment before dropping to his knees with a THUD. SMACK! SMACK! He struck himself twice across the face. "Young Master, I deserve to die!"
Lin Hao sneered.
The food was fragrant, but it was poisoned.
The old Lin Hao would never have been able to detect it. But now, having absorbed the memories of the Carefree Divine Monarch, for Yi Mingcheng to attempt to use poison against him was like a novice trying to teach a grandmaster—utterly laughable.
Seeing how this fool was courting death, killing intent surged within Lin Hao. He activated the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, and a terrifying aura instantly filled the room, its pressure immense.
Lin Hao stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down at Yi Mingcheng. "Do you know," he asked coldly, "why Housekeeper Mo hasn't returned to the Lin family?"
Yi Mingcheng was a smart man; he understood the implication immediately. His pupils constricted, and his face drained of all color.
'Housekeeper Mo, whose Martial Dao Cultivation was far greater than my own, was actually killed by Lin Hao! If he wants to kill me, I'm completely defenseless, even without the poison.'
It was then that Yi Mingcheng finally recalled Lin Hao's once-monstrous talent. As his mind reeled from the implications, he began kowtowing frantically, his forehead striking the floor with audible THUDS.
"Yi Mingcheng, raise your head!" Lin Hao's voice held an absolute authority that brooked no refusal.
Lifting his head, Yi Mingcheng was stunned once more. The not-particularly-tall Lin Hao now seemed like a god of slaughter, his aura rampaging with such ferocity that it felt like being crushed by an oncoming tsunami.
"Th-this old servant, Yi Mingcheng, awaits the Young Master's judgment." Beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down his face, and his tongue began to trip over his words.
Lin Hao retracted his aura as suddenly as he had released it, his ferocious expression replaced by a harmless, innocent smile. "Rest assured," he said. "Not only will I not punish you, I'll even make your life much more comfortable than it is now."
Seeing Lin Hao's smile, Yi Mingcheng's mind raced, instantly connecting the dots from the past few days: the two servants who had beaten each other to death at the Blood-Changing Pool, the horrific state of Lin Cheng's mother's corpse, and now Housekeeper Mo's death...
An endless chill rose in his heart:
'Lin Hao... everyone completely misjudged him. We thought he'd be a drooling fool for the rest of his life, but he was just playing the fool to prey on the wise, manipulating everyone from the palm of his hand! And that aura... it was so oppressive it chilled me to the bone. It means his talent returned long ago. After three years of silence, not only is his cultivation fully restored, but he can even identify poison by scent. He must have had an expert guiding him all this time!'
Having come to this realization, Yi Mingcheng took a deep breath and prostrated himself fully, his limbs flat against the floor. "Young Master," he said in a tone of utter reverence, "this old servant was short-sighted. I even tried to poison your food just now, a crime for which I deserve to die ten thousand times. But please, give this old servant a chance to atone. From this day on, I am willing to go through fire and water for you, and I will never shrink from death!"
Lin Hao sneered inwardly. 'This guy is such a smooth operator, a master actor. I can't trust a single word he says. Still... I do need him right now.'
"Very good. You are a smart man, after all. I'll give you an opportunity. Housekeeper Mo was in charge of procuring pills for the mansion. Though there's no official news of his death, I'm sure many people are already eyeing his position covetously."
Yi Mingcheng's heart leaped. 'Though I'm a housekeeper, I'm only in charge of managing the servants—a position with pathetically few perks. Pill procurement, on the other hand, is an extremely lucrative post. If I could get that position, then...!'
Just as Lin Hao had suggested, all the housekeepers in the mansion had been eyeing Housekeeper Mo's position for the past two days. Several were already pulling strings and paying bribes.
Before Lin Hao's appearance, all he could do was dream about it; he had no advantage whatsoever.
'Now that Lin Hao has come to me, it must mean he needs a front man and can't reveal himself. But for him to bring this up... he must be absolutely confident he can make it happen.'
"Young Master, this is a ten-thousand-tael silver banknote. Please, accept it." This was the money he had set aside for bribes, but after weighing his options, Yi Mingcheng decisively offered it up.
Lin Hao only glanced at it, not taking it.
"That's probably your entire life savings, isn't it? Keep it; you'll have use for it later. Take this bottle of pills instead. I don't need to teach you how to use them, do I?" Lin Hao produced a porcelain vial and tossed it over.
"Young Master, this is..." Clutching the porcelain vial, Yi Mingcheng's tone became even more reverent.
Lin Hao said flatly, "Six High-Grade Body Forging Blood Coagulation Pills."
"W-What?!" Yi Mingcheng's eyes flew wide open. He couldn't believe his ears.
Yi Mingcheng had imagined countless possibilities, but he had never expected Lin Hao to just hand over a bottle of pills.
Because in War Dragon City, medicinal pills were simply too precious.
In War Dragon City, the great families would be at each other's throats over a single Middle-Grade Body Forging Blood Coagulation Pill. This was precisely why Housekeeper Mo had been in charge of procurement.
His Martial Dao Cultivation was the highest among all of the Lin family's housekeepers.
A high cultivation level was necessary to command respect and keep situations under control.
At first, Yi Mingcheng had been worried his own cultivation was insufficient for the task. Now, it seemed his worries had been completely unnecessary.
Six Body Forging Blood Coagulation Pills, and all of them High-Grade. Yi Mingcheng's breath grew ragged. The small porcelain vial in his hand suddenly felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds.
It was only then that a wave of immense regret washed over Yi Mingcheng.
'I just tried to poison him, hoping to trade it for the antidote. How could I have been so stupid!'
At this thought, Yi Mingcheng slapped himself hard across the face once more.