After settling the Gibbs family, Mu Lin transformed his appearance back to the way he looked when he first graduated, and Jack drove him to a café. There, Mu Lin dismissed Jack and walked back to campus alone.
After finding a spot to remove his disguise, Mu Lin returned to his apartment. Following lunch, he began to contemplate his plans, determined to make Boston his strategic rear base.
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the U.S. Founded in 1630 by English Puritans, it was the largest city and colonial center in British North America until the mid-18th century. It was officially incorporated as a city in 1822 and connected by rail in the 1830s. In the latter half of the 19th century, manufacturing and commerce replaced maritime trade as the dominant industries. The city completed land reclamation projects, expanded its boundaries by incorporating nearby suburbs, and rapidly grew in size. Since 1958, large-scale urban renewal plans have been implemented, including the construction of high-rise residential and public buildings. Boston’s economy is primarily driven by banking, insurance, investment management, and other financial services.
Major industries include textiles, food processing, clothing, footwear, leather goods, and printing. Electronics, metal processing, and shipbuilding industries expanded rapidly after World War II. Boston is a wholesale and retail hub in New England, with notable fish and wool markets. Its subway system, established in 1897, is among the oldest in the U.S., and the city’s eastern edge is home to Logan International Airport.
Boston Harbor is one of the nation’s key ports, accommodating ocean freighters with convenient multimodal transportation. The city retains many 17th- and 18th-century churches, homes, and Revolutionary War memorials. Boston Common is the oldest public park in the U.S., and the downtown commercial district features modern skyscrapers. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is among the world’s finest musical ensembles. The city is also home to Harvard University, MIT, and the renowned Massachusetts Medical School in the northwest.
Boston is a beautiful city with four distinct seasons, and summer, from June to August, is the most cherished time of year. During these months, the city is filled with sunshine and countless free concerts and performances. The vibrant summer scene, with its enthusiastic participation from locals and tourists alike, makes Boston come alive. With convenient transportation and a peaceful, historic atmosphere, Boston strikes a perfect balance between modernity and tradition—making it the ideal rear base in Mu Lin’s mind.
As the saying goes, “rabbits don’t eat grass around their burrows.” Mu Lin had no intention of turning Boston into a city ruled by the underworld. He believed it was necessary to bring the David family under his control. As long as he avoided close contact with them, the authorities wouldn’t suspect anything. By establishing Boston as his retreat and settling his family here, both he and his loved ones would be safe, allowing him to pursue cultivation without distraction.
However, he didn’t act immediately. After subduing both the Douglas and Gibbs families, although they had ceased hostilities, the decades of rivalry between the two families couldn’t simply vanish overnight. While their upper echelons could maintain a temporary peace, he allowed the lower-level grudges to persist. This would create a false impression for both the government and the David family. If the David family feared a joint attack, they might flee, prompting the government to launch a devastating military strike against both families. Mu Lin wanted to avoid such an outcome.
Additionally, Mu Lin had recently used a significant amount of his spiritual energy and needed time to recover. Otherwise, a drop in cultivation would make controlling even five families not worth the effort. He assigned Douglas to send Claire to audit the accounts of various branches. After the Douglas incident, Mu Lin no longer believed the underworld here was less active—it was simply more covert and powerful than back home. He hired a new security guard and a nanny to care for his sisters, and his life gradually returned to normal.
Half a month later, Mu Lin felt his spiritual energy fully restored, even more refined than before. His control over spiritual awareness had also improved significantly. He believed that if a similar incident to the Douglas family arose, he could resolve it a third faster than before. This experience taught him that spiritual energy becomes more refined through frequent use, prompting him to consider more ways to utilize it—especially in crafting magical artifacts.
However, immediate action wasn’t possible. Cultivators first require wealth. Without financial resources, he couldn’t afford the necessary materials, most of which were in the hands of ordinary people. Many required processing by them, meaning he couldn’t craft his magical items yet. He couldn’t afford to spend all his time searching for materials through deception or theft.
As for the finances of the three Boston families, they were limited, and the government closely monitored their financial activities. If the authorities noticed large-scale metal refining and mysterious disappearances of materials, they would suspect unusual underworld activity. Over time, his connection to these families would be exposed, ending his peaceful cultivation days. For now, Boston could only serve as his temporary rear base.
Through intelligence from the two families, Mu Lin mapped out the David family’s influence. The Douglas family, once a partner, suddenly terminated their cooperation agreement, and the law firm used as bait was transformed into a real acquisition. Despite this, Douglas remained in control, while the Gibbs family remained inactive, aside from minor skirmishes between their lower ranks.
All of this left the David family completely confused. The David family were early Italian immigrants, and Boston’s early population was primarily composed of immigrants from Britain, France, and Italy. These three families represented their respective ethnic groups, consolidating power to form the three dominant factions. Historically, the British and French were often at war, and the Douglas and Gibbs families mirrored this rivalry, engaged in constant conflict.
On the surface, the David family appeared to be the weakest of the three. However, over the years, they had mastered the art of profiting from chaos without suffering major losses. When the two families provided intelligence on the David family’s operations, their reports often conflicted. Mu Lin had to cross-reference and analyze both to form his own conclusions.
Through his own investigations, Mu Lin discovered that the David family had ties to Italian organized crime. Just as the Douglas and Gibbs families were preparing for another round of conflict, the David family leader, Cox David, left Boston for Sicily. Mu Lin waited until three days after Cox’s return before deciding to act that night.
It was a weekend, and as usual, Mu Lin disguised himself as a white man—this time as a trendy youth with curly hair, a large earring, and sunglasses, riding a motorcycle. Two kilometers from the David family’s base, he parked his bike and stored it in his ring. Under the cover of darkness, he stealthily approached the family’s core residence.
At an outer outpost, Mu Lin subdued the family living there and waited until late at night. Unlike the Douglas and Gibbs families, the David family’s outer perimeter was mostly inhabited by their own members, forming an effective protective barrier. Any outsider approaching would trigger an alarm. Aware of this from prior reconnaissance, Mu Lin adopted a gradual infiltration strategy, moving inward layer by layer. He waited until he confirmed that most of the surrounding people were asleep, leaving only night guards patrolling.
Then, Mu Lin sprang into action. Like the previous two times, he targeted only the core family members. Now wearing a light gray ninja suit, he moved like a bird into the courtyard where Cox David resided.
Mu Lin chose the light gray suit based on his own observations. At his current level, he couldn’t use invisibility spells. Once, wearing black made him stand out under the city’s bright streetlights, so he opted for gray, which blended better in dim lighting.
Cox lived in a three-story villa—his son on the first floor, himself on the second, and guards on the ground floor. Mu Lin used his martial arts to leap onto the roof and quickly knocked out several night guards. He then entered Cox’s son’s room. Cox had three sons and four daughters, all of whom were married except the three sons. After applying the Mu Clan Puppet Technique to Cox’s sons, Mu Lin moved to Cox’s room.
Cox and his wife were sleeping together. Mu Lin first immobilized them and then implanted a memory. In an earlier family conflict, Mu Lin’s great-uncle had saved Cox’s grandfather, who had fled to China in disgrace. In gratitude, Cox’s grandfather swore eternal loyalty to Mu Lin’s great-uncle, who later funded his move to Boston to build his business. After his death, this oath was passed down to his sons, then to Cox, his wife, and children. Mu Lin left behind a portrait of his great-uncle drawn on ancient paper inside Cox’s safe. He bore a striking resemblance to his great-uncle.
After finishing with Cox, Mu Lin swiftly moved to the other family members’ residences, working through the night until dawn, then returned the same way, erasing all traces of his presence.
Back at the dormitory, Mu Lin returned to his room and released the girls from their paralysis. Reflecting on the night’s events, he couldn’t help but smile. His great-uncle, who had never descended the mountain in his lifetime, now had new servants—surely he would be smiling from beyond the grave.
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