Chapter 926: If You Refuse a Toast, You Will Be Forced to Drink a Forfeit

Although He Lingchuan did not see clearly, he was certain that the spirit behind Qiu Hu—er, his beast spirit—was most likely a lion or tiger; otherwise, it would be very difficult for a human to master a divine ability like this "Lion's Roar." That spellcaster was also ambushed by Wang Fubao, who struck the back of his head with a knife hilt, knocking him out instantly.

In the blink of an eye, only thirteen or fourteen of Min Tianxi's thirty-four subordinates were still able to stand.

Blood flowed into the Fishbone Reef, staining the nearby seawater red.

This man surnamed He really didn't hold back at all! Two pirates tried to rush over to save their master, but both were cut down by Xiang Lian, a Rongshan man standing behind He Lingchuan. He Lingchuan lifted his chin toward him, and Xiang Lian understood, placing his own blade against Min Tianxi's neck.

The blood on the blade flowed down along Min Tianxi's neck.

He Lingchuan picked up the silver coin-cake from the ground, squeezed it into a ball, and half-squatted in front of Min Tianxi: "I'll give you a chance to say it again, whose fist is harder?"

Every time he said a word, he smashed the silver ball into Min Tianxi's face.

By the time the twelve words were finished, Min Tianxi had taken twelve blows to the face.

Just a moment ago, Min Tianxi had crushed a wine goblet to make him lose face, and now He Lingchuan was paying him back in his own coin, truly hitting him in the face.

Even though the silver was soft, with the reinforcement of He Lingchuan's true qi, it still sent blood flying everywhere.

Min Tianxi's face was bruised and swollen, his eyes were almost unable to open, and he had even lost a tooth.

The silver lump had long since been smashed out of shape and was covered in blood; He Lingchuan stuffed it into Min Tianxi's collar and patted it twice: "Consider that a reward from me for later."

Min Tianxi was still a tough guy; he wouldn't yield even with his teeth clenched shut.

Although his face hurt, compared to the pain in his internal organs, it was actually nothing.

He Lingchuan smiled again: "Besides staying or leaving, there is actually a third option, which is to be thrown into the sea to feed the fish! A-Hu—"

He pointed toward a spot not far away.

Min Tianxi had only brought thirty-some subordinates off the ship. It wasn't because he didn't want to bring more, but because the Fishbone Reef couldn't hold any more people.

Seeing their companions suffer, sixty or seventy bandits on the ship shouted and jumped off.

On He Lingchuan's side, the Rongshan disciples who had remained on the ship had also arrived to provide support, but they only numbered ten in total.

Qiu Hu understood and gestured to Lu Qiuwei, who immediately formed a seal and shouted: "Wind, come!"

Whoosh, a strong wind blew from west to east, which was from He Lingchuan toward the pirate ship opposite.

Qiu Hu took a white jade pure bottle from his bosom and sprinkled it forward with a willow branch dipped in dew—

The water droplets rose with the wind, splitting into a pale golden mist, so fine and thin that it was almost invisible to the naked eye under the bright daylight.

As soon as the rushing pirates touched it, they fell to their knees with a thud, their limbs scratching at the ground incessantly, but they couldn't crawl even an inch.

Full-grown men had turned into nothing more than maggots.

What Qiu Hu had brought out was the Rongshan Sect's treasure, the "Thousand-Jun Bottle"; the water mist released from it would instantly impose a weight of a thousand jun on any living thing it touched.

Most people would be pressed down so hard they couldn't lift their heads. Back then, Rongshan had used it to deal with the Seventy-Year Cicada.

Of course, this thing wasn't as effective on a real battlefield; it would be blocked by protective qi and greatly reduced in power by primordial energy.

But for Qiu Hu to use it against pirates, it was truly the most appropriate choice.

Naturally, a few bandits reacted quickly and managed to sustain their protective qi, avoiding being pinned to the ground. But the Rongshan disciples surrounded them with a flurry of blades, spears, swords, and clubs, enjoying the pleasure of bullying the few with the many.

Therefore, these experts were actually the first to die.

Min Tianxi lay on the ground watching this scene, his heart bleeding, and he could only shout: "Stop! St-stop!"

The men he brought today were all elites, all his trusted aides; if they all died here, what leverage or prestige would he have left in the pirate group? His throat had nearly been scorched, and his cheeks were swollen, so the sound that burst out was thick and hoarse, almost drowned out by the shouting and screaming.

He Lingchuan cupped a hand to his ear and leaned in close: "What did you say? I can't hear you!"

"Stop, I said stop!"

"Can't hear you. A-Hu—" He Lingchuan shook his head regretfully and gestured to Qiu Hu, "Kill them all, leave none alive!"

Qiu Hu didn't say a word, smashing a bandit's head to pieces with a single strike of his staff.

Equally unable to move, these pirates were much easier to hit than the Seventy-Year Cicada; watching him strike one after another, one after another, and another...

The other Rongshan disciples were also killing with great delight.

"Stop, stop!" Min Tianxi shouted twice, but when he looked up and saw He Lingchuan's smiling face, he truly felt this fellow was more terrifying than a green-faced, fanged demon! The screams of his subordinates rose and fell one after another.

Min Tianxi closed his eyes and said with difficulty: "I surrender, I am willing to surrender!"

"Oh?" He Lingchuan heard him this time and lowered his body, "Who did you say was surrendering?"

Min Tianxi hesitated for a moment, and two more screams came from nearby; those were his confidants who usually knew best how to flatter him.

The blade tapped his cheek: "Answer quickly, or your men will all be dead."

"We surrender, we surrender!" As soon as Min Tianxi opened his mouth, the rest of the words came out much more smoothly, "We of the Second Path are willing to join Young Master He's command and serve as his dogs and horses!"

He Lingchuan pressed further: "Even if it means going through fire and water?"

The background noise was two more bandits being stabbed to death, accompanied by several long, miserable screams before they died.

Min Tianxi knew full well that this man surnamed He intended to kill a few more to torture him with fear, but he still subconsciously swallowed his saliva: "Even if it means going through fire and water! If Young Master He wants us to go east, we will never dare to go west!"

"Isn't that right?" He Lingchuan patted his cheek again, "I never wanted to make things difficult for you."

Two more bandits died.

Min Tianxi's eyes were splitting with rage: "Young Master He!"

"Oh right, I forgot." He Lingchuan turned back and told Qiu Hu to stop, "That's enough, stop killing."

At his command, the Rongshan disciples immediately stopped.

He Lingchuan personally helped Min Tianxi up from the ground and sighed: "I have always preferred courtesy before force. If you had been sensible earlier, the brothers of the Second Path wouldn't have had to suffer so much, right?"

"..." Min Tianxi felt bitter bile flowing in his stomach, but he could only say hoarsely, "Yes, yes."

With He Lingchuan wielding the power of a great victory, no matter what he said, Min Tianxi could only agree.

His eyes flickered, but He Lingchuan still saw through the fear in them, and he smiled with satisfaction: "Let them stand up."

If you want to talk to pirates, you must communicate in a way they understand.

If they don't understand, make them understand.

Qiu Hu and the others responded, took a bucket from their storage rings, drew a bucket of seawater from nearby, and poured it over the bandits.

The way to undo the Thousand-Jun Bottle was simple: just remove the water droplets that were pressing down on the body.

The bandits who climbed up lowered their heads and eyes; where was their previous arrogance? Seeing their Second Path leader in the hands of the enemy, they took the buckets to rescue their own companions.

With over sixty people, it was too slow to rescue them.

He Lingchuan pointed to his own ship: "Path Leader Min, come sit on my ship. Before dark, I will send you back here."

Could Min Tianxi still say "no"?

He Lingchuan then casually pointed to seven bandits with intact limbs, had their hands bound, and brought them onto the ship as well.

The ship weighed anchor, hoisted its sails, changed course, and soon sailed away from Fishbone Reef.

Min Tianxi watched helplessly as his troops on the beach grew further and further away, his heart filled with misery.

Even if these subordinates were still there, they couldn't give him any sense of security.

He Lingchuan reached out and pressed a few times on the back of his neck, and the pain in Min Tianxi's body was greatly reduced, no longer burning like fire.

He let out a long sigh of relief and finally relaxed.

That kind of pain was simply torture that reached deep into the soul.

After He Lingchuan used a poison sac to suck the spider venom from his body, he handed over a white cloth and pointed to his face: "It's too dirty, wipe it off."

"Th-thank you." Min Tianxi hadn't been this polite to anyone in a long time. He took it with both hands and wiped his face.

The white cloth was soft, but everywhere it touched was a stinging pain.

He took the cloth away and saw it was covered in blood.

Xiang Lian brought over a table and two chairs, and placed a pot and two cups on the table.

This time Min Tianxi listened to He Lingchuan very well, sitting down obediently and drinking the wine obediently.

The injuries to his body from the spider venom hadn't healed, and his mouth and tongue had been bitten through by himself. As the wine was poured in, his whole mouth felt like it was being pricked by needles.

Sweat burst out on Min Tianxi's forehead again.

But he still swallowed the wine, because he understood that Young Master He was telling him: If you refuse a toast, you will be forced to drink a forfeit.

Sure enough, after he swallowed the cup of wine, He Lingchuan's expression softened significantly: "Min Tianxi, why didn't the Yin-Hui attack you?"

Of the three pirate groups on the outskirts of the archipelago, the other two had been attacked by Yin-Hui and suffered heavy casualties. Only these pirates of the Second Path had not had a single person attacked.

Interesting.

"Our camp is further away from Dragon Spine Island, they couldn't reach it..." Min Tianxi said this, then saw He Lingchuan smile again.

Now, whenever this young master smiled, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

He Lingchuan swirled his wine cup and took a sip, lowering his head: "You still want to use that excuse to brush me off? Are you sure?"

Remembering his cruel methods, Min Tianxi swallowed his saliva: "That night, I led my troops to the northwest mainland to do a job, and happened to avoid the Yin-Hui's invasion."

A classic case of "happened to."

He Lingchuan's gaze narrowed: "You went out in full force?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't leave anyone to guard the nest?" He Lingchuan looked at him and smiled, "Lei Ni said that you didn't lose a single person."

"What does that little girl know? Two people who stayed behind to guard the stronghold were lost too, it just wasn't announced publicly," Min Tianxi said in a low voice, "Compared to the losses of the First and Third Paths, this is nothing."

"So, it was a coincidence?"

"Yes, it was." Min Tianxi looked directly into He Lingchuan's eyes, appearing exceptionally sincere.

He Lingchuan smiled at him: "Good." Then he turned and asked another pirate, "What your boss said, is it true or false?"

He was a head taller than the man, and looking down from such a height, the man was instantly under immense pressure, swallowing his saliva before answering: "True, it's true."

He Lingchuan's face darkened, and Qiu Hu, standing to the side, moved like the wind, twisting the captive's neck.

With a crisp "crack" of bone, the sound made the other bandits feel a chill down their spines.

Min Tianxi's expression changed; the other party clearly didn't believe him: "Young Master He!"

He Lingchuan ignored him and paced over to another bandit, not saying a word, just staring fixedly at the man.

Under his gaze, the man’s face turned pale and the veins on his forehead throbbed incessantly, until he suddenly shouted, "Kill me if you want, Laozi isn't playing games with you..."

Before the words had even faded, Qiu Hu snapped his neck with a crunch.

Who said the tough ones are the ones who live to the end?

(End of chapter)