Chapter 196

Lin Zhangqing was not about to coddle them, and said indifferently, "Since none of you four brothers are willing to speak, then pick one to come out and give you all a demonstration!"

"This time, let's pick the one who hasn't said a word yet! You're the one!"

Following a thought, a Purple Crystal Scorpion lunged over, climbed onto the rack, and gave the base of that man's thigh a fierce sting.

Immediately, a scream of extreme agony echoed throughout the inner space. Since the man was hanging from the rack, he twisted and turned in agony on it.

After a long while, he finally calmed down, his whole body drenched in sweat, his mouth gasping desperately for air.

Lin Zhangqing asked him, "Do you have anything valuable you want to tell me?"

The man's voice was hoarse as he begged, "I really don't have anything. How about I be your lackey? I can be your beast of burden, I can do anything, please, I beg you."

Lin Zhangqing shook his head; it seemed this one was truly of no value. With a thought, the Purple Crystal Scorpion stung him again, in almost the exact same spot.

This time, the scream was even more shrill and sharp; his vocal cords were likely torn. The man's body twisted even more desperately, trying to reduce the pain.

However, his body suddenly went still, then went completely limp, and he stopped moving altogether.

Lin Zhangqing felt a stir in his heart and walked over to check. He discovered that the man had actually died, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved.

The man had already been severely injured and was on the verge of death just a moment ago; it was perfectly normal that he didn't survive two more stings.

Plus, although the Purple Crystal Scorpion hadn't advanced in rank long ago, it was certainly more powerful than before—a combination of two factors!

He said to Zhao Liyu, "He's dead. Take him down and throw him into that deep pit so he doesn't pollute the environment here."

Zhao Liyu nodded at Lin Zhangqing's instruction, cut the rope directly with her flying sword, then lifted the corpse and threw it into the deep pit.

Lin Zhangqing looked at the remaining three brothers. They were all pale now, and one was even trembling all over.

He continued, "The four Yang brothers have now become the three Yang brothers. Does anyone else want to ransom their life? If not, you can prepare to go down and join your brother."

As soon as Lin Zhangqing finished speaking, the one trembling all over immediately said, "I have a very important piece of information. I wonder if it's worth twenty thousand spirit stones? To ransom my own life!"

Lin Zhangqing laughed, "That's more like it. Valuable information should be spoken sooner. What are you saving it for? Are you planning to take it to the grave? Tell me, and I'll see how many spirit stones it's worth!"

The man had no choice but to continue, "Chen Tianqi, an executive of the Jinzhou Market, will soon finish his five-year term. In these few years, he has extorted at least one hundred thousand spirit stones."

"Furthermore, inside his storage bag, there is a large piece of fourth-tier spirit material, Star Metal. This thing possesses star power and can be used as a primary material for star-type magic treasures."

"I handled this material personally; the boss, the third brother, and the others don't know about this."

"I only found out it was the precious fourth-tier spirit material Star Metal after specifically looking up the information later."

"After Chen Tianqi finishes this term, he plans to return to the Qingyun Sect to exchange for a Purple Mansion Tongxuan Pill, so there must be one hundred thousand spirit stones in his storage bag."

"One hundred thousand spirit stones plus a precious fourth-tier spirit material—that should be worth twenty thousand spirit stones, right?"

After finishing, he looked at Lin Zhangqing with anticipation.

Lin Zhangqing was speechless. He looked at him and said expressionlessly, "When it comes down to it, you're just trying to lure me into dealing with that Qingyun Sect outer sect executive, Chen Tianqi."

"He's already preparing to return to the Qingyun Sect to exchange for a Purple Mansion Tongxuan Pill, which proves he is at least at the late Foundation Establishment stage."

"Do you think I, a sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, could possibly deal with him? Are you playing a 'borrowing a knife to kill' trick? Wanting him to kill me and then rescue you? Unfortunately, I won't fall for your trap. This piece of information you provided is worth two hundred spirit stones. Are there any others? It's best to say something I can actually reach. Otherwise, if you keep saying these things, I won't want to deal with you, and you've already seen the outcome for that just now!"

The man's face turned green with fear, and he completely collapsed, crying out, "I really don't have any more. That's the only valuable piece of information I know."

Yang Tianhu and the other one also begged at this time, "Big Brother, we really don't have any more. How about you keep us as your subordinates? We can all swear a Heavenly Dao oath."

"We guarantee that we will be loyal to you in the future and will absolutely obey your orders."

"And after taking us in, we can definitely help you earn more spirit stones. Each of us is definitely worth more than twenty thousand. Please, take us in!"

Lin Zhangqing nodded. This Yang Tianhu actually had some brains, knowing to use this to persuade Lin Zhangqing. If it were someone else, they might have been tempted, but unfortunately, he met Lin Zhangqing.

The main thing was that their reputations were truly too poor, and Lin Zhangqing didn't have a shred of good feeling toward them.

Now that he knew he couldn't squeeze a drop of oil out of the three brothers, he would send them on their way! It was better than leaving them in the inner space and having to send people to guard against them; the variables were too great.

The three Yang brothers, seeing Lin Zhangqing nod, thought he was preparing to keep the three of them and were overjoyed.

Unfortunately, what awaited them was the Purple Crystal Scorpion approaching them, and they were immediately terrified, cursing Lin Zhangqing angrily.

Very quickly, after a few sharp, shrill screams, the space returned to silence.

This time, without Lin Zhangqing's instruction, Xu Meiniang and Zhao Liyu had already moved, taking down the corpses of the three brothers and throwing them into the deep pit.

Having dealt with a few eyesore robber cultivators and cleaned up a few poisonous insects for the Jinzhou Market, Lin Zhangqing felt he had done another act of immeasurable merit.

He summoned the twenty-four Purple Crystal Scorpions back and put them into the Spirit Beast Bracelet. Next was the most important part.

Returning to the room in the courtyard, he found the storage bag containing the super-large raw stone and began to refine it.

After finishing, his divine sense probed inside impatiently. Seeing that big guy, Lin Zhangqing finally felt completely at ease.

The raw stone was too big; it was easy to take out, but troublesome to put back in, so there was no choice.

He could only release it directly, letting it fall straight into the deep pit for Lin Zhangliu to digest and absorb.

Leaving the courtyard and coming to the edge of the deep pit, he dropped the raw stone down and waited for a while.

A wave of joyful emotion came from the bottom of his heart. This time it was particularly intense, and it felt a little different from before.

However, Lin Zhangqing didn't mind; change was a good thing.

If so many Earth Soul Fruits and so many high-grade spirit stones were consumed without any progress, that would be what would give Lin Zhangqing a headache.

It would still take some time for Lin Zhangliu to digest this big guy; the changes wouldn't appear so quickly.

There was no need to wait here, so Lin Zhangqing returned to the courtyard and took the storage bags of the four Yang brothers into his hands.

After thinking about it, he decided to exit the space and count them outside. The main reason was that he had been inside for quite a while, and if there was no one in the room for a long time, problems would surely arise sooner or later.

So Lin Zhangqing gave a few instructions to Xu Meiniang and Zhao Liyu, and then exited the inner space.

(End of chapter)