Su Zhongwen looked at the incredibly happy Liu Ziyu and then nodded. However, inside, he instead released a sigh.
Regardless of whether it was Yunqin, Tangcang, or Great Mang, there would always be many strategies and advisors, whether seen or unseen.
Before these people, Su Zhongwen was undoubtedly an extremely outstanding individual, or else Liu Ziyu’s father wouldn’t have been able to rise up so quickly, nor would he have been sent to personally teach Liu Ziyu.
However, Su Zhongwen understood that this world had too many ambitious and ruthless individuals extremely clearly , which was why in all matters of plotting, in the end, no one knows just who will ultimately win or lose.
That was why this really wasn’t worthy of feeling happy over.
For him, Liu Ziyu was still too immature. The things he had to learn really were too many.
…
Lin Fu and the pretty married woman sat by the lakeside, watching as Lin Xi and Lin Qian rode on a rowing boat.
When they heard Lin Qian’s excited shouts from time to time, both of them couldn’t help but look at each other with a smile on their face.
The two didn’t sleep that much yesterday. However, after Qin Xiaoyu appeared, turned the fat merchant blind and crippled his soul force, Lin Xi entered their room, telling them that there was already nothing to worry about.
That was why the two of them were extremely at peace right now.
After keeping his little sister company for a while, he had a simple lunch with his parents inside the lakeside bamboo fenced small courtyard and then he coaxed his little sister into taking a nap. Lin Xi carried two large food cases with him, jumping over a hill and entering an expanse of trees.
Inside of this forest region was a small pond.
Second Grandpa Zhang was currently fishing with an improvised small bamboo fishing rod and Jiang Xiaoyi was currently digging a hole beneath some trees.
The earth beneath these trees had many cicada pupa, when roasted and eaten, they were crispy and fragrant, also full of nutrition.
A small open fire burned in an open space.
That fat merchant lay at the side of the fire, more than ten stones weighing down on his chest, his face swelled to a purple red color.
When they saw Lin Xi walk over, Second Grandpa Zhang and Jiang Xiaoyi nodded and smiled, both of them stopping what they were doing and coming not far from the fire.
After eating all of the food, Jiang XIaoyi strung up the sixty to seventy cicada pupae he dug up on fine branches, roasting them next to the flame, and only then did he sweep the dozen or so boulders on the fat merchant’s chest to the side.
The fat merchant opened his mouth, breathing frantically like a fish out of water, hoarse noises continuously sounding from his throat.
Lin Xi, Jiang Xiaoyi and Second Grandpa Zhang didn’t say anything, only chuckling. When the fat merchant finally stabilized his breathing, Jiang Xiaoyi got up to move the stones, preparing to place them back on the fat merchant’s body.
“Do you all have any humanity within you… you all aren’t even asking me anything, just what do you all want to do?!”
The fat merchant finally broke down, the trademark smile on his face also long gone, completely turning into tears. His hands powerlessly struck the ground as he cried out.
It was already early summer. The weather was originally a bit gloomy, but he was moved not far away from the fire, having large rocks placed on his chest.
Only when he felt like he was about to die, would the other side move aside the large rocks to let him breathe a bit. Then, the rocks would be returned, this cycle repeated.
Even though his eyes already couldn’t see anything, judging from the surrounding sounds and the fragrance of roasted cicada pupa, he could still easily deduce what Jiang Xiaoyi was doing senselessly.
Now wasn’t the time where wilderness survival was needed, so for a cultivator to dig up cicada pupae and roast them was obviously an extremely senseless thing… However, the other party would rather do something so senseless than ask him anything.
“Want one of these roasted cicada pupae? The taste is quite good.”
What left him feeling even more helpless was that Lin Xi only released a chuckle, saying something that only made him want to break down even more.
“I’m going to eat your f*cking ancestors!” The fat merchant went crazy, slamming the ground while cursing loudly. However, when only this single line of curses sounded, his chest felt heavy, another stone weighing down on him.
“Just what do you all want to know? I will tell you everything I know!”
The fat merchant’s body went rigid, finally screaming this out hysterically.
Jiang Xiaoyi and Lin Xi looked at each other, smiling. Jiang Xiaoyi lowered the stone in his hand, but didn’t remove the first stone he placed on this fat merchant’s chest.
Green Luan Academy was a Yunqin cultivation holy land. Through Principal Zhang’s changes, compared to the other two great academies that purely sought out individual combat strength, Green Luan Academy also taught many things outside of strength. Among them, Self Defense and Internal Study Departments had professors that specialized in the study of enemy psychology. When lessons were normally taught, some lecturers would also impart quite a few things in this field upon them.
Among them, one of the most simple concepts of extorting a confession was precisely if when the other party had enough ability to do so, yet didn’t immediately commit suicide when first captured, then no matter how tough they acted, in reality, they will still feel a bit of a greedy for life, afraid of torture to death within their hearts, so the confession will emerge sooner or later.
“The key isn’t in something we wish to know, but rather if you have anything of value to tell us.”
Lin Xi looked at the fat merchant whose will was already broken, speaking with a voice that wasn’t rushed, slowly saying, “Yesterday, when you were beaten into the lake and had your eyes ruined, you already understood just what kind of people you provoked. If you cannot bring me anything of value, what use do you even have to me? In that case, I can only have you become like Second Grandpa Zhang, suffer several years of being unable to breathe carefreely.”
Lin Xi naturally wasn’t a member of Yuhua Family, but after last night’s experience, the fat merchant already determined that Lin Xi was one of Yuhua Family’s people. When he heard this now, this fat merchant’s body that was roasted until it was soaked in sweat also produced a layer of cold sweat.
“I understand Xu Ningshen, he won’t let you go! If you use me as a witness, it is enough to help you drag down Xu Ningshen! Also… I can give you my cultivation methods…” While breathing heavily from the large rock weighing down on his chest, he finally released a large shout.
Most likely because he thought of the other party’s ‘Yuhua Family’ status, about how miserably he lost, out of fear of being mocked and shown disdain when the other side heard the ‘cultivation method’ he spoke up, this fat merchant immediately used all of his strength to shout out, “I know Great Mang’s Thousand Devil Nest’s Demonic Body Technique!”
Second Grandpa Zhang didn’t react much, but Lin Xi and Jiang Xiaoyi instead both stared blankly.
Second Grandpa Zhang only learned some soul force cultivation methods through some books, and then only after year in and year out of cultivation perseverance, did he enter the ranks of cultivators. That was why towards the powerful cultivation lands of this world, he didn’t understand them much.
As for Lin Xi and JIang Xiaoyi, despite not knowing too much, this Thousand Devil Nest was something both of them had heard of before.
The main opponents the graduates of Yunqin’s three great academies in Meteor Lake and Thousand Sunset Mountain’s areas faced when fighting against Great Mang were precisely from Purgatory Mountain and Thousand Devil Nest.
Great Mang’s Purgatory Mountain was a cultivation holy land similar to Green Luan Academy. Moreover, they were almost completely independent from the royal court, even more mysterious than how Green Luan Academy seemed to Central Continent’s Imperial City.
Among the disciples who came out from it, some of them voluntarily entered Great Mang’s royal court, but most of them freely roamed the Thousand Sunset Mountains area, cultivating by killing the experts and cultivators in Yunqin’s border armies.
The cultivators who came out from Purgatory Mountain were not only mysterious, their cultivation methods and Yunqin’s cultivators were substantially different. Moreover, the inner mountain disciples who truly obtained Purgatory Mountain’s inheritance, would always have some bizarre suicide moves before their death. ‘Demonic Transformation’ was precisely one of the most formidable types.
Purgatory Mountain’s true cultivators viewed death as reincarnation. Their bodies all had poison running through them, so there were no living members among the defeated, no living mouths that could speak.
As for Thousand Devil Nest’s cultivators, even though they weren’t as mysterious and strange as Purgatory Mountains’, their cultivation methods extremely similar to Yunqin’s cultivators, before going out to battle, they would all hide poison within their teeth and bodies. Once they realized they weren’t a match, they would all immediately commit suicide.
That was why even after all these years, what Yunqin knew about Purgatory Mountain and Thousand Devil Nest’s cultivators was still extremely limited, only knowing some things about Martial Skills and combat methods.
As for Tangcang’s cultivators, because of the desert and because of the Xiyi Fifteen Divisions, there was even less known about them.
As for Yunqin’s cultivators, those from the three great academies all walked the bright path, what they relied on was pure strength, army support and powerful soul weapons, armors, etc.
That was why for Great Mang and Tangcang’s people, what they wanted the most, the most useful things for them, were instead the academies’ research on runes and medicines.
It was precisely because neither side understood the other party well, wishing to obtain things from the other party, that during these years, spies that infiltrated the other party’s royal court and cultivation lands became so common.
Those who could become spies were not ordinary people at all, many of them shouldering heavy responsibility from their youth, already having identities in the other country. That was why in all these years, Yunqin, Tangcang, and Great Mang’s royal courts couldn’t help but have some spies. However, because of the cultivation lands’ power, carefulness and number of exceptional talents, and most importantly, Yunqin, Tangcang, and Great Mang’s formal disputes which only lasted twenty to thirty years, the time period comparatively short, that was why even though there were many exceptional spies, in these cultivation lands, they were still all uncovered and dealt with severely.
Green Luan Academy’s ordinary cultivation methods and techniques all had to be acquired through accumulated course points, some special cultivation methods were even more so personally passed down by the academy’s lecturers to inheritors, all of this was to guard against this issue.
Because of Green Luan Academy’s unique lecturers and extraordinary professors, just like how Tong Wei chose Lin Xi and Bian Linghan, Luo Houyuan choosing Ai Qilan, just by the moral conduct of the people these lecturers and professors chose, it already ensured that even if these people died, they wouldn’t leak out the academy’s secrets.
Even if some things were unexpectedly lost, Green Luan Academy similarly had their own way of doing things… What was lost, the academy would always fetch it back themselves.
It was precisely because Thousand Devil Nest was one of this world’s most powerful cultivation lands, this fat merchant actually knowing some things not even the academy knew, that Lin Xi and Jiang Xiaoyi naturally couldn’t remain calm anymore.
After exchanging a look with Jiang Xiaoyi, Lin Xi didn’t say anything, only calmly lowering his body with a serious expression, flinging aside the stone on the fat merchant’s body.
…
The moment Lin Xi an Jiang Xiaoyi heard the three words Thousand Devil Nest from the fat merchant’s mouth, Xu Ningshen dressed in a Three Towns Battalion Commander uniform walked into a bamboo forest.
Inside the bamboo forest, an individual whose face was shrouded beneath a conical bamboo hat was currently waiting for him.
