Colluding with demonic appraisers and harming the innocent, headquarters would deal with Yang Qingshi by stripping him of his status and handing him over to the authorities to be punished in accordance with the law.
If all went well, Yang Qingshi’s final outcome would be receiving the death penalty.
“Appraiser Lin!”
Unlike before, many people proactively greeted Lin Jin when he arrived at the association. The people here started behaving in the complete opposite manner as they did before. Even those who were still slightly disinclined greeted him with at least a smile.
However, whispers about Lin Jin being undeserving of his Rank 3 beast appraiser title remained. They alleged that his promotion was in reliance of His Majesty’s favor and that his actual standard was only Rank 2 at most.
Lin Jin was unaware of these rumors, though even if he did, he couldn’t care less what they thought of him.
Jade Dragon Festival was tomorrow. He would prove his strength and have those who doubted his qualification as a Rank 3 beast appraiser shut up. But before that, Lin Jin wanted to meet Yang Qingshi.
At the imperial prison.
Yang Qingshi’s limbs were bound by purpose-built chains and his body was tied to a frame in such a way that he couldn’t even turn his head. This was to prevent him from escaping. Besides the chains, they made sure to station a team of guards around him as well.
Lin Jin entered the cell. As the prison warden recognized Lin Jin and had received orders from his superior before this, he allowed Lin Jin to have uninterrupted access to the cell.
Lin Jin was shocked when he saw Yang Qingshi again. His appearance was tragic, indicating that he had received a brutal beating before his visit. His head was hanging motionlessly from his neck as if he was a mere corpse.
But Lin Jin knew he wasn’t dead because his needle was still within Yang Qingshi.
Inspiring his psyche, the needle shifted to pierce into an acupoint, sending shockwaves through Yang Qingshi’s body, which responded with a sudden jolt. His head shot up immediately. With his eyes widened and jaw hanging open, the man looked like a fish being left to dry out on land.
It was surely a tragic sight.
However, Yang Qingshi was not worth Lin Jin’s sympathy.
Lin Jin was here to verify if Yang Qingshi’s mentor was actually one of the five demonic patriarchs as the Emperor had told him
At the sight of Lin Jin, Yang Qingshi gritted his teeth. Lin Jin was the person he resented the most right now.
“Lin Jin, you still have time to let me go. My master is Patriarch Xue Pao. If he takes action, the entire Jade Dragon Kingdom will…”
“You talk too much!” Lin Jin moved the needle and Yang Qingshi’s pants were sopping wet the next instant, an indication of how excruciating the pain inflicted was. After this humiliating display, the man stopped making threats.
Four hours went by.
Lin Jin had interrogated him for four hours inside the cell, squeezing out every single bit of information from Yang Qingshi, including the things he had previously confessed to and those that he didn’t. It wasn’t until he had nothing left to offer that Lin Jin finally stopped.
Ignoring Yang Qingshi who was practically half-dead now, Lin Jin left the cell.
Details of how Yang Qingshi became Patriarch Xue Pao’s disciple and how he met the guy, Lin Jin now knew it all.
About a decade ago, Yang Qingshi coincidentally came across an old man deep inside the mountains of the Grassy Continent. That old man was one of Patriarch Xue Pao’s many clones. Back then, the phenomenal skill the old man demonstrated instantly impressed Yang Qingshi. Following that day, he joined as an apprentice to learn under that old man.
At the time, Patriarch Xue Pao had taught Yang Qingshi some skills, which propelled him into becoming a Rank 3 beast appraiser. Several months after, Yang Qingshi was instructed by Patriarch Xue Pao to run around, tricking people into entering the mountain.
Yang Qingshi never saw the people he tricked from then on, but he assumed they were probably all dead.
After that, Yang Qingshi was sent out of the mountain by Patriarch Xue Pao who told Yang Qingshi to bring him ten men every year.
Patriarch Xue Pao had also given him a drop of ‘patriarch’s blood’, telling Yang Qingshi that if he ever stumbled into trouble, he could use the skill taught to him to summon a blood refined beast. Patriarch Xue Pao’s psyche would be able to control the beast and help Yang Qingshi resolve the crisis.
As for Yang Qingshi’s relationship with the Demonic Appraisal Association, the former had long since been a member of that malicious organization, but this had nothing to do with Patriarch Xue Pao.
Evidently, while Yang Qingshi was Patriarch Xue Pao’s disciple in name, he was merely a pawn. Patriarch Xue Pao had only been anxious because if he lost Yang Qingshi, no one would send him ‘sacrifices’ every year.
Although Yang Qingshi said he had no idea, Lin Jin could well guess that the people he tricked into the mountains have all been devoured by Patriarch Xue Pao.
With this, Lin Jin arrived at a conclusion.
Patriarch Xue Pao sounded like he was incapable of movement. Simply put, he must have been sealed up in an area where humans rarely traveled. This was probably the reason why he could only rely on Yang Qingshi to bring him humans to presumably prolong his lifespan
Although he had yet to confirm this, chances were high that this was the case. That would be great news to Lin Jin and the Jade Dragon Kingdom.
Lin Jin was truly fearful that Patriarch Xue Pao would strike back after what happened, but now that he had evidence that indicated that his enemy was stuck somewhere in the forest, Lin Jin couldn’t have felt any more grateful.
Yang Qingshi didn’t sound like he was withholding any other information. However, there was one thing he was certain of, and it was that Patriarch Xue Pao was truly one of the demonic patriarchs from history.
“It’s no wonder when I used Sword Intent, the Demon Slayer in the museum seemed restless. It’s a pity that the blood-refined beast was only a clone and not the demon himself. Otherwise, slaying him with the Demon Slayer would give me another golem,” Lin Jin mumbled to himself.
He may not have to worry about Patriarch Xue Pao suddenly attacking him in the near future. Though, who knows when the man might one day break free and show up before his eyes. Hence, Lin Jin had to prepare himself.
Lin Jin had been confident before, but now it seemed that he should discard that idea. Although Xiao Huo had a Dharma body, he was still only a Rank 4 beast. Lin Jin only managed to win this time after he had exhausted every skill in his arsenal and even then, he had to suffer several brushes with death. For him to rest easy in the future, he had to further improve his strength.
Lin Jin didn’t head anywhere else for the rest of the day. He stayed inside one of the rooms headquarters had prepared for him to come up with a plan to strengthen himself.
As for the blessing event tomorrow, Lin Jin wasn’t at all worried. That afternoon, Tan Xun came looking for him with another event officer to brief him of the details he was required to pay attention to.
This went on until late at night. Lin Jin hadn’t expected the blessing event to be this troublesome as the procession alone would take half a day. As a host, he was expected to participate in it too.
In addition to that, he had to wear the ceremonial outfit headquarters had prepared for him, and it was tailor-made to Lin Jin’s measurement, accessories included. Lin Jin also had to memorize some speeches, and to him, this was ten times more difficult than researching books and beast appraisal methods.
Lin Jin initially thought he was only required to show off his skills by helping the lucky person evolve his or her pet beast during the blessing event.
To other beast appraisers, what Lin Jin assumed to be the most simple task was instead, the most challenging. After all, there had been cases of hosts causing the event to fail in the past.
This went on until deep into the night and Lin Jin was beyond exhausted. When it was finally over, he fell soundly asleep only to be woken up before dawn when preparations were already underway.
Even before the sun rose, headquarters was already bustling with people. After all, this was the annual Jade Dragon Festival celebration and a very important event for headquarters.
