Punish You Eight Hundred

Bang! A head exploded, and the headless corpse slowly fell.

Lin Le expressionlessly retracted his spear and looked at the orphaned mother and son beside him. "Today I killed your husband and your father. Do you resent me?"

The woman and the boy looked at Lin Le and the corpse beside them with complex expressions. That was indeed their husband and father, but he was also a gambling degenerate who had gambled away all their family's fortune.

"No resentment," the woman said first.

"No resentment," the boy also said.

"Find a good family to marry into soon, and don't associate with such scum anymore." Lin Le took out thirty taels of silver and threw it to the woman, then glanced at the boy. "You shouldn't follow your father's example, or today's him will be tomorrow's you."

"Yes!"

Stared at by Lin Le's cold and ruthless eyes, the boy couldn't help but curl up, move closer to his mother, and shout fearfully.

Lin Le turned and left the dilapidated house.

Three days later, Lin Le had digested more than half of the resources he had obtained.

In the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm, with the last jade stone falling into place, an octagonal stone platform, ten feet high and ninety-seven feet wide, was completed.

Eight spots of blood were rendered on the octagon, each forming a blood-red tiger sculpture, one foot high and three feet wide.

Spiritual Platform First Layer, Perfection.

'Time to enter the Second Layer.' Lin Le looked inward at his Spiritual Platform Secret Realm.

Knowing that his foundation was too solid, causing his cultivation to be slow, Lin Le decided to focus on cultivating the Spiritual Platform first.

He had asked Qingli about this. As long as he wasn't advancing to the Golden Core stage, having different cultivation speeds for the three paths wouldn't have any impact.

However, upon advancing to the Golden Core stage, all three paths must advance together; otherwise, he would only be able to focus on one path in the future.

Another drop of Blood Essence Treasure Liquid fell, increasing the speed of True Qi generation. Jade stones were placed in front of the blood-red tiger statues.

With this, Lin Le had half-stepped into the Second Layer. However, Lin Le didn't plan to take the remaining half step now. He wanted to wait until the Second Layer was fully constructed and then advance in one go, saving time and effort.

The next day, Lin Le handed out the last deed, still being in the area.

During these days, he had traveled all over Qinghu Town and its surrounding villages, returning the deeds he held to those in need.

His Human Dao merit had also surged to six hundred and forty-eight, and his killing karma had increased by more than twenty points.

He had also unexpectedly gained five points of Earthly Dao merit. There were ghosts in two villages, one starved ghost and one water ghost, both of whom Lin Le naturally guided.

'Let's return to Bailian County.' Lin Le thought. He had plundered most of the resources in Qinghu Town, and there was nothing good to kill in the surroundings. It was time to return to Bailian County.

Taking a look, Lin Le started walking towards Bailian County. He had already informed Qingli, and by now, it should be waiting for him in the underground water veins of Bailian County.

Qinghu Town was not far from Bailian County. With Lin Le's current pace, he returned to Bailian County in less than an hour.

"Name, place of origin," the soldier at the city gate asked for the identity of the person entering, as usual.

Lin Le didn't answer, but merely held up a plaque and infused it with True Qi.

Then, the plaque began to glow slightly.

When the soldier saw the plaque, his spirit immediately lifted. Upon seeing it glow, he even bowed respectfully and said, "My lord, please enter!"

Lin Le walked straight in, and the surrounding soldiers lowered their heads, not daring to look at him.

Lin Le had just used a plaque representing a Cultivator, and the national policy stated that Cultivators had free passage throughout the country, except in military strongholds.

As for whether this plaque belonged to Lin Le, it didn't matter. Since Lin Le could make the plaque glow, it meant he was a true Cultivator.

And a true Cultivator was someone that these ordinary soldiers could not afford to offend.

Lin Le found a Real Estate Agent and spent fifty taels of silver to rent a courtyard near the Yamen.

When paying, Lin Le also exchanged some of his loose silver with the agent and checked his cash, which amounted to about thirty-four thousand taels of silver.

Afterward, Lin Le went out again, preparing to sell some items.

White Mountain Pawnshop. Lin Le looked at the plaque above the door and walked in.

Although Lin Le was dressed in coarse linen and had an ordinary appearance, a young attendant still stepped forward and greeted him politely.

Having seen a lot in this line of work, most of the older attendants knew that some Cultivators liked to disguise themselves as ordinary people. Some did it to avoid enemies, some to fence stolen goods, and some simply to play games with mortals and hide their true strength.

"Greetings, esteemed guest. What can I help you with?" the attendant asked politely.

"I want to pawn some things." Lin Le patted the box behind him, making a clanging sound.

"Certainly, please follow me." The attendant led Lin Le to a raised platform. "Master Mo, this guest is here to sell some items."

Behind the platform, a refined-looking middle-aged man sized up Lin Le and said, "Esteemed guest, do you want a live pawn or a complete transaction?"

A live pawn was akin to taking out a loan with an item as collateral, and the price offered was generally not high. A complete transaction was a one-time deal, and the price offered was usually twenty to thirty percent higher than a live pawn.

Lin Le placed the box on the counter. "Complete transaction. Please take a look."

The middle-aged man opened the box and glanced inside. There were magical artifacts, pills, and some deeds.

Selling contraband? The middle-aged man immediately assessed the origin of the items but felt no concern. After all, the background of White Mountain Pawnshop was not in Bailian County, but in the prefectural capital of Yizhou. What was there to fear from unknown sources in a small place?

"A broken defensive magical artifact, low-grade three-prohibition, valued at fifteen hundred taels," the middle-aged man began, starting with the Small Turtle Shield.

Listening to Master Mo's words, Lin Le's eyelids couldn't help but twitch. Good heavens, this haggling is ruthless. That Small Turtle Shield isn't damaged at all.

A magical artifact with three prohibitions is valued at nine low-grade spirit stones, which converts to nine thousand taels of silver.

One thousand five hundred taels, less than twenty percent.

"The total is six thousand six hundred and twenty-one taels. I'll round it up for you to seven thousand taels." After the middle-aged man finished speaking, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat. After all, he doesn't get many big deals like this.

"Fourteen thousand taels." Lin Le's expression remained unchanged as he directly doubled the price.

The middle-aged man feigned a frown: "The customer's price is a bit high. How about seven thousand five hundred taels?"

"Fourteen thousand taels, firm price." Lin Le sneered, "Don't use your sales tactics. An acre of good land is worth at least fifteen taels, but you're only offering three taels. Even pawnshops don't offer that low for a live pawn. If there's this much markup on just this one item, don't tell me the others don't have it too."

"But you only bought it for six taels." The middle-aged man also took out a deed and pointed to a number, saying, "I'm offering you three taels, which is already the highest price for a complete redemption."

"If you're this insincere, I don't mind going to other pawnshops or even trading companies." Lin Le closed the box directly. "You should know, I came to the pawnshop directly because I'm too lazy to run to multiple trading companies. Their purchase price is at least seventy percent of the market value."

"Then go find a trading company." The middle-aged man made a gesture as if to say "please do." "Let's see if those trading companies will accept your contraband!"

"As long as there's profit to be made, contraband can become legitimate goods, especially since mine is only semi-contraband." Lin Le picked up the box and started to leave.

The middle-aged man watched Lin Le leave, counting in his head: three, two, one. It was a psychological game, who couldn't play it?

But when he counted to zero, Lin Le still walked out of the small room without looking back.

Now it was the middle-aged man's turn to panic. If this deal went through, he would get at least a thousand taels in commission, enough to buy a bottle of Yellow Bud Pill.

He quickly chased after him and shouted, "Fourteen thousand taels, just fourteen thousand taels!"

Lin Le, who was about to step out of the shop, retracted his foot and glanced at him: "Firm price, sixteen thousand taels!"

"Why did the price increase?" The middle-aged man frowned. "Fourteen thousand taels."

"Goodbye." Lin Le walked out of the shop.

Then his hand was grabbed. Lin Le turned around and saw the middle-aged man holding his hand, his face looking constipated as he said, "Sixteen thousand taels, no more, no less."

"Inspect the goods, hand over the money." Lin Le handed him the box directly.

"Okay." Holding the box, the middle-aged man looked at Lin Le with a resentful expression.

Lin Le said expressionlessly, "If you keep looking, I'll fine you another eight hundred taels."

"Yes, yes." The middle-aged man immediately looked away. Sixteen thousand taels was already the bottom line; any more and it wouldn't be worth it.

Thanks to [Lazy Side] and [Tang Kou Wu Kou Wu] for the 100 coin tip.