Fine You Eight Hundred

Bang! A head suddenly exploded, and the headless corpse slowly toppled over.

Lin Le put away his gun expressionlessly and looked at the widow and orphan beside him. "Today, I killed your husband and father. Do you bear me any resentment?"

The woman and boy looked complicatedly at Lin Le and the corpse beside him. That man had been their husband and father, but he had also been a gambling addict who had gambled away the entire Household fortune.

"We do not," the woman said first.

"We do not," the boy said as well.

"Find yourself a good man and remarry soon. Do not seek out such scum again." Lin Le took out thirty taels of silver and tossed them to the woman, then glanced at the boy. "And do not become like your father, or today's him will be tomorrow's you."

"Yes!"

Under Lin Le's cold, merciless gaze, the boy could not help curling into himself and edging closer to his mother as he shouted fearfully.

Lin Le turned and left the shabby house.

Three days later, Lin Le had digested most of the resources he had obtained.

Within the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm, as the final jade stone fell into place, an octagonal stone platform one zhang tall and nine zhang seven chi wide was completed.

Eight points of blood-red spread across the eight corners, each forming a blood-red ferocious tiger statue one chi tall and three chi wide.

The First Layer of the Spiritual Platform was complete.

It was time to enter the Second Layer. Lin Le examined the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm inwardly.

After learning that his cultivation was slow because his foundation was too profound and robust, Lin Le decided to focus on cultivating the Spiritual Platform first.

He had asked Qingli about this. As long as he was not advancing to the Golden Core stage, uneven progress among the three paths of cultivation would have no effect.

However, when advancing to the Golden Core, all three paths had to advance together. Otherwise, he would only be able to focus on one path in the future.

Another drop of Blood Essence Treasure Liquid fell, further increasing the rate at which true qi was generated. Jade stones were laid one after another before the blood-red ferocious tiger statues.

At this point, Lin Le had stepped halfway into the Second Layer. However, he did not intend to take the remaining half-step now. He would wait until the Second Layer was fully built, then reach it in one go, saving both time and effort.

Another day later, Lin Le handed out the last land deed whose owner was still alive.

Over the past few days, he had traveled throughout Qinghu Town and all the surrounding villages, returning the land deeds in his possession to those who needed them.

His Human Dao merit had also soared to six hundred and forty-eight, while his karmic slaughter had gained more than twenty points.

He had also unexpectedly gained five points of Earthly Dao merit. Two villages had ghosts—one starving ghost and one water ghost—and Lin Le naturally sent them on their way.

Time to return to Bailian County. Lin Le thought. He had plundered most of Qinghu Town's resources, and there was nothing worthwhile to kill nearby. It was time to return to Bailian County.

After checking his surroundings, Lin Le headed toward Bailian County. He had already informed Qingli, and by now it should be waiting for him in the underground water veins beneath 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 and place of origin." As usual, the soldier at the city gate questioned the newcomer's identity.

Lin Le did not answer. He merely raised a plaque and poured true qi into it.

The plaque immediately began to glow faintly.

The soldier had already perked up at the sight of the plaque. When he saw it light up, he bent at the waist and said respectfully, "My lord, please enter!"

Lin Le strode directly inside. The surrounding soldiers also lowered their heads, not daring to look at him.

What Lin Le had just displayed was a plaque representing cultivators. Except for military strongholds, cultivators were permitted to travel unhindered throughout the nation; this was an order written into national policy.

As for whether the plaque belonged to Lin Le, that was unimportant. Since he could make it glow, he was a genuine cultivator.

And a true cultivator was not someone ordinary soldiers like them could afford to offend.

Lin Le found a broker's office and spent fifty taels of silver to rent a courtyard near the yamen.

When paying, Lin Le also exchanged some silver for loose change. After counting his cash, he had roughly thirty-four thousand taels of silver.

Lin Le then went out again, intending to sell off some items.

White Mountain Pawnshop. Lin Le glanced at the signboard and walked inside.

Although Lin Le was dressed in coarse linen and looked utterly ordinary, an attendant still came forward to greet him courteously.

Those in this trade had seen it all. Any slightly experienced attendant knew that some cultivators liked to disguise themselves as ordinary people. Some did it to evade enemies, some to fence stolen goods, while others simply did it to play among mortals, pretending to be pigs to eat tigers.

"Greetings, honored guest. What do you require?" the attendant asked politely.

"I'm pawning some things." Lin Le patted the case on his back, making it jingle.

"Certainly. Please follow me." The attendant led Lin Le before a high counter. "Master Mo, this guest has come to sell some items."

Behind the counter, a refined-looking middle-aged man sized Lin Le up and asked, "Honored guest, do you wish to make a redeemable pawn or an outright sale?"

A redeemable pawn was essentially a loan secured by goods, and the offered price was usually not high. An outright sale was a one-time transaction, usually offering twenty to thirty percent more than a redeemable pawn.

Lin Le placed the case on the counter. "Outright sale. Have a look."

The middle-aged man opened the case and glanced inside: magical artifacts, pills, and several land deeds.

Fencing illicit goods? The middle-aged man immediately guessed their origins, but he was not worried. White Mountain Pawnshop's backing was not in Bailian County, but in Yizhou's provincial capital. Why would it fear dubious goods from some small place?

"A damaged defensive magical artifact, low-grade with three restrictions, worth fifteen hundred taels." The middle-aged man began by naming a price for the Small Turtle Shield.

Listening to Master Mo, Lin Le's eyelids twitched. Good heavens, this man was truly ruthless with his bargaining. The Small Turtle Shield was not damaged at all.

A magical artifact with three minor restrictions had a market value of nine low-grade spirit stones—equivalent to a full nine thousand taels of silver.

Fifteen hundred taels was not even twenty percent.

"The total comes to six thousand six hundred and twenty-one taels. I'll round it up for you: seven thousand taels." After speaking, the middle-aged man's heart also began to pound. He did not often encounter deals this large.

"Fourteen thousand taels." Lin Le doubled the price directly without changing expression.

The middle-aged man feigned a frown. "Honored guest, that increase is rather high. How about seven thousand five hundred taels?"

"Fourteen thousand taels, final price." Lin Le sneered. "Don't use your little tricks on me. An acre of good farmland is worth at least fifteen taels, but you call it three. Other pawnshops do not offer such a low price even for redeemable pawns. There is such a huge gap in just this one item, so do not tell me there is none in the others."

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

"If you are this insincere, I do not mind going to other pawnshops or even trading houses." Lin Le shut the case directly. "You should understand that I came straight to a pawnshop only because I could not be bothered running around to several trading houses. Their purchase prices are at least seventy percent of market value."

"Then go find a trading house." The middle-aged man made a go-ahead gesture. "Let us see whether those trading houses will accept your illicit goods."

"As long as there is money to be made, illicit goods can become legitimate goods. Besides, mine are only half-black, half-white." Lin Le picked up the case and left.

The middle-aged man watched Lin Le go, silently counting down three, two, one. It was merely a battle of wits. Who did not know how to play that game?

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

Now the middle-aged man truly panicked. If he closed this deal, he would receive at least a thousand taels in commission—enough to buy a bottle of Yellow Bud Pills.

He hurriedly chased after him and called out, "Fourteen thousand taels! Fourteen thousand taels it is!"

Lin Le withdrew the foot that was about to step out of the shop. He glanced at him. "Final price: sixteen thousand taels!"

"Why has the price gone up again?" The middle-aged man frowned. "Fourteen thousand taels."

"Goodbye." Lin Le walked straight out the door.

Then someone grabbed his hand. Lin Le turned back to see the middle-aged man clutching him, his face twisted as though he were constipated. "Sixteen thousand taels. It cannot go any higher."

"Inspect the goods and pay up." Lin Le handed him the case directly.

"Fine." Hugging the case, the middle-aged man looked at Lin Le with deep resentment.

Lin Le remained expressionless. "Keep staring, and I'll fine you another eight hundred taels."

"Yes, yes." The middle-aged man immediately turned his head away. Sixteen thousand taels was already his limit. There could not be any more.

Thanks to Lazy Fallen Side and Tang Kou Wen Kou Wen for the 100-point coin tips.