Got Pig-Butchered?

"I have a senior brother called Ye Tian. Wherever that guy goes, he's always scraping everything clean. There's an eighty percent chance your things were taken by him."

"Ye Tian?"

"You have no idea how vile he is..."

Over the next ten minutes, Lin Heng poured on oil and vinegar, describing all the beastly things Ye Tian would do in the future.

Scheming to frame fellow disciples.

Grooming orphaned young girls.

Drugging his own Senior Sister.

Threatening decent women.

"Brother Lin, your Green Pavilion Sect has scum like that too? Even if his talent for cultivation is sky-high, you still can't let him become the sect heir!"

"Isn't the Sect Leader your real dad? Why would he think of leaving the inheritance to an outsider?"

Sun Hao expressed utter disbelief.

"That's why I call him my cheap dad."

"Brother, I've said all this for your own good. Even if he was the one who took the armor, you'd better not go looking for trouble with him, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what!?" Sun Hao slammed his fist onto the table. "My father and I kept watch over that suit of armor for three years. We'd long since regarded it as something in our bag. No one has ever dared snatch something from our hands."

"Tsk, calm down, be rational. I'm not blowing hot air here. There was someone before who thought he was pretty impressive and went looking for trouble with Ye Tian. Not only was his whole household wiped out, even the beautiful wife at home wasn't protected."

That was right, the person he was talking about was the future Sun Hao.

"Don't worry, Brother Lin. You being no match for him in Green Pavilion Sect doesn't mean my father and I have no way to deal with him."

As expected, after Lin Heng pulled him back and forth, then poured on oil and vinegar, he successfully stirred up Sun Hao's anger.

As someone capable of contending with the protagonist in the middle stage of his development, it was inevitable he had pride in his heart.

If he got scared off by a few words, how was he supposed to feed Ye Tian experience?

However, Sun Hao did not blindly lose his head.

After learning that Ye Tian's cultivation was at Late Golden Core, a small realm higher than even his dad's, he still calmed down.

Going to trouble Ye Tian now—how was that any different from rushing to deliver his head?

"Speaking of which, Brother Lin... I think you should sell Golden Scale to them. North King Street is practically covered from top to bottom by City Lord's Mansion forces. If there's even the slightest wind in the grass here, they'll know immediately."

"Golden Scale appearing also means the Western Continent Wasteland is about to draw in another excavation tide. The Western Continent is going to change." Sun Hao sighed again.

Lin Heng smiled. "It's fine. I still have helpers at my side. Since I came to Swallow Cloud City this time, I never planned on leaving peacefully.

"What I'm curious about instead, Brother Sun, is how you saw that there was Golden Scale inside the raw stone. If you could see it, that old man might not necessarily have failed to see it either."

"Haha." At the mention of this, Sun Hao smiled smugly, then raised a hand and pointed at his own eyes. "Brother Lin is an open and straightforward person, so I won't close my eyes and hide it either... These eyes of mine can see through many things."

"X-ray Vision?"

"No, much stronger than X-ray Vision."

His current cultivation was still relatively low, and his eyesight had only just been developed. Although he could not see exactly what was inside the raw stone, he could still glimpse a little of the wisps of Spirit Source fluctuations.

That was also why he had been so certain that only that one raw stone could produce something good.

After this explanation, Lin Heng inwardly cried, damn.

Could it be the script of "double pupils are born for an invincible road"?

Maybe he relied on these eyes to wrestle with Ye Tian in the middle stage.

Sun Hao filled another bowl of Fragrant Peach Wine for himself. "I keep feeling like I missed a good Pig-Butchering Scam show. You remember that vendor and the old man, right?

"In stone gambling, there's a common Pig-Butchering Scam method. The vendor finds a plant to serve as an anchor point, uses the scene at the venue to attract customers, and thereby achieves the goal of luring fish onto the hook."

"Pig-Butchering Scam?!"

So it really was. He had almost gotten muddle-headed...

Sun Hao thought Lin Heng did not understand, so he opened his mouth to explain.

"It's very easy to understand. What I mean is, the old man was a plant deliberately found by the vendor. That included the few people mixed into the crowd yelling and shouting. They joined hands to set up the game and crafted the old man into a stone-gambling expert.

"They used a joint-investment method to draw people into buying raw stones together. When the first person who jointly invested in a raw stone opened something as rare as Purple Sun Agate, I understood that person was also a plant they had found."

"Through this method, three people on the spot immediately took out more principal. I dare bet their Spirit Stones will all be like water hitting a floating log."

Sun Hao explained.

After Lin Heng heard this, he secretly agreed in his heart. That was indeed the logic. After all the old man's various maneuvers, even he had been somewhat tempted.

If Sun Hao had not stepped forward and made a few sarcastic remarks, saying pies did not easily fall from the sky, he might really have taken out money to jointly buy raw stones.

All one could say was that when benefits were placed right before one's eyes, people were very prone to getting muddle-headed.

"This is still just an ordinary Pig-Butchering Scam. The most brilliant Pig-Butchering Scams will stack up to a level you can't imagine."

"Go into detail. I like listening."

Lin Heng liked listening to these strange anecdotes, Bagua, and underworld swindles.

"For example, if after I deliberately reminded you to beware of traps, the raw stone I pointed out to you turned out to be waste material, causing you to lose six thousand Spirit Stones for nothing, what would you think?"

"I'd want to die, and I'd want to kill someone."

"Haha, exactly. At that time, I would be the Outer Plate outside the Pig-Butchering Scam, but I can guarantee you wouldn't blame me."

"Because the other three people who jointly bought Spirit Stones with the old man would also be part of the plan. If none of them opened anything good, and they all lost a large pile of Spirit Stones, you wouldn't follow along and make trouble."

"On the contrary, you would even think your own luck was bad."

"Makes sense. So that means a whole bunch of people can all scam one person. That's a bit lacking in virtue."

Sun Hao nodded. "That's how brilliant Pig-Butchering Scams are. It's possible that everyone in front of a single stall is a plant, and it's also possible that thousands of people on the entire street are all Fishing Old Men.

"When the fish aren't many and the bait isn't abundant, just imagine, if everyone is acting, even the shrewdest person would find it very hard to spot the flaw."

Lin Heng nodded.

"Wait! If even a shrewd person would find it hard to spot the flaw, then how did you see through it?"

"Me?" Sun Hao's face immediately fell, and he said a little embarrassedly, "How else could I have seen through it? By being tricked too many times, of course."

"They were all bloody lessons!"

"Heh!" Lin Heng was amused.

Experience came from life, and life was full of experience.

On the other side.

Swallow Cloud City · Mu Manor.

After Yun Yao arrived in Swallow Cloud City, she went straight to Mu Manor.

As Mu Liuxi brewed tea, she asked, "Xiao Yao, did you complete your sect mission so quickly? What made you think of coming here?"

"Have a cup of tea. Wash away the alcohol on you. Did you run into some trouble? Your face looks so bad, as if it's lost all color from blood loss."

Blood loss?

She had indeed lost blood.

Yun Yao held the cup in both hands and glanced at it. Her delicate nose twitched slightly, as if she had smelled some strange odor, and she almost retched.

It was a little like Lin Heng's.

"No, Senior Sister, why does this tea have such a weird smell?"

"Ah, is this your first time drinking it? Its base ingredient is Essence Grass Leaf. After drinking it, your essence, energy, and strength feel very full. It's said to also have the effects of beautifying the complexion, nourishing qi, and regulating yin... I think the taste is all right."

Ugh!

It was over!

The lingering taste in her throat seemed to surge up again.

What kind of heaven-defying tea leaves were "Essence Grass Leaf"?

Yun Yao pushed the tea aside and shook her head with a tinkling sway, indicating that no matter what, she could not drink it.

"Senior Sister, have you seen Lin Heng?" Yun Yao asked through gritted teeth.

Mu Liuxi shook her head. "He came too? I'm not too clear... I've been too busy recently, and I haven't had time to pay attention to what's happening outside."

"Hm? Senior Sister, have you still not handled your household affairs? Do you need my help?"

"No. Those old women in the family are quarreling terribly. They want me to take the Third Young Master of Li Family as a matrilocal husband. Don't even mention how annoying it is."

"No way... a matrilocal son-in-law?"