Lin Zezhi involuntarily shuddered. He couldn't help but turn around to look at Lin Xuanzhi, but all he saw was an aloof and magnificent-looking Lin Xuanzhi stand within this law enforcement hall. His expression was rather apathetic, as if he was merely watching a show.
Yet his heart was even more vicious than his!
And, to be this merciless!
Dread suddenly filled Lin Zezhi's heart. Whatever he had known about Lin Xuanzhi before this moment had all been overturned in an instant!
Was this still that aloof and distant Lin Xuanzhi who never bothered to get even with others?
No, this is a devil clothed in human skin.
However, even if Lin Xuanzhi had turned into a devil, he's still a devil acknowledged by Master.
Lin Zezhi took a deep breath, then looked at the guard and ordered in a cold and loud voice, "Go and grab that guy for me, and since he loves to eat Five Yuan rice, then we'll force all these Five Yuan rice down his throat until he's full!"
"Yes!" The guards shouted, then they walked in sync towards Steward Zhang.
Five Yuan rice is indeed good for the body. It contains a considerable amount of spiritual Qi so cultivators could reap significant benefits after they consume it.
However, Five Yuan rice is not easily digested. Especially for someone like Steward Zhang who was a mere Refining Qi stage first layer cultivator, he only needed to eat one small bowl of Five Yuan rice to meet his absorption quota for the day.
Handfuls of Five Yuan rice were forcefully stuffed into Steward Zhang's mouth.
"Save me wu……save wu……coughcoughcough!" Steward Zhang incessantly made vomiting noises. He wanted to puke out the Five Yuan rice that he had consumed, but those guards didn't even gave him the slightest opportunity to do so.
This type of pure Five Yuan rice was really hard to swallow, being force-fed with handfuls of it would be a kind of arduous torture for anyone. Towards the end, Steward Zhang's stomach had been filled to the point of bursting by the spiritual Qi within the Five Yuan rice and looked like a mortal woman who was ten months pregnant. He clutched his throat and wanted to puke the rice out, but how could one easily puke out what had already been swallowed into the stomach! Steward Zhang thus rolled about on the floor in utter agony while he let out gurgling sounds; his eyeballs almost popped out of its sockets as they glared at Lin Zezhi一this was the only son of the Madam Bai whom he had called his master, his young master!
Yet, it was this person who personally given such a vicious order!
He hates him!
But it's a pity that this hatred was no longer of any use.
An excess of Five Yuan rice was being digested in his stomach, its spiritual Qi rapidly dispersed within his body. His muscles, tendons and flesh that couldn't withstand such a huge amount of Qi was gradually being forced to the brink of rupturing.
Blood began to pour out of Steward Zhang's seven orifices1; he was evidently being subjected to an arduous, drawn-out torture; like a frog that was slowly being boiled in warm water2 — he was dying slowly, but surely.
Steward Zhang's wails of anguish reverberated throughout the spacious law enforcement hall; the crowd that was spectating this scene — not one of them managed to keep a straight face as they went numb with shock.
Lin Yurou turned away as she couldn't bear to continue looking at the scene that was unfolding in front of her. She felt that Lin Xuanzhi was really too malicious, so much so that it scared people witless.
Yan Tianhen's little face turned pale. He didn't know why, but when he saw the miserable look of despair on Steward Zhang's face, a strong wave of sorrow that made him want to cry washed over him.
But…but he didn't pity this Steward Zhang at all!
Yan Tianhen shuddered, then retreated towards the back while his body trembled slightly.
"Ah Hen, do you feel uncomfortable?" Lin Xuanzhi felt the grip on his sleeve tighten, and he heard the breathing of the person beside him become more and more irregular, so he immediately turned around to ask in a concerned voice.
Yan Tianhen forced out a weak smile, then said, "Dage, I…I don't want to continue looking any longer. Let's leave this place, okay?"
Lin Xuanzhi was worried that Yan Tianhen would recall his memories from his past life, so he didn't want to let him stay for too long either. Also, he had already achieved his goal of intimidating the Lin family's people, so he stretched out his hands to pull Yan Tianhen into his embrace and said in a gentle and soft voice, "Ah Hen, we'll leave right now, don't be scared."
Yan Tianhen nodded, then leaned into Lin Xuanzhi's embrace like he was yearning for its warmth.
Quite a few people caught sight of this scene: some of them felt envious, while others had other ideas.
Lin Xuanzhi said to the guards next to him, "I'll leave him to you guys."
The guard immediately replied, "Xuanzhi young master need not worry, we'll definitely watch over this wicked servant until he's thoroughly dead before throwing him out."
After Lin Xuanzhi brought Yan Tianhen and left, the other people didn't stay for much longer and began leaving one after the other.
Even though they didn't see how Steward Zhang would end up, the scene they had witnessed had already left an incomparably deep impression and shock in everyone's minds.
Too terrifying.
Such calculated schemes had actually been derived by a young man who was barely past the age of 17.
From the beginning to the end, Lin Xuanzhi had never explicitly stated how he wanted to deal with Steward Zhang, yet someone had already done all the dirty work for him. And he had even made Steward Zhang's master personally inflict the punishment!
Also… there were several thousands way to die, but the way Steward Zhang died…could be considered one of the most inhumane method.
Putting aside how painful it must feel to gradually have your meridians be filled to the brink of rupture by spiritual Qi, just the prolonged amount of time the person is subjected to torture would make one shudder.
This kind of lingchi3-like torture would last for at least a day or two, or even longer. This is because even though Five Yuan rice does have spiritual Qi, it contained such Qi in minute amounts.
Without a doubt, Lin Xuanzhi had exerted his dominance over the Lin family.
From then on, amongst the people of his generation in the Lin family, none would dare to arbitrarily provoke Lin Xuanzhi.
Lin Zezhi was the last one to leave.
He looked at Steward Zhang's pathetic state, then coldly said, "This can be considered as you courting your own death; you were unlucky to have encountered Lin Xuanzhi right as he was regaining his influence."
Steward Zhang let out a ‘hhrreeuugghh‘ sound as he choked on the blood that had arisen in his throat, then stretched out his remaining arm to grab the hem of Lin Zezhi's robe. Yet his hand was mercilessly kicked away by Lin Zezhi.
"Even though I do want to give you a quick death, who knows if that Xuanzhi Tangxiong of mine would be prompted by an impulse to return and help you keep your corpse. As of now, he's in the limelight as Fifth elder's precious successor, so I definitely can't upset him just because of you." Lin Zezhi narrowed his eyes, then said, "Besides, you actually tried to pour dirty water onto my mother一"
Lin Zezhi uttered a cold hng, then waved his sleeves and left.
Steward Zhang wanted to commit suicide, but he was tied up tightly with sturdy ropes, and his mouth was stuffed full to the brim so he didn't have the chance to bite his tongue and end his life.
It was only when they had almost reached their yard that Yan Tianhen's face gradually regained its colour.
He touched his cold cheeks, then said with slight bewilderment, "Dage, I obviously have no pity at all for that guy, but why is it that I had felt so upset and despondent just now — as if I had personally experienced that kind of torture before."
Lin Xuanzhi's heart ached, then he immediately hugged Yan Tianhen and kissed the top of his head with a tender look in his eyes.
"Because Ah Hen is a good kid who has a soft heart. Dage didn't consider your feelings, it was Dage's fault."
"Of course not." Yan Tianhen hugged Lin Xuanzhi back tightly and buried his face into his embrace. He pursed his lips and said, "I'm not soft-hearted. Steward Zhang bullied Dage so badly last time, and had even insulted Dage, so he deserved to die! In the past, he even asked me to go buy mortal's rice for Dage to eat, he has such a malicious heart!"
The moment a cultivator eats mortal food, impurities would accumulate in their bodies. At that time Lin Xuanzhi's body was very weak, so if he had eaten ordinary rice4, his life could have been in danger.
Lin Xuanzhi said, "Okay, let's not think about him anymore. Does Ah Hen want to go out and eat something nice?"
Yan Tianhen raised his head, then nodded and said, "Are we going to go shopping?"
Lin Xuanzhi pinched his little nose, then said, "Un, since it's convenient. Dage had crafted a few wares these few days, so I was intending to bring them out to exchange for some money."
Even though the Lin family provide him with adequate resources in the future, Lin Xuanzhi would not be like how he was in the past and completely rely on the provisions of his family.
The more he took, the more he would have to give back in the future.
Lin Xuanzhi had thought of owning his own business empire a long time ago.
It's just that, his foundations were still weak right now, and his ability was not up to par, so he could only build it up bit by bit.
Yan Tianhen's eyes widened, then said, "What kind of good stuff is Dage going to sell? I want to go with you too!"
Lin Xuanzhi smiled and said, "I'm just selling a few wine cups. After I earn some money from selling them, I'll treat Ah Hen to a meal at Retaining Immortals restaurant, ok?"
Yan Tianhen was a bit worried as he said, "But Dage, wine cups can't be sold for much, and one cup of tea in Retaining Immortals restaurant costs ten silver ingots! Ai, I'll need to work for two days before I can afford a cup of tea."
Yan Tianhen sighed sorrowfully.
Lin Xuanzhi was so amused by Yan Tianhen's devastated appearance that he laughed. He was in a pretty good mood today, and coupling that with how he had taken revenge for one of Yan Tianhen's grievances in his past life, he decided to celebrate.
"Ah Hen only needs to care about eating his fill. As for earning money, he can leave it to Dage."
Yan Tianhen clapped and smiled cunningly, "Looks like Dage has quite a bit of confidence in his wine cups."
Lin Xuanzhi nodded and said, "If you don't believe me, Ah Hen can go carry a jar of wine over and try it for yourself."
"Whoopee!" Yan Tianhen skipped his way into the yard.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen squat underneath the peach blossom tree in their yard and dig into the dirt with a shovel. A light smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
If Steward Zhang had only insulted him and docked his supply of Five Yuan rice, he wouldn't have been worth being dealt with in such a manner.
But 一一 in his past life, the one who had personally pulled out Ah Hen's tongue was this running dog of Madam Bai. If it had been possible, Lin Xuanzhi would have even scattered his soul so that he would never be able to reincarnate!
It's just that right now, Lin Xuanzhi had not reached a higher realm, and he didn't want to leave an impression on the family's elders of him being overly cruel, so he allowed Steward Zhang to temporarily escape that plight.
As for Madam Bai and Third elder… Lin Xuanzhi squinted his long and narrow phoenix eyes — he wasn't too eager to get rid of them right now. When the timing is right, whatever these two people owed them, he would definitely make them repay their debts a hundredfold!
When Lin Zhan was alive, he had loved to drink, and the moment he started he wouldn't stop till he was dead drunk.
Lin Zhan had hidden quite a few jars of high quality spiritual wines. After he passed away, Yan Tianhen had taken out all his wines one by one out of his wine cellar, then buried it in the soil of this remote yard that they had been allocated to.
Even though Yan Tianhen would definitely not be able to finish all these wines by himself, he could keep them till a day when they really couldn't hold on any longer, then bring them out to the commercial district to exchange for money.
When Yan Tianhen huffed and puffed as he carried a brown, short and stout wine jar out of the soil, Lin Xuanzhi was looking at him from the back with a faintly discernible smile, then he said, "I actually didn't know that Ah Hen had hidden so many good wines behind my back for so many years."
A look of embarrassment appeared on Yan Tianhen's face. He placed the wine jars onto the stone table in the yard, then rubbed his nose and said, "I didn't keep Dage in the dark about this on purpose. It's just that I wanted to treat these wines as our last resort. If we need money urgently someday, I could dig these wines out to sell."
Lin Xuanzhi smiled as he said, "Looks like in Ah Hen's heart, I'm still an unreliable Dage."
Yan Tianhen stuck his tongue out, then said, "Dage wasn't very reliable before, but now you're reliable……okay okay, where are the wine cups Dage made?"
When he saw Yan Tianhen change the topic, Lin Xuanzhi didn't bother continuing their previous discussion. He took out two transparent wine cups from his storage bag — both of them were only the size of an apricot, its shape even looked a little cute.
Yan Tianhen took one, then curiously said, "What's special about this, there are tons of these on the streets. They can probably be sold for ten copper coins each ba."
Lin Xuanzhi said, "Then you're underestimating your Dage too much."
Lin Xuanzhi unsealed a wine jar. The rich and mellow scent of wine scattered into the air and assaulted one's nostrils. Those who smelled this fragrance couldn't help but feel intoxicated with just one whiff of its scent.
1. The seven apertures of the human head: 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth↩
2. Frog being slowly boiled in warm water i.e. Boiling frog: The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.↩
3. An old form of capital punishment, death of a thousand cuts. Where one's flesh is slowly sliced off piece by piece until the person dies↩
4. Ordinary and mortal use the same word '凡'↩