Chapter 11

Although these people were beaten to the ground, the problem was not yet over.

"Kid, you’d better release us quickly, or your village will be destroyed! Don’t think that defeating us from the Sangshan Gang is the end. Let me tell you, we have powerful figures behind us!"

"Powerful figures? What kind of powerful figures could you have behind you?" Lin Yiming laughed.

"Scared to death, aren’t you? My backer is the Black Wolf Gang!"

"Black Wolf Gang!"

The old farmers were instantly shocked upon hearing this name, and the village women, upon hearing it, trembled in fear.

Lin Yiming was also taken aback. He truly didn’t expect that the other party would have such a powerful backer. The Black Wolf Gang was already a gang, and it was said that their leaders, the Big Boss and the Second Boss, were experts of the level of the Deputy Hall Master of the Shuiyao Sect.

"It’s the Black Wolf Gang, Lin Yiming, let’s release them quickly." An old farmer walked behind Lin Yiming, quietly pulling his clothes and said in a trembling voice, "The Black Wolf Gang is a gang that does all kinds of evil without any limits. We can’t offend them!"

"That’s right, we can’t afford to offend the Black Wolf Gang." Another old man also spoke, "The Black Wolf Gang can do anything. They not only rob people on the road, but sometimes they even rush into other villages to rob money and women. The consequences of offending them are too terrible."

"The neighboring Xiaoguan Village was burned down by the Black Wolf Gang just because they offended them. When their crops were about to mature, all the crops were burned. We can’t afford to offend the Black Wolf Gang. Let’s release them quickly."

Lin Yiming listened to the old farmers but still shook his head, "No, we can’t release them. If we release them, they will just come to cause trouble. We’ll keep them in custody for now. I’ll go to the Black Wolf Gang and talk to them. I just left the Shuiyao Sect, I think they will give me some face."

Lin Yiming still kept the people in custody. Then he left the village and headed towards the Black Wolf Gang’s stronghold.

The core members of the Black Wolf Gang were all from the same village, Xiaoli Village.

For some unknown reason, the land of Xiaoli Village looked the same as the land in other places, but when planted with crops, the yield was always less than half of that in other villages.

Therefore, Xiaoli Village had always been the poorest village in the area. Later, with the rise of the Black Wolf Gang, most of the villagers joined the gang. Now, the entire village had become the stronghold of the Black Wolf Gang.

Lin Yiming had just arrived at the entrance of Xiaoli Village when he was stopped by someone.

Two young men, with waist knives and grass in their mouths, blocked Lin Yiming’s way.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The two young men rudely sized up Lin Yiming.

Lin Yiming smiled slightly and said, "I’m here to see your two leaders. I wonder which one is here?" He knew that in the Black Wolf Gang, the Big Boss and the Second Boss were the ones who made the decisions.

"Looking for our boss? Come back another day, both of our leaders are out."

"Out?" Lin Yiming’s heart skipped a beat. If both leaders were out, it couldn’t be because of the Sangshan Gang, could it?

"Actually, I have some urgent matters to discuss with your two leaders. Could you tell me when they will be back?" Lin Yiming still had a smile on his face.

"How would we know when the boss will be back? The boss went with the town mayor to celebrate the city lord’s 80th birthday. You’ll have to ask the town mayor when he will be back!"

"The city lord’s birthday?" Lin Yiming’s heart was immediately at ease. As long as it wasn’t because of the Sangshan Gang, it was fine. However, the Black Wolf Gang celebrating the city lord’s birthday? He knew they wouldn’t even see the city lord; they were just there to support the town mayor.

Lin Yiming had no choice but to return to the village and continue his training.

Three days passed quickly. During these three days, Lin Yiming’s strength advanced further, breaking through to the early stage of the Spirit Lock realm. During this period, he discovered that even the immortal energy he absorbed had slight differences.

The deeper the space he carved, the purer the immortal energy he absorbed.

Now, the way he carved space had changed. He no longer carved it once at a time but concentrated three times in one go. While holding a dagger to carve the space, he continuously absorbed immortal energy.

He kept carving in one place, continuously, until he could no longer move. Of course, the process of absorbing immortal energy could not stop.

Because most of the young men in the village had gone to the town to buy grain, Lin Yiming had to personally go to the mountain to pick medicinal herbs for the village’s young people to soak in.

When he came down from the mountain and just returned to the village, he found that a very old and dilapidated carriage was parked at the village entrance. Around the carriage, a group of agitated villagers were gathered, and on the carriage, three people were lying.

"Uncle Shan, Uncle Meng, Uncle Jin."

Lin Yiming’s pupils instantly shrank. The three old farmers on the carriage were covered in wounds, and some wounds were still bleeding, with low moans. They even seemed to be somewhat delirious.

Next to the carriage stood a proud-looking man. Lin Yiming had never seen this man before, and he was clearly not from the village.

"Hey, I’ve brought them here, you’d better take them away quickly. I need to take this carriage back soon." The proud man impatiently urged the crowd.

"You still want to leave?"

"Exactly, if you don’t explain yourself, you won’t be leaving today."

"Quickly explain, why did your Taoli Village beat up our villagers and the Du brothers? Where are they?"

The villagers, upon hearing the man’s words, immediately shouted loudly. They sent a few people to carefully lift the three people off the carriage while surrounding the man in the middle.

"Why did you beat them? You should ask yourselves." The man from Taoli Village, surrounded by the crowd, showed no fear: "If they hadn’t come to steal our water, would they have been beaten?"

"Steal water? You can’t say it like that. The Zhu Rong River has irrigated several villages in our area since ancient times. It belongs to the Da Peng Dynasty, not to your Taoli Village. You were wrong to build a dam without permission. We were just opening the dam, not stealing water."

Lin Ning slowly walked out from the crowd, looking at the man. Her voice was gentle, but her words were firm.

The man from Taoli Village was speechless. What Lin Ning said was correct. Anyone who knew about this would say it was their village’s fault.

But even if it was their village’s fault, so what? Their village was strong, so they could do as they pleased.

The man waved his hand impatiently and shouted, "Don’t talk about useless things. You know why they were beaten. Our village chief is kind-hearted, so he sent them back. Our village chief also said that, considering we are from the same area, he doesn’t want to make things difficult for you. If you give us 300 taels of silver and sign a contract to give us your village’s harvest for this year, we will release those three people."

"What? You want money and the harvest? You’re shameless!"

"Too unreasonable! You beat up our people and now you want money. There’s no such logic in the world!"

The villagers shouted in anger. They had never seen such shameless behavior from Taoli Village. They had taken their people and now demanded money from their village. Was this kindness?

Lin Yiming stood in the crowd without speaking. Although he had just returned, after hearing a few words, he understood what had happened.

It was probably while he was going to the Black Wolf Gang that the old farmers in the village had secretly gone to Taoli Village to dig a water channel. They were likely discovered again.

But even if they were discovered, couldn’t Taoli Village just drive them away? Why did they have to use violence, and with such severity?

Almost all the young men in the village had gone to sell grain, leaving only the old farmers. The person guarding the dam in Taoli Village was a late-stage Spirit Lock realm martial artist. How could he be so ruthless to the old farmers, who were already over sixty?

Faced with the villagers’ accusations, the man from Taoli Village directly pushed his way through the crowd and left, saying, "I’ve delivered the message. I have other things to do, so I’m leaving."

After he left, the villagers were even more agitated.

"How can we just let this go?"

"Right, we need to go to Taoli Village and argue with them. If not, we’ll go to the county and file a complaint."

"Complain? What’s the point of complaining? We’re not cowards in Nanlin Village. We’ll fight them!"

"Right, we’ll fight them. I’ve wanted to fight them for a long time."

"Fight! The men of Nanlin Village are not cowards!"

Although the remaining villagers in Nanlin Village were all elderly, at this moment, they were all agitated, shouting that they would fight the people of Taoli Village.

Seeing the situation getting worse, Lin Ning had to step forward to calm the crowd.

"Don’t get agitated. Fighting them won’t help. This will only make the enmity between our two villages bigger, which is not good for either of us. We need to be rational. This matter won’t end here. I will make sure that Taoli Village gives us justice."

Lin Ning loudly said to the crowd, "Let’s go and negotiate with Taoli Village first."

"Negotiate? No problem. But, village chief, you don’t need to go. Leave this to us men." The crowd comforted Lin Ning, knowing that negotiations with Taoli Village might lead to a fight, and they couldn’t let a weak woman like her go.

"I know what you’re worried about." Lin Ning gently bit her lip and looked at the crowd firmly, "I am the village chief. Our villagers were detained for the village’s water source. How can I not go? This time, I will go with everyone."

Lin Yiming, hearing his sister Lin Ning’s words, immediately understood that she would definitely go. Although she always seemed gentle and weak, she was a very decisive person. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have become the village chief. Once she made up her mind, no one could persuade her otherwise.

"Sister, I’ll go with you." Lin Yiming stepped out of the crowd and spoke for the first time, "Don’t forget, I’m a martial artist now."

In the end, Lin Yiming, Lin Ning, and over ten respected old farmers from the village set out together, heading towards Taoli Village.