Chapter 12

Tao Li Village is located upstream of Nan Lin Village. To enter Tao Li Village, one must first pass by the embankment of Tao Li Village.

From a distance, Lin Yiming could see the embankment, clearly built by human hands, with several figures moving back and forth on it, looking like the patrolling disciples of a sect.

One of the patrolling figures quickly spotted Lin Yiming and his group.

"It's the people from Nan Lin Village," the patroller said softly to the others, then shouted loudly to the people from Nan Lin Village below: "You people from Nan Lin Village have finally come. Is the money ready?"

"Money? What money?" The people from Nan Lin Village, as they moved forward, instinctively shouted back.

"What money are you talking about?" The other side said with a cold expression: "Don't pretend to be confused here. Our people have already told you clearly. Bring the money, one hundred taels per person, three hundred taels of silver, and your village's annual harvest, and you can take away those three old men from your village. No money, get lost!"

"What are you saying, are you even reasonable!" Beside Lin Yiming, a very irritable old farmer from the village, upon hearing the other side's words, immediately turned red-faced and shouted: "Why should we give you money? Quickly return our people, or we will fight with you!"

"Fight with us? What do you have to fight with?" A man in his thirties walked down from the embankment, his head held high, not even looking at Lin Yiming and his group, and waved his hand disdainfully: "If you don't have money, go back and get it quickly. Otherwise, I'll beat you too."

As soon as Lin Yiming saw this man, his muscles instantly tensed. This man was a martial artist, and a Spirit Lock stage martial artist at that. Last time, everyone said that Tao Li Village had only one late-stage Spirit Lock martial artist, Li Yan. The person in front of him must be that Li Yan.

"You are too unreasonable. It was your people who were wrong. We just came to open the embankment, why did you beat our villagers? Now you even want money, where is the logic in this world..." A voice from the Nan Lin Village group spoke up, but before he could finish, Li Yan interrupted him.

"We are unreasonable, what can you do? I beat you, what can you do?" Li Yan raised two fingers in front of him, looking extremely arrogant: "Now, I've changed my mind. I want six hundred taels of silver, and not just one-tenth of the harvest, but two-tenths. If you can't come up with it, not only can't you take your people away, you can't leave either."

Lin Ning stood in the crowd, and upon hearing this, she knew she had to step forward. Otherwise, things would surely get out of hand. Although the other side spoke very rudely and excessively, today they were here to get their people back, and they had to be humble.

"Where is your village chief? I am the village chief of Nan Lin Village, and I want to talk to your village chief properly." Lin Ning did not mention the money issue but cleverly changed the topic, speaking in a clear voice: "Nan Lin Village and Tao Li Village are neighbors. Even distant relatives are not as close as close neighbors. Our two villages should help each other."

Li Yan suddenly heard a woman's voice and immediately turned his head to look into the crowd. Instantly, a slender and graceful figure came into view.

What a beauty!

Li Yan's eyes lit up instantly. He never thought that a rural village could have such a beauty. Although she was only wearing ordinary coarse clothes, it could not hide her natural beauty, especially her white and tender skin, which looked like sheep fat, making him want to touch it to see how smooth it was. Even in the city, he hadn't seen many women with such white and tender skin. He wondered what she ate to grow up like this.

Seeing Lin Ning, Li Yan had a new idea. He took a step forward, staring straight at Lin Ning with a frivolous look: "Looking for our village chief? You don't need to look for the village chief, just find me. My father is the new village chief of our village, and I can fully represent him. Chief Lin, if you have anything to say, just talk to me."

Lin Ning, seeing Li Yan's frivolous look, felt a wave of disgust. She could sense his thoughts. Although she felt disgusted, for the sake of the village, she had to suppress her disgust and force a smile, speaking softly: "I represent our village and hope that you will release our villagers. Actually, your village's actions of capturing our people have already violated the laws of the Great Peng Dynasty."

"We violated the laws of the Great Peng Dynasty? How do we not know? Do you have any evidence?" Li Yan looked at Lin Ning with a strange smile.

Lin Ning sighed inwardly. How could she not understand the meaning behind Li Yan's smile? Violating the laws of the Great Peng Dynasty, this kind of thing, one has to go to the town to find out.

But the town oversees a hundred villages, and each village has ten villages. They, the people of Nan Lin Village, didn't know anyone in the town. How could the people in the town go through the trouble to investigate such a small matter?

Li Yan, while looking at Lin Ning's face, slowly moved closer, looking lecherous: "Of course. As Chief Lin said, distant relatives are not as close as close neighbors. This issue, we can still discuss it properly. How about this, Chief Lin, stay tonight and discuss this issue with me. As for your villagers, I can release them now."

The forced smile on Lin Ning's face disappeared, and her eyebrows instantly furrowed: "Please be respectful. I am here to talk to your village chief. Please bring out your village chief."

"Be respectful?" Li Yan's face turned ugly upon hearing Lin Ning's insulting words in public: "Don't give you face and you don't want it! Everything here is decided by me. Do you know who I am? I am a martial artist, a late-stage Spirit Lock martial artist. If you behave properly, it's fine. If not, if you anger me, I will massacre your village, and it will be a meaningless slaughter."

"In this world, strength is supreme. Whoever has the bigger fist, that's who's right, and that's who you listen to."

As Li Yan spoke, he suddenly extended his arm and grabbed an old farmer near Lin Ning: "Like now, my fist is big, and I want to hit you, so I hit you. What can you do!"

Just as his hand was about to grab the old farmer, an arm shot out from the side, tightly gripping his arm.

Li Yan was stunned. Although he didn't use his full strength, it wasn't something an ordinary person could stop. To stop him, one had to be a martial artist. From the other side's spiritual energy, this was a mid-stage Spirit Lock martial artist. Moreover, the technique used to stop him was Farmer's Fist. Who uses Farmer's Fist these days?

Li Yan turned his head and saw an overly young face.

Lin Yiming released Li Yan's arm and smiled: "Whoever has the bigger fist is right. Your meaning is that if I can beat you, I can do whatever I want, right?"

"That's right. All of you, come together. As long as you can beat me, I'll let the water flow and release the captured people!"

Li Yan sneered. He didn't expect that the other side's village would also have a martial artist, and a mid-stage Spirit Lock martial artist at that. When the other side stopped him, he already felt the other side's realm. Although the other side was only a mid-stage Spirit Lock, and he was already a late-stage Spirit Lock, the other side was too young, looking like a teenager of sixteen or seventeen, and had already become a mid-stage Spirit Lock expert, which was extremely rare!

Although cultivation becomes slower the further one progresses, the other side was just a teenager of sixteen or seventeen. Who knows how long it would take for him to reach the late-stage Spirit Lock.

Such an opponent must be eliminated before he grows stronger!

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