The Qiao family’s crisis went away as quickly as it came.
Both arrival and departure of this crisis were beyond Qiao Feigong’s expectations. He had assumed that by gathering able men, he could force the thieves into giving up without a fight. He was wrong. The thieves had come prepared and caught them off guard.
This was the first unexpected thing.
Next, when they were plunged into a despairing situation when the Qiao family members were about to be trampled on as the villains pleased, an expert came to their rescue, resolving the crisis altogether through extraordinary means.
Perhaps what baffled Qiao Feigong the most was how this expert was actually the man Escort Zhang had mentioned several days ago, the man who robbed their delivery goods.
This would prove to be an incident that Qiao Feigong found to be a fortunate encounter in the future. He was thankful that he didn’t press the issue back then and forgave the man. He was also grateful that Escort Zhang had written a letter on his behalf to invite this expert over or his family would have been done for.
Thus, this bow that Qiao Feigong gave Lin Jin came from the bottom of his heart. He was delighted to gain another chance at life, but he also intended to flatter Lin Jin a little.
Qiao Feigong wanted to restart the banquet and treat this expert to a feast but Lin Jin shook his head in rejection.
Lin Jin hadn’t come to help the Qiao family in hopes of befriending them. He only came here to return the favor he owed them from consuming one of their Ganodermas.
Lin Jin had had this conveyed through Escort Zhang a few days ago.
Moreover, Lin Jin figured that their problem hadn’t been fully uprooted. There were definitely more than four demonic appraisers around.
To get rid of weeds, one must uproot them. Even more so when it came to the Demonic Appraisal Association.
With this, he was able to enforce justice on behalf of the heavens and resolve the Qiao family’s troubles completely, returning their favor.
Though, Lin Jin could tell that the Qiao family was trying to befriend him. Staying for lunch wouldn’t have been an issue. However, this was the golden moment to storm the enemy’s den and remove the Demonic Appraisal Association for good. Lin Jin would obviously give precedence to the bigger issue at hand.
Lin Jin scanned the four corpses on the ground before focusing his attention on the boatman.
Among the four, only this boatman didn’t bring his pet beast with him. Rather than not having one, the creature was actually outside and Lin Jin could probably find their nest if he pursued this clue.
Then, Lin Jin flicked a needle into the boatman to take a blood sample. He invoked a spell so the bloodied needle could locate the boatman’s pet beast through their blood contract’s influence.
Sure enough, the needle flew out and Lin Jin gave immediate chase, disappearing almost instantly.
The Qiao family members were stunned for a moment until Qiao Feigong’s second uncle finally broke the silence, “That was truly an expert.”
No one denied it.
Everyone here was impressed by Lin Jin’s battle with the four villains, particularly that last ‘en garde’. He clearly wasn’t holding a sword but that force he sent forth had the same effect as an actual blade. In one clean swipe, he killed three people. All of them, including the older ones like Qiao Feigong’s second uncle, witnessed such an attack for the first time.
“Escort Zhang, thank you so much.”
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After Lin Jin left, Qiao Feigong turned to bow at Escort Zhang.
Since Escort Zhang was sitting with Appraiser Lin earlier, it was safe to assume that it was him who requested the assistance of the expert. With this, the Qiao family now owed Escort Zhang a huge favor.
More importantly, Appraiser Lin seemed to be on good terms with Escort Zhang so the latter was now the family’s most valuable guest.
It wasn’t just Qiao Feigong, but even his second uncle greeted Escort Zhang ardently. Flattered by the attention he was getting, Escort Zhang quickly returned a bow.
He was obviously delighted by this treatment.
Escort Zhang had never received such hospitality from the Qiao family before and this was a genuine case of riding on someone else’s success. Escort Zhang was no fool. He knew the Qiao family was only being respectful to him because of Appraiser Lin.
Servants began cleaning up the yard and the four corpses were dragged away into a corner, waiting to be picked up by the authorities.
Following such a huge commotion that left so many dead or injured, no amount of covering up could work. In other words, it was better to report this incident to the authorities. As for how it would be explained, the Qiao family knew how to take care of that.
They would reduce the severity of the issue until it ceased to be an issue.
Inside the guest hall, Escort Zhang was mildly flustered with Qiao Feigong and his second uncle sitting on either side as they probed him for more information on Appraiser Lin. Escort Zhang told them exactly what he knew.
This time, everyone believed his words.
While they were enjoying their time, Lin Jin stood on his cloud stairs, floating some two hundred feet above the ground as he observed the area surrounding Reed City.
His needle had flown thousands of feet away, dived into a river, and pierced into a fish. That fish was the boatman’s pet beast. With a needle in its belly, the fish would feel severe pain and choose to return to its nest. Based on Lin Jin’s calculations, the creature’s nest was most probably the demonic appraisers’ den as well.
Outside the city, on Nine Crescent Lake, there was Turtle Island.
Those on the island were blissfully unaware of Elder Zhou and their comrades’ demise. At that moment, in the main hall of the island, Elder Song, who held a similar status as Elder Zhou, was going through the ledger.
This place was one of the major branches for demonic appraisers so they obviously required a consistent income to keep the place up and running. Though, most of the Demonic Appraiser Association’s business dealings were not exactly presentable.
The money they earned came from stealing pet beasts, poisoning designated targets, and murder. Though they also did pet beast appraisals and sold pills and medicinal concoctions in the black market. If the job paid a hefty sum of money, they would accept it.
Despite being a mere branch office, their monthly revenue was comparable to the income of most wealthy families.
“If Elder Zhou and the others managed to deal with the Qiao family, we’ll get to squeeze at least one hundred thousand silvers from them.” Elder Song grinned, feeling satisfied with the income that they were expecting to receive.
Sitting beside him was his confidant.
“Besides going for the Qiao family’s money, I heard that Elder Zhou was eyeing the family treasure they’re keeping.” While Elder Song and Elder Zhou were both the higher officials of the association, they didn’t share every detail with each other. There was even a hidden competition going on between them. However, Elder Song was adept at collecting information so he managed to catch some news flying around in the air.
A subordinate shook his head, indicating that he wasn’t aware of the matter while another spoke up, “Elder Song, it is true. The Qiao family does have a legendary ancestral treasure but I don’t know exactly what it is. Perhaps Elder Zhou knows, but as you’re aware, Elder Zhou never shares his secrets with anyone.”
“Never mind. I was just asking. Since the higher-ups have left this to Elder Zhou, we’ll leave things to him. I can’t be bothered to get my hands dirty.” Elder Song understood Elder Zhou’s character well. Since the latter was treating it as a secret, it must be something of great importance. And if the man wouldn’t bring it up, he couldn’t well ask about it either.
“Hmph, what treasure can a mere Qiao family have besides money?” Elder Song could only savor sour grapes for now.