Chapter 201 Why Would I Care about What Powerful Connections You Have? KILL!
At a posh residence in the backyard of the Three Purities Temple.
Li Can took a warm bath and after he ate, he heaved his tummy up and walked toward a small courtyard.
“Zhou Yong, if the quality of this merchandise isn’t good, don’t blame me for falling out with you.”
Li Can yawned and had a look of fatigue on his face. He had played with a semi-courtesan for the entire night in Concentrated Fragrance Brothel last time, and the activity was even more intense than usual.
That semi-courtesan initially said that she wouldn’t sell her body.
(Hmph, is this daddy some ordinary man? This daddy is the fifth son of Li Zixing, a little prince. You are asking who is Li Zixing?)
Li Zixing was the younger blood brother of the Great Tang emperor. They were born from the same mother and he was given Jinling City to govern. One could say that in Jinling, Li Zixing’s power and authority were the greatest. Out of all n.o.bles here, his status was the highest.
In that case, Li Can naturally was the second-generation royalty of the highest status. Listen carefully. The word ‘royal’ was present. Hence, his status was much higher compared to the ‘official’ second generation, which consisted of the sons and daughters of the officials.
(You are just a mere semi-courtesan, what airs are you putting up before me? In the end, didn’t you obediently allow me to pop your cherry and play you half-to-death?) “I know the little prince’s preferences.”
Zhou Yong chortled. It wasn’t the first or second time he and Li Can were doing such things, and he had long since grown familiar with it. But what would happen if his father knew?
Hehe, this was taught by his father.
Actually, Zhou Yong had wanted to fawn on Li Tai. After all, Li Tai was the son that Li Zixing doted on the most. However, who asked Li Tai to be so overflowing with talent? Li Tai looked down on people like him; hence, Zhou Yong could only retreat a few steps and play with Li Can.
Luckily, Li Can was also among the top three favorites out of Li Zixing’s sons. It was all thanks to his mother who was once a famous courtesan of Jiangnan. She was beautiful and highly skilled in performances. Hence, Li Zixing doted on her a lot.
Moreover, Li Can inherited the good looks of his mother. With a handsome face, he naturally had more chances to prove himself and was doted on more.
Naturally, no one knew that under the handsome appearances of this little prince, there was a venomous and perverse heart.
Coincidentally, he and Zhou Yong fit very well together as the latter was a very scheming individual.
(Sun Mo, are you not very awesome? You don’t place my father, one of the richest merchants in Jinling, in your eyes, correct? In that case, I will find you an even stronger opponent.)
(What about Prince Li Zixing?)
(In the eyes of these people, if they slept with your daughter or your wife, it meant that they were giving you face. If you aren’t convinced, then they will make every moment of your life a living h.e.l.l.
This move by Zhou Yong was called borrowing someone’s blade to kill others.
“It’s all your fault. I initially planned to carve the word ‘wh.o.r.e slave’ on the face of the semi-courtesan when I woke up, but there was no time.”
Li Can sighed in regret.
“You can carve the words after you return.”
Zhou Yong smiled. “You don’t understand. When doing things like this, the state of mind is very important. Besides, I’m afraid that the semi-courtesan might jump into a well to commit suicide. After all, something like this had happened before.”
After Li Can spoke, he started laughing. “However, even if she died, I will feed her corpse to the dogs. If she dares to be disobedient, I’ll make her regret being born.”
Zhou Yong laughed along, yet he was coldly sneering in his heart. (d.a.m.n, people always say that I, Zhou Yong, am an evil school tyrant. But if one was to compare me and him, I’m actually nothing much.)
Li Can basically didn’t put anyone in his eyes. He treated everyone else like crickets as he pitted them against each other. He didn’t care whether you lived or died. It was fine as long as he was happy.
Ha!
Li Can yawned again, too tired from yesterday’s play. Hence, he even took a nap in the morning, but it was useless.
“Trash.”
Zhou Yong silently mumbled in disdain. Zhou Yong despised him, but it was impossible for him to give Li Can time to rest. He wanted Li Can to hurry up and play Lu Zhiruo until she was crippled. After that, he would send Lu Zhiruo back to Sun Mo and let him take a good look.
Sun Mo would most probably explode from rage, right?
Haha, that scene would surely be an extremely joyful one to watch.
Creak!
The door to the small courtyard was pushed over, and the two of them entered with familiar ease. Usually, there would be people in the backyard of the Three Purities Temple. But because today the little prince and Zhou Yong were coming, everyone was naturally driven off the premises. If not, what would happen if they spoiled the mood of these two?
But because of these factors, it was also more convenient for Tantai Yutang and the other two to sneak in.
The bright sunlight illuminated the room through the windows.
In the corner of the room, there was a girl with her hands bound. There was a pitiful look on her face; she looked like a lost kitten.
Upon hearing the noise, Lu Zhiruo inclined her head.
“Beautiful!” Li Can praised loudly. He lifted his hand and patted Zhou Yong’s shoulder. “Where did you find such a beautiful girl from?”
“She’s from Shengjing!”
Zhou Yong looked through Lu Zhiruo’s case file.
“There are no problems, right?”
Li Can wasn’t a r.e.t.a.r.d. Although his father could settle the aftermath the majority of the time, it was still quite troublesome and he would often be punished.
“No problem, she is from a minor family.” Zhou Yong set Li Can’s mind at ease.
“Is she still a virgin?”
Li Can gulped down a mouthful of saliva. He was very worried that he would hear an unsatisfactory reply. After all, for such a beautiful girl, she wouldn’t be perfect if her chast.i.ty wasn’t intact.
“I naturally did my best to select the best gift for little prince.”
Zhuo Yong’s lips curled.
“Haha, well done!”
Li Can patted Zhou Yong’s arms. After that, he walked over.
Lu Zhiruo cowered back in her corner. This sc.u.m had an extremely disgusting scent.
“Little sister, I’m a big baddie. I’m going to eat you up later.”
Li Can loved the expressions on the faces of his prey that would turn from helplessness, to panic, and finally to despair.
“I’m not going to listen, I’m not going to listen!”
“My father will protect me!”
“My teacher will come and save me!”
Lu Zhiruo mumbled. Her eyes never lost hope from the start until the end.
“Teacher? It’s a question whether he realized you are missing or not.” Zhou Yong chortled. Daoist White Bird might not be too good in other stuff, but as for kidnapping people, he was an ace. It was even easier for a brainless target like Lu Zhiruo.
Daoist White Bird had made use of her kindness and succeeded easily in kidnapping her.
Tantai Yutang, Jiang Leng, and Ying Baiwu were hiding under a wall not far away.
Pak! Pak!
Jiang Leng lightly patted Tantai’s shoulder. “When should we act?”
“No worry!”
Tantai Yutang made a gesture to signal them to continue waiting.
“Why?”
Ying Baiwu couldn’t understand.
“In any case, we already found her and also confirmed that Zhiruo is not injured. In that case, what we should do next is naturally to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction of successfully killing our prey.”
Tantai Yutang shrugged.
(When the enemies are at their most complacent moment, we will give them the most brutal strike. This is simply a wondrous matter. Che, I’m not going to say anything more. Even if I said more, you guys wouldn’t understand.)
Jiang Leng glanced at Tantai Yutang as the corners of his lips twitched. Although he knew that this junior brother of his was a little mentally unsound, he didn’t expect it to be so serious.
“Crazy!”
Ying Baiwu frowned. She stood up and wanted to barge in immediately. Given her personality, she wouldn’t care if Tantai Yutang would get angry.
Pak!
Tantai Yutang grabbed hold of Ying Baiwu. “It would be far too merciful if we kill these sc.u.ms just like that.”
“No, I cannot allow Zhiruo to suffer any injury, or I would have no way to answer to teacher.”
Ying Baiwu rejected. But when she turned, she saw Sun Mo grabbing a little daoist by his hand while rus.h.i.+ng madly over. “Teacher?” Ying Baiwu was joyfully surprised. “So quick?”
Tantai Yutang was astonished. Even if his teacher was killing chickens, it was impossible for him to arrive here so quickly, right?”
It seemed like he had to reevaluate his teacher’s combat strength.
In the room, Li Can squatted by Lu Zhiruo’s side. He stretched out his hand and stroked her hair. “Can you scream? Why don’t you scream? If you don’t scream, I can’t get excited!”
Li Can was extremely eccentric, exuding the aura of a top-notch pervert.
Lu Zhiruo was very afraid. Her eyes were red but no tears flowed. She also didn’t scream at all. “My father said before, I have to be a girl with perseverance.”
“Oh? How determined are you?”
Li Can held a lock of Lu Zhiruo’s hair in his grasp. When they were speaking, his countenance suddenly turned malevolent as he violently pulled.
“Pervert!”
Zhou Yong mentally spoke. (This daddy’s methods are still inferior to yours.)
The papaya girl’s body was tugged sideways from the pull. But even so, she didn’t scream. Instead, she looked at Li Can and spoke in a serious tone, “I believe my teacher would surely rush over here to save me. At that time, you would definitely die.”
“Hehe, I’m going to make you suffer so much now that you would wish to die.”
Li Can grinned. After that, he pulled Lu Zhiruo’s hair toward him as he leaned in, preparing to forcefully kiss her. But at this very moment, the sound of wind breaking rang out.
Swis.h.!.+
A wooden blade dyed red in blood rapidly shot over, heavily smas.h.i.+ng into Li Can’s face.
“Ah!!!”
Li Can screamed in pain. His body directly slammed onto the ground due to the impact of the wooden blade.
Pu! Li Can coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood in which two of his teeth could also be seen flying out.
“Argh, it’s so painful. My face, my teeth!”
Li Can clutched his face as he rolled on the ground.
“What the h.e.l.l?”
Zhou Yong was terrified. He abruptly turned and saw Sun Mo rus.h.i.+ng past him. Sun Mo arrived by Li Can’s side and lifted his feet, aiming a kick directly at Li Can’s head.
Bang!
Li Can’s head was knocked back, and his entire person spun like a spinning top. After that, a ‘bang’ rang out as he slammed into the wall.
“Sun...Sun Mo?”
Zhou Yong had a look of disbelief. (Are my eyes dazzled? Why did this fellow appear?) “Who the h.e.l.l are you? You actually dare to hit me?” Li Can cursed, “I’m going to peel off your skin!”
“Teacher?”
Lu Zhiruo, who had had her hand clasped on her mouth, immediately showed a look of surprise and joy on her face. After that, she could no longer endure the terror and fright in her heart, and she started to cry.
“Boohoo... Teacher, I’m scared!”
Tear stains could be seen on Lu Zhiruo’s beautiful face. She seemed incomparably miserable.
Upon hearing the papaya girl’s quavering voice, Sun Mo’s temper raged even fiercer. He lifted his feet and stomped down on Li Can’s head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He ferociously stomped down three times.
Li Can’s head felt as though it was trampled by a rhino. He fell completely into a daze as his nose began to bleed. “Do you know who I am? Do you know? Men, come and kill him for me!”
Because he wanted to do something bad, Li Can didn’t bring his guards today. After all, he came here many times before and nothing had happened to him.
Li Can shouted.
“You are not allowed to flee!”
Sun Mo roared in rage.
Zhou Yong naturally wouldn’t listen. As Li Can was shouting, he turned and fled immediately.
“Hmph!”
Sun Mo snorted coldly. A large quant.i.ty of red-colored mist flooded from his body. The mist instantly congealed into a universe formless clone and began to pursue Zhou Yong.
“Oi, sc.u.m. This road is blocked!”
Xuanyuan Po carried his silver spear and blocked Zhou Yong’s way.
“Scram!”
Zhou Yong howled in rage. He then saw Ying Baiwu and the others coming out from the corner. Just when he was thinking of which way to flee, a hand blade directly smashed into the back of his neck.
Bang!
Zhou Yong’s body momentarily lost all sense of awareness. He slumped onto the ground, paralyzed.
The clone grabbed Zhou Yong by his hair and dragged him into the house.
“Teacher! Zhiruo!”
Li Ziqi wanted to enter, but she was stopped by Tantai Yutang.
“Wait, the scene that would be happening next isn’t fit for girls to see!”
“I’m not afraid!”
Li Ziqi pushed Tantai Yutang away.
“It’s all your fault.”
Ying Baiwu glared at Tantai Yutang. Earlier, they could have saved Lu Zhiruo but Tantai Yutang had told them to wait. If their teacher learned of this, he would surely blame them for not doing the right thing at that moment.
Ying Baiwu wors.h.i.+pped Sun Mo, and she was very mindful of her position in his heart.
Seeing that he wasn’t able to stop his fellow apprentice siblings, Tantai Yutang shrugged and followed them out.
“Boss, what about us?”
Some subordinates asked Old Wolf Ren.
“We will not listen, nor look, nor care about anything.”
Old Wolf Ren instructed. This was his philosophy in life. For things that mustn’t be asked, he wouldn’t even glance at them in case he drew trouble to himself.
When Li Ziqi saw Li Can, she frowned.
“F*** you. You should die. I’m Li Can, my father is Li Zixing. Do you know him?”
Li Can roared loudly. His eyes were red as he glared at Sun Mo.
Sun Mo crouched on the ground and pulled Li Can’s hair, dragging his head higher. “I know!”
“Hehe, are you afra...”
Before Li Can could say the word ‘afraid’, Sun Mo already grabbed his head and slammed it into the floor.
Bang!
Wounds appeared on his face, and the bridge of his nose broke as fresh blood flowed freely out.
“My father is Li Zixing, he is a prince!
Li Can thought that Sun Mo had a.s.sumed his father was a nameless n.o.body. Hence, he reiterated. But just when he finished speaking, his head was smashed into the floor again.
Bang!
Even the dust on the ground was kicked up from the impact.
“I already said that I know.”
Sun Mo’s voice was cold.
“You still hit me although you knew? I’m a relative of the emperor, a true-blue second-generation royalty. If you injure me, your entire clan would be put to death!”
Li Can coughed up more blood. He looked at the cold face of Sun Mo and suddenly felt fear. This fellow was so gusty to the max. Upon hearing Li Can’s ident.i.ty, Ying Baiwu and Jiang Leng’s expressions drastically changed. Let alone a little prince, they couldn’t even afford to offend a child of a constable.
Xuanyuan Po leaned against the door and remained unmoved. Tantai Yutang was whistling a little tune. “Is that so?”
Sun Mo pulled Li Can’s hair, dragging his face up. After that, he continued slapping while switching between his front hand and back hand.
Pak, pak, pak! The sounds of slaps resounded loudly.
“Why do I care if you have powerful connections and are a relative of the emperor? Since you dare to harm my student, you are dead for sure!”
Sun Mo was burning with anger. If he was late by one step, Lu Zhiruo’s future would have been ruined.
After hearing Sun Mo’s words, other than Xuanyuan Po, the eyes of the other students lit up as their favorable impression of Sun Mo surged. This was especially so for Ying Baiwu, her gaze was filled with fanaticism.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Ying Baiwu +100. Friendly (600/1,000).
“Zhiruo, do you want to do it personally?”
Sun Mo asked.
The papaya girl shook her head.
“Teacher, why don’t I kill them for you?”
Tantai Yutang volunteered. “You mustn’t let trash like them stain your hands. Moreover, I will guarantee that after they reincarnated into their next lives, they wouldn’t have the guts to do bad things anymore.”
“No need!”
Sun Mo spoke. He grabbed Li Can’s neck and prepared to break it.
“Teacher Sun!”
Old Wolf Ren appeared outside the door. “I discovered a cellar. Do you want to come and take a look?”
“Lead the way.”
Sun Mo loosened his grip and threw Li Can to Jiang Leng. “Bring the two of them along.” Old Wolf Ren was proficient in tracking. After questioning the daoists they captured, he soon discovered a dried-up well. He discovered a cellar there. Pitter patter!
The icy cold droplets of water dripped down from the stone walls above. A drop of water dripped onto Li Ziqi’s nape, causing her to subconsciously shrink back as she hugged Sun Mo’s arm tightly.
“It’s a little smelly!”
Li Ziqi frowned and pressed her nose together.
A pungent smell began to permeate the air. “Girls, do you want to withdraw for now?”
Old Wolf Ren led the way while carrying an oil lamp. Before they turned a corner, he looked at Li Ziqi and asked.
“I’m not afraid!”
Li Ziqi directly walked over. After that, her entire body froze.
On the other side of the corner, after taking a few steps forward, there was a hole of over ten meters deep. Other than bones, there were still over thirty women. The older ones were in their twenties and the younger ones were merely seven to eight years of age. At this moment, all of them were naked.
Upon seeing the light, these female captives immediately knelt on the ground and clasped their hands. If they didn’t do this, they would be beaten up and had to suffer the pangs of hunger. “Save them!”
Sun Mo frowned.
Xuanyuan Po and Jiang Leng immediately rushed out. They broke open the jail’s door and leaped down into the hold.
“The d.a.m.nable Li Can and Zhou Yong are actually partners in human trafficking!”
Li Ziqi cursed angrily. She no longer avoided the s.h.i.+t and urine in the hole and also jumped in to help these unfortunate females.
“Go and find some clothes.”
Sun Mo instructed.
“Mn!”
Old Wolf Ren immediately obeyed the order.
“Teacher, there are two who are seriously ill. They are about to die.”
Ying Baiwu called out.
At the corner of the dungeon, there were two women on the verge of death. Their bodies were filled with whip scars and covered in filth.
No matter the era, there would be women who were willing to defend their chast.i.ty to death. Ever since they were captured, they had never given in. Hence, they suffered the cruelest abuse and beatings.
“Let me!”
Tantai Yutang immediately went in. However, after he looked at the women lying there, he didn’t even bother to take their pulses. He shook his head. “There’s no need for me to inspect them, there’s no longer any hope for them.”
“Even if the hope is dim, we must save...ah!”
Li Ziqi came over but before she finished speaking, she was so frightened that she screamed.
The appearances of the two women were simply too miserable. One had her eyes dug out and the other had her noses and tongues cut off.
As for their limbs, they were all broken. The wounds on their body had festered and become pus, with maggots crawling all over them.
“Try to cure her!” Ying Baiwu held their arms and waited for Tantai Yutang.
“Alright!”
Tantai Yutang didn’t mind.
Li Ziqi trembled. She only felt warmth again after Sun Mo hugged her. Sc.u.ms like Li Can and Zhou Yong truly deserved death.
“Go and comfort the other women.”
After Sun Mo released Li Ziqi from his embrace, he squatted beside the two women. “Do you all have any last words?”
“Boohoo!”
One of the women didn’t even have the strength to hum. As for the other one, she stared at the jail’s entrance and her eyes were filled with the thirst for freedom and longing for her family.
“I will take revenge for all of you.”
Sun Mo didn’t mind the filth. He carried one of the women and headed to the entrance. “Tantai, give the little prince and Zhou Yong the same treatment as how they have abused these women. Triple the abuse.”
“No problem!”
Tantai Yutang giggled in joy. “I’m familiar with this.”
“Remember, when you are executing the punishment, make sure they are awake. If they fainted, there wouldn’t be any meaning in torturing them.”
Earlier, when Sun Mo had hit Li Can and captured Zhou Yong, he had used his circulation technique and sealed their meridians, making them unable to move.
“This doesn’t concern me; I didn’t do anything.”
Li Can was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder. He shouted loudly, “I’m the little prince, my father is Li Ziqing, a relative of the emperor. You can’t kill me!”
Sadly, this place was an underground jail. Even if he screamed so loudly until his throat broke, no one would be able to hear it.
“Sun...Sun Mo, I’ll give you money. I can give you a lot of money, please spare me!”
Zhou Yong had gone completely pale. He was truly afraid. However, he also knew that he didn’t have much hope of being able to live on. Sun Mo even dared to kill a relative of the emperor. What did he, the son of a rich merchant, count for?
Moreover, Zhou Yong also realized that he might have stirred up huge trouble for his father. If things weren’t handled well, the Zhou Clan would be finished. The Zhou Clan was a clan that had a 100-year foundation!
Why was Zhou Yong acquainted with Daoist White Bird? Because Daoist White Bird was a valuable guest invited by his father. In addition, when he recalled the conversation between his father and Daoist White Bird as well as their att.i.tudes...
His father couldn’t possibly be the mastermind behind this group of human-traffickers, right?
Sun Mo basically didn’t bother with Zhou Yong. These two had to die today no matter what. Right now, he felt some regret. He shouldn’t have killed Daoist White Bird and should have slowly tortured him to death. If not, such a death would have been too easy for him.
Li Ziqi followed behind Sun Mo, her brows were furrowed tightly. Killing Li Can was one thing. The problem now was how should they handle the consequences? “Make sure to blow things up!”
Li Ziqi instantly had an idea.
Sun Mo carried the woman out of the cellar. The sunlight shone upon the woman’s face, causing her body to tremble with agitation. But she hadn’t seen sunlight for over a year and felt a little not used to it now.
“I will find your family and give them a sum of money!”
Sun Mo continued, “I will tell them that you are very excellent. You persisted and maintained your chast.i.ty all the way from the beginning to the end.”
When the woman heard this, a smile of grat.i.tude appeared on her face. She wanted to pull Sun Mo’s hand but because her bones were broken, she had no way to move.
A few minutes later, the woman died. As for the other one, she was too weak. She didn’t even manage to see the sunlight and already died on the steps leading to the outside.
“Teacher!”
Lu Zhiruo rushed over and hugged Sun Mo from behind. “Boohoohoo, I’m so afraid!”
The papaya girl truly felt fear after seeing this scene. If it wasn’t for her teacher arriving in time, she most probably would have ended up like these women, right? “Sorry, it’s all because of me.”
Sun Mo apologized.
“No, teacher is not in the wrong!”
Lu Zhiruo hugged Sun Mo tightly. “I believe that teacher would surely come and save me no matter what!” This wasn’t a consolation because this was Lu Zhiruo’s true thoughts. In the heart of this endearingly silly papaya girl, she always felt that her teacher was omnipotent and would definitely be able to find her to punish the evil people that abducted her.
The truth had proven that she was correct.
“My Teacher Sun is truly supremely, supremely awesome!”
Ding!
“Favorable impression points from Lu Zhiruo are temporarily unable to be calculated. The number exceeded the norm!”
“Congratulations. Because of Lu Zhiruo’s trust, grat.i.tude, and wors.h.i.+p for you, the prestige connection between you two has directly been raised to the ‘reverence’ level from the ‘respect’ level.”
“Congratulations, you have completed a great teacher feat and rescued your student!”
“Congratulations, the prestige connection between you and a student has reached the ‘reverence’ level.”
“To summarize, the system would reward you with a skill book of a subject of a chosen occupation. After learning it, your attainment in the chosen subject would reach the ‘grandmaster-grade’.”
“As a reward, you can choose any subject you want!”
As the sound of the system notification rang out, a skill book thicker than a chinese dictionary appeared before Sun Mo. It shone with golden light and looked extremely alluring.”
“Why don’t you directly raise the prestige connection to the wors.h.i.+p level?”
Sun Mo didn’t understand.
“This is just a minor incident, it cannot represent that Lu Zhiruo would wors.h.i.+p you her entire life!”
The system explained.
This also meant that if Sun Mo did anything that harmed Lu Zhiruo greatly, it might turn her feelings for him into one of hatred.
“You should be content. Lu Zhiruo trusts you completely, and this is why the prestige connection skipped an entire level. If not, it’s already considered not bad for the person you saved to just give you a few thousand favorable impression points.”
The system encountered many hosts before and had witnessed similar situations.
Old Wolf Ren appeared again. However, when he saw Sun Mo remain silent, he didn’t dare to disturb.
“What’s wrong?”
As the eldest martial sister, Li Ziqi took on her responsibility to maintain the overall situation.
“We discovered the actual treasury.”
Old Wolf Ren gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
(1) semi-courtesan – a courtesan that only performs (dance, sing, etc) but does not sell their bodies.