Chapter 147: The Auction
“Ah… you… you all…”
Upon waking, the man looked at Ling Qiu and Qin Haishan with terror.
After a moment, he became alert: “Where is this?!”
Ling Qiu smiled faintly.
“Do you want to cry outright, or shall we go through the procedure?”
The man was bewildered.
“Who… who are you? What are you talking about…”
He was still confused.
Ling Qiu said, “Well then, let’s go through the basic procedure.”
With that, a fierce and deadly aura from Ling Qiu’s palm surged instantly into the man’s body!
“Ahhh!!!”
The man howled miserably, his wails sending chills and a sense of cruelty even to Qin Haishan.
To be fair, as the head of the Qin family, Qin Haishan appeared kind and gentle now, but the Qin family’s domain was built step by step under his leadership. He had done his share of interrogation and cruel deeds in the past, but even with decades of experience, he had never encountered such a method of coercion.
Ling Qiu placed a hand on the man’s forehead, as if doing nothing. Yet Qin Haishan noticed the man’s veins bulging, turning a distinct black, twisting and swelling like long, dark worms, as if Ling Qiu had injected some chemical into his bloodstream.
The man screamed in agony, drooling and sniffling, yet not a drop of blood appeared.
Qin Haishan shuddered inwardly, realizing this torment was likely more excruciating than any physical bleeding.
In less than a minute, the man seemed to have endured a living hell.
Buzz.
Satisfied, Ling Qiu withdrew the sinister aura from the man’s body.
Because the man carried a soul parasite, Ling Qiu only needed to stir a bit of ghostly energy inside to disrupt his soul power.
Unlike Qin Haishan and Qin Siyao’s soul parasites, this man’s was not lethal but rather a controlling type, likely placed to ensure his loyalty.
“Are you satisfied with this process?” Ling Qiu asked with a faintly mocking smile.
To the man, Ling Qiu’s expression was as terrifying as a demon’s.
---
“You… you’re a practitioner too?!! What… what method did you use…”
The man trembled in overwhelming fear.
Ling Qiu replied coolly, “Looks like you’re not satisfied yet.”
“No, no, no!!” The man shook violently to refuse.
Though spiritual torment differs from physical pain—once stopped, it ceases entirely—the psychological terror leaves a deep scar in the mind.
“I… I’ll talk! I’ll tell everything!”
The man babbled incessantly, confessing all he knew, even detailing how his parents fell in love.
Such is the absolute pressure brought by true coercion.
We may be amateurs at interrogation, but when it comes to intimidation, we are professionals.
Within minutes, Ling Qiu learned everything.
The man’s name was Li Lang, a disciple of the Northern Ma Wang Mountain sect, skilled in certain arcane arts and simple ghost banishment techniques.
However, the soul parasites on Qin Haishan and Qin Siyao were not planted by him.
“They were done by my senior brother.”
“Your senior brother?”
“Yes…”
“What's his name?”
“He’s called… Huang Zhisen…”
“Who??”
At the mention of this name, Qin Haishan, who had been silent, suddenly stiffened: “You said Huang Zhisen… could it be…”
Li Lang nodded: “Mr. Qin, you guessed right. This Huang Zhisen is the Mr. Huang from Zhisen Building Materials Company…”
“So it’s him!”
Qin Haishan frowned in surprise.
Ling Qiu asked, “You know this Huang Zhisen?”
“Met him a few times.”
Qin Haishan furrowed his brow: “And… we’ve even had some business dealings.”
After a pause, Qin Haishan turned to Li Lang: “So, this Huang Zhisen is actually from the Northern Ma Wang Mountain faction?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you target me?”
---
“Because… we don’t want you to obtain the other half of the Ma Wang Mountain heritage jade pendant.”
“Then why don’t you just take the half you want? Why go through all this trouble? Isn’t it redundant?”
Li Lang shook his head: “I don’t know why it’s arranged this way. It’s all the master’s orders. My senior brother and I are just following instructions.”
Qin Haishan’s face darkened: “So… the other half of the pendant wasn’t taken by you at the auction?”
“No… no.”
“Answer honestly.”
“Really not.”
Li Lang sincerely said, “It was bought by a mysterious person. We have been investigating their identity for a year but made no progress. However…”
“However?”
Li Lang glanced at Ling Qiu, trembling inside. To avoid further suffering, he confessed: “For some reason, the other half of the jade pendant has reappeared at the auction. It’s tomorrow, in Luo’an City.”
“Oh?”
Qin Haishan raised an eyebrow: “Is that true?”
“Absolutely!”
Li Lang cautiously looked at Ling Qiu: “I… I dare not lie!”
…
After a few more questions, Ling Qiu and Qin Haishan emerged from the basement.
The study room.
The door was tightly shut.
Ling Qiu lit a cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke: “Northern Ma Wang Mountain… what exactly is that?”
“It’s the group that rebelled against Ma Wang Mountain and rebuilt the arcane sect,” Qin Haishan explained. “In short, Ma Wang Mountain’s downfall was due to internal conflict. The deputy leader sought power, slaughtered almost the entire sect with his followers, then took nearly all the inheritances and established a rival faction. Over the years, they’ve gathered quite a few disciples.”
Qin Haishan narrowed his eyes: “I never expected Huang Zhisen to be part of the Northern Ma Wang Mountain faction!”
After a brief pause, Ling Qiu said slowly, “It seems my earlier assumptions were wrong.”
“Hm? Where did you go wrong?”
Ling Qiu smiled: “From Li Lang’s confession, the group who first cursed you with the evil ghost and the ones who later placed the soul parasite are probably two different factions. That mysterious person is likely unrelated to the Northern Ma Wang Mountain.”
Standing up, Ling Qiu said, “Enough with the idle talk. Arrange for your Qin family to send representatives to tomorrow’s auction in Luo’an City. I will accompany you. That other half of the Ma Wang jade pendant—you pay, I’ll secure it. In return, I guarantee safety for you and your granddaughter.”