"Ten thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones?" The price made Ling Qianbi yell exaggeratedly, "I know the lay of the land in this Taimeng Demon Realm very well. Normally a piece of intel, ten High Grade Spiritual Stones is already decent, a hundred High Grade Spiritual Stones is sky‐high, and you’re asking for ten thousand?"
Hur Kaiqi’s gaze flickered for a moment. "You’re not wrong. Under normal circumstances, it’d be around a hundred or so High Grade Spiritual Stones. But the intel you’re asking about isn’t the same.
If I’m not mistaken, you’re here not just to ask about that Xuan Hu fellow’s current situation, right?"
"I won’t hide it from you. In this White Tiger Mountain Range, there are quite a few who know of Xuan Hu, that outsider, and quite a few who know his current situation.
But for anything further, there are only a handful who know."
It had to be said, this Hur Kaiqi did have some business sense; in just a few sentences, he hit the key points.
Ling Qianbi, a bit unsure what to do, looked to Ye Zhen for guidance.
"Say it." Ye Zhen casually tossed out ten thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones.
Just now, the moment Ye Zhen heard this Hur Kaiqi say the three words "outsider," he could basically be sure that Xuan Hu’s situation was definitely bad. Even if it wasn’t terrible, it absolutely wouldn’t be good.
It was better to get clear on things as soon as possible. Besides, with Hur Kaiqi’s shrewdness, Ye Zhen felt that even with Ling Qianbi taking the lead, this Hur Kaiqi had already pegged them as outsiders.
"Straightforward!"
A hint of delight flashed through Hur Kaiqi’s eyes.
"Xuan Hu is an outsider; he came to the White Tiger Mountain Range about eight or nine years ago. His Bloodline is quite good—supposedly at least a direct Bloodline within seven generations, and his Divine Skills had long since awakened, but his Cultivation was very low.
He was taken in under the Black Tiger King back then and has been cultivating ever since.
However, because his Cultivation was weak, his days weren’t very pleasant, especially since the guy’s temper is foul and stubborn.
As for now, word is he’s been locked up," Hur Kaiqi said.
"Locked up? Why?" Ye Zhen pressed.
"That’s another question, and an even more sensitive one. In the entire White Tiger Mountain Range, there aren’t many who dare to bring it up," Hur Kaiqi said, staring at Ye Zhen.
Seeing that Hur Kaiqi had already picked out the real Master among their group, Ye Zhen didn’t waste words and said directly, "Name your price. Another ten thousand?"
"Is that your demon servant? Or your mount?" Hur Kaiqi changed the subject instead, pointing at the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten.
"My brother."
"Brother?" That answer surprised Hur Kaiqi quite a bit. "From what I can tell, you’re not of the Demon Race, are you?"
"Among our Human Clan, brothers aren’t just Bloodline; there’s also emotional ties. Those who can live and die together are brothers," Ye Zhen replied.
"Oh......"
Hur Kaiqi let out a long, thoughtful "oh," then raised two fingers toward Ye Zhen again. "This question is relatively complicated and rather secretive. It should count as two questions to answer."
"Twenty thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones?"
Hur Kaiqi nodded and snapped his fingers in satisfaction.
"There are all kinds of rumors about why Xuan Hu was locked up by the Black Tiger King. If you ask someone else, they might tell you it’s because Xuan Hu’s temper is foul and stubborn and he offended the Black Tiger King.
But I’m telling you, that answer is wrong. The Black Tiger King is not someone just anyone can even meet.
The real reason Xuan Hu got locked up is because he offended the Black Tiger King’s third son, the Black Cloud Great Sage!
It’s precisely because Xuan Hu’s Bloodline is outstanding and he’s valued by the Black Tiger King, and because his Cultivation has improved with frightening speed over the years, and due to certain concerns, that the Black Cloud Great Sage merely locked him up. Otherwise, killing him would have been getting off lightly," Hur Kaiqi said.
"Then what did Xuan Hu do to offend the Black Cloud Great Sage?" Ye Zhen asked.
"That’s something I can’t answer. I’d guess that in the entire White Tiger Mountain Range, aside from the Black Cloud Great Sage and Xuan Hu himself, no one else knows," Hur Kaiqi said.
Ye Zhen’s brows furrowed. "Can you take me to see Xuan Hu?"
At that, Hur Kaiqi shook his head. "No."
"This matter is said to touch on the Black Cloud Great Sage’s private affairs. Even a Demon Commander who liked Xuan Hu and went to plead for him was beaten out by the Black Cloud Great Sage!"
Ye Zhen’s frown deepened.
To be honest, among the Four Demons, Ye Zhen’s relationship with Xuan Hu was the shallowest, which had to do with Xuan Hu’s cold personality.
But back then, when Ye Zhen asked Xuan Hu and the others to help deal with Ming Tang, he went all out with no holding back—cold on the outside, warm on the inside.
With that bond of incense‐and‐favor between them, now that Ye Zhen knew Xuan Hu was in trouble, he couldn’t very well not help.
If he really didn’t help, Ye Zhen would have no face to see his sworn eldest brother Sunx Ba and the others in the future.
"Then can you tell me where Xuan Hu is being held? I’ll think of a way myself," Ye Zhen said.
"No problem. Same price as before." Hur Kaiqi stretched out two fingers again.
"No problem." Ye Zhen nodded.
Next, Hur Kaiqi used the shortest time to draw a simple map and handed it to Ye Zhen, roughly marking the location of the Tiger Prison where Xuan Hu was being held.
Then Hur Kaiqi snapped his fingers and said cheerfully, "Good, the transaction’s done. Pay up."
"Pleasure doing business." Ye Zhen passed over the remaining two portions of forty thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones.
Even though paying that price for intel was already astronomical, for the deep‐pocketed Ye Zhen, getting the information in the shortest time was enough.
Hur Kaiqi took the Storage Ring from Ye Zhen with a smile, but with just a glance, his face changed drastically, and he suddenly flung the ring back at Ye Zhen.
"Just this little bit of Spirit Stones—are you trying to fob me off like a beggar, or bullying me because I don’t have many people?"
With a wave of his hand, the Storage Ring on the ground flew back into his palm. After checking it, Ye Zhen frowned. "Forty thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones, there’s no—"
And at that moment, Hur Kaiqi let out a sharp whistle. A bunch of Tiger Demons of all shapes and sizes suddenly charged over from all directions.
"This guy came to buy intel from me, listened to everything, and then tried to stiff me on the payment. Surround them all! Don’t let this black‐hearted Alien Race bastard run!"
In an instant, over a hundred Tiger Demons, Leopard Demons, and even Cat Demons, some in human form and some in beast form, surrounded Ye Zhen’s group in a tight ring.
Ye Zhen watched coldly, staring at Hur Kaiqi.
At this point, how could Ye Zhen not understand that Hur Kaiqi, seeing how generously they spent, had gotten some other ideas.
In this situation, explanations were useless.
Ye Zhen slowly picked up the Storage Ring from the ground, stopped Ling Qianbi, who was about to argue, and said coldly, "How much do you want?"
"Lord Qi has always been fair in business. Clearly marked prices, the same for all! As long as you pay according to the price we agreed on, I’ll have no objections whatsoever," Hur Kaiqi said.
"The price we agreed on?"
"Isn’t it ten thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones each time, forty thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones in total?" Ye Zhen was a bit puzzled.
Hearing that, Hur Kaiqi’s eyes suddenly went wide. "When did you ever hear me name a price of ten thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones? Did you not see the gesture I made? Every time I raised two fingers."
"On my side, one finger stands for a hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones. Altogether I raised my fingers three times, six fingers in total, that’s six hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones."
"Put down six hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones, and our deal is done."
Hur Kaiqi’s statement stunned not only Ling Qianbi, even Ye Zhen was shaken badly.
He’d seen people open their lion’s mouth before, but never anyone this outrageously greedy.
Six hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones—back in the Great Zhou Dynasty, most Commandery lords wouldn’t see that many High Grade Spiritual Stones enter their treasury in a whole year.
"You really dare to name a price like that. You really take me for some fat sheep?"
"Fat sheep? I really don’t! This is the price we agreed on at the beginning. If you don’t believe it, you can go report it to the Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard in charge of public security!"
"But let me tell you, if you don’t give me those six hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones, even if you don’t report it, I’ll go report you to the Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard."
At this point, Hur Kaiqi let out a sneer, waved his hand, and took a Jade Scroll from a Tiger Demon beside him. "I’ve got ironclad evidence in my hand! When the time comes, in the face of such iron proof towering like a mountain, not only will you have to hand over six hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones, you’ll also be punished!"
"How does the Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard judge this kind of strong-arming and refusing to pay?" Hur Kaiqi asked.
A sharp-witted Cat Demon at the side stepped forward with a sinister grin. "For strong-arming and refusing to pay, a hundred lashes with the Fire Dragon Whip will have him lying flat for at least half a year.
"Then there’s a fine of three times the transaction amount. If you can pay, fine; if you can’t, hehe, you go to our Tiger Clan’s mines. Digging for one year counts as ten thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones. At your rate, a hundred and eighty years is the bare minimum!"
"You probably still don’t know what ’ironclad evidence’ means, do you?" Hur Kaiqi grinned at Ye Zhen, flicked his wrist, and the Jade Scroll in his hand dissolved into a sheet of light.
Within the light screen, the scene of Ye Zhen just now dealing with Hur Kaiqi appeared one frame after another.
This was a Shadow Capture Jade Slip.
But the strange thing was, this Shadow Capture Jade Slip had no sound at all.
Instead, everyone’s movements were vividly clear.
Especially every time Hur Kaiqi extended two fingers to gesture, the action was extremely obvious and eye-catching.
Ye Zhen’s nodding motions were also very clear, but there was simply no sound.
Ye Zhen’s face instantly turned extremely ugly.
No wonder Ye Zhen had found it strange earlier—why Hur Kaiqi kept raising two fingers. So he had this planned from the start.
Now that he’d held up two fingers, whether it meant twenty thousand or two hundred thousand, it was entirely up to Hur Kaiqi to say.
From the looks of it, this Hur Kaiqi was a habitual offender. This trick, this specially made Shadow Capture Jade Slip, was clearly prepared long ago.
If this really got reported, with such a soundless Shadow Capture Jade Slip as evidence, and considering this was the Demon Race’s turf, given Hur Kaiqi’s identity, it was all too clear how that Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard would judge it and which side he’d sit on.
He would definitely lean toward Hur Kaiqi’s side.
At that point, the triple fine wasn’t just empty words.
Even if Hur Kaiqi’s actions might not get the full backing of that Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard, for a stranger, this was something he really couldn’t afford to gamble on—or afford to lose.
This was the Tiger Clan’s turf.
This Hur Kaiqi had clearly long since figured out the mentality of outsiders.
Under normal circumstances, anyone with a normal brain would choose to pay money to avert disaster.
Once he figured this out, Big Ears’ expression turned self-blaming. He hadn’t expected that the place he found to gather intelligence would end up landing his Lord Ye Zhen in such a huge mess.
Seeing Ye Zhen’s gloomy face, Hur Kaiqi laughed triumphantly. "Well? If you want to report it, Lord Qi will take you to the Commander of the Tiger King Divine Guard right now to file your complaint!"
Seeing Ye Zhen remain silent, Hur Kaiqi became even more pleased with himself. "But let’s put it this way—even if you don’t report this, I’m still going to!"
"By then, that one million eight hundred thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones fine—you’ll be paying it for sure!"
Here, Hur Kaiqi put on an air of magnanimity. "Still, Lord Qi also mixes in the Jianghu. I’ve got to leave you a way to live."
"How about this: leave fifty thousand High Grade Spiritual Stones, and then hand this little tiger over to me as my guard! Then today’s matter will be written off."
Having said that, Hur Kaiqi, sure he’d already got Ye Zhen and his party firmly in his grasp, first began circling around the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten with an extremely greedy look in his eyes.
Ye Zhen’s gaze flickered. It seemed it wasn’t just that they’d been generous with their spending.
Hur Kaiqi had had his eye on the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten from the very beginning.
No wonder from start to finish this Kaiqi had been consciously or unconsciously sizing up the kitten, asking questions related to it—he’d been plotting for the kitten all along.
"Well? Have you decided yet? Lord Qi’s patience is limited!" Hur Kaiqi circled the kitten as he pressed.
A cold arc suddenly appeared at the corner of Ye Zhen’s mouth. "You want my kitten."
"That’s right!" Hur Kaiqi nodded with a broad grin.
"Pah!"
"Just you? You think you’re worthy?"
Ye Zhen’s sneer, accompanied by a mouthful of spit, immediately enraged Hur Kaiqi.
"On Lord Qi’s turf you still dare act so arrogant? You really think Lord Qi is made of mud! Brothers, go invite the brothers from the Tiger King Divine Guard over. Tell them someone’s causing trouble here!"
"I don’t believe it—on our Tiger Clan’s turf, an Alien dares bully our Tiger Clan!"
This Hur Kaiqi was clearly used to throwing his weight around, and had never considered that on their own turf someone would dare to make a move on him, so he didn’t guard against it at all.
Just as Hur Kaiqi was arrogantly gesturing and barking orders, Ye Zhen’s eyes flickered slightly, and the kitten behind Hur Kaiqi—
Suddenly let out a soul-shocking tiger roar and leapt forward in a ferocious pounce.
It knocked Hur Kaiqi flat under its claws, its bloody maw barely half an inch from Hur Kaiqi’s neck, that hot, fetid breath scaring Hur Kaiqi into shrieking.
"Don’t move!"
"Don’t kill me!"
"If you kill me, you won’t live either!"
"If you dare kill me, you’ll never walk out of the White Tiger Mountain Range alive!"
The surrounding Demon Race crowd exploded into a commotion, wanting to rush forward, but were frightened still by a single tiger roar from the kitten.
"Who said I was going to kill you?" A cold expression curved Ye Zhen’s lips as he slowly stepped forward, took the Shadow Capture Jade Slip that served as ironclad evidence from Hur Kaiqi’s hand, and lightly twisted it between two fingers, grinding it into dust.
"Now, I ask, you answer. You’re a smart man—you should know how to answer, right?" As he spoke, Ye Zhen took out a Shadow Capture Jade Slip of his own!

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