Qiao Mu did not answer, but gave him a look as sharp as a knife. In an instant, the warmth in the patriarch's body disappeared, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his skin felt as if it had been cut by a knife.
The previous clan leader was an old stubborn man who claimed to have faith. However, as the clan members were defrauded of their money one after another, his faith collapsed and he was no longer as stubborn as before.
"Master Qiao, are you here to find out more about the Golden Country?" The clan leader's expression changed quickly, and he gave in completely:
"I can tell you, but I hope Master Qiao will pay back the hard-earned money of ten thousand taels, considering the difficult life of our people."
Qiao Mu's expression did not change at all, he just said calmly:
"You want to talk about the owner of Shanzhenlou, right?"
Qiao Mu naturally didn't have the habit of hanging himself on a tree. During these days, he asked the demon cat Wuchang to run around the city and found a total of more than a dozen touchstones.
The people who got the Philosopher's Stone in Taotie City were far more than just the head of the Luo family. It was just that this man was quick-witted and turned the stone-turning into gold into a gold business, from which he made a fortune.
The clan leader's expression changed drastically:
"How do you know... the Touchstone in my hand was indeed obtained by the owner of Baishanzhenlou. Most of the Touchstones in the city came from him." The head of the Luo family said something that sounded like he was trying to divert the blame. "And since you knew that, why did you come to see me?"
"Nothing else." Qiao Mu said calmly:
"Just catching up. I just made a fortune of 10,000 taels, and I want to share the joy of making money with you."
"You you you-----" The head of the Luo family vomited blood again, his eyes became dizzy, and he fell into coma again.
Qiao Mu no longer paid attention to the head of the Luo family. He jumped out of the window and disappeared like a wisp of smoke.
Qiao Mu did not count on the information from the head of the Luo family.
This person is a cunning businessman. If you really give him information, you don't know if he will secretly set a trap for you.
"If Wayne, the world's number one detective, was here, there would be no need to go to such great lengths."
Qiao Mu's "Eye Sword Technique" originated from the sword ghost, a martial artist who practiced spiritual cultivation in the past. Now he has cultivated it to the incredible realm of using his eyes as swords and slashing out sword lights that turn the virtual into the real.
But when dealing with an ordinary person like the head of the Luo family who has not practiced martial arts, Qiao Mu is somewhat restricted.
His sword skills have always been a killing technique for dealing with warriors, which is a bit too fierce, like a sharp sword out of its sheath. A little bit of its sharpness can make people tremble with fear and kill people without even being noticed.
Qiumu has no experience in controlling power and suppressing the minds of ordinary people without dying.
But Wayne, the world's number one detective, is different. This is what he does.
After leaving the clan leader's residence, Qiao Mu did not go to Shanzhenlou immediately, but went to a bamboo forest on the outskirts of the city.
In the bamboo forest, there was a man standing far away. It was Chen Gongfeng who had been waiting there for a long time.
"Mr. Qiao, you are really here?" Chen Gongsheng was a little restless, but when he saw Qiao Mu, his frown immediately relaxed.
During these days, Qiao Wei's name went from being well-known throughout the city to being a rat on the street, and everyone wanted to kill him, but he was really worried.
After all, he was the first person to invest money and lend five hundred taels to Qiao Mu.
I thought Qiao Mu was going to run away and disappear, but I didn't expect him to come over to meet him.
These days, the one who lends money is the boss. He was indeed uneasy about Qiao Mu's meeting.
"This is one thousand taels." Qiao Mu said nothing more and directly threw a silver note of one thousand taels to Chen Gongfeng.
"Why is it one thousand taels? The loan is only five hundred taels?" Chen Gongfeng wondered.
"The five hundred taels of loan will be repaid in full, and for the other five hundred taels, consider it as my invitation for you to stay in this city and keep an eye on the Luo family." Qiao Mu said.
Chen Gongsheng suddenly felt that the thousand-liang silver note in his hand became heavy.
The Qiao family is not a group of lone warriors, but a family that appears and disappears mysteriously. To date, no one knows how many elders with extraordinary martial arts skills have emerged from the family.
So the Qiao family's money is hot to handle...
Qiao Mu said: "This Taotie City is just a small mountain city. Apart from the outsiders, you are already the best master in this city. With you in charge, the Luo family can't make any waves."
As for the lord of this city
As a second-grade martial artist who has mastered the art of spiritual cultivation, Chen Gongfeng can easily defeat the city lord by himself, but he cannot defeat an army of thousands alone.
Besides, why would he bother the city lord for no reason? To challenge the authority of the Great Yan court
Although the Southwestern Province government had lost contact with the Great Yan court and was no match for the Yuwang Army, it was not difficult to kill him, a second-grade spirit cultivator.
After the two men finished their discussion, Chen Gongsheng left.
Qiao Mu was about to leave the bamboo forest when a figure wearing green clothes and holding a lance appeared on the road ahead.
Qing Li's hand trembled, and a blurry white object flew over. Qiao Mu reached out to take it and found that it was an ingot of silver.
This ingot of silver actually weighs only about one ounce, and it seems that Qing Li's purse has been almost emptied...
Just as I thought of this, I saw the figure in green clothes approaching with a spear in hand, and a sharp explosion sounded in the air.
Fire Phoenix spreads across the prairie!
Qing Li is a half-demon, her physical strength far exceeds that of ordinary people. Coupled with her extremely high attainments in spearmanship, an iron spear in her hand bursts out with tremendous force, like a raging fire that sets a prairie on fire.
Although she is a woman, her fighting style is bold and violent, like a volcanic eruption.
The spear in his hand moved everywhere, the air made a sharp explosion, the tip of the spear split the air waves, and the ground was cut into long gullies, which was extremely ferocious.
However, his opponent is Qiao Mu, who is also good at overpowering others with force.
After fighting for dozens of rounds, Qiao Mu's internal energy burst out again.
"Demon Disintegration: Double."
The already powerful and strong white energy turned into blood color, doubling in size in an instant, and blood oozed out of the pores of his hands and arms.
With the dual explosion of physical strength and internal energy, Qiao Mu used a spear to push the gun in Qing Li's hand away, and the huge force caused the spear in her hand to slip out of her hand.
The spear spun in the air for several circles, then spun diagonally into the ground.
"Why do we need to use the Heavenly Demon to disintegrate?" Qing Li asked with a puzzled tone.
The fight between them was not a life-and-death fight, and both of them understood this, so why use such forbidden explosive techniques that would cause endless trouble
"The disintegration of the demon is part of my strength. If you don't accept it, just keep it to yourself." Qiao Mu said confidently.
The five-fold explosion of the demon disintegration would mean death for ordinary people, and would bring about a seven-day period of weakness for Qiumu.
The Double Heavenly Demon disintegrated, but only his arms were severely damaged, and it would take three days to circulate the Thousand Changes of Flesh and Blood to heal the wounds.
As for the meridians inside the body, they had already been expanded by Qiao Mu's long-term demonic disintegration, and had long since turned from muddy paths into wide roads. However, the explosive power was only twice as much, so it was just a drop in the bucket.
Qing Li felt speechless and turned to leave. Before leaving, he looked at Qiao Mu twice and said:
"I have finally understood in the past few days that you are just cheating others out of your money."
"The trick was just a joke to trick the city folks. It was supposed to be a lesson for them. The city folks were tricked into picking up rocks for a few days. I think they won't fall for similar tricks again in the future."
Qiao Mu: "That's fine if you want to understand it that way. It's hard to persuade a damned ghost with kind words."
"Then, what if the people in the city are deceived again? Some people may not be so smart." Qing Li thought of the gambler Lao Yang.
This man is a big gambler and he is not young anymore, but it is obvious that his experience has not increased his wisdom.
I have been gambling for half my life and I continue to gamble without any improvement.
"Then give up the complex of helping others and respect the fate of others." Qiao Mu spread his hands.
Qing Li was silent for a moment, then said:
"If you do this, no one will be grateful to you, and you will only be cursed by the whole city."
"The Qiao family is well-known for valuing loyalty over life and death, and now a liar like you has appeared. Isn't this tarnishing the Qiao family's reputation?"
"I really did fool the whole city. I tricked them into going to the river to pick up stones. They worked for several days for nothing. If they really want to scold me, it's not unreasonable."
Qiao Mu smiled and said:
"What does it matter if I get a bad name or a good reputation? What does it have to do with me?"
Although Qiao Mu is a good person who likes to show off in front of others, he also likes to listen to others bragging about themselves.
If he had to choose between good reputation and bad reputation, he would definitely choose good reputation.
But this does not mean that he would suffer the pain of being pierced by a sword or endure the pain of being imprisoned in a dream for decades or hundreds of years just because he likes fame.
He is over 700 years old, and he is happy to have these false titles.
If he had a bad reputation instead of a false reputation, he wouldn't care too much.
Qing Li fell silent again, and his eyes changed slightly when he looked at Qiao Mu:
"Mr. Qiao is really free and easy, which is really enviable."
At this moment she did not call Qiao Mu the so-called "Master Qiao".
Although Qiao Mu and Demon Spear Qing Li had fought many times in the past few days, they had actually barely spoken to each other, so today was considered a lot.
Before, she taught Qiao Mu some moves, but it actually had nothing to do with Qiao Mu's character. She just believed in her sworn brother Zhao Hu and felt that Qiao Mu could inherit the complete "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" technique.
But today, she began to look at Qiao Mu with new eyes and no longer called him "Master Qiao".
However, her attitude remained unchanged, and she did not become more enthusiastic. She just turned to talk seriously about martial arts with Qiao Mu:
"The essence of 'Fire Phoenix Setting the Prairie ablaze' is 'a heart as blazing as fire'."
"Life is like weeds, heart is like fire."
"This is a killer move that my master, the Spear Saint, learned back then. If you don't have the right state of mind, it will be useless when you use it."
Qiao Mu's heart was slightly moved, and he asked:
"Spiritual training skills?"
"That's right." Qing Li explained:
"After refining the super-grade spirit, there is no way forward in the martial arts. Since you have obtained the "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear", I think you also know what my master's intentions are..."
"He intentionally recorded his martial arts experience, in fact, he intended to compile a new and superior martial arts for future martial artists. However, he did not complete the task, so he only left behind "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" and a collection of martial arts experience in his later years."
Qing Li had been giving Qiao Mu some advice before, but today he found out the reason why Qiao Mu cheated people out of money. After looking at him with new eyes, he started to have other ideas.
Pass on the skills on behalf of the teacher.
The Gun Master was already dead.
Among the descendants of the Spear Saint, there is only Zhao Hu, who is of the first rank. Although his martial arts skills are not bad, they have not reached the highest level.
The one who deserves the title of "Successor of the Spear Saint" is actually Qing Li, a half-demon who is born with supernatural powers.
Even if he didn't have internal energy, with "Demon Spear" Qing Li's attainments in spearmanship, he was more than capable of teaching the spear master's skills.
"In my master's opinion, integrating emotion into skills and achieving unity of body and mind is the spiritual cultivation skill after the super-grade level." Qing Li continued:
"The best among them is Jian Zexian's "Heaven-Slashing Sword Art."
"If one's mind is not in the right state, it will be difficult to achieve the artistic conception of such a soul-refining martial art."
Qiao Mu nodded.
The same is true for the Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique. Even the Exiled Sword Immortal couldn't perform it when he was in a bad state.
This level of soul-refining martial arts actually requires a higher state of mind and will. If you haven't reached that level, it won't be able to exert much power.
Jian Zexian is the best in the art of martial arts. His attainments in this area are unmatched and unmatched.
Although the Spear Saint and the Exiled Sword Immortal were once ranked second and first in the world, the gap between them is actually quite large.
The difference is... Jian Zexian is an unparalleled genius. He can create the Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique just by following his feeling.
A top martial artist like the Spear Saint naturally has lower achievements in martial arts than the Sword Exiled Immortal.
Although not as good as the Spear Saint, he was able to write down martial arts secrets and martial arts experiences, and roughly organized the skills and martial arts after the super-grade.
This is something that even a peerless genius like Jian Zexian cannot do.
Qing Li said: "After refining the first level of spirit, the overly powerful 'spirit' can already affect external objects."
"Then, how to combine this powerful 'God' with the 'skills' of a warrior and use them in actual combat is the question that my master pondered in his later years."
Having said that, Qing Li turned and left again.
Her contacts with Qiao Mu were very pure, either physical combat or martial arts lectures, and she had no intention of having any deeper personal relationship with Qiao Mu.
"Wait." Qiao Mu called her at this time:
"Since you know that it was someone from Xishan Village who passed the "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" to me, don't you have anything else to ask?"
Qiao Mu learned from the beast slave Chen Heihu that Qing Li had left Xishan Village many years ago and had not returned for a long time.