Chapter 172: You Won’t Live More Than a Year

"What's this, little lady?" The young man broke into a rakish, insolent smile once more. "Do you want to have a contest with us brothers?"

"Of course not." Lin Sangqian smiled slightly. "This... big brother? You probably have less than a year left to live. Am I right?"

The young man's expression instantly changed.

"What are you talking about!" the other bandits roared in fury. "How dare you curse our boss like that? Stinking girl, you're courting death!"

As they spoke, they moved to grab Lin Sangqian. Lin Yanbei and Lin Beitao hurriedly pulled her back, shielding her as they retreated step by step.

"It's fine." Lin Sangqian patted her two older brothers on the shoulders, then walked forward with a calm and composed expression. "Don't rush to grab me just yet. Ask him yourselves—am I right or not?"

The bandits were completely thrown off by her confident demeanor, and they turned their heads anxiously to look at the young man.

The young man stared at Lin Sangqian for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"I never expected I'd actually run into such a treasure," he chuckled. "Tell me, how did you know?"

How did she know?

Naturally, because she possessed the secret arts of a divine physician.

She could tell that this man was afflicted with a rare and potent poison, and he had at most seven or eight months left to live.

Although he still looked quite energetic at the moment, if the poison remained uncleared, in five months' time he would gradually grow weary in mind and limp in body, before becoming bedridden and lapsing into a coma.

"Didn't you know? I happen to be a renowned divine physician myself," Lin Sangqian said. "If you don't believe me, ask my family."

She wasn't lying. Previously, because Bao Mingzhi had caused the townspeople to fall ill with those little yellow flowers, and she had provided the antidote, quite a few people truly regarded her as a divine physician.

It was just that her business ventures were so wildly successful that whenever people mentioned her, they only thought of her formidable commercial acumen and simply hadn't recalled this aspect.

Over the past few years, she had also cured several people suffering from critical illnesses.

"Really?" the young man asked.

Although Liao Shuxia and the others had no idea what Lin Sangqian was trying to do, they all nodded in unison.

No matter what, following Lin Sangqian's lead was always the right course of action.

"I can save you," Lin Sangqian said. "The poison in your body—I can cure it."

"If you put it that way, I have even more reason to drag you back with me," the young man replied.

"I can go with you!" Lin Sangqian clenched her fingers tightly. "However, you must let all of my family members go! Not just my family, but the townspeople as well! You must swear that you will never harm a single hair on their heads ever again!"

"Puppy, what are you saying!" Liao Shuxia's expression changed drastically as she grabbed her arm. "Do you know what you just said? Even if your mother dies, she will never let you go off with this pack of bandits!"

"Mother!" Lin Sangqian clasped her hand. "Trust me, I will never let any harm come to myself."

However, despite her reassurances, not a single member of the Lin family agreed.

Even Wang Qiongshi declared that she would rather fight these bandits to the death than allow Lin Sangqian to go with them for her own safety.

Master Ge even stroked his beard, trying to reason with the bandits.

"You little girl, you certainly talk big!" a bandit sneered mockingly. "How dare you give us orders?"

"And what if I do?" Lin Sangqian retorted coldly. "Right now, I am the only one who can save your boss. If you don't listen to me, you might as well just wait a few months to collect his corpse!"

"You—!"

"Very well," the young man suddenly interrupted. "I promise you. As long as you come with me and cure the poison in my body, I will release all of your family members, and I will never set foot in this town again."

"After I cure your poison, you must let me go as well," Lin Sangqian added. "And once I go with you, no one is permitted to harm me."

"Deal, I promise you all of it," the young man readily agreed.

"Little Sister! He's a bandit! Have you forgotten Manager Zhang's daughter? How can you believe his words!" Lin Yanbei gripped her arm tightly. "I won't let you go!"

"Enough!" The young man was growing impatient. "Stop dawdling—grab her!"

The moment his voice fell, one of the bandits suddenly grabbed a handful of white powder from somewhere and hurled it straight toward them.

Lin Sangqian's pupils constricted.

*Oh no, soul-scattering powder!*

She immediately covered her nose and mouth, but it all happened in a split second, and she was already too late to warn the others.

The members of the Lin family collapsed to the ground one after another.

"Rest assured, this soul-scattering powder will only make them sleep for a while; it won't cause any harm to their health," the young man said. "Still, your reflexes are quite fast. Come on, let's go!"

Lin Sangqian cast one deep, lingering look at her family members, then stepped forward to leave.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" the young man asked her.

Lin Sangqian nodded.

She had learned over the past four years. After all, living in ancient times, mastering horse-riding was quite essential.

She walked a short distance with them and saw several other bandits waiting ahead, along with numerous horses.

The horsebacks were laden with several bundles of goods, presumably the wealth they had plundered from the Yu residence.

"Boss, you've harvested quite a haul today!" one of the bandits chuckled. "Oh, and you caught another little lady! This one looks even better than the last!"

"Where are the others from the Yu residence?" Lin Sangqian asked.

The safety of her family was temporarily secured, but she still didn't know what had happened to Yu Jingxiao.

"Who knows! Who cares where they ran off to? Anyway, we didn't kill anyone! All those guards were just knocked out and tossed aside."

Hearing this, Lin Sangqian finally set her mind at ease.

It seemed Yu Jingxiao was safe as well.

"Don't forget what you promised me," Lin Sangqian said, looking straight at the young man.

"Rest assured. If you come with me, those people will remain safe and sound, and we will never come to this town again."

With that, the young man turned to another bandit and commanded, "Give her my horse. I'll share one with you."

"Boss, you're not riding with her?" The bandit's eyes widened in disbelief. "Aren't you afraid she'll ride off halfway?"

"Would she dare?" The young man looked at Lin Sangqian and smiled, though his words were venomous. "If she dares to run, I'll immediately hunt down her family to the ends of the earth."

Lin Sangqian mentally spat in disgust.

"Then the two of you could ride together..."

"Why do you have so much nonsense to say?" The young man gave him an impatient kick. "I don't want to share a horse with her, is that a crime?"

With that, he muttered under his breath, "Besides... she's still a young maiden after all..."

"Fine, fine, Boss, you call the shots."

Lin Sangqian mounted the horse and rode with them back to their current stronghold—Green Creek Mountain.