Su Han hadn't expected the bandits to reveal their backing by the Qingfeng Sect before he even started interrogating them.
"Hmph, Qingfeng Sect?" Su Han quickly said, "What's the highest cultivation level in that sect? Do you dare to use them to scare us?"
The bandit chief scoffed, "Hmph, the strongest in the Qingfeng Sect has reached the Golden Core stage. In front of a Golden Core stage mighty being, you people have offended us and have only one path to death."
Su Han feigned a terrified expression. "Oh, I'm so scared."
Immediately after, Su Han's expression turned cold. "Hmph, Golden Core stage is very powerful? Bandit, do you even know the divisions of cultivation realms?"
The bandit retorted, "Of course I do. But why should I tell you?"
"Beat him!" Su Han commanded.
Lin Dong, who had long been disgusted by the bandit chief's arrogant demeanor, immediately swung his fist at the leader of Black Wind Village.
After a brief exchange, the bandit quickly revealed the cultivation realms.
It turned out that in this world, the cultivation realms were divided into Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core. As for the realms above Golden Core, the bandit chief had no knowledge. He only knew that those above the Golden Core stage were already mighty beings capable of moving mountains and filling seas.
Hearing these familiar realms, Su Han already had an idea of what the subsequent divisions would be.
Having learned about some of the realms, Su Han continued, "Since we know the realm divisions, now tell me why the Qingfeng Sect sent you to be bandits there. Also, have you harmed anyone! Ye Fan, Lin Dong, Chu Shi, go find a few more bandits and interrogate them separately."
Soon, after separate interrogations, these bandits revealed what had happened.
It turned out these bandits were originally from other places. Three months ago, they were recruited by the Qingfeng Sect and placed in Black Wind Village to act as bandits.
The Qingfeng Sect's objective was clear: they were to rob passing travelers to force the people of Jihu County to submit. However, despite robbing travelers and killing some people from Jihu County for so long, they had not managed to make the people of Jihu County submit.
After receiving this information, Su Han knew that the Qingfeng Sect and these bandits were indeed colluding.
Su Han also figured out what was going on. The Qingfeng Sect, likely considering themselves righteous, couldn't openly coerce the people of Jihu County. Hence, they had hired these bandits.
Lin Dong indignantly declared, "Damn it, these people from the Qingfeng Sect are truly despicable. To do such a thing. The Qingfeng Sect is simply a malignant tumor."
Zhou Xiaoyue suggested, "Young Master Su, let's eradicate evil for the people. Let's launch a missile and blow up the Qingfeng Sect."
Su Han shook his head. "We can't act yet. We need more intelligence."
Su Han then took out the green stone again.
Upon seeing the stone, the bandit immediately cried out, "Return the spirit stone to me. Hurry, return it to me."
Su Han pocketed the spirit stone. "So this is a spirit stone. Chu Shi, we need to take this back and analyze it properly."
Chu Shi nodded and took the spirit stone.
Lin Dong asked curiously, "Spirit stone, what exactly is a spirit stone? Is it like those magic stones?"
Su Han nodded. "That's right, these spirit stones are similar to those used by mages, containing vast amounts of energy. But they are more advanced than magic stones. During cultivation, one can absorb the spiritual energy from them. They can also be used to set up formations. In all aspects, they surpass magic stones."
After Su Han finished speaking, He Guizang, who was standing nearby, became agitated.
"Does that mean that with this thing, one can cultivate?"
Su Han replied, "Even without this thing, you can cultivate in this world. The spiritual energy concentration here is very high."
He Guizang's face lit up with excitement. But then he thought for a moment, and his expression dimmed. "Even with a high concentration of spiritual energy, without a cultivation method, one cannot cultivate."
Su Han nodded. "That's right. Our next step is to find some cultivation methods to practice diligently."
At this moment, the bandit leader, who had been beaten into a pulp, overheard Su Han and his companions' conversation. He asked, "Who are you people? Don't you cultivate? If you don't cultivate, how can you operate this magic artifact?"
Su Han and his companions were conversing in Dragon Country's language. However, the pronunciation of some words was similar to the local dialect. Thus, the bandit leader managed to guess some of their words through deduction.
Su Han waved his hand, signaling Lin Dong to act.
Lin Dong delivered an elbow strike to the back of the bandit leader's neck, knocking him out cold.
Su Han remarked, "It seems these bandits can understand some of our words."
Seeing Lin Dong approach, the other bandits begged for mercy, pleading with him not to treat them violently. However, it was to no avail. Lin Dong knocked them all out again, one by one.
Su Han stated, "We'll return today. Tomorrow we'll go to a big city to gather information. For now, we should not clash with the Qingfeng Sect. The people of Jihu County are not in immediate danger."
Thus, they returned to the vicinity of the teleportation gate. They began constructing a simple base near the gate and unloaded the supplies from the hover flatbed. The dozen or so bandits were tied up and left in a forest tens of kilometers away. To prevent their escape, they were bound with a new type of rope developed by Dragon Country. To prevent them from dying of thirst, a string of food was hung around their necks.
Su Han opened the teleportation gate and, carrying the seeds purchased from Jihu County and the spirit stone, returned to the Dinosaur World.
The soldiers guarding the perimeter immediately cleared a path. A medical team quickly came forward to examine Su Han and his companions. After they were cleared, surrounding experts and scientists swarmed forward.
"Did you bring anything good?"
"What good things did you bring back this time?"
A group of experts shouted loudly, as if in a market, eager to get their hands on something suitable for their research.
At this moment, Bai Lang happened to be present.
Academician Bai Lang asked Su Han without much expectation, "Did you bring anything for me to research? I took time off today to come here to block... to welcome you."
Su Han glanced at Chu Shi and replied, "Yes, we happened to bring back some biological resources today."
Bai Lang's eyes immediately lit up. "Excellent. Where is it? Let me see quickly."
Chu Shi opened a bag, revealing the seeds inside.
Academician Bai Lang excitedly took the bag, his attitude towards Chu Shi seeming to improve slightly. However, he directly took the bag and left without any further exchange with Chu Shi.
"Wonderful. Our biology research institute can now get a head start on research. Let others handle other research for now. I'll focus on studying these seeds."
Academician Bai Lang then left in a flurry.
The other experts continued to inquire, "Is there anything else?"
Chu Shi then produced a spirit stone. "There's also this spirit stone. We can also research the energy within it."