Chapter 310: You Beide’s Threat

Mo Jianchen’s expression completely reassured Lin Dong.
Disciples of major sects were still human beings, and tactics of coercion and manipulation could indeed work.
Lin Dong nodded and smiled, “It’s for you alone. Do you want it?”
“Yes, of course,” Mo Jianchen quickly snatched the water bag and clutched it to his chest. After hesitating for a moment, he grumbled, “Don’t think just because your strength is slightly better than mine makes you great. Compared to Senior Sister Yun, you’re still far from being worthy.”
“Is that so?” Lin Dong retracted the Ruyi Stool from the mobile counter and vanished silently.
Mo Jianchen was startled. Seeing that Yun Lan had already walked away, he raised the Ruyi Stool high. Remembering Lin Dong’s ferocity earlier, he said helplessly, “Sister-in-law, I was just joking.”
Lin Dong smiled. The Ruyi Stool disappeared from his palm, and he stretched out his right hand, stopping in front of Mo Jianchen.
Mo Jianchen was taken aback before forcing a awkward smile. He grabbed Lin Dong’s right hand and stood up.
“Alright, you two. Will you stay for a while before leaving?” Lin Dong asked.
“Well…” Mo Jianchen hesitated, glancing at Yun Lan. Not long ago, Senior Sister Yun had already ordered them to leave.
“If you want to stay, then stay! But… I advise you to go back soon.” Yun Lan shot Lin Dong a glance. She understood what Lin Dong meant—keeping Mo Jianchen in the inn was so he could find a practice partner.
Lin Dong’s training sessions with others were far more intense than those among sect disciples.
“Of course we’ll stay,” Xue Qinghong said before Mo Jianchen could speak, constantly giving him subtle signals and even answering first.
Mo Jianchen was puzzled but began to understand Xue Qinghong’s intentions—she wanted to train at Lin’s Inn and then find a way to defeat Lin Dong once her strength improved.
Logically, if she could rise by one or two levels and already had some understanding of Lin Dong’s spiritual techniques, Mo Jianchen was confident he could turn the situation around. But the earlier incident kept haunting him, and since he had already called her “sister-in-law,” he felt both psychologically troubled and unable to back out.
With no other choice and seeing Xue Qinghong’s persistent signals, Mo Jianchen turned to Yun Lan and asked, “Senior Sister Yun, shall we stay for a while then?”
Yun Lan nodded without stopping them. Anyway, if things didn’t go well, they could leave anytime. As for Xue Qinghong’s motives, she believed Lin Dong could see through them too. Since Lin Dong didn’t seem concerned, there must be a solution.
“Since that’s the case…” Lin Dong glanced at Mo Jianchen’s tightly wrapped head and smiled, “I’ll go back to my room to train. I won’t disturb your chat.”
“What about me? What about me?” Xue Qinghong demanded urgently. “Sister-in-law, have you forgotten about me?”

Lin Dong smiled leisurely. Though he didn’t give them a lesson, they had voluntarily called him “elder brother-in-law” so smoothly, so there must be some benefits. He took out a water bag filled with Golden Armored Snake Inner Elixirs from the mobile cabinet and threw it at Xue Qinghong. Smiling, Lin Dong said, “There’s an entire bag of Golden Armored Snake Inner Elixirs inside. Take them and consume them as you see fit. Once their effects wear off, you can share the leftovers with fellow disciples you know.”

“Thank you, elder brother-in-law!” Xue Qinghong called out sweetly, quickly storing the water bag in her storage spirit ring. Then she pulled Mo Jianchen along and said, “Sister, let’s go arrange our lodging first, and then we’ll come back to keep you company.”

Yun Lan nodded. After watching the two whisper and hurry out of the backyard, she turned to Lin Dong. After some thought, she still felt uneasy and said, “Those two probably still aren’t fully convinced.”

“I know!” Lin Dong said with a smile. “I’ll run away once I can’t beat them.”

“Run away?” Yun Lan hesitated for a moment before asking in surprise, “Do you have a way to raise your cultivation level in a short time?”

Lin Dong smiled bitterly. “If we know each other too well, surprises won’t be easy to find.”

Yun Lan was speechless. She couldn’t figure out why Lin Dong was so confident, but since he refused to explain, she had no choice but to stop asking.

“I’ll go back to my room to cultivate first!”

Lin Dong returned to his room with a smile. He indeed had a way to boost his strength in a short time. He hadn’t revealed it not only to surprise Yun Lan but also because the method might be somewhat self-destructive and not suitable for her to experience. He would try it first. If it worked, he could let Yun Lan try later. If not, by then it would be too late to stop her even if she wanted to.

Back in his room, Lin Dong dismissed all distractions from his mind and entered a meditative state.

Days passed as he practiced techniques and waited for news from the merchant guild and the new prefect. With the help of the Golden Armored Snake Inner Elixirs, Mo Jianchen’s strength improved rapidly. He had already reached the sixth level of the Mind Phase. Although he had refined the Golden Armored Snake Inner Elixirs on his own, it took him just over ten days to break through to the seventh level of the Mind Phase.

At the seventh level of the Mind Phase, his strength was one level higher than Lin Dong’s. It was naturally very difficult to defeat Mo Jianchen during technique practice. Fortunately, Xue Qinghong couldn’t stand bloodshed. Though she was confident she could win easily, she refused to team up with Mo Jianchen out of fear of accidentally getting hit. Plus, Lin Dong had an advantage in spiritual techniques and knew Mo Jianchen’s spiritual techniques well. Although it was challenging, it still ensured victory in every battle.

Despite being injured every day, Mo Jianchen embraced it wholeheartedly. He could feel his practical combat skills improving rapidly under such intense training. He was even more certain that as long as he reached the eighth level of the Mental State phase, defeating Lin Dong would be almost effortless.

Half a month later, news from the merchant guild finally reached Li Jiancheng’s hands and then came to Lin Ji Inn through him. Having waited nearly a month for this news, Lin Dong was extremely frustrated.

On the part of the guild, Emperor Qianwei decided to select ten prefectures as pilot areas, prepare everything by the end of the year, and implement the plan officially on January 1st of the following year. If everything went smoothly, it would be expanded to all regions the year after.

Among these ten pilot areas, Lingnan Prefecture was prominently listed—meaning Qiufeng Prefecture was included as well.

Originally, whether the guild’s plan was implemented earlier or later didn’t matter much, as it would have to be faced eventually, so it wasn’t really a cause for frustration for Lin Dong. What worried him was that these ten pilot prefectures were undoubtedly the places where significant achievements would be made. Since Emperor Qianwei wanted to suppress the princes, he naturally had to find convenient places for the princes sent out this year to achieve accomplishments, and the prefectures under these ten prefectures were undoubtedly the best choice.

Subtly, Lin Dong had a premonition that the princes sent out this year would likely settle in these ten prefectures. This meant there was a high possibility that Qiufeng Prefecture would encounter one of them.

Unfortunately, Lin Dong’s premonition came true three days later. Li Jiancheng brought the news personally: the imperial examinations, official assessments, and evaluations of newly crowned princes had all concluded. The Ministry of Personnel was already drafting lists of appointments and dismissals. If nothing went wrong, the massive upheaval caused by the guild would lead to a series of changes among officials across the country. Among these changes, the ten pilot prefectures would see the most significant alterations.

Li Jiancheng didn’t have detailed information about the local officials in these ten prefectures, but it was certain that almost half of them had new appointees.

As a vice magistrate, Li Jiancheng’s friends in the capital might not have access to the still-drafting list from the Ministry of Personnel, but they knew that all the newly crowned princes had passed their assessments and would be assigned to the prefectures under these ten areas, none left out. Moreover, the number was quite large—even those princes who had been rejected in previous years passed this time, totaling over twenty. Just this group would occupy more than 20% of the magistrate positions.

The remaining 30% of magistrate positions would be divided among the scholars’ faction.

The candidate for the new prefect of Qiufeng Prefecture is not clear. The only thing certain is that the candidate will either be a prince or someone from the Scholars’ Party. The reason is that Li Jiancheng has received definite information that the Outer Idle Party sided with Emperor Qianwei first in this courtly struggle, so they suffered little loss. Although he cannot remain in the prefecture under his current jurisdiction, he is certain to be able to serve as a prefect in another county.

Given Li Jiancheng’s low position, he is still quite far from knowing the list of candidates, which is still being finalized. Therefore, to find out the exact candidate, he can only wait until the announcement is made.

Based on this information, Lin Dong only knows that there is a 40% chance the new prefect of Qiufeng Prefecture will be a prince and a 60% chance it will be someone from the Scholars’ Party. There’s no way around it—he’ll have to wait another month or so.

As the autumn breeze continued, in the back yard, after a battle that lasted over an hour and during which Lin Dong finally seized the upper hand, he was chasing Mo Jianchen around the yard. Ma Chun ran in from outside.

“Boss, Master You has arrived.”

“Master You?” Lin Dong was momentarily stunned.

“Master You from the Xingli Sect,” Ma Chun explained. “He said he’s been busy handling sect affairs and only now has time to come and thank you for introducing him to Master Xiao.”

“Come to thank me?” Lin Dong frowned slightly. After all this time, if You Beide really wanted to express his gratitude, he should have come earlier. In his opinion, You Beide probably thought that simply sharing the lower-level spiritual techniques he obtained from Ningjizong with Lin’s Inn was enough to show respect and settle any debts owed—since they were not on the same level, there was no need for further interaction.

So why did he come to Lin’s Inn today?

“Please ask him to sit in the front yard. I’ll be there right away!” Lin Dong didn’t have much goodwill toward You Beide, but after all, he was a prominent sect leader of Qiufeng Prefecture. It would be impolite not to meet him.

Ma Chun looked troubled. “Boss, Master You’s status…”

“Let’s go! I’ll go greet him.” Lin Dong waved his hand with a wry smile. He had finally managed to defeat Mo Jianchen completely, and the most satisfying moment was approaching, but he didn’t have time to enjoy it.

Following Ma Chun to the main hall, Lin Dong scanned the room and immediately spotted You Beide sitting by a dining table. Smiling slightly, he stepped forward with clasped hands. “Master You, please forgive me for not greeting you properly upon your arrival.”

You Beide sized Lin Dong up from head to toe. Only after Lin Dong got closer did he stand up and bow. “Don’t mention it, Manager Lin. I’m sorry for coming unannounced and troubling you.”

“Please, it’s an honor for Lin’s Inn to have Master You here,” Lin Dong said, gesturing for him to come in. “Master You, please come inside.”

You Beide also didn’t want to continue with the formalities any longer. He nodded and headed toward the back door. Once in the front yard, he asked You Beide to sit down. After Ma Chun finished serving the tea, Lin Dong asked with a smile, “Master You is busy with countless matters every day. Is there something specific you need to handle in Autumn Wind City?”
“There’s nothing too important,” You Beide shook his head. “Actually, I came here specifically to see Manager Lin. The Xingli Sect has suffered a great disaster. If it weren’t for Manager Lin introducing me to Master Xiao, we would likely have been doomed. I’ve always been grateful, but due to the many affairs within our sect, I haven’t had time to express it. Please don’t take offense, Manager Lin.”
Looking at You Beide’s stern and expressionless face, Lin Dong couldn’t believe his words, but he didn’t say much. Instead, he replied politely, “Master You, you’re too kind. I just happened to know Master Xiao, and I’m also aware of the grudges between the Guhuan Sect and the Ningji Sect. Introducing you was just a small favor.”
You Beide shook his head and took out a storage spirit ring, placing it on the table and pushing it toward Lin Dong.
“What’s this…” Lin Dong looked at You Beide in confusion.
“There are about a hundred second-tier spirit weapons, ten third-tier spirit weapons, and two fourth-tier spirit weapons inside,” You Beide said calmly. “The Xingli Sect doesn’t have many valuable items. If Manager Lin doesn’t mind, consider it a thank-you gift. If you don’t need them, you can sell them—they should be worth around one to one point eight million silver taels.”
“How could I accept this? Master You, just allowing the guards of Lin’s Inn to learn the first and second-tier spirit techniques from the Ningji Sect is already the greatest reward…”
While speaking politely, Lin Dong casually took the storage spirit ring with his right hand. Although these spirit weapons weren’t numerous, they weren’t few either. Although Xiao Tianchi had promised to provide all the spirit weapons for Lin’s Inn’s guard team, the Guhuan Sect was also in a period of rapid development and needed a large number of spirit weapons to exchange for medicinal pills for its new disciples. Having such a gift fall from the sky, there was no reason to refuse it. After all, the Guhuan Sect was responsible for Lin’s Inn’s plantations and pastures, which could help reduce their burdens—the faster they developed, the better.
Seeing Lin Dong’s reaction, a barely noticeable glint flashed in You Beide’s eyes.
“Manager Lin, there’s no need to be polite. Compared to the survival of our Xingli Sect, these spirit weapons are insignificant.”
“In that case, I can’t refuse,” Lin Dong said with a smile as he stored the storage spirit ring in the mobile counter.

You Beide picked up his tea, took a sip, and then, under Lin Dong’s puzzled gaze, bowed and said, “Shopkeeper Lin, I have another matter I’d like to ask you for help with. If you agree, I will surely have my disciple send another batch of spiritual artifacts as a thank-you gift.”

Lin Dong was slightly surprised. When he gave You Qinxang the cyan-blue fruits and the crimson fruits, he hadn’t specifically instructed her to keep it a secret. But with You Qinxang’s intelligence, she should understand how important this matter was and would never betray a friend for the sake of her sect’s interests.

But besides the cyan-blue fruits and crimson fruits, what else could You Beide possibly want from him?

Seeing You Beide’s polite yet still authoritative expression, Lin Dong quickly dismissed that idea. If that were the case, You Beide wouldn’t act as if he was doing Lin Dong a favor. Even if he couldn’t bring himself to lower his dignity and trade on equal terms with a shopkeeper like Xiao Tianchi, or even flatter and curry favor, he wouldn’t at least offer to give away over a hundred spiritual artifacts.

Over a hundred spiritual artifacts were indeed valuable, but compared to the cyan-blue fruits and crimson fruits, they were nothing but trash.

Unable to figure it out, Lin Dong simply smiled and said, “In front of Sect Master You, Lin Dong isn’t worthy of the word ‘help.’ Just give me your orders.”

You Beide remained silent, staring straight at Lin Dong.

Unhappy, Lin Dong thought that You Beide was clearly trying to intimidate him with his gaze. Picking up his teacup and taking a sip, he endured his impatience and said, “Sect Master You, go ahead and give your orders.”

You Beide frowned slightly, puzzled as to why Lin Dong could remain so calm under his stare. After hesitating for a moment, he gave up on continuing to stare and said indifferently, “Shopkeeper Lin, it seems you have a good relationship with Qinxang?”

Lin Dong was stunned for a moment before suddenly understanding. He finally grasped You Beide’s true intention—this was all to warn him.

You Beide seemed quite satisfied with Lin Dong’s speechless state. Before Lin Dong could speak, he pressed on, “I heard that Qinxang plans to give you a fifth-tier armor?”

Lin Dong regained his composure, his tone turning cool. “That’s true. I can’t refuse such a kind gesture from Miss You. But Sect Master You, rest assured—I won’t let the Xingli Sect lose a fifth-tier spiritual artifact for nothing. When Miss You isn’t around, I’ll find another way to obtain one and return it to the Xingli Sect.”

You Beide’s expression turned cold, his eyes flashing with hostility. Such a straightforward response was, in his eyes, equivalent to being slapped in the face by someone who should be a sect master.

Lin Dong glanced at him indifferently, having completely lost his patience to be polite with You Beide. He said coldly, “If Master You is unharmed, I’m sorry, Lin Dong must take his leave now.”
You Beide suddenly stood up and slammed his hand hard on the table.
Boom…
The entire stone table instantly turned into dust and scattered.
“Lin Dong, if it weren’t for your close relationship with Master Xiao, just those words of yours would be enough to get you killed a hundred or a thousand times.”
“I know, that’s why I dare speak to you like this.”
Lin Dong remained seated on the stone bench, unfazed by the slowly sinking dust. There was another thing he didn’t say: if it weren’t for his close relationship with You Qinxang, he wouldn’t even bother using Xiao Tianchi to suppress You Beide’s anger.
Whether it was fighting or killing, the Xingli Sect meant nothing to Lin Dong at this point.
“Good, truly befitting a young man—full of drive and courage! It’s no wonder Qinxang was willing to endure pain to strengthen her power in order to craft spiritual weapons.” You Beide laughed in anger but couldn’t bring himself to strike, just as Lin Dong had expected. Due to his relationship with You Qinxang, he couldn’t do anything to You Beide. And You Beide, too, didn’t dare attack him because of Xiao Tianchi, an ally who couldn’t afford any mishaps at this stage.
Endure pain to strengthen power? Lin Dong was shocked. Those words immediately reminded him of the Heaven and Earth Cave that You Qinxang had mentioned to him.
Back then, Lin Dong had given her Qinglan Fruits and Wanhong Fruits so that she would give up cultivating in the Heaven and Earth Cave. Yet, she still went there. Perhaps it was to gain greater strength—higher levels of weapon crafting would result in better armor!
Lin Dong exhaled. Originally, he planned to visit the Xingli Sect after the new prefect took office. By then, Mo Jianchen would likely be on the verge of breaking through as well. It would be a good time to go to the Heaven and Earth Cave for some hard training and return to surprise Mo Jianchen, completely disheartening him and Xue Qinghong.
It seemed this plan needed to be accelerated. Rather than learning about the new prefect’s identity earlier so the inn could prepare in advance, it was more important to prevent You Qinxang from getting too deeply involved.
Lin Dong stood up, looking indifferently at the furious You Beide, and waved his hand. “Master You may go. You’ve come for nothing this time. I know I’m not worthy of Miss You, and I never intended to drag her into this.”
“Are you sure?” A glimmer of joy flashed in You Beide’s eyes. He had thought Lin Dong would take the opportunity to cling to Qinxang and gain huge benefits from the Xingli Sect. Who would have thought that a innkeeper would also know when to stop?

Lin Dong sneered. Compared to Yun Cangqiong, this Leader You was utterly inferior. Based on his understanding of Yun Cangqiong, even if he were just an ordinary innkeeper, as long as he could ensure that Yun Lan liked him and he could live up to her feelings, he would definitely choose to side with the elders of the Tianjian Sect to secretly help him and Yun Lan flee under cover of anonymity.

You Beide flew into a rage. He raised his arm, but to prevent Lin Dong from changing his mind, he managed to hold back. With a wave of his sleeve, You Beide turned and left.

“After this is done, I’ll send someone to bring you the spiritual artifact. If I find you still daring to harass Qin Xiang, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

“Take care. No need for the spiritual artifact. Possessing too many fine things is a curse—it’s not good for me,” Lin Dong said with a smile.

“Good sense of judgment.”

You Beide left coldly. Although he was filled with anger after his visit to Lin’s Inn, it still counted as a successful trip for him.