Chapter 368: Shocking the Heart’s Limit

The sports stars Li Dafeng and Wang Liang, along with the effects brought by the betting matches, began to show their impact.
The day after the matches ended, the average number of tickets sold per of the four matches reached over 1,300, more than 500 higher than before.
On the third day, ticket sales rose even further, with attendance exceeding 50%, reaching over 1,500 tickets. This level was maintained for several days. By the time the second batch of sports stars was introduced, just three days into the intense promotion, the average number of tickets sold per day started to climb again.
By the time the second batch of sports stars became well-known, the average number of tickets sold per day had reached over 1,800. Although the increase wasn’t as significant as during the first promotion, the steady growth showed no signs of slowing down.
The more tickets sold each day, the larger the audience, which in turn had a growing impact on Lin’s Inn’s business.
Since Lin’s Inn allied with Maple Forest Restaurant to compete against Hongfu Restaurant, it had leveraged features like spirit stone fans and VIP cards. Under normal weather conditions, there were an average of about 300 groups of large customers on the second and third floors, accounting for roughly 50% occupancy. The 20 private rooms on the fourth floor saw around 50 groups per day as well.
After Lin’s Sports Stadium introduced sports stars and betting matches, as the audience grew, Lin’s Inn’s business saw little change among ultra-large customers, but there was a noticeable increase among large customers—almost getting better day by day. In just half a month, the number of groups per day reached around 400.
The battle with Hongfu Restaurant continued. Without pressure from the county government, both Hongwanfu and its restaurant displayed fierce determination. In a short time, both sides showed signs of turning the tide.
Of course, this was just surface-level. Lin Dong didn’t care who would win between Hongfu Gambling House and Tianlai Gambling House. He was confident that Hongfu Restaurant couldn’t withstand the combined force of Maple Forest Restaurant and Lin’s Inn. Victory was just a matter of time.
In the quiet of the night, in a room at the back of the inn, illuminated by an oil lamp, Lin Dong’s face showed a hint of solemnity.
Inside his dantian, surging spiritual energy repeatedly struck the inner walls before returning to his meridians, gathering strength once more to strike the inner walls again.
The inner walls of his dantian grew thinner and thinner, and the thought kept flashing through Lin Dong’s mind—that it would burst next time. Yet after that, there would be another time…

As the sun rose and the moon set, the thin inner walls persisted stubbornly. Lin Dong, who had not stopped for days, also clenched his teeth and held on. When spiritual energy once again weakened and returned to his meridians, beginning to accumulate along specific paths, a surge of powerful spiritual energy suddenly appeared on his back and forced its way into his meridians. Lin Dong was shocked and tried to control the spiritual energy to drive out this intruding force. A calm voice came from behind him: “Concentrate. If you pause and leave behind a flaw, it will be extremely difficult to break through to the ninth level of the Mental Mastery stage again—unless you have a peak-level expert to help.” His racing heart gradually stabilized, replaced by joy spreading throughout his body. Lin Dong recognized the voice as belonging to Feng Yue. With Feng Yue’s strength, although he couldn’t cultivate spiritual energy on his own, he had experience reaching the ninth level of Mental Mastery. With his help, making a breakthrough when he was already so close wasn’t difficult—of course, assuming Feng Yue truly intended to help. Cold sweat broke out on Lin Dong’s back. Under normal circumstances, he would have been able to sense Feng Yue’s presence, but he had forgotten that during a breakthrough, his intense focus could cause him to ignore any anomalies sensed from the outside. If Feng Yue truly had malicious intentions, even with his inn system that could expel even peak-level experts in an instant, he would be doomed. In the future, whenever he needed to make a breakthrough, he would probably have to find guards or set up several spiritual arrays first. After hesitating for a moment, Lin Dong stabilized the spiritual energy within him and allowed Feng Yue’s energy to enter his meridians. “Use my energy to try again,” Feng Yue’s voice rang out again. “Divide some of your energy to guide mine ahead, using most of your own as a backup.” Lin Dong took a deep breath. A portion of his energy merged with Feng Yue’s, then began pulling that massive flow of energy toward his dantian. Before long, the dantian was filled with energy, expanding as more entered. Once Feng Yue’s energy fully entered the dantian, Lin Dong could see through internal vision that fine cracks had appeared on the thin outer walls of his dantian. Without hesitation, the energy he had kept outside surged in at once, rushing into the dantian. The cracks widened at a visible pace, and then, with a bang, they completely shattered. Lin Dong’s body trembled, and his tightly closed eyes snapped open. His eyes were as clear as still water.

Looking inside his body again, the dantian had disappeared. In its former location, there was only a hazy mist. With a thought, a stream of energy, like liquid, rushed out from the mist and swiftly flowed into the meridians. With another thought, the stream-like spiritual energy flashed through the meridians and returned to the dantian in the blink of an eye. This was clearly several times faster than his previous cultivation speeds, and the purity of the spiritual energy had increased by dozens of times.

“That’s it. Now you’ve officially entered the Heart Reversal Phase. Once a new dantian forms and the spiritual energy is compressed and purified dozens of times, you’ll find your strength has increased by more than ten times. Even with the strength of someone at the ninth level of the Mind Phase, it might take a group of over ten people to defeat you now.”

With the sound of silver bells clinking, Feng Yue appeared before Lin Dong.

“Thank you, Senior Feng, for your help,” Lin Dong quickly bowed.

“Where’s the problem? I just happened to be by and caught you breaking through, so I offered a little assistance,” Feng Yue shook his head. “Even without me, I believe you could break through within three to five days.”

“That’s not certain. I’ve been breaking through for three or four days in a row, and I can only hold on for another day or two at most. If it still doesn’t work, as Senior Feng said, it will be extremely difficult to break through again after stopping and giving up.”

Lin Dong also shook his head. In fact, he wasn’t worried about failing to reach the Heart Reversal Phase. Even without the peak warrior, Old Ding, he still had other methods. The simplest one was to use two types of spiritual pills he hadn’t taken before, or make extensive use of Lingyun Tree branches. Although this would reduce the effectiveness of the pills, breaking through would still be possible.

The reason Lin Dong deliberately exaggerated Feng Yue’s help was that he believed Feng Yue must have some request in mind for coming here. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come in the middle of the night and sacrificed his own spiritual energy to help. Even for a peak warrior, helping a martial artist at the ninth level of the Mind Phase reach the Heart Reversal Phase required a certain cost. For Feng Yue, who couldn’t cultivate on his own and was only at the ninth level of the Mind Phase, it would take at least half a year to recover from such a cost.

Back then, when Lin Dong voluntarily gave Feng Yue a few Tianfeng Peppers in the backyard, his intention was to plant a seed in the Tianjian Sect. One day, when he ascended to the sect, he could try to make Feng Yue a useful ally. Now that Feng Yue had come to him voluntarily, Lin Dong naturally wouldn’t let it slip away. By exaggerating Feng Yue’s help, he was waiting for Feng Yue to reveal his intentions, so as to decide whether to keep him around depending on the situation.

A character in the Ninth Stage of Heart Reversal, with a somewhat peculiar personality but still worth befriending. If he can be persuaded to stay at the inn to retire, it would mean having another ace up one’s sleeve, second only to Old Ding. Making Feng Yue feel indebted to him, while he himself knows how to repay kindness, would definitely increase the chances of keeping Feng Yue around.
“It’s just a small effort.” Feng Yue grabbed with his right hand, and a branch from the Lingyun Tree placed beside Lin Dong flew into his palm.
“This is… the Lingyun Tree?”
“Feng Senior has sharp eyes,” Lin Dong asked with a smile. “Weren’t you with two elders from the Tianjian Sect? How…”
“Old Qin knew there was an ambush but, relying on his strength, insisted on charging in. As a result, they managed to escape, but all of them were injured,” Feng Yue explained. “I’m different from them. To restore my spiritual energy, I just need to eat more Wanling Peppers, so I recovered earlier. Besides, Old Qin thought that even if I escaped, my meridians being restricted meant only the Tianjian Sect could provide me with plenty of Wanling Peppers, so he didn’t take many precautions. That’s how I got out for a breath.”
“I see!” Lin Dong asked, “So, Feng Senior, what are your plans for the future?”
“What plans could there be? Live carefree for as long as I can. Once I can’t anymore, I’ll go back and hand Old Qin over,” Feng Yue said with a smile. “As for you, you’d better be careful. On the way there, Old Qin believes he’ll definitely find Yun Cangqiong’s daughter. Fearing she might refuse to return to the Tianjian Sect, he gave Feng Zhengyang a few high-level pills to boost his strength and a high-level spiritual technique he got somewhere, allowing him to secretly practice behind everyone. If he gets the signal, he’ll return here first to eliminate you.”
After a pause, Feng Yue sneered, “Actually, this idea isn’t bad. With Old Qin’s influence, Old Liang and his other disciple wouldn’t dare reveal a word about Feng Zhengyang being in Lingnan Commandery. Plus, the spiritual technique used to kill you is unheard of. Even if Yun Cangqiong’s daughter is smart, she can only suspect him of being behind it and can’t confront him directly. It’s a shame Old Qin overlooked the fact that you’ve already reached the Ninth Stage of Heart Reversal. If his disciple really dares to show up and you’re prepared, there’s only death in store for him.”
“Thank you, Feng Senior, for the warning. Otherwise, Lin Dong would surely be in big trouble this time,” Lin Dong said quickly, bowing in gratitude with a thankful expression.

“Where? I find you quite acceptable. It’s just a few words—nothing much.” Feng Yue twisted his neck nonchalantly and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first. Hurry up and form your dantian! By the way, do you still have those Tianfeng peppers you gave me last time?”
Lin Dong was stunned. Helping out again and warning him about hidden attacks—was Feng Yue’s purpose for coming to Lin Ji Inn just for those Tianfeng peppers, which weren’t even considered spiritual materials?