Chapter 402: Testing the Waters

At a height of about a hundred meters, the cold wind was biting, howling like thunder. Yet Lin Dong felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction swelling in his chest.
The Hundred-Wing Bird beneath him was undoubtedly a significant gain. Initially, he planned to use the Eagle Beast Bird as a mount, expecting it would take two to three months to integrate all branches into the inn system.
With this wind-like speed and endurance as steady as a flowing river, Lin Dong was confident that, barring any accidents, he could bring all 99 branches across nine prefectures and ninety counties under the inn system within half a month.
Six or seven branches a day, covering tens of thousands of miles—this was no challenge for the Hundred-Wing Bird.
This further strengthened Lin Dong’s determination to find a ninth-tier spiritual bird. Bigger in size, faster in speed, with greater endurance… If it were large enough, even a house built on its back could function as an airplane.
With a ninth-tier spiritual bird, not only could the problem of the vast territory of the Great Han Nation and the enormous distances between prefectures and counties be solved, but by raising them in large numbers and attaching metal boxes beneath them, a kind of “bus-airplane” could be created, addressing the inconvenience of long distances for the Lin’s Inn.
It solved two problems at once, both of great importance.
With the man and the bird flying freely across the sky following the map in Lin Dong’s hands, an invisible pattern was gradually taking shape above Lingnan Commandery.
To save time and avoid suspicion, Lin Dong would land directly in the empty backyards of the branches, silently enter the main hall, integrate the branches into the inn system, and then hurry off with the Hundred-Wing Bird to the next branch. There was no pause—landing and taking off were completed within minutes.
Of course, every three days, Lin Dong would return to Lin’s Inn in Lingnan City via the teleportation gate to check on things.
The thirty paintings of ladies from Maple Forest Restaurant had been removed, and Lin’s Inn, which had long been suppressed, finally saw some improvement. Especially in the private rooms on the fourth floor, where there used to be over fifty groups of customers per day, the number dropped to just over twenty since Maple Forest Restaurant introduced those paintings and two signature dishes. Not only did they not benefit from the closure of Hongfu Restaurant, but they also lost many high-end customers. If Lin’s Inn hadn’t already cultivated a loyal customer base, it might not have even managed to retain those twenty groups per day.
As for the two signature dishes, Liu An had done his best, but one ingredient was a very common low-tier spiritual material, while the other was delivered directly by Maple Forest Restaurant’s delivery team, making it impossible to cut off the supply at the source.

Fortunately, Liu Yao retrieved those thirty portraits of ladies in time. Now, Maple Forest Restaurant only has double the number of chefs and two signature dishes that are unbeatable in Lingnan City. As for Lin’s Inn, it’s not entirely defenseless. Even if it can’t compete with Maple Forest Restaurant for the wealthy clients, it can still ensure fifty to sixty groups of customers per day—a number that exceeds that of any other restaurant in Lingnan City except Maple Forest Restaurant. Moreover, since Maple Forest Restaurant’s two signature dishes are aimed at wealthy clients, their impact on the restaurant itself is merely an increased reputation, which doesn’t prevent Lin’s Inn from competing for the clients lost to Hongfu Restaurant. Thus, Lin Dong was completely at ease. To be honest, suppressing Maple Forest Restaurant would be an easy task for Lin Dong. With any one of the three key weapons—spirit stone heaters, bottles for refining plants, or perfumes—he could reverse Lin’s Inn’s disadvantage. Using two of them could turn the situation around, and using all three would leave Maple Forest Restaurant defenseless. However, Lin Dong felt the time wasn’t right yet. Only by introducing all three within a month or even half a month could he completely break Liang Gufeng’s will to resist. Among them, the spirit stone heater was the best to introduce within a month. Just as the spirit stone fan was best introduced during the scorching summer, the spirit stone heater was best introduced in the bitter cold of winter. It was still late autumn now, and it wasn’t cold enough to be unbearable. Besides, winter is the off-season for restaurants. In the cold weather, few people would want to travel to a restaurant in a drafty carriage just to eat. Like the spirit stone fan, the spirit stone heater also comes in various sizes—small ones suitable for placement in carriages and large ones suitable for spacious areas like lobbies. By then, not only would the spirit stone heater itself be a huge advantage, but the season would also become a significant advantage for Lin’s Inn. Combined with the other two key weapons and small gadgets like bicycles, this would be enough to knock Maple Forest Restaurant down in one fell swoop. Besides this reason, there was another reason why Lin Dong didn’t counterattack immediately. Originally, Lin Dong didn’t intend to let Maple Forest Restaurant continue to thrive unchecked. Without using the three key weapons, he would employ some minor tactics to put pressure on them.

The reason no shortcuts were used was that Lin Ji Inn was currently in its upgrade phase. Although Lin Dong sent Yu Mudan with two guards to secretly follow the anti-bandit team to ensure the mission’s success, the journey from Lingnan City to Guan You Mountain, at the speed of a large troop, would take one or two months—even without accounting for the return trip. This meant that even after the inn’s upgrade was completed and more experience points could be earned, they would still have to wait another month or two.

Thus, during this time, even if the inn was packed from morning to night, no experience points could be gained. While introducing shortcuts might not be as powerful as the three ultimate tactics, it would still help boost the inn’s business to some extent. Using them now just to overshadow Fenglin Restaurant wasn’t worth it.

After all, no matter how successful Fenglin Restaurant was, it couldn’t turn all the wealthy clients who came there into loyal regulars within just two or three months.

“Huh…”

In the sky above Qiulin Mansion, Lin Dong was searching for Lin Ji Inn’s location when his attention was drawn to a figure below.

Below was a horse market, bustling with people. There were many horses of black, white, and brown colors, with people selecting, bargaining, and arguing. In the horse market, the horses were the real stars, and everyone was busy taking care of them.

In front of a tall, snow-white horse as white as the clouds in the sky, a handsome young man was checking its limbs and teeth. Beside him stood the horse’s owner, a middle-aged man in a black leather coat, constantly praising the horse’s merits.

That young man was someone Lin Dong recognized—Feng Zhengyang.

“I didn’t expect him to be here.”

After a brief distraction, a wide smile appeared on Lin Dong’s face.

Qiulin City was located south of Lingnan City, nestled between Lingnan City and Wenyan Mountain. Feng Zhengyang’s presence here undoubtedly meant he had received a secret signal from Qin Mengtai to arrive in Lingnan City first and attempt to assassinate him.

Lin Dong didn’t even bother to look at Feng Zhengyang. But his early action clearly meant that Yun Lan had left Wuyou Cave, yet had been delayed by Qin Mengtai, who was up to no good, forcing her to ride slowly along.

Considering the distance, with a fast horse, it would take just over half a month to arrive—half a month earlier than expected.

As for Feng Zhengyang… by using spiritual energy to travel and then resting while riding a fast horse once the energy ran out, he could arrive in two days.

Lin Dong patted the back of the hundred-winged bird and said leisurely, “Fly higher!”

As a seventh-tier spiritual bird, the Hundred-Winged Bird had already attained spiritual awareness. It immediately flapped its massive wings, rising higher and higher. Only after spiritual energy flowed into its eyes and it could see Feng Zhengyang below did Lin Dong gently tap it again and say, “Stop moving.” The bird’s rapid flapping slowed down abruptly, and it began to flap gently to maintain balance and buoyancy. Lin Dong stretched out his right hand, indicating the direction of the vaguely visible Feng Zhengyang below. Then, spiritual energy surged from his dantian, rushing out of his body and heading downward. Beside the white horse, after checking the hooves, Feng Zhengyang was about to stand up when suddenly a tremendous force descended from above, breaking through the air barrier and hitting his head. *Thud!* Nearby, the middle-aged man who was praising the white horse’s merits was mid-sentence when he saw Feng Zhengyang’s head suddenly sink downward, leaving him stunned. Was this a nod indicating he intended to buy the horse? But it seemed strange. The man looked quite handsome, yet his noding motion was extremely awkward and bizarre. The middle-aged man wanted to confirm whether Feng Zhengyang truly intended to buy the horse. Feng Zhengyang suddenly raised his head, scanning the area angrily, then fixed his gaze on the man, a flash of murderous intent crossing his eyes. “It’s you?” “Who am I?” The middle-aged man was startled by Feng Zhengyang’s gaze. Feng Zhengyang frowned slightly, reached out, grabbed the man’s wrist, and sent spiritual energy into it, entering the man’s meridians. Soon, he released the man’s wrist, his frown deepening. No spiritual energy—so he wasn’t a warrior. “M-My lord…” The middle-aged man, fearing Feng Zhengyang might strike again, quietly stepped back. Feng Zhengyang suddenly raised his head. In the vast sky, aside from the white clouds, there were only a few small black dots moving about. “It must be an illusion!” Feng Zhengyang quickly concluded what had happened: He would be able to kill that toad that dared to covet Yunlan in a few days. He had gotten too excited. “I want this horse!” With a flip of his hand, Feng Zhengyang threw a shiny silver ingot at the middle-aged man. Without waiting for a response, he performed a graceful flip and mounted the horse. “Go!” With a loud shout, Feng Zhengyang squeezed his legs around the horse’s belly, causing a wave of screams and chaos in the bustling horse market. In the sky, after testing his skills, Lin Dong smiled calmly and gently patted the Hundred-Winged Bird’s back.

The bird with a hundred wings spread its wings once again; the man and the bird together looked far more carefree and at ease than the man and the horse…
Two days later, Lin Dong returned to Lin Ji Inn in Lingnan City. After asking Ma Chun about the inn’s situation over the past few days, he didn’t rush back to the newly opened branch to set off again but instead went to his room to practice.
By the way, he cleaned his neck, waiting for Feng Zhengyang to come and kill him.