Chapter 472: Tear It Up as Soon as Obtained

Li Xun’s bond of servitude not only had to be torn up, but in Lin Dong’s view, it had to be done the moment it was obtained. Only by tearing it up right away could he seize the only chance. After going through so much trouble and spending 700,000 taels of silver to acquire the bond, he still tore it up without hesitation. Lin Dong believed that if Li Xun still had even a trace of reasoning, he would surely be curious about why he did this and would develop goodwill toward him. Even if that curiosity and goodwill were only slight, after the immense joy of gaining freedom, confusion would undoubtedly follow, and Li Xun would surely not know where to go next. Seeking out the mysterious person who had freed him would undoubtedly be his first choice. Only if Li Xun was willing to come to him could Lin Dong persuade him to join Lin’s Inn and gradually increase his loyalty. If the bond wasn’t torn up right away, the longer it was delayed, the more it indicated that he was weighing interests, reducing curiosity and even goodwill. Everything hinged on Li Xun still having even a trace of reasoning, and this was the only chance for Lin’s Inn to gain an outstanding chef and for the team of top chefs to become perfect. Continuous training might have been ordered by Zhang Wanfu, but Lin Dong was certain that forcing trembling hands to improve control and speed was definitely not his order. Undoubtedly, there was a good chance Li Xun still had some reasoning ability. Of course, this didn’t rule out the possibility that it was purely instinct—instinct from his talent in using hidden weapons that drove him to use this method to train his hand control and speed. Whether it would succeed depended on whether Li Xun trained his hand control and speed out of instinct or self-awareness. Lin Dong thought the chances of success were about 60-70%. Even if Li Xun left without looking back, he still believed there was a 60-70% chance, as it was within his expectations. “Dean Ren, do you mind if I stay at QingSong Villa for a couple of days?” Lin Dong suddenly turned to look at Ren Qingsong. “You want to wait for him?” Ren Qingsong asked in surprise. Lin Dong nodded. “It would be an honor for QingSong Villa if Manager Lin could stay for a few days,” Ren Qingsong agreed immediately. “Then thank you, Dean Ren, for your hospitality,” Lin Dong said. He returned to the round table, picked up a glass on it, and extended it toward Ren Qingsong. Ren Qingsong smiled and raised his glass, and the atmosphere quickly shifted from Li Xun to everyday matters.

A drinking session that lasted from noon until evening. Guided by Yang Laiting, Lin Dong and Yun Lan checked into the guest rooms at QingSong Villa.
As days passed, those three days felt like years to Lin Dong—every minute and second seemed endlessly long. Yet once the three days were up, time seemed to fly by in an instant.
In the evening, accompanied by Ren Qingsong and discussing details about spiritual materials, Lin Dong and Yun Lan made their way outside QingSong Villa.
Lin Dong had lost nearly 90% of his hope that Li Xun would return. Over those three days, if Li Xun still had any sense, he should have figured many things out by now. Since he hadn’t come back, the chances of him doing so later were slim.
Fortunately, this trip from Lin Ji Inn had yielded significant gains: the Fiery Bird, Snowy Red Grass, and the plan agreed upon with Ren Qingsong. Though disappointed in Li Xun, Lin Dong could still accept it.
Of course, even though the chances were low, Lin Dong still asked Ren Qingsong to keep an eye out and bring Li Xun to Lin Ji Inn if he showed up at QingSong Villa.
They parted outside the villa. Lin Dong and Yun Lan sped off together, like two bolts of lightning racing across the open plain. In the blink of an eye, after covering just over a kilometer, they stopped again.
About a hundred meters away, a thin figure, carrying a bundle wrapped in a bedsheet, was slowly moving toward them.
Step by step, he resembled a stranded person starving and thirsty in the desert, or even a lifeless zombie.
Lin Dong’s face instantly lit up with a bright smile. Yun Lan beside him also couldn’t help but smile.
Li Xun!
Judging by the direction, he was heading toward QingSong Villa. More importantly, his speed was barely faster than crawling. At such a pace, it wasn’t hard to explain why it would take over three days to cover thirty or fifty miles, considering the time spent.
“It seems I overestimated his speed. Or maybe he was testing how much I valued him.”
Lin Dong’s mood improved greatly. After all his calculations, he hadn’t anticipated that Li Xun, a martial artist at the eighth level of the Mind State, would travel at a speed slower than crawling. Nor had he expected Li Xun to be able to analyze the situation, consider the pros and cons, and test his sincerity before deciding his next move.
Regardless of which it was, Lin Dong thought it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Li Xun had returned.
Lin Dong glanced at Yun Lan beside him. They exchanged smiles and sped up, arriving at Li Xun’s side in an instant.

Looking up at Lin Dong, Li Xun’s gaze was empty, his face showing neither sorrow nor joy. He lowered the bundle wrapped in bedsheet from his shoulder and slowly untied it.
A burst of colorful light spilled out—gold ingots, silver ingots, pearls, agates, jade artifacts…
“Where did you get these?” Lin Dong asked in astonishment.
“Killed! Got!” Li Xun replied with just two words, his eyes still as empty as a dead pond.
Lin Dong frowned in surprise. “You killed Zhang Wanfu? You brought all his wealth here?”
Li Xun nodded, picked up a stack of silver bills from the gold, silver, and jewels, took out the first seven, put the rest back, and handed the seven bills to Lin Dong.
Lin Dong took them and saw that each bill was worth 100,000 taels—700,000 taels in total. It was undoubtedly the same seven bills he had given to Zhang Wanfu.
“What exactly happened?” Lin Dong was confused. It seemed Li Xun wanted to return the bills to him. Could it be that after returning them, he planned to leave?
“Here, you’re the master!”
Li Xun tied the bundle up again and handed the large package to Lin Dong.
Lin Dong seemed to understand a bit more. After asking a few more questions, he realized it wasn’t that Li Xun didn’t want to explain clearly, but that he simply didn’t know how. Having been a slave in the Zhang family since childhood, Li Xun could understand what others said, but it was hard for him to speak a complex sentence coherently. By piecing together his fragmented words, Lin Dong finally understood: Li Xun had left Qing Song Villa, slowly returned to the Zhang family, then killed Zhang Wanfu and his entire family. After the servants and maids fled, he stayed in the Zhang family’s house for a day. When the officials came to collect the gold, silver, and jewels, he figured out his next move—grabbing them, wrapping them in a bedsheet, and returning to find Lin Dong.
“From now on, without my order, you’re not allowed to kill, not allowed to use a sewing needle to attack someone’s vital points, and not even allowed to let the needle fully penetrate their body.” Lin Dong put his arm around Li Xun’s shoulders and said, “Did you hear that clearly?”
Li Xun nodded and replied indifferently, “I heard it clearly.”
“Let’s go! Back to the inn. I’ll take you there!”
After asking further about how Li Xun learned cultivation, whether he remembered his parents’ faces, or if there was any news about them, Lin Dong grabbed Li Xun’s arm and suddenly leaped into the air.
With Li Xun along, Lin Dong’s speed slowed down significantly, but it was still fast enough that ordinary people wouldn’t notice anyone passing by.
In half a column of incense time, the three of them returned to the backyard.

Yun Lan returned to her room to practice, while Lin Dong took Li Xun to the small vegetable garden to plant three seeds of Snow Red Grass, then led him slowly toward the main hall. Along the way, he introduced Lin Ji Inn to him.
“Li Xun, do you want to join Lin Ji Inn?” Lin Dong suddenly asked when they reached the front yard.
“Yes!” Li Xun’s answer was without hesitation, as Lin Dong had told him that only by joining Lin Ji Inn could he serve him loyally.
Lin Dong quickly opened the inn’s system and found his attributes in the list of chefs. As he expected, all of the chef’s initial attributes were above 90, just like Jiang Kui and Cheng Bao—each possessing the attributes of an elite chef. As for loyalty, Lin Dong was amused. One hundred! Joining Lin Ji Inn meant full loyalty right from the start. Even those carefully trained inn guards, who were already loyal to the inn before joining, none of them had such full loyalty upon arrival. The only concern for Lin Dong was finally resolved with this high loyalty score. All potential problems arising from Li Xun joining Lin Ji Inn were gone; only benefits remained. Whether it was the business of Lin Ji Inn or the strengthening of the elite chef team, the benefits were immeasurable.
With Li Xun, Lin Dong went to the main hall. Inside, staff were moving back and forth, and customers were drinking and eating, creating a bustling and prosperous scene. Although the first floor only served ordinary customers, floors two to five were where Lin Ji Inn’s real profits came from. But just from the first floor, Lin Dong could tell that business upstairs must also be excellent. During the four days he was away, Lin Ji Inn’s business had remained strong. It could be said that the popularity of the VIP cards and the two signature dishes hadn’t declined significantly.
“Jiang Liu, call Manager Ma over. Tell him I’m waiting for him in the yard.” After giving this instruction to a staff member, Lin Dong took Li Xun back to the front yard. Not long after sitting on the stone bench, Ma Chun rushed in from the main hall. Seeing Li Xun’s appearance and clothing, especially those empty eyes that showed no life, he wondered why Lin Dong had brought someone who looked like a beggar but had the demeanor of a dead person. After sitting down across from Lin Dong, Ma Chun looked at Li Xun and asked, “Boss, who is this?”
“A chef, an elite chef just like Jiang Kui and Qiao Tianhao!”

Lin Dong’s reply was filled with great pride. The number of top chefs at Lin’s Inn had officially risen to six!