Chapter 474: Beverages

There was nothing to be done—the situation was irreversible. Lin’s Inn couldn’t cooperate with Wanxian Tower, so there was no way to make Lou Wanxian drop his attempts to pressure them. It now depended on whether Lou Wanxian had the ability to get his backers to intervene for some business gain. If Lou Wanxian only tried to use a few second- or third-rank clients to exert pressure, Lin Dong could easily ask Fu Tongshan to step in instead of drawing the Emperor Qianwei’s wrath and alienating Wanxian Tower’s backers.
“Owner, if there’s nothing else, shall I head back to the main hall?” Ma Chun asked.
“Go ahead!” Lin Dong waved him off.
After Ma Chun left, Lin Dong thought for a while longer. Unable to come up with any way to make Lou Wanxian give up on targeting Lin’s Inn, he had no choice but to give up.
He took Li Xun to the third kitchen and knocked on the door, which was tightly closed for secrecy. Soon, the door creaked open.
An apprentice stood at the door. Seeing Lin Dong, he quickly stepped aside.
A wave of heat hit them as five large spirit stone exhaust fans roared, constantly pushing away the thick smoke rising from the five stoves.
“Owner, why did you bring a beggar here? We don’t have anything to feed beggars,” Qiao Tianhao said first, putting down his spatula without caring that the food in the pot was sizzling with steam. Aside from the apprentices, all the top chefs, including Qiao Tianhao, understood that Lin Dong had brought someone with him.
A new person had joined.
Qiao Tianhao understood this but chose to act foolish without hesitation. Though he was the second top chef to join Lin’s Inn after Jiang Kui, there was no one left in the third kitchen he could bully.
With another newcomer appearing, Qiao Tianhao naturally wouldn’t give up. He decided to provoke the other person first to create an opportunity to fight.
To Qiao Tianhao’s surprise, as well as that of Jiang Kui, Yu Linglong, and the others, Li Xun showed no reaction. When Lin Dong stopped, he stopped too, remaining motionless.
Soon, everyone noticed something unusual in Li Xun’s eyes.
“Owner, why did you bring someone who wants to hang himself here?” Qiao Tianhao shouted loudly. “This isn’t a place to hang oneself!”
Lin Dong ignored Qiao Tianhao and simply explained Li Xun’s background. After instructing Jiang Kui to take care of Li Xun and assign him an apprentice, he took Li Xun to the sixth stove, which wasn’t in use.
“Practice here first to get used to the atmosphere and environment of this kitchen. Later, when Manager Ma comes, follow his instructions,” Lin Dong ordered.
“Understood!” Li Xun replied.

“Understood? What exactly? Tell me.” Li Xun’s status as a servant was not something that inspired pity in Qiao Tianhao; instead, it made him an easier target to bully. He immediately stepped forward cheerfully, provoking Li Xun even more aggressively.

Lin Dong smiled and waved to stop Hua Wuyue, who couldn’t stand by, then stepped forward, patted Qiao Tianhao on the shoulder, and walked out of the room.

In terms of temperament, Li Xun was indifferent, while Qiao Tianhao, furious to the point of spitting blood, was surely acting on his own. In terms of strength, aside from Cheng Bao’s Immortal Art, which could counter him, no one in the kitchen could match Li Xun. Although Qiao Tianhao had taken Feng Yue as his master, the power of the Tianfeng Pepper he had used earlier wasn’t strong enough. Since he couldn’t even defeat Hua Wuyue, there was no way he could gain an advantage over Li Xun.

With the arrival of this new recruit, Li Xun was destined to become, just like Cheng Bao who possessed the Immortal Art, another newcomer who could ignore Qiao Tianhao right from the start.

Back in his room, Lin Dong dismissed all distractions and focused entirely on nurturing his still-unformed dantian. The spiritual energy flowing through his meridians was like a surging ocean, vast and powerful.

In just over half a month, as dawn broke, waves of heat followed one after another. After more than half a month of hard cultivation, Lin Dong pushed open the door, and the cool breeze mixed with the hot air hit him instantly.

In the backyard, eagle beasts and birds flapped their wings to dissipate the heat from their bodies. Outside the inn, the guards who had been assigned were already ready. Fresh carriages stood on the streets, with horses raising their heads and neighing, as if defying the scorching sun rising in the sky.

On the carriages, spirit stone fans of various models emitted strange glows. Their peculiar fan blades, unusual covers, and strange shapes sparked curiosity even faster than the summer sun peeking higher in the sky.

The capital was not Xishan County, nor Qiufeng Mansion, nor Lingnan Commandery. No one here had ever seen spirit stone fans, let alone been accustomed to Lin’s Inn’s overwhelming promotion. Soon, the area around the more than twenty grandiose carriages was packed tightly with onlookers.

Compared to the carriages with spirit stone fans, those loaded with large wine jars were much more low-key. Although there were also over twenty of those, there weren’t many onlookers. Whether it was the wine jars or the small openings at the bottom, it was clear they contained fine wine.

Without any suspense, naturally, no one bothered to gather around. If they wanted to taste Lin’s Inn’s fine wine, with over twenty such large jars, they wouldn’t have to worry about not getting enough after watching the excitement on the other side.

“This thing must be some kind of weapon.”

“How could Lin’s Inn sell weapons? In my opinion, it must be something for kids. Just reach in and fiddle around—kids will definitely like it.”
“Joking. With those thick wires, not even a finger can get in, let alone a hand. I think it’s meant for raising some small animals.”
Speculations sprang up like mushrooms after rain. In the capital, not everyone was unaware of the Spirit Stone Fans; a few had made their way to Lingnan Prefecture. But none of those present had ever seen one.
Amid the crowd, Lin Dong listened quietly to the discussions around him. The noisy environment didn’t annoy him at all; instead, he found it fascinating. The louder it got, the more curious people there were, and when the final result surprised everyone, the greater the impact of the Spirit Stone Fans when they were unveiled.
“Make way! Everyone, make way!” Wang Liuzhi, the head of the guard team, jumped onto the lead carriage, and the elders from Lin’s Inn, such as the thin man with the bamboo pole, also took their positions.
The crowd gradually cleared a path, and the forty carriages split into four groups, spreading out to both sides.
After another half an hour, when all four groups had reached their designated positions, Wang Liuzhi, who was staying at the entrance of Lin’s Inn, waved his hand.
“Set off!”
The guards waved their whips, and as the horses neighed, the carriages slowly moved forward. On the carriage carrying the Spirit Stone Fans, the guards activated them, and the fan blades began to spin slowly. Amidst the gasps of amazement from the onlookers, the blades spun faster and faster. In the blink of an eye, their rotation became too fast to see. Inside the fan cover, strong winds of varying intensity rushed out. Suddenly, the entire street fell into an eerie silence. Everyone stared fixedly at the fan blades, mouths slightly open, unable to utter a word—even their breathing slowed down.
“Why haven’t they stopped yet?”
Finally, a cry broke the silence on the street. With a loud noise, everyone erupted into chaos, asking questions and shouting.
On the Spirit Stone Fan facing upward, two guards lifted a large iron plate into the air. Instantly, fierce winds roared beneath the plate. The two guards held onto the edges of the plate, stepping forward and backward from time to time to keep it balanced above the hurricane-like winds.
This astonishing sight ignited excitement throughout the street once again. To lift such a heavy plate, let alone keep two people hanging on it—what kind of wind power was required to do that?

The city walls were over ten zhang high, blocking out any strong winds. The people here had never seen such terrifying winds before; they didn’t even dare get too close to the carriage carrying the large spirit stone fan. They feared that if something went wrong and the wind from the fan turned toward them, it might blow them into the sky.

Yet that wasn’t enough. After the two guards became fully proficient, bags of cobblestones were poured onto the ground and then covered with iron plates.

Ten centimeters, twenty centimeters, thirty centimeters… The pile grew to over a meter high before stopping, as it began to interfere with the guards’ arms. The iron plates sank only about half a meter, still leaving more than two meters between them and the large spirit stone fan.

The screams never ceased. Some bolder onlookers also started to approach the spirit stone fans with weaker winds.

Compared to the spirit stone fans, the carriage with the large wine jars remained quiet and deserted. Aside from a few drunkards, the area was completely empty.

At the anticipation of those drunkards, the guards finally pulled out the wooden plugs at the bottom of the five carriages, allowing the clear liquid inside to flow continuously into small paper cups made of oilpaper. Once one cup was filled, another was immediately used.

“Free tasting, everyone…”

Before the guards could finish calling out, one of the drunkards eagerly grabbed the cup placed on the edge of the carriage and sniffed it hard. He was disappointed—there was no scent of alcohol, just a slight coolness.

“Brother, what kind of drink is this? Why is there no smell of alcohol?” the drunkard asked the guard.

“It’s not alcohol. It’s… it’s a beverage!” The guard hesitated for a moment before finally recalling those two tricky words from the game.

“A beverage?” The drunkard was confused. He glanced at the clear liquid in the cup, swallowed hard, and drank it all in one gulp.

“It really isn’t alcohol?”

The drunkard looked disappointed, licking his lips—still no trace of alcohol.

“How does it taste?” the guard asked with a smile.

“A little sweet… a little fragrant… a little cool…” the drunkard replied hesitantly.

The guard smiled, picked up the two freshly filled cups, glanced around, and announced, “Drinks are available! Who wants a beverage? Free of charge—while supplies last.”

The other drunkards watching nearby immediately snatched the cups. Since it was free, even if it wasn’t alcohol, it couldn’t hurt to drink it. Like the first drunkard, they were disappointed.

But then, some people who heard the word “beverage” and grew curious came over.