Chapter 485: The Enemy’s Scope Narrows

This five-story, unfinished wooden building covered almost the same area as Lin’s Inn, with its overall structure being over 90% similar. The doorways were of the same size, the back door was in the same location, and each floor had the same dimensions…
Apart from the fact that its materials were not high-quality hardwood like those used in Lin’s Inn but rather wood of a similar color, this building was almost identical to Lin’s Inn.
With such a building standing nearby, coupled with the haste of its construction and the attitude of those warriors, if Lin Dong still couldn’t figure out that it was aimed at Lin’s Inn, then he would be extremely slow-witted.
Yet, the question arose again: if this building was targeting Lin’s Inn, then who could the enemy be?
Among the known enemies, Qin Mengtai, the Grand Elder of the Tianjian Sect, and his top disciple Feng Zhengyang could be ruled out—they wouldn’t target Lin’s Inn’s business. Next were Fu Tongshan and Fu Zizhou, as well as Fenglin Restaurant.
Fenglin Restaurant, with Ling Chenyue and Zi Han hiding earth-shattering secrets and the fake 90 million taels of silver from Tianfeng Street already exposed, couldn’t possibly provoke Lin’s Inn while those secrets hadn’t been made public.
As for Fu Tongshan and Fu Zizhou, with Emperor Qianwei in power and the throne struggle intensifying, they wouldn’t even bother trying to gain Lin’s Inn’s support, let alone attack it.
In the end, it all led back to the original question: the enemy was unknown.
Lin Dong tapped his head and frowned. Building such a structure clearly aimed at disrupting Lin’s Inn’s business. Given the high degree of similarity, the tactic was undoubtedly to create a sign identical to Lin’s Inn’s to confuse people and slander it, thereby suppressing its business. Perhaps there were even ulterior motives—after all, no one would go to such lengths to harm Lin’s Inn without reason; no one’s money comes easily.
Lin Dong’s thinking finally broadened a bit. Those trying to suppress Lin’s Inn, or even having ulterior motives, might be some wealthy merchant or noble in the capital who preferred unconventional methods to reap huge profits. But since the relationship between Lin’s Inn and Fu Tongshan had become known, few would have the audacity—so this possibility was low.
In Lin Dong’s view, the most likely candidate was a competitor. In other words, the enemy behind this was probably one of the dozen top restaurants in the capital.

As for who exactly it is, it’s hard to say. The top restaurants are all located near the inner city, with little geographical difference between them—they’re all in competition, just like Lin Ji Inn. It could be any of them. Knowing full well that Lin Ji Inn has the current grand tutor as its backing, this top restaurant must be absolutely confident it can hide its identity, or else it has an even more powerful patron than Grand Tutor Fu Tongshan. The latter possibility is slim; even if the restaurant belongs to some prince, it’s unlikely they’d risk provoking Fu Tongshan for money. Undoubtedly, this top restaurant is more likely to have the confidence to hide its identity, which means it will be difficult to identify the mastermind for now. Since the mastermind can’t be found in the short term, we have to deal with this issue first. There’s an inn identical to Lin Ji Inn right next door—eliminating such a problem… Lin Dong was at a loss. Apart from using force or official power, he had no idea what to do. And both force and official power could be misused; if manipulated properly, they could easily become tools to slander Lin Ji Inn. After all, if someone opens an identical inn nearby and competes fairly, but you try to suppress them through official channels, you could bribe some officials and find a few customers to cause a fuss at Lin Ji Inn, claiming there were flies in their food. Then, when those customers leave, have those officials show up and beat them up in front of as many people as possible. Combined with other tactics to pressure Lin Ji Inn, there would be ample evidence, along with false rumors, enough to make the customers there fear being exploited by the inn. The same goes for using force. In a county or prefecture town, Lin Dong wouldn’t worry about this, but this is the capital—every owner of a top restaurant is shrewd and cunning, so such tactics aren’t hard to devise. After much thought, Lin Dong had no choice but to return to the back courtyard and then go to the main hall to find Ma Chun. Besides instructing him to gather a group of guards to prepare for establishing the sect and taking over the bronzeware shop on Tianfeng Street, he also needed to send someone to investigate the practices of the various restaurants to see if any favored unconventional tactics or had connections with martial artists. Back in the back courtyard, Lin Dong stopped outside the corridor and waved his hand; two stones the size of glass beads flew out, hitting the doors of the two rooms on the far left. Bang!

After hitting the door and making a soft sound, the stone did not fall to the ground but recoiled slightly before hitting it again. Then, a third time, a fourth time… as if two playful children were tirelessly engaged in some fun game.
“Come in, the door isn’t locked.”
Almost simultaneously, two voices came from inside the two doors.
As if receiving some command, the stone stopped and fell straight to the ground.
Lin Dong smiled bitterly. He had wanted to slack off, but the two inside were even lazier—they could sense what was going on outside and knew he was calling for them both, yet neither showed any intention of coming out.
With no choice, since both of them were important figures, Lin Dong couldn’t afford to provoke them. He went to the first room on the far left, pushed open the door, and was immediately greeted by a strong aroma of wine.
In the dim room, Old Ding was lying lazily on the bed, with his legs crossed, sipping wine in great pleasure. Around the bed, in every corner, there were wine jars—some opened, some not. Anyone unaware would surely think they had entered a wine cellar.
Lin Dong had encountered this scene many times and had grown used to it. He straightened to the point: “Elder, we’ve found the shop. You and Senior Feng will probably have to make a trip to Da Kong Mountain.”
“When are we leaving?” Old Ding replied indifferently.
After thinking it over, Lin Dong said, “It’s getting late. Starting the sect must be done in broad daylight. Let’s go early tomorrow morning!”
“Then why tell me so early?” Old Ding waved his right hand, sending an unopened jar of wine flying toward Lin Dong.
Lin Dong caught the jar casually, tore open the mud seal, smiled bitterly, and raised it toward Old Ding before tilting his head back and letting the wine flow down his throat.
Old Ding smacked his lips, tilting his jar even further, almost turning it upside down. Yet the wine inside didn’t spill out due to the steep flow rate; instead, it condensed into a stream that rushed toward his throat. Just before reaching it, the stream tightened and shrank several times over.
For a moment, it looked like a crystal-clear ice spear plunging into Old Ding’s throat, while he kept rolling his throat to swallow the “ice spear” continuously.

The wine jar in Lin Dong’s hands was a different story. The fine wine inside tilted wildly, and he would take gulps as if a dragon were sucking water, with the wine rushing swiftly toward his throat. It was so fast that it entered his throat even before passing over his tongue.

Once one jar was empty, Lin Dong waved his right hand, and another jar appeared in his hands. Just as before, with each gulp and swallow, the wine from the jar kept flowing into his stomach before being expelled through his spiritual energy.

The already fragrant room became even more filled with the strong scent of wine as the two competed in drinking. It wasn’t until the twelfth jar that Lin Dong stopped, burping. This time, he drank a bit faster than Old Ding.

Throwing the jar aside, Lin Dong patted his swollen belly, opened the door, and stepped outside. Then he pushed open the door to the second room. A pungent smell hit him immediately.

Wind Yue’s room was as messy as Old Ding’s, but the source of the chaos wasn’t the wine—it was the Tianfeng peppers. There were piles here and baskets there. Wind Yue sat on a recliner, swaying gently, holding an ancient book in his left hand and a handful of Tianfeng peppers in his right. After looking at them for a moment, he stuffed the peppers into his mouth and chewed slowly, then grabbed another handful from a nearby basket, waiting for the right moment to put them in his mouth.

This was essentially Wind Yue’s comfortable life when he wasn’t needed to refine artifacts in Yunlan.

“Senior Wind, is everything fine for tomorrow morning?” Lin Dong asked.

“As long as the Tianfeng peppers are fine, then I’m fine,” Wind Yue replied, his body swaying gently with the recliner. His casual attitude, along with the ancient book in his hand, gave him an air of ease.

“The Tianfeng peppers will definitely be fine,” Lin Dong said with a smile.

“That’s good then,” Wind Yue nodded.

“In that case, I’ll come to invite you tomorrow morning.”

Lin Dong left the room, thought it over, returned, and took out the map of Da Kong Mountain to double-check if there were any flaws in the chosen location.

Da Kong Mountain was the largest mountain under the jurisdiction of the capital city, about a hundred miles away. It was rich in spiritual energy, with countless spiritual minerals, materials, and beasts. It was undoubtedly one of the best places to establish a sect.

The Yu Tian Sect that Lin Dong wanted to found was also planned to be located on Da Kong Mountain, specifically at the peak covered in mist.

Lin Dong chose the mountaintop as the location after careful consideration, as there were countless advantages. It had a magnificent view, giving one the sense of overlooking all other mountains. The area around it was empty, so there was no need to worry about interference from warriors or people from other sects. With natural barriers serving as defense, adding more ninth-level spiritual arrays would create an impregnable defense.

More importantly, the terrain on the mountaintop was treacherous, with many hidden spots, allowing Lin Dong to establish the Lin’s Inn within the Yu Tian Sect. In that way, he could deploy personnel whenever trouble arose.

In the short term, Lin Dong didn’t plan to station many people in the Yu Tian Sect. The entire sect was merely an empty shell; he would only start recruiting disciples once Lin’s Inn had secured a firm position.