Chapter 498: Part-Time Thugs

Jiang Kui, Qiao Tianhao, Cheng Bao, Yu Linglong, Hua Wuyue, and Li Xun—these six were undoubtedly chefs at Lin’s Inn. Occasionally taking on roles as guards or thugs was also a task they handled with ease.

After giving Li Xun a few instructions, Lin Dong waved his hand, and the three of them leaped into the air, arriving directly at the backyard of another Lin’s Inn just one alley away.

In the backyard, the bandits were still enthusiastically cutting the spiritual beasts into pieces with their knives, rolling them on the ground, and tossing the dusty meat chunks into the kitchen.

The sudden appearance of Lin Dong and his two companions didn’t surprise the bandits at all; instead, it made them even more excited. Two of them even lifted their bloody knives and licked them, an act that made Lin Dong want to vomit his breakfast.

“Old man, back after leaving—bringing two accomplices too. What loyalty!”

The bandits joked among themselves, while Lin Dong projected his mind to quickly cover the entire inn.

Eighteen!

“Will a few be enough?” Lin Dong asked a question the bandits couldn’t understand.

“Five or six. The leader must be kept,” Cheng Bao replied. A few smarter bandits sensed something unusual in his words. Of course, even if they did, no one cared. What the bandits prided themselves on most was their fearlessness.

Though not all were equally fearless—some couldn’t withstand torture—anyone picked at random, even the lowest-ranking ones, was undoubtedly one of the fiercest fighters.

“Such a bold kid. Come here, grandpa will reward you with a slash!” One bandit grinned, waving his blood-stained sword.

Cheng Bao remained silent. Suddenly, his golden sword appeared in his hand. In an instant, he leaped up and slashed at the bandit who had provoked him.

A burst of golden light erupted as the sword rushed forward, appearing between the bandit’s legs. With a loud crash, a trench over twenty meters long, two meters wide, and over a meter deep formed, stretching all the way to the kitchen.

Slowly pulling his sword back from between the bandit’s legs, he shook his wrist, and the bloodless sword was placed on his shoulder.

Pfft…

In the next moment, a terrifying gush of blood sprayed from the center of the bandit’s head. His body split in two, as if explosives had been placed inside, and he collapsed to the ground under the force of the blood, mixing with the meat of the spiritual beasts. He trembled a few times before remaining motionless.

Raising his right foot, Cheng Bao stepped on the bandit’s half-body several times before sneering at the other bandits.

The bandits all drew their knives, their casual expressions turning serious. They took recklessness as a source of pride because every time they attacked their targets, their ferocious demeanor would scare them to death, boosting their sense of accomplishment. Even when facing guards stronger than themselves, this ferocity allowed them to overcome odds.

Cheng Bao was crushing their pride.

“Leave this to us. Go to the main hall, drive away all the guests, and then… figure it out yourself. Remember to close the main door before acting—don’t let anyone see.”

The bandits only felt that Cheng Bao was trampling on their pride, but Lin Dong could hardly stand his behavior and quickly ordered him to go to the main hall. While splitting a person in two with a single knife was disgusting, Lin Dong, used to bloodshed, wasn’t easily nauseated. But stepping on someone’s internal organs? That was hard not to make his stomach churn.

Cheng Bao suddenly moved, appearing in front of one of the bandits, grabbing his neck, and dragging him toward the main hall. As he left, he warned, “It’s best to cut off their tongues first, so they can’t bite their own.”

Lin Dong was speechless. The ugliness of those words was equally disturbing to those with vivid imaginations. Yet, the warning wasn’t entirely unfounded—Lin Dong had encountered someone who had tried to bite their own tongue during his last visit.

With a creak, a door in the courtyard was pushed open. A burly man at the fifth level of the Mental Energy stage heard the commotion outside and stepped out with a dark expression.

Glancing around the courtyard, his gaze locked onto Lin Dong like a venomous snake.

“What, not afraid of our revenge?”

Lin Dong’s gaze sharpened. The mastermind behind this must have taken the concerns of Lin’s Inn into account as well.

A large sword appeared in his hand as the man stepped toward Lin Dong, his face showing no sign of underestimating his opponent—instead, it was filled with bloodthirst and ferocity.

Lin Dong raised his right hand, and the man rushed at it like a cannonball.

It wasn’t until his body became uncontrollable despite pouring spiritual energy into it, making him feel like a helpless chick, that fear flashed in the man’s eyes. He realized then that Lin Dong’s strength was far beyond just being three or four levels above him.

This time, the stronghold had probably provoked someone extremely dangerous.

To his surprise, when his neck reached Lin Dong’s hand, Lin Dong didn’t squeeze it.

“Li Xun, destroy the meridians of five of them. Kill the rest!”

Lin Dong gave an order. Spiritual energy flowed through his palm into the giant’s throat, but instead of disabling his tongue as Cheng Bao had warned, it went straight down, effortlessly breaking through the giant’s spiritual resistance to enter his meridians. In the next moment, it destroyed his meridians with overwhelming force.

With a thud, Lin Dong threw the giant to the ground. The giant convulsed violently—having his meridians destroyed, the pain was beyond what an ordinary person could endure. Even the bandits, though not fainting from the pain, certainly wouldn’t have the strength to bite off their own tongues.

On the other side, over a dozen bandits collapsed almost simultaneously. The difference was that some had a blood hole piercing their foreheads, leading to their brains, while others had a tiny white needle inserted into their dantian.

Li Xun stepped forward slowly but first collected the white needles one by one. These needles were crafted by Feng Yue with help from eighth-tier spiritual minerals, each equipped with a spiritual array arranged by Yun Lan. Due to their small size, the arrays were greatly reduced in scale and incomplete, resulting in needles of only sixth-tier quality. Yet among hidden weapons, they were considered top-notch. In Li Xun’s hands, their power was terrifying.

With his current strength at the first stage of Heart Reversal, and having enough of these needles, he had a 50% chance of defeating even someone at the fifth stage of Heart Reversal. Against someone at the fourth stage, his chances were over 90%.

Challenging someone at a higher stage during Heart Reversal was already astonishing—skipping three or four stages with the outcome decided in mere moments. Li Xun was truly monstrous.

After collecting the needles, Li Xun picked up the five bandits who were still breathing, dragging them slowly to Lin Dong’s feet with his weak steps.

By the time the fifth one was brought over, Cheng Bao’s figure had already appeared at the entrance of the courtyard.

“Did no customers notice?” Lin Dong asked.

Cheng Bao shook his head.

“When is the best time to leave?” Lin Dong asked.

“We can leave now,” Cheng Bao replied, glancing at the piles of corpses, seemingly still unsatisfied. It had been over two years since he arrived at Lin Ji Inn, and this was his first time killing someone. It was a rare opportunity to kill, but with only a few birds, it wasn’t enough for him.

Lin Dong remained silent, quietly planning. After sorting out everything and listing all the tasks that needed to be handled, checking for any mistakes, he finally spoke, “Go inform Jiang Kui to arrange for apprentices to take their place. Everyone should set off together. I’ll go talk to Ma Chun.”

“Okay!” Cheng Bao replied, with a hint of excitement in his voice for once.
Killing those bandits reminded him easily of the feeling of being invincible throughout the land at Qiufeng Mansion, enjoying absolute freedom.
No one paid attention to the dead and disabled on the ground; the three figures flew off together.
Lin Dong headed straight to the main hall, found Ma Chun, explained the situation to him, and ordered, “Find some guards to clean up the place next door, then reopen it.”
“Reopen it?” Ma Chun was confused.
“If we don’t reopen, won’t the mastermind realize something’s off? Could they use it as an excuse to spread rumors that Lin’s Inn is using its wealth to bribe thugs to destroy our competitors? Or even hurt or kill one or two people?” Lin Dong asked back with a smile.
Ma Chun grinned, “If they notice the staff has changed, won’t they still sense something’s wrong?”
“The mastermind isn’t that stupid. The people next door are all bandits; probably even their closest allies don’t know they have connections with them. Besides, they can’t come and check in person. At most, they’ll send one or two guys to spy on Lin’s Inn under the pretense of monitoring business. Those guys will only take a distant look—they won’t be able to recognize the staff of Lin’s Inn next door.” Lin Dong shook his head.
“Then won’t the business of that inn still be affected? Even if those bandits are wiped out…” Ma Chun originally thought that even if the bandits were eliminated, Lin’s Inn next door would still have to keep operating until the mastermind was caught. But then he realized that by then, Lin’s Inn next door could simply remove any sand, dirt, flies, or centipedes from their food and drinks. Even if the mastermind noticed something was off and sent bandits, those bandits would already be gone. With no evidence of slander, Lin’s Inn could continue operating as usual, with no leverage at all.
“Understood?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
Ma Chun nodded and grunted, “That’s too easy for the mastermind. Although they won’t have to worry about being caught with evidence, the inn’s business will still likely be greatly affected.”
“No problem. We can make up for it by offering compensation later. The losses… we can get back ten times or a hundred times more from the mastermind.” Lin Dong looked relaxed. As long as there was no opportunity to exploit their reputation, a slight impact on business was the smallest loss in his eyes.
“Owner, if those bandits are wiped out, won’t the mastermind lose all contact?” Ma Chun suddenly frowned.
“No worries. I’ve already thought of a solution.”
A glint appeared in Lin Dong’s eyes—he had decided to go all out.

Today it might be this large restaurant, and tomorrow it could be another. To be honest, he was scared—he really feared that another large restaurant with ties to bandits or some family or sect might emerge. So he decided to go all out and force all the large restaurants to unite. In that way, although Lin’s Inn would face greater pressure, if any of them resorted to underhanded tactics, they would be taking on huge risks, while the benefits would be shared by the other large restaurants. If he proposed this openly, it would give the other restaurants another opportunity to hold him accountable. Either way, it would be a huge loss for him.

In other words, once the large restaurants united, they could prevent any single one from using underhanded methods.

For this reason, Lin Dong was willing to take the risk. After all, he had already tried to take on all the large restaurants in Autumn Wind Mansion once before; doing it again meant he would at least have experience.