Chapter 505: Great Success

“Brother Zhong, I wonder how many Water Spirit Beasts your store has?”
As he spoke, Lin Dong took out a small wooden box from the mobile cabinet.
Water Spirit Beasts were one of the secrets of the sect behind King Zhong Wanghong. The exact number was supposed to remain confidential. King Zhong Wanghong initially intended to give a perfunctory answer, but after seeing the wooden box Lin Dong brought out, he swallowed his words back.
Although he didn’t qualify as an elder, he was quite insightful. The material of this box was of an eighth-tier spiritual material, designed to prevent the medicinal properties of the stored items from dissipating.
Just the box was extraordinary; what was inside must be even more so. Moreover, someone wouldn’t ask such an intrusive question unless they had some backing.
After some thought, King Zhong Wanghong gave a fairly wide range: “I haven’t checked in many years. There are probably two to over twenty!”
Lin Dong understood and grew even more confident.
Without saying a word, Lin Dong opened the box. Inside were two fruits the size of a baby’s fist, looking ordinary, but one was green and the other blue.
“Green-Blue Fruits?”
King Zhong Wanghong stood up abruptly, his eyes filled with shock. If not for his strong composure, he might have rubbed his eyes to confirm he wasn’t seeing things.
“I didn’t expect Brother Zhong to also know about Green-Blue Fruits,” Lin Dong was surprised. When he first showed them to Old Ding, the old man had said they were extremely rare, often not even mentioned in the ancient texts of alchemy sects.
“I was fortunate enough to see them mentioned once in an ancient text,” King Zhong Wanghong stared intently at the Green-Blue Fruits, still struggling to believe what he saw. These were spiritual fruits comparable to ninth-tier cultivation aids, usually kept as treasures by major alchemy sects. It was astonishing they were shown so casually.
“Brother Zhong, can you tell if they’re genuine?” Lin Dong asked.
King Zhong Wanghong hesitated. Lin Dong’s straightforward attitude made him suspect there might be some scheme at play.
These were spiritual fruits equivalent to ninth-tier cultivation aids. Just two of them could elevate a warrior at the fifth level of the Heart Reversal stage by one realm. Allowing anyone to touch them risked them being hidden in a storage ring and later denied.
Given the unusual circumstances, King Zhong Wanghong had to be cautious. Though no such cases of fraud using fake items in Tianfeng Street had occurred yet, it was possible he might be the first to encounter one.

“Brother Zhong, rest assured—the Qinglan Fruit is real.” Lin Dong’s spiritual energy surged, and Zhong Wanghong instantly flew up, only to have his wrist grabbed by Lin Dong. Then, a powerful surge of energy easily broke through Zhong Wanghong’s energy barrier and rushed into his meridians.

Zhong Wanghong was horrified to find that no matter how he tried to resist, that spiritual energy was like a torrential flood, leaving his own spiritual energy powerless and forcing him to retreat all the way to his dantian before it stopped. In the blink of an eye, all his meridians were occupied by this surging spiritual energy. Even a slight change in direction of that energy would cause his meridians to shatter piece by piece.

Lin Dong smiled, releasing his hand, and the spiritual energy quickly retreated. “Brother Zhong, are you relieved now?”

Still shaken, Zhong Wanghong stepped back several times, took several deep breaths, and checked his meridians again. Finding no damage, he finally came to his senses and quickly bowed, saying, “Brother Zhang, I am truly sorry. I was blind and failed to recognize your strength. Please forgive me.”

Lin Dong shook his head with a smile.

Now free from doubts, Zhong Wanghong cautiously stepped forward. Earlier in the shop, although he couldn’t gauge Lin Dong’s strength, he hadn’t taken it too seriously—after all, anyone who could achieve such effects must already be among the strong.

With Wanbaozhai newly opened and seven-tier auxiliary cultivation materials up for auction, it made sense for a lowest-ranked elder to be sent. To break through the energy barrier of a warrior at the eighth level of the Mind-Reversal stage and instantly take control of another person’s meridians with spiritual energy was definitely beyond what a warrior at the first or second level of the Mind-Reversal stage could do. After all, meridians are places that can hold terrifying amounts of energy. Even if all of a warrior’s spiritual energy flowed into their meridians, it could only fill a small portion. To fill them completely, millions of times more spiritual energy would be needed.

Zhong Wanghong was confident that this Brother Zhang was at least at the seventh level of the Mind-Reversal stage. A warrior at that level would be among the top elders in a major sect. It made sense for him to be sent to handle internal exchanges without fear of theft—because no one could steal anything from him.

Raising his right hand, he let spiritual energy flow from his dantian and into the blue fruit. After a brief sense-check, Zhong Wanghong raised his left hand and pressed it on the blue fruit. Spiritual energy surged out, and his thoughts began to whirl. He could now be certain—it was indeed a real Qinglan Fruit.

“Brother Zhang, I wonder how many Water Spirit Beasts’ inner cores your store is looking for?” In front of an elder from a high-ranking sect, Zhong Wanghong was no longer as casual as before; he became somewhat restrained and even dared not sit down. If it were an elder from his own sect, he might not even be able to speak fluently.

“To be honest with you, Brother Zhong, our Wanbaozhai is actually trying to diversify into other areas—craftsmanship, taming spirit beasts, spirit arrays… Honestly, we know a bit about all of these. Just look at the items in our store—unfortunately, none of them have been fully developed, and they’re rather half-baked,” Lin Dong said with a smile.

“Do you mean you want spirit beasts?” Zhong Wanghong asked.

Lin Dong nodded.

“Well…”

Zhong Wanghong hesitated. If it were a one-for-one exchange, he wouldn’t hesitate at all. Unless it was a fully tamed Water Spirit Beast, its value could never exceed that of a pair of Blue-Green Fruits. Even if it were a one-for-one exchange, although he wasn’t an elder himself, with some taming materials added, he could still make the decision.

But since the other party wanted to try taming them themselves, they would undoubtedly need at least two pairs, one male and one female each.

Not to mention the unequal value—even if the values were equal, he wouldn’t have the authority to decide. His sect did have over twenty Water Spirit Beasts, accumulated over thousands of years through hunting or breeding. Losing four at once meant that not only he, but even a lower-ranking elder wouldn’t have the authority to make such a decision.

Lin Dong remained silent. He took out another wooden box from the mobile cabinet and opened it. Zhong Wanghong gasped—inside were two pairs of Blue-Green Fruits.

“This is already the limit of Wanbaozhai. Brother Zhong, please go back and consider it,” Lin Dong said calmly. “My condition is two pairs of Water Spirit Beasts, male and female—this way, no one loses out.”

Zhong Wanghong nodded slowly and bowed. “Brother Zhang, I’ll go back and think it over right away. How long do you plan to stay at Wanbaozhai?”

“Is three months enough?” Lin Dong asked.

“Yes, that’s enough. I’ll be leaving now. Goodbye, Brother Zhang.” Zhong Wanghong nodded firmly. Traveling day and night, he could return to his sect in a month. If the sect leader and the elders agreed to such a significant internal transaction, even if it wasn’t the sect leader himself who came, the senior elder and a few others would surely escort the Water Spirit Beasts personally. Using a carriage during the day and teleporting it at night with spiritual energy, two months would be sufficient.

“Take care, Brother Zhong. I won’t see you off further.” Lin Dong stood up.

Zhong Wanghong tapped his toes and soared straight toward the Rare Beasts Shop.

After watching Zhong Wanghong leave, Lin Dong let out a sigh of relief, his face overflowing with uncontrollable excitement.

This first deal was surprisingly large, naturally because the sect behind King Zhong Hong possessed Water Spirit Beasts, eighth-tier spiritual beasts, in considerable numbers. Of course, even if they were only willing to offer one in exchange, Lin Dong would agree without hesitation. Lin’s Inn’s breeding pen could not only simulate the most suitable environment for any spiritual beast but also accelerate its growth. Having a guard enter the pen and activating a 180-fold growth boost for the Water Spirit Beast meant that a day spent by the guard beside it was equivalent to a year or two.

180 days equaled 180 years. Even the fiercest spiritual beast might develop some affection for a rock, let alone for a human. If it was male, it could be sent out to lure a female back; if female, it could be sent out to find a male Water Spirit Beast and return with a pregnant belly. There would be no shortage of Water Spirit Beasts to raise, though it would take much longer.

What excited Lin Dong even more was that not only was this the first big deal for Lin’s Inn, but it was also on the verge of success. He believed the sect behind King Zhong Hong would not refuse this transaction. Three pairs of Blue-Green Fruits could already help a warrior at the eighth level of the Heart Reversal Phase advance to the ninth level. Any major sect, without compromising its foundation, could not resist the temptation of having an additional warrior at the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase.

If the deal succeeded, combined with the half-year or so it would take for the two pairs of Water Spirit Beasts to reproduce in the breeding pen, Lin Dong believed he could use their inner cores for cultivation.

Eagerly returning to the shop, he found the counter still crowded with people coming in and out. There were fewer herbal merchants, while more warriors wanted to know the bidding time for Lingyun Tree branches as soon as possible. Ma Chun, who had also changed his appearance, stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “Uncle, how did the talks go?”
“Very successfully!” Lin Dong replied leisurely.
Ma Chun licked his lips. Those four words allowed him to guess that Lin’s Inn would soon have another high-tier spiritual material or beast that could be cultivated or raised and would be extremely useful for cultivation.

Lin Dong went to the grand chair and sat down steadily, closing his eyes slightly, as if resting or deep in thought. It wasn’t until noon that, at Lin Dong’s signal, a clerk posted a notice outside. Three days later at noon, bidding for Lingyun Tree branches would officially begin.
As soon as the notice was posted, the crowd thinned significantly.

In the evening, Wanbaozhai closed the door and checked the account books. On its first day of operation, despite the large store and heavy foot traffic, it only made two transactions, for a total of just over two thousand taels of silver. A daily turnover of over two thousand taels of silver would be considered enormous in any provincial capital for this industry. But for a major sect, it was practically negligible. Undoubtedly, Wanbaozhai’s first day was not very successful due to its large size and limited variety of products. Of course, this referred to business within the store. As for internal transactions, there were more than two throughout the day. Although some of the items involved—such as spiritual materials, elixirs, inner pills, or spiritual minerals—could not be cultivated or raised, and no deals were finalized, Lin Dong still felt that Wanbaozhai had a prosperous start on its first day, especially when it came to water spirit beasts. This was a stark contrast to the business inside the store.