Chapter 538: Old Ding’s Counterattack

Yun Lan was fine with Lin Dong suddenly becoming excited; after a brief surprise, she accepted it. Though such a situation was rare, she had seen it before.
The Divine Calculator, on the other hand, inwardly sighed. What a talented young man—yet he had a flaw after all.
Lin Dong didn’t have time to worry about what the Divine Calculator was thinking. He quickly opened the inn system.
Lin’s Inn: Level 9, 0%
Daily Revenue: 12,653 taels
Spirit Stones: 7,968/25,600
Defense Value: 7,968/25,600
Rooms: 81/100
Dining Tables: 46/50
Staff: 51
Cooks: 22
Stables: 0/35
Kitchens: 6/9
Branches: 11,103
Gardens: 20/25
Breeding Pens: 20/25
Cellars: 3/15
Lucky Wood Shed: 0/10
Storage Rooms: 0/1
As expected, all attributes had improved, and new ones had appeared as well.
Lin Dong immediately checked the storage room’s attributes. To his surprise, there was only one option—selecting the daily amount of spirit stones to consume. Other attributes usually had three to five options.
This was the first time he’d encountered such a situation.
“Damn it! This is fine wine, excellent wine!”
The door to Old Ding’s room suddenly opened. In an instant, Old Ding appeared by the stone table, his spiritual energy surging as he sealed all the small holes at the bottom of the wine jars.
Seeing the spilled fine wine on the floor, Old Ding was heartbroken.
“What, you’re short of wine?” the Divine Calculator asked lightly. “If so, shall I buy you a drink?”
“I’m not short of wine. I just need someone to beat me up,” Old Ding snapped. “You old brat, you’re getting bolder by the day. How dare you waste fine wine right in front of me? Do you think I won’t use a whole table of delicious food to feed pigs?”
“Is that so?” the Divine Calculator smiled and glanced at Old Ding indifferently. “You look filthy, like an old beggar. Who would prepare a whole table of delicious food for you? If you have the guts, show me a penny. If you can produce even one penny, I’ll apologize right away.”
“I, Ding Tian, at Lin’s Inn… needn’t…” Old Ding’s words died in his throat. In the past, with just one word of his, mountains of gold, silver, fine wine, and delicious food would be brought to him immediately. But now, he no longer had that power.
With this attitude for three consecutive days, Old Ding didn’t expect Lin Dong to resolve things today. He no longer needed to pamper the Divine Calculator.

“How’s things for you at Lin’s Inn?” The Oracle pressed his advantage, taking out a copper coin from his storage ring and placing it gently on the table. Smiling, he said, “One coin. If you can come up with one coin, I promise to respect you wholeheartedly.”
Old Ding’s face turned red. He wanted to get angry but was worried it might ruin Lin Dong’s good fortune, so he forced himself to hold back.
Yun Lan glanced at Lin Dong, who seemed confused. She, who had remained out of the argument between the two, suddenly took out a five-tael gold ingot from her storage ring and placed it on the table.
“Elder, this is the change you left with me.”
The Oracle was stunned. He had felt something was off early that day but couldn’t figure out what. Now it seemed the problem stemmed from Yun Lan, who had always acted as a guest.
“That’s right, that’s the change I left with you—just change!” Old Ding picked up the gold ingot and waved it at the Oracle, feeling extremely satisfied.
“Well, shall I apologize first, or shall I respect you first?” Old Ding said with a grin.
The Oracle couldn’t help but look at Yun Lan and said unhappily, “Young lady, it’s not right for you to get involved in a fight between two old men, let alone cheat. I used to have a good impression of you, but now you seem to disregard elders—which really disappoints me. Besides, once married, one follows her husband; even if unmarried, there’s no reason to side with outsiders.”
“The elder has won so many times—he should give way to the old man. After all, the old man isn’t an outsider,” Yun Lan replied with a smile. Unlike Lin Dong, who placed great emphasis on relationships and always considered gains and losses first, she wouldn’t have gotten involved under normal circumstances. First, it was disrespectful, and second, it was just a quarrel between two elders. Whoever lost could be persuaded—after all, anger harms the body, and that doesn’t work on peak-level warriors. But after three days, Old Ding had been so angry at every meal that his face turned red. Yun Lan also resented the Oracle for being unyielding despite having the upper hand.
Together with Lin Dong’s strange behavior and his unwarranted admiration for the Oracle, it was easy for Yun Lan to guess that this baffling situation had already ended inexplicably. Since there was no need to worry about affecting Lin Dong, she had no concerns.
“Young Yun, my efforts to care for you weren’t in vain,” Old Ding said, sitting back on the stone bench and resting his feet on the table.
“It seems, in your eyes, I’m an outsider now,” the Oracle said, his gaze drifting toward Lin Dong. “But earlier, shouldn’t you have asked Manager Lin who the outsider is? No one likes girls who act on their own.”

“Huh? Who called me?” He faintly heard the words “Manager Lin,” and Lin Dong snapped out of his confusion, looking at the three of them in bewilderment.
“Manager Lin, the young girl said I’m an outsider,” the Oracle said calmly.
“Well… Yun Lan said so, so that must be it!” Lin Dong didn’t understand what was going on, but since the upgrade task was already complete, he naturally had to follow Yun Lan’s word. As the saying goes, listening to your wife brings wealth.
The Oracle’s expression froze, and he felt somewhat frustrated. This kid was actually a lecher too. Otherwise, even though the martial world’s customs weren’t as harsh on women as those in the secular world, a grown man wouldn’t act so openly.
“Did you hear that? I told you you’re a fake fortune-teller! Still denying it? You didn’t even predict anything for yourself this morning, did you?” Old Ding’s feet started trembling. All his frustration from the past few days poured out, and his proud demeanor could rival Qiao Tianhao’s when he was proud.
The Oracle was speechless and turned his gaze to Lin Dong, suddenly having an idea. Just now, he had compared himself to the young girl.
His posture straightened slightly, and his face regained its calm composure. Under Old Ding’s puzzled gaze, he said lightly, “Manager Lin, if it were me and Ding Tian, who do you think is one of us and who’s an outsider?”
Old Ding’s confidence plummeted; he felt as if he’d been brought back to his original state. The real key still lay with Lin Dong.
Undoubtedly, Old Ding’s sixth sense was vastly inferior to the Oracle’s—its accuracy was not even on the same level.
“Of course it’s the old man. As for the senior… he’s only stayed at Lin’s Inn for three days, so naturally, there’s more distance between us,” Lin Dong replied without hesitation. He knew it wasn’t wise to offend the Oracle after completing the upgrade task, after all, this was a peak warrior who could rival Old Ding. If he offended him too badly, the Oracle might, in a fit of anger, ignore propriety and take it out on him. But after Old Ding had been frustrated for three days, Lin Dong felt he had to restore some balance.
At these words, Old Ding’s eyes widened, his mind struggling to process it.
The Oracle was also stunned. He doubted his ears weren’t playing tricks on him, but he wondered if his eyes were failing him—this person in front of him was definitely not Manager Lin.
“Old man, drink!” Lin Dong took out a jar of fine wine from the mobile cabinet, untied the mud seal, and handed it to Old Ding.

“Drink, drink!” Old Ding took the wine jar in a daze. After taking a few sips, he suddenly sobered up, quickly put down the jar, and looked at the Oracle. “I say, sorcerer, you want a jar too? The wine collected by young Lin is all top-notch stuff.” “Owner Lin seems to want to drive us away,” the Oracle said, still unconvinced, glancing at Lin Dong. “How could that be? A master of your caliber visiting our Lin’s Inn is an honor for us. I’m not that foolish as to drive guests away,” Lin Dong shook his head. The Oracle was confused. Though the words were polite, they were clearly much worse than his attitude a few days ago, or even just moments ago. He couldn’t figure out what had happened to make Lin Dong suddenly change his mind and no longer want to keep him at Lin’s Inn. Earlier, the Oracle had put himself in Lin Dong’s shoes—imagining that if his favorite disciple favored a peak-level expert, he might neglect him for that person. Though dissatisfied, he wouldn’t stand by if anything happened to his disciple. After all, talented young people crave great masters, and peak-level experts also seek worthy successors. Even if a disciple was somewhat self-interested, as long as it wasn’t disloyal or unforgivable, it was acceptable. Keeping one peak-level expert meant that even if another left, they would come back if needed. It was far better than having only one. If lucky enough to find a talented subordinate who caught the eye of a peak-level expert, perhaps decades later, another peak-level expert might appear around them—even better. “Exactly! Stay as long as you want, no need to be polite,” Old Ding waved at Lin Dong. “Come on, get a jar of wine for our master too.” Lin Dong promptly brought out a fine jar of wine, untied the seal, and handed it to the Oracle. The Oracle finally got to vent his frustration from those three days with Old Ding. Though he wasn’t as indifferent to Lin Dong as Old Ding, he also couldn’t really hold a grudge. A peak-level expert acting petty over a minor argument was truly beneath his status. “Here, let me toast you with a jar of wine,” Old Ding raised the jar toward the Oracle. The Oracle couldn’t stay any longer. He glared fiercely at Lin Dong, vanished in a flash, and was gone. “So satisfying! Truly satisfying. Too bad this guy ran away instead of fighting,” said Old Ding. Having been famous for a hundred years, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to fight back in desperation. Today was undoubtedly a satisfying day. In an unusually good mood, he took several big sips of wine, wiped his mouth, stood up, patted Lin Dong on the shoulder, and said loudly, “Good job! From today on, you can tell others you’re my disciple.”

Lin Dong was speechless; no wonder he was the poorest peak warrior in the Great Han Nation—the reward was truly poor.