Chapter 547: The Guard Force Reaches an Explosive Growth Phase

Five days later, the three promotional methods were finally introduced at the Returning Tavern. The results were as expected by the owners of the fifteen top-tier restaurants—they did help alleviate some of the heat caused by Lin Ji Inn’s spirit stone heaters and pipeline floral scents, though only to a limited extent.

Compared to the spirit stone heaters and pipeline floral scents from Lin Ji Inn, these three promotional methods fell short in terms of power and durability, especially in terms of longevity. After all, the spirit stone heaters and pipeline floral scents were essential for daily life. In contrast, the three promotional methods of those fifteen top restaurants were merely meant to provide temporary visual pleasure, and their superiority was obvious at a glance.

In the room in the backyard, Yun Lan sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, her fair forehead dotted with a few beads of sweat.

In the courtyard, Lin Dong, Old Ding, and Feng Yue sat together on stone benches—one staring intently at the door, another gulping down wine in large mouthfuls, and the third with Tianfeng peppers in both hands and more in his mouth.

There was usually no reason for Old Ding and Feng Yue to leave their room. So, the situation today clearly meant something important was going on.

That something was Yun Lan inside the room, striving to reach the first level of the Heart Riding Phase.

Breaking through to a higher realm required absolute silence and came with great risks—especially when transitioning from the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase to the first level of the Heart Riding Phase.

Although all three of them were in the courtyard, they had come out to protect Yun Lan.

“Elder, based on your estimation, given Yun Lan’s talent, how many days do you think it will take her to join the ranks of the top warriors?” Lin Dong couldn’t help but ask.

“About half a day,” Old Ding replied with a sigh. “Yun Lan’s talent is truly rare. Even without the spirit array that accelerates the flow of spiritual energy, one or two days would be enough. Now that she has that array, plus me and Feng Yue protecting her, there’s no need to worry about spiritual energy disruption or going mad from haste. Half a day is sufficient.”

“Doesn’t that mean she’ll succeed quite quickly?” Lin Dong asked in surprise.

“Think it’s too fast?” Feng Yue laughed. “Don’t rush. When you try to force a breakthrough from the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase, you’ll realize how long it actually takes.”

Before Lin Dong could react to this teasing, Old Ding laughed first. “If we really let her force a breakthrough on her own, we won’t even live to see it. Maybe her descendants will. Of course, assuming she can live that long.”

Lin Dong understood now—these two elders from Lin Ji Inn were just teasing him about his talent.

Being made a laughingstock, Lin Dong wasn’t someone to be underestimated either. With ahum, he said, “Elder Feng, I remember it took you over three or four days to break through to the first level of the Heart Riding Phase, right? Old man, how many days did it take you?”
“Two days!” the old man Ding said proudly.
“Oh!” Lin Dong replied leisurely, “I think I can do it in just one day.”
The two were stunned. Looking at Lin Dong’s confident face, they soon asked in surprise, “Have you gathered the materials for the Breakthrough Pill?”
“Not yet! But only one type is left.” Lin Dong smiled brightly. He had only broken through to the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase a few days ago, and it would take another two or three months to reach the end of that phase. He was confident he could find the last ingredient within that time. Although many of the materials he had gathered so far couldn’t be grown or raised, it wasn’t difficult to craft twenty or thirty pills.
Twenty or thirty pills meant twenty or thirty people could reach the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase and join the ranks of top warriors. There would be enough time in between to slowly find all the materials that could be grown or raised.
The two top warriors, who had no other desires besides fine wine and Tianfeng peppers, felt a hint of jealousy.
If the recipe for the Breakthrough Pill were to spread, anyone would have a chance to become a top warrior, and then they two would no longer be valuable.
Although the three of them were chatting casually, none of them relaxed their vigilance. The old man Ding and Feng Yue kept monitoring Yun Lan’s arrival. Suddenly, all three focused their gazes, only to relax again shortly after.
At the back courtyard entrance, Ma Chun rushed over excitedly.
“Boss!”
“What is it?” Lin Dong looked at Ma Chun puzzledly. He could tell Ma Chun seemed to have good news for him.
“Sixth Brother sent someone to inform us not long ago. The first batch of candidates selected from various places to join the guard team has arrived in the capital,” Ma Chun said with a smile.
“How many are there?” Lin Dong immediately became energetic. The arrival of the guard team candidates meant that after passing the final test, Lin’s Inn’s guard team would grow significantly in size.
“Even though the selection criteria are several times stricter than before, there are still over a hundred thousand people in total. The first batch, about eight thousand, has already arrived and is all gathered in the amusement park,” Ma Chun said excitedly.
“Over a hundred thousand?” Lin Dong was astonished. It was within his expectations, but hearing it in person still shocked him.
Over a hundred thousand people—based on the previous ratio of scoundrels who passed the final test, that meant more than fifty thousand.

Over fifty thousand thugs who are completely loyal to him—what a massive force that is. If all of them practiced cultivation and used auxiliary cultivation materials to reach the level of experts in the Heart Reversal Phase, this force would be enough to sweep through the entire Great Han Kingdom.

Of course, with so many people, given Lin’s Inn’s financial resources, although the cost of high-level auxiliary cultivation materials is much lower here than elsewhere, it’s still far from sufficient. But by focusing on training eighteen thousand people first and selling as many high-level auxiliary cultivation materials as possible, combined with the profits from Lin’s Inn’s presence throughout the Great Han Kingdom, it’s not entirely impossible to do it.

Suppressing his excitement, Lin Dong thought for a moment before asking, “Is there no safety issue?”

“There are already many high-level spirit arrays set up around the amusement park. Even if the Heavenly Might Pavilion tries to investigate, it will definitely alert us. As for safety, there should be no problems if nothing goes wrong,” Ma Chun explained. “The only issue is that the amusement park is almost completely built. I believe it can be officially opened in another month or two. A month or two should be enough to test the first batch of people, but for the second batch, we’ll probably need to find another place. How about we just spread them out to be tested?”

“That would be too slow,” Lin Dong shook his head. “Let’s put the opening of the amusement park on hold for now. It’s not urgent anyway. We can discuss it after everyone has been tested.”

“Okay!” Ma Chun thought for a moment before nodding firmly. The amusement park would greatly boost the inn’s business, but Lin’s Inn was currently competing with fifteen top-tier restaurants, and there were still many powerful strategies yet to be deployed to avoid wasting their effectiveness. A half-year delay in opening the amusement park wasn’t much different from what was expected.

“Alright, go back to your work!” Lin Dong waved his hand. Although the significant expansion of Lin’s Inn’s strength excited him, what concerned him more at this moment was Yun Lan breaking through to the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase.

With Yun Lan’s talent, breaking through to the ninth level shouldn’t be difficult, but accidents could still happen. Otherwise, Old Ding and Feng Yue wouldn’t have placed such emphasis on choosing an open area for protection, in order to save time from having to break through through the door.

Only after a successful breakthrough could they truly feel at ease. Even with Yun Lan’s talent, it was still the case.

Ma Chun nodded, turned around, and walked a few steps before suddenly turning back.

“By the way, boss, there’s one more thing I almost forgot to tell you.”

“What is it?” Lin Dong asked, puzzled.

“A few guests have been looking gloomy all day. In my opinion, they must be facing some extremely difficult problems,” Ma Chun said.

“Have you figured out what the difficult problem is?” Lin Dong perked up a bit. If guests at the inn encountered unsolvable problems and he helped solve them, it would count as a hidden task. Getting a hidden task was extremely difficult, with the two biggest challenges being easy oversight—after all, only Ma Chun at Lin’s Inn had exceptional eloquence. He couldn’t spend his whole day asking all the worried guests questions to gather information, as not every problem could be shared with others, and even Ma Chun would need to invest a great deal of effort and time. Another issue was that the problem must indeed be unsolvable. All hidden tasks had to meet this criterion of being unsolvable—of course, by the guests’ standards. In other words, the guests had to be completely defeated. Such problems were already rare, and due to easy oversight, hidden tasks were extremely hard to come by. When one did appear, Lin Dong naturally wouldn’t let it slip away. “It won’t be possible to find out anytime soon; seems there’s some unspeakable difficulty,” Ma Chun explained. “If I focus on them, the inn’s business will likely suffer greatly. I estimate it will take at least ten days.” “Are you sure they’ve given up?” Lin Dong asked. “It’s unlikely they’ve completely given up, but it’s certain they’re very close to it,” Ma Chun replied. “These guests have been at Lin’s Inn for quite some time now. I asked the staff, and their expressions have grown darker day by day. They must have tried every method without success. By the way, they all possess the strength of cultivators at the Heart Transport stage—probably disciples of some sect.” “Leave this task to Liu An. Let him take charge of the inn for now,” Ma Chun added, which convinced Lin Dong. A problem that even a group of warriors couldn’t solve surely carried a substantial reward. “But right now…” Ma Chun hesitated. The inn was in its peak period after installing the spirit stone heaters and pipe floral scents. Although Liu An had the qualifications of an excellent staff member, his specialty was dealing with various complex problems and emergencies. Without the versatile Ma as manager, the effectiveness of the spirit stone heaters and pipe floral scents would surely decline significantly. “It doesn’t matter. The benefits will be even greater once this is done,” Lin Dong assured him. “Alright, if the owner has no further instructions, shall I go find Liu An now?” Ma Chun asked. “Go!” Lin Dong waved his hand. After Ma Chun left, Lin Dong adjusted his mindset and, like Old Ding and Feng Yue, focused his attention on Yun Lan, who was striving to reach the first level of the Heart Riding stage.