Chapter 550: Useful to Keep

“Not bad for you to understand!”
Jiang Huan reached out to catch the ring and snorted.
Lin Dong smiled and said, “Don’t be too disappointed after seeing it. And remember, not everyone is qualified to see my things. The consequences after seeing it might be beyond your bearing.”
Jiang Huan sneered. Two young men in their early twenties, still in the mundane world. He refused to believe anyone could be stronger than him.
He picked up the ring and sent his spiritual energy into it. The disdain on Jiang Huan’s face stiffened slightly.
As spiritual energy surged, he sent it toward the ring again. Jiang Huan suddenly raised his head, his face showing anger and embarrassment.
“This storage spirit ring is fake! How dare you use a fake one to deceive me?”
“It was you who wanted this ring. Did I say it was a storage spirit ring?” Lin Dong smiled at Jiang Huan, his smile hiding an unknown cruelty.
“How bold! Seeking death!”
Jiang Huan flipped his right palm, and the spiritual sword in his hand suddenly pierced forward.
With a kick, he leaped into the air, aiming the sword tip at Lin Dong’s heart.
“Damn it!” Liang Shan stamped his foot and also leaped up quickly, reaching for Jiang Huan’s back.
Sssh…
A piece of silk was torn off by Liang Shan, but his momentum didn’t slow down.
Glancing back at Liang Shan, Jiang Huan tapped the ground lightly and flew away again.
Lin Dong remained motionless. As Liang Shan and the others regretted their actions and even had to close their eyes, Lin Dong gently released some spiritual energy. Jiang Huan crashed backward as if hitting an impenetrable wall, his speed even greater and his force even more intense than before.
Boom!
With a muffled sound, Jiang Huan slammed into the ground, screaming in pain.
Hearing this, Liang Shan and the others opened their eyes and were shocked by what they saw. The smarter ones even became more vigilant.
Having repelled Jiang Huan with just one move, they, like Jiang Huan, didn’t believe Lin Dong and Yun Lan had such strength. After all, this was the mundane world—talented disciples were all in the sects. Even if a few were missing, they wouldn’t open an inn; they were too busy cultivating desperately.
“Who’s there? Come out!” Jiang Huan got up from the ground. Though terrified, he still forced himself to shout.
Lin Dong stretched out his right palm, pretending to attack Jiang Huan.
In an instant, Jiang Huan’s body became uncontrollable and flew toward Lin Dong’s palm.
Everyone was shocked. They focused their minds and discovered that Lin Dong’s strength had reached a level they couldn’t detect.
In other words, even the weakest of him was one realm higher than Jiang Huan’s mental cultivation level.

Although they couldn’t understand why someone so young and powerful would come to the secular world to open an inn, the facts were right before their eyes and could not be denied. Seeing Jiang Huan fly toward Lin Dong’s palm like a chick, they all drew their spiritual swords, not knowing what to do.

After all, Jiang Huan was their senior brother and the key to rebuilding the sect. They couldn’t just stand by; even if it meant certain death, they had to act. After all, they were alive only because the sect elders had risked everything to send them there, so that they could assist Jiang Huan in rebuilding the sect.

Yet, since they were at fault from the start, they simply didn’t have the audacity to attack Lin Dong.

“Please be merciful, sir. We came here to help out out of desperation,” said Liang Shan, who, though the most resentful of Jiang Huan among them, was also the fastest to react. He grabbed Jiang Huan by the throat, while Lin Dong smiled and stared into his terrified eyes, saying calmly, “Are you ready?”

“Don’t, don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me!” Jiang Huan’s face turned red with fear as he begged, “I was wrong! It’s my fault! I’m such an idiot… I ruined my own eyes…”

Liang Shan and the others didn’t dare speak. They begged for mercy as soon as they were caught, not even daring to look at Lin Dong.

“Even at the fifth level of the Mental State phase, you still dare to be arrogant. If you reached the fifth level of the Rebellious Heart phase, wouldn’t you try to overthrow everything?” Lin Dong sneered coldly. Spiritual energy surged as he prepared to cripple Jiang Huan’s meridians, but stopped halfway.

“Sir, please spare my life! I failed to recognize your greatness. It’s all my fault. I deserve to die…” Feeling that Lin Dong’s grip had loosened, Jiang Huan thought his pleas had worked. He became even more humble, lifting his hand forcefully to slap himself in the face.

Lin Dong released his grip, and with a slap, Jiang Huan fell to the ground.

“Are you really sect disciples?” Lin Dong’s gaze swept over Liang Shan and the others.

Their faces burned with shame; none of them dared to meet Lin Dong’s eyes. Not only were they not sect heirs, but even as sect disciples, they should never have been so weak. They had always suspected that Jiang Huan practiced in some spiritual array to cultivate focus and composure. Otherwise, how could he have become fascinated by the bustling capital just a few days after arriving there?

“It’s my fault, sir! Please spare my life! It’s my fault!” Jiang Huan was still quite smart. Seeing that his pleas worked, he knew he wasn’t out of danger yet, so he increased the force of his slaps and sped them up significantly.

“Kill you? I’d rather not dirty my own hands. Get lost! Remember, roll away!” Lin Dong shouted.
“I’ll go, I’m leaving now. Thank you, sir, for sparing my life.” Jiang Huan was overjoyed. Though he hated Lin Dong deeply, he knew the saying that a true hero doesn’t suffer unnecessary losses. He immediately lay on the ground and rolled toward the courtyard entrance without saying a word.
Liang Shan and the others looked disheartened. Was this the heir of their sect whom they had to protect at the cost of their lives?
It wasn’t until Jiang Huan had rolled out of the backyard quickly that Liang Shan and the others recovered from their despair. One by one, they bowed to Lin Dong, not knowing what to say. If they were ordered to leave, they wouldn’t dare to stay, but if a fight broke out, they wouldn’t be able to intervene either. And if they did act, it would go against the sect master’s instructions and the lives sacrificed by thousands of their fellow disciples.
“Want to stay as guests?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
Liang Shan and the others looked frustrated and bowed again.
“We’re sorry for the disturbance. Please forgive us. We’ll take our leave.”
“We were at fault in today’s incident. Thank you, sir, for your understanding.”
The group had no face left to stay. They gathered all their spiritual energy in their legs and flew away.
“Just letting them go like this…” Yun Lan asked in confusion, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll leave the inn? If we kept them here, maybe we could find out what really happened.”
“Putting high hopes on a worthless person? I, who can easily strangle their senior brother, surely have other plans,” Lin Dong said with a smile. “I think they won’t just leave like that. Besides, today is the day you step into the ranks of peak warriors. Wasting time on such things isn’t worth it.”
Yun Lan nodded, her gaze shifting to the wine glass on the table.
The two walked slowly and sat back down on the stone benches.
Lin Dong picked up the wine glass and said with a laugh, “Today is the day you become the youngest peak warrior in history. I hope one day you can become the first person to surpass even those peak warriors.”
Yun Lan picked up her glass, clinked it against his, took a sip, and shook her head with a smile. “I still prefer you to be the first.”
“Fine! If even my wife can’t compare, it would be embarrassing if it got out,” Lin Dong said with a laugh as he drained his glass in one gulp.
Yun Lan didn’t argue. She said, “Now that I’ve successfully reached the rank of a peak warrior, I can combine a ninth-tier spiritual array with a ninth-tier spiritual weapon. For the first spiritual weapon, I plan to craft one for you. What do you want?”
“A spiritual weapon…”

Lin Dong hesitated for a moment. In his eyes, the Wish Bench was no less formidable than any spiritual weapon. Especially with his current strength at the ninth level of the Heart Rebellion phase, when using his full power, the Wish Bench could rival the power of a ninth-tier spiritual weapon. Once he reached the ranks of the peak warriors, he was confident it would be at least as strong as a ninth-tier spiritual weapon formed by combining multiple spiritual arrays.

“Get me some armor!” Lin Dong thought for a while before making up his mind. For a warrior, the most important thing was undoubtedly a weapon, followed by armor.

“What kind of armor?” Yun Lan asked.

“It needs to be comfortable to wear. Soft armor would be best, preferably very thin, so it can be worn like underwear. Otherwise, wearing armor outside—fine in winter, as a coat can cover it up—but it would look odd in summer,” Lin Dong said with a smile. “Also, it’d be nice if there were some words embroidered on it, like ‘Given by someone to someone else.’ Don’t use Senior Feng’s name. And finally… get me a portrait of you!”

Yun Lan was both amused and exasperated. “This is ninth-tier spiritual armor that’s impervious to even blades. You treat it like ordinary cloth or silk, as if you can embroider or paint on it.”

“I can’t embroider, but I can write. Don’t think I’m clueless and easy to fool,” Lin Dong said leisurely. “There’s a special spiritual liquid made from certain rare materials, which has the effect of solidifying and remaining unchanged for ten thousand years.”

Yun Lan hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.

“Alright. I remember having plenty of materials for ninth-tier spiritual armor. We can start crafting it tomorrow.”

“No rush. Such an important occasion—how can we just celebrate for one night and start working the next day?” Lin Dong laughed. “If word gets out, people will think I only care about your strength and married you for the spiritual weapon! If that were the case, not only would I be embarrassed, but you would too. Let’s enjoy ourselves for a few days first. We’ve been in the capital for quite some time—there are still many places we haven’t visited, right?”

“What about those people from earlier?” Yun Lan asked.

“They? They probably won’t show up so soon, right?” Lin Dong hesitated briefly before casually saying, “I’ll tell Ma Chun when we leave tomorrow. If they show up, he can handle them first. It’s good too; I don’t plan to agree to their demands right away. We need to wait until they completely give up. It won’t hurt to make them wait a bit.”

“Wait until they completely give up?” Yun Lan realized something. She had found it strange when Lin Dong spared Jiang Huan earlier, thinking he was just in a good mood and too lazy to get rid of the threat. It turned out he was saving it for a purpose.

After some thought, Yun Lan nodded slowly. Missing out on a day or two of practice wouldn’t be a big problem. She was still quite interested in shopping, especially shopping with Lin Dong.
“Let’s drink!” Lin Dong smiled, picked up his glass again, and raised it toward Yun Lan.
Under the bright moonlight and starry sky, despite the howling cold wind, it only added to the charm for Lin Dong and Yun Lan. From time to time, they raised their glasses, drank, and chatted, enjoying a peaceful and pleasant moment.