Chapter 551: Refusing Help

Two days later at noon, Lin Dong and Yun Lan finished strolling along the antique street in the south of the city and stepped into the inn. A staff member rushed forward to greet them.
“Owner! Manager Ma said there are guests in the front yard looking for you—those guests you asked Manager Ma to take care of earlier.” The staff member’s words were a bit confusing, but Lin Dong understood. Yun Lan did too.
“Okay, I know. Go ahead with your work!”
Lin Dong nodded, took out an antique vase he had bought on the antique street from the mobile cabinet, and started fiddling with it as he headed toward the entrance of the yard.
Yun Lan smiled and followed closely behind.
When they arrived in the front yard, they saw two people sitting by a stone table—a man and a woman. The man was in his early twenties; he wasn’t particularly handsome, but he had an indescribable sense of boldness that immediately won people’s goodwill. The woman was also around twenty, with fair skin and bright, lively eyes, exuding a gentle and delicate charm. With such beautiful features, it would be hard to deny she was beautiful.
Lin Dong had met these two a few nights earlier—they were Liang Shan and Mu Xue.
“O-Owner Lin…”
Seeing Lin Dong walk in, fiddling with the vase as if he were a wealthy tycoon, the two stood up, looking somewhat anxious. Clearly, they had spent most of their time in their sect and rarely gone outside. Being young and once living in isolation from ordinary wealthy people, they didn’t know how to interact with them now that they needed help.
“What’s the matter?” Lin Dong asked casually.
The two quickly nodded. Liang Shan bowed slightly and spoke up, “Owner Lin, we…”
“Let’s go inside and talk!” Lin Dong didn’t give Liang Shan a chance to continue. He simply said that and kept fiddling with the antique vase as he headed toward the back yard.
The two hesitated for a moment before following him in.
As Lin Dong admired the vase, he glanced at the busy front yard, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
Since storage rooms were added to the front yard, more and more caravans had started arriving, and the yard was no longer as quiet as before. With so many people around, it was inconvenient for top chefs like Jiang Kui, as they still had to focus on training and developing their skills.
Perhaps it would be better to move them to the back yard!
Lin Dong made up his mind. Jiang Kui and the others were already extremely loyal. By moving them to the back yard, there would be no need to hide secrets from them. As long as Old Ding and Feng Yue had no objections, there should be no problems. This way, the people coming and going in the front yard wouldn’t disturb their daily training and martial arts practice.

After dealing with this unexpected trouble, Lin Dong continued on his way, though his attention shifted back to the vase. This antique vase was something he and Yun Lan had found at a street stall for just one or two silver coins. With their expertise, they could tell that it wasn’t very old and its craftsmanship was ordinary. Yet, the vase’s shape really caught Lin Dong’s liking—slim and long, with vibrant colors. Placed on the desk in the room with a rose in it, it would look quite stylish.

“Give it to me!” When they reached the stone table, Yun Lan glanced at the vase in Lin Dong’s hands. She also liked its appearance and understood Lin Dong’s thoughts.

Lin Dong nodded and handed the vase to her. After Yun Lan went back to her room to find fresh flowers, he sat down on the stone bench. Seeing that Lin Dong neither invited them to sit nor seemed inclined to speak, the two from Liangshan grew increasingly anxious. If the person sitting across from them were just a wealthy merchant, they could remain calm, perhaps speaking less politely—after all, they were disciples of a sect and warriors, holding a higher status than mere merchants. But the person before them wasn’t just a wealthy merchant; he was someone who could easily manipulate a fifth-level Mind Realm warrior at will.

“Um… Shopkeeper Lin, we’ve come to disturb you rudely this time mainly to apologize for last night’s incident.” Seeing that Lin Dong still had no intention of speaking, Liang Shan took out a small wooden box from his storage ring and gently placed it on the table. He said, “This humble apology is nothing much, but please accept it kindly, Shopkeeper Lin.”

Lin Dong lifted the lid of the box and tilted it slightly, revealing a piece of withered yellow wood covered in root-like growths.

“Not bad. This should be Grade 6 Bone-Washing Wood, right?” Lin Dong hadn’t seen many spiritual materials, especially compared to those in the Great Han Nation. But he had encountered Bone-Washing Wood during transactions in Tianfeng Street and within other sects, so he could identify it immediately.

The two from Liangshan looked at him with a hint of admiration. Although Bone-Washing Wood belonged to Grade 6 spiritual materials, its ability to cleanse bone marrow made it highly useful for warriors in the Mind Realm, giving it a value comparable to Grade 7 auxiliary cultivation materials. It was one of their sect’s treasures, as it was extremely difficult to grow and could only be obtained by harvesting. It wasn’t surprising that disciples of alchemy sects knew about it, but for a secular warrior to know about it meant he was far more knowledgeable than average.

Lin Dong had no idea about the misunderstanding between the two from Liangshan. After closing the lid of the wooden box, he gently pushed it back slightly toward Liangshan and said indifferently, “It’s just a minor matter; there’s no need for such a heavy apology.”
“No, no…” Liangshan waved his hands repeatedly. Bone-washing wood was quite expensive, and using it as an apology was indeed costly, but compared to what they were asking for, it was barely anything.
“Is there something?” Lin Dong asked.
“It’s like this—after we returned, my senior brothers and sisters discussed it. Manager Lin is extremely powerful; surely…” Liangshan hesitated. Their conclusion was that someone of Lin Dong’s age, with such strength, must have an astonishingly powerful master. This master, if not at the peak of strength, was at least at the fifth or sixth level—or else he couldn’t have produced such a young and powerful disciple.
If they could persuade Lin Dong to help and bring his master along as a backing for establishing their own sect, and have him assist in dealing with challenges from other sects when the sect was founded, then with just a location and not too much spiritual energy or resources—just a small sect—being at the fifth level of the Heart Reversal Phase would be enough to dominate any enemy. This would mean their biggest problem would be solved, and once the remaining trivial matters were taken care of, reviving the sect would be just around the corner.
“Surely there’s a remarkable master behind this?” With Lin Dong’s intelligence, he naturally understood what Liangshan was implying.
Liangshan nodded repeatedly. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, “I am Liang Shan, a disciple of the Kongyu Sect. This is my junior sister, Mu Xue. Our Kongyu Sect was once a renowned sect on Huimin Mountain in Hongcheng Commandery. In terms of strength, it was considered a mid-tier sect throughout the Great Han Kingdom. A year ago, our sect was attacked by an eighth-level spiritual beast. Although we managed to repel the beast, our sect leader was severely injured. Somehow, news of this spread, and several nearby sects conspired to launch a surprise attack, surrounding our sect. After a fierce battle, the elders risked their lives to help us elite disciples and the eldest brother escape with the sect’s spiritual techniques, hoping we could assist the eldest brother in rebuilding Kongyu Sect. We traveled everywhere, collecting spiritual materials to help him train, but unexpectedly, the eldest brother gradually fell into worldly vices. After coming to the capital, he indulged in eating, drinking, gambling, and all sorts of vices. Seeing Manager Lin’s extraordinary strength, we thought…”
Lin Dong shook his head and said lightly, “I’m not interested!”
“Manager Lin…” The two from Liangshan grew anxious.

“If Master Lin is willing to help us establish our sect, we can assure you that we will regard him as the greatest benefactor of our Kongyu Sect. If there’s anything we can do for him, we’ll do it without hesitation, even at the cost of our lives. If we come across any spiritual materials useful for cultivation, we’ll definitely show them to Master Lin first.”
“I’m not interested!” Lin Dong’s reply remained the same, with just one additional sentence: “I know how to promise empty promises to satisfy hunger.”
“We wonder what would make Master Lin agree?” Liang Shan didn’t give up and pressed further.
“It’s simple—provide half of the resources of a small sect!” Lin Dong said calmly. “And it has to be now, not in the future. I’m a businessman; I won’t take action unless I see benefits. If it were really as you said, offering some benefits after the sect is established, why should I help you? It would be better for me to establish my own sect.”
The two of them fell silent. As Lin Dong had said, if they had to repay his help gradually in the future, it would be better to just establish their own sect. That way, they would not only gain more benefits but also wouldn’t have to worry about Kongyu Sect turning against them for profit later.
“Master Lin, is there really no room for compromise?” Mu Xue asked softly.
“No!” Lin Dong’s answer was firm.
“But…”
The two felt disheartened. Although they were intelligent elite disciples of Kongyu Sect, in such a situation, even with great wisdom, they couldn’t create something out of nothing.
“Since that’s the case, Master Lin, we take our leave!”
Liang Shan sighed.
“Master Lin…” Mu Xue grew anxious.
“Let’s think of another way! Put ourselves in Master Lin’s shoes—I believe even if we were in his position, we wouldn’t agree either,” Liang Shan pleaded helplessly.
Mu Xue gave a bitter smile and nodded silently.
Seeing that the two hadn’t taken the wooden box containing the Bone-Washing Wood when they turned to leave, Lin Dong nodded in approval and said, “Your Bone-Washing Wood.”
The two turned around, and Liang Shan bowed and said, “This is a small apology. Please accept it, Master Lin.”
“This apology is a bit too generous. Besides, the main reason you’re offering it is probably because you hope I’ll help you, right?” Lin Dong laughed.

Liang Shan did not deny it and nodded, saying, “We will indeed provide this compensation. We did hope that Manager Lin would step in to help, but we were at fault in the first place. Compared to Manager Lin’s strength, this compensation isn’t really heavy at all. After all, our eldest brother even harbored murderous intentions toward Manager Lin. If Manager Lin hadn’t kept a low profile, he would surely have lost his life. Manager Lin has the strength to kill us and the reason to do so, yet he didn’t act—instead, he even spared our eldest brother. In that case, buying our lives with a piece of Bone-Washing Wood isn’t expensive at all.”
“Then I won’t be polite!”
Lin Dong smiled and accepted the wooden box. After that, he took no further action. The two from Liang Shan sighed heavily again, bowed, and turned to leave.