Chapter 115: The Final Decisive Battle

Good news kept coming. Xiao Tianchi returned to the inn with Tianhao after their journey. Twelve Wind Spirit Herbs had already been collected, at the cost of hundreds of second-tier spirit swords. Although it was a significant amount, it was still within the Ancient Huan Clan’sbearing range.
Lin Dong was overjoyed. Ten Wind Spirit Herbs were enough to prepare a dish of braised Wind Spirit Herb. Although the consumption of spirit stones doubled with each 1% increase in recovery rate, recovering 10% at once only required a little over five hundred spirit stones—a cost he could afford.
With such recovery, Old Ding could live another ten or eight years. During that time, more Wind Spirit Herbs could be gathered. This meant that even if Yun Cangqiong couldn’t arrive in time, Old Ding’s life would be safe. The heavy burden weighing on his heart was finally lifted.
A few days later, Triangular Eyes, who rushed back to the inn on fast horses, brought news as well. After multiple tests, Liu Chuanxiang brought in ten boxes of fourth-grade spirit stones and entered the Alchemy Sect, Hou Dan Zong. When he left, not a single box remained—only a bulging bag.
Fourth-grade spirit stones cost 33 to 34 silver taels each, so ten boxes were worth around a thousand taels. Even if there were ways to buy them cheaper, this shipment was still worth no less than 30,000 silver taels.
Liu Chuanxiang only bought White Endurance Grass worth 30,000 silver taels, which was slightly below Lin Dong’s expectations. Calculating in including earlier expenses, it was less than 100,000 silver taels.
Even if the Fenglin Restaurant at the county level could mobilize over 150,000 silver taels, 30,000 taels still wouldn’t deal a fatal blow to them. They could only hope for luck!
No matter how much silver the Fenglin Restaurant could mobilize, since they had already fallen for the trap, they had to take a risk. The next step was to find a way to make the Fenglin Restaurant use up this batch of White Endurance Grass. Otherwise, if Liu Chuanxiang took it back and exchanged it for silver, although he would suffer a huge loss, it would still be worth around 20,000 silver taels.
Three days later, under Liu Chuanxiang’s persistent urging and escorted by a dozen guards, the carriage entered Xilan City.
Back at the Fenglin Restaurant, after asking the staff, he learned that business on the second floor had not improved during his absence of over half a month. On the first floor, Changlin Restaurant stopped offering free meals after a few days, but its reputation had risen, and its food was indeed better than that of the Fenglin Restaurant without Qiao Tianhao as the chef. Although it hadn’t taken away all the customers from the first floor, it still had a significant impact.
Neither of these was good news, but it didn’t dampen Liu Chuanxiang’s high spirits.

Subsequently, Fenglin Restaurant introduced Stewed Turtle with Maple Tree Leaves, whose medicinal effects were on par with those of Linji Inn but cost only one or two and eighty silver coins per serving. According to Liu Chuanxiang’s plan, although the price was higher than the cost, guests coming to the restaurant would naturally order more than just this dish. Fenglin Restaurant’s high profits came from various magical beast meats and materials; as long as the total cost per table reached three silver coins, the restaurant wouldn’t lose money, and if it exceeded three silver coins, it would make a profit. If they could attract wealthy clients, the restaurant could regain its glory, and whether Linji Inn chose to lower prices or face decline, over time, thanks to Fenglin Restaurant’s lower costs for magical beast meats and materials, it would surely bring Linji Inn down. If Manager Lin of Linji Inn understood the situation and realized that persisting was just a waste of money, it wasn’t impossible for him to close the inn within a month or two. As for the scholars on the first floor, who were one of the attractions to attract wealthy clients, they couldn’t be allowed to grow too strong—lowering prices would suffice. The next day, Linji Inn responded by reducing the price of Stewed Turtle with Maple Tree Leaves to one or two and sixty silver coins per serving. According to Liu Chuanxiang’s estimate, even if Linji Inn had a way to obtain cheap White Endurance Grass, the cost per serving would still be at least one or two and fifty silver coins. Adding other ingredients, it was a loss-making move to attract customers! Since Linji Inn had lowered prices, Fenglin Restaurant naturally had to follow suit, but instead of lowering prices further, it also set the price at one or two and sixty silver coins per serving. Although they lost five or six silver coins per serving, as long as the total cost per table reached three silver coins, Fenglin Restaurant could still remain profitable. As for competitiveness, Liu Chuanxiang wasn’t worried. Linji Inn’s Stewed Turtle with Maple Tree Leaves could only enhance physical strength to a certain extent each day, and eating more wouldn’t help. In contrast, Fenglin Restaurant’s version enhanced physical strength more the more one ate. Liu Chuanxiang wasn’t foolish; after learning that the Hou Dan Sect had White Endurance Grass, he bought some to test it, and it indeed enhanced physical strength. After asking people from the Hou Dan Sect, he found that White Endurance Grass alone could boost strength, and when combined with a few other common herbs, the effect would be even more pronounced, though the downside was that it would shorten the overall duration of the medicinal effect. This meant that Fenglin Restaurant’s Stewed Turtle with Maple Tree Leaves couldn’t maintain the same daily enhancement effect as Linji Inn’s version. Liu Chuanxiang had spent most of his silver coins on White Endurance Grass after careful consideration.

Given the efficacy of Bai Ren Cao, even if adding a few other herbs shortens its overall effect, only one qian of Bai Ren Cao is needed per portion of turtle stewed with Maple Tree leaves. It would take eating hundreds of portions for its effects to completely disappear. Eating hundreds of portions of this stew as if it were food would take at least half a month. Since the ingredients are exactly the same as those used in Lin Ji Inn’s version, the difference in efficacy must stem from the different amounts used. Although Liu Chuanxiang was neither a warrior nor a winemaker, he understood that whether it was alchemy or brewing, to operate exclusively, the most important thing was to keep all ingredients secret, followed by maintaining the correct proportions and order of addition. The types of ingredients were already known, and the order was simply to grind them into powder and apply it to the Maple Tree leaves—what was missing was only the proportions. Leaving aside whether Chen Yeyuan, the spy, could figure out those proportions, there were only five kinds of herbs in total, and their total cost wouldn’t exceed two taels of silver. With careful preparation, although half a month might be tight, it wasn’t impossible. Even if it took another half month, it wouldn’t add much time. By then, as long as they could reverse the disadvantage of the signboard, Lin Ji Inn, relying solely on the seating fee advantage, would surely not be able to compete with Fenglin Restaurant’s advantages in attracting scholars and offering discounted dishes. The next day, Changlin Restaurant counterattacked, even more aggressively than Lin Ji Inn, by announcing free service once again. Liu Chuanxiang’s first thought was—fight! Although scholars didn’t bring in much silver, they were one of the advantages for attracting wealthy clients. After all, he still had tens of thousands of taels of silver. Changlin Restaurant had already exhausted itself after half a month of competition last time; this time, it probably wouldn’t fare any better. Even if it took a month, he already had a way to deal with Lin Ji Inn, which would cost only four or five thousand taels of silver—there was no need to worry about not having enough money. In Lin Ji Inn’s backyard, upon learning that Fenglin Restaurant was also offering free service to scholars, Lin Dong firmly decided that no matter how much money Fenglin Restaurant still had, since they had already wasted over a month, this time they must settle the score!