Chapter 140: Precious Scale Armor

Returning to the inn, Lin Dong immediately knocked on Xiao Tianchi’s door.
Li Jiancheng was of great importance to Lin’s Inn, so it was necessary to prepare for both possibilities. It would be best if Li Yunfeng could handle things through her connections, as such ties were more reliable. But if she couldn’t, they would have to find another way to win him over.
While in Xilan City, Lin Dong had obtained a fourth-tier Qinghong Sword from Huo Yuan.
A fourth-tier spiritual sword, though worth only a few thousand taels, was strictly controlled by various weapon-forging sects. Like medicinal pills, they would never be sold to outsiders unless it was to a familiar family, as doing so would strengthen the Great Han Nation.
The major families were only subject to the authority of the Tianwei Pavilion; unless their businesses were enormous, they didn’t need to worry about local officials. With Li Jiancheng’s status, the major families in Qiufeng City would at most give him a few third-tier spiritual weapons. Fourth-tier spiritual weapons were equally rare among the seven major families in Qiufeng City and would certainly not be given away for business purposes.
It could be said that having one or two third-tier spiritual weapons would be enough to handle Li Jiancheng. A Qinghong Sword would almost certainly suffice.
Yet Lin Dong felt it wasn’t enough. While other restaurants certainly couldn’t offer anything better than a Qinghong Sword to bribe Li Jiancheng into harming Lin’s Inn, Fenglin Restaurant was different.
If Fenglin Restaurant’s headquarters were determined to take action against Lin’s Inn at any cost, with their financial resources and connections, they could find families in Qiufeng City willing to give away fourth-tier spiritual weapons—though not many. Across the entire Great Han Nation, however, such families could be found.
Although Lin’s Inn’s scale made it unlikely to attract the attention of Fenglin Restaurant’s headquarters, it wasn’t entirely impossible. If such a situation arose, Li Jiancheng might suddenly turn against them.
What Lin Dong wanted was to ensure that Lin’s Inn faced no official pressure in Qiufeng City.
After explaining his intentions, Xiao Tianchi hesitated. The Guhuan Sect could only forge fourth-tier spiritual weapons at most, but higher-tier ones didn’t entirely exist.
The Guhuan Sect had been around for four or five hundred years, and over time, it had collected several treasures, including two spiritual pills and two spiritual weapons.
One of these two spiritual weapons was called the Cloud-Piercing Sword, and the other was the Precious Scale Armor—both sixth-tier spiritual weapons. Though better than the two spiritual pills that could only be displayed in the treasure vault for future generations to admire, they were still symbols of the sect leader’s authority. They could only be passed down through generations of leaders and could not be given away or even shown to others.
Learning of Xiao Tianchi’s difficulties, Lin Dong wasn’t anxious. He just wanted to borrow them temporarily, not demand them. Moreover, he hadn’t planned to borrow them for free.

“Master Xiao, you must remember the two spiritual fruits I took out in Xilan City last time, right?” Lin Dong said with a smile.
Xiao Tianchi nodded, his face turning slightly red. As the head of a sect, it was embarrassing that he couldn’t even name the spiritual fruits of the fifth level, even though the Gu Huan Sect wasn’t a alchemy sect.
“You must also have heard from Tian Hao about their effects,” Lin Dong said cheerfully.
Xiao Tianchi nodded again. Not long ago, while assessing Tian Hao’s cultivation level, he accidentally discovered that Tian Hao’s progress hadn’t slowed down due to dealing with the Yang family—instead, he had advanced rapidly, rising one level in a short time. Upon inquiry, he learned that these two spiritual fruits could reduce the consumption of spiritual energy as it flowed through the meridians. This meant that during cultivation, more of the external spiritual energy drawn into the meridians could be converted into one’s own spiritual energy after a week. Just those two fruits were enough to help Tian Hao advance one level.
In the eyes of various sects, such spiritual fruits were undoubtedly treasures used to cultivate outstanding disciples.
“What if I knew where these spiritual fruits come from, and they were only in the possession of one family?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
Xiao Tianchi was shocked. Only in the possession of one family? Did that mean…?
He suddenly grabbed Lin Dong’s arm excitedly. “The Yang family? Are they the ones holding them?”
Lin Dong nodded. To guess that they were in the Yang family just from one sentence, given his excitement, truly showed him to be a shrewd man.
Xiao Tianchi was overjoyed, his gaze toward Lin Dong filled with warmth. Ever since meeting this shopkeeper Lin, good things had kept happening to the Gu Huan Sect.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Tianchi, who also had extraordinary determination, took out a blue-sheathed sword from his storage ring and placed it in front of Lin Dong. He declared firmly, “This is the Cloud-Piercing Sword. After I take off my Precious Scale Armor for Shopkeeper Lin, I’ll immediately return to Xilan City to gather more people.”
Lin Dong shook his head. “The Cloud-Piercing Sword is a symbol of the head of the Gu Huan Sect. It’s often used to demonstrate spiritual techniques to disciples, while the Precious Scale Armor is rarely shown. So… Master Xiao, just give me the Precious Scale Armor. It’s just a temporary loan—either for a year or two, or at most three to five years. I’ll return it to you.”
Hearing this, Xiao Tianchi was surprised rather than pleased. He understood Lin Dong’s character—he wouldn’t take advantage of others for free, but he also wouldn’t let others take advantage of him. Borrowing the Precious Scale Armor yet giving away an extremely precious spiritual tree for nothing? Unless he had ulterior motives against the Gu Huan Sect, it was impossible.

Frowning slightly, Xiao Tianchi exclaimed in surprise, “Manager Lin told me the origin of the spiritual fruit—wasn’t it to give this spiritual tree to the Gu Huan Sect?”
Lin Dong nodded. “What does Sect Master Xiao think—the frequency at which this spiritual tree bears fruit?”
Xiao Tianchi thought for a moment before saying, “The rarer the spiritual tree, the lower its fruiting rate. A spiritual tree of the fifth level takes about ten years to mature. If it bears one fruit, on average, it should take no less than a year.”
Lin Dong smiled. If Old Man Ruo Ding was correct, the Qinglan Tree indeed bore fruit once every ten years, but each trunk produced only two Qinglan fruits.
Xiao Tianchi had overestimated the yield of Qinglan fruits, but Lin Dong didn’t refute him. Instead, he said slowly, “What if, since I obtained this spiritual tree, I could provide one fruit to the Gu Huan Sect every year? What does Sect Master Xiao think of this deal?”
“One fruit per year?” Xiao Tianchi felt an uncontrollable itch in his throat. Could it be that the yield of this spiritual fruit was higher than he had expected?
Lin Dong nodded, not intending to correct Xiao Tianchi’s assumption.
After pondering for a long time, Xiao Tianchi gritted his teeth and said, “Alright! Since Manager Lin still hasn’t obtained this spiritual tree, he must be planning to take the proper route first. If that route really doesn’t work, Manager Lin just needs to give the order, and the Gu Huan Sect can mobilize all its resources. If one fruit can indeed be provided every year, I’ll decide that not only can the Precious Scale Armor be given to Manager Lin, but the other two pills from the Gu Huan Sect’s treasure vault can also be given to him.”
“Sect Master Xiao is truly generous!” Lin Dong nodded inwardly. If it were someone else, they would spend days figuring out whether to try to seize the spiritual tree from the Yang family first. Xiao Tianchi was able to analyze the pros and cons in an instant. If not for the internal strife within the Gu Huan Sect back then and his weaker strength compared to all the elders, the Gu Huan Sect, after over forty years of united development, would likely already possess the strength of a mid-tier sect.
Xiao Tianchi smiled and said, “If Manager Lin didn’t need the Precious Scale Armor, he probably wouldn’t have told me about the spiritual tree, right?”
Lin Dong also smiled. “The plantations and ranches will eventually become Lin’s Inn’s biggest auxiliary industries. If they take shape, I’ll have to pray day and night that the Gu Huan Sect has the strength to protect these two industries.”
Xiao Tianchi grinned broadly, without any trace of the restraint one would expect from a sect master or a cunning old fox.
He believed that this Manager Lin would surely obtain countless strange and rare treasures in the future. With that, it meant that as long as the Gu Huan Sect had the strength, it could also enjoy benefits in the future.