Chapter 181: Coercion

To keep this Lord Wang staying at the inn for a longer time, it was necessary to find out why he had come to Autumn Wind City.
Although Yang Shun had already ordered him to leave, Lin Dong still asked with a smile, “Lord Wang, have you come to Autumn Wind City for business or pleasure?”
“I’ve been busy with family matters. Suddenly, I remembered that I haven’t seen two old friends in a long time—one of them even for decades,” Lord Wang said with a smile. “So I came to Autumn Wind City to visit them.”
“Oh!” Lin Dong felt slightly pleased and asked, “Has Lord Wang not found these two old friends yet?”
“Are you a detective?” Zhang Shun frowned and waved impatiently at Lin Dong. “You have nothing to do here.”
In Lin Dong’s view, since Lord Wang was staying at the inn, it meant he hadn’t found his old friends. If those two friends lived in Autumn Wind City, there was a high chance Lord Wang would stay at the inn for longer.
Helpless, and wanting to determine how difficult it would be for Lord Wang to find his friends and thus how long he might stay, Lin Dong decided to give up for now. After exchanging a few polite words, he left the Tianzi Room.
He had received five or six gold ingots as payment for lodging, more than enough, so there was no need to worry about wasting sixteen spirit stones. While going downstairs, Lin Dong activated the inn system and brought up the Rainbow Bed from his equipment, unlocking its attributes.
Back in the backyard, Lin Dong thought about Wang Bin and Yi Yi. Considering they might change their minds once they had slave contracts, he decided not to tell them about them for now.
After further deliberation on how to get Wang Shuangxi to accept Yi Yi, he still couldn’t come up with a reliable method. So, he put aside his distractions and entered a meditative state.
Spirit energy surged from his dantian and began to flow rapidly through his meridians. According to the schedule, reaching the ninth level of the Spirit Mobility stage should take just a month.
Time flew by. As Lin Dong enjoyed the growing sensation of spirit energy, loud knocking at the door caused the energy flowing through his meridians to pause briefly before stabilizing under his mental control and returning to his dantian.
When he opened the door, he saw that the sun was rising outside, and Ma Chun was standing there.
“Has the matter with fake Yi Yi been taken care of?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
Ma Chun nodded. “I’ve convinced her. Her idea is that we can help her buy some fertile land outside Lingnan City and a house in Lingnan County.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lin Dong nodded slightly. With fertile fields outside and a prosperous city inside, no worries about food or clothing—far more comfortable than holding a thousand taels of silver or finding a good marriage. With land and a house, as long as one didn’t want to marry into a wealthy family, there was no need to worry about not finding a spouse even if they grew tired of a carefree life.

Ma Chun smiled and said, “I’ve done some calculations. It should cost around 1,400 to 1,500 taels of silver, so I arranged for two assistants to take her out of the city early this morning.”

“Well done!” Lin Dong patted Ma Chun’s shoulder and laughed. “I’m giving you a day off today. Go to the counter to get the silver and go wherever you want.”

“I doubt I can go now…” Ma Chun said with a wry smile. “If it were just about Yi Yi, I wouldn’t have come to see the owner. Everything’s already taken care of. The owner just needs to come out and let us know when.”

“Is there something else?” Lin Dong asked in surprise.

Ma Chun turned his head toward the front yard and nodded. “It’s those guests the owner received personally last night. That strangely behaving, arrogant butler, along with a bodyguard, came to the counter not long ago, saying they wanted to buy the colorful bed from the Sky Room and the recipe for stewing turtle with maple leaves. As soon as I refused, the bodyguard smashed the counter into powder with one slap.”

“Smashed it into powder?” Lin Dong was stunned. “Are you sure it turned to powder?”

Ma Chun nodded firmly. “At first, nothing happened after the slap, but in the blink of an eye, the entire counter turned to powder—not a single piece of wood left.”

Lin Dong was horrified. He could do that too—smash a counter with one slap. With Xiao Tianchi and Huo Yuan’s strength, it was also possible.

To turn a counter into powder with one slap… such strength must already be at the level of a powerhouse.

If they really tried to fight, aside from Old Ding, probably no one could deal with them.

But Old Ding was the inn’s trump card. According to Lin Dong’s plan, it would never be used unless the inn was in a life-or-death situation.

“Where are they now?” Lin Dong asked gravely.

“I was afraid they might be too violent, so I had to ask the owner first,” Ma Chun said helplessly. “After much persuasion, I got them to the front yard, and then I came to report back.”

“I’ll go take a look!” Lin Dong felt a headache coming on. If they used the inn system’s ability to expel people, combined with a joint attack by Xiao Tianchi and Huo Yuan, and if the bodyguard had just reached the level of a powerhouse, there might be a chance to defeat them one by one. The problem was, Huo Yuan and his disciples were all training in Xilan City, and Xiao Tianchi had returned to the Gu Huan Sect—there was no one available to help.

“Boss, we can’t go!” Ma Chun hurriedly stopped him. “That guard is too terrifying. Boss, think of a plan—let me handle it.”
Lin Dong shook his head. The recipes for the Colorful Bed and the Turtle Stew with Maple Leaves couldn’t be given away. If he went himself and things turned bad, he still had a chance to escape using his kicking ability. But if it were Ma Chun, he would surely die.
Seeing Ma Chun still arguing, Lin Dong waved his hand impatiently. “Enough. Go to the main hall through the back door right away and tell all the staff that no one is allowed to step outside the inn’s gates for now.”
Ma Chun nodded gloomily.
Lin Dong took a deep breath. The fact that this Lord Wang could afford two powerful guards meant his status must be extraordinary. Since he had his eye on the Colorful Bed and the Turtle Stew with Maple Leaves, things might go wrong—either the upgrade of the Colorful Bed would fail, or Old Ding’s trump card would be exposed.
He strode into the front yard and glanced at the entrance. By the stone table, Yang Shun was sitting with his legs crossed, sipping tea leisurely. Across from him was one of the guards he had seen the previous day, sitting upright with his eyes slightly closed, like a statue indifferent to the outside world.
“Butler Yang…” Lin Dong stopped about ten meters away from the stone table. Though he was looking at Yang Shun, his attention was entirely on the guard.
Yang Shun shifted his legs and said indifferently, “Go on. How much silver do you want?”
“How much silver?” Lin Dong pretended to be confused, tensing slightly as he activated the inn system, ready to defend against any sudden attack from the guard.
“The recipes for the Colorful Bed and the Turtle Stew with Maple Leaves. If their effects are as good as what the staff said and can last continuously, then be bold—multiply the price by ten.” Yang Shun glanced at Lin Dong with disdain. Talking from such a distance—was he planning to run if things went wrong? He was counting on the wrong horse.
“The effects can indeed last continuously, but…” Lin Dong pretended to be apologetic. “To be honest with you, Butler Yang, the Colorful Bed, including the guest rooms shaped like the character ‘Jia’ and the tables that charge a seat fee, have their unique effects because advanced spiritual arrays are installed in them. As just a small inn owner, how could I have such skills? They were set up by a highly skilled expert who passed by our inn. The recipe for the Turtle Stew with Maple Leaves was also taught by this expert. Moreover, he said that recipe must never be revealed to outsiders. So… I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, Butler Yang.”
“Is that so?” Yang Shun replied dismissively.

“Of course, if butler Yang doesn’t believe me, he can ask Lord Wang to try the Rainbow Bed again. Though I don’t understand how to set up spirit arrays, the senior master taught me how to activate and deactivate it before leaving,” Lin Dong said with a smile. “I’ll go back to the backyard later. All I need to do is deactivate the spirit array, and the Rainbow Bed will definitely lose its effect.”
Yang Shun frowned slightly. After studying it all morning, he was almost certain there were no arrays set up in the room related to the Rainbow Bed. But if it was possible to freely activate and deactivate its hypnotic effect, apart from spirit arrays, was there any other plausible explanation?
Seeing Yang Shun seem hesitant, Lin Dong continued, “The same goes for rooms labeled Class A and above, as well as tables that charge entry fees. The focal points of the spirit arrays are all in my room. Although the senior master strictly forbade me from taking anyone to see how to activate and deactivate them, if I can do these two things, I believe it will prove my words are true.”
“Even so, I suggest you set a price,” Yang Shun said coldly, gently swirling the tea in his cup. “You can either have the spirit array or the silver—just choose one of the two.”
“Of course, it’s my life,” Lin Dong replied without hesitation. “That senior master once warned me that the reason he set up spirit arrays in the inn was because these arrays were his latest creations, and he used the inn to test their effects. Although no one can break these arrays, if I let others study them casually, it would be ignoring his warning. When he returns, he will surely take my life.”
After a pause, Lin Dong added, “Between life and silver, life is obviously more important. Since the senior master can create such extraordinary spirit arrays, taking my life would be effortless for him.”
“It seems I need to let you know that even before that so-called senior master returns, you’re already in danger of losing your life,” Yang Shun said, setting down his cup with his fingers curled like orchid petals. His gaze at Lin Dong was as cold and heartless as that of a dead person.
Lin Dong was horrified. If he had gone this far in his warnings, it was almost as if he were explicitly stating that this senior master was a peak expert capable of setting up ninth-tier spirit arrays. Butler Yang was either stupid or unafraid of the revenge of a peak expert.
The possibility of him being stupid was almost zero. If he wasn’t afraid of a peak expert’s revenge, then that so-called Lord Wang was likely also a peak expert himself.
“Guard Liu, show this shopkeeper Lin what an insect really is!” Yang Shun said, fiddling with his long fingernails.
The guard slowly opened his eyes, propped his hands on the table, and stood up.
Hiss…
It was as if the table beneath his hands was made of tofu. As the guard turned to look at Lin Dong, the entire stone table silently turned to dust and collapsed.

In the blink of an eye, a pile of stone dust appeared between the two of them.
Lin Dong couldn’t help but take a few more steps back, staring intently at the guard’s deep eyes without blinking.
The guard surnamed Liu lifted his foot, and a strange scene unfolded—although the step wasn’t large or unusual, it instantly shortened the distance between them to five meters.
Lin Dong now understood the terror of a strong opponent; this guard’s speed was clearly beyond his own capabilities. If he really wanted to speed up, he could cover over ten meters in an instant. He was doing this merely to increase pressure on Lin Dong.
Seeing the opponent about to lift his left leg, Lin Dong didn’t hesitate and was about to silently utter the words to end it all, when suddenly a blue light appeared and, with a sharp sound, pierced in front of Guard Liu.
The blue sword hilt fluttered in the wind, and the sword itself, also blue in color, exuded a chilling aura that chilled the heart.
“Take one more step—or die!”
A voice as melodious as heaven’s, seemingly coming from the distant stars, faint and traceless…