Chapter 105: An Opportunity Appears

Lin Dong called out to Chen Yeyuan. He suddenly felt he couldn’t let Maple Forest Restaurant get away so easily.
Silently, an informant had appeared in his inn, forcing Maple Forest Restaurant to spend money on seventh-tier Wind Spirit Grass and Wanhong Fruits for nothing—far too cheap.
Perhaps this was actually an opportunity.
Fearing Lin Dong might change his mind, Chen Yeyuan turned around nervously.
Losing money or having a leg amputated were severe punishments, but still acceptable. After all, without money, life could go on; his family didn’t rely solely on him. A broken leg, though, meant relying on crutches for a year or so.
If Lin Dong changed his mind and wanted his life, he’d lose everything.
“Let me think more about it,” Lin Dong said, waving his hand with furrowed brows.
If Chen Yeyuan spread the false news that the ingredients were seventh-tier Wind Spirit Grass and Wanhong Fruits, Liu Chuanxiang would undoubtedly send people to Autumn Wind City to find these two rare materials.
The problem was, not to mention Autumn Wind City, even in Lingnan Prefecture or the capital, such materials wouldn’t be available on the market. Liu Chuanxiang’s loss would be only some manpower and travel expenses.
Even if Liu Chuanxiang knew someone from an alchemy sect and could somehow obtain Wind Spirit Grass and Wanhong Fruits, he wasn’t stupid. He’d buy only a small amount first and try to create Maple Tree Leaf Stewed Turtle soup to boost strength.
The result would undoubtedly be a failure, and Liu Chuanxiang would realize he’d been deceived.
Though seventh-tier rare materials were expensive, Maple Tree Leaf Stewed Turtle soup cost only two taels of silver per serving. The amount of these two materials needed per serving was minimal—there was no way to deceive Maple Forest Restaurant into believing one serving required a whole plant of Wind Spirit Grass and a Wanhong Fruit.
Selling something worth thousands of taels of silver for just two taels—who would believe it?
The required quantity had to stay within two taels. Buying ten or eight servings posed no problem at all.
He needed to plan carefully!
Lin Dong raised his head resolutely. Under Chen Yeyuan’s anxious gaze, he waved and said, “Go back first. I’ll contact you after I’ve thought it through. If you behave well, although betrayal of the inn must be punished, I might reward you based on your contributions.”
Chen Yeyuan’s worried heart settled. Overjoyed, he quickly nodded and left the room.
Lin Dong stared intently at the open door, constantly calculating how he could make up for this loss.

The turtle stewed with maple and phoenix tree leaves at Lin’s Inn can enhance physical strength due to the benefits of the medicinal recipe. Fortunately, there are indeed spiritual materials that can boost physical fitness. To make the maple and phoenix tree leaves worthwhile, they need to acquire such effective spiritual materials.

So far, Maple Forest Restaurant has spent nearly 60,000 taels of silver. If they can trick Liu Chuanxiang into buying tens of thousands of taels worth of such materials at once, it might give them a fatal blow.

Lin Dong refused to believe it. No matter how wealthy Maple Forest Restaurant was, a county-level restaurant could hardly afford 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver. Even with their high profits and control over all the wealthy customers in Xilan City, it would take eight to ten years to recoup that amount—definitely not worth it.

A spark of inspiration struck Lin Dong. If Maple Forest Restaurant failed, why would Huang Wanren bother buying land to build another restaurant? Wouldn’t it be better to simply take over Maple Forest Restaurant? This way, they could save at least a month or two on the upgrade tasks.

If he could reach an agreement with Huang Wanren to let him buy a restaurant first and then start competing with Maple Forest Restaurant for clients, it would put significant pressure on Maple Forest Restaurant and make Liu Chuanxiang more eager to fall for the trap. As a result, the upgrade tasks could be completed even earlier.

As his thoughts became clearer after much deliberation, Lin Dong stood up and left his room, heading to the door where the disciples of the Ancient Huan Sect were practicing. After knocking a few times, the door creaked open. It was Xiao Munan, Xiao Tianchi’s second disciple.

Seeing that everyone was still practicing and hadn’t stopped because of the knocking, Lin Dong said softly, “Could I ask Elder Huo to come out for a moment? I have something to ask him.”

“Wait a moment, Manager Lin. I’ll go wake up the Grand Elder right away,” said Xiao Munan, nodding politely and bowing before waking up Huo Yuan, who was practicing.

After bringing Huo Yuan into the room and pouring him a glass of water, Lin Dong asked, “Elder Huo, I’ve asked you to come here because I’d like to inquire if there are any high-grade spiritual materials that can enhance one’s physical strength when taken alone. At market price, just one or two taels worth would be needed. The effects might not be very obvious, but it should still make one feel that their physical strength has improved somewhat.”

“There are no less than a hundred kinds of spiritual materials that can enhance physical strength when taken alone, but the higher-tier ones are priceless and unavailable in the market. If we were to measure them in silver, just one or two taels would only buy some scraps…” Huo Yuan’s already dark expression grew even darker as he frowned and recalled for a moment before saying, “The Gu Huan Sect is not a medicine-making sect, so I’m not very familiar with spiritual materials. From what I remember, there are only two kinds that meet these requirements: the fifth-tier Bai Ren Grass and the sixth-tier Fen Qing Fruit. Taking a small amount of either can enhance physical strength, but the more you take, the worse the effect.”

“Which of these, Bai Ren Grass or Fen Qing Fruit, can be bought in Autumn Wind City?” Lin Dong asked.

“Apart from a few rare spiritual materials that aren’t used much in medicine, higher-tier ones are generally not available in the market. However… these two herbs might not be found in the pharmacies of Autumn Wind City, but some nearby alchemy sects should have stock of them. Especially Bai Ren Grass, which is one of the ingredients in hundreds of potions, so alchemy sects usually keep quite a supply of it. As long as one is willing to exchange it for spiritual stones of higher value, it should be possible to obtain it. As for Fen Qing Fruit, there aren’t many types of potions that can be made from it, and unless it’s a large sect, they won’t have much in stock, making it more difficult to exchange.”

Lin Dong nodded. “How heavy is a single plant of Bai Ren Grass? How much spiritual stone is it worth roughly?”

“How heavy?” Huo Yuan hesitated for a moment before answering, “According to the spiritual materials catalog, Bai Ren Grass is more than ten times heavier than ordinary grasses—about five or six taels. Under normal exchange conditions, about a hundred first-tier spiritual stones would suffice.”

Lin Dong looked thoughtful. At market price, a hundred first-tier spiritual stones equaled a hundred taels of silver. Even if Liu Chuanxiang could buy cheaper spiritual stones, adding the cost of exchange, the price for one plant would likely be close to a hundred taels.

If one plant weighed five taels, that meant one qian required two taels of silver. Considering the possibility of getting cheaper Bai Ren Grass, using one qian worth of it should not arouse Liu Chuanxiang’s suspicion.

“Elder Huo, what’s the efficacy of one qian worth of Bai Ren Grass?” Lin Dong asked.

Huo Yuan shook his head. “Unless some herbs that can enhance its efficacy are added, the effect isn’t significant.”

“What herbs are needed?” Lin Dong asked urgently.

Huo Yuan thought Lin Dong wanted to strengthen his physique, so he explained in detail, “Adding these four herbs—Plantago seed, tangerine peel, Poria, and licorice—should make the effects more noticeable. But these are ordinary herbs. While they can enhance the efficacy of Bai Ren Cao, they will also significantly reduce its maximum effectiveness. In other words, if taking just one plant of Bai Ren Cao already has no effect, adding these herbs might mean that even half a plant will no longer work. Although this can save a lot of Bai Ren Cao, the improvement in physique will be less compared to taking it alone.”
Lin Dong had already made up his mind—the bait to deal a fatal blow to Fenglin Restaurant would be this Bai Ren Cao! After asking about the proportions of the four herbs and asking Huo Yuan to help obtain some Bai Ren Cao as soon as possible, and after inquiring about the progress of Xiao Tianchi’s efforts to collect Wind Spirit Grass with no news yet, Lin Dong sent Huo Yuan out of the room and headed straight to the lobby.