Chapter 154: The Actions of Wanbin Tower
The tender flesh and sweet juice filled his mouth the moment he took a bite. After chewing a few times, Lin Dong swallowed it down forcefully. The flesh and juice immediately turned into a warm current that flowed toward his abdomen, invigorating his spirit. He smacked his lips—the lingering flavor was unforgettable. Without bothering to savor it further, Lin Dong quickly devoured most of the remaining Qinglan fruits.
After a short while, the warm current began to spread throughout his meridians. In just a moment, hundreds of meridians in his body were filled with this warm flow. Taking a deep breath, Lin Dong closed his eyes, cleared his mind of distractions, and directed his will. Spiritual energy rapidly flowed from his dantian into the meridians and began to circulate swiftly. As the spiritual energy moved through the meridians, external spiritual energy seemed to be drawn in through his skin and slowly entered the meridians. The spiritual stones on his legs also gradually released more concentrated spiritual energy, which entered the meridians as well.
After one cycle, when the spiritual energy returned to the dantian, Lin Dong felt its strength had increased significantly compared to before. Examining the meridians through which the energy had flowed, he noticed the warm current had weakened slightly. Yet soon, the warm currents in other meridians flowed toward these ones, quickly restoring balance. Lin Dong focused his mind again, guiding more spiritual energy into the meridians for rapid circulation.
Two cycles, three cycles, four cycles… As the practice continued, the effects of the Qinglan fruits became more pronounced. Comparing the increase in spiritual energy after 36 cycles, Lin Dong was overjoyed—the increase was more than ten times greater than before taking the fruits. At this rate, it would take no more than five days, or at most seven days, to reach the seventh level of the Lingdong Phase.
The rapid increase in spiritual energy filled Lin Dong with ecstasy, leaving no room in his mind for anything other than cultivation. All he thought about was practicing, constantly practicing. He reached the seventh level of the Lingdong Phase half a day earlier than the predicted five days. In just four and a half days, Lin Dong officially entered the seventh level. During these four and a half days, aside from going out to eat generously every day, he didn’t waste a moment. The thrill of rapidly enhancing his strength made him want to keep growing like this forever. The only regret was that the warm current in his meridians had thinned considerably, now only about half as strong as when he first took the fruits.
Having broken through to the seventh level of the Lingdong Phase, he needed to register his realm at the Military Testing Institute and obtain Spirit Gathering Pills from Ren Qingsong. Although Lin Dong was somewhat reluctant, he had no choice but to leave and travel to Xilan City via the Transport Gate. As for registering his realm, given his relationship with Ren Qingsong, it wouldn’t be a problem to register together at the eighth level of the Lingdong Phase, but he still had to get the Spirit Gathering Pills. There was no other way—after consuming the Qinglan Fruit, although his breakthrough time was shortened by nearly two months, the consumption of Spirit Gathering Pills also accelerated. To maintain his cultivation speed, he needed all three things: a four-fold cultivation boost, Spirit Gathering Pills, and spirit stones. With the Qinglan Fruit and the doubled cultivation boost, Lin Dong’s breakthrough to the seventh level of the Lingdong Phase happened miraculously three months faster than expected. Upon hearing this, Ren Qingsong was overjoyed. Whether Lin Dong’s claim of accidentally obtaining a spiritual fruit was true or not, for him, advancing his status three months earlier was more important than anything else. With the Spirit Gathering Pills sufficient to help him reach the eighth level of the Lingdong Phase in hand, Lin Dong didn’t care about anything else and rushed back to Qiufeng City without delay. “Shopkeeper…” As soon as Lin Dong opened the door, a shout came from behind him. Turning around, he saw Ma Chun approaching quickly, looking somewhat anxious. “Is there trouble at Yingfeng Tower or Keli Restaurant?” Lin Dong asked, puzzled. Ma Chun shook his head and said indignantly, “It’s Wanbin Tower.” “Wanbin Tower?” Lin Dong was slightly surprised. Even if the large restaurants in the north of the city were causing trouble, or even if Fenglin Restaurant was using price cuts to suppress competitors, it shouldn’t affect Wanbin Tower’s business. Unless someone new took charge, Wanbin Tower was just a tool for the Peng family to accept gifts. Ma Chun nodded and said, “You could say it’s the Peng family.” “What exactly happened?” Lin Dong grew impatient with Ma Chun’s hesitation. “It’s like this…” Ma Chun organized his thoughts and explained, “This morning, the employee sent to Qiantong Street to buy spiritual beast materials reported that every hunter and pharmacy selling such materials along the street refused to sell to us after seeing that we were from Lin’s Inn. Upon inquiry, we found out it was the third young master of the Peng family who ordered it—anyone who dared sell materials to Lin’s Inn would be considered opposing the Peng family. I sent employees to pharmacies outside Qiantong Street, and none of them were willing to sell either.” “Have you found out why?” Lin Dong asked sternly.
Ma Chun shook his head. “I searched all morning but found nothing. Besides, I went to Yingfeng Tower to see Peng Tianan, the person in charge of Wanbin Tower. He was rude and didn’t even bother to talk to me. He just said he disliked Lin’s Inn and challenged me to cut off Wanbin Tower’s supply of spirit beast meat if I dared.”
Lin Dong smiled. Truly befitting the third young master of one of the seven major families in Qiufeng City—his words were full of dominance. After pondering for a moment, Lin Dong decided, “If Wanbin Tower hasn’t sent anyone to cause trouble at the inn, we can ignore them for now. How much spirit beast material do we still have in stock?”
“Only enough for two or three days,” Ma Chun replied helplessly.
“No problem. I’ll talk to Master Xiao later. His storage ring contains a lot of spirit beast material, which should be enough for the inn to last over half a month,” Lin Dong continued. “So, go arrange for people to go to Xilan City to fetch more spirit beast material. I’ll go see Master Xiao. Once you’ve made the arrangements, you can go straight to him for the material.”
“Owner, are we just giving up on Wanbin Tower’s issue?” Ma Chun asked anxiously.
“If Wanbin Tower keeps pushing their limits, I’ll visit Qingmei Mountain when I have time!” Lin Dong was resigned. When Ma Chun mentioned Yingfeng Tower, he already understood why Peng Tianan acted that way. Neither Wanbin Tower nor the Peng family had any conflicts of interest with Lin’s Inn. Peng Tianan’s actions were undoubtedly instigated by Yingchunhua.
With that foolish Peng Tianan, Yingchunhua probably manipulated Yi Yi to get him to act rashly. The spirit beast material produced by Guhuan Mountain could easily meet the needs of Xilan City and Lin’s Inn in Qiufeng City. If the supply from Qiufeng City was cut off, they could simply import it from Xilan City. Although there would be extra shipping costs, the price of spirit beast material in Qiufeng City was much higher than that from the Guhuan Sect, so the cost wouldn’t increase much.
The only problem was the frustration of having to swallow this insult. Lin Dong wasn’t someone who would stay silent after being bullied, but for such a trivial matter, it wasn’t worth risking exposing Guhuan Sect’s secret weapon by sending them to negotiate with the Peng family.
The only remaining option was to go to Qingmei Mountain and ask Liu Lixiong, the interim patriarch of their sect, to pressure the Peng family. The problem was, Lin Dong didn’t have the time right now—traveling to and from Qingmei Mountain would take at least two or three days. Without the fourfold cultivation boost, the medicinal effects of the Blue-Green Fruit wouldn’t be maximized. If he didn’t cultivate, the medicine wouldn’t be wasted, but losing two or three days of cultivation time was also not worth it.
Fortunately, the relationship between Lin Ji Inn and Li Jiancheng is well-known throughout the neighborhood. Even Peng Tianan and the entire Peng family, if they’re not afraid of Li Jiancheng, won’t resort to extreme measures, so it doesn’t matter to take things slow.