Chapter 237: Succeeding in Provoking Conflict

As his eyes gradually adapted, Lin Dong looked around. The secret chamber was at least four to five thousand square meters in size, completely empty. In the distance, a faint colored light and a hint of pink could be seen.
Lin Dong instinctively raised his foot to go take a closer look, but Yun Lan grabbed his arm.
“There are spirit arrays and traps—stay still.”
After giving that warning, Yun Lan stepped forward slowly. Her blue sword appeared silently, and the next moment, a streak of blue light shot out. Wherever it passed, crossbow arrows and purple flames intertwined, and suddenly, a surge of powerful spiritual energy rose throughout the room, rushing toward the two of them. In a blur, a strange pattern hovered in the center.
A bright glow surged in front of Yun Lan, shielding her and Lin Dong. The overwhelming spiritual energy swept in with unstoppable force, while the sharp arrows and fierce purple flames suddenly turned, like small sailboats in a storm, covering everything beneath them.
Boom!
The entire secret chamber shook violently. Against such powerful spiritual energy, the weak glow seemed utterly insignificant, like a piece of paper in a hurricane. Yet the moment they touched, it became like an impenetrable wall—no matter how the spiritual energy struck, it remained a solid shield in front of the two of them.
The blue sword, like a nimble snake, darted through the waves of spiritual energy. In the blink of an eye, it reached the end of the room. With a whoosh, as it moved, the blue light mixed with traces of dark black and pink hues.
In the next blink, the blue sword returned under Yun Lan’s control. On its blade was a round, pink spiritual pill, smooth and tempting, emitting an alluring fragrance. At the tip of the sword lay a square piece of dark black stone. Though most of its light was covered by the sword’s glow, its uniqueness was still evident at a glance.
“Let’s go!” After storing the blue sword, the Xuanling Stone, and the spiritual pill in her storage ring, Yun Lan grabbed an ordinary spiritual sword with one hand and placed the other on Lin Dong’s shoulder. Taking advantage of a lull in the waves of spiritual energy, they soared into the sky.
“What an impressive display!” Back above, Lin Dong was still shaken. Those massive waves made him finally understand what it meant to be truly astonishing.
“It will get even more intense later. This is a sixth-tier spirit array. I deliberately activated it—people from the Ningji Sect should arrive soon.” Yun Lan took out a set of loose black clothes and put them on. After Lin Dong hurriedly put on some clothes as well, she led him away while explaining, “Don’t intervene later. With just the Ethereal Step, no one will realize you’re not a sixth-tier spirit array master.”
Lin Dong nodded.

After leaving the Treasure Pavilion and quickly exiting the playground, Yun Lan set down Lin Dong, and the two retreated toward the outskirts of the Ningji Sect at the fastest speed possible. Shouts of battle echoed behind them, and at the sect gate, over a dozen disciples of the Ningji Sect rushed forward with swords in hand. Yun Lan raised her spiritual sword, twisted her wrist lightly, and the sword tip instantly turned into countless stars that rushed toward the disciples. Faced with such powerful spiritual energy and the threat of death, the disciples immediately raised their swords to defend themselves. With loud clangs, they staggered back, while Yun Lan and Lin Dong suddenly turned into two dark shadows and swiftly fled through the gates of the Ningji Sect. “Chase them!” The disciples waved their spiritual swords and quickly pursued. Inside the secret room, Fang Shijin stared at the mess all around, furious. Behind him, several elders looked pale with shock. The Kunqing Dan and Xuanling Stones had been stolen! “Notify all disciples—stop them at all costs!” Fang Shijin roared suddenly, his veins bulging on his forehead. His fierce expression scared the elders into retreating. Moments later, dazzling fireworks burst in the sky above the Treasure Pavilion. The disciples of the Ningji Sect glanced at them, then were filled with terror. The pattern formed by the fireworks was clearly the reverse side of a huge sect leader’s decree. Its meaning was clear: a major incident had occurred within the sect, and all disciples must stop any suspicious individuals at any cost, without mercy! In an instant, the three thousand disciples of the Ningji Sect moved as one. Lin Dong and Yun Lan, having just left the sect, were soon spotted by disciples coming from all directions. Fighting their way backward, they broke through numerous encirclements under Yun Lan’s dominance and headed toward the peak in the dark night. The pursuing disciples were overjoyed—once they blocked their path, just a little further forward would lead to a sheer cliff. When Fang Shijin arrived later and heard the disciples’ descriptions, his heart sank. Especially after hearing about the strength of the thieves, a ominous feeling spread through him, bringing deep coldness and intense anger to his heart. The wind howled as two figures stood calmly atop the peak, looking down at the hundreds of pursuers below. “Who dares steal from my Ningji Sect?” Fang Shijin stepped forward quickly, pushing the disciples aside rudely, and glared at Yun Lan and Lin Dong, wrapped in black clothes. “Hand over the Kunqing Dan and Xuanling Stones, and I might spare your lives. Otherwise, don’t blame me for reducing you to ashes.”

Yun Lan took out the Kun Qing Dan, holding it in her hand. Her hoarse voice carried a terrifying cackle: “Fang Shijin, even at this moment, you still have the nerve to threaten and intimidate. You want the Kun Qing Dan and the Xuan Ling Stone, right? Here, I’ll return your Kun Qing Dan first.”
Fang Shijin was about to speak when bursts of pink light drifted down, like pink meteors, plunging everyone into a dreamlike state.
“Kun Qing Dan… it’s the Kun Qing Dan.” Fang Shijin stretched out his right arm, instinctively trying to block the pink light from spreading.
“He… he destroyed the Kun Qing Dan…” The elders’ voices were filled with panic and tremor. The sect’s most precious treasure, passed down for six or seven hundred years, had been destroyed right before their eyes.
Smelling the strong medicinal scent, Lin Dong couldn’t help but lick his lips. This was an eighth-tier spiritual pill. Though its effect was only to assist strong individuals in overcoming their final obstacle to reach the pinnacle of strength, he didn’t need it for now. Yet, seeing it turned to powder still filled him with regret.
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
Fang Shijin suddenly raised his spiritual sword, his rage and hatred transforming into a blinding light that shot toward the mountain peak.
Yun Lan and Lin Dong quietly turned around and leaped downward, plunging into the deep, dark cliffs.
A strong wind rushed past their ears. The next moment, Lin Dong felt his body stabilize as Yun Lan caught him in her arms.
In the blink of an eye, the scene rushed past as Yun Lan, holding Lin Dong, sped along the cliff face. Whenever their balance was disrupted, she would wave her hand, and the spiritual sword would transform into a beam of light beneath their feet, allowing them to speed up again.
In moments, the two had already fled hundreds of meters away along the cliff.
Looking down from the cliff, Fang Shijin saw only darkness and abyss that filled him with deep fear.
“They ran away! They just ran away!”
When the elders reached the mountain top, all they could hear was Fang Shijin’s muttered curses.
Soon, a thunderous roar erupted on the summit.
“It’s the Xing Li Sect. Only the Xing Li Sect has such a deep grudge against us. Only they have the strength to hire an eighth-tier spiritual array master. Only they could plan to set up a fallback plan, and only they would deliberately destroy the Kun Qing Dan in front of us…”
His frenzied roars made the mountains tremble, and all the disciples of the Ning Ji Sect gritted their teeth, filled with hatred.
As the hatred of the Ning Ji Sect grew, Lin Dong and Yun Lan had already begun retreating toward the foot of Qing Mei Mountain.
Everything went smoothly. When Lin Dong returned to the inn, he hadn’t even had time to share the good news with Xiao Tianchi and You Yin Xiang. As soon as he stepped through the door, Ma Chun rushed up with what he thought was good news.

“Boss, the details of the merchant association are almost finalized.”
Lin Dong was initially stunned, but he didn’t show the same joy as Ma Chun.
It wasn’t for another reason—he didn’t believe it.
“It’s true,” Ma Chun said urgently. “News came from Fenglin Restaurant a couple of days ago—the disputes in the court are gradually subsiding. Minister Wang of the eunuch faction has agreed to the proposal of Marquis Zhennan from the outer factions. After the various expenses of the merchant association are calculated, the major merchants can negotiate to cover them, with no less than 500 merchants per county and 100 per prefecture. It will be done once a year, with prices determined by these major merchants. Additionally, merchant association oversight committees will be established in each county and prefecture, with the county-level heads being of the third rank and the prefecture-level heads of the fifth rank.”
Lin Dong frowned. “Has an imperial edict already been issued to establish the merchant association immediately?”
“Not yet,” Ma Chun shook his head and explained. “The positions in the oversight committees are of high rank and come with substantial benefits, so naturally, everyone wants them. Fortunately, the two major factions controlling the government have reached an agreement, and the positions for these committee heads should already be allocated. Of course, it takes some time for subordinates to use gifts to influence who gets these positions. I think another half month should be enough.”
Lin Dong felt overwhelmed. Since both major factions had reached an agreement, the establishment of the merchant association seemed inevitable. But he still felt it couldn’t be that simple. If it could be finalized in half a month, an imperial edict could be issued in one or two months.
Once the edict was issued, even if the merchant association was postponed until next year, with the connections of the major restaurants and the push from other major merchants to reap quick profits, it would be possible to set prices on a trial basis in Qiufeng City.
With one or two months and the financial strength of the major restaurants, a 10% discount would be enough to get them through.
Even those restaurants with weaker foundations that had to close could take this opportunity to reopen. After all, it was only a few months, and their names weren’t completely forgotten by the wealthy merchants.
This meant Fenglin Restaurant’s grand plan had completely failed.
Lin Dong wasn’t sure if Fenglin Restaurant could influence the two major factions, but he knew that the total loss for all Fenglin Restaurants across the Great Han Empire this time was definitely not a small amount. Such a huge cost with no benefits at all simply didn’t make sense.
“Is there any movement from Fenglin Restaurant?” Lin Dong asked.
Ma Chun sneered. “They’ve already raised prices to 40% for copper cards and 30% for silver cards.”
Lin Dong remained silent. Fenglin Restaurant’s price hike confirmed that the plan was unworkable, but he still felt it couldn’t be that simple.
Could the problem lie with the candidates for these oversight committee heads?

Lin Dong’s mind suddenly cleared. If the backing force behind Maple Forest Tavern was one of these two parties, even a slight delay could last months. The quotas had already been assigned; this was just speculation from outsiders. Lin Dong smiled bitterly, hoping he was wrong. If so, the tavern’s business could return to normal sooner. But if he was right, it would be increasingly unlikely for things to return to normal before the tavern reached level six.