Chapter 326: Flying Snowflakes

They parted in the corridor. After Yun Lan returned to her room to practice, Lin Dong carried the large iron cage containing the eagle beast bird to the room on the far right.
Unlike the other rooms, the door to this room was several times wider. At first glance, aside from being slightly shorter in height, it resembled the entrance to a nobleman’s mansion.
Upon opening the door, the room was about forty square meters wide and roughly five meters high. It was empty except for a furry giant lion about two meters tall nestled in a corner. Across from the lion’s head, a member of the guard team was stroking its head with one hand while idly picking his nose with the other.
This giant lion was the Level 7 Wudun Beast that Lin Dong had obtained along the way. Undoubtedly, this room served as the inn’s breeding area.
Perhaps hearing the door open, the guard turned to look toward the entrance. Seeing Lin Dong, he froze instantly, pulling his finger from his nose as if shocked.
“M-Master…” The guard spoke awkwardly and anxiously.
Lin Dong shook his head smilingly, set down the large iron cage, and took out the eagle beast bird. After unlocking the chains around it, he activated the inn’s system and designated this room as the location for the stables as well.
He first enabled the eagle beast bird’s self-healing ability and set its growth rate to 100 times normal. Only then did he turn to the guard: “Liang Zhi, just like with the Wudun Beast, keep stroking its body with one hand while ensuring it can see you.”
The guard named Liang Zhi nodded eagerly. After Lin Dong moved the eagle beast bird in front of him and adjusted its head position, he placed his free left hand on the bird’s head and moved it slowly. His right hand continued to stroke the Wudun Beast’s head.
“I’m a bit tired. After this period, I’ll give you time off,” Lin Dong said with a smile, using his usual and simple method of comfort.
Liang Zhi grinned and shook his head. “I’m not tired.”
“Alright, then I’m leaving.”
Lin Dong nodded and left the breeding area. With the stables’ self-healing ability, even severe injuries of the eagle beast bird could be healed. With its growth rate increased by 100 times and Liang Zhi constantly stroking it, just one day was equivalent to Liang Zhi stroking it continuously for 100 days. After a few days, not to mention a Level 5 spirit bird, even a Level 9 spirit beast—unless it was an abnormal one naturally reclusive and aloof—would likely not be able to resist such closeness, recognizing Liang Zhi as its master or considering him its closest companion.

As long as Liang Zhi was recognized as the leader, it wasn’t difficult for him to order the eagle-beast birds or the Unavoidable Beasts to go out and do something with just a word. Leaving the breeding pen, Lin Dong immediately returned to his room to practice. For two consecutive days, the preparations for the promotion were carried out in an orderly manner—mountains of promotional materials, platforms built in the training ground, and the Lin’s Gymnasium being arranged… On the afternoon of the third day, Qiao Tianhao and Cheng Bao, who had been sent out, finally returned. Each of them was dragging behind them a giant eagle-beast bird with its head drooped. Early in the morning two days later, Lin Dong opened his door early. The large backyard was already filled with people who had arrived earlier than him—Ma Chun, Qiao Tianhao, Cheng Bao… Almost everyone who was qualified to be in the backyard was there. Lin Dong was the last to arrive. Of course, this excluded the two people unrelated to this matter, Old Ding and Yun Lan. Besides these people, three majestic eagle-beast birds also stood below the corridor. At the command of Liang Zhi and another member of the guard team, the three eagle-beast birds stood upright obediently, lowering their heads and tucking their long beaks into their brown feathers. Their gentle demeanor was in stark contrast to the fierce aura they emitted. “Boss, everything is ready,” Ma Chun stepped forward and said. “Good. Ma Chun, Xiao Liu, Shou Zhugan, Wang Hao, you’re in charge of the four training grounds. Zhang Ye and Sanjiaoyan, you’ll handle the Lin’s Gymnasium and the acquisition tasks,” Lin Dong glanced at Qiao Tianhao and Cheng Bao before slowly saying, “Get on the birds!” Qiao Tianhao and Cheng Bao bent their legs and leaped, landing steadily on the backs of the eagle-beast birds. Lin Dong, being more discreet, moved swiftly to another eagle-beast bird, grabbed its feathers, and climbed up. A sharp, shrill cry suddenly rang out. Liang Zhi and another guard member immediately gave an order, and the three eagle-beast birds quickly quieted down. The two ordered them to obey Lin Dong and the other two, and since these were all fifth-tier spirit birds with considerable intelligence, they clearly understood the orders, responding with low chirps. “Take off!” Lin Dong grabbed a tuft of soft feathers at the back of the eagle-beast bird’s neck and applied slight force. The bird’s wings instantly spread out, reaching two or three meters in length in an instant, before it flapped hard downward. A howling gust of wind swept down, and stone blocks the size of fists flew everywhere like cannonballs. The eagle-beast bird under Lin Dong’s feet rose rapidly thanks to the force of the wind.

A faint smile curled at Lin Dong’s lips. Excluding its wings, this eagle-beast bird was about one-third smaller than a horse. He had originally worried that having someone stand on its back would prevent it from flying for long periods or significantly reduce its speed. That was why he had asked about the carrying capacity of the Yunlan Eagle-Beast Bird earlier. Now it seemed his concerns were unfounded.

Raising itself rapidly by over ten meters with ease, carrying a weight of more than a hundred pounds posed no real problem for the eagle-beast bird. At the very least, it could support such a load for a whole day without issue.

Soon, Qiao Tianhao and Cheng Bao also controlled their eagle-beast birds to fly up.

With a gentle breeze in their ears, Lin Dong waved his right hand and said, “Follow the route we agreed on earlier. I’ll be in the middle, and you two on either side. Let’s split up and move separately.”

The two nodded, pulled the bird feathers in their hands, and ordered their eagle-beast birds to change direction and take off.

Lin Dong then glanced at the area below and pointed to an arrow tower about a kilometer to the left of the city gate with his left hand, shouting, “Fly over there!”

The eagle-beast bird flapped its wings violently, its body instantly transforming into a sharp arrow that shot in the direction Lin Dong indicated. At such speed, although Lin Dong had activated his energy shield to easily withstand the fierce wind, the sound in his ears was as loud as thunder, causing his eardrums to ache. Only after channeling spiritual energy into his ears did the pain subside.

Upon reaching near the arrow tower, Lin Dong kicked the bird’s back and shouted again, “Ascend!”

The eagle-beast bird rose rapidly, climbing two or three hundred meters in an instant. Looking down, the landscape below had shrunk dramatically. Without using spiritual energy to enhance his vision, it would be impossible to tell which areas were streets and which were residential houses.

After sensing the wind direction slightly and adjusting the eagle-beast bird’s position, Lin Dong pointed forward with confidence and said, “Let’s go!”

The eagle-beast bird flew swiftly. Lin Dong opened his left hand, and a swollen snake-skin bag appeared instantly in his palm. With a gentle push, he caught the bottom of the bag as it flipped over.

From the open mouth of the bag, stacks of flyers poured out. In the blink of an eye, they all fell out, causing the once-swollen bag to instantly deflate and tremble in the strong wind.

Looking down again, the falling flyers spread out, one after another, like white snowflakes drifting down to the ground. It resembled a vast white ocean, constantly rolling and surging.

“Mom, mom… It’s snowing! Heavy snow… Such heavy snow…”

On the bustling street, a little boy who was rolling on the ground, insisting on eating candied haws, stopped and started shouting loudly. His dirty little hands and his dark penis visible through his open pants both pointed at the sky filled with flying white snowflakes.

Next to him, a woman wearing a cloth dress and carrying a basket full of groceries, trying to lift the little boy, instinctively looked up at the sky upon hearing his words. Instantly, the impatience on her face vanished, replaced by extreme surprise. The sky, as the little boy had said, was indeed filled with countless snowflakes drifting down. And just as he said, the snow was very heavy. At a glance, under the rising sun, it resembled a truly extraordinary sight.

“The sun is out, and it’s snowing!”

Not far away, a middle-aged man who heard the little boy’s shouting couldn’t help but look up at the sky as well. He widened his eyes in astonishment and exclaimed.

As if drawn by some force, the pedestrians around them also looked up at the sky. This astonishing behavior prompted even more people nearby to curiously raise their heads.

Word spread quickly—within moments, over 90% of the people on the street were looking up.

“It’s not snow… it seems like… paper pieces?”

Finally, as the snowflakes got closer, a man with sharp eyes called out.

“That’s right, it looks like paper pieces. How could so many pieces of paper fall from the sky?”

“Yes! How can they fall from the sky? Could it be that the wind blew them up there and then brought them down?”

“I wonder which antique shop is so unlucky. They must have tried to take out their ancient books to dry them from moths, but then a strong wind blew them all into the sky.”

“It might not even be ancient books from an antique shop. Maybe… the vault of a bank had its roof blown off, and the banknotes were blown away…”

“Joking. Which bank could have that many banknotes? Even if all the banks in the city were robbed, there wouldn’t be that many.”

“That’s true…”

Amidst countless guesses, the flyers gradually began to descend. Anyone who reached out could pick one up. Looking down, four bold characters caught everyone’s attention: Lin’s Inn! Opening soon—welcome! Below that were detailed lists of Lin’s Inn’s various advantages. Further down were descriptions of the activities taking place in the four training grounds. These activities were divided into three categories and took place continuously throughout the morning and afternoon, accessible at any time.

These three items are: first, the display of the VIP cards from Linji Inn; second, competitions such as moving forward and jumping under strong winds using Lingshi Fans; third, the selection process for qualifying to participate in various events at Linji Gymnasium. Although some Lingshi Fans and VIP cards have made their way into Lingnan City, most are in the hands of super-rich families and those with business ties in Qiufeng City. For ordinary people and most ordinary families, these VIP cards from Linji Inn and Lingshi Fans are something they’ve heard of for the first time. The functions of these items are enough to astonish them greatly. As for what a gymnasium is, not only ordinary people and ordinary families, but even super-rich families and most of the staff at Linji Inn have likely never heard of it. However, most people are aware of the competitions held there—competitions to see who can run fastest, who is best at fighting, who is skilled at playing bouncy balls, and who is best at archery. Aside from many people not being familiar with bouncy ball competitions, the other three types of competitions are not unfamiliar, as similar contests take place among various academies. The only thing that’s hard to understand is the prize money for these competitions. It seems to be excessively high. There are prizes at every stage—preliminaries, eliminations, and finals—and the span is just one year. The first-place prize alone amounts to 10,000 taels of silver, while the second and third places receive 5,000 and 3,000 taels of silver respectively. Roughly calculated, the total prize money for all four competitions amounts to no less than 100,000 taels of silver. 100,000 taels of silver per year is equivalent to the annual income of a super-rich family. Is it really going to be wasted like this? No one can understand the purpose of Linji Gymnasium—is it similar to an opera house, charging entry fees? With such prize amounts, the risk of losing money is quite high. Soon, some people decided to go to the nearby training ground to take a look. With VIP cards, Lingshi Fans, and the selection process for Linji Gymnasium, it would be a shame not to go and see what’s going on. The streets were crowded, with over 99% of the crowd heading toward the training ground. In the sky, Lin Dong held a series of bulging snake-skin bags, from which promotional flyers kept falling into the one-third area under his responsibility. From the east side of the city to the north side, at Lin Dong’s command, the eagle-beast bird turned sharply and flew about 100 meters to the right before, under his direction, flying swiftly back toward the east. The snake-skin bags reappeared, and more flyers, like snowflakes, drifted in the wind once again. These three eagle-beast birds, all warriors above the Mental State stage, along with the mountains of promotional flyers stored in their mobile counters or spirit rings, created a storm in Lingnan City that set the entire city ablaze with excitement.

Ninety-nine percent of people had no idea how those flyers had ended up in the air, and given their overwhelming quantity, the shock they caused was evident. A few knew that someone might have used spirit birds to drop them, but even they were astonished by the sheer number of these terrifying flyers.

Everyone, from ordinary citizens and wealthy families to the warriors of Lingnan City, was stunned by the flyers falling from the sky.

Throughout Lingnan City, whether on rooftops, in courtyards, or on streets and alleys, Lin Ji Inn’s flyers were everywhere, like stars dotting the dark night sky.

East of the city, north of the city, east again, north again, east again, north again… The eagle-beast birds flew back and forth tirelessly, while Lin Dong, with his legs stuck to the bird’s back, kept pouring out snake-skin bags without rest.

By noon, only one-fifth of the snake-skin bags in the mobile counter remained, and the entire area under his control had been covered with flyers.

It took one or two more hours than Lin Dong had expected. Compared to the campaign to capture Qiufeng City, spreading flyers throughout the entire city was more than ten times harder, yet the time taken was more than ten times shorter. The difference was significant, and the credit naturally went to the eagle-beast birds.

After some thought, Lin Dong channeled spiritual energy into his eyes and looked down, spotting an open area covered in countless tiny black dots. He kicked the bird’s back and pointed in the direction with his left hand, “Go down!”

The eagle-beast bird descended diagonally, like a small plane, toward the open area. On its back, Lin Dong’s legs remained firmly attached, keeping his body straight no matter how steep the angle became.

The open area grew rapidly in his view, and in the blink of an eye, he recognized it as the training ground east of the city.

In just a few breaths, the eagle-beast bird reached the rooftops surrounding the training ground, at a height of only about ten meters.

“Go back!”

To prevent anyone from guessing the method used by Lin Ji Inn for this campaign and to maintain the mystery surrounding the inn, the eagle-beast birds couldn’t appear in public view. After giving the order, Lin Dong leaped as the bird turned back toward the inn.

Ten meters wasn’t a problem for Lin Dong at all.

Spiritual energy surged to his upper body, allowing his body to float gently downward.

The moment his feet lightly touched the roof, Lin Dong gently pushed off with the tip of his right foot, and his body, like a nimble swallow, flew downward toward the alley below. Emerging from the alley and turning the corner, the crowded training ground came into view. Pushing his way inside, he activated his spiritual energy shield—making even the most crowded places no problem for him. Soon, he made his way to the nearest platform. The platform was built of pine wood, about two meters high and covering roughly 200 square meters. Above the platform, spirit stone fans of various sizes were neatly arranged, their blades spinning rapidly inside iron enclosures. The different sizes of the spirit stone fans produced varying wind forces, and in front of each fan hung strips of cloth. The strips in front of the larger spirit stone fans were farther apart, while those in front of the smaller ones were closer. Aside from being made of the same material, these strips shared another common feature: they were all blown high by the wind generated by the spirit stone fans, displaying different wind forces to the spectators below without obstructing their view. At the center of the platform, a giant spirit stone fan captured most of everyone’s attention. The roar created by the rapid rotation of its three massive blades silenced all noise within a hundred meters. Even spectators dozens of meters below could faintly feel the gusts of wind from this fully operational giant fan. “Next!” Next to the giant spirit stone fan, a member of the guard team channeled spiritual energy into his throat and shouted loudly. Below the platform, a burly man in a short jacket quickly approached the platform directly facing the giant fan. Then, he slowly climbed up the wooden stairs with difficulty. One step, two steps, three steps… Once on the platform, the strong wind made it hard for him to move; his thick thighs struggled with each step. Just over two meters up, the wind distorted his face slightly, revealing signs of pain. After a few more steps, he could no longer lift his legs, let alone take steps. Eventually, he could no longer resist the force of the spirit stone fan five meters away and staggered backward. As he fell off the platform, a guard member caught him firmly. “Next!” Another guard member beside the giant spirit stone fan shouted expressionlessly.