Chapter 425: Black Fiery Grass Delivered

“Get out! All of you, get out! I need to cultivate!”
After a brief silence, a furious voice erupted in the room.
Seeing Feng Yue’s mood change drastically, Lin Dong hesitated for a moment before bowing and saying, “Senior Feng, please go ahead and cultivate. I’ll guard the door—no one will disturb your breakthrough.”
“Get out! All of you, leave now!”
Feng Yue roared impatiently. He could clearly feel the spiritual energy in his dantian gathering rapidly; it would take just a few breaths before it was fully restored. Once that happened, with the spiritual energy from the Tianfeng Peppers boosting him to the next level of the Heart Riding Phase, he could achieve it in one go.
“Let’s go!”
Lin Dong turned and strode toward the door. Behind him, Cheng Bao grabbed Qiao Tianhao, who was collapsed on the ground, and followed closely.
As soon as they stepped outside, Lin Dong saw Yun Lan emerging from the room and appearing in front of everyone in an instant.
“What’s going on? There’s such a strong surge of spiritual energy, but I can’t detect who it is with my mind,” Yun Lan asked.
Lin Dong pointed at the room behind him and explained, “It’s Senior Feng!”
Yun Lan remained silent.
With a creak, Old Ding staggered out of the room, carrying a jar of wine, his sleepy eyes fixing on Lin Dong.
“Kid, you’re quite skilled! You’ve even found someone on the verge of becoming a peak warrior. He won’t steal my wine, will he?”
“I don’t even know if he wants to join Lin’s Inn yet!” Lin Dong said with a wry smile. “Hasn’t the old man used spiritual energy to investigate? Senior Feng has been imprisoned by me for three or four months.”
“I’ve been too busy drinking. Where would I find the time?” Old Ding raised the jar of wine, took a few sips, and said indifferently, “I made it clear beforehand—if he reduces the amount of wine I drink each month, don’t blame me if I throw him out.”
“Don’t worry, old man. Senior Feng only likes spicy food and isn’t very interested in fine wine,” Lin Dong hurriedly explained.
“Loves spicy food?” Old Ding rubbed his head, seemingly recalling something or forgetting it.
“Does the old man know anyone who likes spicy food?” Lin Dong didn’t miss Old Ding’s reaction and was overjoyed. With Old Ding’s strength, he would undoubtedly be revered wherever he went. If he really knew Feng Yue from before, Feng Yue might be willing to join Lin’s Inn for that reason.
“I can’t remember,” Old Ding said nonchalantly.
“Think, think carefully,” Lin Dong urged.
“What’s there to think about? What if there’s a grudge?” Old Ding glared. “An old man like me never leaves any loose ends. If we’re under the same roof as an enemy, it’ll end in either his death or mine.”

Lin Dong was stunned—how could he have forgotten such a possibility? If there really was a grudge, this matter could never be easily resolved. After all, they saw each other every day. Old Ding might forget, but Feng Yue certainly wouldn’t, nor would he allow the two of them to never meet again.

“Alright, you can wait slowly! I estimate it will take about three days,” said Old Ding, turning around, carrying the wine jar, and leaving Lin Dong with a troublesome issue before staggering back to his room.

Lin Dong smiled bitterly, having no choice but to rely on luck.

Although he said he would guard the door, Lin Dong naturally wouldn’t actually stay there for three days. He just needed to keep an eye on Feng Yue’s room at all times.

Just as he was about to tell everyone to disperse, Yun Lan suddenly looked up at the sky.

Lin Dong instinctively followed her gaze. In the cloudless sky, a small black dot was growing larger by the moment.

“An Eagle Beast Bird?”

Lin Dong froze for a moment before coming back to his senses. The workers from the various branches had already been sent over. Over the past ten-odd days, all the Eagle Beast Birds had been kept in enclosures. The only one that had left was the one that had gone with Hua Wuyue to Tianfeng City to buy Black Fiery Grass.

There was no doubt that the Eagle Beast Bird heading toward Lin’s Inn was almost certainly Hua Wuyue returning.

After waiting for a while, the Eagle Beast Bird became clearer. It seemed puzzled by the extra wall in the backyard. After circling above for a while, it dove downward.

When it was less than ten meters away, a figure jumped off the Eagle Beast Bird’s back and landed steadily in front of Lin Dong and the others.

“Owner, I bought a million plants in total, worth two million two hundred thousand taels of silver,” said Hua Wuyue, taking out another storage ring from her spirit ring. Inside it were also several storage rings collected from the guards of Lin’s Inn.

Handing the storage ring to Lin Dong, Hua Wuyue explained, “Each storage ring holds five thousand plants, so there are two hundred in total.”

Lin Dong shook his head. “Give it to Ma Chun. You came back so quickly. Did you meet Boss Jiang?”

Hua Wuyue immediately put the storage ring back into the one on her finger and nodded. “I originally went to talk to a large pharmacy, but the price was too high, and we couldn’t reach an agreement for days. In the end, the inn’s guards found me after making some inquiries.”

“Alright, go find Ma Chun…” Lin Dong glanced at Qiao Tianhao, whose eyes were vacant, and turned to Cheng Bao beside him. “Take Hua Wuyue to show her her room first.”

“Owner, what’s with this wall?” Hua Wuyue asked, looking at the wall that was five or six meters high.

“It’s a long story. It should be demolished in a few days. Ask Cheng Bao!” Lin Dong replied casually.

Hua Wu Yue responded and followed Cheng Bao to his temporary room, not asking about the walls along the way. Asking Cheng Bao about such trivial matters would only be pointless; it was better to hold back curiosity and ask Ma Chun later.
“Go back to the room to train or go out for a stroll?” Lin Dong asked Yun Lan.
“Train! I’m almost at the breakthrough stage. It’s best to go all out now,” Yun Lan replied without hesitation.
“Hmm!” Lin Dong nodded, glanced at the dazed Qiao Tianhao, stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile, “Don’t worry. You’ll only suffer some physical pain. If Feng Yue really dares to take your life, I have a way to save you right away.”
“Boss, really?” Qiao Tianhao felt a bit better but was still skeptical. He believed Lin Dong had a backup plan, but it was hard to believe it could stop Feng Yue in time if he intended to kill him. Even having a peak-level expert as a personal guard around all day might not guarantee protection from another peak-level expert who was slightly weaker.
“Of course it’s true,” Lin Dong nodded.
“What method?” Qiao Tianhao asked eagerly.
Lin Dong smiled calmly, activated the inn system, and kicked Qiao Tianhao out of the wall. Then, he walked back to his room.
“Boss, boss…” As soon as the door was opened, Qiao Tianhao jumped down from the roof, excitedly asking, “Boss, how did you do that?”
“You just need to know that Old Master Ding knows about this method, and he’s always watching Feng Senior,” Lin Dong said casually.
Qiao Tianhao nodded repeatedly. His previous listlessness had vanished completely; he was now ten times more energetic, even more so than before hearing Feng Yue say he wanted to find Lin Dong.
Lin Dong smiled and stepped into the room.
Old Man Ding would never use the inn system’s kicking function. Moreover, what Lin Dong had said to Feng Yue—that if he dared to harm anyone in the inn, the other peak-level expert would take action—was also nonsense. In the entire inn, not to mention Yun Lan, or top chefs like Cheng Bao and Jiang Kui from Lin’s Inn, even a single servant—Lin Dong would never ignore their lives. The reason he wasn’t afraid of Feng Yue agreeing to join Lin’s Inn openly while secretly plotting against it was because Lin Dong had a trump card.
That trump card was called loyalty. As long as Feng Yue agreed to join Lin’s Inn, Lin Dong could check his loyalty at any time. If his loyalty was below 10% at the time of agreement, there was no doubt Feng Yue had ulterior motives. After all, even Cheng Bao, who had been fierce and unruly at first, had a loyalty level of over 20% after agreeing to join Lin’s Inn.

If Feng Yue’s loyalty were truly that low, Lin Dong would keep monitoring it day and night. If it increased within a dozen days, it meant there was still hope of saving the situation. If it didn’t increase or even declined further, he would have to compensate Feng Yue with a batch of spiritual materials and Tianfeng Peppers for cultivation assistance. If possible, they would resolve things amicably; otherwise, force would be used. If loyalty could be increased, the problem wouldn’t be serious—just cater to Feng Yue’s preferences to keep his loyalty rising.

Anyway, even if Lin Dong didn’t cultivate while sitting in his room, the natural flow of his spiritual energy wasn’t any slower than when he did cultivating, and closely monitoring Feng Yue’s attributes posed no loss. Not to mention a dozen days—even if Feng Yue sincerely wanted to join Lin’s Inn, Lin Dong was willing to monitor him for a year or two.

If Feng Yue were truly on the side of the Heavenly Sword Sect and was a peak-level powerhouse, all that was needed was for Old Ding to hold him back.

Lin Dong and Feng Yue, as two peak-level powerhouses, could then free themselves up to suppress elders from the Heavenly Sword Sect like Qin Mengtai and Liang Liren, who possessed strength at the seventh or eighth level of the Heart Reversal stage.

As for those weaker than the seventh or eighth level of Heart Reversal, Lin Dong wasn’t worried at all. He was confident he could cultivate thousands of such powerhouses within a few years. Though their realm might be slightly lower, their numbers would give them a strong advantage, enough to match the Heavenly Sword Sect.

It could be said that with Feng Yue’s help and the support of allied sects, they might be slightly stronger. But facing such a evenly matched enemy, the Heavenly Sword Sect surely wouldn’t dare to fight to the death at all costs—there was a over 70% chance they would compromise.

Without Feng Yue, Lin Dong wouldn’t be able to suppress all the elders of the Heavenly Sword Sect in one go. With mutual advantages, along with geographical benefits and the help of allied sects, they could first defeat the Heart Reversal stage powerhouses of Lin’s Inn, then turn to overwhelm Lin Dong or Old Ding with their numerical advantage. At most, they’d suffer more casualties—far less costly than winning when the advantage wasn’t as clear.

Whether Feng Yue was there or not could very well determine the success of the mission against the Heavenly Sword Sect. That’s why Lin Dong valued Feng Yue so much.

Moreover, with an additional peak-level powerhouse in Lin’s Inn, if news leaked in the future or the situation escalated to threaten the Great Han Nation, the imperial court’s determination to suppress Lin’s Inn would surely diminish greatly.