Chapter 452: Flying Bird-Shaped Motorcycle

Unlike other bustling streets in the capital, Tianfeng Street was always filled with an endless stream of merchants, rain or shine. These merchants, dressed in fine clothes, were either major drug dealers from the county or city governments or their most trusted subordinates.

As soon as Lin Dong stepped onto Tianfeng Street, even without using his mental senses, he could sense that among the pedestrians were many high-level martial artists, some even being powerful warriors at the Heart Reversal stage.

Unlike other streets, Tianfeng Street was crowded with people, but there were no stalls or vendors in sight. Here, there were only shops, and not a single one of them had establishments that were common on other streets, such as restaurants or rice shops.

Spiritual artifacts, spiritual materials, spiritual beasts, spiritual minerals… Looking inside each shop, these items closely related to strength were always present.

Lin Dong had no interest in spiritual artifacts or minerals. After filtering out a few shops, he walked with Yun Lan toward one named Wanzai Zhuang.

Before even entering, a delicate fragrance of spiritual materials greeted them. Inside, the space was spacious and bright. Looking up, Lin Dong noticed that many night pearls were embedded in three of the walls—no fewer than fifty of them, all roughly the size of a baby’s fist.

Just these night pearls were worth nearly a million silver taels.

Glancing around, the shop covered an area of about 120 square meters. Compared to the luxury of the walls, the furnishings were much simpler.

Most of the entrance area was left empty, with a long row of counters behind it. The counters were about 1.2 to 1.3 meters high. Behind them, aside from a door leading to the back yard, there was only a row of large wooden shelves. On these shelves, aside from some wooden boxes made of special materials, the remaining spaces were filled with various spiritual materials suitable for outdoor use. From left to right, their levels gradually increased.

Behind the counters, the clerks were mostly in their early thirties. Though called clerks, they more resembled masters. Each of them carried an air of arrogance and ignored the customers outside the counters, letting them browse the shelves on their own. If someone picked out a spiritual material, they would place it on the counter. Prices and names were already listed below, and they could write down the quantity and type they wanted. After paying, someone would take out a storage ring from their ring to retrieve the desired amount of material and place it on the counter. Once the goods were taken, the transaction was complete.

Calculating it, these guys are better than customers, which is also a notable feature of Tianfeng Street. It’s only natural—these guys are all disciples of their respective sects. Though they’re not of much value in terms of cultivation and are sent out to generate income for their sects, they were once top talents in their respective regions. Even now, their strength has long reached that of martial artists at the Mind-Spirit stage. Those wealthy owners of large pharmacies mean nothing to them.

Of course, among the customers who come by, there are also martial artists and even stronger ones, but having gotten used to it, they simply ignore them.

Lin Dong didn’t miss any low-tier spiritual materials either. He could cover half a minute’s distance with each step from left to right.

Unfortunately, no matter how carefully he looked, he couldn’t find any spiritual materials that could aid in cultivation. However, the prices of those low-tier spiritual materials with edible value were quite profitable. If purchased in large quantities and shipped to branches in various counties and prefectures through the delivery system, the cost could be reduced by half.

Although he didn’t find any materials for cultivation, Lin Dong hadn’t held too many hopes in the first place, so he wasn’t too disappointed. He left Wancai Store with Yun Lan and entered a nearby shop called Tianshou Store.

The shop was about the same size as Wancai Store, and it was even simpler inside, lacking even the night pearls found in Wancai Store. Aside from a row of counters, there was nothing else.

Upon closer inspection, Lin Dong noticed that there were many brochures on the counters.

They found two adjacent empty seats, went to the counter, and each picked up a brochure.

Lin Dong flipped to the first page, which showed five spiritual beasts and one spiritual bird. A large cross was drawn on one of the spiritual beasts, clearly indicating it was out of stock. Below the other images were details such as the names, habits, and prices of those spiritual beasts and birds.

Lin Dong glanced at their ranks and began flipping through the pages. As he expected, the ranks increased as he went further. After flipping through them all, he was disappointed—there was only one spiritual snake at the seventh rank. If the information was accurate, this snake had thick skin and coarse flesh, and its medicinal value was limited to quickly gathering spiritual energy. More importantly, its price was astonishing—1.8 million silver taels, with a minimum order of ten.

At such a price, unless a large family needed it in large quantities or a sect couldn’t find where the snakes lived, even if a sect needed it, they would probably hunt for them themselves.

“Three years closed, three years of profit when it opens!” Lin Dong couldn’t help but mutter. This Tianshou Store probably used the seventh-rank spiritual snake as a showcase—it didn’t matter if no one bought it; if someone did, they’d sell it at a high price.

As he closed the booklet, Lin Dong glanced at the adult stage of the seventh-tier Spirit Snake—200 years! If Lin Ji Inn had young snakes and raised them in enclosures, it would cost 1,024 spirit stones per day. It would take about one and a half months for them to reach adulthood. Even if spirit stones were valued at one or two silver taels each, it would still cost over 40,000 silver taels.
“It’s a good way to make money!” Lin Dong couldn’t help adding. Whether it was through plantations or enclosures, due to the high cost of lower-tier spiritual materials and beasts, most of the branches of Lin Ji Inn were vacant. Finding some higher-tier spiritual materials and beasts to cultivate and raise, then opening a store on Tianfeng Street dedicated to selling them, could yield enormous profits. Of course, this required enough strength to ensure the store wouldn’t be looted in just a few days.
Throwing the booklet back on the counter, Lin Dong turned to look at Yun Lan. She happened to be on the last page of the booklet.
“Shall we move on to the next one?” Lin Dong asked.
Yun Lan shook her head, reopened the booklet, flipped through a few pages, and handed it to Lin Dong. It contained information about third-tier spiritual beasts and birds. Lin Dong glanced through it but found nothing unusual.
“Look here!” Yun Lan pointed with her delicate, jade-like hand at the notes beneath an image of a spiritual bird.
The bird was called the Lieqi Bird. Lin Dong studied the information about it carefully. He seemed to grasp something but couldn’t quite push it further. Helplessly, he looked up at Yun Lan.
“Weren’t you always troubled by the fact that the inn is located too far away, with many customers too reluctant to travel there?” Yun Lan reminded him.
Lin Dong quickly looked down and suddenly understood. The Lieqi Bird had a moderate size, standing between 1 and 1.5 meters tall. Its strength and speed weren’t outstanding, nor was it comparable to a thousand-mile horse, but it was sufficient for one person to ride. More importantly, although the Lieqi Bird had a fierce temperament, it became extremely gentle and obedient once bonded to its master. It didn’t discriminate between meat and vegetables for food, and it could tolerate both cold and heat for shelter. In other words, if it could be tamed and its speed and carrying capacity improved several times over, it would undoubtedly be a top-tier mount in the eyes of warriors.
Even with average speed and carrying capacity, it still held deadly appeal for ordinary people. At the very least, it was faster than a thousand-mile horse, more obedient, capable of flying, and even easier to care for.
“The few spiritual birds parked in the backyard yesterday were Lieqi Birds,” Yun Lan said.

Lin Dongton felt somewhat annoyed. He knew full well that Emperor Qianwei had sent those spirit birds trained at Tianwei Pavilion, yet he had been so foolish as to forget about mass breeding. Fortunately, he had come to Tianfeng Street today. Although Yun Lan was busy cultivating and researching the perfect integration of spirit artifacts and arrays all day long, she never forgot about the inn. Otherwise, they might have missed the chance to use those Rake Birds to elevate Lin’s Inn’s business to a new level.

If the Tianpeng Bird was a bird-shaped airplane, then the Rake Bird was undoubtedly a bird-shaped motorcycle that could fly in the sky.

Use the Tianpeng Bird in windy, rainy, scorching, or freezing weather, or when accompanied by family; ride the Rake Bird on sunny, clear days when alone. With these two birds combined, Lin’s Inn could cover the entire capital from any corner.

Moreover, the Tianpeng Bird was a ninth-tier spirit bird that took thousands of years to reach maturity, with extremely high breeding costs. It would take at least two to three years to scale up production. The Rake Bird, on the other hand, was only a third-tier spirit bird that could be bred quickly—half a year was enough to produce large quantities. Although the cost of mass breeding in cages might exceed the price of buying them from stores, it was nothing compared to the benefits it brought to Lin’s Inn. Besides, any wealthy noble would surely resist the temptation of having obedient, flying spirit birds at their disposal.

The only problem was the Sky Patrol Team, which Emperor Qianwei had approved just the day before. Lin Dong believed that this problem, along with the threat posed by delivering tens of thousands of Rake Birds to Emperor Qianwei to form an aerial force, and the fact that spirit birds that even Tianwei Pavilion couldn’t breed in large numbers could now appear in Lin’s Inn in large quantities, would not only make it impossible for Emperor Qianwei to resist the temptation but also strengthen his resolve to strike down Lin’s Inn decisively after careful planning.

Although a planned attack would cause greater harm to Lin’s Inn, what the inn lacked now was time. In two or three years, no matter how carefully Emperor Qianwei planned, Lin’s Inn would at least not be completely destroyed.

Once the spending at Lin’s Inn reached a certain threshold, more mysterious gifts could be introduced. Lin Dong had no doubt that these gifts would stir up excitement throughout the capital.

After careful consideration, Lin Dong said in a low voice, “Let’s go! There are only the two of us, and we can’t bring many Rake Birds. We’ll have Ma Chun arrange things back home. Let’s try our luck elsewhere first.”

“Try our luck? Speaking of which, finding high-tier spirit materials that aid in cultivation really does require luck,” Yun Lan said with a smile, nodding in agreement.

The two left the Beast Shop and visited several stores selling spiritual materials and beasts, but found nothing. Outside one of the shops, a crowded crowd caught their attention.
Lin Dong looked up at the sign above the shop: Blue background with golden letters—Spiritual Materials Shop. It was a rather plain name, but the scene outside made Lin Dong and Yun Lan unconsciously quicken their pace.
Those who came to Tianfeng Street were either major drug dealers or warriors. If they all gathered here, it undoubtedly meant there was something interesting to see.