Chapter 502: The Power of an Elite Chef

“That’s not right. If you were from Tianwei Pavilion, you wouldn’t need to take personal revenge for a mere inn. Destroying an entire mountain bandit clan is a trivial task for Tianwei Pavilion. Also, you can’t be from a sect or someone unbound by the laws of the Great Han Nation; otherwise, you wouldn’t have the courage to kill so many people.”
Lin Dong had no interest in chatting, but Liang Feihu was different. His mind was in chaos—he couldn’t understand many things, and these issues were related to the survival of him and the entire Skull Camp.
What confused him the most was the fact that the opponent had killed thousands of bandits in one go and seemed determined to wipe out the entire Skull Camp. He simply couldn’t figure out which faction this person belonged to. Neither being from Tianwei Pavilion nor a sect made any sense.
In fact, Liang Feihu had overlooked one thing: Lin Dong was a registered strongman who was willing to abide by the laws of the Great Han Nation.
Registered strongmen faced stricter rules regarding killing compared to warriors and sect members who were not bound by the laws of the Great Han Nation. Although they had the privilege of killing without punishment, there were still many restrictions—such as not killing innocents without cause, with warriors allowed to kill no more than ten per year and strongmen no more than a hundred… What set them apart was that the category of those not subject to limits included not only warriors and sect disciples who defied the law but also bandits.
Registered warriors were also a special group in the Great Han Nation. They were willing to accept the country’s rules and be called upon in times of crisis, but they did not pledge loyalty to the state under normal circumstances. In essence, registered warriors were half part of Tianwei Pavilion, though Tianwei Pavilion usually couldn’t mobilize them. Given their large numbers and considerable strength, the Great Han Nation distributed varying amounts of salary to them each month based on their strength. To keep them in check, annual assessments were required, and those who advanced in rank had to re-register promptly; otherwise, they would be considered fraudsters stealing from Tianwei Pavilion and pursued by it.
To ensure these warriors wouldn’t stand idly by during major crises in the Great Han Nation, Tianwei Pavilion made every effort to foster their sense of responsibility. One key method was encouraging them to act as guards for merchants or caravans. As a result, there were certain allowances regarding killing—if the victims were already criminals, killing ten or a hundred of them counted as just one killing. Those who deserved execution were not counted in the killing tally.
Of course, vicious bandits fell into the category of those deserving execution.

It could be said that Lin Dong and his companions destroying the Skull Camp did not violate the rules of the Tianwei Pavilion. Of course, killing so many people at once, regardless of the reason, would still make them classified by the Tianwei Pavilion as bloodthirsty and violent individuals who needed constant surveillance. But as long as they did not break the rules set for registered warriors by the Tianwei Pavilion, they would not be added to the list of those to be pursued.

Lin Dong had never even thought of killing innocents or bullying others, so he certainly didn’t care about being labeled as bloodthirsty and violent. Instead, it was the Emperor Qianwei who might devise even more meticulous plans as a result, which was what worried him. Fortunately, with Yang Shun as an informant, he could learn about the plans or their timing in advance, making it easier to prepare.

Seeing that Lin Dong remained silent, Liang Feihu gave up. No matter how unwilling he was or how dissatisfied he felt toward Lin Dong, he knew it was futile. His endurance was far greater than that of ordinary people, even most sect disciples.

By the time Liang Feihu stopped trying to speak, the bandits from the Skull Camp had already closed in. Meanwhile, Cheng Bao and his six companions also launched their attacks.

Jiang Kui suddenly opened his mouth wide, and waves of sound burst forth from his throat, enveloping all the bandits ahead. Wherever the sound reached, the bandits dropped their weapons and clutched their heads in agony. Even in areas where the sound waves were weaker or not directed at them, the bandits were hindered by these sudden, deafening blasts.

Cheng Bao raised his golden sword high, sweeping through hundreds of bandits like cutting through vegetables. The golden light stretched twenty or thirty meters, knocking down hundreds of bandits who were crying out in pain. Those at the front, aside from a few minor and major leaders, were even split in two.

In Li Xun’s hands, the sewing needles kept decreasing in number, forming straight lines at a speed that even Lin Dong could hardly follow, piercing the hearts of the minor and major leaders at the front.

Just the three of them eliminated nearly a hundred bandits of varying strengths in a single move. Even the weakest of these bandits were at the second level of the Mental State stage.

Yu Linglong and the other two remained motionless. Since the bandits were charging chaotically without any organized assault, they didn’t need to intervene at all. With Cheng Bao and his two companions, it was sufficient to ensure that no one could get within ten meters of them.

The six of them stayed side by side, advancing rapidly around Lin Dong. From above, it was clear that they resembled a straight giant pillar spinning swiftly around Lin Dong as the center, leaving no gap—not a single fragment of debris could enter their swept area.

The bandits weren’t all reckless youths. After half an hour of failed attacks and with larger groups of bandits lurking outside, the injured leaders discussed the situation, and the besieging force began to organize itself. By eliminating the drawbacks of uncoordinated charges, the pressure exerted by Cheng Bao and his five companions increased significantly. From time to time, some managed to slip through. Of course, that was about it—only Yu Linglong and the others finally got a chance to show their skills.

These six powerful fighters, each at the second stage of the Heart Reversal Phase, wielded one or two ninth-tier spiritual artifacts and possessed ninth-tier spiritual techniques. Coupled with their complementary abilities and the several healing pills each carried, their combined strength far exceeded the sum of their individual strengths. Even though the Skull Camp had thousands of bandits, growing in number, with the weakest being at the second stage of the Heart Spirit Phase and the leaders among the strongest, they were still like ants trying to shake a tree—destined to fail in the face of these six.

Moreover, the bandits outside weren’t idle either. Crushing those who had fallen from power was their strength. And since it was the top-tier bandit camp that dominated them, they spared no effort, each wanting to kill one or two to satisfy their thirst for vengeance.

A massacre was inevitable once Lin Dong captured Liang Feihu with a single move.

Six against thousands—Lin’s Inn’s top chefs, working together for the first time, unleashed exactly the power Lin Dong had expected. No one could survive against their combined force. Even if Lin Dong, at the seventh stage of the Heart Reversal Phase, faced them, injury would be inevitable. Jiang Kui’s lion roar, Cheng Bao’s terrifying defense and attacks, Li Xun’s invisible hidden weapons, Qiao Tianhao’s blindingly fast sword strikes, Yu Linglong’s agile movements like a swallow, and Hua Wuyue’s ever-changing and endless sword techniques… With their combined strength, as long as the enemy’s power wasn’t high enough to kill them instantly, their safety was assured. If they had enough healing pills, they could even fight against eighth-stage Heart Reversal Phase warriors whose energy shields were impregnable. If they could deplete the enemy’s spiritual energy, the outcome would be uncertain.

The sun hanging high in the sky, seemingly unable to bear the rising bloodshed, began moving westward until it finally sank below the horizon.

The killing gradually subsided. The dim grassland was filled with a pungent stench of blood. In the dim light, the grassland, which should have been lush green, was stained with countless dark red drops of blood. The center of the area was entirely covered in dark red, with not a trace of green to be seen.

The corpses scattered across the ground appeared desolate and helpless under the night sky. If Lin Dong, who sat motionless on a wooden chair like a statue throughout the night, was the demon king controlling the darkness, then Cheng Bao and his five companions were the scythes in his hands, destroying anyone or anything that dared to offend the demon king.

As Li Xun fired a series of embroidery needles, the battle on the grassland officially came to a brief end.

Lin Dong remained still, while Cheng Bao and his five companions sat cross-legged, fully immersed in meditation. They believed that as long as Lin Dong was there, they would be safe even in the midst of chaos.

Time passed slowly in the silence after the storm. Outside the grassland, among the scattered corpses, some bandits, unable to bear the loneliness, quietly got up and left. Each of them cast a silent glance at the center of the grassland, their eyes filled with madness and awe.

Over the course of an afternoon and half a night, the six of them killed a total of seven thousand bandits, including the leaders of the Skull Camp and thousands of reinforcements who arrived one after another. This was a truly impressive feat—killing a thousand enemies without exaggeration.

No one doubted that these six men had the ability to wipe out all the bandits in Chongping Mountain. Nor did anyone doubt that Lin Dong, who never intervened despite being among them, was a killing god even more ferocious than any bandit. Otherwise, how could he have convinced six men who had each killed a thousand enemies to serve as his guards willingly? The tactic he used to capture Liang Feihu at the beginning was also strong evidence of his prowess.

In the early hours of the morning, after more than two hours of silence, nearly a thousand bandits emerged from a corner of the grassland. These were undoubtedly bandits sent by the Skull Camp to rob victims or carry out some major mission.

The outcome was predictable. When Cheng Bao and his five companions took action, they could clear away not only a thousand or eight hundred bandits but even ten times that number without difficulty. The only difference was that more enemies required more time, while fewer enemies meant significantly less time.

As the sun rose, a second group of bandits from the Skull Camp, having heard the news, rushed over. Unfortunately, they numbered just over three hundred, and the bandits watching from outside immediately intercepted them. Only a few senior and lower-ranking leaders made it to Cheng Bao and his companions.

Before they could ask questions, Cheng Bao slashed them all away with one strike. Li Xun’s flying needles followed immediately, piercing their hearts before they could even hit the ground. Thus, this small-scale assault ended in failure.

Behind them, the number of onlooker bandits dwindled as they realized the futility of relying solely on plundering the area. After witnessing such a grand spectacle, it was more important to intercept and capture easy targets. Moreover, with Skull Camp destroyed, everyone in Chongping Mountain would surely covet its position, leading to a massive battle. Even the smaller camps could not avoid being drawn into it and had to return to plan how to reap some benefits from the chaos.

As the onlooker bandits decreased and fewer and fewer bandits from Skull Camp arrived after hearing the news, Cheng Bao didn’t even need to intervene—those outside already killed them one by one. Occasionally, a few bold bandits tried to build relationships with Lin Dong and his group by bringing wine and meat, but Cheng Bao would cut them in two with a single strike, and after that, no more bandits dared to approach for a long time.