Chapter 525: Within a Day

Amidst the turbulent and deadly ninth-level spiritual array, after a day of investigation, Lin Dong and his three companions once again made their way to the core of the array. Feng Yue was about to step forward when Yun Lan suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Someone is trying to break through the array!”
“Break through the array?” Lin Dong and the others were puzzled.
Yun Lan nodded. “The high-grade spiritual stones at the core are constantly being depleted.”
Lin Dong looked at the core and, after careful observation, noticed that the transparent area on the two-meter-high core was indeed shrinking slowly. Even with his keen eyes, he needed to watch closely to discern the rate of shrinkage.
“Could it be Senior Yun?” Lin Dong thought to himself. Yun Lan and the others only knew that braised Wind Spirit Grass could heal any internal injuries, but they were unaware of the time factor. He, however, knew clearly that it recovered by 15% per day, and now it was almost fully restored.
As soon as those words left his mouth, the scene before them suddenly collapsed. From 500 meters away, a massive figure rushed toward them.
“Father!” Yun Lan cried out in delight. Though she knew that with braised Wind Spirit Grass present, he would surely ignore everything, seeing him in person still brought her some peace of mind.
“Lan’er, Brother Ding, Brother Lin! Feng Yue?” Setting aside his slight surprise at seeing Feng Yue, Yun Cangqiong stood with his hands behind his back on the White Jade Tiger. A crystal-clear spiritual sword hovered around him, exuding an air of ease mixed with dominance. His demeanor was exactly like that of Lin Dong when he encountered bandits on the road back then.
Elegant yet domineering, he had slain nearly a hundred bandits with a single swing—this was the true Yun Cangqiong.
“It’s me!” Feng Yue replied indifferently. Old Ding had saved him before, so he had always remained humble in front of him. But in front of Yun Cangqiong, another peak-level warrior, he showed no signs of courtesy.
Peak-level warriors must always maintain an invincible mindset, a mindset that prevents them from showing courtesy to any other peak-level warrior. Moreover, it was Yun Cangqiong who had imprisoned him for over a decade. By not intervening and not opposing others from dealing with Yun Cangqiong, he had already shown enough respect to Old Ding and Yun Lan.
Yun Cangqiong didn’t have much goodwill for Feng Yue either, but since he had helped them, he bowed slightly as a token of thanks.
Feng Yue responded indifferently, and Yun Cangqiong didn’t care. Gazing at the towering spires of the Golden Vision Sect in the distance, he said calmly, “Yun Lan, Brother Lin, you two go back first.”
“Go back?” Lin Dong was confused.

“I, Yun Cangqiong, have never suffered such a huge loss in my life. Now that I have two peak-level powerhouses by my side, why do I need you youngsters to get your hands dirty?” Yun Cangqiong pointed at the tall tower with one hand and declared domineerly, “Within a day, wipe out the Jinshi Sect!”
“Doing as he pleases—this is the Yun Cangqiong I know. I keep hearing about you doing heroic deeds from time to time, and you’re always busy finding spiritual materials for the sect. It’s embarrassing for you.” Old Ding grabbed a wine jar and poured it into his mouth nonstop. In his view, peak-level powerhouses should have no desires, but when someone dares to offend their wrath, they must be killed until their blood flows like a river.
Omitting the word “slaughter” is even a disservice to all peak-level powerhouses.
“This…” Lin Dong was about to retort when Yun Lan shook her head and pulled him back.
“If that’s the case, Yun Lan and I will handle those who escape at the periphery,” Lin Dong nodded.
“Let’s go!” Old Ding took the lead, instantly entering the next ninth-level spiritual array, with Yun Cangqiong and Feng Yue closely following behind.
Lin Dong turned to ask, “Why did you stop me just now? Without you, a high-level spiritual array master, wouldn’t breaking through a ninth-level spiritual array waste a lot of spiritual energy?”
Yun Lan shook her head smilingly, “It’s fine. With three peak-level powerhouses working together, not to mention breaking through a ninth-level spiritual array, they could even enter Tianwei Pavilion and come out unharmed.”
“Tianwei Pavilion isn’t that bad, is it?” Lin Dong, who was now at the eighth stage of the Heart Reversal Phase, naturally understood the terrifying power of peak-level powerhouses united. But he also knew a bit more about Tianwei Pavilion than most people.
If even three peak-level powerhouses couldn’t defeat it, how could Tianwei Pavilion make countless sects in the Great Han Nation obediently follow its rules?

“Just retreat unscathed!” Yun Lan smiled. “Three peak-level experts working together are not something that can be challenged with just numbers or tactics. More peak-level experts must be brought in to suppress them, and the losses will definitely be significant. Tianwei Pavilion might not have trouble suppressing three peak-level experts, but their own peak experts are cultivated through immense effort and resources, using the entire power of the Pavilion. Unless it threatens imperial authority or crosses their bottom line, they won’t be willing to bear such a heavy cost. My father, Elder Ding, and Senior Feng have no intention of joining forces to suppress other sects in rebellion. Even destroying one major sect is far from reaching Tianwei Pavilion’s threshold for dealing with peak-level experts. Moreover, Tianwei Pavilion probably prefers all major sects in the Great Han Nation to be destroyed. So even if those three suddenly decide to attack Tianwei Pavilion, the Pavilion will mainly focus on repelling them. Unless they keep killing people in Tianwei Pavilion over and over again, and the news spreads, severely undermining the Pavilion’s long-established deterrence, it will only tolerate them. Otherwise, killing peak-level experts recklessly, unless there’s no other choice, is likely to provoke the anger of all peak-level experts and sects. If they unite, even Tianwei Pavilion won’t be able to resist.”

“You counter me, I counter you! But… who will counter Lin Ji Inn?” Lin Dong suddenly frowned. If the materials for the Breakthrough Pill could be gathered, given time, Lin Ji Inn would surely produce a large number of peak-level experts. By then, even if Tianwei Pavilion and all sects in the Great Han Nation joined forces, they might not be able to suppress Lin Ji Inn. This seemed somewhat contrary to the laws of survival.

“Perhaps it’s you yourself,” Yun Lan said calmly. “Many things about Lin Ji Inn already defy any rules. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if everything about Lin Ji Inn stems from you inheriting a being that surpasses peak-level experts. If that’s really the case, you might also become such a being in the future. Then, the nemesis of Lin Ji Inn will be your self-discipline.”

Lin Dong was stunned. He knew how miraculous Lin Ji Inn was, but he had never considered the possibility of using it to become a being that surpasses peak-level experts. After all, his talent was limited. Without the Breakthrough Pill, he might even need luck just to reach the level of a peak-level expert. The chances of surpassing all the geniuses in history who had reached that level were practically zero.

Hearing Yun Lan’s words, he suddenly felt it wasn’t entirely impossible. There must be a reason why Lin’s Inn appeared in this world, and since he was the sole owner of it, wouldn’t its magic also vanish after a hundred years? Compared to tens of millions of years, it was just a fleeting moment—arriving in this world miraculously and possessing an inn system, yet lasting only a hundred years; it seemed like heaven was overreacting. It would be better to have a cultivation talent that allowed one to break through to the Heartbeat Stage in one year and the Mind Stage in two.

Lin Dong didn’t dare think further. He was half a merchant and preferred to measure things in terms of value. Thinking too much and having too high hopes meant that if he accidentally died one day, with a little life force left before dying, the frustration and resentment alone would be overwhelming. It was far better than something like the Breakthrough Pill, where one suddenly discovered the possibility of reaching the realm of peak experts—the surprise would be immense. Without such luck, disappointment wouldn’t be so great either.

“By the way, I need to go back for a moment,” Lin Dong suddenly remembered the Dream Wisdom Tree and slapped his head.

“What’s wrong?” Yun Lan asked.

Lin Dong chuckled, “Elder Yun is still angry. After avenging myself later, she’ll probably demand the Dream Wisdom Tree from me!”

Yun Lan nodded understandingly. “I’ll just watch here!”

Lin Dong immediately sent the Tianpeng Bird straight to Lin’s Inn in Hongtu City. After quickly entering the small vegetable garden, he planted the Dream Wisdom Tree first, then broke off a branch, planted that as well, before finally pulling up the original tree.

With the simulated environment of the small vegetable garden, the Dream Wisdom Tree, as Lin Dong had expected, didn’t wither immediately after having a branch broken off.

After placing the Dream Wisdom Tree in the mobile counter, Lin Dong returned to the outskirts of the Golden Vision Sect.

At this moment, Yun Cangqiong and the two others, along with Bai Yuhu, had already swept through all the ninth-level spirit arrays with overwhelming force. Together, they could destroy any ninth-level spirit array in an instant. Although their spiritual energy was greatly depleted, they recovered very quickly. With the help of spirit pills, the impact on them was minimal.

Just as Yun Lan had guessed, all of the Golden Vision Sect’s ninth-level spirit arrays were destroyed in just half a day. After resting for a while and regaining some spiritual energy, the three men and the tiger began to wreak havoc. With their combined strength, the limited spiritual energy left in their dantians not only didn’t run out but also grew stronger as it recovered on its own.

It didn’t take a day. With the combined efforts of the three peak-level warriors, the Jinshi Sect, which had dominated Hongtu Commandery for thousands of years, along with many other destroyed major sects, completely became history. If given a chance to start over, everyone in the Jinshi Sect would surely not forge an enemy relationship with Yun Cangqiong over a Menghui Tree. But in this world, there is no second chance.

Lin Dong’s decision to cut off some branches first was wise. After the three returned, Yun Cangqiong talked with Yun Lan for a while before bluntly demanding the Menghui Tree from him. Lin Dong could understand this—Yun Cangqiong knew his relationship with Yun Lan, but he wasn’t Yun Lan. In his eyes, the Tianjian Sect ranked second only to Yun Lan, and whether considering direct or indirect relationships or interests, it was understandable.

Similarly, due to his relationship with Yun Lan, Yun Cangqiong didn’t mind Lin Dong breaking off branches from the Menghui Tree without his knowledge, even though Lin Dong had assured him it wouldn’t harm the tree itself—something that could have cost Yun Cangqiong his life.

In addition, Yun Cangqiong handed over all of the Jinshi Sect’s spiritual minerals, materials, and array information to Lin Dong. Lin Dong gladly accepted them. The Jinshi Sect was a long-established major sect, and its accumulated resources were certainly substantial. If Yun Cangqiong, disregarding his relationship with Yun Lan and relying on his strength as a peak-level warrior as well as his good relations with Old Ding, had tried to keep them all for himself, Lin Dong wouldn’t have objected. Since Yun Cangqiong didn’t intend to take advantage of him, Lin Dong wouldn’t be polite either. With these resources, Lin’s Inn’s guard team would see a significant improvement.

After all, although Lin’s Inn’s guard team wasn’t short of materials for cultivation, they lacked spiritual minerals and various other effective elixirs.

“Let’s go! Back to drinking!” Old Ding stretched lazily, casually brushing aside the massacre.

Glancing at the lifeless Jinshi Sect, Lin Dong felt that doing business and practicing hard were better ways to gain a sense of security and achievement. As his strength grew, ignoring laws had indeed made him somewhat indifferent to life. But he wasn’t born in this world, nor had he reached his current strength by rushing through things due to lack of resources. So it was hard for him to fully adapt to a world where the strong prey on the weak. In this martial world, even people like Yun Cangqiong and Old Ding, who valued justice or preferred peace, saw trampling lives as normal.