Chapter 91: Everyone Inside, Listen Up

The inn’s courtyard was open to the sky from the start, and once the people of the Hundred-Mile Mountain sect rushed in, they were already standing amid wind and snow. Now, facing the suppression of the white bone pagoda, they had no strength left to resist. In an instant, they were all swallowed whole by the towering structure.

Lin Zhan had always treated the white bone pagoda like a hammer, never having tried its most powerful function of devouring and suppressing.

The first man earlier had been mishandled and crushed to dust by the pagoda’s formidable formation.

The others that were taken in afterward were different. Because Lin Zhan had established a connection with the pagoda and reduced the formation’s intensity, they were merely held under control inside it, unable to move, yet otherwise unharmed. With a single thought, however, Lin Zhan could command the pagoda to annihilate them completely. Among them, the highest cultivation was only at the eighth rank of the mortal level.

Seen from afar, the courtyard of the Fuyang Inn now had a white tower standing in it, its peak towering several zhang above the inn’s roof, majestic and immovable.

Lin Zhan dragged over the chair with a backrest, sat down beside the white bone pagoda, crossed his legs again, and went back to sipping his little wine while listening to the pleas coming from within the tower, feeling a chill of amusement.

“Fellow Daoist, are you outside? I was wrong. I should not have failed to recognize a great figure; I offended you. Please, I beg you, be broad-minded and spare us. The Hundred-Mile Mountain sect will surely thank you with boundless gratitude in the future!”

“Yes, yes! Esteemed fellow Daoist, please spare our Elder Pu Ding. This humble one is willing to be your ox and horse!”

Lin Zhan called back, “Though I don’t need dog servants like you, if you want me to let you go, that’s easy enough!”

When people die, it is the end of all things, and everything they possess is destroyed along with them. Lin Zhan was not one for extravagance and waste; he had to wring them dry first.

If they knew how to rob others, then they should have been prepared for this kind of awareness.

Elder Pu Ding went on, “Since fellow Daoist is so easy to talk to, why not let us out first, and then we can discuss compensation?”

“Heh.” Lin Zhan shook his head, took a sip of wine, and tapped the side of the white tower. “Those inside, listen carefully. I’ll count to three. Take off everything you have and gather it all in one place, including clothes, magical treasures, weapons, storage rings, and so on. Otherwise, with a single thought from me, you will be reduced to ashes. Three, two—”

“Please wait, fellow Daoist! We’ll do it at once, at once!”

“Can we keep a pair of shorts?”

Lin Zhan considered it and agreed to their one and only request. After all, he had no interest in that sort of thing.

The bone pagoda instantly increased its pressure a little, issuing a warning. Just as Pu Ding and the others were frightened to the point of nearly losing control of their bowels, it eased the suppression slightly more than before, allowing them to move.

Thus, while savoring the relief of having narrowly escaped death, they worked swiftly. In just a few motions, they stripped themselves nearly naked, piling all their possessions into one place inside the pagoda.

Lin Zhan had the pagoda bring those things out, forming a small heap beside him.

After a brief look, Lin Zhan had little interest in the scrap metal and junk. He mainly examined the contents of several storage treasures. The haul was not especially large, but one thing drew his attention.

Each of these men’s storage spaces carried several jugs of water, and that puzzled Lin Zhan.

Ordinarily, cultivators would not bother preparing water, something so dispensable, unless they were fond of drink and kept altar wine on hand. Once one reached a certain level of cultivation, the body could absorb spiritual energy from the outside world while simultaneously storing moisture as well, so there was no need to replenish water separately.

Thus, these jugs of water must have had some special purpose.

After opening one and smelling it, Lin Zhan immediately caught a fresh, pure fragrance that seemed to leap into the nose. If he were to drink it, the effect would surely be even more refreshing.

“I say, what exactly is this water in your jugs?” Lin Zhan asked.

Pu Ding hugged himself with both arms, crouching in a corner of the bone pagoda’s interior space, and answered obediently, “This water is unique to the Sacred Spirit Spring of our Hundred-Mile Mountain. Our sect calls it Sacred Spirit Water. It is even more effective than ordinary talismans or pills for healing injuries and restoring energy. If fellow Daoist does not disdain it, please take it all.”

Pu Ding looked utterly miserable. From a person of proper bearing, solemn and dignified, reduced to this state before the younger generation of his own sect, he was on the verge of collapse.

Yet he did not say another word begging for mercy. His juniors were still holding on tenaciously, shouting, “Please have mercy, fellow Daoist! We’ve given you everything. Just spare us! We promise to leave Fuyang City immediately. If we ever meet again, we’ll go out of our way to avoid you and never trouble you again!”

Lin Zhan paid them no mind. He was now only interested in this Sacred Spirit Water and the Sacred Spirit Spring itself.

Back then, the spirit mine vein beneath the Blazing Lake could not be moved, nor could it be brought into the Nine-Star Space, and that had always been a matter of regret for him. Now that the Nine-Star Space was gradually taking shape, he needed to gather the missing pieces one by one. If a miraculous spring like the one in the Hundred-Mile Mountain sect could be moved into the Nine-Star Space, it would certainly brim with life and awaken the vitality of living things, rather than remaining a dead and lifeless expanse.

The Sacred Spirit Spring, yes. If there were a chance, he would definitely go and see it.

So Lin Zhan interrogated them in detail about the Hundred-Mile Mountain sect and the Sacred Spirit Spring, deciding that in the not-too-distant future he would take a spontaneous journey—of course, the destination would be the Sacred Spirit Spring.

Just after he finished learning about Hundred-Mile Mountain, there was another stir outside the courtyard.

Heh, familiar eyes, familiar vicious expressions. Another group had spotted Lin Zhan alone, carrying a great many spirit stones and priceless treasures, and wanted to rob him, hoping to seize them and gain something for nothing. Among them were sects of all kinds, and even shameless loose cultivators.

The same method, the same process. After an hour, Lin Zhan was once again exhausted and sat back down in that chair with a backrest.

Beside the chair, piles of clothing in all colors and styles had risen like a small mountain, along with all sorts of bizarre weapons and tools. Inside the white bone pagoda, meanwhile, chaos reigned—clamorous and uproarious, filled with every kind of wailing, every kind of pleading, every kind of crying. From the sound of it alone, there were well over a hundred people, all of whom Lin Zhan had schemed into the pagoda.

He intended to keep these people suppressed for the night first. They had dared to rob him; even several lives would not have been enough to pay.

“Has the world gone mad? Today the bandits and robbers have all come in a crowd! Shut the door, shut it now! This inn is closed for today. Whoever comes again, I’ll deal with on the spot!”

Sitting there and thinking it over, Lin Zhan decided to go and close the gate. As for whether the people from the Wei residence and Young Master Wei would come—damn it, they were simply too dishonest. The ones who should have come did not, while the ones who should not have come arrived in several waves!

Lin Zhan rose and closed the inn’s courtyard gate. His mood turned somewhat desolate. The night sky remained filled with wind and snow, and only a ring around the bone pagoda remained calm and still, protected by the natural force it radiated, keeping the wind and snow at bay.

With weather this awful, Lin Zhan also withdrew his spiritual sense for the time being.

The moment he turned around—damn it—on the walls to both sides of the courtyard, more than a dozen heads had popped up on each side, staring at Lin Zhan with eyes that practically shot lightning.

Ah, it was Lei Feiyang, the young sect master of the Thunderclap Sect, who had arrived with his people!