Inside a tannery, Lin Le stuffed the pelts he carried onto the counter. "Take a look. How much are they worth?"
The shopkeeper looked at the stack of pelts, and his eyelids could not help twitching. He was a man of experience and could tell that these pelts had likely been stripped from demons. Otherwise, they would not possess qualities beyond ordinary fur.
His fingers stroked the pelts as a pained look repeatedly crossed his face. "Fine pelts, truly fine pelts—but the skinning work was far too poor. Their value has been greatly reduced!"
"How about this? I'll offer one hundred and fifty taels for the tiger pelt, thirty taels for the largest wolf pelt, and five taels each for the rest. Two hundred taels in total," the shopkeeper said.
"Three hundred taels." Without even raising his brows, Lin Le directly raised the price by half.
"You drive a hard bargain, young hero." The shopkeeper rubbed his fingers together. "Then I'll add another ten percent. How about two hundred and twenty taels?"
"Four hundred taels." Lin Le raised the price again.
The shopkeeper's expression darkened. "Young hero, who raises prices like that? Two hundred and forty taels. Not a tael more."
Lin Le narrowed his eyes, then said, "Two hundred and sixty taels. Exchange all of it for Blood Essence Pills."
The shopkeeper unconsciously began flicking his abacus beads. After weighing the gains and losses in his heart, he nodded. "Fine."
Very soon, the shopkeeper handed Lin Le three bottles. "Twenty-six Blood Essence Pills. Please keep them safe, young hero."
Lin Le accepted them, shook the bottles, and nodded. "Pleasure doing business."
"Pleasure doing business." The shopkeeper smiled and nodded. "If you get any fine pelts in the future, come by often."
"I will." Lin Le nodded.
On the road, Lin Le swallowed the Blood Essence Pills one after another. With the Lotus divine ability, he did not need to worry about bursting himself apart.
Entering a rather high-end blacksmith shop, Lin Le handed the tiger bones in his hand to an apprentice for inspection. "Can you forge this tiger spine into a spear?"
The apprentice examined it, then said, "It can be done, but it can only be made into a rigid spear, and it will not be longer than eight feet."
"That will be enough." Lin Le nodded. "How much will it cost, and how long will it take?"
"Thirty taels. Half must be paid as a deposit. It should take around six or seven days," the apprentice said.
"Fine." Lin Le nodded, took fifteen taels from the pouch at his waist, and handed them to the apprentice. He also gave him some loose coins to exchange for whole silver.
Twenty-six taels left. After taking out fifteen, that leaves only eleven taels? Lin Le tossed his money pouch as he thought.
I should find somewhere to stay first.
Lin Le headed toward the largest inn in Bailian County, but on the way, an inconsiderate man bumped into him.
At the mouth of an alley, a shifty-eyed man tossed a money pouch in his hand. "Hanging your money pouch so openly—aren't you just inviting thieves to think of it?"
Opening the pouch, the man counted its contents. There was no joy on his face, because the amount was somewhat too large.
Dressed in coarse cloth and hemp, even if he had some family means, a half-grown boy carrying two or three taels of silver would already be the limit.
Carrying more than twenty taels of silver on his person was not the bearing of some small household.
"I need to lie low for a while," the man muttered to himself.
Though he did not know where that boy had come from, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that his background was not simple. Otherwise, why would he be dressed plainly while carrying over twenty taels of silver?
"No need to hide. Just hand over the money." A calm voice came from behind him.
The man instinctively turned and ran, but before he had taken two or three steps, he felt his collar being seized and was viciously thrown to the ground.
Agonizing pain shot through all four limbs and five viscera, and the man immediately became dizzy and disoriented.
By the time he came back to himself, a cold blade stood before his eyes. Several dark-red threads still clung to it, carrying a rank, bloody stench.
Cold sweat instantly covered his back. The man immediately surrendered. "Hero, spare my life! I'll give you all my money!"
Lin Le flicked his blade and hooked his own money pouch back, then said, "Lead the way."
"Yes, yes." The man hurriedly scrambled up from the ground and led Lin Le onward.
Before long, the man brought Lin Le to a small courtyard. The instant he pushed open the door, he rolled into the courtyard like a donkey rolling over and shouted:
"Boss, save me!"
Lin Le merely walked in silently, closed the door, and counted the gazes falling on him.
As his soul refinement advanced, his senses had become increasingly sharp.
"Fifth Brother, what kind of trouble did you bring to our door?" A long-limbed man stepped out from the house, glaring displeasedly at the shifty-eyed man.
"How would I know? He looked poor and carried a saber around to show off. I thought he was some apprentice who had learned a little fist-and-kick kung fu and come out to make his way, so I taught him a lesson. Who knew he was not someone to provoke?" the man protested.
The boss shot Fifth Brother a sideways glance, then looked at Lin Le with an icy expression. "What do you want? Lay out your terms."
Lin Le smiled faintly. "Seven."
"Seven?" The boss froze.
In that instant of hesitation, Lin Le suddenly stepped forward, his saber drawing a streak of cold light.
The cold light flashed past, and a head flew high into the air, an incredulous expression still on its face.
"Six," Lin Le said softly.
"You're courting death!" Seeing this, the boss roared and flung a handful of sand at Lin Le.
Lin Le's eyes opened and closed as he blocked the flying sand, while his saber was already slashing toward the boss.
He was so fast that even the boss failed to react.
The head hit the ground, and Lin Le spoke again. "Five."
The others in the courtyard were terrified and turned to flee. Even their boss, a martial master, was no match for this boy—how could they fare any better?
But Lin Le's speed exceeded their imagination. With one swift step, he rushed behind one man and beheaded him with a slash. Then he forcefully hurled a dagger with his left hand, burying it in another man's heart from behind.
"Four."
"Three."
Lin Le drew back his saber and looked at the one person still standing by the door.
When that man saw Lin Le looking at him, his legs went limp. He dropped to his knees and immediately kowtowed, begging, "Hero, spare me, spare me! I-I can give you all our money."
What awaited him was a merciless foot.
Bang! His skull caved in, blood poured from his seven orifices, and he died instantly.
"Two." Lin Le lowered his foot coldly.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Seeing this, the other man inside the house screamed and charged at Lin Le with a dagger in hand.
Squelch!
The headless body collapsed limply.
"One." Lin Le looked at the seemingly empty room, then threw his saber upward.
Bang! A man fell from the ceiling beam to the ground.
"Zero." Lin Le sheathed his saber, his face utterly indifferent.
As though he had not killed seven people, but merely seven chickens.
Looking inward at his inner landscape, the Human Dao lotus seed gained another seed, and the lotus root gained another segment.
After cleaning up the scene, Lin Le glanced at the two booklets in his hand and casually tossed one aside.
It was the Empty Hand Technique, which conflicted with the Eagle Claw Technique.
The remaining booklet was the Wall-Walking Skill. Upon reaching perfection, it could transform his Bone Structure to grant him Gecko Feet.
Three forms remain, Lin Le murmured.
He vaulted over the wall. After sensing no gazes fixed upon him, Lin Le left.
Not long after he departed, however, a great snake crawled out from a well in the courtyard. It looked in the direction Lin Le had gone, opened its mouth, and inhaled. Several streams of white vapor flew from the corpses into its mouth.
Those corpses shriveled at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Before you continue