Seven Zeros

Inside a leather shop, Lin Le handed the furs he was carrying to the shopkeeper at the counter. "See how much these are worth?"

The shopkeeper's eyelids twitched as he looked at the pile of furs. He considered himself knowledgeable and recognized that these furs were likely taken from demons, as they possessed a quality far beyond ordinary animal pelts.

As his fingers brushed over the furs, the shopkeeper's face showed occasional pained expressions. "Good furs, good furs, but the skinning technique is too poor, it greatly reduces the value!"

"How about this, I'll give you 150 taels for the tiger hide, 30 taels for the largest wolf hide, and 5 taels for the rest. That makes a total of 200 taels," the shopkeeper said.

"300 taels," Lin Le said without even looking up, raising the price by half.

"Young Hero, you're raising the price quite steeply," the shopkeeper said, rubbing his fingers together. "Then I'll add another ten percent, how about 220 taels?"

"400 taels," Lin Le countered again.

The shopkeeper's face soured. "Young Hero, you can't just raise the price like that. 240 taels, and that's the absolute most."

Lin Le narrowed his eyes and said, "260 taels, and give it all to me in Blood Essence Pills."

The shopkeeper's fingers unconsciously began to work an abacus. After considering the pros and cons, he nodded. "Fine."

Soon, the shopkeeper handed three bottles to Lin Le. "Twenty-six Blood Essence Pills. Please keep them safe, Young Hero."

Lin Le took them, shook them, and nodded. "Pleasant transaction."

"Pleasant transaction," the shopkeeper smiled and nodded. "Come back often if you get more good furs."

"I will," Lin Le nodded.

On the road, Lin Le swallowed the Blood Essence Pills one by one. With his Lotus divine ability, he didn't have to worry about exploding.

He walked into a higher-class blacksmith shop and handed the tiger bone in his hand to an apprentice. "Can you forge this tiger spine into a spear for me?"

The apprentice examined it and said, "We can, but it can only be made into a rigid spear, and the length won't exceed eight feet."

"That's enough," Lin Le nodded. "How much will it cost, and how long will it take?"

"Thirty taels. You have to pay half as a deposit, and it will take about six to seven days to finish." The apprentice replied.

"Okay," Lin Le nodded, took out fifteen taels from his money pouch and gave it to the apprentice. He also gave the apprentice some small change and asked him to exchange it for larger denominations.

'Still have twenty-six taels left. After paying fifteen, that only leaves eleven taels?' Lin Le thought, tossing his money pouch.

'I should find a place to stay first.'

Lin Le headed for the largest inn in Bailian County, but on the way, he was bumped into by a man who wasn't paying attention.

At an alley entrance, a shifty-looking man tossed his money pouch. "Hanging your money pouch out like that, aren't you just inviting thieves?"

Opening the money pouch, the man counted the money, but his face didn't show any happiness because the amount was a bit too large.

Even if someone in rough cloth had some wealth, a young lad carrying around two or three taels of silver was already a lot.

Carrying over twenty taels of silver with him, this wasn't the demeanor of someone from a humble background.

"I need to lay low for a while," the man muttered to himself.

Although he didn't know where that kid came from, he was most likely not from a good background either, otherwise, he wouldn't be dressed so plainly yet carrying over twenty taels of silver.

"No need to hide, just pay the money," a calm voice said.

The man instinctively took off running, but before he could take three steps, he felt his collar being grabbed, and he was violently thrown to the ground.

His limbs and bones screamed in pain, and the man was instantly dizzy.

When he came to his senses, a cold blade was held upright before his eyes, with a few dark red threads on it, emitting a foul smell.

Cold sweat instantly covered his back. The man immediately surrendered, "Good fellow, spare my life! I'll give you all my money!"

Lin Le used his saber to flick his own money pouch back, then said, "Lead the way."

"Yes, yes," the man quickly scrambled to his feet and then led Lin Le the way.

The man soon led Lin Le to a small courtyard. The moment he pushed open the door, he immediately rolled into the courtyard like a donkey, shouting:

"Boss, help!"

Lin Le simply walked in silently, closed the door, and counted the gazes falling upon him.

As his soul refinement progressed, his perception became increasingly acute.

"Fifth Brother, who did you bring trouble from outside?" a man with long limbs walked out from inside the house, looking displeased at the shifty-looking man.

"How would I know? I thought he looked poor and was just showing off with that sword on his back. I figured he was some apprentice who learned a few martial arts and was out causing trouble, so I taught him a lesson. Who knew he wasn't someone to mess with?" the man complained.

The boss shot a glare at Fifth Brother and looked at Lin Le with a cold expression. "What do you want? State your terms."

Lin Le, however, smiled slightly. "Seven."

"Seven?" the boss blinked in surprise.

In that moment of surprise, Lin Le suddenly stepped forward, his long saber drawing a cold glint.

The glint flew, and a head soared high into the air, its face still wearing an expression of disbelief.

"Six," Lin Le said softly.

"You're seeking death!" The boss roared upon seeing this and threw a handful of sand at Lin Le.

Lin Le's eyes opened and closed, deflecting the flying sand, and his long saber already swung towards the boss.

His speed was so great that even the boss didn't have time to react.

With the head falling to the ground, Lin Le said, "Five."

The others in the courtyard were terrified and turned to flee. If their boss, a Martial Master, was no match for this kid, what hope did they have?

But Lin Le's speed was beyond their imagination. With a swift stride, he reached the back of one man and decapitated him. Immediately after, he forcefully threw a dagger with his left hand, which lodged in another man's back.

"Four."

"Three."

Lin Le drew his saber and looked at the one person still standing at the doorway.

Seeing Lin Le look at him, that person's legs went weak. He knelt on the ground and immediately kowtowed, begging for mercy, "Esteemed hero, spare my life, spare my life. I, I can give you all our money."

What awaited him, however, was an unmerciful foot.

Bang! The skull deformed, blood flowed from all seven orifices, and the man instantly lost his life.

"Two," Lin Le said coldly, lifting his foot.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Another person inside the room, seeing this, screamed and charged at Lin Le, holding a dagger in his hand.

Squelch!

The headless body softly fell to the ground.

"One." Lin Le looked at the seemingly empty room, then tossed his long saber upwards.

Bang! A person fell from the roof beam onto the ground.

"Zero." Lin Le sheathed his saber, his face utterly indifferent.

It was as if he hadn't killed seven people, but seven chickens.

Looking inward at his Inner Scenery, the Human Dao lotus seed gained one, and the lotus root gained another segment.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Le glanced at the two booklets in his hand and casually tossed one aside.

That was the Empty Hand Technique, which conflicted with the Eagle Claw Technique.

The remaining booklet was the Wall-Walking Skill. Reaching Perfection would make it easier to develop the Gecko Foot Bone Structure.

'Three forms left,' Lin Le whispered.

He flipped over the wall. After confirming no one was watching him, Lin Le left.

However, not long after he departed, a large snake crawled out of a well in the courtyard. It glanced in the direction Lin Le had gone, opened its mouth, and inhaled. Several streams of white mist flew out from the corpses and disappeared into its mouth.

The corpses withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.