Spoils

The invading enemies had been wiped out. Lin Chen returned to the Herb Garden.

Lin Tie and the others remained at their respective approaches, guarding against any more bandits.

By the time he reached the Herb Garden, the sun was setting and dusk had begun to fall.

Lin Chen looked across the grounds. Everything was as usual: the herb-tending boys, servants, and farmers were each busy at their posts, untouched by the fighting.

That was one reason he had chosen to strike first as soon as he received word of the attack. He wanted to stop the enemy outside the Herb Garden and spare the people within it as much as possible.

Of course, if the attacker had been a martial artist above the Seventh Level of the Spirit Martial Realm, Lin Chen would have sent everyone into the secret passage at once and evacuated the Herb Garden.

After all, the saying went: preserve the people and lose the land, and both could be regained; preserve the land and lose the people, and both would be lost.

Back at his quarters, Lin Chen rested briefly, then began tallying the spoils of the day's battle.

The two ordinary bandits had been rather poor. Between them, they had carried fewer than three hundred Spirit Stones—hardly worth mentioning.

Mang Shan's Storage Ring, on the other hand, held far more.

As an elder of Blackwind Stronghold, he had spent years amassing wealth. His Spirit Stones alone numbered nearly a thousand.

Dozens of chunks of Black Iron Ore were piled in one corner of the Storage Ring. Once refined into Refined Black Iron, they would be worth several hundred Spirit Stones. There was also a low-tier Spirit-Grade manual for the Black Crow Palm.

"That old fellow was fairly well-off."

Murmuring to himself, Lin Chen sorted the spoils into categories. Finally, he turned to what he had taken from Li Qianren.

First was the Ghost-Head Great Saber.

The blade was extremely heavy, weighing several hundred pounds by his estimate. Its edge gleamed with a cold, dark-green light, and three skulls were set into its hilt. It looked sinister, but it was undeniably an excellent Spirit-Grade weapon.

"Looks like my Life-Bound Divine Artifact can rise another small step."

Lin Chen put the saber aside. Once he had finished sorting the spoils, he would let his Life-Bound Divine Artifact devour it and improve its quality.

Next, he picked up Li Qianren's Storage Ring.

The space inside was fairly large, roughly seven or eight cubic meters, and crammed with all kinds of odds and ends.

Lin Chen even found a heap of gold, silver, and jewels worth tens of thousands of taels. They had probably been stolen from ordinary people. They were no use to a martial artist, and he had no idea why Li Qianren had kept them.

Beyond that, there were a little over five hundred Spirit Stones. That was less than Mang Shan had carried, but the ring also held a great many ordinary pills and a pile of Black Iron Ore, all of considerable value.

Lin Chen counted through everything.

At last, his gaze settled on a few unusual items.

The first was a manual bound in animal hide, with the words "Bloodburn Saber Technique" written on its cover.

A quick look told Lin Chen it was a mid-tier Spirit-Grade Martial Art. It temporarily burned the user's vital blood to strengthen his saber strikes, but afterward left him so weak that he would need a week to recover.

"So that was the saber technique he used when he was fighting for his life."

Understanding dawned on Lin Chen, but he shook his head. "Too bad he hadn't mastered it, and his cultivation was two levels below mine. So what if he burned his blood? A chasm that wide in cultivation isn't so easily crossed."

Lin Chen put the manual away.

He followed the Sword Dao, so the technique did not suit him.

Still, a mid-tier Spirit-Grade Martial Art was valuable. He could sell it if the chance arose, or place it in the Lineage's martial repository. That would be a good choice too. After all, the Thunderlight Sword Technique he currently focused on was only low-tier Spirit Grade.

"In seven years, I've raced from the First Level of the Spirit Martial Realm to the Sixth. My cultivation has advanced with astonishing speed, but the price is that I haven't had enough time to study martial arts. I've also had to divide my attention to comprehend the Sword Diagram. That's why I've only brought the Thunderlight Sword Technique to major mastery, not perfection."

"Unlike Elder Lin Song and the others. They've spent years at the Sixth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm, with plenty of time to perfect their Spirit-Grade Martial Arts."

Lin Chen turned that over in his mind.

It was a weakness of his, but not a bad thing.

After a while, Lin Chen set the thought aside and examined the second item.

It was a black token made of neither metal nor wood, heavy and cold in his hand. A twisted character for "Baleful Intent" was carved on the front, and a black whirlwind on the back.

"I thought it might be some treasure. It's just an identity token."

After studying it for a moment, Lin Chen lost interest. "What use is a token from a stronghold that's been wiped out?"

He set the token aside, somewhat disappointed, and turned to the final item.

It was a small jade box. When Lin Chen opened it, he found three apple-sized fruits inside, red all over and faintly radiating heat.

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow. He recognized them as spirit fruits that could improve cultivation when refined and also help temper the body.

"No wonder he only had a few hundred Spirit Stones. He'd bought Red Sun Fruits to refine and improve his cultivation. Too bad Li Qianren never got the chance. The Lin Family and Li Family attacked Blackwind Stronghold together, and he lost his life in the end."

Lin Chen murmured to himself, a faint smile in his eyes.

"But now... all of it belongs to me."

"Refine them. Refine every last one!"

Lin Chen opened his mouth. The three Red Sun Fruits dissolved into a thin stream of spiritual liquid, which he swallowed.

He then circulated the Evergreen Art, refining the spiritual energy within the fruits and drawing it into the Qi Sea in his dantian. Spiritual power surged through the Qi Sea, visibly growing denser and more substantial.

In terms of cultivation, he now stood firmly in the middle stage of the Sixth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm.

Lin Chen took a look at his status panel:

[Cultivation: Sixth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm (608/1490)]

Three Red Sun Fruits had given him nearly six hundred experience points.

"If I remember right, it took 950 experience points to advance from the Fourth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm to the Fifth?"

"Looking at it that way, if Li Qianren had refined those three Red Sun Fruits, he could probably have reached the late stage of the Fourth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm and saved himself a good deal of arduous cultivation."

Lin Chen spoke to himself as he took out the Ghost-Head Great Saber and offered it to his Life-Bound Divine Artifact, the Greenedge Sword, to devour.

The saber's quality was high enough that the devouring took three full minutes.

Then the saber cracked apart inch by inch, reduced to scrap iron. Light flowed over the Greenedge Sword as its quality rose to excellent Tier Two.

"Between the Red Sun Fruits and the Ghost-Head Great Saber, Li Qianren was quite the benefactor to me."

Lin Chen could not help but marvel at it.

With the spoils dealt with, Lin Chen spent some time cultivating.

At noon the next day, news arrived:

The Lin Family and Li Family had joined forces and taken Blackwind Cliff. Every bandit in the stronghold had been wiped out, and its chief, Li Baichuan, had been slain on the spot.

From that day on, there would be no more bandit scourge outside Kaiyang City!

The battle was a great victory!

"Looks like they didn't need my help."

Lin Chen felt a weight lift from his heart and allowed himself a rare joke.

He could imagine how much stronger the Lin Family and Li Family would grow now that Blackwind Stronghold had fallen. The Black Iron Ore Vein beneath Blackwind Cliff would also come under their control.

"But with three powers, the balance holds. With two, the struggle for supremacy begins."

"Blackwind Stronghold has only just fallen. Both my family and the Li Family need time to absorb their gains and grow stronger, so there'll be a long stretch of peace. But as time passes, without Blackwind Stronghold as a common enemy, the two powers sharing Kaiyang City are bound to clash one day..."

Lin Chen gazed into the distance, as though he could see that future.

But he remained calm, without a trace of worry.

Give him a few more years, and what could the mere Li Family do?