Chapter 147: The Calculator

Lin Yi accepted the Yin-Yang Lotus handed over by Li Xincheng, and the Nirvana Flame within his golden core leaped with increasing joy.

"Hmph, can we leave now?" Li Xincheng said with a cold voice.

Anyone would feel displeased upon being threatened, let alone someone who was a revered Spiritual Master.

"Mm." Lin Yi nodded.

"Let's go," Li Xincheng said to the ten law enforcers behind him.

"Yes."

All ten reluctantly withdrew their weapons.

In their hearts, Li Xincheng was not only their commander but also a figure deserving of their utmost respect.

At a single command from Li Xincheng, they would have stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.

However, it was evident that Li Xincheng was not yet willing to make an enemy of Lin Yi.

At least, not for the present.

Li Xincheng cast an angry glance at Xie Xiaosheng. If not for him, how could he have suffered such humiliation today?

Not to mention, it had also cost him a precious, unidentifiable medicinal herb.

Li Xincheng took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the fury in his heart.

He said coldly, "Take all the troublemakers here away with me."

"Yes."

Soon, Li Xincheng and the others escorted Xie Xiaosheng and the members of the Joy Valley away.

After a long while, the crowd finally snapped back to their senses.

The unassuming young man before them possessed such terrifying strength that even a Spiritual Master treated him with cautious reverence.

In an instant, the way everyone looked at Lin Yi changed.

There was fear, awe, envy, and worship.

Those who had still been harboring malicious intentions completely dismissed such thoughts at that moment.

Die Nishang said gratefully, "Mr. Lin, thank you for your rescue today."

"It's nothing. Where is the Spirit-Nourishing Grass?" Lin Yi asked without ceremony.

"Right here."

Die Nishang produced a medicinal herb, which was indeed the Spirit-Nourishing Grass.

The quality of this Spirit-Nourishing Grass was even superior to the one Lin Yi had seen last time.

Lin Yi put the Spirit-Nourishing Grass away.

At that moment, an ordinarily dressed middle-aged woman stepped forward and asked, "Sir, I am from the Pei family of Modu. Might I ask how many Nine-Pattern Pills you have in your possession?"

"Plenty," Lin Yi replied vaguely.

This left the middle-aged woman slightly startled. Plenty? Exactly how many was that?

"Then, Mr. Lin, our Pei family wishes to acquire ten Nine-Pattern Pills."

As the middle-aged woman spoke, she covertly assessed Lin Yi.

Her primary goal was to gauge Lin Yi's expression to roughly deduce his bottom line regarding the pills.

Everyone knew the preciousness of Nine-Pattern Pills; even a single one would usually spark fierce competition.

Yet Lin Yi's expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Are you looking for Nine-Pattern Body-Consolidating Pills or Qi-Nourishing Pills?"

The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "Could we get five of each?"

"Very well."

Lin Yi retrieved five Body-Consolidating Pills and five Qi-Nourishing Pills from a jade bottle.

A rich medicinal fragrance immediately filled the surrounding air.

The middle-aged woman asked cautiously, "May I inspect them?"

"Go ahead."

Lin Yi had no fear of the woman tampering with them, considering that his display of strength moments ago had already cowed the vast majority of the crowd.

Anyone who dared to harbor ulterior motives now would simply be courting death.

The middle-aged woman took the pills and examined them closely. True enough, every single one was a Nine-Pattern Pill.

This filled her with profound astonishment.

Just how many Nine-Pattern Pills did this man actually possess?

After inspecting them for a moment, the middle-aged woman said, "Sir, these are indeed all Nine-Pattern Pills. I'll take them."

Lin Yi reminded her, "I only accept top-grade spiritual stones here. One gram per pill."

"I am aware." The middle-aged woman chuckled softly, then retrieved ten grams of top-grade spiritual stones from her storage pouch.

Lin Yi had not expected the woman to be so generous. If everyone else were like her, how wonderful that would be.

***

Upon returning to the Dao Alliance, Xu Zibo immediately sought out his master.

"You rebellious disciple, you still know how to return."

An old man sitting cross-legged on a woven rush mat said indifferently.

He was Xu Zibo's master, Zhou Antai.

Zhou Antai's tone carried neither sorrow nor joy, yet it sent a chill down Xu Zibo's spine. It was likely that his master had already discovered how he had been using Daoist arts to swindle and deceive people.

Hanging his head and acting pitiful, Xu Zibo cried out, "Master, my dantian has been sealed!"

"Oh?"

Zhou Antai raised his eyelids, and suddenly, a flash of purple light flickered across his eyes.

He saw that within Xu Zibo's dantian, a wisp of decaying aura was continuously eroding his internal energy.

The moment Xu Zibo attempted to mobilize his internal energy, the erosion speed of the decaying aura would only increase.

Judging by the current situation, within a month at most, the internal energy in Xu Zibo's dantian would be completely consumed.

By then, his foundational roots would suffer severe damage, limiting his future achievements.

What a ruthless technique.

After a single glance, the light in Zhou Antai's eyes gradually faded as he asked in a deep voice, "Who did this?"

No matter how worthless Xu Zibo was, he was still a member of the Dao Alliance and Zhou Antai's disciple.

For someone to seal his dantian using Daoist arts was tantamount to slapping the Dao Alliance across the face in broad daylight.

"It was him."

Xu Zibo pulled out his phone and brought up a photograph, but bizarrely, the face of the person in the picture was entirely blurred.

"Strange, the photo was fine before. Why isn't it working now?" Xu Zibo muttered with a sense of frustration.

Zhou Antai glanced at the photo, furrowed his brow slightly, and said, "Don't bother looking. This person used Daoist techniques to obscure their appearance. What you saw previously might not even have been their true face."

"Oh," Xu Zibo nodded.

"Very well, let me first extract this wisp of decaying aura from your body," Zhou Antai said.

Xu Zibo immediately sat cross-legged in front of Zhou Antai.

Zhou Antai's eyes narrowed as he reached out and pressed a finger against Xu Zibo's dantian. Expecting the task to be easy, his expression shifted slightly almost immediately.

The wisp of decaying aura within Xu Zibo's dantian was as stubborn as a boulder, having only shifted a minuscule distance under his probe.

It was no wonder his disciple had been utterly incapable of forcing the decaying aura out.

Zhou Antai increased his power, and after ten-odd minutes, a faint black wisp finally crept out of Xu Zibo's body, gathering at Zhou Antai's fingertip.

This was the decaying aura.

"Such a potent decaying aura; it even affects the heaven and earth energy at my command."

A trace of astonishment crossed Zhou Antai's mind. He flicked his wrist, dispersing the wisp of decaying energy into nothingness.

Xu Zibo circulated the internal energy in his dantian. The sensation of being filled with power once again was truly wonderful.

"Tell me, how did you offend this person?" Zhou Antai interrogated him.

"I..." Xu Zibo stammered for a long while.

Zhou Antai said coldly, "Did you try to swindle someone beyond your depth?"

As Xu Zibo's master, how could he not understand his disciple's temperament?

Ever since childhood, Xu Zibo had been clever and full of crooked ideas, even attempting to scam his own master in the past.

Had he applied himself properly to cultivation, his strength would at least have reached the half-step grandmaster realm by now.

Xu Zibo offered a sheepish smile, then put on a wronged expression. "Master, you must uphold justice for me. At the time, that man even wanted to kill me."

Zhou Antai shook his head. "You brought it upon yourself. Who told you to spend all day scheming? Give me the phone; I'll cast a divination first to figure out his background."

Regardless of the circumstances, Xu Zibo was still his disciple. Even if he had done wrong, any punishment should be administered by him as his master.

Hearing this, Xu Zibo hurriedly handed over his phone.

Zhou Antai placed the phone on his lap, closed his eyes, and began pinching his fingers together in rapid succession calculations.

Suddenly, he swept a finger across the center of his brow, where heaven and earth energy converged.

"Open the Heavenly Eye!"

Zhou Antai commanded in a deep voice, and a third eye materialized on his forehead.

This eye was condensed from pure heaven and earth energy, capable of perceiving all things and piercing through illusions.

Zhou Antai cast his gaze toward the phone on his lap, and the previously hazy photograph gradually began to clear up.

However, before Zhou Antai could see clearly, a backlash struck. His chest tightened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, his vitality instantly withering.

"Master, what's wrong?" Xu Zibo hurried forward to ask anxiously.

Zhou Antai swallowed a medicinal pill, steadied himself after a moment, and said with an exceptionally solemn expression, "From today onward, you will stay here and cultivate in peace. Do not even think about stepping outside until you reach the grandmaster realm."

"Master, why?!" Xu Zibo instantly panicked.

Cultivation was inherently monotonous, which was why he always sought out entertainment.

"No reason," Zhou Antai said coldly, raising a hand to press a stream of heaven and earth energy into Xu Zibo's body, forbidding him from leaving the Dao Alliance.

There was one thing he left unsaid: merely by glancing at the other party through the Heavenly Eye just now, he had suffered such a fierce backlash.

Without a doubt, the person in that photograph was also an adept in the Dao, and one even more formidable than himself.

It was likely that the other party had long since detected his act of scrying.

***

Lin Yi looked up into the distance and muttered to himself, "A diviner? How interesting."

He did not pay it too much mind; the person's divination skills were still lacking—to use an analogy, they were merely at a junior high school level.

By six o'clock in the evening, Lin Yi had sold a hundred Nine-Pattern Pills, reaping one hundred grams of top-grade spiritual stones.

True to its reputation as Modu's trading convention, it was not lacking in wealthy individuals.

If this were in Jiang Province, gathering even a single gram of top-grade spiritual stones would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Lin Yi put away the remaining pills and randomly selected a hotel to stay in.

Sitting in his room, Lin Yi brought out the Yin-Yang Lotus.

The black-and-white dual-colored Yin-Yang Lotus continuously exhaled wisps of spiritual mist.

Though faint, it was exceedingly pure—undoubtedly an absolute treasure for anyone just beginning their journey into cultivation.

Sensing the presence of the Yin-Yang Lotus, the Nirvana Flame within his dantian leaped violently once more.

Finding it amusing, Lin Yi put the Yin-Yang Lotus away, whereupon the Nirvana Flame immediately returned to its calm state.

After testing it briefly, Lin Yi drew the Nirvana Flame out from his golden core and brought the Yin-Yang Lotus close to it.

The Nirvana Flame, which had previously been no larger than a thumb, flowed like water and wrapped around the Yin-Yang Lotus.

After about five seconds, the Nirvana Flame returned to its original size, except it was now distinctly brighter and far less dim than before.

Moreover, Lin Yi noticed that the seed of the fire within the core of the Nirvana Flame had expanded by a full circle.

"I wonder if spiritual herbs of rank seven and above are useful, or if only the Yin-Yang Lotus has this effect on the Nirvana Flame."

Lin Yi touched his chin in contemplation.

If rank seven spiritual herbs worked, while they were rare, it was not entirely impossible to find them.

If it had to be exclusively the Yin-Yang Lotus, the difficulty of searching for it would undoubtedly increase manifold.

"Forget it, I'll take it one step at a time."

Lin Yi collected his thoughts and guided the Nirvana Flame back into his golden core.

Whether due to that stalk of Yin-Yang Lotus or not, he felt his connection with the Nirvana Flame had grown noticeably closer.