"I know, thank you for your concern, Senior Sister." After Li Lin finished speaking, he left his residence.

"Hello, Junior Brother."

"Hello, Junior Brother."

Along the way, he encountered many ordinary disciples of the Flying Spirit Gate, all of whom greeted Li Lin respectfully.

Li Lin nodded slightly, feeling a bit helpless. It seemed that he was quite popular. Leaving the Flying Spirit Gate, Li Lin went directly to the nearest town.

He knew the terrain and towns nearby from Zhang Mingtao's mind, so he didn't need to ask anyone.

Li Lin knew that the town was called Hua Men Town, located near the Flying Spirit Mountain. It was a bustling town with many people. The town had shops selling pills, weapons, and medicinal herbs, attracting many martial artists and spiritual practitioners.

Today, Li Lin planned to buy some medicinal herbs and materials for making puppets, aiming to create the Blood Soul Mark and try to make some low-level puppets.

He had been studying everything in the Holy Hand Spiritual Venerable Heavenly Spirit Record, given by his master. Feeling almost ready, Li Lin wanted to try it himself.

After successfully cultivating the Blood Soul Mark, he would be able to control demons and beasts. This was undoubtedly a powerful means. If he could make a hundred or so puppets to have by his side, even if he encountered strong opponents, he could overwhelm them, giving himself a chance to escape.

"Chichichi..."

As soon as he left the Flying Spirit Gate, the little dragon, which was growing increasingly childlike and mischievous, climbed onto Li Lin's shoulder. It looked around curiously and occasionally released its aura, frightening nearby wild animals and birds.

Li Lin quickly asked the little dragon to restrain its aura to avoid trouble. The little dragon was less willing to stay in his sleeve lately.

Upon reaching the town, Li Lin saw that the streets were bustling with people, mostly martial artists, some ordinary people, and surprisingly, two spiritual practitioners of the Spirit Warrior level, followed by several martial artists.

The town had many shops, but fewer selling weapons, medicinal herbs, and pills. Most shops sold clothes and miscellaneous items.

However, those selling weapons, pills, and herbs were concentrated on a nearby street.

After walking around the town, Li Lin first visited some clothing shops, buying many beautiful clothes and skirts for Li Xintong. Then he entered the largest shop selling medicinal herbs, pills, and weapons.

"Treasure Gathering Gate." Li Lin looked at the shop's sign, which seemed like a temple of the God of Wealth.

"Sir, what would you like to buy?" A clever-looking shop assistant approached him.

Li Lin glanced at the assistant, who was at the first level of the Warrior realm, and said, "I want to buy Bi'an Spiritual Grass, Tongling Fat, Ju Blood Ganoderma, fine iron, Xuanxing Stone..."

"Do you have these items?" Li Lin asked, listing many items needed for cultivating the Blood Soul Mark and making puppets.

"Yes, of course, please come inside," the assistant was startled, recognizing that Bi'an Spiritual Grass, Tongling Fat, and Ju Blood Ganoderma were expensive items. This was a big customer. The other items were also pricey. He quickly invited Li Lin to the inner hall, where a man in his fifties greeted them.

"This young man, I'm the manager here. The things you want to buy are quite valuable. I wonder..." The manager looked at Li Lin, who was only about sixteen or seventeen years old. The total cost was about one hundred thousand gold coins, which made him doubt whether the young man had enough money.

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"Don't worry, you won't be shortchanged," Li Lin said calmly. He wasn't short of money. From the White Collar Mercenary Group's treasure alone, he had obtained six hundred thousand gold coins, and from the Wudu Mountain Range, he had acquired about one hundred thousand gold coins. If he sold all the medicinal herbs and pills he obtained, it would amount to nearly one hundred thousand gold coins. Mainly, the space bag he got from the leader of the White Collar Mercenary Group contained a considerable amount of gold coins, pills, and herbs.

"Then please wait a moment, sir. I will prepare everything for you," said the elder, his face breaking into a smile. This was a big business deal of over one hundred thousand gold coins, a rare occurrence in the shop. He immediately changed his way of addressing the customer.

Sitting in the inner hall, Li Lin was served some snacks and other items. After a short while, the manager arrived with three assistants, each carrying a large bundle to Li Lin.

"Sir, these are the medicinal materials and ingredients you requested. Please check them to see if anything is missing," the manager said respectfully.

"Bi'an Spiritual Grass, Tongling Fat, Ju Blood Ganoderma, fine iron, Xuanxing Stone..." Li Lin counted each item. He did not want to make a second trip. After confirming everything was correct, he said, "That's all of them. Let's settle the bill."

"Sir, the total is one hundred and five thousand three hundred gold coins. We'll round down the change, so it's a total of one hundred and five thousand gold coins," the manager quickly replied, having already calculated the total.

Li Lin knew these items weren't cheap, but he didn't expect them to cost over one hundred thousand gold coins. He was taken aback. Cultivating the Yin Yang Spirit Martial Art was expensive, and so was making puppets and controlling beasts from the Heavenly Spirit Record.

"That's a lot. You're just rounding off the change? That's still a hefty profit. How about this: let's make it an even one hundred thousand gold coins, and consider the five thousand gold coins as a discount. If that's acceptable, fine. If not, I'll go to another shop," Li Lin said.

"Sir, this..." The manager hesitated, as waiving five thousand gold coins was a significant amount.

"If that's not acceptable, then I'll go to another shop," Li Lin stood up, ready to leave. Having spent over one hundred thousand gold coins, he knew the shop had made a good profit. Even deducting five thousand gold coins, they would still earn a lot. If he were at Tianbao Gate, he could have saved over twenty thousand gold coins with his VIP card, but it seemed there was no Tianbao Gate in this town.

"Alright, we'll give you the discount, sir. Please do come again if you need anything," the manager said, seeing Li Lin about to leave, he quickly agreed to the discount.

"Here," Li Lin immediately took out several jade crystal cards, which together had enough gold coins.

The manager was surprised to see so many jade crystal cards on this young man, wondering about his background.

After swiping four jade crystal cards to reach one hundred thousand gold coins, Li Lin put the medicinal materials and puppet-making ingredients into his space bag and left the shop.

As Li Lin left, four figures flashed out from the Treasure Gathering Gate, slowly following behind him.

Having purchased what he needed, Li Lin planned to return to the Flying Spirit Gate to find a quiet place to cultivate the Blood Soul Mark and make puppets.

Thinking about cultivating the Blood Soul Mark, Li Lin felt somewhat terrified. It was difficult to cultivate, requiring one's own essence blood, mixed with several medicinal herbs, to be refined into a pill, then consumed and finally assisted by soul power to form the mark.

Only by cultivating the Blood Soul Mark could he control demons and beasts. The essence blood had to come from his own marrow, a painful process.

Leaving the town and on the way back to the Flying Spirit Gate, the road was sparsely populated. Passing through a valley at noon, the season was in the midst of a hot summer. The valley's grass and wildflowers were scorched by the blazing sun in the sky, filling the air with a fiery scent.

The azure sky was cloudless, the hot sun baking the valley. On the rocks of the valley, wisps of mist-like, cloud-like grey vapor rose and hovered low in the air, making it feel stifling.

At that moment, Li Lin's eyebrows slightly furrowed, his expression darkened, and he continued walking forward.

"Stop," a voice called out from behind Li Lin moments later.

"Following me for so long, you've finally decided to show yourselves," Li Lin turned around to face four burly men, all around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. One of them was slightly older, probably around thirty, dressed in a blue long robe and with a scar on his face.

"Boy, hand over everything you have," the scar-faced man said, eyeing Li Lin.

"Who are you?" Li Lin asked lightly, assessing the aura of the four men. The weakest was a sixth-level warrior, then an eighth-level and a ninth-level warrior, and the scar-faced man was a second-level martial master.

Li Lin had been aware of these four men following him since leaving the Treasure Gathering Gate. In the Wudu Mountain Range, he had become accustomed to constantly being alert to his surroundings.

"We are irrelevant. You just showed too much wealth, so you must die," the sixth-level warrior coldly shouted, conjuring a blazing fire palm in his hand, his true qi flashing under his feet as he lunged towards Li Lin like lightning.