Time slowly passed, and after another fifteen days, a blue figure appeared at the edge of the ancient domain of the Misty Mountain Range. It was Li Lin, who had walked out of the Misty Mountain Range. At this time, it had been exactly two months and five days since Li Lin entered the Misty Mountain Range. In this past half-month, Li Lin had once again swallowed a triple martial master, a single martial master, and four martial disciples, reaching the mid-stage of the quadruple martial master level.
"Snow Lion, let's return to the Flying Spirit Sect."
"Roar!" A deep roar sounded as the Sky Wing Snow Lion expanded its huge body and flapped its wings to take off.
A dull yellow light flashed under Li Lin's feet, and then his body leaped onto the massive body of the Sky Wing Snow Lion.
"Look, there's a flying demon beast, and there's someone on it."
"Such a large flying demon beast, it must be of the third-tier level."
From a distance, many people were surprised to watch the sky, but they were not too surprised. At the edge of the Misty Mountain Range, many people owned flying magical beasts, and many mercenary groups also had some low-level flying demon beasts. This was not a surprising thing.
Inside the main hall of the Flying Spirit Sect, six figures were sitting, namely Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing and the other five elders of the Flying Spirit Sect.
"Elder, what do you think we should do about this matter?" Hu NanSheng asked inside the main hall.
Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing slightly furrowed his brows, then raised them and said, "The Sect Master is back. Let the Sect Master make the decision."
Above the Flying Spirit Sect, a whistling airflow spread out, and then the massive Sky Wing Snow Lion landed in the square in front of the Flying Spirit Sect's main hall.
"The Sect Master is back."
"Greetings to the Sect Master."
The surrounding disciples immediately came forward to salute, all excited, watching the Sect Master leap down from the massive demon beast, fantasizing about owning such a flying demon beast one day.
"Greetings to the Sect Master."
The five elders quickly went outside the main hall to welcome him, and then Li Lin also entered the main hall.
"Your aura seems to have strengthened quite a bit." Inside the main hall, Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing watched Li Lin with a surprised look. He could not see through Li Lin's strength, but the aura on Li Lin was much stronger than it was two months ago. Naturally, this was surprising for just a short two months.
"Just some gains." Li Lin smiled lightly, then looking at Hu NanSheng and the other five elders along with Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing all in the main hall, he asked, "Do the elders have something to discuss?"
Li Lin knew that ordinary matters would not concern Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing. Now that Dong WuMing was here, the matter was likely not ordinary.
"Sect Master, we have encountered a troublesome matter recently," Zhou YuHou said.
"What matter?" Li Lin asked.
"Sect Master, it's like this..." Hu NanSheng then gave a brief overview of the situation, and Li Lin's brows also furrowed.
It turned out that in the two towns received by the Flying Spirit Sect from the Rakshasa Sect, some problems had arisen. The two towns, named HuaMen Town and Tuan Mountain Town, were not large, but each had its own resources. Located not far from the Misty Mountain Range, they were known in the vicinity as the scattered medicinal material trading markets. Many large mercenary groups and small teams would bring their collected medicinal materials to these nearest towns, attracting many martial practitioners and spiritual masters to come and purchase.
With more people, naturally, the towns became lively. These two towns thus became increasingly prosperous with many shops, which for the original Rakshasa Sect, the majority of the tribute came from these towns.
The current situation was that both towns had encountered some troubles, and not just ordinary troubles. The first was HuaMen Town, where, for some reason, all the medicinal and weapons shops, totaling about thirty, had banded together to protest that business was bad in autumn and winter, so they wanted to halve their tribute.
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And in HuaMen Town, these thirty or so medicinal and weapons shops make the highest contributions, with the largest one contributing tens of thousands of gold coins a month and even the smallest contributing thousands of gold coins. Reducing this by half in the autumn and winter seasons means for half a year, which amounts to a large sum.
If this were truly agreed upon, then the Flying Spirit Sect would receive millions of gold coins less in contributions over half a year. However, if disagreed, these shops would collectively close down. If these shops close, then the entire HuaMen Town would collapse. The prosperity of HuaMen Town and all its businesses, including taverns, lodgings, and so on, are all driven by medicinal materials and weapons supplies.
Therefore, the five elders are also undecided now, even Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing frowned at this, handling combat is no issue for him, but dealing with these matters is not his forte.
Killing those people wouldn't be hard, but then HuaMen Town would be destroyed, and it would just be a mess under the control of the Flying Spirit Sect.
In Tuan Mountain Town, although the situation isn't like HuaMen Town's trouble, it seems to be a bit more serious. Outside Tuan Mountain Town, there's a sect called JiuHua Sect, which is also an outer strength of the Ghost Martial Sect. This time, it seems they've learned of the unrest in HuaMen Town and took the opportunity to set their sights on Tuan Mountain Town, wanting to take it under JiuHua Sect's control.
In Tuan Mountain Town, there are already many shops harassed by disciples of JiuHua Sect, demanding extra contributions, or else they would vandalize the shops and cause trouble. The shop owners in Tuan Mountain Town can only seek help from the Flying Spirit Sect every day. When the elders of the Flying Spirit Sect go there, those disciples of JiuHua Sect would have already run away. If ordinary disciples of the Flying Spirit Sect were to guard Tuan Mountain Town, they would be attacked by disciples of JiuHua Sect and unable to stop them.
After hearing all this, Li Lin's face immediately turned gloomy, these two matters are indeed troublesome.
"Elder Hu, Tuan Mountain Town is our territory, and JiuHua Sect dares to openly invade it. Have you not sought the Ghost Martial Sect about this matter?" Li Lin pondered for a while before asking.
Hu NanSheng said, "Sect Master, I have sought the Ghost Martial Sect three times. The first two times they sent a few disciples who gave me the run-around and sent me away. The third time I went, an external elder met me and said they would inquire with JiuHua Sect, but it's been almost ten days, and JiuHua Sect is still causing trouble in Tuan Mountain Town, and we are completely unable to stop them. That's why we just asked the Great Elder to discuss countermeasures."
Li Lin's face immediately became cold, pondering quietly. Seeing Li Lin's solemn face, the five elders wanted to say something but dared not speak out, all turning their gaze towards Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing.
"Sect Master, what are your plans?" Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing asked Li Lin quietly.
"Do you sense anything, Elder Dong?" After a moment, Li Lin sighed and then asked Soul-Calling Poison General Dong WuMing.
"This matter is probably not simple, as if someone is deliberately targeting the Flying Spirit Sect," Dong WuMing said hesitantly.
"Correct. Everything in HuaMen Town and Tuan Mountain Town, if my guess is not wrong, the situation in HuaMen Town probably also involves people from JiuHua Sect. With both towns in turmoil, my Flying Spirit Sect will be caught in a dilemma, unable to handle it properly, allowing them to profit from this. And behind JiuHua Sect, there are likely people instructing them in the dark," Li Lin said softly.
"Are you talking about the Ghost Martial Sect?" Dong WuMing's expression darkened as he asked Li Lin.
"The Flying Spirit Sect has just annihilated the Rakshasa Sect, and there have been rumors lately that the Flying Spirit Sect has a powerful figure stationed here. Elder Dong, do you think, without someone instructing them in the background, JiuHua Sect, although stronger than Rakshasa Sect, would dare to easily move against the Flying Spirit Sect at this time? Moreover, the Ghost Martial Sect has long had arrangements around the area and would not allow a peripheral force to dominate. If it were normal circumstances, JiuHua Sect moving against the Flying Spirit Sect's territory would have caused the Ghost Martial Sect to intervene early, not neglect it," Li Lin snorted coldly.
"So, it seems likely, but why would the Ghost Martial Sect do this?" Dong WuMing was still somewhat puzzled.
"Ha ha." Li Lin's cold demeanor receded, and he laughed, saying, "It's because of you, Elder Dong. As long as the Ghost Martial Sect does not know your identity and why a powerful figure joined the Flying Spirit Sect, the Ghost Martial Sect will always try to probe your identity without directly intervening, to avoid offending you. And JiuHua Mountain, perhaps, has become a pawn of the Ghost Martial Sect. The Ghost Martial Sect will not tell JiuHua Mountain about the powerful figure within the Flying Spirit Sect being a Spirit Marshal. If JiuHua Mountain knew that the Flying Spirit Sect's powerful figure was a Spirit Marshal, do you think JiuHua Mountain would dare to move against the Flying Spirit Sect?"
"What do you plan to do now?" Dong WuMing looked at Li Lin, not asking anything else but his eyes showing a hint of surprise. Such astuteness, he could hardly believe this was from a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth.
Even he could not analyze the situation so clearly at once.
"Elder Hu, go to Tuan Mountain Town now and secretly tell all the shops that until the Flying Spirit Sect resolves this matter, they do not need to make any contributions to the Flying Spirit Sect during this time," Li Lin said.
"But Sect Master, this will have a huge impact on us, wouldn't this be giving JiuHua Sect an advantage?" Hu NanSheng said, clearly dissatisfied.
"Elder Hu, step back to broaden the horizons. A gentleman's revenge, ten years is not too late, though a few months can still be waited. By then, we will take back what is ours, principal and interest," Li Lin said coldly, not one to suffer losses in silence. If he didn't seek revenge, he would be letting himself down.