After speaking, Li Lin cast a cold glance down the entire street. Then, his chill demeanor softened, revealing a slight smile, and he loudly said, "Of course, if you conduct your business honestly, we at Flying Spirit Gate are very welcoming and will protect you, allowing you to run your business smoothly and securely."

"Senior Zheng, Senior Chen, Senior Chang, you go now to collect tributes from the other medicinal herb merchants. Senior Hu, Senior Zhou, arrange for disciples to follow me and take everything back to Flying Spirit Gate from Ju Bao Gate," Li Lin then instructed the five elders beside him.

"Yes," responded the five elders, each accepting their tasks.

"Hurry, gather up all the valuables, don't leave a single item behind," Hu Nan shouted loudly inside Ju Bao Gate, leading over a hundred disciples. They were pillaging Ju Bao Gate like bandits, taking away pills, medicinal herbs, weapons, and refining materials—anything of value.

Li Lin watched from the side, handing out several spatial bags to a few disciples, ensuring that all valuables were taken, nearly moving out the counters as well.

The group of disciples was also brimming with excitement, seeing a lucrative future under their sect leader's command.

Surveying everything within Ju Bao Gate, Li Lin estimated all the pills, medicinal herbs, refining materials, and weapons, plus what he had learned from the memory of a fourth-level spirit master earlier. By the time they found a secret chamber at the back of Ju Bao Gate, which contained numerous third and fourth-grade pills, as well as high-grade medicinal herbs and materials, the total value was no less than six million gold coins.

Additionally, the fourth-level spirit master and Qi Pangzi had storage rings on them, which contained valuables worth over two million gold coins. The storage ring of the fourth-level spirit master also contained a set of spirit techniques. Altogether, the valuables on Ju Bao Gate amounted to eight million gold coins.

"Leader, all has been collected," Hu Nan excitedly reported to Li Lin after about two hours, holding six fully packed spatial bags.

"Have you all taken your share?" Li Lin asked, taking the spatial bags.

"We five elders, following the leader's instructions, each chose a fourth-grade pill, ten thousand gold coins, and a weapon. For the disciples who came this time, those at the martial master level received five thousand gold coins and a third-grade pill each, while those at the martial warrior level got one thousand gold coins and two second-grade pills each," Zhou Yuhou reported, his face full of joy, having already selected their shares and reserved some for Zheng Ying and two others.

"Leader, all has been collected," Zheng Ying and the other two elders also arrived inside Ju Bao Gate, all wearing smiles, and then Zheng Ying handed Li Lin several jade crystal cards and a spatial bag.

"How did it go, did anyone else say anything?" Li Lin asked, looking at the jade crystal cards and the spatial bag, which contained numerous pills and, combined, held several hundred thousand gold coins, representing a month's tribute from over thirty medicinal shops.

This tribute included not only gold coins but also pills and medicinal herbs.

"No, everyone said they have no relations with Ju Bao Gate and promised to pay their tribute on time every month. It seems they were scared by the sect leader," Chang Lei said with a smile.

"Alright, let's keep Ju Bao Gate for now. Assign two disciples to guard it; we might need it later. Everyone else, follow me back to Flying Spirit Gate," Li Lin said lightly, demonstrating that making an example out of one to warn others was absolutely effective for these shops. Doing business in medicinal pills and herbs is hugely profitable; they wouldn't want to leave Hua Men Town.

With that, the disciples of Flying Spirit Gate left in a majestic procession. The vast Ju Bao Gate was now empty, a sight that made the entire street sigh. Flying Spirit Gate was not to be trifled with, being even more ruthless than the previous Luo Sha Sect.

"Was that the leader of Flying Spirit Gate just now? He seems young."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"He must be young, but unexpectedly ruthless and seemingly strong."

"Flying Spirit Gate is getting better and better. Let's go see if Flying Spirit Gate is recruiting new disciples. It would be great to join them."

"It's him, it's really him. I'm saved, thank heavens." A lean figure in the crowd was shocked and then excited, his eyes filled with joy.

If Li Lin were there, he would recognize this person as Liu Yishou, who had once deceived him in Tian Xing Town. However, he had to thank him because if it weren't for Liu Yishou, he wouldn't have obtained the Sky Wing Snow Lion.

Liu Yishou hesitated for a moment with his sly eyes, then somehow found a horse and followed from a distance.

Riding back, Li Lin returned to Flying Spirit Gate as dusk fell.

"How did it go, smoothly?" Back at his residence, the Poisonous Soul Commander Dong WuMing asked.

"All of Ju Bao Gate's people have been killed, everything else is stable," Li Lin said lightly.

"Decisive in killing, truly ruthless. I like it," Dong WuMing said with a sinister smile.

"Unexpectedly, behind Ju Bao Gate was Jiuhua Sect, managing everything in the shadows. Jiuhua Sect's reach had already extended into Hua Men Town," Li Lin revealed, having learned from the memories of a fourth-level spirit master that Ju Bao Gate's true masters were from Jiuhua Sect, including Qi Pangzi and the fourth-level spirit master, all disciples of Jiuhua Sect.

"Oh," Dong WuMing expressed surprise, then asked, "What are your plans next?"

"The sect meeting of Ghost Martial Sect is coming up soon. After that, we will deal with Jiuhua Sect. Now that Ju Bao Gate has been taken down, I suppose they will have a headache for a while," Li Lin said with a cold smile, considering the eight million gold coins worth of goods obtained from Ju Bao Gate a significant loss to Jiuhua Sect.

"Be careful at the Ghost Martial Sect meeting; after all, it's their territory," Dong WuMing advised.

"Because it's in Ghost Martial Sect, there's no need to be overly cautious. As long as Elder Dong is there, they won't dare to do much to me at Ghost Martial Sect. At most, they'll just make things difficult for me," Li Lin said with a slight smile.

At night, Li Lin entered the secret chamber in the cave behind the mountain, sitting cross-legged on the spiritual jade bed, forming hand seals, and began to cultivate slowly, refining the spiritual power he had absorbed.

The absorbed spiritual power was immense, even surpassing the soul spirit essence in quantity, yet it wasn't as violent. This spiritual power was already in a form that Li Lin could refine directly after removing the impurities, making it usable for himself. Despite absorbing a fourth-level martial artist's spiritual power being stronger than a dose of soul spirit essence, Li Lin's body did not suffer from overfilling.

After a brief refinement, the spiritual power entered the spiritual sea space in Li Lin's mind, nourishing the soul force deep within his consciousness.

Moments later, Li Lin entered a state of cultivation, his body enveloped in a faint, invisible light, with his aura slowly increasing.

The speed of improvement was incredibly fast, turning the absorbed spiritual power into his own at an astonishing rate.

Li Lin was also planning, after refining the absorbed spiritual power, he would soon be ready to head to Ghost Martial Sect.

In the deep night outside Flying Spirit Gate, a figure was snooping around, muttering, "Wait until I find that young lady to come along, I've finally found him."

"Who's there?"

At that moment, several figures appeared beside the person, who was quickly captured by a few disciples of Flying Spirit Gate.

The next day, in the square in front of Flying Spirit Gate's main hall, a lean figure was tied up to a tree, none other than the unfortunate Liu Yishou.

"I told you to tell the truth. You were sneaking around Flying Spirit Gate and even claimed you took a wrong turn. Do you think I'm stupid? I'll tie you up for ten days and a half month to see if you'll speak the truth," Huang Boyan said loudly in front of the hall, with many Flying Spirit Gate disciples watching.

"Brothers, I really took a wrong turn. Please let me go," Liu Yishou pleaded, on the verge of tears, having suffered a lot since being captured last night, only to be tied up today.

"Still lying? Let's see if you keep it up," Huang Boyan angrily said, picking up a bucket of cold water prepared earlier and pouring it over Liu Yishou.

It was deep winter, close to the year's end, and exceptionally cold. The bucket of cold water made Liu Yishou shiver all over; being only at the martial apprentice level, he couldn't withstand the cold.

"I'm telling the truth, please let me go. I'm here to find your sect leader, really," Liu Yishou said, sneezing and pleading.

"You're here to find our sect leader? What's his name, do you know?" Huang Boyan asked.

"I..." Liu Yishou was suddenly stumped; he really didn't know...

"Still daring to involve our sect leader, brothers, teach him a lesson until he decides to tell the truth," Huang Boyan furiously said.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Poor Liu Yishou, with his lean physique, was immediately subjected to a beating, his bones cracking under the assault.

Six days later, inside the cave on the back mountain, Li Lin was surrounded by a rich, invisible light shield, the entire cave filled with a dense atmosphere.

In Li Lin's mind, the spiritual sea space was full, yet massive amounts of spiritual power continued to surge towards him, circling outside the spiritual sea space.

"Compress," Li Lin commanded in his heart, pressing his hands together, and the massive spiritual power instantly compressed and entered the spiritual space within.