Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 26 - Seven Zeros
Inside a tannery, Lin Le handed the furs he was wearing to the shopkeeper behind the counter: "Take a look, how much are they worth?"

The shopkeeper's eyelids twitched as he looked at the stack of furs. He was quite knowledgeable and could tell that these furs must have been taken from demons, otherwise they wouldn't have been of such high quality as ordinary furs.

As he stroked the fur, the shopkeeper's face occasionally showed a pained expression: "Good fur, good fur, but the skinning technique was too poor, which greatly reduces its value!"

"Here's what we'll do," the shopkeeper said. "I'll pay 150 taels for the tiger skin, 30 taels for the largest wolf skin, and 5 taels for the rest, for a total of 200 taels."

"Three hundred taels." Lin Le didn't even raise an eyebrow, directly increasing the price by half.

"Young master, your price increase is a bit steep." The shopkeeper rubbed his fingers together. "Then I'll add another ten percent, how about two hundred and twenty taels?"

"Four hundred taels," Lin Le raised the price again.

The shopkeeper looked displeased: "Young hero, how can you raise the price like this? Two hundred and forty taels, that's the most I can offer."

Lin Le narrowed his eyes and said again, "Two hundred and sixty taels, exchange them all for Qi and Blood Pills for me."

The shopkeeper's fingers unconsciously gripped the abacus. After weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he nodded: "Alright."

Soon, the shopkeeper handed three bottles to Lin Le: "Twenty-six Qi and Blood Pills, young hero, please keep them safe."

Lin Le took it, shook it, and nodded: "Happy transaction."

"Pleasant transaction." The shopkeeper nodded with a smile. "Come back often if you have any good furs."

"Yes, I will." Lin Le nodded.

On the way, Lin Le swallowed Qi and Blood Pills one by one. With the Lotus Divine Power, he didn't have to worry about bursting from the pills.

Entering a high-end blacksmith shop, Lin Le handed the tiger bone in his hand to an apprentice: "Can you forge this tiger spine into a spear for me?"

The apprentice examined it and said, "It is possible, but it can only be made into a hard spear, and its length will not exceed eight feet."

"That's enough." Lin Le nodded. "How much money and how much time will it take?"

"Thirty taels, half of which is a deposit, and it will take about six or seven days to complete," the apprentice said.

"Alright." Lin Le nodded, took out fifteen taels from his money pouch and gave it to the apprentice, also asking the apprentice to help him exchange the loose change for larger bills.

'There are still twenty-six taels left. If you take fifteen taels, only eleven taels are left.' Lin Le thought to himself as he tossed the money bag aside.

Let's find a place to stay first.

Lin Le was on his way to the largest inn in Bailian County when he was bumped into by a clueless man.

At the entrance of an alley, a somewhat shifty-eyed man tossed his money pouch aside: "Hanging your money pouch out there like that, won't that attract thieves?"

The man opened his purse, counted the money, and showed no sign of joy, because the amount was rather large.

Even if a boy in coarse linen clothes has some savings, he can only hold a few taels of silver at most.

He carried more than twenty taels of silver with him; this was not the kind of generosity one would expect from a small family.

"I need to lay low for a while," the man muttered to himself.

Although I don't know where that kid came from, he's probably not from a good background, otherwise he wouldn't be dressed so simply yet carrying more than twenty taels of silver.

"No need to hide, just pay the money." A calm voice came from behind.

The man instinctively took off running, but before he could run two or three steps, he felt his collar being pulled and he was thrown hard to the ground.

The man felt excruciating pain throughout his limbs and bones, and he immediately felt dizzy.

When he came to his senses, a cold blade was already standing in front of him, with a few dark red threads on it, and a foul smell emanated from it.

Cold sweat instantly covered his back, and the man immediately surrendered, saying, "Good sir, spare my life! I'll give you all my money!"

Lin Le flicked his knife back, retrieving his money pouch, and said, "Lead the way."

"Okay, okay." The man quickly got up from the ground and then led the way for Lin Le.

Soon the man led Lin Le to a small courtyard. The moment he pushed open the door, he immediately rolled into the yard, shouting:
"Boss, help!"

Lin Le simply walked in silently, closed the door, and counted the gazes falling on him.

As his soul refinement improved, his senses became increasingly acute.

"Fifth Brother, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?" A tall, muscular man came out of the house, looking at the shifty-eyed man with an unpleasant expression. "How should I know? I saw he was poor and looked tough carrying a knife, so I thought he was some apprentice who had learned some martial arts and was out trying to make a living. So I taught him a lesson, but it turns out he's not someone to mess with," the man complained.

The eldest brother glared at the fifth brother, then looked at Lin Le with an icy expression: "What do you want? Draw a line for me."

Lin Le smiled slightly and said, "Seven."

"Seven?" The eldest brother was taken aback.

In that brief moment of distraction, Lin Le suddenly stepped forward, his long sword flashing with a cold light.

A flash of cold light, and a head flew high into the air, its face still bearing an expression of disbelief.

“Six,” Lin Le said softly.

"You're asking for it!" the leader roared, throwing a handful of sand at Lin Le.

Lin Le's eyes narrowed as he blocked the flying sand, and his long sword slashed towards the leader.

Its speed was so fast that even the leader didn't have time to react.

As the head fell to the ground, Lin Le said again, "Five."

The others in the courtyard were terrified and turned to flee. Even the leader of the martial arts masters was no match for this kid, let alone them.

But Lin Le's speed exceeded their expectations. In one swift step, he rushed behind one person, beheaded him with a single blow, and then forcefully threw a dagger with his left hand, stabbing another person in the back of the heart.

"Four."

"Three."

Lin Le drew his sword and looked at the person still standing at the door.

When the man saw Lin Le looking at him, his legs went weak and he knelt on the ground, immediately kowtowing and begging for mercy, "Good man, spare my life, spare my life, I, I can give you all our money."

What awaited him was a merciless foot.

Bang! The skull deformed, blood flowed from all seven orifices, and the man died instantly.

"Two," Lin Le said coldly, lifting his foot.

"I'll fight you!"

Upon seeing this, another person inside the house screamed and rushed towards Lin Le, holding a dagger in his hand.

puff!

The headless body collapsed limply.

“One.” Lin Le looked at the seemingly empty room, then threw his long sword upwards.

Bang! A person fell from the roof beam to the ground.

"Zero." Lin Le sheathed his sword, his face expressionless.

It's as if they killed seven chickens, not seven people.

Looking inward, one sees that another lotus seed has been added, and another section of lotus root has been added.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Le glanced at the two books in his hand and casually tossed one aside.

That's empty-handed, which conflicts with Eagle Claw Kung Fu.

The remaining book is the Wall Climbing Technique; if perfected, it makes it easier to develop the innate talent of "Gecko Feet".

"There are three forms left," Lin Le said softly.

After climbing over the wall and not feeling anyone watching him, Lin Le left.

However, not long after he left, a large snake crawled out of a well in the courtyard. It glanced in the direction Lin Le had left, opened its mouth and inhaled, and several white wisps of steam flew out of the corpse and disappeared into its mouth.

The corpses dried up at a visible rate.

(End of this chapter)