At that moment, Lin Shu suddenly beckoned to her.
Yan Jin froze for a second, then instinctively walked toward the counter.
A smile spread across Chen Xiangzhu’s face, while Yu Qing furrowed his brow slightly.
"Take this."
As Yan Jin watched in confusion, Lin Shu handed her a Child Stone. "If anything happens while you’re guarding the pass, crush this."
"I..." The Silk Wolf trailed off, momentarily lost in a daze.
After the young man spoke, Chen Xiangzhu’s delight intensified, and her gaze held an urging quality.
Then, she saw Lin Shu take out another Child Stone.
"I need you to give this to your fellow disciples. Anyone who wants it can have it."
"As long as they crush the Child Stone, I’ll only take an eighty-percent cut of the merit from killing an Enemy Cultivator. They can have the other twenty percent."
Lin Shu appeared quite magnanimous.
But his actions made the smile on Chen Xiangzhu’s face melt away like a snowflake, her expression quickly turning ashen and cold.
"You dare snatch food from my mouth?"
She stood with her hands at her sides, seemingly in disbelief. The spider-leg-like ornament in her hair suddenly jutted forward.
’Even I only took a fifty-percent cut.’
’How dare this brat try to get his claws into the Chen Family’s merit, right in front of me, an Immortal Descendant!’
Yu Sheng understood Lin Shu’s meaning in an instant.
She climbed onto a chair and crossed her arms. Emboldened by the young man at her side, she glared back without the slightest fear. "What’s the matter, little spider? You got a problem with that?"
"..."
Chen Xiangzhu stared at the little creature, her breathing growing ragged.
She had initially looked down on her.
It was because the deformed child had been abandoned by the Yu Family, with no hope of ever obtaining the Inheritance Spiritual Light.
But now, with Lin Shu around, Yu Sheng had already earned her first Spiritual Light, and would very likely get a second and a third.
Thus, even if her status couldn’t compare to Yu Qing and the others, this little thing now had a sliver of hope for survival.
That meant she still had to be treated as an Immortal Descendant of the Yu Family.
’Of course, that’s only if that Lin fellow stays alive.’
"You jest, Little Mountain God. If you truly have what it takes, feel free to earn your keep. I certainly won’t stop you! It’s just that Yongzhou Pass is an exceedingly dangerous place. Your disciple is overreaching. He’d best be careful, lest he have an ’accident.’"
Chen Xiangzhu laughed coldly, her eyes filled with undisguised menace.
She flicked her sleeve in anger, then turned and left with her disciples in tow.
"What are you looking at?"
Yu Qing suddenly grew flustered. He turned to the two Foundation Establishment Disciples. "Come with me!"
’They were just figuring out how to carve up the little that Yu Sheng possessed, and now this upstart had the gall to covet their merit.’
’The world has turned upside down!’
But for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a solution.
’Even if I order the disciples not to accept the Child Stone, it’s not like I’m clairvoyant. How can I watch them every second of the day?’
’When it comes to a true life-or-death crisis, I’m not sure my orders will hold any water.’
"Yes!"
The two disciples quickly bowed their heads and hurried out after their Master.
But they still looked extremely hesitant.
If they weren’t mistaken, Lin Shu seemed to have two Child Stones left.
As the group hurried away,
Lin Shu swept the ten bottles of Crimson Heart Pills off the table and casually tossed the two remaining Child Stones to Yu Sheng. "When those two come over, you can give these to them."
"Will they really dare to come?"
Yu Sheng scratched her head in confusion. Judging by how timid those two looked, it didn’t seem like they would dare to defy Yu Qing.
Lin Shu didn’t respond, just gave a casual smile.
He didn’t care whether the four Child Stones could be given out; otherwise, he wouldn’t have handed one to Yan Jin right in front of Chen Xiangzhu.
With their Master forbidding it, her fellow disciples wouldn’t dare accept them, even if Yan Jin wanted to offer them.
The main point of today’s maneuver was simply to let those disciples see it, to leave an impression.
The next time someone died,
this group of disciples would be like drowning men, instinctively grasping for any life-saving plank of wood.
At that point, he wouldn’t need to beg anyone to take them; they would find a time to sneak over and ask Yu Sheng for one themselves.
All Lin Shu had to do was prepare more Child Stones.
Then he could take full advantage of his rest period in the rotation to proactively earn Merit and Sin Coins.
"Sigh."
The events of last night had once again reminded Lin Shu of his own insignificance, sobering him from the joy of his recent surge in power.
This wasn’t Black Water City; there was nothing sealing the area off.
This meant that renowned Cultivators and even Immortal Demons and Monsters from all over Yongzhou, the Liang Kingdom, and the opposing Great Shun Dynasty could descend upon Yongzhou Pass at any time.
’I’ve only been on the path of Cultivation for a few dozen days. How could I dare to slack off?’
Take Gu Nanzhi, for example. Even if he helped her escape the Border Region, was she really safe in the Great Shun Dynasty across the border?
The Demon Qi saturating her body made her a walking "alchemical ingredient" wherever she went.
Being taken away by a Demon Fiend was, relatively speaking, the best possible outcome. Yet from then on, she could only eke out a secret existence, never again able to live in the open.
After witnessing that firsthand, Lin Shu naturally had to seize every opportunity to earn Merit and Sin Coins. How could he possibly rest peacefully for seven days?
’If I ever suffer the same fate, at least I’ll have some ability to resist.’
"I’m going upstairs to meditate for a while."
He walked out from behind the counter and went up to the second floor.
The inn had two floors, offering both lodging and meals.
Yongzhou Pass was not only populated by Immortal Descendants and Cultivators; there were also traveling merchants passing through with official documents, as well as all sorts of travelers. All of these were recorded in the Rotating Jade Scroll to avoid friendly fire.
The Jade Scroll also recorded all sorts of information pertaining to Cultivators.
It was something of a novice’s guide for disciples coming to Yongzhou Pass. The contents were broad but not detailed, intended mainly to help everyone quickly get their bearings.
He let out a long breath.
Lin Shu entered a guest room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and took out a Crimson Heart Pill.

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