"Thank you, Shopkeeper Lin!"
Seeing the young man approach, one of the men hastily swallowed his rice, looked over cautiously, and forced a grateful yet humble smile.
"Thank you, Shopkeeper."
The rest of them also turned to look, all wearing the same timid and cautious expressions.
Lin Shu was taken aback for a moment, then gave a polite nod before walking behind the counter.
He stared at the little girl, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Master, may I ask what exactly you are doing?"
"Doing business, of course!"
Yu Sheng’s eyes widened with an innocent expression. "Aren’t we running an inn?"
’Just as expected of an Immortal Descendant who’s aspired to do nothing but eat and wait for death since she was a child.’
’Others had used this inn to insult her, yet this little thing was actually treating it as a serious matter.’
"With so many people, can you even keep track of the accounts?" Lin Shu asked, glancing sideways at the main hall.
"What accounts? I don’t do accounts."
Yu Sheng shook her head blankly. "They’re all Laborers from the nearby mines, herb fields, and riverways. A few days ago, I saw them passing by the door, talking about not having enough to eat, so I just let them come in and eat."
"Right."
Lin Shu rubbed his temples.
’No wonder every table had a large pork knuckle, and yet these men were still so humble.’
’So Yu Sheng had opened a free soup kitchen in Shihu City, and all the dishes on the tables were her personal favorites.’
"Where did you get the silver to buy ingredients?"
"Ah, I don’t have any silver."
Yu Sheng’s mouth fell slightly open, and she blinked a couple of times. "I told the cook, and he just went and got them."
Although this was the Border Region, it was situated by a river, and large ships arrived on schedule every day to deliver food, clothing, and other daily necessities.
As an Immortal Descendant, she still had that much face.
Lin Shu looked at the little thing again, a sense of emotion welling up in his eyes.
’Other Immortal Descendants used their face to fight for disciples and seize territory, but this little chick was using what little face she had to do charity here.’
"Do as you please."
Lin Shu pondered for a few breaths, then smiled and sat down behind the counter.
Yu Sheng giggled and climbed onto his lap again, curling up like a small cat, intending to take a nap. "Look how happy they are to eat! I want every single one of them to taste the large pork knuckles!"
"Huh, that’s not right."
She suddenly sat up and sniffed the air, exclaiming, "Didn’t you go to regulate your breathing? Why... why has your aura become so much stronger!"
In just two hours, the young man’s Realm had undergone a qualitative leap; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it had doubled in strength.
"Don’t worry about it."
Lin Shu leaned back in his chair, once again reining in the surging Spiritual Power within his body.
His gaze swept across the hall.
He listened to the miners’ hushed whispers.
They spoke of matters in the mines: who had excavated a Blood Spirit Stone and earned a few days of rest, and who had the misfortune of dying in the pits.
"They found a pool of Spiritual Milk in the White Teeth Mine, born from an accumulation of Blood Spirit Stones. Unfortunately, the Blood Qi is too dense for ordinary people to get near. I wonder if that new Immortal Descendant will report it and ask an elder from her Immortal Family to come retrieve it."
"If that happens, won’t you guys get a long break?"
"SHUSH!"
A Laborer from the White Teeth Mine frowned, clearly worried and unwilling to discuss the matter.
’White Teeth Mine?’
Lin Shu raised an eyebrow. If he recalled correctly, that place seemed to have been assigned to the young Immortal Descendant named Yu Kui.
Just then, his eyes glinted, and he suddenly looked toward a corner of the inn.
Aside from the group of Laborers, there were also regular merchants in the inn.
But the customers at one particular table had only ordered two meager side dishes and had been sitting there ever since, without even moving their chopsticks.
Only when they heard that sentence did they slightly raise their heads.
On the left was a young woman in a black short-sleeved shirt, and on the right was a young man in hemp clothes, as thin as a rake, missing an ear and an eye.
Their lips moved as they conversed, clearly discussing something.
But the young woman’s hand, hidden under the table, was secretly forming Finger Formulas, making their already faint voices even harder to overhear.
Lin Shu watched them quietly, surreptitiously bringing two fingers together.
Inside his Storage Bag, the Ink Flood Dragon Sword Bracelet trembled faintly, ready to fly out at a moment’s notice.
’Activating this shady Magical Artifact in public didn’t mean Lin Shu was crazy; it was because he had detected a familiar aura.’
’Just last night, outside the inn.’
’Among the auras he had barely managed to catch, there seemed to be one that was quite similar to these two before him.’
’Lin Shu currently held no ill will toward Demons.’
’He even felt that since they had managed to temporarily save Gu Nanzhi—regardless of their other motives—they had at least solved the County Captain’s urgent problem.’
’To put it bluntly, for every extra day Gu Nanzhi managed to stay alive now, she should consider it a gain.’
’However, that didn’t mean Lin Shu could accept Demons brazenly waltzing into his inn without any prior notice.’
’He wasn’t naive enough to let his guard down around all Demons just because of that one incident.’
’Soul-Splitting Thousand Threads Guide!’
Lin Shu sent out his split soul, letting the faint silhouette, visible only to him, silently approach the pair and stick close to them.
A moment later, their conversation was transmitted back to him through the split soul.
"My dear Senior Sister Xie, you’re going to scare me, Monkey, to death! We’re just a bunch of Scattered Demons. Elder Xu refuses to take a stand, and we don’t have a Demon General to back us up. How can you dare to meddle in the affairs of an Immortal Descendant?!"
"Are we supposed to just stand by and watch that Immortal Descendant use thousands of human lives to fill the mine?" the young woman asked, calmly sipping her tea.
"Th-this! It’s not set in stone yet, is it? What if she ends up asking an elder to come over?" Monkey said, a hint of guilt in his eyes.
"She’s already contacting Yu Qing."
Xie Yutang put down her teacup, a flicker of mockery in her eyes. "This bunch of Little Immortal Families who just arrived here are desperate to turn everything into personal merit. Why would they be willing to let their elders come and interfere?"

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