Having said that, Lin Jin made a grabbing gesture from a distance and the cover of the carriage simply shattered.
The escorts were startled.
“What are you doing?”
“He must be a robber! Everyone, get him!”
The next instant, there were sounds of swords being unsheathed and a few of their pet beasts growled aggressively. Yet, with only a gentle wave of Lin Jin’s hand, these pet beasts rolled their eyes back and fainted.
This sudden mishap was too horrifying that all the escorts were stunned.
After all, they had never come across something like this before. They would usually let their pet beasts attack first but this first step immediately failed. They brought at least five offense-type pet beasts and a few more to transport goods. Each and every one of them had now collapsed before the fight even began.
“Who- who are you?” A younger escort gripped his steel sword tightly. Veins were popping on the poor anxious man’s arm.
Lin Jin had no time to talk as he was badly injured. Earlier, he had undertaken a huge risk in provoking the nine heaven’s might to open up a path so his cloud bird could fly back.
To the current Lin Jin, no matter the risk, as long as he obtained that one drop of dragon blood and one feather of Golden Crow, everything was worth it.
Although he succeeded in the end, Lin Jin was forced to borrow the museum’s powers once more to escape and was thus all battered up.
After breaking the carriage open, Lin Jin grabbed a large funny-looking herb.
“This is a huge Ganoderma!”
Even Lin Jin was shocked to see the herbs contained in this carriage. There were Ganodermas the size of his face!
In addition, he could see other rare medicinal ingredients as well. Speaking of which, while the other medicinal ingredients were tremendously valuable, the Ganoderma was the most eye-catching one.
More importantly, Lin Jin could sense healing energy from this Ganoderma that could improve his current state.
“My good men, I am Lin Jin of Maple City’s Beast Appraisal Association. To treat my injuries, I’d like to borrow this herb and I will repay you immediately after. If your client would like to raise any complaints, please ask him to look for me.”
Lin Jin knew that forcibly taking what didn’t belong to him was terrible but this was an exceptional scenario. If he didn’t mend his psyche immediately, the damage would be too great. He might need to recuperate for at least several years.
To Lin Jin, that didn’t sound cost-effective at all.
If he hadn’t come across this caravan, that was his fate. But now that he had, he obviously couldn’t let this chance go. At most, he would just have to return it by folds and apologize to that person.
Lin Jin wasn’t pedantic enough to stick to rules even in lethal situations. Flexibility was important. Moreover, he only wanted one Ganoderma and not their lives so Lin Jin figured he could afford to repay this much.
Having said that, Lin Jin extended an arm and clenched his fist. Flames began to form on his arm.
He was using Xiao Huo’s pure Yang flames to burn and refine the Ganoderma’s medicinal strength. After all, not all parts of the best medicinal ingredients were equally effective. In fact, ninety percent of it was useless.
Refining it with flames could help retain the herb’s medicinal effects, making it much more effective during consumption.
While the escorts were still dumbstruck, this man named Lin Jin simply flung out a ball of flames with his arm and suspended the Ganoderma in midair, melting it into liquid.
As if it had the power to levitate, the medicinal liquid floated in the air. The matter was crystal clear that one could smell the strong medicinal fragrance from a far distance. Just a whiff cleared their minds as if they suddenly regained clarity and vigor. Its effects were also akin to getting a good night’s sleep.
These escorts now knew how terrific the Ganoderma was. It was no wonder why this expert insisted on having it and they dared not stop him from taking it.
After all, it was clear that they were no match for him.
With just a wave of his hand, all their pet beasts fell over. Was there even a point in fighting him?
Escorts and bodyguards didn’t necessarily have to risk their lives. It depended on what they were protecting. If it was a human, the rules dictated that they had to give their all in moments of urgency, that much was obvious.
However, humans aside, their efforts were based on the item’s value.
Furthermore, even if they were to take action now, the item couldn’t be saved.
Be it the experienced or younger escorts, everyone present knew that.
Back to Lin Jin. After melting that gigantic Ganoderma with Xiao Huo’s supernatural Dharma body, Lin Jin levitated the liquid with his mana and gulped it all down.
This act of drinking through telekinesis stunned them again.
After drinking the medicine, Lin Jin instantly felt as if his psyche was being soaked in warm water. The comfort was indescribable. It was comparable to finding an oasis after stumbling across the blazing hot desert.
He didn’t expect the Ganoderma’s effects to be this good. His damaged psyche made a significant recovery almost instantly.
At first, Lin Jin estimated only about a twenty to thirty percent recovery, and that was good enough for him.
The headache stemming from his damaged psyche had also been relieved. Lin Jin took a deep breath before slowly opening his eyes to look at the frightened escorts.
Staring at the damaged cart, Lin Jin felt immense guilt so he immediately saluted the escorts in apology.
Seeing as the other escort on the mountain had yet to come down, Lin Jin used the Carrier Cloud to lift him up and bring him down.
Of all his years alive, Escort Zhang had never experienced something like this before. He was being wrapped up by a cloud and lifted into the air.
Once he descended, Escort Zhang felt dizzy. His pet beast felt the same.
The other escorts naturally found it incredible as well.
“My good men, ’twas such an emergency that I was forced to act rashly. I’m sorry to have offended you and would like to apologize now.” Lin Jin admitted that he was at fault here, so he saluted them again to apologize to the group of escorts.
He was so polite that the escorts were unsure if they should return the salute or not.
Should they? This man clearly robbed them of their wares so how should they convey this to the client later?
Their business would be wrecked.
They might even be ordered to pay damages, and how much would that be? Their entire fortunes wouldn’t even be enough to compensate for the lost goods.
Here, the man was acting so courteously and he was even apologizing. Refusing to return the salute would make them seem ill-mannered. More importantly, this guy was exceptionally skilled and amazing.
Sigh.
This was a hard choice.
The escorts chose to return the salute in the end but they said nothing.
What could they say?
What could they say to a person who just took their goods like an adult snatching the candy of a crying child?
Lin Jin could tell how the escorts felt and knew he should show some sincerity. Otherwise, the escorts would surely be upset.
However, Lin Jin didn’t bring much money with him. He only had about ten silvers at most. Frankly speaking, compared to that massive Ganoderma he just swallowed, that amount wasn’t even worth a fraction of its value.
Also, he didn’t have anything on him whose value could be on par with the Ganoderma.
Lin Jin looked at the escorts’ fainted pet beasts. There were a total of nine beasts with five of them being ferocious, battle types. The other four were bulls and horses alike used to transport goods.
These escorts’ pet beasts were mostly regular breeds with the best of them being the docked-tail mountain lion. It was at Rank 2 but that was the creature’s limit. Moreover, with Lin Jin’s current appraising skills, he only needed one look to tell that due to years spent in battle, it had developed a couple of hidden illnesses. If it wasn’t treated, the creature could die in a few more years.
As for the other escorts’ pet beasts, they were all Rank 1 and average with nothing noteworthy.
If these escorts hadn’t come over, Lin Jin’s psyche couldn’t be mended by the Ganoderma so, in a way, he was indebted to them.
Lin Jin still had to repay their grace.
At this thought, Lin Jin smiled and said to the escorts, “My good men, let me first cleanse your pet beasts’ bone marrow and help them evolve into the next stage to show my apology.”
After that, he waved his hand.
Over ten silver needles flew out, piercing into all nine pet beasts. The other Rank 1 pet beasts only needed one needle and the Rank 2 mountain lion needed three.
After having their acupoints pierced, the pet beasts immediately woke up, each crying and howling.
The escorts didn’t see the needles, only the nine beasts crying out together. Moreover, the creatures were now out of their control and the entire scene was nothing short of shocking.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. My general steed isn’t heeding my blood contract control. That’s odd.”
“Looks like it’s this Mr. Lin’s doing.”
“Shh, keep it down.”
The escorts were so tremendously anxious that they had forgotten what Lin Jin had just said.
Only Escort Zhang managed to remain calm. He was a man of experience after all and his blood contract level was slightly higher so he could sense how delighted his mountain lion was.
No doubt, they just encountered something good.
So he wouldn’t stop it. He couldn’t either.
“Be quiet!” Escort Zhang silenced the whispering escorts before continuing, “Didn’t you just hear? This Mr. Lin is going to promote our pet beasts into their next rank.”
It was now that the group realized.
“Oh yeah, he did say that.”
“But how could that be? It’s not that easy to evolve a pet beast. Moreover, my pet beast is just a bull that transports stuff. Back when I bought it, the seller told me that this bull has a poor bloodline and it’s impossible to evolve it further. Also, I’ve never heard of anyone’s bull evolving in this world.”
The man who spoke kept shaking his head, evidently incredulous.
He couldn’t be blamed. To him, this was common sense. It was like how roosters were destined to never be able to lay eggs.
The others looked just as suspicious but some looked expectant.
After all, to the people of this world, letting their pet beasts evolve was the greatest temptation. Tons of people resorted to planning and scheming just so their pet beasts could evolve.
Many people owned only Rank 1 pet beasts so a Rank 2 promotion seemed like a faraway dream.
Just as most of the escorts were being skeptical, that bull whose owner doubted it was the first to let out a burst of powerful energy.
The bull abruptly stomped its hooves on the ground, surprisingly sending out a wave of soil energy. The dirt below its feet changed and extended outward, growing out rocky thorns. Although the thorns were short and tiny, this still indicated that it had the power to manipulate the elements.
The power of earth.
The bull had evolved.