[Rage from Daoist Priest Qingfeng: +1+1+1...]
Blue veins stood out on the priest's smooth forehead as he growled, "Greedy."
Lin Bai said, "There is a saying that time is gold. Cutting off someone's livelihood is akin to killing their parents. You want to buy a year of my time and also seek to kill my parents? Over 18,000 taels is already quite cheap. If you can't even afford over 10,000 taels, then your intention to save lives isn't sincere at all!"
"..." Dumbelldore looked at Lin Bai, completely astounded.
"I've never seen a person willing to risk his life for such meager profit," the fat Taoist priest said, trembling with anger from Lin Bai's twisted logic.
"Well, you've met one today," Lin Bai said, raising an eyebrow.
[Grudge from Daoist Priest Qingfeng: +1+1...]
"..." The Taoist priest was silent for a moment, then he chuckled coldly. "Fine, fine. Since you insist on your folly, I might as well send you in to keep them company. The result will be the same..."
"Priest, wait a moment," Lin Bai hurriedly interjected. "Actually, it's not entirely out of the question to negotiate."
"How would you like to negotiate?" the Taoist priest asked.
"I can give you a discount..." Lin Bai began with a grin. Halfway through his sentence, his left leg bent slightly, his right palm drew a circle, and he pushed forward forcefully, shouting, "Overbearing Dragon Has Pride!"
A dragon's roar echoed as Lin Bai's Inner Strength circulated through his meridians. A dragon head flew from his palm, heading straight for the Taoist priest.
The Taoist priest had already bared his fangs; it was obvious that words alone wouldn't resolve the issue.
Lin Bai naturally chose to strike first. He was racing against time to complete his mission; wasn't this the day he had been waiting for?
In a world full of Players, disputes were inevitably settled by Martial Power. Just because you're eloquent doesn't mean they won't attack you, right?
The Taoist priest opposite him hadn't expected a businessman to be so underhanded, daring to make the first move. Caught off guard, the dragon head struck his chest before he had any chance to dodge.
BANG!
A crisp sound echoed.
The dragon head, condensed from Inner Strength, dissipated. The Taoist priest spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back three steps before steadying himself, his face a mask of horror.
Little did he know, Lin Bai on the other side was even more surprised.
A dragon head! MBD! I actually produced a dragon head! So this is the Defective Dragonfall Palm? And one palm strike consumed a twentieth of my Inner Strength! It seems five years' worth of Inner Strength can only sustain one set of these palm strikes. This is way too mana-consuming!
Despite his grumbling, Lin Bai was satisfied with the effect of the dragon head. A single palm strike had made the Taoist priest cough up blood, proving that this Taoist was nothing more than a paper tiger.
I should have realized; in a Novice Village, how could a genuine BOSS just appear out of nowhere?
"You little thief! Associating with ghosts and demons, I knew you were no good!" The Taoist priest, internally injured, was furious. "Today, I, your Daoist Grandfather, will send you to the afterlife and cleanse the world of your presence..."
WHOOSH!
Lin Bai didn't bother with pleasantries. While the Taoist was still talking, he pushed out both palms, using the defective move known as "Shock Hundreds of Armor," which was actually called "Shocking a Hundred Li."
It was the most powerful move in the Dragonfall Palm.
Eighteen incomplete dragons erupted from all around Lin Bai's body.
Some had only heads, others only bodies. Some were just heads attached to half a neck, and one, completely devoid of scales, looked more like half a snake...
Looking at the dragons he had unleashed, then comparing them to the dragons manifested by the Gang Leader, Lin Bai was speechless. Is this supposed to make the enemy die of laughter?!
However, to his relief, despite their incompleteness, their power was undiminished.
In an instant, a swarm of dragons, looking as if they had been crudely butchered by a chef and had just escaped from the chopping block, soared into the sky, shimmering with a dazzling golden light that was exceptionally eye-catching.
"My heavens!" Dumbelldore was mesmerized, a mix of shock and delight. He was delighted he hadn't misjudged his man; Lin, the Storekeeper, truly was a hidden NPC! He was shocked because the technique the Storekeeper used was so bizarre. Damn, this looks like they just released a half-finished special effect! So cool! I must learn it! I must learn it!
The Taoist priest let out a strange cry, drew circles with both hands, and conjured a transparent protective shield around himself.
PITTER-PATTER!
The incomplete dragons crashed against the protective shield, sounding like a string of firecrackers.
The protective shield shattered on impact.
A dragon tail and two dragon claws broke through.
The Taoist priest spat out another mouthful of blood.
This time, the Taoist priest had learned his lesson. He wasted no more words. Enduring his injuries, he seized the momentary lull when Lin Bai's old force was spent and new force had yet to gather, and flicked his horsetail whisk.
A solidified phantom image of the horsetail whisk swept straight towards Lin Bai, its visual and sound effects far more impressive than Lin Bai's incomplete dragons.
Lin Bai was startled. With his left hand in a circular stance and his right hand in a straight stance, he executed the move "Dragon in Daytime" to protect himself.
A headless and tailless dragon body coiled around him, shielding him in its center.
BOOM!
The phantom horsetail whisk collided with the dragon's body.
Both shattered.
His Inner Strength was limited. After just three moves, a third of it was gone. Lin Bai didn't dare hesitate and once again used his most powerful move, "Shock Hundreds of Armor."
Strike while the iron is hot, go for the kill. When you can play your trump card, why bother with a pair of threes?
The Taoist priest silently cursed his misfortune. A spiritual talisman appeared in his palm. With a surge of Spiritual Power, the talisman dissolved into specks of light and reformed into a new protective shield, successfully blocking all eighteen incomplete dragons.
"Shopkeeper Lin, don't waste your effort! This is a Shield Armor Talisman refined by my master. Your Cultivation Level doesn't surpass my master's; you can't break it!" Inside the protective shield, the Taoist priest wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He took out a bottle of Pill Medicine from his robes, poured out a single pill, and with a pained expression, popped it into his mouth, speaking with difficulty.
"Who are you kidding?" Lin Bai scoffed. "Without a continuous supply of Spiritual Power, any Shield Armor Talisman is just a rootless duckweed. How long can it last?"
As he spoke, he struck out with another "Suddenly, It's Coming."
Half a dragon head flew from his left palm, collided with the protective shield, and burst into a shower of sparks.
The protective shield remained unscathed, but the Taoist priest's expression inside changed.
I guessed right! The protective shield really can't last much longer.
Two consecutive uses of the powerful "Shock Hundreds of Armor" had consumed nearly half of Lin Bai's mana. He estimated his remaining Inner Strength and launched another "Suddenly, It's Coming," the move that consumed the least mana.
At that moment, a wave of weakness washed over him. Lin Bai felt the flow of Inner Strength in his meridians falter. Before he could react, the half-dragon head that had just begun to emerge from his palm dissipated with a PUFF.
"No..."
Simultaneously, the Taoist priest inside the shield cried out in alarm. But when he saw the dragon head in Lin Bai's palm suddenly vanish, his voice died in his throat, and he stared at Lin Bai in disbelief.
This damned Nine Sun True Scripture - Defective! It's turned my Inner Strength completely unreliable! What a total rip-off!
Lin Bai cursed inwardly but nonchalantly moved his hands behind his back. "Priest, that shield of yours won't last much longer, will it? It's a good thing I can control my power so masterfully; otherwise, I'm afraid I might have accidentally killed you."
"You're out of Inner Strength, aren't you, you bastard!" the Taoist priest inside the shield roared.
"Why don't you try dispelling the Shield Armor Talisman and see, Priest?" Lin Bai said calmly.
"If you've got the guts, try hitting me with another palm strike!" the fat Taoist priest said coldly.
Lin Bai looked at the fat Taoist priest and smiled. "Priest, there's a saying: 'adversaries can become friends.' You can't defeat me, and I can't seem to do anything to you. Why don't we sit down and have a calm, peaceful discussion?"
"Bullshit!" The fat Taoist priest's composure was clearly inferior to Lin Bai's. "If you hadn't sneak-attacked me, you wouldn't have lasted three rounds against me!"
Lin Bai pondered for a moment, then turned to Dumbelldore. "Little Deng, go gather some more firewood and pile it up outside the Priest's protective shield. It's getting dark, and the temperature is dropping. We wouldn't want the Priest to catch a cold."
"..." Dumbelldore's mouth twitched violently. "Yes, Shopkeeper."
The fat Taoist priest's face changed drastically. He leaped up and shouted, "Shameless! How can there be such a shameless person in this world? My master is Perfected Dao Xu of Return to Dragon View! If you harm me, he will not spare you!"
"So, the Priest is a disciple of Return to Dragon View," Lin Bai said with a smile. "What a coincidence. My palm technique happens to be the Dragonfall Palm. It seems I'm your natural counter!"
[Resentment from Daoist Priest Qingfeng: +1+1+1...]
"Nonsense Dragonfall Palm! Anyone can see you haven't mastered it properly," Daoist Priest Qingfeng retorted, his face dark, feeling he couldn't keep up with Lin Bai's train of thought. "The dragons you summon are all incomplete!"
"That just shows your ignorance, Priest," Lin Bai said, looking mockingly at the Taoist. "Dragonfall, as the name implies, refers to dragons that have been subdued. How could a subdued dragon possibly be complete?"
"..." Daoist Priest Qingfeng felt the urge to vomit blood again. "Shopkeeper Lin, enough of your absurd arguments! You've ruined Return to Dragon View's important affairs and injured me. You are now an enemy of Return to Dragon View! If you let me go, we can forget about this. Otherwise, my master will definitely not spare you..."
Can't win the fight, so he calls for his master! Shameless!
Lin Bai spat inwardly. "Priest, I have a master too."
Daoist Priest Qingfeng's words caught in his throat again.
"Priest, you look to be in your forties, while I'm only twenty. If a twenty-year-old like me can overwhelm a forty-year-old like you, it's quite obvious my master is more formidable than yours." Lin Bai was merely using a powerful name to try and intimidate him. "I'm afraid you're the one who will bring disaster upon Return to Dragon View."
"I... I am my master's least accomplished disciple," Daoist Priest Qingfeng stammered.
"What a coincidence. So am I," Lin Bai said, raising an eyebrow. "After all these years of practicing Martial Arts, I still can't even summon a complete dragon."
You just said the dragons were deliberately made incomplete! Daoist Priest Qingfeng choked.
"My master has other disciples, his martial brothers, and every single one of them possesses heaven-defying abilities!"
Lin Bai's expression turned peculiar. "My master has no martial brothers, but I have a group of senior martial brothers above me. Each of them is an exceptional talent, their Cultivation Levels a hundred times greater than mine, and their influence spans the nine provinces and five oceans..."
"My martial lineage descends from the Heavenly Dao Sect..." Daoist Priest Qingfeng declared, unwilling to be outdone.
Lin Bai fell into silence.
"Scared now, are you!" Daoist Priest Qingfeng said triumphantly.
Lin Bai looked at Daoist Priest Qingfeng with pity, shaking his head. "Not scared. I just find this rather childish. A man of your age, Priest, arguing with a young fellow like me about whose 'parent' is stronger. It's like two toddlers bickering over whose father eats more shit. I find it quite embarrassing. Let's just say you win, alright?"
PUFF!
Daoist Priest Qingfeng couldn't hold back a mouthful of blood. His face turned ashen pale. He stared at Lin Bai, his lips trembling, utterly speechless.
[Resentment from Daoist Priest Qingfeng: +1+1+1...]