Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 512 - 512: Lesson

"Violence, threats, ultimatums. The language you speak is quite primitive. It's almost laughable. But then again, I understand that this is the way of your life. Fear"
He turned to his first three customers. "Watch closely. This is Lesson One of the Divine Convenience Store's business model: Spreading Convenience."
He turned back to the crowd, putting on the same amiable smile that only spoke of business.
"Master Iron, kowtowing to you means you'll be my grandfather. And breaking my limbs on my own? I must refuse."
"Arrogant fool!" Iron Pan roared. "Get him! Tear that pavilion down!"
Despite that, Lin Mo remained unmoved. He then turned to the Tiger Lord.
"Fear is your currency. You hoard it, you spend it, and you use it to buy obedience. But let me tell you a secret, Tiger Lord. Fear is a cheap coin. If you meet someone powerful, it devalues quickly. Loyalty born of satisfaction? That is gold."
His gaze locked with the bandit leader's furious eyes. "You want the contents of this crate? You can have them. But you will pay for them. Not with your rusted blades, but with your future patronage. Oh, and I don't mean your meager coins."
"Enough talk!" The Tiger Lord roared as he found his patience snapping almost instantly. After all, since when did someone dare to talk back to him? The only ones he considered equal were Dojo Master Iron and the Shadowblade Union Master.
This man in peculiar clothing? With his body that flimsy, he believed a swing from his saber would be enough to overpower him.
Tiger Lord raised his massive saber and pointed it at the balcony. "Kill him! The one who brings me his head gets the first pick of the loot!"
The chaotic mob of the Crimson Tiger Sect erupted in a bloodthirsty cheer. They surged forward like a tide of dirty leather and jagged steel, rushing to join the disciplined advance of the Iron Crane Dojo.
"So be it," Lin Mo sighed, straightening his posture. He didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't even raise his hands in a defensive stance.
Inside the room, Hu Gan flinched. "Senior! Are you certain about this? You may be an expert but… there are hundreds of them!"
"Do you still doubt me, Hu Gan? Watch," Lin Mo calmly said amidst the rising roar of the mob.
He closed his eyes for a second, tapping into the [Stellar Domain] that was already passively humming beneath his feet, spreading it outward just enough to cover his arm's reach.
The Iron Crane disciples reached the building first. Their 'Iron Shirt' technique hardened their skin to the likeness of stone, allowing them to ignore the arrows fired by the few brave hired guards of the Luo Merchant House led by Tie Zha.
They raised their heavy iron staves, intent on smashing the support pillars of the pavilion to bring the whole structure down.
"Iron Mountain Smash!" One of the senior disciples, a first-rate martial artist who's not any weaker than Hu Gan or Ling Qiumei, bellowed, swung his staff with enough force to crack a boulder.
But just as the staff was about to connect with the wood, Lin Mo opened his eyes and waved his hand.
There was no need to cast any spell. He simply willed his starlight qi to condense into a thin, geometric barrier right in front of the pillar through Qi Solidification.
CLANG!
Instead of wood splintering, the sound made was that of metal striking an immovable object. The shockwave of the impact didn't travel into the pillar but rebounded perfectly.
The senior disciple screamed as the vibration traveled back up his staff, shattering the bones in his hands.
He was thrown backward, crashing into the other Iron Crane Dojo disciples behind him like a bowling ball.
Around the pavilion, the same scene repeated. Dozens of iron staves slammed into invisible walls, resulting in dozens of broken wrists and flying bodies. The Iron Crane's 'impenetrable' offense had been broken by a wall of air.
"Is that… inner energy?" Dojo Master Iron gasped, his eyes bulging. "To project it so far… to make it solid… Monstrous! Only a Transformation Stage martial artist should be able to barely do that… Can it be… he already opened the 7th Gate? No. 8th Gate?!"
The Tiger Lord scowled, "Hah! That's impossible! Experts don't just pop out of thin air wearing fancy robes and throwing snacks! It's a trick! A parlor trick using mirrors or hidden wires! I'll show you what real strength is!"
He then roared, his voice sounding like a thunderclap of denial and rage.
He kicked off the roof of the palanquin, launching himself into the air. His massive body, fueled by the opening of five Gates, looked like a projectile of pure muscle and killing intent.
His serrated saber cleaved the air, creating a vacuum blade of martial qi that aimed to bisect Lin Mo and the balcony he stood on.
"Die and hand over your goods!"
Inside the room, Ling Qiumei gasped. "That's the Tiger King's Pounce! It can split a boulder in two!"
Lin Mo only raised an eyebrow. True enough, the strength he could sense in someone at the Peak-stage, like the Tiger Lord, was more or less comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
However, with only the support of martial qi and inner energy, Lin Mo's mystical abilities brought forth by his cultivation attainment were enough to give him an advantage.
"Dear customer, aiming for the kill right away? Do you know that deserves a permanent ban in my store?"
He took a half-step forward.
As the Tiger Lord descended, bringing with him the weight of a mountain, Lin Mo raised his right hand. His index finger extended, pointing directly at the descending blade.
He channeled a wisp of starlight qi from his circulating six nodes.
His [Stellar Domain] soon brightened up slightly as the air around him warped. The invisible field of his domain condensed, focusing entirely on the Tiger Lord's trajectory.
Suddenly, the Tiger Lord felt his weight multiply by tenfold. His majestic leap turned into a clumsy plummet.
The martial qi coating his blade flickered and died, suffocated by the higher-tier pressure of the starlight.
"Wha–?!"
The Tiger Lord crashed onto the balcony railing, not with a heroic strike, but with the grace of a sack of potatoes thrown from a window.
His saber clattered uselessly onto the wooden floorboards.
He tried to rise, to roar, to fight, but Lin Mo's finger descended, tapping him lightly on the forehead.
"Sit and behave."
A pulse of Lin Mo's spiritual energy slammed the bandit leader down, pinning him to the floor as if an invisible mountain rested on his shoulders.
The Tiger Lord grunted, his face pressed against the wood, his eyes bulging in incomprehensible terror. He couldn't move a muscle. His inner energy, his pride, his strength, it was all suppressed by a single finger.
"Great form, but you tend to use your qi inefficiently, leading to waste." Lin Mo critiqued, dusting off his sleeve. "Have the years of dominance made your cautiousness flee?"
Below, the mob of the Crimson Tiger Sect froze. Their invincible leader, the man who had terrorized the region for a decade, had just been pinned by a finger.
"Impossible..." Dojo Master Iron whispered, his iron staff trembling in his grip. His worldview was crumbling. This wasn't a trick. This was a realm of power he couldn't even dream of.
"He suppressed a Peak Stage expert... instantly? Is he... a Grandmaster? No, a Sage from the legends?"
"Don't just stand there!" A raspy, disembodied voice hissed from the shadows of the alleyway. "He is distracted! Strike now!"
The Shadowblade Union Master.
From the eaves, the gutters, and the shadows beneath the balcony, twelve figures erupted simultaneously. They were the elites of the Shadowblade, assassins who had opened four Gates and specialized in the art of the silent kill. Their daggers were coated in vile poisons, their movements silent as the grave.
They struck from twelve different angles, aiming for Lin Mo's vitals. Throat, heart, kidneys, eyes. It was a perfect, inescapable kill box. Normally.
"Behind you, Shopkeeper!" Luo Lanyi screamed from inside the room.
Lin Mo didn't turn. A serene smile played on his lips.
Once again, his domain flared up with a blinding silver light as he switched it from being compressed into an expanding repulsive shockwave.
If it were a cultivator of his level, they could've endured it, but these spiritual energy-less martial artists? Impossible.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The twelve assassins hit the repulsive domain and were blasted backward as if they had been hit by a runaway carriage. Their daggers shattered.
Their black stealth suits tore.
They flew in twelve different directions, crashing into walls, rooftops, and the stunned ranks of the Iron Crane Dojo below.
The Union Master, who had been hiding in the shadow of the balcony, preparing for the final strike, found himself ripped from his concealment. An invisible hand of solidified qi grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled him into the air, dangling him helplessly over the railing like the Tiger Lord.
"And you," Lin Mo said, looking at the struggling, masked figure floating in front of him. "Your stealth technique is full of imperfections. You're an assassin. You should hone that further."