Chapter 62: Acquiring the Spirit-Grade Blade

Emerging from the treasury, Lin Yi initially intended to seek out Elder Gu Yunxiang, but he realized he had no idea where the elder actually lived.

After a moment of thought, Lin Yi decided to visit Gu Laosi first.

That fellow had intentionally exchanged for the spiritual-grade blade he wanted ahead of time, clearly aiming to retaliate for the previous night's incident and test his limits.

However, Lin Yi was someone who responded better to soft approaches than hard tactics, and he was determined to get that spiritual-grade blade.

After inquiring with the militia guarding the treasury and learning that Gu Laosi was drilling the Fifth Militia Squad at the eastern wall, Lin Yi headed straight there.

From a distance, however, Lin Yi spotted the Descenders of the Fifth Militia Squad gathered atop the city wall, apparently bidding on something.

"Captain Laosi, I'll bid 230 contribution points!"

"I bid 235 contribution points!"

"I bid 240..."

Dressed in brand-new attire and standing before the crowd, Gu Laosi held up a white lotus seed with a smug expression. "Alright, a white lotus seed capable of increasing constitution by 1 point, currently bid at 240 contribution points by Qian Duoduo. Any higher bids?"

Qian Duoduo hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed to the surrounding crowd. "Brothers, please cut me some slack. I've completely emptied my pockets for this one; I promise I won't bid in the next round..."

"Alright, with no higher bids, this white lotus seed belongs to Qian Duoduo."

Having auctioned off an attribute fruit, Gu Laosi was just about to pull out the next one when he noticed Lin Yi ascending the city wall.

"Lin... Deputy Village Chief, what wind blew you over here?"

Gu Laosi was quite adept at sarcastic banter, deliberately putting heavy emphasis on the word "Deputy."

First sweeping his gaze over the members of the Fifth Squad, Lin Yi smiled slightly. "Elder Gu He was afraid you might continue your verbal abuse toward the Descenders, so he sent me here to keep an eye on you. So, Captain Little Si, are you holding an auction here?"

Hearing the moniker "Little Si," Gu Laosi nearly blew his top again, but he managed to restrain himself. "That's right. I just collected a batch of resources from the treasury last night, but the Fifth Squad has too many people to divide them evenly. Auctions are the only fair way to distribute them. I also have a spiritual-grade artifact that I'll be auctioning off shortly. Would Deputy Village Chief Lin care to observe?"

Lin Yi sneered. "A spiritual-grade artifact? Captain Little Si is certainly being quite generous, pulling out something like that."

"Well, what can I do? Being capable of crafting divine talismans just means I'm wealthy."

Gu Laosi shrugged. Since his rank wasn't as high as Lin Yi's, and without resorting to divine talismans, he couldn't beat Lin Yi in a fight, this was the only way he could find to annoy him.

"Very well, I'll just observe then. Please continue, Captain Little Si."

Lin Yi walked over to the back of the Fifth Militia Squad, leaning against the city wall to watch their proceedings.

Standing near the back, Wang Zilong couldn't help but greet Lin Yi. "Brother Qingshan, how did you suddenly become the Deputy Village Chief? That is seriously awesome."

Lin Yi didn't answer immediately; he just smiled, patted Wang Zilong's shoulder, and told him to pay attention to the auction.

Seeing that Lin Yi genuinely had no intention of causing trouble, Gu Laosi gritted his teeth and proceeded with auctioning off the remaining attribute fruits retrieved from the treasury last night.

The nine members of the Fifth Militia Squad had each saved up enough resources during this period to successfully bid on at least one attribute fruit.

Among them, veterans like Dugu Feng, Qian Duoduo, and Zhu Qiang had accumulated slightly more contribution points, allowing them to secure an extra attribute fruit.

What caught Lin Yi's attention, however, was that among the dozen or so attribute fruits Gu Laosi had claimed, there were actually two green-quality ones capable of increasing stamina by three points.

Splendid, it seemed this Gu Laosi really hadn't left a single decent item for him!

Lin Yi mentally added another tally to his ledger against Gu Laosi.

With the attribute fruits gone, Gu Laosi hadn't planned on auctioning anything else, but noticing Lin Yi watching him from the rear, he reconsidered and directly produced the spiritual-grade blade he had redeemed from the treasury.

"Listen up, you brats. Don't say I never look out for you. I spent a hefty sum of contribution points to redeem this spiritual-grade weapon from the treasury—worth thousands of contribution points. Now, if you can win the bid, it's yours."

After speaking, Gu Laosi cast a provocative glance at Lin Yi.

Dugu Feng stepped forward, touched the weapon, and checked the system description with a surprised expression. "A spiritual-grade artifact? Holy crap, it really is one! This blade is called the Wind-Riding Saber!"

Our captain is awesome! From now on, I bow to no one except Captain Laosi."

The members of the Fifth Militia Squad were visibly thrilled.

A spiritual-grade weapon was standard equipment for figures of captain rank. Equipping one would easily boost critical stats by more than ten points.

"The starting bid isn't high—100 contribution points, with increments of no less than 10 points. Place your bids."

To spite Lin Yi, Gu Laosi was taking a massive financial hit, setting the starting bid at a mere 100 points for an artifact that cost thousands to acquire.

"I bid 150 points!"

"I bid 200!"

"I bid 210!"

Ultimately, not many Descenders present possessed surplus contribution points; only Dugu Feng, Qian Duoduo, and a few others still had the financial capacity to bid.

At that moment, Wang Zilong shouted from the back rows, "I bid... 300 points!"

"300 points? Do you even have that many contribution points, kid? No credit allowed here."

Gu Laosi looked at Wang Zilong suspiciously. He remembered that Wang Zilong had just purchased an attribute fruit, practically exhausting his contribution points. How could he possibly have another 300 points?

Wang Zilong wasn't foolish either, and immediately replied, "Captain Laosi, I do have the contribution points. Are you trying to stop me from bidding... or what?"

"Bid, go ahead and bid. If you can't cough up the contribution points later, just watch how I deal with you."

Yet, once Wang Zilong called out 300 points, no one else in the crowd raised the bid further.

"What is going on here? None of you want this spiritual-grade blade?"

Qian Duoduo couldn't help but chime in, "Captain Laosi, we want it, but we honestly don't have any contribution points left. Even the corpse oil chunks we brought back from the Ancient Tomb Valley have already been traded away."

Dugu Feng also spoke up, "That's right. If you let us buy on credit, we'd keep bidding."

Gu Laosi had originally wanted to agree to credit since letting his artifact go for a mere 300 points represented a devastating loss.

However, seeing Lin Yi smiling broadly at him from the back, he instantly hardened his resolve. "Credit my foot! I, Gu Laosi, am a man of my word; I honor my agreements, and I said no credit allowed."

"Wang Zilong, you brat, you're bidding 300 points, right? Fine, this blade is yours. How are you settling the contribution points?"

Wang Zilong produced two green-grade sternum materials dropped by corpse monsters. "Captain Laosi, these two materials should be worth a few hundred contribution points, right? You can just return the excess to me."

"Where did you even get these green-grade materials?"

Gu Laosi recalled that all green-grade materials acquired by the Fifth Militia Squad in the Ancient Tomb Valley had been turned over to him for centralized management; it was impossible for an individual to acquire this green sternum.

Wang Zilong answered timidly, "I... I picked them up inside the Ancient Tomb Valley..."

Picked them up, my foot!

Materials of this caliber could only be dropped by Descenders!

No matter how slow-witted Gu Laosi might be, he finally realized these two green sterna were Lin Yi's doing.

He was certain that while he wasn't paying attention earlier, Lin Yi had quietly slipped these two materials to Wang Zilong.

With a smile, Lin Yi spoke up. "What's wrong, Captain Little Si? It's time to announce the auction results."

Right now, Gu Laosi truly felt like he was riding a tiger and unable to dismount. He had intended to spite Lin Yi, but instead, through minor manipulation, Lin Yi had acquired the expensive spiritual-grade weapon he had traded for at a bargain-basement price.

If he handed the weapon over to Wang Zilong, the kid would undoubtedly turn around and hand it directly to Lin Yi.

Gu Laosi gritted his teeth. "Fine, Deputy Village Chief Lin. Your methods are truly underhanded."

Lin Yi mocked him right back. "Not half as underhanded as our Captain Little Si, who took advantage of my absence last night to clear out the majority of the village's resources in one go. That's a trick only our Captain Little Si could pull off in Ancient Pool Village."

"Fine, you win!"

Reluctant to waste any more breath, Gu Laosi threw the spiritual-grade blade directly to Wang Zilong and snatched the two green sternum materials right out of his hands.

"Brother Qingshan, for you."

Without trying to hide it, Wang Zilong handed the spiritual weapon straight to Lin Yi right in front of Gu Laosi. Gu Laosi's complexion darkened even further, resembling a piece of burnt charcoal.

The onlookers from the Fifth Militia Squad finally pieced together what had happened; it was obvious that Gu Laosi and Qingshan Buhui were locking horns.

Even so, they couldn't help wondering how Qingshan Buhui had managed to suddenly become the Deputy Village Chief of Ancient Pool Village.

Was there some sort of shady backdoor deal going on behind the scenes?

Only Dugu Feng and Qian Duoduo exchanged deep, meaningful glances with Lin Yi.

As the last two members of the Fifth Squad to leave the battlefield outside the village after the group logged off collectively the previous night, they had witnessed Lin Yi charge into the fray and instantly slaughter two level-nine Heart-Devouring Wolves.

Therefore, upon learning today that Lin Yi had become the Deputy Village Chief, they felt not an ounce of surprise.

Lin Yi's combat prowess fully justified his new position.

Moreover, the reason Ancient Pool Village bestowed this rank upon him was undoubtedly due to his immense potential.

"What are you all staring at? Get over to the city wall and start repairing it! You bunch of good-for-nothings didn't lift a finger yesterday and scattered the moment things got rough. What use is my training if this is how you act?!"

Having suffered a defeat at Lin Yi's hands, Gu Laosi vented his lingering frustration entirely upon the Fifth Militia Squad.

Wang Zilong was about to join the wall repairs when Lin Yi stopped him.

"Zilong, come outside with me later. I need your help with something."

Assuming Lin Yi was having him leave simply out of concern that Gu Laosi might harbor a grudge and seek retaliation, Wang Zilong quickly reassured him, "Ah? Don't worry, Brother Qingshan. Captain Laosi won't take revenge over something like this. He's just all bark and no bite; at worst, he'll just chew me out..."

Lin Yi smiled, fully aware of Gu Laosi's disposition. Although petty and prone to holding grudges, the man still had basic boundaries.

"No, I genuinely need your assistance. Furthermore, if you do a good job, you can report directly to me from now on."

While Lin Yi had preliminary plans for managing the village's Descenders, he still required capable assistants.

Aside from Dugu Feng, the only Descender in the village he was somewhat familiar with was Wang Zilong.

Compared to the mature and calculating Dugu Feng, the simple-minded Wang Zilong aligned much better with his preferences.

Furthermore, Wang Zilong had always shown him proper respect, addressing him as "Brother Qingshan" every single time they met.

If Wang Zilong proved himself moldable, Lin Yi was more than willing to pour resources into developing him.

After all, a single tree does not make a forest, and if he intended to establish his own sphere of influence in the future, he would desperately need reliable subordinates.