Free Web NovelChapter 198: Chapter 168: Original Blood 4
’She’s a natural-born leader.’ Lin Hui thought, watching the woman standing on the central platform of the teahouse from his seat.
The platform looked as if it had been built specifically for her to give speeches.
The woman wore a form-fitting, pure white short top and skirt with gold trim. Her long hair was naturally streaked with a few golden threads, and a small, golden flame pattern adorned the space between her brows—likely the result of cultivating some kind of Divine Decision.
Her entire presence was incredibly powerful, and Lin Hui could sense her immense strength. The feeling she gave off was very similar to that of his elder brother.
’No... she’s definitely stronger than my brother. Much, much stronger... This pressure on my Heart and Spirit...’ After cultivating the Illusionary Performance Technique, Lin Hui could gradually gauge the strength of others’ Heart and Spirit by the reaction of the Void Shocking Spirit coalescing in his mind.
The Void Shocking Spirit represented the absolute limit of his own Mental Power. If something could startle it, that meant it posed a threat to his Heart and Spirit. The operation of a Divine Decision could very well affect him by modifying his cognition and Heart and Spirit.
That was a threat.
At this moment, Lin Hui, Hong Ling, and the others sitting below the stage were all equally affected by the Original Blood woman on stage, whose name was Hou Xihan.
For her to be able to cover hundreds of people and still make him feel threatened showed just how immense her Mental Power was. She was quite possibly the strongest person he had ever met.
Inside the teahouse, the lights were dim, and in a corner, a guqin player gently plucked a soft melody.
The music combined with Hou Xihan’s speech had a powerful emotional resonance. Coupled with the subtle influence of her Divine Decision on their Heart and Spirit, it stirred everyone present, compelling them to rise and voice their frustrations, venting the pressure in their hearts.
Seeing this, Lin Hui finally understood why someone like Hong Ling would enjoy coming here.
Although he was also affected, he was not an Original Blood and couldn’t truly empathize or resonate with their plight, so he spent most of his time sitting and watching with a detached eye.
"We all call Hou Xihan ’Sister Han,’" Hong Ling explained to Lin Hui via voice transmission, having calmed down considerably after his outburst. "She’s incredibly powerful. Two hundred years ago, she was a genius just like your brother, and she even possesses the highest concentration of bloodline. She just recently entered the Taixu Primordial Disk and became an elder. Unlike the elders of Extreme Desire Heaven, the Taixu Primordial Disk is in charge of supervision and ideological coordination. It’s because she helps us that so many people dare to vent like this in secret. Otherwise, if it were like before, just based on the things said today, at least half the people here would be taken away to have their memories erased and their cognition reshaped," Hong Ling sighed.
A chill ran down Lin Hui’s spine.
If they could even erase memories, then these marginalized Original Bloods were truly living in constant fear. The psychological pressure they faced was far, far greater than for those living below the tower.
It was like seeing a tiger in the woods from a great distance. You might feel it’s a bit dangerous, but you’re still far away.
But Hong Ling and the others were living with the tiger every day. A single careless moment, and they could be devoured. It would be strange if they weren’t on edge.
’Erasing someone’s memory... isn’t that the same as annihilating their personality?’
As the two were talking, Hou Xihan on the stage suddenly changed the topic.
"Today, we have the rare honor of welcoming three guests from below the tower. Compared to our marginal bloodlines, their abilities, aptitude, comprehension, and backgrounds, if you really think about it, may even be better than most of ours."
Hou Xihan’s gaze swept over three people in the audience.
Lin Hui was one of them.
"I am very happy to have such friends come and participate in our gathering," she announced in a clear voice.
"After careful consideration, I have decided to invite our three guests to come to the Moon Tower often and participate in our daily activities. To that end, I have decided to personally gift each of our three guests a Moth Car to make their travel easier."
Lin Hui was listening when he suddenly heard he was being gifted a Moth Car. He was stunned for a moment, only moving when Hong Ling urgently pushed his back, signaling for him to stand up.
He quickly stood up and clasped his fist in a salute toward Hou Xihan.
"Thank you for your immense kindness, Sister Han. I, Lin Hui of Qingfeng Temple, humbly accept this gift. I will be sure to visit and thank you in person in the future."
"Feng Chan of Black Cloud thanks Sister Han." Not far away, a green-eyed man with a single, jade-green horn on his forehead stood up and offered a similar salute.
"Su Yaping of Xingdiao thanks Younger Sister Han." The third person rose from a distant corner. It was none other than the Vice Palace Master of Xingdiao Rain Palace, Su Yaping, whom Lin Hui had seen before.
Like Feng Chan, this man also had green eyes, but while Feng Chan’s hair was jet-black and waist-length, this man’s was a translucent white.
The three of them stood and sized each other up.
To Lin Hui’s surprise, he realized he knew both of them.
That Feng Chan was the stall owner he had bought a drink from in the fine wine district on his first trip to the Deep Domain.
Back then, the stall owner had even kindly warned him not to linger in the Deep Domain. He never expected to run into him here.
The stall owner, Feng Chan, recognized Lin Hui as well. The simple mask Lin Hui had worn back then was as good as nonexistent to him. He nodded and smiled at Lin Hui before sitting back down.
Su Yaping, however, studied Lin Hui carefully, feeling a faint sense of familiarity. But as for where he might have seen him, he couldn’t quite recall.
After the three sat down, Hou Xihan continued, moving on to a new matter.
An Original Blood named Chen Shuying, whose bloodline had thinned over generations, could no longer stay in the Moon Tower and was planning to move. But before they could, her young daughter caught the eye of a certain elder from Extreme Desire Heaven and was to be taken into his household.
"On the surface, that sounds perfectly normal, right?" Hong Ling whispered from the side, a trace of indignation in his voice. "But in reality, that elder from Extreme Desire Heaven has his eyes on the Chen family’s heirloom, a treasure-grade relic, as well as the Divine Decision inheritance they perfected themselves. This is essentially wiping out a family line to steal their possessions."
"They can do that...?!" Lin Hui was speechless.
"Of course they can. You didn’t think it was all sunshine and rainbows among the Original Bloods, did you?" Hong Ling sighed. "You can’t even refuse. If you do, it means there’s something wrong with your cognition, and you’ll be dragged into the Taixu Primordial Disk to have it reshaped. Bloodlines cannot be allowed to flow outside, and neither can treasure-grade relics. Even if it’s your family’s property, or other similar important assets, it’s not allowed. The higher-ups will say they’re keeping it safe for you and will return it later, but everyone knows it’ll never be returned. If you try to sneak it out and get caught, you’ll be sentenced to death by Extreme Desire Heaven."
After a pause, he continued. free𝑤ebnovel.com
"And don’t think agreeing is the end of it. Usually, in these situations, once the elder gets what they want, they’ll do whatever it takes to ensure their reputation isn’t tarnished. They’ll just find an opportunity to wipe out that entire family branch. That’s why many Original Bloods, before their lineage completely declines, will proactively sell off their relics and Divine Decision inheritances, precisely to avoid this situation. They are also the only channel through which rare and treasure-grade relics make it onto the market."
Lin Hui fell silent, not knowing what to say.
He listened as Sister Han recounted one recent case after another involving marginalized Original Blood families, all of them about schemes to seize their inherited Cultivation Techniques and treasures.
The emotions of the crowd were ignited once more, and they began shouting and cursing in anger.
Watching this scene, listening to the angry curses of the Original Bloods, which sounded just like those of common folk in a marketplace, Lin Hui suddenly understood why the Good Heart Sect could come and go so freely around the Moon Tower in the Core Area.
’Look at this internal conflict... It’s clear the situation among the Original Bloods has become so oppressive it’s almost impossible to hide anymore.’
’For all I know, there might be members of the Good Heart Sect among the hundred-plus people here.’
After a round of venting their grievances, Sister Han announced the next segment—a sparring exchange.
Simply put, it was a way to establish a pecking order based on strength. The stronger you were, the more say you had.
"If you can rank among the top, everyone will tacitly pool their resources to give you a push. It’s our unwritten rule. That’s how Sister Han got into the Taixu Primordial Disk," Hong Ling transmitted in a low voice.
Lin Hui understood. It seemed these Original Bloods had already formed a nascent underground society.
’From this perspective, Hong Ling’s reasons for bringing me to this gathering... they might not be as simple as he lets on...’
The thought flashed through Lin Hui’s mind.
’A test?’
’Or has he really found out something? Discovered something?’
The matches took place in the open space outside the teahouse. A few people brought out a set of relics that looked like golden crystal and activated it.
Instantly, a golden cube appeared in the center of the area. A golden, translucent energy even coalesced around it, forming rows of spectator seats.
"This set of relics is called the Victory Battlefield. The arena automatically resets after a match, and even if you die inside, it’s only an illusion. You’ll be fully restored when you come out," Hong Ling explained. "So, what do you think? Care to go in for a round?"
Lin Hui smiled.
"What’s in it for me if I go in and win?"
"There’s definitely a prize. Sister Han and the others have pooled together some Feather Blood, about five thousand units worth."
"That much!? If you converted that to gold and silver, wouldn’t that be...!" Lin Hui was cut off before he could finish.
"Of course you can’t exchange it all. The market price for gold and silver is a rarity price. It’s high because so little Feather Blood is released. But if you were to dump too much at once, the exchange rate would inevitably crash the market. The price would never be that high again," Hong Ling said with a laugh.
Lin Hui nodded.
Feather Blood was a consumable, and no one was willing to release it casually. That was why the price had always been so high. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
The matches began soon after.
The Original Bloods went up one after another, pairing off to fight. They were ruthless, with every move drawing blood. Beheadings and gouged-out hearts were common, but in the end, everyone was restored to their original state.
Watching most of the Original Bloods who took the stage, Lin Hui began to form a preliminary, overall understanding of the marginalized Original Blood community within the Moon Tower.
This group formed the main body of lower-level officials responsible for various grassroots matters throughout Tuyue Inner City.
Ninety percent of them had an average strength around that of a Circulation Priest. This was the upper limit for most of them, the peak that could be reached through a massive amount of resources and environmental benefits.
Reaching the level of a High Priest, or a Grandmaster for a Martial Artist, was not something that could be achieved with resources and environment alone.
Two High Priests from the group also went up to spar, but they both held back and didn’t resort to lethal force.
It was clear that even among the marginalized Original Bloods, High Priests were in the upper-middle tier and had their reputations to uphold.
As evening approached, the sparring was about to conclude. The Feather Blood prize was claimed by a bald man with a seven-match winning streak.
Just as Sister Han was about to announce the end, a figure suddenly flashed into the Victory Battlefield.
"Since there’s such a good opportunity, I might as well join in on the fun." Xingdiao’s Su Yaping instantly fixed his gaze on Lin Hui.
"My friend, for some reason, you look rather familiar. Why don’t you come up for a match?"
Lin Hui narrowed his eyes. Until this moment, he had felt quite secure. After all, he was surrounded by Circulation Priests, people who posed no threat to him. He could kill a whole group of them with a casual swing of his sword, so naturally, he felt safe.
He had come here with the belief that even the weakest people had their own value, which was why even though he had already killed several High Priests, he felt no arrogance in his heart.
But the moment Su Yaping’s gaze locked onto him, that leisurely sense of security he had felt before began to slowly fade away...
"Are you talking to me?" he asked, feigning confusion.
"Of course," Su Yaping smiled.
"Palace Master Su, there must be some mistake." Hong Ling, startled, quickly interjected to mediate.
"Brother Lin is my friend. He’s just the master of a martial arts hall in the Outer City. His strength is meager. How could he dare to face you on stage, Palace Master Su? You’re giving him far too much credit."
"That’s right. I’m just the master of a martial arts hall. My strength is meager. Palace Master Su must have me mistaken for someone else," Lin Hui said with a smiling nod.
"Is that so?" Su Yaping stared at Lin Hui, his eyes filled with scrutiny.
