The Decaying World

Chapter 275: Chapter 262: Story 4

"Why should we face your enemies together?" Lin Hui asked in return. "Before you joined, we knew nothing of your past grudges. You made those enemies, so you should be the one to deal with them. If you die along the way, then that is your fate. Of course, if you have the ability to convince your fellow disciples to help, that is a testament to your own skill."

He had founded the Clear Wind Way, originally intending to build a faction, protect his own people, and secure more channels for money and information.

But as his own strength grew rapidly, his need for such things faded considerably.

Furthermore, as long as the Dharma Seal recognized them, the disciples felt an extremely strong sense of belonging and identity and would spontaneously protect the sect and him, the Sealed Sect Leader.

There was no need to voice many of the minor details and risk causing resentment.

After Song Feishi accepted the bestowal of the seal, she mentally suggested to herself that she identified as a member of the Clear Wind Way.

For someone of her level, temporarily altering one’s surface-level cognition was not a difficult task.

She believed there would be no problem passing this kind of shallow cognitive check.

However, after the seal was bestowed, Song Feishi stood in place, but her body showed no change whatsoever.

"What a pity. You may step down. Next," Lin Hui said gently. "Those of you who did not pass, do not be discouraged. You can still serve as outer disciples of the Clear Wind Way, learn basic Martial Arts, and await the next testing opportunity. After all, a person’s heart can change."

After a pause, he continued.

"Those who have passed the test should not rest easy either. If your heart changes and you no longer recognize yourself as a disciple of the Clear Wind Way, the Dharma Seal will also quickly disappear and lose its effect. Therefore, I, as the Daoist Master, will gather everyone periodically to confirm that the Dharma Seal is intact and still effective."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present felt a stir in their hearts.

Song Feishi narrowed her eyes and stepped aside, deciding to stay a while longer and observe this Clear Wind Way.

After the two shocks she had just experienced, she now felt even more curious and eager to investigate the mysterious Clear Wind Way.

*

*

*

「Time passed.」

As Lin Hui settled down in Black Cloud, the Clear Wind Way accepted many members from The Three Greats Original Blood families. It rapidly developed in secret, becoming a new rising power in Black Cloud.

While continuing his Cultivation, Lin Hui also went to the Moon Tower to exchange for a large quantity of Purple Cloud Ganoderma and Yun Lingzhi, successfully shortening the evolution time for his Great Yin Yang Time Reversal Sword Technique to just twenty years remaining.

He had originally planned to reduce the time completely in one go, but the further he progressed, the weaker the effects of the Purple Cloud Ganoderma and Yun Lingzhi became.

No, it seemed it wasn’t that they were weaker, but that the amount of evolutionary resources he himself required had increased.

After all, the Blood Seal calculated the time consumption based on the energy and Heart and Spirit he could provide each day.

At his current level and strength, the surplus energy and Heart and Spirit he could offer far surpassed that of the past.

So, when the evolution time for the Great Yin Yang Time Reversal Sword Technique had been shortened to a little over a hundred years, it was, in reality, equivalent to what would have been over a thousand years by his previous standards.

Lin Hui only discovered this problem after consuming over a hundred stalks of Purple Cloud Ganoderma in one go.

In theory, a single stalk of Purple Cloud Ganoderma used to be able to shorten the Blood Seal’s evolution time by two years for him.

But now, the more he consumed, the worse the effect became in the later stages.

It wasn’t just the Purple Cloud Ganoderma; the effects of the Black Emperor Pill had also become much, much weaker.

It had gotten to the point where his daily regimen of pills, supplemented by various other types of aphrodisiacs forcibly scraped together through the Deputy City Lord’s channels, could barely maintain a reduction speed of eight months for every one month that passed.

Fortunately, with only twenty years left, a quick calculation showed he would only have to wait two or three years at most to complete the Sword technique’s evolution.

Lin Hui was no longer in a hurry. He simply followed his daily routine at his own pace, continuing to test the cultivation method for the Annihilation Sacred Form.

He first tested it on an ant.

Killing one ant yielded a Pulse of Annihilation, a bone-chilling, subtle aura that was so incredibly faint it was almost negligible.

So, Lin Hui moved on to ordinary animals, then Fog Area monsters, gradually moving up the ladder according to their strength.

He discovered that, just as he suspected and like the Sacred Form of Life, the stronger the life form he killed, the more abundant and powerful the Pulse of Annihilation he obtained.

He paused further testing after reaching the fifty-fourth species. Apart from the extremely weak ones, he planned to save the remaining slots for more powerful life forms.

「More than four months later...」

The situation triggered by his earlier storytelling gradually calmed down, and the vigilance in Lin Hui’s heart slowly relaxed a bit. ’As long as I don’t repeat what happened last time,’ he thought, ’the problem shouldn’t escalate further.’

At this very moment, Tao Xuehai’s son, Tao Changsheng, had successfully arrived in the Black Cloud urban area. He was picked up by people from the Clear Wind Way and brought here, to the Daoist Courtyard.

In the Daoist Courtyard, the pear tree’s blossoms had long since withered, and its branches were now laden with large, plump, white pears.

Li Yuanyuan was instructing two of the kitchen matrons to carefully pick the pears with long tongs.

Nearby, Lin Hui and his master, Mingde, sat on opposite sides of a stone table, playing a game of Go. A small, low stove brewed tea beside them.

White steam puffed from the edge of the transparent teapot’s lid, releasing a faint, fresh aroma of tea.

"Couldn’t you just harvest all the pears at once using an Inner Strength-infused Hidden Weapon Technique? Why go through all this trouble?" Mingde had been recuperating for half a year and had now returned to his former state, his face ruddy and his spirits high.

"Teacher, you may not be aware, but this is no ordinary pear tree. It is a variety called the Iron Pear Tree," Lin Hui explained. "Its branches and leaves are exceptionally hard and strange. The pears can only be snipped off and harvested using heavy-duty pliers made of a special material, and only by slowly grinding through the stems."

"I see." Mingde nodded. He placed a game piece on the board, looked at the state of the game—his seventh loss—and shook his head slightly. "It seems I’ve really gotten old. I used to be very good at this."

"Don’t say that, Teacher," Lin Hui said with a smile. "With the current state of my Heart and Spirit, wouldn’t it seem a bit too disingenuous if I actually let you win? It’s just a game; don’t let it bother you."

"It’s easy for you not to let it bother you when you’re the one who keeps winning." Mingde pointed at him, at a loss for words.

After a small laugh, he changed the subject.

"I’ve heard the rumors these past few days. The Minglan God Swarm is becoming active again. Too many monsters are appearing; they must be at their regular culling period. It looks like a war is about to break out."

"Yes... The Black Army is already mobilizing. There are three conventional combat zones in total, each a warzone established with one of the three City Lords at its core," Lin Hui nodded.

"And Tao Changsheng, how do you plan to settle him in?" Mingde suddenly asked.

"I promised Xuehai I would raise him. He is the last of the Tao Family bloodline," Lin Hui sighed.

"That’s good... If you’re too busy, I was thinking, why not let me take care of him?" Mingde said. "He’s very young, after all. These past few days, Weiwei has been getting along wonderfully with the boy and wants to adopt him as her godson."

’Senior Sister Weiwei?’

Lin Hui closed his eyes, recalling what Tao Changsheng looked like when he had just arrived in Black Cloud. He was a little boy of only two, standing unsteadily on a ship’s deck, his face streaked with undried tears and his eyes as red as peaches. His frame was thin and small, making his round head seem disproportionately large.

The moment the child saw him, he had burst into loud, incoherent sobs, falling to his knees and calling out "Grandmaster."

At that moment, Lin Hui had felt the urge to set out immediately and slaughter Tuyue.

It was only because the situation in Black Cloud was growing more tense, with war on the horizon, that he hadn’t already made his way secretly to Tuyue’s ship.

"If Changsheng is willing, I have no objection," Lin Hui said softly, opening his eyes.

"Excellent. Changsheng has already agreed. We were just waiting for you to nod," Mingde smiled.

"That works out for the best," Lin Hui nodded.

After seeing Mingde off, he stood up, gazed at the now-bare pear tree, and let out a breath. He then returned to his room to enter a meditative state for his Cultivation.

Comprehending the Sacred Form of Life’s control over air currents was one of his daily Cultivation practices.

The more he comprehended it, the deeper his understanding of Disaster Energy became. His ability to manipulate these air currents grew more powerful and fluid. Simultaneously, through this repeated process of contemplation and understanding, the Disaster Energy rapidly deepened its integration with his body and Heart and Spirit.

As it neared four in the afternoon, the sky gradually turned to dusk.

A familiar voice reached his ears through the vibration of a Wind Chime.

"Teacher, your disciple has failed again with the Typhoon Swordsmanship. But... your disciple seems to have had another breakthrough with the Gale Swordsmanship..."

It was Xia Si’s voice.

A thought stirred in Lin Hui’s mind. His figure flickered, and in the blink of an eye, he was out of the Daoist Courtyard. After a series of flashes, he arrived at a spacious pavilion built partially over the sea.

This was Xia Si’s residence.

She now held the position of Vice Commander in Black Cloud’s Black Army, commanding over a thousand people. It was an office of some significance.

At this moment, Xia Si was holding a jet-black Longsword, dressed in black clothes under a suit of Black Armor. She sat cross-legged in the center of a massive, circular training ground.

The moment he saw Xia Si, Lin Hui was taken aback.

The aura of Disaster Energy around her was stronger than the last time he had seen her—at least ten times stronger, if not more!

Moreover, he was surprised to discover that Xia Si’s Heart and Spirit was constantly sending out tendrils, spreading in all directions. A light touch revealed that its strength had already reached the level he’d felt when he himself was at the middle stage of practicing Typhoon Swordsmanship.

It also seemed to be intermingled with a large amount of an unfamiliar power.

’This feeling...’

Lin Hui studied Xia Si carefully, getting the vague feeling that her personality had changed considerably.

"Teacher..." Xia Si opened her eyes, rose, and bowed to him. "Your disciple has been trying to comprehend the Typhoon Swordsmanship you taught me recently, but unfortunately, the difficulty of even getting started is far, far too great... I still haven’t made any progress."

"Don’t worry," Lin Hui comforted her. "Given the difficulty of the Typhoon Swordsmanship, I have yet to see anyone who can truly master it."

"But," Xia Si said in a low voice, her eyes now faintly tinged with a strange, iron-gray color.

"For some reason, even though your disciple is failing to cultivate it, a new and powerful force surges within my body after every training session. This power seems to appear from thin air. I expected there to be rejection or an unstable foundation, but there were no problems at all. In fact, this power merges easily with my body and Heart and Spirit, as if... as if it were always a part of me..."

Lin Hui was silent.

He had long held his own suspicions about Xia Si’s origins, and this situation merely confirmed that he was correct.

’Xia Si’s identity... she can’t possibly be from the Human Race. She’s most likely a Fog Area monster—a powerful, humanoid type of monster.’

"Teacher..." Xia Si lowered her head, her voice low. "What troubles your disciple is that as this power has emerged, an increasingly strong and frantic desire for destruction has begun to rise in my heart..."