Decaying World

It took the fifteen people Lin Hui summoned more than an hour to slowly roll the pot of medicinal paste into pills.

The resulting pile varied wildly in size; the large ones resembled glutinous rice balls, while the small ones were the size of peanuts. Lin Hui frowned just looking at them.

In the courtyard, Lin Hui inspected the sect disciples who had lined up after finishing their task. The group looked back at him eagerly, obviously curious about the purpose of these pills.

"This is the Cloud Water Pill. It can accelerate the progress of Body Tempering, and its effects stack with the medicinal solutions used by your three branches. But because this is the first refinement, who among you is willing to test its efficacy?" Lin Hui spoke frankly.

"Temple Master, may I ask if there are side effects?"

Among the group, an older man with a furrowed brow stepped forward and cupped his fists.

"The only side effect is diarrhea. You’ll be weak for two days," Lin Hui answered.

"Then I’ll do it!" The man said in a deep voice, picking up a pill and examining it. "One pill at a time, right?"

"Correct. What is your name?" Lin Hui nodded in appreciation. Naturally, the first person brave enough to respond had to be rewarded heavily.

"Disciple Xu Songnian. I was originally of the Black Dragon Branch, but I have recently switched to cultivating the Seven-Section Swift Sword," the man answered seriously. He then shoved the pill into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed. "A bit salty, spicy in the mouth. Aside from that, no other sensations." He gave a serious evaluation.

"The medicine needs half an hour to take effect. Wait to the side for now. Xu Songnian, was it? If the efficacy meets the requirements, you will be exempt from Body Tempering medicine fees for one month regarding the Cloud Water Pills produced hereafter. Of course, if the effect is poor, you can switch back to the medicinal powder you used before," Lin Hui smiled.

"Many thanks, Temple Master!" Xu Songnian was overjoyed.

This scene made the others somewhat restless.

One month of Body Tempering medicine fees was no small amount. Calculated based on the original regimen of the Black Dragon Gate—taking medicine at least three times a month at fifty thousand coins a dose—that was a saving of one hundred and fifty thousand!

For disciples from ordinary backgrounds, this was undoubtedly a huge sum.

Immediately, a second person stood up to test the medicine.

This time, it was a young woman sporting twin tails. Her features were regular, but she gave off an air of natural absent-mindedness. Her complexion was relatively dark, and her hands were rough, evidently from frequent manual labor at home.

"Temple Master, my name is Luo Qianshui! I’ll try it too!"

The girl shouted it like a slogan. Without even looking at the pills, she grabbed a handful and shoved them toward her mouth.

"Just one!"

Lin Hui’s eyes were sharp and his hands even quicker. He moved so fast that the bystanders felt nothing but a gust of wind brush past. For a split second, the Temple Master’s figure blurred before solidifying once more in his original spot.

Four pills vanished from Luo Qianshui’s hand, leaving only the single one she successfully shoved into her mouth.

"Huh?" Luo Qianshui chewed on air for a moment, dazed, before looking up at Lin Hui. Only then did she react, understanding she was meant to eat only one.

"Good kid." Lin Hui nodded with satisfaction. Although she was a bit reckless, she was a good disciple. At least when something came up, she dared to charge forward regardless of the consequences.

After Xu Songnian and Luo Qianshui, the others looked at each other. Two more people successively walked out to test the medicine. After that, no one else stepped forward.

Lin Hui waited patiently.

Half an hour passed quickly. Apart from his face turning slightly red, Xu Songnian showed no abnormalities. Luo Qianshui, on the other hand, was sweating slightly and seemed somewhat hyperactive, but otherwise suffered no side effects.

The two quickly attempted to cultivate their specialized martial arts. Xu Songnian practiced the Seven-Section Swift Sword, while Luo Qianshui unexpectedly practiced the Clear Wind Sword Technique.

After three rounds of Body Tempering cultivation, expressions of surprise appeared on both their faces.

"The effect is much easier than before. It should be possible to increase Body Tempering to about seven or eight times a day!" Xu Songnian spoke up.

"How many times did you temper your body a day before?" Lin Hui himself maxed out at ten times a day, but he didn't know the limits of the others well.

"Five times. Because it’s easy to make mistakes with the Force Nodes, leading to Body Tempering failure. On average, I have to practice many times to succeed once," Xu Songnian answered.

"Then why do you feel you can increase the number of sessions?" Lin Hui pressed.

"It feels like... when exerting force during sword practice, it’s much more relaxed. A single practice session doesn’t seem to require as much mental and physical energy," Xu Songnian explained.

Lin Hui asked Luo Qianshui for her impressions, and the answer was largely the same.

Finally, after comparing the effects on the other two volunteers, he confirmed that the Cloud Water Pill was successfully developed.

To further verify its efficacy, Lin Hui distributed the first batch of over two hundred pills randomly to disciples of the three branches. Three days later, he received a massive amount of feedback, all reporting that the pill significantly increased the success rate of Body Tempering.

With the results in hand, Lin Hui felt joy in his heart. He immediately announced that this pill would become the primary Body Tempering resource of the Clear Wind Sword Sect, listed as a sect inheritance. Subsequent refinement would be the responsibility of the medical apothecary, Chen Meng.

Having handled this, Lin Hui threw himself into the matter he really wanted to delve into—refining aphrodisiac pills.

….

Three Suns Powder, Toppling Dragon Pill—after careful testing, the difficulty of refining these two prescriptions was far greater than the Cloud Water Pill, which had no hidden traps.

Just as he was preparing the ingredients to attempt the new prescriptions, intelligence from the guards reached the Lin Manor.

"What? The Wang family's Second Young Master went to find Ah Hui?!"