Decaying World

Upon returning to Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui quickly made arrangements for operations during his absence. He instructed Xue Meng to handle any issues that might arise, then packed his equipment and medicines.

He did not rush immediately to the Inner City. Instead, he visited several elderly residents in town to inquire about the current status of those who abstained from Myriad Blessings Meat.

Upon careful questioning, however, he was shocked to discover that the number of townspeople who truly and completely abstained from Myriad Blessings Meat was vanishingly small.

"Not eating Myriad Blessings Meat? Easy to say, but actually very, very hard."

An old woman living on the edge of town spoke with a shriveled mouth. Missing her front teeth, her speech was indistinct.

The dim stone house was soot-stained and blackened by smoke. The walls were plastered with various paper booklets recorded by her son when he served as a town clerk in the past. These once-important booklets now served only as mementos, pasted on the inner wall to provide a bit of insulation against the cold and mold.

Lin Hui glanced at the thin, dark-skinned girl standing to the side. She was the disciple with the poorest family conditions in the temple, but also one of the most diligent. Hearing that he wanted to ask the eldest residents some questions—and that doing so would count as a Common Mission—she had actively brought him to her home to find her grandmother.

It was evident that the Clear Wind Temple uniform worn by this girl was the best-looking and most expensive set of clothes in the household.

He hadn't expected to have such impoverished disciples under his command.

"Very few... does that mean there aren't absolutely none? Can you tell me what they are doing now?" Lin Hui softened his voice. "There indeed used to be people who refused it entirely. I remember a few from over ten years ago. Some young people thought there was a problem with Myriad Blessings Meat—that eating it was harmful to the body—so they united and refused to eat it no matter what. Later... not long after, they died of sudden, severe illnesses. Since they didn't eat the meat, their illnesses couldn't be cured. It dragged on and on, and finally, they were all gone." The old woman sighed.

"In other words, many people eat Myriad Blessings Meat as medicine? They just don't dare to eat too much for fear of addiction?" Lin Hui asked thoughtfully.

"That is the case. So, actually, the people in town who have truly never eaten Myriad Blessings Meat either died of disease or are martial artists or Called Ones. They are strong and vigorous, unafraid of disease, and do not need Myriad Blessings Meat." The old woman nodded.

"Called Ones... martial artists." Lin Hui recalled his father. His father had always kept him from eating Myriad Blessings Meat; perhaps he also knew something.

In the past, when chatting with his father, he had asked about this topic, but his father always equivocated.

"But thinking about it this way, it seems Called Ones have to undergo the Call ritual, which can make them strong and unafraid of getting sick all of a sudden. As for martial artists, they mostly enter the Inner City and inject Feather Blood, so they rarely get sick either." The old woman had lived long enough and possessed rich experience; she knew more than Lin Hui imagined.

"What about those martial artists who don't enter the Inner City? Those who don't eat Myriad Blessings Meat either?" Lin Hui asked quickly. "Do you remember any?"

"Ah? Weren't the previous Temple Master of Clear Wind Temple and his martial brothers like that? On the surface, they didn't eat Myriad Blessings Meat and didn't let Clear Wind Temple disciples get close to it either. About this matter, Temple Master, instead of asking an old woman, you should go ask the old people in the temple," she said in surprise.

Hearing this, Lin Hui was suddenly startled.

The previous Internal Force experts of Clear Wind Temple—his master and the two martial uncles—had completely vanished. They were the ones who didn't eat Myriad Blessings Meat and didn't enter the Inner City.

There were also some Hallmasters of the New Martial Alliance who held similar views, and now, the New Martial Alliance was a thing of the past. The former Hallmasters were either dead or had fled.

"Does the Temple Master have anything else to ask?" the old woman asked again.

"There is one more thing." Lin Hui recalled a rumor he had heard before and decided to investigate while he had the chance. "I wonder if you know about the incident where the Outer City was invaded by monsters from the Mist Zone and then abandoned by the Inner City?"

"This... I am not clear about that either. Our family moved here from another district when I was very young. When we first arrived, there weren't many people here. We came with a large merchant caravan at the time. My parents heard that this place was a wasteland with fertile fields and mines everywhere that no one occupied, so they got excited and followed along. As for... as for where the residents here went before that, I don't know," the old woman explained with difficulty.

"In other words, the elderly people in town now are almost all immigrants?" Lin Hui was astonished.

"Most of them, I suppose. When we came back then, there was no one around, and the houses were all ruins. They were slowly rebuilt later," she recalled. "We went through several hardships in between. Fortunately, the lords of the Inner City sent Myriad Blessings Meat out in time to help us survive those days. But it was also at that time that everyone slowly discovered that eating Myriad Blessings Meat would cause problems. Eating too much would cause madness, Blood-Eyes, Blood-Bodies, and such; that was when it first appeared."

"Alright, thank you for clarifying. This is a thank-you gift for you." Lin Hui stood up, took a silver note from his waist pouch, and placed it on the table.

The old woman declined a few times before accepting it, while the girl to the side looked a bit embarrassed.

The girl saw Lin Hui out the door. Hearing that this questioning counted as a Common Mission, a look of joy immediately appeared on her face.

"May I ask, how old is your grandmother now?" Lin Hui asked before leaving.

"Almost ninety," the girl answered honestly. "I was actually picked up by her; I'm not her biological granddaughter..."

"I understand. Good child." Lin Hui rubbed her hair. "Your diligence is sufficient, but your physical foundation is a bit poor. In the future, go to the pharmacy every month and ask Apothecary Chen Meng for a set of constitution-firming medicine. No charge. It's better to nourish your foundation first before practicing sword techniques."

"Y-yes, thank you, Temple Master!" The girl excitedly tried to kneel and kowtow, but was held up by Lin Hui. When she looked up, she felt only a breeze blow past, and he was gone from her sight.

Leaving the old woman's house, Lin Hui found a few more elderly people in town, all at least eighty years old.

He questioned them one by one, offering compensation, and the answers he received were largely the same.

They had seen almost no one who completely abstained from Myriad Blessings Meat. Those rare abstainers, with the passage of time, had either died or disappeared. Even the elderly themselves would eat a little Myriad Blessings Meat every once in a while to stabilize their physical condition.

As long as one didn't eat too much, the thing was a miraculous elixir that could cure all diseases.

In the end, amidst a pile of rumors, possibilities, and hearsay, Lin Hui finally identified two people who, like him, completely avoided Myriad Blessings Meat.

Both were locals. One was Chen Xiulian, the only daughter of the town's Flower Workshop owner. The other was Ouyang Rui, the son of an herb gatherer living on the edge of town.

The former had an excellent family background; her parents were merchants who specialized in delivering flowers to the Inner City. She was well-maintained and in good health, having never suffered any major illness.

The latter was an herb gatherer with some family-inherited body-strengthening martial arts. He possessed a good physique and strong resistance and hadn't fallen ill either.

Both were of similar age—in their late twenties, nearing thirty.

Lin Hui marked these two as subjects for observation and instructed his disciples to periodically gather information on them.

But soon, he learned from yamen channels that Chen Xiulian had contracted a strange illness three years ago and had been staying behind closed doors ever since, seeing no outsiders.

As for Ouyang Rui, he was doing fine. He had been honestly growing medicinal herbs on the edge of the Mist Zone, occasionally entering the Mist Zone to pick medicine for a living. It was said that the guy was extremely timid; he would run and hide whenever he saw a monster in the Mist Zone, and had even practiced a very formidable camouflage technique.

Helpless, Lin Hui had to narrow the observation subject down to just him.

After instructing his subordinates to inquire about Ouyang Rui's situation at intervals, he returned to Clear Wind Temple and summoned Tao Xuehai, who was now Lin Wuhai.

"I plan to go to the Inner City's Core Zone. Do you have any suggestions?" Lin Hui knew that the Tao family was formerly one of the major clans in the Inner City and definitely possessed inside information, so he planned to collect intelligence from them.

"The Inner City Core Zone? Are you going to the Moon Tower?" Lin Wuhai was stunned. Since the death of his parents and the drastic changes in his family, he had always maintained cold eyes and a posture of desperate cultivation. Such a stunned expression was rare.

"Yes." Lin Hui nodded.

"There's nothing much to pay attention to. Master will know when you go and see. Just lower your head and wait by the roadside if you meet a noble. Don't be conspicuous, don't be abrupt, and there won't be any problems," Lin Wuhai replied.

"Can you speak in more detail?" Lin Hui pressed.

"I've only been there once, too." Lin Wuhai recalled. "The Core Zone isn't actually just the Moon Tower. There is an area below the Moon Tower called the Deep Domain. Master, you will arrive at the Deep Domain first, and only after passing the Deep Domain's screening will you be qualified to enter the Moon Tower. Not just anyone can enter. The Moon Tower District and Core Zone, which we often talk about—actually, most people can only enter the Deep Domain. Only a tiny minority, like the Trueblood Nobles and internal personnel of the Three Great Powers, are qualified to enter the Moon Tower itself."

"Deep Domain... do you know how the screening works?" Lin Hui continued.

"I'm not clear on that. We weren't qualified either. Although my family was a major clan, the Three Great Powers were only allowed to enter the Moon Tower because they were responsible for its major production. The entire Moon Tower is actually the living quarters of the Trueblood Nobles. Inside, besides the Truebloods, there are servants serving them and people producing supplies. By the way, those servants are strange and bizarre; many are foreign races. Master, don't be surprised if you see them. Actually, those foreign races are quite miserable, too. Every once in a while, when the nobles get bored with playing with them, a pile of flesh, blood, and severed limbs will be thrown out, and then the Moon Tower will send people to catch new ones."

Lin Wuhai briefly described his experience of going to the Core Zone back then. He had merely followed his uncle around the Deep Domain for a bit and then returned. He had just looked at the houses and the people on the road; he didn't know much else.

Seeing that he couldn't get anything more out of him, Lin Hui hesitated no longer. He took Ruyi, put on his mask and disguise suit, and took the permission token given by his big brother.

Watching the sky grow late, he headed straight for the South Ninth Gate that same day.

Before dark, there was already no one on the streets. Everyone returned early to leave themselves leeway for travel.

When he arrived at the South Ninth Gate, the entrance was quite deserted, without a single person.

At this time, people in the Inner City knew there was Night Mist outside and wouldn't go out, and the Outer City teams had long since gone back early to avoid it.

Only a few figures moving high up flashed by, entering and exiting the city gate tunnel.

Lin Hui was one of them.

He quickly entered the tunnel within the city wall. While inside, he donned his headgear and mask, transforming into "Four Faces," and rushed out at high speed.

Then, familiar with the route, he followed the signposts and charged straight toward the Inner City.

Wind whistled in his ears as he traversed mountains and hills, flashing past heavily guarded fortresses one by one.

This was the first time Lin Hui had run with all his might.

Special effects fully active, Wild Wind Sword Technique fully active—his speed had reached a level where even his own vision couldn't quite keep up.

The scenery on both sides quickly changed from fortresses to a great plain. A plain paved with black-red soil, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

There were no trees, no grass—only a few scattered large black rocks flashing by occasionally, quickly left behind.

After running for two hours without pause, the sky had turned pitch black. There were no stars—only occasional bright yellow trails, like meteors, streaking overhead.

Some were heading in the same direction as Lin Hui, while others went the opposite way.

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