Chapter 193:

A person? Just out for a stroll?

Taking a stroll in the Mist Zone?

A trace of doubt flashed through the man's heart, followed immediately by a rise in vigilance.

Tap.

The Trueblood Noble landed lightly, staring at Lin Hui, who was walking into the open.

"Amusing. Four masks? That’s a first. How stupid can you be? Couldn't you get yourself a hood? The gaps between those four masks are so wide—what are they even supposed to hide? Idiot." The Trueblood man couldn't help but laugh.

Lin Hui’s leisurely gait suddenly stiffened.

He stopped, looking at the man through his mask.

"Really? They don't hide it?" he asked carefully, frowning beneath the layers.

"Bullshit. In the eyes of an expert, your aura, physique, Internal Force, Void Force—everything gives you away. What the hell is the point of just covering your face? I’ve never seen such a stupid martial artist." The man was thoroughly amused, offering a rare, detailed critique.

"You know, you're pretty annoying," Lin Hui muttered.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot. So what?" The man laughed.

"Did your parents ever tell you that if you speak too offensively..." Lin Hui raised his head, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his Ruyi sword. "...your head might just fall off on its own?"

"Are you threatening me!?" The Trueblood man’s eyes widened, as if he had stumbled upon the funniest joke in the world.

He pointed at his own neck.

"Interesting. Come on, then. Chop right here. Hack me to death if you have the skill! Come on!"

As he spoke, he grabbed his slightly crooked head, intending to adjust his posture.

"Wait..."

His movements froze.

Why... does my head detach?

Only in that moment did he realize that the sword-wielding Four Masks was nowhere to be seen.

And from his neck, a severe, tearing pain finally registered.

But by the time he noticed, it was already too late.

His vision plunged into darkness, and the Trueblood man flopped onto his back with a heavy thud.

Right up until the end, he hadn't figured out what had happened. He might have guessed that the other party had struck him, but... why was it so fast?

Behind the headless corpse, Lin Hui’s figure slowly coalesced from the air. He casually shook the blood from his blade and sheathed his sword.

"Fascinating. In all my life, I've never seen someone so eager to court death."

His gaze swept over the woman in the Mist not far away, then shifted toward the hazy outline of a large coastal ship in the distance.

A passing merchant ship?

In the Mist Zone, he used to see such caravans frequently. Having no interest in interacting with them, he turned and changed direction, continuing his walk toward another part of the Mist Zone.

This area was already off the map; he was essentially wandering aimlessly.

Yet, while wandering, he was mentally fleshing out his own topographical chart, noting which areas harbored stronger monsters and which held weaker ones.

"Benefactor...!"

The rescued woman shouted loudly in the direction of his departure. "I have no way to repay you for saving my life! If you ever need anything, come to Mo's Restaurant in Xingdao!"

Lin Hui paused for a moment, then immediately tossed her words to the back of his mind. During his time walking the Mist Zone, he had saved quite a few people, usually just in passing.

However, he hadn't gone far before his footsteps halted again. He looked down at his wrist.

On the wrist of his sword hand, a tiny red line—about the length of a finger and as thin as a hair—was flashing with a faint crimson light in the Mist.

If it hadn't suddenly started glowing, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

What is this thing? Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, staring at it. Did I catch it from killing that guy just now? Some sort of tracking mark?

He was somewhat surprised. Having killed people for so long, this was the first time he had encountered a tracking method applied completely without his awareness.

Interesting.

He immediately circulated his Internal Force, causing it to surge and flood the area where the red line sat.

His Internal Force, laden with the power of Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven, rushed fiercely through the mark. But not only did it fail to drown out the red line, it actually made the thing glow brighter.

The surprise in Lin Hui's eyes deepened.

He pondered for a moment, then raised his other hand, extending his index finger to enter the operational state of the Typhoon Sword Technique.

His Web vibrated, continuously drawing in massive swaths of formless, terrifying power from the external void.

The moment this power surged into Lin Hui's body, it began rapidly breaking down the Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven energies gathered by his Internal Force.

This was the first time Lin Hui had formally activated this special effect after obtaining Wind Disaster Affinity.

He originally intended to use it against the strange red line, but he hadn't expected that the moment this eerie power appeared, it would immediately turn on the powers of Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven within him.

In the Mist, Lin Hui stood frozen, utterly motionless.

A patch of red light abruptly emerged behind him. Within the halo was a tall, ferocious figure in full dark crimson armor—a Purgatory projection—struggling and roaring madly.

Yet, helplessly, it grew fainter and more distant.

Half a minute later, the Purgatory phantom faded completely and vanished.

Immediately following that, a massive, blue-and-white female face surfaced, floating in mid-air behind Lin Hui. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her lips twitched slightly, as if she sensed something approaching.

The face struggled, lips trembling, eyelids straining to open even a crack.

But before she could wake, the contour of the face slowly dissolved, vanishing into the air.

In the end, everything merged into a mass of formless wind that circled around Lin Hui. It possessed no will, no temptation—only endless ravaging and destruction.

Another half minute passed. Lin Hui slowly opened his eyes, raised his hand, and sensed his current Internal Force.

The Purgatory-aura was gone.

The Extreme Cold Heaven aura was gone.

He looked at the red line on his wrist. The spot was perfectly clean; nothing remained.

This is way too overbearing...

The only feeling the Wind Disaster Affinity gave him after activation was dominance. It did not allow the existence of any power other than itself.

This was the nature of the Wind Disaster.

Unlike Purgatory or Extreme Cold Heaven, which carried the faint residue of other living wills, the Wind Disaster was pure destruction. Because it was sheer annihilation, order-based concepts like "will" simply did not—could not—exist within it.

Since this power is ultimate destruction, how am I keeping it restrained within my body?

For the first time, Lin Hui felt a profound curiosity about the fundamental nature of the Blood Seal.

The Wind Disaster felt like pure entropy to him. Therefore, the Blood Seal that could restrain it must be a power superior to the Wind Disaster. Otherwise, there would be no way to forcibly bind it inside him.

Theoretically, "will" is an ordered aggregation of bioelectric signals. Pure destruction cannot spawn a will. No... not necessarily. My guesses are merely deductions based on knowledge from my previous life. What if "will" truly exists in other forms? Or perhaps is the genesis of will truly limited to bioelectricity?

With these complex questions flashing through his mind, Lin Hui reined in his thoughts and continued deeper into the Mist.

He had only taken a few steps when a massive aura, thick and tangible, surged overhead.

The aura acted like a physical wind, forcibly dispersing the thick Mist above him to reveal a large, empty cavity.

"It's right here! The place where Young Master Wu just lost contact is right around here!" an aged voice rang out from mid-air.

"The Relic was showing trace reactions a moment ago. Why are they gone now?" another voice, female and young, asked in confusion.

"Did the Relic fail?" the old man asked in surprise.

"Impossible. I've heard of Relics disintegrating after overuse, but never breaking down mid-operation," the female voice explained.

"Anyway, it's around here, right? If we can't find them, forget it. Why don't we just deal with every living thing in the vicinity and be done with it?" the old man said impatiently.

Lin Hui's heart stirred. He guessed they might have come for that incredibly arrogant man from earlier.

That guy was a Trueblood? To warrant such a commotion?

Truebloods were the core class of an urban district. Ranking only beneath the Mistborn City Lords, they were the absolute ruling class. Coupled with their low numbers, every single one of them possessed layers of protection and insurance.

The man from earlier had died so quickly that Lin Hui hadn't considered this possibility at all.

After all, the man was so weak that, in Lin Hui's eyes, he was practically indistinguishable from a wild animal by the roadside. He couldn't possibly be a Trueblood...

A delicate class like Trueblood Nobles wouldn't have the nerve to leave their homes without carrying at least a dozen protective Relics.

But now, with these two suddenly appearing, their conversation made him waver.

"The killer has definitely fled. To deliberately scheme and kill a Trueblood Noble, destroying all their protective Relics in one breath without even giving them time to activate a life-saving talisman... it shows just how calculating they are. With so much time passed, there's no way they're still around here," the old man rapidly deduced.

Protective Relics? He actually had those? Why didn't I notice?

A question flashed through Lin Hui's mind. No, looking at it this way, the person they're talking about shouldn't be the one I killed. The guy I killed didn't put up any resistance at all. Being that weak, he definitely isn't the Trueblood Noble they're talking about.

Having deduced this, Lin Hui's mind settled.

He stopped and waited for the two to arrive.

The other party was using voice transmission to converse inside the Mist Zone and had deliberately cleared the Mist above his head. It was obvious they were coming for him. Rather than pretending ignorance, it was better to stop and communicate. Perhaps he could even ask them about the situation regarding nearby ruins.

Soon, the Mist above rolled, and two white-robed figures flashed into existence.

One was a white-haired old man, the other a blue-haired young girl. Both carried sharp, black short spears on their backs, seemingly belonging to the same sect.

The edges of their white robes were silver. Lin Hui had seen many people wearing this attire in the Moon Tower; the vast majority of people inside the Moon Tower wore silver-edged white robes. The Inner City seemed to have strict regulations on this, and scions of large clans, like Wang Yueheng, frequently favored this style.

"Is there something you two need?" Lin Hui revealed a friendly smile, taking the initiative to greet them.

"Sir... are you alone in this Mist Zone?"

The very first impression the old man had upon seeing Lin Hui was that he was clean.

Out of everyone walking in the Mist Zone, who wouldn't look irritable, exhausted, or bear some bloodstains from slaughtering monsters? Even if there were no bloodstains, their robes wouldn't be this pristine after a fight.

But the Lin Hui standing before him looked like a newcomer who had just stepped out of the Mist-Free Zone. There wasn't a single wrinkle on his clothes, nor the slightest hint of fatigue or impatience on his face. It seemed as though the Mist's influence was completely ineffective on him.

Based on these observations, the old man adopted a cautious tone.