The Decaying World

"So they sent you to investigate this time, Big Brother?"

In the courtyard of the Qingfeng Temple residence, Lin Hui and Liu Wu Jun sat opposite each other, sharing hotpot for lunch.

"I needed to come over and recuperate anyway. Besides, this is the area I’m most familiar with. You could even call it my sphere of influence," Liu Wu Jun said with a smile, plucking a piece of pig’s blood with his chopsticks, dipping it in sauce, and popping it into his mouth.

"Now that I have a local expert like you to help with the investigation, this will be much easier for me than for anyone else," he explained.

"Regarding the pollution, I have indeed observed some traces," Lin Hui said, his expression turning grave, his composure unwavering.

’The key is to give Big Brother a plausible result he can report back.’ After a moment of thought, he decided to blame the pollution on the night fog.

As long as his superiors believed the pollution wouldn’t spread or worsen, the problem would be considered solved.

"From what I’ve seen, minor anomalies have been appearing in the surrounding towns ever since the last night fog. On that night, I encountered a creature very similar to the one the cleanup crew described. I killed it quickly and didn’t think much of it at the time, but I never expected..."

He then told Liu Wu Jun about the Purgatory Goat.

"So you’re saying it’s some trouble the night fog brought over from who-knows-where..." Liu Wu Jun frowned, thinking it over as he ate.

"Then it’s not a big deal. The night fog transfers all sorts of strange monsters, so anything can happen. But they’re usually one-off incidents, not persistent. Things should stabilize after a while."

"Indeed," Lin Hui nodded. "So how do you plan to report this, Big Brother?"

"I’ll re-evaluate the status of the nearby ruins, confirm whether the pollution will spread, and then submit my report. That should wrap it up. At the end of the day, this pollution isn’t particularly strong. It just caused the cleanup crew to misjudge the situation and use the wrong countermeasures, which led to the incident. I just need to ensure the scope and intensity of the pollution don’t exceed our response capabilities," Liu Wu Jun replied.

Clearly, the Inner City had plenty of experience dealing with similar matters.

This made Lin Hui breathe a sigh of relief.

After the meal, he took the opportunity to ask Liu Wu Jun about his questions concerning High Priests.

"High Priests are actually on a somewhat different level from Priests and those below. Essentially, the path from Summoning to Priest and then to High Priest is a linear progression. The entire goal is to enhance one’s ability to interfere with and control another’s consciousness—their Heart and Spirit."

Standing in the courtyard, Liu Wu Jun drew a standard-issue Qingfeng Temple longsword that Lin Hui had given him.

"It relates to interference on a cognitive level. This is where the power of a High Priest lies. Take me, for example. The Jiuhua Divine Skill I cultivate is famous for interfering with an opponent’s sense of direction. The stronger my Power, the stronger the interference. Would you like to experience it firsthand?"

He looked at Lin Hui with a smile.

Lin Hui hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"If it’s alright with you. I would indeed like to see it."

"Then watch closely." Liu Wu Jun’s expression distorted slightly, and a black scale flashed across the skin between his eyebrows.

SWISH.

He swung the sword at Lin Hui in a seemingly casual manner.

The two were several meters apart. The swing contained no Inner Strength and no Void Power. Logically, it should have been completely unable to affect Lin Hui.

But in the instant the blade swung down...

Lin Hui felt that something was wrong.

He paused, then took a step forward. But something strange happened. When he took the step, he estimated that he would cover exactly one meter.

Yet after actually taking the step, he discovered that his grasp of distance was off.

The step he took was less than a meter.

It was a very subtle difference. For an ordinary person, it might mean nothing. Isn’t it normal for a person’s stride length to vary with every step they take?

But for a swordsmanship expert like Lin Hui, who trained arduously every day, he was extremely sensitive to the precise control of distance and force.

After taking one step forward, he took another step back.

This time, he again estimated the distance to be one meter, but the actual distance he covered still fell short of his estimation. It was, again, less than a meter.

"It seems you’ve felt it," Liu Wu Jun said with a laugh, sheathing the sword. "I temporarily affected your perception of distance. You think you’ve covered the distance, but in reality, you’re still a little short. This kind of influence is one of the simplest applications. If one could master the Jiuhua Divine Skill to its peak, they could even completely reverse your sense of cardinal direction."

"..." Feeling the shift in his perception of distance, a chill ran down Lin Hui’s spine.

He had expected High Priests to be strong, but not strong in this way.

’If I fall for a technique like this, no matter how fast I am, I’ll probably be unable to avoid defeat and death.’

"Is there any way to counter it?" he asked in a low voice.

"Aren’t you cultivating a Secret Technique to temper your Heart and Spirit and strengthen your consciousness? That’s the counter. The stronger your Heart and Spirit, the less these kinds of effects will work on you. Apart from that, there’s also a type of person called a Super Adaptable who can handle it with ease," Liu Wu Jun explained.

"A Super Adaptable?"

"Yes, also known as an Absolute Primordial Being. These people are absolute monsters. When facing a High Priest’s lethal mental attack, they don’t defend or dodge. Instead, they adapt to the change at an extremely high speed." A trace of fear flickered across Liu Wu Jun’s face as he mentioned Absolute Primordial Beings.

"Their adaptation speed is so fast that they can get used to your attack in a mere instant. That’s why Absolute Primordial Beings are an immense headache for all High Priests. If the Summoning Priest System is about the continuous strengthening and cultivation of the Heart and Spirit, then Absolute Primordial Beings represent the frenzied enhancement of the flesh and blood. Any attack, in their presence, can be quickly countered by an evolved defense, drastically reducing the damage taken. They can even convert the damage into nourishment to strengthen themselves in turn."

"..." Lin Hui felt his skin crawl as he listened. ’To think such monsters actually exist in this world.’

"Don’t worry, the Inner City will handle it if the sky falls. There’s no use for an Inner Power Martial Artist like you to worry too much," Liu Wu Jun said with a laugh. "These Absolute Primordial Beings have weaknesses too. As long as you can unleash enough power in a short amount of time, giving them no time to adapt and evolve, you can kill them instantly."

"It’s a big world, full of wonders," Lin Hui remarked with a sigh.

"That’s true. Speaking of which, you’re not getting any younger. You should hurry up and have a few children. In a while..." Liu Wu Jun had also entered his nagging-about-kids mode.

This gave Lin Hui a headache, so he quickly changed the subject.

After finally fending off the topic of procreation, he saw his Big Brother off to the Lin Family residence to rest.

Back at Qingfeng Temple, Lin Hui took out the steel sword that had previously evolved.

Today also happened to be the day the Blood Seal’s evolution was complete. With the support of various medicines, and without consuming one-time Treasure Medicines like the Yun Lingzhi or Illusory Dragon Lotus, one month of his time was now equivalent to six months of evolution for the Blood Seal.

This was the effect of the vast financial resources Qingfeng Temple had put behind him.

Now that the steel sword’s evolution was finished, it was time to continue evolving a new, subsequent Cultivation Technique.

After the Typhoon Swordsmanship, a higher-level Cultivation Technique would undoubtedly take an extremely long time to complete. Lin Hui was already mentally prepared for this.

「Inside the Fog Area’s Purple Crystal Ruins.」

Two tall figures, one in black and one in white, appeared at the entrance to the ruins.

Both were clad in long robes and wore smooth white masks. The masks were completely blank—no facial features, no patterns, not even openings for the eyes.

Opening the door, the two entered the ruins one after the other and were immediately met by two Purple Crystal Element monsters floating slowly toward them.

These monsters, which resembled old women with diamond-shaped heads and a single eye like a crack, didn’t attack after encountering the pair. Instead, they paused for a moment before nonchalantly drifting off in another direction, as if they had mistaken the two for their own kind.

They soon reached the depths of the ruins, where the massive Divine Statue lay, cut into countless pieces.

Beside the Divine Statue, two other masked figures in black robes were already waiting.

Their attire and masks were identical to the black and white pair, with the sole difference being the several Golden Threads embroidered on their cuffs.

"Your subordinates greet you, Lords Black and White Blade."

The Golden Thread black-robed men bowed to the two who had just entered.

"We were just passing through. The branch hall here ran into trouble. Have you found out which power was behind it?"

The white-robed member of the Black and White Blade spoke.

"We can only determine that the killer is a master swordsman. Based on his power, he probably isn’t from the Summoning lineage; we found no traces of destruction caused by Void Power," one of the Golden Thread black-robed men quickly replied.

"So it’s the Inner City Martial Artist System? The Three Sects and Six Gangs? No, the Six Gangs don’t have many experts of that caliber. It must be the Three Sects," the white-robed one speculated.

"Most likely. The Three Sects rely on strength, while the Six Gangs rely on their backing and influence. A Martial Artist swordsman of this caliber, capable of easily killing a branch Hall Master, must be at least at the Triple Harmony Grandmaster level," the Golden Thread man replied respectfully.

"The Three Sects... Strange. We and the Three Sects have always minded our own business. Why would they suddenly come and wipe out one of our branch halls? Speaking of which, our branch hall in the Inner City was also taken out by a swordsman. Eyewitnesses said he wore four masks and was dressed all in black."

"What about the Cultivation Technique? Can we deduce anything from that?" the black-robed member of the Black and White Blade, who had been silent until now, asked.

"The Cultivation Technique is also strange. The Three Sects have no speed-type swordsmen of a similar level. I’ve met Mukai Kei from the Inner City branch. That kid had good potential. Three years ago, he was already able to fight a Priest within our sect without taking any damage. I never thought he’d die at the hands of a nobody." the white-robed one replied.

"Are there any famous speed-type Martial Artists in the vicinity?" the black-robed one asked.

"Well, according to the information we’ve gathered, there are no speed-type Martial Artists capable of threatening the two Hall Masters. Not a single one," the Golden Thread man replied swiftly.

"However, according to many eyewitness accounts, on the day of the incident at the Inner City branch, the killer’s sword strikes generated a powerful airflow. This characteristic is quite similar to the attack patterns of the Invisible Sword, Lin Hui, the Master of Qingfeng Temple in nearby Xinyu Town. We were planning to conduct an in-depth investigation on him, but since he has the backing of the Rain Palace’s Yuanming Hall..."

"Qingfeng Temple? What’s that Lin Hui’s strength?" the white-robed member of the Black and White Blade asked.

"Inner Power Perfection. It’s said he can fight a Circulation realm expert to a draw."

"Then what’s there to investigate? Do you really think someone with that level of strength could single-handedly kill so many experts from our branch halls? And take down Mukai Kei, an Extreme Martial Artist Grandmaster?" the white-robed one said impatiently.

"Yes, you are right, my lord... In that case... should we just send someone to eliminate him? Better to kill the wrong person than let a suspect go free," the Golden Thread man asked tentatively.

"Killing him is not an option. Liu Wu Jun is nearby. Since the styles are similar, we can send someone to test the waters," the white-robed one nodded. "Though it’s unlikely to be him, it’s possible there’s another expert behind him pulling the strings. We must be on guard."

"Very well. I will arrange for our men to move out at once. This Invisible Sword can contend with a Circulation realm expert, and his speed and Body Technique are extremely fast. We must be fully prepared. I will personally lie in ambush to ensure it’s foolproof."