The Decaying World

Xia Si left.

Lin Hui remained where he was. After waiting for a little while, a figure in black suddenly flashed out from the distance, appearing before him and dropping to one knee.

"Master." The newcomer was Tao Xuehai, who had been waiting for some time.

"You... your aura has grown stronger again..." Lin Hui glanced at him, his expression turning grim. For Tao Xuehai’s strength to have increased so significantly in such a short time—he knew exactly what that implied.

"Master, time is running out for me," Tao Xuehai replied calmly.

"Forget it. You... you need to be aware of your own situation. I called you here to pass on a special Secret Technique that all of our Core Disciples possess. It is called the True Body Seal." Lin Hui explained the effects of the True Body Seal, and as Tao Xuehai listened, his eyes lit up and his breathing immediately grew ragged.

’An instant fifty percent boost to my entire physical constitution... with almost no side effects.’

If these words hadn’t come from Lin Hui’s own mouth, he would have surely thought the man was a fraud.

But now, recalling what he had just seen of Xia Si, he was suddenly convinced that this seal technique truly existed.

"What do I need to do?"

"You don’t have to do anything. The only requirement for this seal technique is a sense of belonging, from the depths of your heart, to Qingfeng Temple and to me. You must recognize yourself as a member of Qingfeng Temple. Only then can you obtain the seal’s power," Lin Hui said calmly.

"I have no problem with that!" Tao Xuehai said solemnly, bowing his head.

Lin Hui wasted no more words, reaching out and tapping him between the eyebrows.

A white light flared, and a symbolic mark flashed into view for an instant before vanishing.

In less than a second, Tao Xuehai’s body rapidly expanded. His muscles swelled at an incredible rate, and veins bulged across his skin.

In the blink of an eye, he had grown into a brawny giant over eight feet tall.

"This power...!!!" Tao Xuehai could scarcely believe the change within him.

The power he felt was far greater than he had imagined.

"Go and get accustomed to it," Lin Hui said, turning away.

"As you command... Thank you for your guidance, Master." Tao Xuehai bowed again.

When Lin Hui turned around again, Tao Xuehai was gone.

’Now that everything is taken care of, it’s time to deal with the base...’

Lin Hui took stock of the new Treasure Medicine he had obtained. Tao Xuehai had brought some more, which he added to what was left over.

He now had 26 stalks of Purple Cloud Ganoderma, and the Yun Lingzhi had been replenished to 53 stalks.

’This should be enough to evolve the medicinal garden...’

But before he started, there was one more thing to take care of.

*

*

*

Lin Hongzhen’s home.

His older cousin had been in a coma for several years. Her once strong body was now emaciated.

She relied on daily sponge baths from her maids to keep her body from developing sores.

Lin Hui’s figure quietly appeared in the comatose Lin Hongzhen’s room.

In the bright room, he reached out and gently tapped Lin Hongzhen between the eyebrows.

He activated the Blood Seal’s appraisal.

’Lin Hongzhen: Human Race, daughter of the Lin Family’s main branch, in a coma for many years due to a head injury. Condition: weak.

Cultivation Techniques: Nine Hua Divine Formula, Ethereal Heart Method, Body Fortification Art.

Evolvable Branches: 2.’

Lin Hui was not surprised. Instead, he took out a bottle of an Elixir specifically for treating head trauma—a Baoning Pill.

The Blood Seal shifted its focus, encompassing the Baoning Pill.

Evolving the medicine for brain trauma to indirectly heal his cousin was the best method Lin Hui could devise.

More than ten minutes later, Lin Hui vanished from the room.

Meanwhile, on the bed, Lin Hongzhen’s throat bobbed a few times and her eyelids twitched slightly. At last, she showed a faint sign of improvement.

Xia Si had joined the Rain Palace, and Lin Hui had taught Master Yunxia the Gale Swordsmanship.

With everything settled, Qingfeng Temple once again returned to its previous quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

His eldest brother’s faction, after continuously targeting and purging the Wanhua Sect, also gradually quieted down.

Liu Xiao returned to the Rain Palace to take up a position, and Liu Wu Jun also went back to his master’s side, busy with something unknown.

Lin Hui, on the other hand, devoted all his attention to the construction of the new base.

Inside the maze ruins, he continuously transported and stored various easily-preserved dry rations.

Then, using his channels, he purchased a set of condensation devices specifically designed to collect moisture from the air.

After evolving it with the Blood Seal, at the cost of a small amount of Treasure Medicine, he successfully integrated this crude contraption of cans and pipes into the maze base, turning it into a system that could produce its own condensation water daily.

Then, Lin Hui consulted some architectural experts from the Inner City and began single-handedly modifying the sewage system within the base.

Finally, after all other miscellaneous tasks were completed, he officially began to bury the Purple Snow Jade underground in the designated spots.

He then watered it with specified medicines and potions, waiting for the Purple Cloud Ganoderma garden to be completed.

According to the medicinal herb experts from the Inner City, to establish a Purple Cloud Ganoderma garden, the Purple Snow Jade must first successfully take root, become activated, and enter a reproductive state. This process, in addition to requiring specific medicines, would take at least a year.

Lin Hui wasn’t in a hurry. The garden was built, the foundation laid. After waiting a year for the garden to be completed, he could then use the Blood Seal to evolve it. The future held great potential!

And during this one-year waiting period, he didn’t let the Blood Seal sit idle. Instead, he had it try to evolve various vitality-enhancing aphrodisiacs.

Unfortunately, all he got were extremely long-acting Life-extending Medicines. The aphrodisiacs evolved directly into Life-extending Medicines, and what’s more, they often required decades of evolution time.

If one’s lifespan was about to end, this could extend it, but his situation wasn’t that dire yet.

So he only evolved one portion and gave it to Tao Xuehai as insurance.

Time passed, bit by bit.

In the blink of an eye, another year had passed...

Qingfeng Temple’s power expanded once more. Due to the bestowing of the seals, and with the addition of Xia Si, Qingfeng Temple’s influence was now faintly taking on the air of a New Martial Alliance.

Though it was just a Great Martial Arts Hall outside the city, its sphere of influence expanded further and further in all directions because of the rapidly swelling power of its disciples.

Qingfeng Temple’s third path, which combined the cultivation of Body Tempering and Inner Strength, also became widely known after Xia Si’s rise to fame.

And amidst this peaceful life, Lin Hui’s Typhoon Swordsmanship finally reached the Eighth Grade of Body Tempering.

With only one last level to go, he would be able to bring his Typhoon Swordsmanship to Perfection and begin practicing the Star Breath Sword Manual.

And at this very moment,

The new round of assessments for Summoner candidates entering the city went terribly wrong.

Inside the Council Hall of Qingfeng Temple.

"Normally, all Summoner candidates from the Outer City District are gathered for a preliminary assessment before being selected for the Inner City’s Three Greats. This is to determine if the Outer City has falsified any results," Wang Hongshi said seriously, reporting to Lin Hui, who was seated at the head of the hall.

"But this time, there were hidden assassins among the talented candidates being assessed. In a very short period of time, they killed all the assessment officials sent by the Three Greats. Then, using the officials’ tokens, they sent an alarm to the Three Greats, luring in a new support team, and annihilated those powerful reinforcements as well."

Wang Hongshi let out a breath, a look of disbelief on his face.

"It was a series of perfectly linked traps. They killed nearly forty people in one go. Five High Priests and twenty-two Priests among them! In one fell swoop, they crippled almost half of the Three Greats’ entire combat division! Right now, The Three Greats only have one or two high-end High Priests left. The only ones above them are the Vice Palace Masters and Palace Masters—the middle-tier of High Priests has been virtually wiped out! And the number of Priests has dropped to a third of what it was just a few years ago!"

"...According to the latest investigation report, this attack was premeditated, with planning that began more than a year ago. The people handling communications, the tokens, the participating Summoner geniuses, and even the Peacekeeping Army responsible for basic security—all had personnel planted by a secret faction."

"With such heavy losses, the Moon Tower is furious. At the same time, their mid-tier combat strength urgently needs replenishing, so a new round of mass selections has begun. For High Priests outside of the Three Greats, this is an opportunity."

"What a mess," Lin Hui sighed.

Over the past year, his Blood Seal had been methodically evolving various life-support systems for the maze ruins.

The base was now basically capable of an internal cycle of water usage and crop cultivation.

This was also thanks to the few experts he consulted from the Good Heart Sect. The Good Heart Sect had experience in this area, and the experts’ guidance was a great help to him.

The most crucial part was still the medicinal garden.

The Purple Cloud Ganoderma garden, after spending more than half of his Treasure Medicine, was finally successfully built and had even undergone significant improvements and evolution.

This also made Lin Hui shift the focus of his daily routine more and more towards the maze.

"The current lack of mid-to-upper level High Priests and Priests will inevitably lead to worsening security, increased instability, and a rise in crime rates in various parts of the Inner City..." Wang Hongshi said with a frown.

"There’s already a chain reaction in the Outer City District. Recently, many large and wealthy families from other towns have moved to Xinyu Town to seek the protection of our Qingfeng Temple. The land and housing prices around here have skyrocketed," Chen Sui said in a low voice from the side.

"My family has a lot of real estate, so we’ve made a tidy profit from this," Chen Xiangzhi, one of the ten Core Disciples, said with a chuckle.

"My family’s businesses have also earned a lot. Prices have been rising sharply recently," Xiaohu added with a laugh.

Compared to before, he was much more mature and taller now, looking as if he had long since lost his former immaturity.

"It seems there haven’t been any negative effects on anyone, which is good. Next, I have an announcement." Lin Hui smiled, using his Inner Strength to amplify his voice so that everyone could hear clearly.

Only after everyone’s attention was focused on him did Lin Hui continue speaking.

"Starting tomorrow, Qingfeng Temple will be renamed Qingfeng Dao. It’s no longer practical to call ourselves a ’Temple.’ We have dozens of branches and over fifty Inner Power Martial Artists. The simple name ’Qingfeng Temple’ can create confusion in our hierarchy. Therefore, we’re changing the name. All branches of Qingfeng Temple will now fall under the banner of Qingfeng Dao. Qingfeng Dao will have one Daoist Master—the former Observatory Master. Other positions will remain fundamentally the same. The titles at headquarters will simply be updated to reflect the new name."

"That’s true. We’ve been struggling with that issue for a while now. We definitely need to clarify the hierarchy," a man named Huang Shan was the first to nod in agreement.

Within Qingfeng Temple now, the ones with the real say were no longer the Elders, but rather the top ten Core Disciples.

This was the main change that had occurred since the battle that revealed Xia Si’s power.

In that battle, more than half of the participating Elders had fled for fear of their lives. Since then, the position of Elder in the sect had lost all its authority.

Instead, the top ten, whose strength had skyrocketed after receiving their seals, began to directly participate in managing the sect’s affairs.

Now, after a year, the beginnings of ten small factions had formed. The ten disciples were jokingly called the "Ten True Heirs" by outsiders, and each had gathered many people and businesses under their name.

After some discussion, the group dispersed. Lin Hui returned to his residence in the rear courtyard, checked on Lin Xiaoliu’s swordsmanship practice, and then went to the small garden alone.

A figure in a black robe had been waiting in the garden for a long time.

The figure turned, wearing a black metal mask in the shape of a hawk.

"Master, it’s been a few months, and you seem to have grown even stronger..." Tao Xuehai’s voice came from under the mask.

"You said last time you were going to do something big. I heard about it... It was certainly big," Lin Hui sighed.

Looking at this disciple who had grown increasingly gloomy, he had watched with his own eyes as the man transformed, step by step, from a bright, confident, and proud youth into the grim, repressed person he was today.

Life is unpredictable; perhaps this was a perfect example of it.

"It’s not enough, Master. I came here to warn you: please stay away from the Chen Family for the time being. You must not get close to anyone from the Chen Family," Tao Xuehai said softly.

"You’re going to make a move on the Chen Family!?" Lin Hui narrowed his eyes. "Tell me the truth, what level of power can you actually mobilize? To dare to move directly against the Chen Family?"