The Decaying World

「Two days later...」

In the northern part of Black Cloud, at a medium-sized port called Jade Sand Harbor, a massive fleet of forty long-voyage cargo ships slowly followed a pilot boat into the harbor.

On the docks, large groups of laborer races—Ox-folk, Horse-folk, and others—had already gathered, ready to unload the cargo.

Behind the laborers stood trade association supervisors next to their large trucks. Half of these supervisors belonged to races skilled in business, like the Tiger People. The other half were mixed-blood Sheepmen, still retaining faint traces of goat-like horns.

As lower-to-middle class residents of the Outer City, for non-humans to be able to find work on the periphery of a district like Black Cloud, which was completely dominated by the Pure-blood Human Race, was a sign of a very tolerant environment.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

Following the heavy footsteps, Half-giants wearing gray vests with the two large characters for "Hundred Seas" embroidered on their backs walked to the side, holding coils of high-strength rope as they waited to move the large cargo.

These Half-giants looked similar to ordinary people, except for their immense height. The shortest among them was four meters tall, while the tallest exceeded six meters. They had grayish skin, wore their hair in buzz cuts or were completely bald, and were dressed in sturdy leather boots and gray leather gloves. Around each of their necks hung a large, gray-black towel for wiping away sweat.

A group of over twenty of them stood scattered together, occupying a small section of the docks.

"Oh my, how could we trouble Daoist Master Lin to come pick up the goods himself? This is so embarrassing."

At that moment, on one side of the docks, a giant toad who had been smoking a pipe and had just exhaled a smoke ring suddenly trembled. It quickly tossed the pipe to its assistant and, in a few hops, appeared before an approaching group of people, prostrating itself.

It stood a full four meters tall and three meters wide, its body covered in bumpy green skin. It wore a golden mandarin jacket inlaid with gems and pearls, and now, prostrated on the ground with a subservient smile, it cut a rather comical figure.

"I’ve been waiting a long time for this batch of medicine. I happened to be free recently, so I decided to come and escort it back myself."

Lin Hui walked at the head of the group with a faint smile, followed by Su Yaping, Wang Hongshi, and the others.

"Soon, very soon. It’s going through the inspection phase now. Please, come with me," the giant toad said with a wide grin, straightening up to lead Lin Hui and his group.

Its name was Mo Xinghai—a Human Race name. It hailed from the Giant Toad Clan and had founded the Green Mountain Trade Association within its clan a century ago. Later, it joined the Hundred Seas Trade Alliance. The association had since grown larger and larger, now ranking among the top ten largest trade associations operating fleets near Black Cloud.

Ever since Lin Hui arrived in Black Cloud, he had sought out Mo Xinghai’s association to procure medicine. The partnership had been a pleasant one, and he had even hired the Green Mountain Trade Association’s ships when he went to Tuyue to pick people up.

The two were, by all accounts, old partners.

Mo Xinghai was a creature who valued trustworthiness and confidentiality above all else. To this day, no matter how the situation changed, he would grit his teeth and see through any deal he had agreed to.

This was the main reason he had become so successful.

Now, he led Lin Hui’s group to the side of a black cargo ship that was docking and waved up at the deck.

Soon, a heavily bearded man in a long, gray-blue robe ran down the wooden gangplank.

After the bearded man whispered a few words to Mo Xinghai, a second wooden gangplank was quickly assembled and lowered from the ship.

Once both gangplanks were secured, burly men in gray vests hoisted up black wooden chests, each over two meters long, and walked steadily down.

On the shore, the Half-giants stepped forward one by one to take the chests, turning to deliver them to the back of the large trucks.

"Your goods are quite valuable, so we stored them a bit deeper. Yours will be next, once this first batch of cover cargo is unloaded. Please bear with us," Mo Xinghai explained quietly, leaning close to Lin Hui.

"It’s fine," Lin Hui nodded. "Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask. Why don’t you use Inner Power Martial Artists directly? Wouldn’t the unloading be much faster?"

If Inner Power Martial Artists were to project their Inner Strength, the cargo could indeed be moved much more quickly.

"Because it’s cheaper. It’s not easy making a profit in this business. These Half-giants are far less expensive than Inner Power Martial Artists. They have high poison resistance, and you can hire a whole group for just a tael or two of Sea Beast meat per jin. If we were to hire Inner Power Martial Artists, not only would they charge by the piece, but their appearance fee alone is one thousand taels per person," Mo Xinghai whispered with a laugh.

Lin Hui silently calculated the prices back in Tuyue. Inner Power Martial Artists there certainly didn’t earn money this quickly.

Soon, all the large chests were unloaded, followed by slightly smaller jade chests.

"The seams of these chests are sealed with a special transparent resin. This resin is rendered from the skin of a colossal sea whale called the ’Stray Whale.’ It provides an excellent seal, can last for a thousand years without deteriorating, and is impervious to both water and fire," Mo Xinghai began his introduction. "The chests themselves are carved from ’Blue Shadow Stone,’ which has natural cold-preservation properties and also maintains a certain level of dryness by absorbing moisture."

A jade chest was quickly brought before them. Mo Xinghai took a small knife from an assistant, channeled his Void Power to coat the blade, and then sliced along the chest’s seam.

CLICK.

The chest popped open, revealing neatly arranged, blue-and-gold coral-like medicinal herbs inside.

"This is the superior-grade Golden Coral you requested. Its efficacy is three to five times that of Purple Cloud Ganoderma! It will absolutely satisfy you!" Mo Xinghai transmitted his voice quietly.

Lin Hui nodded. With a flick of his hand, a palm-length piece of coral flew out and landed in his grasp.

He inspected it carefully, then nodded.

"How much did you acquire in total?"

"1,342 jin, about three chests. The unit price is one Blood for ten jin..." Mo Xinghai said with a cheerful laugh.

Lin Hui nodded and glanced back at Wang Hongshi.

Wang Hongshi stepped forward to settle the bill, taking out withdrawal gold notes from the Black Cloud Bank to make the payment.

"Also, there’s one more thing." Mo Xinghai lowered his head and transmitted his voice mysteriously. "Someone entrusted me with something to deliver to you."

He turned and gave an order, and soon a smaller, black metal case was brought over.

"That person asked me to pass this on to you. Please wait until you’ve returned to open it. It is an apology for what happened back in Tuyue."

Lin Hui glanced at the case. He felt an object hanging at his waist grow slightly warm and instantly understood the gift’s origin.

He immediately nodded and had his people accept the case.

"By the way, Daoist Master Lin, the situation outside has been chaotic lately, with conflicts breaking out in many places. I was wondering... is your Clear Wind Dao still accepting disciples from the Outer City? Rest assured, this is for the youngest son of my clan’s patriarch. His aptitude is top-tier, and he is respectful of his masters. As for tuition and resources, my clan’s patriarch is willing to sponsor Clear Wind Dao with ten thousand Blood’s worth of various materials annually," Mo Xinghai transmitted his voice again, secretly.

"I have no intention of accepting outside disciples at the moment. However, since it’s you asking, Old Mo, I’ll give you two spots. I’m not taking anyone personally right now, but he can choose one of my direct disciples as a master," Lin Hui said casually.

In Black Cloud City these days, anyone who knew anything about the Clear Wind Dao and his background was trying every trick in the book to send their children and relatives to study under him. He didn’t have the time to accept them all, but this was an excellent opportunity to form ties with local factions, so he allowed his direct disciples to choose their own apprentices.

He himself was very busy. Besides his direct disciples Su Yaping, Tao Changsheng, Master Yunxia, and Xia Si, he also had to occasionally teach Lin Xiaoliu. He barely had enough time for his own Cultivation, let alone taking on other people.

However, while he had never met the Giant Toad Clan patriarch Mo Xinghai mentioned, that individual was also a City Lord of a Federation city and a Fog People-rank powerhouse. Granting him some face could open up more channels for acquiring medicine.

Mo Xinghai was somewhat disappointed by the answer, but he understood.

After the handover was completed, the group from the Clear Wind Dao took the chests and the Golden Coral back with them.

Lin Hui dismissed everyone. Leaving only the metal case, he placed it in the courtyard, waved his hand to spread his Disaster Energy, and shielded the surroundings.

Although the environment of the Clear Wind Dao Academy was growing more dangerous over time, the Wind Calamity rift, even though it had been sealed, was still silently leaking minuscule amounts of Disaster Power into the surroundings.

This had caused the Cultivation of many disciples at the Clear Wind Dao Academy to accelerate recently. Everyone unanimously felt that their progress in cultivating Inner Strength was much faster than before, and the Inner Strength they cultivated was also far more potent.

Lin Hui’s Heart and Spirit was so powerful that even without actively sensing, it could cover a radius of several kilometers. Naturally, he was well aware of these changes.

But there was nothing he could do. He had tried many methods, but none had worked. He couldn’t completely seal the rift.

Therefore, he was pinning his hopes on this batch of top-grade Golden Coral purchased from Tianchong to completely free his Blood Seal from its evolution, and then to quickly research a way to seal the Wind Calamity rift.

This was one of the reasons he had personally come to receive the goods. In fact, he had sent Su Yaping to escort the shipment even before it entered the harbor.

Now, with everyone gone, Lin Hui looked at the black metal case and focused his thoughts.

HISS.

An invisible force of wind slowly unlocked the case, and the lid was gently lifted.

The inside was lined with soft, fine black fur.

Curled in the middle of the fur was a slender woman wearing a white fox mask.

The woman was completely naked. Her frame was petite, but her chest was remarkably full and prominent. In the confines of the case, her skin was so white it seemed to glow.

She seemed to be unconscious, lying motionless with even breaths.

On her thigh rested a piece of pale yellow parchment with small characters written on it.

The parchment floated up, drifted into Lin Hui’s hand, and unrolled itself for him to read.

A quick scan was all it took for him to understand the full story.

This gift was an apology sent by Black Face of the Good Heart Sect. The woman was Fox, the sect member who had been on his team back in Tuyue.

The note detailed the entire process of why Fox was captured and sent to him as an apology.

The reason was that Fox had attempted to send detailed intelligence about him to the Extreme Desire Heaven in Tuyue, hoping that the Blood Ancestor would target him for consumption so she could claim credit.

Now that Tuyue was destroyed and the Original Blood had degraded, Fox, as one of the Original Blood, had suffered a great loss of strength. Having no further value, she was simply sent to him as an apology to gain his forgiveness and goodwill.

’What am I supposed to do with her?’ Lin Hui shook his head and chuckled. This was the downside of his reputation, built on consuming too many aphrodisiacs—everyone thought he was a lecher.

But only he and those closest to him knew that he was, at his core, a devout ascetic seeking the Dao.

Gazing at Fox’s beautiful body, he was about to disintegrate and kill her on the spot, but just as his Disaster Energy began to stir, he stopped.

A novel idea surfaced in his mind.

’This is a person whose Original Blood has degraded. If I can figure out how the Evil Soldier caused her bloodline to regress, could that method be reverse-engineered for evolution?’

’This person still has some research value...’

Lin Hui waved his hand again, closing the case. He used the Wind Chime to summon Li Yuanyuan and have her imprison the woman for the time being.

Future explorations of the Night Fog or the shadows, as well as the Wind Calamity rift, would require test subjects with a certain level of strength. As a cultivator of the Divine Decision, Fox should still possess power at the Priest level even with her degraded Original Blood. It would be a waste not to use her.

After Li Yuanyuan came and carried the case away, she returned a short while later.

"Daoist Master, if you like that type, this subordinate can also get naked and sleep in a box at night."

Lin Hui was speechless. He turned to look at Li Yuanyuan’s coolly beautiful face as she told a dirty joke with a completely straight expression. The woman clearly knew his disposition and was deliberately teasing him.

"You should get a boyfriend and blow off some steam," he said helplessly.

"Daoist Master, what kind of reputation do you think we female disciples who are willing to live long-term at this Dao academy have in the eyes of outsiders?" Li Yuanyuan asked placidly.

"..." Lin Hui was utterly speechless.