The Decaying World-Chapter 150 - 140: Changes, Part 2

"But my uncle and I have been very close since we were kids. My parents were often away on missions and couldn’t take me with them, so I frequently stayed at my uncle’s house when I was little. I got along really well with my two older female cousins and my older male cousin. Now that he’s stepping in to help the Chen Family, I can’t help but worry," Tao Xuehai sighed.

"Is that Xue Ying so powerful? The Chen Family must have experts stronger than a High Priest, right?" Lin Hui frowned.

"Of course they do. But Xue Ying has the backing of a mysterious force. On the surface, it seems like she’s alone, but the Government Office’s Peacekeeping Army has tried to surround and eliminate her several times, failing on each occasion. This indirectly proves that the power behind her definitely has access to secret intelligence from within the Government Office," Tao Xuehai explained.

"So what do you plan to do? Go back? With your meager strength, how much help could you be?" Lin Hui asked.

"I know my strength is insignificant, but at a time like this, with my uncle gone and only my cousins at home, I have to go back to check on them and offer some comfort... Many in the family are deliberately distancing themselves from my uncle’s household. They’re all afraid of Xue Ying, terrified of being dragged into this maelstrom of trouble," Tao Xuehai sighed.

"And you’re not afraid?"

"I am. Of course I’m afraid. But my uncle has treated me like a son. Even if I’m terrified, I have to do what little I can to help!" Tao Xuehai said resolutely.

Lin Hui sighed. The Inner City was never peaceful. Trouble always seemed to bubble up every so often.

Watching his disciple stand there with his head lowered, he let out a long breath.

"How is your Qingfeng Sword practice coming along? Have you redeemed a Secret Technique?"

"I’ve reached Fourth Grade Body Tempering! I’ve also mastered the Light Body Secret Technique!" Tao Xuehai replied in a low voice.

Lin Hui fell silent for a moment.

"My strength is limited, and there’s not much I can do to help you. The only advice I can give you is this... Our school’s Body Technique is unique. If you master it, not even a Priest will be able to catch you easily. If you run into danger, remember to flee with all your might. Don’t hesitate!"

"I... will remember." Tao Xuehai bowed deeply.

SWISH. A small booklet suddenly landed softly in front of him.

Then, Lin Hui’s voice reached his ears.

"This is the second Secret Technique, Light Spirit, which I have transcribed by hand. The prerequisite is completing the Body Tempering for the Nine-Section Swift Sword. You can learn it now."

"But my mission points aren’t..." Tao Xuehai paused, stunned.

"You can owe me for now," Lin Hui said, closing his eyes slightly.

He had a premonition. Tao Xuehai’s trip back would undoubtedly drag him into a massive vortex of trouble.

The people from the great families of the Inner City were either shrewd manipulators or complete lunatics. Any affair that both these types of people refused to touch was bound to be exceedingly troublesome.

Now, he could only hope that Tao Xuehai’s Body Technique would improve and that he would return safely.

A flicker of gratitude crossed Tao Xuehai’s eyes. Without refusing, he picked up the booklet, rose, and bowed once more.

"I... am leaving now!"

With those final words, he suddenly vanished from the spot.

Lin Hui picked up his teacup, which had grown cool. He was about to drink but suddenly lost the inclination and placed it back on the table.

A few days after Tao Xuehai left, news spread through the town that people had been seen escaping sporadically from the edge of the Fog Area in the outskirts. It seemed there was a monster uprising; the creatures of the Fog Area were no longer staying in their usual territory but had begun to roam everywhere.

On the third day after the rumors started, Lin Hui received a report from one of his disciples.

Someone had spotted Lin Hongyu near the Lin Family estate.

That woman, Lin Hongyu, had been missing for a long time. There were rumors she was dead; some even claimed to have seen her body.

But now that she had suddenly reappeared in person, all those rumors were proven false.

After receiving the news, Lin Hui paid it little mind. He simply rewarded the disciple who brought him the information with a Body Tempering Elixir and stopped paying attention.

Instead, he was more concerned about the conflict between Xue Ying and the Chen Family in the Inner City.

Amidst this tense situation, his cultivation had unexpectedly advanced. With the help of the Purple Crystal, his Body Tempering for the Typhoon Swordsmanship had finally reached the First Grade...

「On the Gale Plain.」

Lin Hui stood with his eyes closed, a Longsword in hand, an invisible airflow swirling around his body.

The airflow wasn’t nearly as violent as the one from his Gale Swordsmanship. It was deep and immense, its area of effect far exceeding the range of the Gale Sword, reaching a radius of at least five or six hundred meters.

For comparison, the Gale Swordsmanship only affected an area of a hundred meters or so. Beyond that, the force of the wind was extremely weak and had little effect.

But at this moment, Lin Hui could clearly sense that he could command the wind within a vast area of over six hundred meters.

This was the first time he had fully unleashed his Typhoon Swordsmanship for practice since his Body Tempering reached the First Grade.

’If the Gale Swordsmanship is a style for one-on-one combat, then the Typhoon Swordsmanship is for fighting one against many, or even against an army! Although this sword requires time to build up power, once it’s fully charged, a single swing could instantly create a typhoon-like domain covering a six hundred-meter radius.’

That was right. The wind force of the Typhoon Swordsmanship wasn’t a one-off attack. Once formed, it would persist, becoming a large-scale personal domain that suppressed all opponents within it.

WHOOSH~~

A fierce wind howled across the plain, kicking up sand and stones. Not a single blade of grass grew on the ground.

Under the constant barrage of Lin Hui’s winds over the years, this place, already barren, was now utterly devoid of vegetation. Not a living thing could survive here.

’It’s just that my Body Tempering level is too low, so the startup is too slow. If I reached the Ninth Grade, I could summon a great wind with a single swing of my sword, instantly forming the domain and suppressing all opponents. Weaker opponents wouldn’t even be able to make a move against me.’

Lin Hui carefully savored the essence of this Swordsmanship, executing the subsequent moves one by one to stimulate his Inner Strength Body Tempering.

Just as he was intently feeling the power of the typhoon, at the farthest edge of the wind’s reach near the border of the Fog Area...

A gray rabbit, hopping around searching for grass to nibble on, suddenly spotted a few blades of green grass that had just been uprooted by the wind and had fallen to the ground within the windy zone.

The grass, roots and all, had been torn from the soil by the strong wind and sent flying. Even the dirt clinging to the roots had been spun away.

The wild rabbit’s eyes lit up. It quickly pounced, pinning down the blades of grass that were still tumbling slightly after landing, and promptly took a bite with its small mouth.

After munching away, it gave a satisfied burp and hopped off into the distance.

But what no one noticed was that a flash of red suddenly glinted in the rabbit’s eyes.

Since a rabbit’s eyes are naturally reddish, this crimson glint was completely hidden. Without looking closely from up close, it was impossible to tell the difference.

Meanwhile, back at Qingfeng Temple, Wang Hongshi, Chen Sui, and the others, who were focused on their sword practice, all started to feel their skin getting a little itchy.

This was especially true for those who had more contact with Lin Hui during their daily training. One by one, they all felt a faint itchiness all over their bodies.

Faint, subtle traces of red began to tinge many of their eyes.

As for Lin Hui, who was still practicing his swordsmanship, his body suddenly trembled.

Without him actively summoning it, the Blood Seal actually materialized on its own, displaying a line of text in the lower part of his vision.

’Notice: Your Purgatory Aura has begun to have a minor effect on your surroundings. Affected creatures will gain minor enhancements to skin protection, strength, and recovery, as well as a small increase in mental confusion.’

"???" Lin Hui’s movements came to a sudden halt.

He had worried whether the Purgatory Aura would affect his surroundings, but since nothing had ever happened, he had stopped paying attention to it.

But now... the Blood Seal had suddenly popped up to inform him that the Purgatory Aura’s influence had begun.

Lin Hui looked around, but he couldn’t see any sign of his influence.

He searched the ground carefully and soon found a gray mouse in an earthen hole several dozen meters away.

The mouse showed no abnormalities on the surface, but as Lin Hui focused on it, he noticed its fur seemed to have a faint reddish tint, and its claws and teeth were sharper and pointier.

He picked it up and felt that the mouse struggled with much greater force than a normal one.

’It seems that even if I don’t use my Inner Strength on people, it will still subtly influence the creatures near me over time... This is a bit troublesome...’

Lin Hui’s brow furrowed.

With this Purgatory Transformation, the other changes were manageable. But the mental confusion and physical decay were two things that people would easily associate with something evil.

The appearance just screamed ’unorthodox.’ He somewhat regretted not choosing one of the other meat skewers for his evolution back then. He never thought the Purgatory Transformation from this one skewer would have such troublesome effects...

He hadn’t expected this at all.

SQUISH.

He casually crushed the mouse to death. Instantly, an extremely faint stream of heat flowed into his arm, traveling through the meridians into his heart.

He immediately felt countless fine threads spread out from his heart to every part of his body, beginning to strengthen his overall physical constitution.

Although the enhancement was very weak, the process was indeed very familiar to him.

At this thought, Lin Hui’s figure abruptly vanished. He began to frantically search the wilderness for living creatures that were on the verge of becoming semi-purgatorified.

Find them, kill them, and repeat the process.

*

*

*

「The Lin Family’s Zong Family.」

A portrait of the deceased Lin Chaoyi was still displayed on the incense altar in the main hall, for people to offer incense and pay their respects.

Lin Shunchong, the head of the second branch, was sitting at a corner table with two of his degenerate friends. With one foot on a long bench and his torso bare, he was playing cards.

The card game was an evolution of "leaf play," which had first spread from the Inner City. It used green bamboo tiles engraved with numbers and had rules similar to mahjong. At this moment, the pile of silver coins in front of Lin Shunchong had dwindled by more than half. His string of bad luck was putting him in a progressively worse mood.

"Son of a bitch, I lost again!" Seeing a friend win the hand, Lin Shunchong abruptly stood up.

"I’m gonna hit the latrine. Be back for another round after I regroup!"

"Remember to bring more money! What you’ve got left won’t last you half an hour!" one of his friends reminded him with a chuckle.

"Heh, I fucking refuse to believe my luck can be this bad all day!" Lin Shunchong cursed with a laugh.

He turned and left the main hall. A cold wind blew past, making him shiver.

Crossing the courtyard, he was heading straight for the latrine.

Suddenly, he heard the courtyard gate CREAK as it was pulled halfway open from the outside.

He turned his head to look.

"Who’s there?"

With a single glance, aided by the faint light of the pale sky, he recognized the visitor. It was Lin Hongyu, who had been missing for some time!

Lin Hongyu was dressed in tattered brown leather armor. One of her sleeves was empty, and in her other hand, she carried a black bundle.

Her eyes were dull, her face deathly pale, and her lips were covered in dry, cracked skin. It was impossible to know how long it had been since she’d had any water.

"Hongyu!? You!" Lin Shunchong stared at her in astonishment. Everyone had been about to give up hope, but he never expected...

"Grandfather... where’s Grandfather?" Lin Hongyu asked blankly.

"Hasn’t your grandfather already passed away?" Lin Shunchong was taken aback.

"Second Uncle... Second Uncle, do you have any Purple Luo Grass?" Lin Hongyu’s eyes fixed on Lin Shunchong again.

She quickly approached and grabbed her Second Uncle’s arm.

"Purple Luo Grass... Give me some, please give me some... I’ll just have a taste... just a little..."

"Hey, Ah Yu, let go of me! You’re hurting me!" Lin Shunchong’s expression changed. He remembered what Purple Luo Grass was. Wasn’t that the favorite hallucinogenic happy grass of the Inner City People?! The more you used it, the more addicted you became. Once you were hooked, it was impossible to quit!

"Second Uncle, wasn’t I always respectful to you before? Buy some for me, buy me some Purple Luo Grass. I just want one liang, one liang of the dried grass. It’s not a lot, will you get it for me, please...!" Tears and snot streamed down Lin Hongyu’s face as she sobbed. Her body went limp as she tried to kneel.

"I really don’t have any... I don’t! Let go of me first! Let go!" Lin Shunchong’s voice grew louder and louder.

"Didn’t you all call me a genius? Didn’t you say you would support me with all your might?! Why are you silent now?!" Lin Hongyu’s grip tightened, her eyes so bloodshot it looked as if her eyeballs were about to bulge out of their sockets.

"I..."

PFFT!!

In that instant, Lin Shunchong’s body stiffened. He slowly looked down at his chest.

A black dagger had appeared there at some unknown moment.

"I am the hope of the Lin Family! The genius of the Lin Family! If you don’t support me... you’re trying to ruin me!!" Lin Hongyu yanked out the dagger, pushed Lin Shunchong away, and staggered toward the main hall.

Behind her, Lin Shunchong’s bewildered face looked up at the sky as his body fell heavily to the ground.

In his ears, he could faintly hear the sharp, miserable screams of other Lin Family members.

Mixed in with them were Lin Hongyu’s neurotic shrieks.

"You’re ruining me! You all want to ruin me! You all want to drag me down! I’m a genius! A GENIUS!!!"