The Decaying World-Chapter 37 - 32: Change 2

Sixth Grade Body Tempering...

Lin Hui steeled himself, focusing his mind completely as he continuously dodged the Faceless People’s pounces and claw strikes.

This was where the superiority of Qingfeng Temple’s Body Technique speed came into play. Having practiced the Seven-Section Quick Sword Body Tempering, his movement speed was clearly a great deal faster than the Faceless People’s, and he easily and continuously dodged their deadly attacks.

"The Harmless Level is perfect for you to practice your combat Body Technique, but remember, about a li east of here is an ancient ruin called the Yanshan Mountain Range. Don’t go near it. That place is swarming with Invasion Level Mysterious Beasts. Only Inner Power Realm Martial Artists or Summoners can deal with that level," Mingde continued.

"Master, aren’t Mysterious Beasts hunted regularly? Why are there still so many? How do they reproduce and thrive?" Lin Hui asked aloud as he continued to dodge.

He could feel that this training—dodging on the edge of danger—was indeed a great help to his reaction speed and his Nine-Sectioned Rapid Sword Step Method.

"I don’t know. There’s an immense variety of Mysterious Beasts. After every night, a large number of new ones emerge the next day. If they aren’t hunted regularly, the number of nearby Mysterious Beasts will grow to an unbearable level, which could very well trigger a beast siege on the city," Mingde replied. "Any other questions?"

"That’s all."

"Then get to training. Don’t forget the objective: bring back a piece of it within fifteen minutes, and this trial will be considered complete."

"Your disciple will do his best!"

*

*

*

With the addition of Mysterious Beast training, Lin Hui’s life became much more perilous than before.

But because of this, his understanding of the Nine-Section Swift Sword also grew deeper and more profound.

The days passed one by one, and soon, the Xinyu Town security office posted a public notice with the new list of emergency response team members.

The security office didn’t break its contract with Qingfeng Temple because of the Black Dragon Sect’s establishment. Instead, the defection of Mu Qiaozhi, Zhao Jiang’an, and others meant that over half the members of the emergency response team were now from the Black Dragon Sect.

Fortunately, the Black Dragon Sect no longer seemed as aggressive. It focused only on maintaining its base and did not expand.

The situation stabilized. Qingfeng Temple was left with only a fifth of its original disciples; one could say most of them had run off. However, those who remained were all resolute, so in a way, the group had been purified.

Although its other businesses and partnerships were affected, the impact was temporarily mitigated by pre-existing contracts.

But if there was no improvement after the contracts expired and they couldn’t reverse their decline, it would only be a matter of time before the Black Dragon Sect snatched away Qingfeng Temple’s remaining space for survival.

「In Xinyu Town.」

Passersby saw an official from the security office posting a public notice.

As soon as the list was posted, a crowd immediately surged forward to look.

"The members of this term’s emergency response team are: from the Black Dragon Sect, Li Yue, Mu Qiaozhi, and Zhao Jiang’an. From Qingfeng Temple, Chen Sui, Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, Deng Mingchao, and Lin Hui..." a scholar began to recite the list aloud after a few people pooled their money to pay him a reading fee.

This list was critical information that everyone in Xinyu Town needed to know. The people on it were not just skilled experts; they also held the right of summary execution, a power ordinary officials lacked. If wielded effectively, this life-or-death authority could easily decide the fate of commoners.

Therefore, everyone from the major households on down, especially the mid-sized families, would regularly send someone to copy down the new list.

The list was changed once a year, always posted in early spring, which was also when the largest crowds gathered at the notice board.

At this moment, the town’s mid-sized clans—the Zhang Family, the Lin Family, the Song Family, and a dozen or so smaller clans—were gathered at the edge of the crowd. Hearing the list being read, they all took out notebooks to jot down the names and their affiliations.

The person sent by the Lin Family was a hired hand of the second branch’s Lin Shunchong, a short, stocky man named Ah Niu.

As he took notes, writing down the names, he suddenly felt that something was off.

’Lin Hui? Qingfeng Temple? Why does that name sound so familiar?’

Ah Niu tugged at his gray, sweat-soaked tunic, tapped his chin with his charcoal pencil, and squinted at the characters on the distant list, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Heh, isn’t that the only son from the Lin Family’s fourth branch?" Someone next to him recognized the name before he did.

"Qingfeng Temple, that matches. The name matches too. It really is him! Incredible, he actually made it into the Life and Death Team! Amazing!"

"Looks like the Lin Family’s fortunes are about to turn!"

"Turn their fortunes, my ass. I heard the fourth branch cut off all contact with the main family long ago."

"For real?"

In the crowd, a few well-informed individuals began to gossip with those around them, sharing the internal drama of the Lin Family that they knew.

Hearing this, Ah Niu broke out in a cold sweat. He knew this was no ordinary news. He quickly finished his notes and turned to run back toward the Lin Clan Territory.

「A short while later, at the Lin Clan Territory.」

Lin Shunchong of the second branch was woken up, his eyes still bleary with sleep. He had been in the middle of his afternoon nap when he heard Ah Niu rush in shouting, and he climbed irritably out of bed.

"Ah Niu, you’d damn well better give me a reason not to beat you! Otherwise, I’m cutting your wages in half for the month!"

Ah Niu, his head covered in sweat, carefully handed over the yellow paper he had been writing on.

"Master, take a look. This new list for the Life and Death Team... it has... it has..."

"Has what?" Lin Shunchong didn’t wait for him to finish, snatching the paper and looking down.

"Hm? Lin Hui?! Is this someone with the same name?" His eyes widened.

"Probably not. He’s also from Qingfeng Temple. It’s not like Qingfeng Temple would have two people with the exact same name, right?" Ah Niu said in a low voice.

Lin Shunchong was suddenly wide awake.

’Not bad, not bad at all.’ Recently, because Hongzhen from the first branch was severely injured and in a coma, the Lin Family’s situation had worsened considerably. ’If this Lin Hui from the fourth branch was really the one on the Life and Death Team, perhaps he could help alleviate the Lin Family’s predicament.’

’As for whether the fourth branch would acknowledge them, he wasn’t worried. They were all family. Just have the old man admit he was wrong, bow his head a little, and the matter would be settled. After all, how could decades of kinship be severed so easily?’

He immediately took the list, walked out of his hall, and entered the main courtyard.

In the courtyard, Lin Chaoyi stood with his hands behind his back, admiring the new koi he had recently added to the pond in the corner.

Red, yellow, and white koi swam back and forth, their movements stirring ripples of light through the clear water, which helped to slightly soothe his recently troubled mood.

"Father, come take a look at this list," Lin Shunchong said as he approached and handed the paper over.

Lin Chaoyi knew his second son wasn’t the type to cause trouble for no reason. Seeing his solemn expression, he narrowed his eyes, reached out, and took the list to read it.

His eyes immediately fell on the name listed toward the end, under the Qingfeng Temple heading: Lin Hui.

"This is... Old Si’s son?"

"It’s almost certain," Lin Shunchong nodded. "I’ve already checked. There’s no one else named Lin Hui at Qingfeng Temple."

Lin Chaoyi’s expression immediately relaxed, and he held the list, pondering for a moment.

"If it’s really Old Si’s boy, then he’s truly brought honor to our Lin Family! Good! Excellent!"

"Father, I think you should go and apologize to Old Si. Just let them come back. We’re all one family. Decades of kinship, blood is thicker than water—how can it be severed just like that?" Lin Shunchong said quietly.

"Sigh... that’s true. I doted on Old Si the most when he was a child; it’s just that when he grew up, I focused my attention more on Hongyu’s family. Fine. I’ll pay them a visit in a few days." Lin Chaoyi stroked his beard, his eyes on the name on the list. He suddenly felt that a great weight from the gloom that had settled over him due to Hongzhen of the first branch’s severe injury and coma had been lifted.

Now that the Lin Family had a member of the emergency response team—nicknamed the Life and Death Team—to look out for them, who in town would dare to look down on them?

This way, even if it wouldn’t help much in the Inner City, they could stabilize their declining position in the Outer City.

"Sigh, it’s truly a case of fortune’s wheel turning." He sighed, his old face full of emotion. "I always knew Old Si was capable, that sooner or later he’d make something of himself out there. Looking at it this way, kicking him out back then was also for his own good. If not for my decision, they wouldn’t have been able to rise so quickly, don’t you agree?"

"Father, you have such brilliant foresight," Lin Shunchong said with a smile.

"Enough talk. I’ll go to Old Si’s place first thing tomorrow morning. By the way, where does he live now?"

"I’m not sure either, but I can have someone ask around and find out in a bit."

*

*

*

At that moment, Lin Shunhe and his wife, Yao Shan, were still tending to their shop. They had just finished wrapping goods for a customer when they saw the owner of the nearby bamboo-weaving shop approaching, his hands behind his back and a broad smile on his face.

"Brother Lin, you’ve really done it! Pulled off something big without a word! From now on, I’m afraid everyone on this street will be relying on your family for protection."

This Boss Chen of the bamboo shop had always been a stingy, miserly man, yet now he actually pulled two fat fish from behind his back and hung them on the side of Lin Shunhe’s counter.

"These are two crucian carp my son just caught yesterday. A little something for you to try."

"This..." Lin Shunhe was completely baffled, having no idea what had gotten into the man.

Before he could recover, the owner of the porcelain shop across the street also came out, beaming, and brought them a stack of clean, neat porcelain dishes, muttering repeatedly about looking out for each other.

Neighbors who had previously only shared small talk and tea also gathered around to congratulate them, showering them with endless, free-flowing compliments.

Brother Huang of the Mu Hua Bang and his sister also came over with gifts, bowing with a smile to congratulate the couple. Ignoring Lin Shunhe and his wife’s attempts to refuse, they just left the gifts and ran off.

Just as the couple was growing more and more bewildered, someone in the crowd noticed their confusion and finally explained about the emergency response team list.

"The Life and Death Team? The right to execute people? They can kill without it being a crime?!" Yao Shan was stunned speechless as she listened.

But Lin Shunhe, who already knew of such things, suddenly understood everything. After all, he had once been the Steward of an oil mill; how could he not know about the Life and Death Team?

What he couldn’t believe was that his own son had, without a sound, gotten into such a critical department!

This was simply...

’Didn’t something happen to Qingfeng Temple just a while ago? How...’

Looking at the smiling faces around him, he forced down his doubts and returned their compliments with a strained smile, dealing with them one by one.

After seeing everyone off, their small shop’s afternoon business exploded. A steady stream of customers came to buy things, at least ten times more than usual!

This gave the couple a direct understanding of the Life and Death Team’s influence. The financial pressures they had been living under vanished in an instant, replaced by doubt and worry for their son, Lin Hui.

Their Ah Hui had quietly and suddenly shot up to such an important position. This abrupt, major change left them both with a sense of unease.

Meanwhile, Lin Hui was still in the mist, honing his Nine-Sectioned Rapid Sword Body Technique.

With the Faceless People sparring with him at full strength, his Body Tempering speed was much faster than it had been at the Daoist Temple. In just one short month, his Body Tempering had rapidly broken through from the Fourth Grade to the Sixth Grade.

One must understand that the higher the grade, the harder it was to break through.

Even geniuses like Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren had only just broken through to the Fifth Grade, and had been easily surpassed by Lin Hui.

When Mingde learned of the situation, his expectations for Lin Hui grew even greater.