The Decaying World-Chapter 81 - 76: Breakthrough, Part 2

A fight was clearly out of the question. Though wary, Ou Tianrong had no choice but to act as if nothing had happened. She ordered her disciples to quickly clean up the mess, then suppressed her pain and led Lin Hui to a temporary study used for receiving guests.

After racking her brain and still not understanding how she had lost, Ou Tianrong’s mindset gradually straightened out. She decided to agree to all of Lin Hui’s demands, as long as they weren’t too excessive, treating it as ceding territory and paying reparations.

No matter how vast the Baihua Sect’s business was or how many connections it had, at its core, it was still a martial arts school and had to abide by the rules of a formal challenge.

If the challenge were successful, the Baihua Sect itself might continue unscathed. After all, its business and network of contacts wouldn’t change just because of a new Sect Leader.

But the same could not be said for her, Ou Tianrong.

If defeated or severely injured, she would inevitably be unable to continue as the Sect Leader of the Baihua Sect. Her so-called confidants wouldn’t show much loyalty. Once she fell, everything would crumble.

She understood this point perfectly, and Lin Hui knew it just as well.

The moment he saw the Baihua Sect’s operational model, Lin Hui knew that to indirectly annex the school and turn it into a vassal, he had to start with its Sect Leader.

As long as he suppressed the Sect Leader, it wouldn’t matter if his killing of two Baihua Sect members in the Fog Area was exposed.

Beyond that, he also wanted to gain tangible control over the Baihua Sect’s channels for purchasing medicine.

These were already established channels, far faster than him starting from scratch and going back and forth making new contacts.

And so, after a "friendly" consultation between the two Sect Leaders, Qingfeng Temple and the Baihua Sect signed a mutual assistance and cooperation agreement.

Though not an outright annexation, many clauses in the agreement were heavily skewed in favor of Qingfeng Temple—a thinly veiled trade of benefits for peace.

Lin Hui had proven with his actions that if you wanted to continue operating a martial arts school in this territory, you had to pay up.

By the time all the arrangements were settled, it was nearly afternoon.

Ou Tianrong invited Lin Hui to the pharmacy to see the stamina-enhancing medicines he most needed.

"Sect Leader Lin, whatever medicine you need, as long as the Baihua Sect has it, please take whatever you wish!" Ou Tianrong just wanted to get this god of plague out of her sight as soon as possible.

Since she couldn’t defeat him, her only choice was to do as she had with others before him: placate him with benefits until he was satisfied.

For the Baihua Sect to have grown so large in this area, it naturally had its own ways of dealing with those who were stronger.

Inside the pharmacy.

Female disciples entered one by one, placing boxes of Treasure Medicine on a long table before the two of them, arranging them in a neat row.

In the dim, yellow candlelight, the surface of each mahogany box in the row was labeled with its contents.

"My Baihua Sect has a total of twenty-three types of stamina-enhancing medicine. After removing those with overlapping effects, we’re left with fifteen. What do you think?" Ou Tianrong asked in a low voice.

Lin Hui’s gaze swept over the boxes one by one. ’If all goes well, everything here can greatly accelerate my Blood Seal’s progress in the future!’

Three Yang Powder, Divine Chicken Pill, Jiuhua Pill, Dragon and Tiger Pill, Rejuvenation Pill...

The name of each medicine, along with its effects, usage, and contraindications, was written on a label affixed to its box.

"Can I take all of these at once?" Lin Hui suddenly asked.

"Uh..." Ou Tianrong froze. "No, your body would be completely depleted. However, if Sect Leader Lin wishes for something you can take continuously over the long term with minimal side effects, you can combine three types. As long as you take them no more than three times a month, supplement with qi and blood tonics, and increase the meat in your diet, it shouldn’t be a problem."

She quickly proposed several common combinations for long-term use.

Of these, the regimen combining Three Yang Powder, Dragon-Overturning Pill, and Yun Lingzhi was the one Lin Hui favored most. The other combinations would have overlapping medicinal properties with the Yun Lingzhi, which would accelerate the development of tolerance.

Using a safe method, Lin Hui tested the effects of the first two medicines on the spot. They were no match for Yun Lingzhi and were also significantly weaker than Full Essence Powder.

Still, they were the two most potent medicines among the selection. After all, this stuff was merely an aphrodisiac, whereas Full Essence Powder could be used for training. They were in completely different leagues.

Aside from these, Lin Hui’s other major gain was obtaining five stalks of Yun Lingzhi from the Baihua Sect’s pharmacy, which had been prepared for grinding into medicinal powder.

Now, according to the agreement, Qingfeng Temple could use the Baihua Sect’s supply channels for free. Furthermore, they would receive a fixed monthly delivery of the ingredients for Three Yang Powder and Dragon-Overturning Pill, prepared according to their respective formulas.

In exchange, Qingfeng Temple’s medicinal needs would be combined with the Baihua Sect’s when negotiating business with the Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa. In addition, ten percent of the Baihua Sect’s internal medicine sales would be deposited directly into Lin Hui’s personal account.

Ten percent might not seem like much, but the Baihua Sect’s profits were substantial, and they were already being divided among several parties.

From the documents Ou Tianrong showed him, Lin Hui deduced that a subordinate power of the Chen Family had a hand in the business. They took thirty percent of the profits, another ten percent went to the local Government Offices, and ten percent went to the Rain Palace. The Three Greats took half right off the top, and only the remainder was left to be divided among the Baihua Sect’s many disciples, students, and employees.

Ou Tianrong herself only took a twenty-percent share, yet she was responsible for daily management, teaching Martial Arts, fending off powerful enemies, negotiating partnerships and business deals, maintaining supply channels, and so on and so forth.

Lin Hui’s ten percent had been carved directly out of Ou Tianrong’s share.

He hadn’t intended to take it, planning instead to exchange it directly for the equivalent value in medicine. However, Ou Tianrong insisted on giving it to him, on the condition that he would help her fight off powerful enemies if she faced a threat she couldn’t handle.

As he left the Baihua Sect, both Lin Hui and Ou Tianrong knew that the agreement itself was meaningless. How long its terms would be honored depended entirely on how long Lin Hui could maintain his strength.

If Qingfeng Temple were to decline, the agreement would be useless—nothing more than a stack of waste paper.

But if Qingfeng Temple grew even stronger, there was no reason new clauses couldn’t be added to it.

Ou Tianrong endured the pain from her injuries as she saw Lin Hui through all the proceedings. She watched until this very moment, as his horse-drawn carriage gradually receded and vanished over the horizon.

Only then did she let out a long sigh of relief.

"He’s finally gone."

Behind her, the two Elders, their wounds now bandaged, also breathed long sighs of relief.

"Sect Leader, with Sect Leader Lin’s strength, I fear he’s already unrivaled in the surrounding regions, isn’t he?" Elder Li Zhaohan asked.

"More or less. A typical Inner Power Realm master is about on par with a Lower-Rank Summoner. A top-tier Sixth Layer expert like me is second only to an Upper-Tier Summoner. Among the many martial arts schools, sects, and factions in the dozen or so towns around the Outer City, none can match me," Ou Tianrong sighed.

"But that’s not the reason I chose to yield to him. The real reason is that he’s too young... In a place like the Outer City, the resources are far inferior to the Inner City. The Summoners of The Three Greats and the Martial Artists of the Three Sects and Six Gangs—if any of them could enter the Inner City, who would willingly come out here to fight over these paltry resources? So, the highest level of power you can find around here is someone like me..."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"He was able to defeat me. Here in the Outer City District, as long as he doesn’t provoke The Three Greats, basically no one can stop him. What’s more, he’s a top-tier speed-based expert... and that type is the most troublesome to deal with..."

"Seen in that light, his youth is truly terrifying. Isn’t Sect Leader Lin only nineteen?" Li Zhaohan was also a bit shaken. "By that logic, doesn’t it mean he’ll be able to dominate everyone in the Outer City District for at least another fifty years!?"

"Yes. For those who transition from Outer Strength to Inner Strength, the absolute limit is Sixth Layer Perfection. It’s useless to enter the Inner City after that point. Add to that his formidable combat prowess and the extremely high survival rate of a speed-type expert... As long as he isn’t foolish enough to get into a head-on clash, dominating the Outer City for fifty years after he reaches his peak would be a conservative estimate..." Ou Tianrong lamented.

The geniuses who qualify to enter the Inner City are taken there at a very young age, and once they go in, they never think of coming back out.

Only people like Lin Hui—strong in actual combat, highly talented, yet not quite talented enough to enter the Inner City—become the truly dominant figures of the Outer City District.

"The people from the Inner City who’d be interested in the scraps we have to offer aren’t strong enough to be our opponents, so they can’t come out here to compete. And the ones who *are* stronger than us look down on the Outer City’s barren resources. In certain special regions of the Inner City, a single day’s harvest of some Treasure Medicines exceeds a whole month’s supply out here. The very things we’re fighting over are things they’ve probably already developed a tolerance to... You’re right. Looking at it that way, we absolutely must maintain a good relationship with Qingfeng Temple." Li Zhaohan’s face showed she had seen the light.

"It’s good that we’re all clear on this. Ah Ying, don’t hold a grudge in your heart. Your injury is nothing serious. Once it heals, I’ll buy you a vial of Scar Remover from the Inner City. I guarantee you’ll look just like you did before," Ou Tianrong said, turning to comfort the other Elder, Xiang Ying.

"I wouldn’t dare hold a grudge. He must have been holding back then. Otherwise, if he had just followed up with one more strike..." Recalling the scene, Xiang Ying still felt a lingering fear.

"Nineteen years old... Tsk, tsk... Someone this powerful, and he doesn’t even have the aptitude for Summoning... Which son of a bitch was in charge of screening for aptitude?" After placating her two confidants, Ou Tianrong looked up again in the direction Lin Hui had disappeared, unable to stop herself from shaking her head and clicking her tongue.

*

*

*

「The next day at noon.」

「Xinyu Town, Qingfeng Temple.」

Lin Hui sat cross-legged alone in the main hall, looking at the six medicine boxes arranged neatly in a row before him.

Five of the mahogany boxes contained five stalks of Yun Lingzhi, while the remaining one held the packaged aphrodisiac elixirs.

’Five stalks of Yun Lingzhi... I should be able to reach Perfection in Gale Swordsmanship this time...’ Lin Hui mused.

What did they call a windfall?

This was it!

How could painstakingly training at home ever compare to the speed of going out to "solicit donations"?

’It was worth using the Sealed Poison on Ou Tianrong.’ He had actually been using Special Effect Feathering the entire time and could have slowly ground her down. But his goal was to intimidate and subdue the Baihua Sect, so he needed a swift and decisive victory.

Thus, the instant he broke through her defenses, he activated the Sealed Poison.

Just as he had predicted, the Sealed Poison took effect the instant it touched her skin. What he hadn’t anticipated, however, was that the poison sealed one’s consciousness. And when her consciousness was severed, her Inner Strength was severed as well.

Not only that, but the muscles on Ou Tianrong’s body instantly lost their tension, and their resilience plummeted.

That was how he managed to pierce her with a single sword strike, securing his victory.

’By that logic, if the Sealed Poison can directly break through an Inner Strength barrier, it’s a perfect counter to Inner Strength masters... The instant the barrier breaks would be the moment of their death.’ Lin Hui picked up a box of Yun Lingzhi, opened it gently, took out the jade-like mushroom, and slowly began to chew on it.

He needed to bring his Gale Swordsmanship to completion within the next few days, then proceed to the next evolution.

Just dealing with Ou Tianrong had forced him to use his sealed trump card. If he encountered an even stronger master from the Inner City... wouldn’t he be a sitting duck, just waiting to be slaughtered?

After all, there were still Circulation Masters within the New Martial Alliance...

And so, Lin Hui remained quietly at Qingfeng Temple, alone, for five days.

During those five days, he did more than just consume Yun Lingzhi; he also contemplated his future path of development.

In truth, the path had ended with the Qingfeng Sword. Gale Swordsmanship was a new path that the Blood Seal had forcibly extrapolated and evolved from it.

This path was unknown. Even Lin Hui himself had no idea what effects the fully evolved Gale Swordsmanship would have.

All he knew was that he couldn’t take the path of Summoning, nor had he been able to enjoy abundant resources to cultivate his Inner Strength from a young age.

Therefore, he had no choice but to follow this one path to its very end.

Without the Blood Seal, perhaps he would have been just like those Martial Artists from the Inner City, caught in a self-destructive rat race, pursuing ultimate killing power without any regard for the side effects.

Short lifespans, madness, and all sorts of strange and extreme predilections—these were the attributes that came with being a Martial Artist.

But thankfully, he had the Blood Seal.

DONG, DONG, DONG...

Struck by the toothless old man, the bell of Qingfeng Temple let out a clear, sonorous echo.

「On the morning of the sixth day.」

Lin Hui opened his eyes in the main hall.