Decaying World

Chapter 108

"If it were the Benevolent Heart Sect, I might be wary, but your Wanhua Sect... heh." Liu Wujun’s expression held a hint of contempt. "If you obediently state your purpose now, I might—for your father's sake—only cripple one more of your legs. But if you don't cooperate, don't blame me for not giving you face!"

"Brother, why not just kill him directly?" Liu Xiao, standing to the side, transmitted her voice with a frown.

"Are you stupid? If I let him leave in front of everyone now, I'm giving the High Divine Officer of the Wanhua Sect plenty of face. If he gets killed by someone else in a corner later, that has nothing to do with me. We gave him face and let him go," Liu Wujun lectured helplessly via voice transmission.

"...Brother, you're so shady." Liu Xiao was speechless.

"Don't always be so straightforward. It makes it too easy for people to figure out your patterns and scheme against you. Only by alternating between truth and falsehood can you keep people from grasping your methods," Liu Wujun said earnestly.

"So what do we do now?" Liu Xiao looked toward the ruined temple, which had fallen silent again.

"No reply? It doesn't matter. We have time to slowly wear him down."

Liu Wujun waved his hand. The Called Ones behind him raised the cylinders in their hands and took aim.

Although these were all Low-Tier Called Ones, their special weapons and enhanced dynamic vision meant they only needed to track the enemy's movements to pose a massive threat.

Swoosh!The next moment, a barrage of pitch-black spheres shot violently from the cylinders. They blasted into the ruined temple with incredible speed.

Boom!

A massive explosion accompanied by blazing flames caused the ruined temple to collapse from the inside out.

High-temperature shockwaves rippled out like transparent rings, blasting rubble and dust to the periphery and leaving arcs of scorched black marks on the ground.

"Ah!! Liu Wujun, you will die a horrible death!!"

A charred figure, body engulfed in flames, rushed out of the fire and fled madly into the distance, howling in miserable agony.

"His voice is still strong;

looks like he can hold on a while longer," Liu Wujun said indifferently.

He reached out his hand to the right. Someone naturally placed a massive white bone bow, over two meters long, into his grip.

Raising the white bone bow, Liu Wujun drew the empty air with one hand.

Hiss.

A layer of silvery mist dissipated from his body, condensing into a bowstring as he pulled it back.

Full draw.

"Sister, watch closely. This is the Seventh Form of the Nine Flowers Divine Art."

Liu Wujun’s face twisted slightly;

the skin between his brows bulged as fine black scales faintly emerged. Simultaneously, a layer of magnificent, pure silver bone armor rapidly condensed over his entire body, flashing into existence before vanishing just as quickly.

The next instant.

Chii!

The bone bow, arrowless at full draw, released its string.

Although there was no arrow, Liu Xiao and the surrounding Called Ones clearly perceived a formless force being violently shot from the bow.

At this moment, Zhou Fan, who had already run several hundred meters, was charred black. Enduring intense pain, he kept his head down and sprinted wildly.

Suddenly, he faltered. One foot stomped heavily into the mud, sinking deep. Before he could pull it out, his other foot stepped directly into the same spot.

He instantly lost his balance, tumbling like a rolling gourd. He smashed through debris and rocks before slamming fiercely into a withered tree.

Bang.

He smashed a deep dent into the trunk. Fortunately, the physical constitution of a Divine Officer was much greater than that of a standard Called One, so he survived.

He hurriedly scrambled up.

Just as he was about to continue, the world suddenly spun. His left foot tripped over his right, and he fell hard to the ground.

Bang!

The earth trembled. Zhou Fan panicked slightly and quickly crawled up.

This time, he slowed down.

Sure enough, just as his right foot stepped out, it strangely deviated from his intended direction, forcibly curving to the right. This distortion nearly caused him to fall again.

"This... this is the Nine Flowers Divine Art's Disoriented Heart!! Damn it, Liu Wujun, how did I provoke you?! I was just passing by your territory! You actually used the Nine Flowers Divine Art on me!?"

This strange ability, unique to High Divine Officers, could not be removed for a short time once it took effect. Only a counter-force of the same level and type could negate it. Thus, the only thing he could do was slow down, adapt to the activation pattern of Disoriented Heart, and relearn how to run within this temporary set of rules!

And he had to be quick. Otherwise, once Liu Wujun caught up...

Zhou Fan felt like he had encountered eight lifetimes of bad luck. Why had he been possessed by a ghostly impulse to sneak back for a quick revenge hit before leaving?

"My brain must have been kicked by a donkey when I took this mission!!" Zhou Fan wanted to cry but had no tears. He slowly familiarized himself with the new rules, step by step.

Fortunately, his father was a High Divine Officer of the same level, so he was very familiar with this strange ability.

He knew the cost to activate this ability was significant, making it generally impossible to use twice in a short period. It consumed neither Reserve Energy nor Spirit, but some invisible, intangible, unknown power. The replenishment of that power was extremely slow, so High Divine Officers rarely used it lightly.

Unexpectedly, Liu Wujun had used it on him without hesitation...

Thinking of this, Zhou Fan couldn't help but curse again. But the escape had to continue.

So, like a toddler learning to walk, he staggered forward, fleeing for his life while swaying left and right.

Shua!

A second later, a breeze blew across the plain ahead. The figures of Liu Wujun and Liu Xiao appeared on the muddy ground, blocking his path.

"Don't blame me for not giving you a chance." Liu Wujun raised his hand.

A massive formless distortion covering dozens of meters around them instantly froze everything.

The wind stopped flowing;

the leaves on the withered trees stopped shaking.

A gray sparrow taking flight from a branch was fixed in mid-air.

The dust on the ground rose only a few centimeters before hovering, fixed like an oil painting.

Also frozen in place was the terrified, powerless, charcoal-like Zhou Fan.

…

Half a minute later.

A white shadow abruptly appeared on the muddy plain, gazing at the massive cubic pit on the ground, which was over twenty meters on each side.

He squatted down and gently touched the edge and inner walls of the pit.

Smooth and crystallized... the temperature is still high.

Lin Hui withdrew his hand and sniffed it;

there was a scorched smell on his fingertips.

Standing up, he looked inside.

The pit was over three meters deep. Standing at the edge, it looked as if a giant seal had descended from the heavens and fiercely pressed into the earth.

Although the soil here is relatively soft, to create such a large area ... the person who acted must be very, very strong.

Lin Hui asked himself—his speed was indeed fast, but if he faced an opponent who could cover a range of over thirty meters with a single move...

As long as the opponent was fast enough to unleash dozens of moves in a second, covering a range of several hundred meters...

Then no matter how fast he was, it would be of no avail.

Unless he could withdraw hundreds of meters in an instant. Otherwise, he could only hope to predict the direction of the opponent's move and dodge in advance.

The problem was, if the opponent concealed their intent even slightly, the attack speed of an expert at this level could not possibly be slow.

Thinking of replicating the situation when he fought the martial artist from the Flying Stone Sect was clearly impossible.

Right, where is Zhou Fan? Suddenly, Lin Hui remembered the target of his trip.

He quickly jumped into the pit and walked toward the center.

But after wandering around the smooth, crystal-like floor, he found no traces of human remains.

Helpless, Lin Hui had to leave.

Before leaving, he carefully broke off a small piece of crystal from the edge of the pit to take back for study.

Returning to the vicinity of the Lin Manor, he continued to keep watch for another three days. Only when he was sure the matter with the Wanhua Sect was truly resolved did he return to the Clear Wind Temple headquarters.

Around the town, incidents of Inner City experts arresting Wanhua Sect members began to occur.

At this point, Lin Hui was certain that Zhou Fan of the Wanhua Sect was truly done for.

He was gone before Lin Hui even made a move.

Although he didn't know which side did it, Lin Hui guessed the most likely culprits were the Liu siblings—his so-called older brother and sister.

After days of investigation, Lin Hui returned to Clear Wind Temple and lifted the alert regarding the Wanhua Sect.

Life finally returned to normal.

While he breathed a sigh of relief, he returned to the cycle of sword practice, Body Tempering, taking medicine, and refining pills.

One week later.

Just as Lin Hui's Body Tempering improved again, reaching the Fourth Rank, the Clear Wind Temple team that went to the mist zone—the expedition team—finally returned!

Behind the original site of Clear Wind Temple, deep within the vast, dense forest, a team of blood-stained figures in white slowly walked out from the massive white mist wall.

One could tell that this team originally wore white robes paired with leather armor vests. But now, their white robes were covered in dark red blood clots. Some armor vests were cracked, some had large holes torn in them, and others had caved-in fractures at vital points.

Not only that, but the weapons in their hands were mostly broken long swords. Many swords were missing their scabbards, evidently having gone through a tragic battle where they didn't even have time to retrieve them.

At the very front of the team, Chen Sui, whose forehead was wrapped in a circle of gray bandages, had grown a large, thick beard.

He gazed with a weary look at the clean and safe mist-free zone ahead, then turned back to look at the seemingly pure and quiet mist wall.

"We're back!! We! Finally, are back!!"

He raised both arms and shouted fiercely.

When they left, the team numbered twenty-two people...

And now, looking back, Chen Sui saw only fourteen remaining... A full eight people had died in those mysterious, terrifying underground ruins.

But correspondingly, they had brought back a massive harvest sufficient to cause wild joy.

A type of purple crystal unique to those ruins. Holding it while cultivating could rapidly amplify cultivation speed. It was precisely by relying on this that the few leaders of their team, especially him, had successfully broken through to the Internal Force Realm. Relying on luck, they had managed to escape the ruins with great difficulty, avoiding those terrifying monsters.

"After this breakthrough, I need to exchange for the follow-up perfected version of the Clear Wind Sword Technique from the Temple Master! These purple crystals should be enough to exchange for the Contribution Score!" Chen Sui had already set his plan in his heart.

He named this crystal capable of improving cultivation "Purple Crystal." After breaking through to Internal Force, he discovered that this item also helped with Internal Force cultivation, so he was very confident the Temple Master would accept it.

Aside from the portion he intended to turn over, he had kept half for himself to use for his own cultivation.

"Let's go, back to the Temple first!" Chen Sui waved his large hand, taking the lead to unfold his movement technique and head toward Clear Wind Temple.

But only a few steps later, a team appeared ahead, blocking their path.

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