Decaying World

Chapter 111

Leading the team back to Clear Wind Temple, they attracted quite a few townspeople along the way who came out to watch the spectacle.

Residents with curious expressions continually emerged from the rows of single-story houses and courtyards lining the road.

"Everyone has seen exploration teams before, but this is the first one flying the Clear Wind Temple banner," Chen Sui said helplessly. "I assume they're all curious about what good things we've brought back..."

Lin Hui walked alongside him, slowing his pace to accommodate the group.

Hearing this, he nodded.

"There are still too few exploration teams in the Outer City. In the Inner City, such sights are commonplace;

no one finds them rare."

He looked toward the Purple Crystal guarded by the team members.

"You’ve used this Purple Crystal;

how does it feel?"

"As long as you hold it in your hand, it accelerates cultivation speed. It is effective for both External and Internal Martial Arts, but the effect on External Martial Arts is particularly excellent," Chen Sui answered.

Speaking, he handed a small piece to Lin Hui.Taking the Purple Crystal, Lin Hui carefully examined its texture. The object seemed to possess its own warmth, feeling tepid and somewhat soft to the touch, unlike the texture of ordinary crystal.

Holding the Purple Crystal, he circulated his Internal Force and immediately felt the difference.

If his usual Internal Force circulation speed was one, then the current speed was approaching two.

"It definitely has an effect." Lin Hui's spirits lifted.

Although his Internal Force had reached the Sixth Layer and couldn't progress further, this item had a better effect on External Martial Arts. And the third stage of Body Tempering for the Wild Wind Sword Technique was his upcoming core focus.

If it could be effective for the third stage of Body Tempering, then the significance of this Purple Crystal to him would be completely different.

"It is good that the Temple Master approves. Then, regarding this item... how can it be exchanged for Contribution Scores...?" Under the attentive gazes of the crowd, Chen Sui earnestly asked the most critical question.

After truly experiencing the dominance of the current Clear Wind Temple martial arts, he and the team members were incredibly covetous of Lin Hui's subsequent perfected Clear Wind Sword and the Wild Wind Sword Technique.

Especially the Wild Wind Sword Technique—since the Seven-Section Swift Sword and Nine-Section Swift Sword were already this strong, who knew what level the Wild Wind Sword Technique could reach?

He wasn't the only one with this thought;

Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, Chen Xiangzhi, and the others felt the same.

Everyone's gazes gathered on Lin Hui.

"I'll decide after I return and test it carefully, but judging solely by its effect on Internal Force, it’s worth at least two Contribution Scores per jin."

There were at least twenty-plus jin here, which could be exchanged for a minimum of over forty Contribution Scores. Adding the base Contribution Scores they earned from the exploration team mission itself, plus what they had accumulated previously, it was enough for everyone present to exchange for subsequent martial arts and secret arts.

Hearing this, everyone quickly calculated their approximate harvest and immediately cheered.

Even Chen Sui's face flushed red. He did the most missions, so he knew best how hard Contribution Scores were to earn. It wasn't that missions gave few points, but that missions were scarce.

Often, one had to fight for a mission as soon as it appeared, so not many people in the temple had actually exchanged for subsequent martial arts.

Of course, this was Lin Hui's intention all along. If the exchange was slower, they would naturally have more time and energy to temper the Seven-Section Swift Sword and Nine-Section Swift Sword, increasing the solidity of their foundation.

Soon back at the temple, Lin Hui counted all the Purple Crystals. There were twenty-eight jin in total. According to Chen Sui's description, one jin of Purple Crystal would last about three days.

Although the effect was good, the consumption was somewhat fast.

Fortunately, they had already recorded the terrain and location, so it would be much more convenient to go back later.

"The Red Rice Association definitely knows about the Purple Crystal. If the location of the Ruins is discovered..." Inside the Council Hall, Chen Sui said with some worry.

"It doesn't matter." Lin Hui's expression was placid. "Haven't the people who knew already been dealt with cleanly? That so-called Hall Master Yuan didn't have time to coordinate with anyone, so he shouldn't know the location of the Ruins."

Xue Meng and the others present felt a chill in their hearts, realizing why Lin Hui had risked angering the Red Rice Association to forcibly silence the opposing exploration team.

Perhaps Lin Hui had planned this from that very moment.

"Temple Master is wise!" Chen Sui hurriedly cupped his fists. "Calculating it this way, this disciple's Contribution Score has now broken past twenty. I wish to exchange for the perfected version of the Clear Wind Sword!"

"I want to exchange too!"

"Me too!"

Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, and the others spoke up one after another.

"Very well. Since you all want to exchange, come with me." Lin Hui stood up with a smile.

Nowadays, having some disciples master the perfected version of the Clear Wind Sword would be beneficial for raising the overall strength of Clear Wind Temple.

"I wonder if this old man can...?" Xue Meng was also itching a bit on the side. He also had Contribution Scores;

having not used them for a long time, he had accumulated quite a lot.

"Exchange with contributions is fine. I've set the perfected version of the Clear Wind Sword at 10 points," Lin Hui said with a smile.

"Then this old man wants to exchange too!" Xue Meng slapped his thigh and said decisively.

Lately, he felt more and more unable to see the depths of Lin Hui's strength, and his curiosity and yearning for this perfected Clear Wind Sword had grown daily. Since Lin Hui didn't object now, he naturally exchanged it without hesitation!

To the side, Flying Dragon Hand and Mad Leg were somewhat envious, but they hadn't joined long ago and hadn't done many missions, so their Contribution Scores were far off.

Thus, they remained silent.

"Follow me to the mansion's rear drill grounds."

Lin Hui stood up. His figure flashed, appearing before the main gate. After opening the door, he flashed again and vanished.

…

One hour later.

Lin Hui left the drill grounds, feeling somewhat helpless.

Based on the teaching results, even the most talented ones, Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren, encountered significant difficulties in mastering the perfected Clear Wind Sword.

No matter how they simulated it, they couldn't achieve that level of perfection that produced a strange attraction force. Moreover, the Body Tempering effect was far inferior to what he had experienced at the time.

The goal of the Clear Wind Sword's second Body Tempering was to generate Internal Force. Since Chen Sui had already broken through to the Internal Force Realm, the effect in this aspect was weaker for him. The key points were still tempering the body and the power of the sword technique itself.

Fortunately, the only consolation was that the perfected Clear Wind Sword was indeed much stronger than the original version.

Taking the Purple Crystal, Lin Hui quickly entered a state of Body Tempering cultivation.

Within three days, he was pleasantly surprised to feel that his Body Tempering progress with the Wild Wind Sword Technique was more than twice as fast as before!

The Body Tempering 4th Rank, which he had only broken through less than two weeks ago, already showed signs of the bottleneck loosening.

This caused his valuation of the Purple Crystal to rise rapidly.

He began to have Chen Sui coordinate the descriptions from all exploration team members to collect intelligence on the Purple Crystal Ruins, including information on the monsters within.

Just as he continued cultivating with the Purple Crystal, Wang Yueheng arrived.

"The exploration team got good stuff and didn't notify me? That's not very friendly." Wang Yueheng sat in the gazebo and pointed at Lin Hui.

"I saved some for you. According to the agreement, you also have partial rights to the profits," Lin Hui spoke casually. "Mainly, this thing helps with External and Internal Martial Arts, but your Internal Martial Arts is already maxed out, so the use isn't that obvious."

"Purple Iris Crystal is still in high demand. It’s not sold in the Inner City markets;

usually, it’s only found in exchange markets. Even if we don't need it, we can trade it for other things." Wang Yueheng clearly recognized the item.

"Purple Iris Crystal?"

"Yes, a product of the Ruins, abbreviated as 'Relic'. It's considered a specialty resource of the surrounding Ruins. However, the Ruins are often accompanied by Purple Crystal Elementals, which are quite troublesome." Wang Yueheng nodded.

"Are Purple Crystal Elementals those special monsters wandering in the Ruins with semi-transparent bodies that can turn ethereal or solid?" Lin Hui had collected some data before and asked solemnly.

"Yes. Purple Crystal Elementals are generally divided into ordinary Elemental Men and Elemental Beasts. Stronger ones are High Elementals, and even stronger are Elemental Lords. Most elemental monsters follow this hierarchy. Usually, this type of monster is at least Dangerous level, and the Lord level can reach High-Threat level. Very troublesome," Wang Yueheng explained simply.

This information was something only the great clans of the Inner City would know, but since he was willing to befriend Lin Hui, he mentioned it casually.

"In the five-grade classification, the Dangerous level generally corresponds to the Internal Force Realm up to the Circulation Realm. This is still manageable for us. But once it reaches High-Threat, that corresponds to Divine Officer to High Divine Officer, which is very dangerous. That's why Purple Iris Crystal has rarely been mined."

[TN: Harmless, Intrusive, Dangerous, High-Threat, Destructive]

"Divine Officers and High Divine Officers probably don't need this stuff, right?" Lin Hui nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Those who need it can't afford it, and those who don't need it can't be bothered to mine it. So for the Clear Wind Temple exploration team to bring out these Purple Iris Crystals at the cost of only eight lives is considered good luck." Wang Yueheng sighed.

"Then it seems we have to shelve it for now. I was wondering if we could mine it stably long-term," Lin Hui said with regret.

"Don't overthink it. By the way, the Wanhua Sect and your older brother's side fought again. Did you know?" Wang Yueheng said.

"Not sure. What happened?" Lin Hui's heart stirred, but he asked calmly.

"It seems there was a conflict before, and your brother cut down their people. Anyway, it got very ugly. Your brother was criticized to his face by the Vice Palace Master. Afterwards, two Vice Palace Masters led a team and slaughtered the Wanhua Sect's team down to the last man. I guess the logic was that since they were already offended, they might as well offend them thoroughly. The higher-ups' support for Liu Wujun is still very strong. After all, he's one of the famous top-tier geniuses of recent years." Wang Yueheng's tone carried a hint of envy.

"What about your sister?" Lin Hui knew the other party had a sister who was also a top-tier genius and had always been at odds with his own 'big brother' and 'big sister'.

"My sister is still a bit lacking. To be honest, among High Divine Officers, Liu Wujun's strength ranks in the top ten." Although somewhat reluctant, Wang Yueheng answered honestly.

"High Divine Officer?! Your sister is a High Divine Officer? Then my brother is too!?" Lin Hui was startled.

He only now noticed that the terms the other used seemed different from his own mental estimates.

"Yeah, didn't you know? Ever since your family and the Liu family married, You Ying even took the initiative to visit your father not long ago and withdrew the seal. Everyone interacts as equals now. Your Lin family has latched onto this connection and hit the big time!" Wang Yueheng said in surprise.

"...I really didn't know... I rarely go back nowadays." Lin Hui was left speechless.

"Have you practiced martial arts until you're stupid? Your Internal Force has reached the end, right? What are you still training so hard for? Hurry up and start making babies! Have ten or eight;

if you happen to birth a Liu Wujun, then even the chickens and dogs ascend to heaven!" Wang Yueheng said speechlessly.

"Also, aren't you a lecher? You've taken so much medicine, yet haven't produced one or two heirs? Do you have a problem?"

"...I just use that medicine to suppress the side effects of cultivation! I didn't mess around!" Lin Hui defended.

"Didn't mess around? Then how about I set you up with someone?" Wang Yueheng's eyes rolled, and he laughed eerily.

"Don't mess around. I just want to live a quiet life alone. Don't cause trouble for me!" Lin Hui hurriedly said.

"How is this causing trouble? Let me tell you, in your current situation, if you don't settle down with someone, everyone who sees you will want to play matchmaker. There will be plenty of trouble." Wang Yueheng laughed.

"Then how do you suggest solving it?" Lin Hui frowned. This was indeed a problem. His newfound older sister had this intention before;

now Wang Yueheng was acting this way, and earlier, his mother Yao Shan was also probing him.

"I have an idea, hehehe... Oh no, I'm not laughing. It's just... this is a good idea!" Wang Yueheng wiped his drool, wearing a bizarre expression as if he had thought of something brilliant.

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