Decaying World

Chapter 124

Clear Wind Temple.

After seeing off Han Xiaoyue, Lin Hui returned to the temple to continue his Body Tempering and cultivation.

Seeing that the final stage of Body Tempering was nearing completion and the special effect was almost within reach, his enthusiasm grew.

What gratified him was that on the second day after his return, Tao Xuehai took the initiative to visit. Using the pretext of a master-disciple gift, he presented a box of Phantom Dragon Lotus, an item he personally used.

"Apologies, Master. My family's Wondrous Talisman Pill is forbidden to outsiders. This disciple could only access my personal share and compensate with some extra Phantom Dragon Lotus to pay my respects."

Tao Xuehai bowed and presented the white jade box, placing it on the desk in Lin Hui’s study.

"Phantom Dragon Lotus... this item is too precious!" Lin Hui sighed.

"Compared to Master’s grace in imparting skills, mere external resources are not worth mentioning!" Tao Xuehai said solemnly. "Once Master has used these up and the new annual quota arrives, this disciple will deliver more."

"Sigh... you have a heart." Lin Hui reached out and opened the box. Inside, there was even a thoughtful note regarding usage contraindications.

A row of ten medicinal herbs, resembling withered chrysanthemums, were neatly arranged inside."How is your grasp of the Clear Wind Sword?" Lin Hui felt gratified and looked up at Tao Xuehai.

"I have already Body Tempered to the Second Rank. However, progress has slowed significantly after the Second Rank. By my estimation, it will likely be difficult to achieve full completion without another two years..." Tao Xuehai answered in a low voice.

"That is normal. The Body Tempering of the perfected Clear Wind Sword is far more potent than the previous Seven-Section Swift Sword. It will provide a massive boost to your movement techniques and sword speed," Lin Hui said.

Since this disciple was so sensible, Lin Hui naturally took more interest in him.

"Yes! This disciple has already felt the tremendous improvement in movement techniques!" At the mention of this, Tao Xuehai clearly became excited. The greater the improvement from the Clear Wind Sword, the more profound his speculation about Lin Hui’s strength became.

Based on his current estimation, although Master Lin Hui appeared to be only an Internal Force martial artist on the surface, his actual combat strength definitely far exceeded this realm.

Given his previous battle record of fighting a Circulation Realm expert to a draw, it was evident that the Master’s strength was not merely what it appeared to be.

And given the Master’s comprehension and aptitude, he was inevitably improving rapidly, becoming stronger at a flying pace!

In his mind, Clear Wind Temple had become a place as mysterious as the ruins within the Mist Zone. Master Lin Hui’s strength was likewise as elusive and incalculable as the powerful creatures within those ruins.

Definitely not just the Circulation Realm!

Having practiced to this point, Tao Xuehai deeply believed this.

He had only trained the Clear Wind Sword Technique to Second Rank Body Tempering, yet his original strength had increased by a large margin—let alone Master Lin Hui, who had long since achieved perfected Body Tempering with the Clear Wind Sword.

"Alright. You may withdraw. Cultivate diligently. Once you have achieved the Clear Wind Sword Body Tempering, do not forget to exchange for the two secret arts within the sect. Those two secret arts can drastically enhance your actual combat strength," Lin Hui exhorted.

"Yes! This disciple will keep it in mind!"

After Tao Xuehai left, Lin Hui picked up the box and gently opened it.

Is this the item that can drastically improve Essence, Qi, and Spirit, allowing one to forgo sleep for continuous cultivation?

He picked up the note and read the instructions. One simply needed to bite off a small piece and hold it in the mouth. It could not be swallowed;

it had to be kept in the mouth to produce medicinal effects.

He picked up a stalk and gently bit off a tiny piece.

His Internal Force immediately wrapped around and coated his oral cavity, ensuring that if the item were poisonous or caused an allergy, he could directly encapsulate it and expel it from his body.

A moment later.

Lin Hui’s eyes lit up, and he took another bite.

Before his eyes, at the bottom of his field of vision within the Blood Seal's evolution progress, the Black Emperor Pill formula—which previously still required over a year—began to reduce its remaining time rapidly.

The speed of reduction was even faster than consuming Spirit-Enriching Reishi!

Lin Hui continued to nibble on the Phantom Dragon Lotus, taking another bite immediately after the progress stopped. By the time the Black Emperor Pill formula finished evolving and the Blood Seal became vacant, the single stalk of Phantom Dragon Lotus in his hand was mostly gone.

Making a rough calculation, he discovered that a single stalk of Phantom Dragon Lotus could provide one to two years' worth of Reserve Energy for the Blood Seal!

Good treasure! What a treasure! Lin Hui was overjoyed. Spirit-Enriching Reishi only provides four months of energy per stalk. It can only shorten the time by four months, but this Phantom Dragon Lotus can shorten it by one to two years in one go! Taking this disciple was worth it!

With the assistance of the Phantom Dragon Lotus, Lin Hui skipped sleeping and persisted in Body Tempering throughout the night.

Now that his Body Tempering had reached the final stage, the commotion caused by his cultivation was minimal, and he no longer needed to go to a wide open space outside.

The next day, he began the refinement of the Black Emperor Pill. The key rare ingredients of the new formula had been replaced by common medicinal herbs, although the overall refinement process was much more tedious.

However, Lin Hui attempted to refine a batch and actually succeeded. Moreover, the cost was only a hundred-odd thousand qian per furnace. If the opening of the furnace went smoothly, he could obtain about five to seven pills.

Inside the pharmacy, Lin Hui and the medical apothecary Chen Meng were studying the freshly produced Black Emperor Pill together. Over a dozen cages containing different animals were placed to the side, holding rats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, sheep, and so on.

"The medicinal efficacy components are about half as potent as the Spirit-Enriching Reishi. In addition, there are minor side effects;

one cannot take more than three per month," Chen Meng concluded regarding the Black Emperor Pill’s efficacy through comparative experiments.

"That is sufficient..." Lin Hui estimated the messy assortment of drugs he was currently taking. If he added this Black Emperor Pill to the mix, one month of his time could equal six months of Blood Seal evolution!

"Forgive my bluntness, Temple Master, but you cannot increase your monthly dosage any further. Your physical state has already shown slight signs of medicinal toxicity. If you continue to aggravate it, even with your high cultivation base, the medicinal poison in your body will produce various aftereffects," Chen Meng persuaded solemnly.

She was living very well at Clear Wind Temple now. Her salary was three times what it was before. Following such a generous boss as Lin Hui, her life was far more comfortable than in the past.

She didn't want anything to happen to Lin Hui suddenly, which would cause her to lose her current life. She had even gone on a blind date a few days ago and met a handsome man from a well-off background. Seeing that it was about to work out, nothing could go wrong now.

"Understood... I will be careful." Lin Hui nodded. He also knew he was taking a bit too much medicine right now. Outsiders might not know, but Chen Meng, who assisted him in processing herbs and refining medicine, definitely couldn't be deceived.

He was spending over three million qian a month just on medicine.

It was only because the profits provided by Clear Wind Temple and the Hundred Flowers Sect were substantial enough that he could sustain this method of rapidly shortening his evolution time.

Having confirmed the efficacy of the Black Emperor Pill, Lin Hui left the pharmacy.

The pill issue has reached its limit for now. I'll pause the adjustments. Next, it’s time for the Blood Seal to select a new evolution target.

He walked slowly, passing by the drill grounds. Watching the many disciples shouting and practicing swordplay outside, his footsteps paused for a moment before he continued forward.

Leaving Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui did not linger but walked casually through the streets and alleys.

It was currently morning. The Mist had only just dispersed, and stalls of various sizes were just being set up on the street. Among the customers gathering in twos and threes in front of the stalls, at least half were wearing the white martial attire of Clear Wind Temple.

Clearly, the disciples and students of Clear Wind Temple had brought a massive flow of traffic, attracting surrounding commercial development.

Lin Hui walked casually to a small kebab stall.

The stall owner was an old man missing a front tooth. Seeing it was Lin Hui, a brilliant smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Temple Master Lin, what will you have today?"

Lin Hui often bought food at the Clear Wind Temple entrance, so these vendors were long familiar with him.

"One skewer of everything. Lamb, pork, beef, dog meat, and rabbit meat. Do you have more varieties now? Give me some cauliflower too, grilled green peppers, and some black mountain mushrooms." Lin Hui quickly ordered a pile, all ready-made grilled items.

The old man, Old Zhao, saw that he didn't want to wait, so he nimbly packed the kebabs and handed them over.

When Lin Hui went to pay, the old man waved his hands repeatedly.

"It is Old Zhao's blessing that the Temple Master comes to eat here. This meal is on the house! Consider it Old Zhao's treat!"

"That won't do. Rules are rules." Lin Hui smiled, left a silver note of the smallest denomination, picked up the paper bag, and turned to leave.

Returning to the manor behind Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui dismissed the disciples guarding the door. He picked up the kebabs from the paper bag and took them out one by one.

He didn't get these kebabs to eat, but to attempt a Blood Seal evolution.

He still remembered the evolution branch the chicken leg had produced when he first used the Blood Seal.

And now, he intended to test it.

First was a lamb kebab.

The chunks of lamb skewered on the bamboo stick were a mix of fat and lean, glistening with oil and emitting a rich, charred fragrance.

As he gazed at it, the Blood Seal pattern distorted and soon turned into a rhombus shape. At the same time, a new line of text emerged at the bottom of his field of vision.

[Lamb Kebab: Common blood-replenishing food. Shelf Life: 3 days. Quality: Excellent.]

Looks like I can go to Old Zhao's place often. This kebab isn't bad. The Blood Seal rated it as excellent, so the ingredients used couldn't be poor.

Lin Hui nodded inwardly and continued reading.

[Evolvable Branches: 3]

[1 — River Styx Dream Lamb Kebab.]

[2 — Prehistoric Earth-Core Lamb Kebab.]

[3 — Purgatory Ram Kebab.]

"...Is this stuff... edible after evolving?" Lin Hui was speechless. Looking at these three options, he fell into hesitation.

The first one—the name sounds dangerous. Anything mixed up with the River Styx probably won't work well for a living person like me. Based on the martial arts descriptions, the Blood Seal's introductions are absolutely literal;

it calls a spade a spade and doesn't exaggerate.

For safety's sake, Lin Hui temporarily ruled out the first one.

Then the second and third.

What the hell is a Prehistoric Earth-Core Lamb Kebab? Could there be a creature named the Prehistoric Earth-Core Sheep? Lin Hui felt there might actually be such a possibility.

He hesitated for a moment and looked at the last branch. Purgatory Ram. He had seen the word "Purgatory" many times.

Click open the description and see.

Soon, he controlled his intent to click open the detailed introductions of the three items one by one.

[1 — River Styx Dream Lamb Kebab: One of the famous delicacies of the Netherworld. After consumption, one falls into a deep sleep. Upon awakening, one is guaranteed to reincarnate as a fetus of the Goat Clan.]

"..."

What kind of ghostly nonsense is this?

Lin Hui continued to the second one.

[2 — Prehistoric Earth-Core Lamb Kebab: Legend has it that before civilization appeared, before historical records, a mysterious lamb kebab once appeared. It circulated for countless years yet remained extant, neither rotting nor perishing, neither increasing nor decreasing. Even the bamboo skewer that made it could not be worn down in the slightest. Billions of years later, a powerful historian discovered it on an offering table in an underground palace deep within the ruins of a planet. Clearly, it had been worshipped as a god by the planet's primitive civilization for a long time...]

"..."

Lin Hui began to feel that this evolution of the Blood Seal might not be evolution at all, but stolen goods modified from who-knows-where...

He looked at the third one.

[3 — Purgatory Ram Kebab: A meat skewer made from the Purgatory Ram race. It is one of the favorite delicacies of Purgatory Demons. It can enhance the Purgatory Scorching Breath within the body.]

This one is the most normal...

Yes, compared to the other two, Lin Hui actually felt the third one was standard food...

So, which one to choose?

His eyes flickered, and he raised his hand.

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