Decaying World

Chapter 126

Hiss.

The Blood Seal pattern condensed into a diamond shape once again.

In Lin Hui’s vision, a thin line appeared extending from the pool, ending in a block of text.

[Water Man: Remaining time: 6 months. Under the influence of a special environment and unknown power, water flow can form a special lifeform resembling a living creature. Its basic lifespan is 30 to 50 years. Possesses growth potential.]

[Note: After the Water Man is formed, it possesses only simple intelligence and obeys only the commands of the subject.]

After reading the introduction, Lin Hui quickly took out the Phantom Dragon Lotus and bit off a small piece to hold in his mouth.

The fact that it required only half a year was unexpected. He surmised that as his physical constitution, spirit, and stamina improved, the total Reserve Energy required for a fixed evolution became relatively smaller compared to his daily recovery capacity.

Soon, having gnawed less than a third of the Phantom Dragon Lotus, the Blood Seal evolution was completely finished.

Splash.

The sound of water rose from the pool in front of Lin Hui.The oval-shaped pool churned as if squeezed and agitated by some massive, invisible force, constantly sending waves splashing upward.

In the distance, disciples were attracted by the commotion, but Lin Hui waved his hand, ordering them to seal off the area and stay far away.

Lin Hui quietly watched the clear water in the pool.

One second.

Two seconds.

Soon, a transparent head slowly rose from the surface.

Shoulders, a torso, and limbs followed.

Seconds later, a humanoid figure made of water, standing two meters tall, floated in front of Lin Hui. Its feet rested on the surface of the pool as if it had no weight.

This is the Water Man?

Lin Hui examined the thing with curiosity.

The Water Man had no facial features, only a rough human outline. Its torso was completely transparent;

one could see the refracted and distorted scenery on the other side through its body.

Its head was completely bald and smooth. Occasionally, parts of its body would bulge out or protrude like plasticine, but these glitches were quickly smoothed back into its form.

What can this guy do?

Lin Hui looked at the Water Man, pondering for a moment, but couldn't think of any immediate use.

"Attack that wall over there." He pointed to the gray-white perimeter wall on the right.

Pfft!

The next moment, the Water Man flung its head forward and, like someone spitting phlegm, ejected a large blob of transparent water.

The water splashed onto the wall with a crash, wetting a large patch of the surface.

"..." Lin Hui observed the power of the attack from a distance and fell into silence.

This thing wasn't even as strong as a child throwing a brick...

He walked forward, got close, and reached out, gently touching the Water Man's skin.

Without any obstruction, his finger passed directly into the Water Man's arm, exactly like reaching into a mass of water;

there was no difference in sensation.

Lin Hui retracted his hand and was surprised to find that it hadn't even gotten wet;

none of the water had been drawn out of the Water Man's body.

He circled the creature, pinching here and poking there. The feeling this Water Man gave him was simply that of a mass of animated water.

He reached out, thrusting his entire arm through the Water Man's back and out through its chest. The creature felt nothing, allowing him to test as he pleased.

Lin Hui withdrew his hand, then drew his sword. Without using Internal Force, he slashed fiercely across the Water Man's neck.

Pfft!

The Water Man's head was sliced open, leaving a gap, but it instantly healed automatically. It stood there dumbly facing Lin Hui, showing no reaction.

Let's try again.

Lin Hui's interest was piqued. Gripping his sword, his figure suddenly flashed, stabbing dozens of times within a second like lightning.

Every strike pierced through various parts of the Water Man's body.

When the barrage ended, he retracted his hand and stood still, finding the Water Man still standing dumbly in place, unharmed. All the sword wounds had already fully healed.

Immune to sharp weapon attacks? I just don't know about blunt weapons. Lin Hui had finally discovered a bit of utility for this thing.

Then what about using Internal Force?

He tried again. The blade slowly became covered with a layer of white Purgatory Internal Force tinged with a hint of crimson.

As soon as he activated it, the Water Man in front of him trembled all over, constantly backing away in a posture of fear.

"Forget it. Stay put in the pool. Don't come out rashly to scare people," he instructed helplessly, dispersing the Internal Force on his sword.

Splash.

The Water Man dissolved back into water and returned to the pool. Everything fell into calm.

Watching the pool restore to its original state, as if nothing had changed, Lin Hui let out a breath. He felt he had wasted a portion of the Phantom Dragon Lotus and felt a bit of heartache.

Forget it, forget it. I wouldn't have been reconciled if I didn't try. Besides, this thing has such strong concealment;

maybe it will have some use in the future.

He looked left and right, his gaze sweeping over the stone bricks and trees.

Looking at it this way, the Stone Man and Grass Man are probably similar—just simple animated objects. The Chopstick Man would be about the same.

Then... next, I should try the purely conceptual types. Since skills like sword techniques can be evolved, what about other concepts?

He pondered for a moment, looked around, and then slowly squatted down, placing his palm on the ground.

The cold white stone bricks had a slightly grainy texture, and some fine gravel and grass clippings were trapped where his palm touched.

Lin Hui closed his eyes and mentally defined the target of the Blood Seal evolution as the entire courtyard.

Hiss.

Suddenly, the Blood Seal condensed from the pattern into a diamond shape again.

A new line of information emerged.

[Ordinary Stone Courtyard: An ordinary courtyard built from hardened white sandstone, a component of the Clear Wind Temple residence. Quality: Ordinary. Function: Rest, walking, relaxation. Evolvable Branches: 3.]

It actually works!? Lin Hui was astonished and stood up.

He looked around. He had only proceeded with the mentality of giving it a try, but he hadn't expected the Blood Seal to actually respond.

After murmuring to himself, he clicked open the evolution branches to check the details.

[1 — Mechanical Courtyard.]

[2 — Immortal Sect Courtyard.]

[3 — Elemental Courtyard.]

The styles of the three names revealed the general direction just from the keywords alone.

Lin Hui's heart stirred, and he clicked on the first one.

[Mechanical Courtyard: A functional ornamental courtyard originating from the wealthy district of a certain Technology Federation. Possesses minor technological functions. Energy can last for one year.]

The second one.

[Immortal Sect Courtyard: An ornamental courtyard in the public area of the Seven Abysses Sect's architectural complex. Generally used for sect disciples to relax and unwind. Possesses minor illusion functions. Energy can last for one year.]

The third one.

[Elemental Courtyard: The private courtyard of Mage Anthony. Elemental flower clusters are planted inside, and an elemental pixie has already been bred.]

Another difficult choice of one out of three... Lin Hui sighed.

He thought about it but decided against evolving it. After all, this was a courtyard;

if it evolved, it would be hard to conceal. If someone discovered something was wrong, it would be big trouble.

The existence of the Blood Seal and the ability to evolve things were secrets he knew absolutely could not be leaked.

Especially when he hadn't yet determined what level his strength occupied within the Inner City, he absolutely could not let the slightest wind leak out.

Speaking of which, it's time to go to the Inner City and make contact with real Divine Officers and High Divine Officers to see what level my current strength actually counts as.

How to conduct this contact was a problem. It was best to probe gently from the side.

If he did it himself and caused some major problem that his strength couldn't withstand, his background might be seen through, and the situation would collapse entirely.

There were many crazy people in the Inner City;

he had already confirmed this. So... a suitable candidate appeared in Lin Hui's mind.

Tao Xuehai.

This kid has exceptional aptitude and abundant resources;

these all indicate he has an extraordinary background and is highly valued at home. Coupled with the fact that he happens to worship him, and his own martial arts can quickly accept perfect sword technique inheritance... using him to indirectly probe the Inner City Divine Officers and High Divine Officers is a good choice.

Dismissing the Blood Seal information, Lin Hui had one last test.

He temporarily put aside the plan for Tao Xuehai and mentally circled the target range for the next Blood Seal evolution.

Standing in the courtyard, he took a deep breath.

He drew his sword and tapped the ground with the tip.

Blood Seal: Evolve the entire Clear Wind Temple sect.

Hiss.

The next second, the Blood Seal on the back of his hand dispersed and condensed again.

New lines of writing quickly emerged.

[Clear Wind Temple: A Swift Sword sect founded by Daoist Clear Wind. Current Temple Master: Lin Hui. No special effects. Evolvable Branches: 3.]

Lin Hui discovered that the number of Blood Seal evolution branches was mostly three;

only in extremely rare cases would there be more.

He carried his sword, walked into the room, and sat down to rest.

Then his gaze fell on the three evolvable branches.

[1 — Clear Wind Temple (Demonic) ]

[2 — Clear Wind Temple (Immortal) ]

[3 — Clear Wind Temple (Secret) ]

What kind of path is this...? Curiosity rose in Lin Hui's heart. He quickly clicked to view the details.

[Clear Wind Temple (Demonic): A sect evolution biased toward the Demonic Path style. Those who join can increase their cultivation speed by double, but the difficulty when breaking through bottlenecks increases by 30%.]

[Clear Wind Temple (Immortal): An evolution route biased toward the Immortal Path style. After joining and enjoying the title of sect disciple, one obtains a special effect reducing bottleneck breakthrough difficulty by 30%, but cultivation speed is slowed by half.]

[Clear Wind Temple (Secret): A Secretive Style evolution route. After joining and enjoying the title of sect disciple, one obtains a special effect increasing cultivation speed by 50% and reducing bottleneck breakthrough difficulty by 10%. Invalidated upon leaving the sect.]

It can actually work like this!? Just having a title grants a buffing special effect??! At this moment, even though Lin Hui was already quite accepting of strange occurrences, seeing these three evolutions made him feel it was incredibly absurd.

Just join the sect, get a title, and instantly become a genius?

This was simply a divine artifact for sect development!

He clicked to check the required time for the three branches.

Twenty years, twenty-five years, thirty years.

The costs of the three evolutions instantly cooled his ardor. Can't afford it. Absolutely can't afford it.

For now, it's better to focus on improving my own strength. As for forces and such, once I'm strong myself, I can just go out and snatch experts. When there are many experts, the force will naturally be strong.

Thinking of this, Lin Hui's mindset stabilized considerably. The Blood Seal was now idle, and the Typhoon Sword Technique didn't need further evolution for the time being.

He pondered how to improve his strength.

Right, the Sealing Array extracted from the sealing ability earlier... right now it's all Internal Force circulations. Opponents who also cultivate as Called Ones have no use for it. Perhaps I can think of a way to strengthen this ability.

He recalled that the initial Sealing Array originated from an item called the Withered Seal Insect Egg.

"Someone come!" Lin Hui suddenly spoke out.

"What are your orders, Temple Master?"

A disciple quickly ran in, cupping his fists and bowing.

"Go outside and publish a mission for me. The level is a Medium Mission. Content: Acquire a type of Mist Zone creature called the Seal Insect. Dead or alive doesn't matter," Lin Hui said in a deep voice.

"Yes!"

Lin Hui thought the Sealing Array ability was very useful. If he could strengthen it through another evolution, perhaps it could raise his strength again within a short period of time.

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