Decaying World

Chapter 143

The sky was turning a pale white. The Mist was dissipating, leaving only wisps floating in the air like residual cotton fibers.

Lin Hui stood with his hands clasped behind his back on the roof of Clear Wind Temple, looking down as disciples emerged one after another to dismantle the sealing barriers. His gaze shifted, landing on the guest wing where Tao Xuehai and his sister had been settled.

The Tao family seems to be in serious trouble; otherwise, they wouldn't have entrusted their orphans to me like this. It has even reached the point where they need to change their appearances and names. Where will they go from here…?

Sometimes, Lin Hui felt a bit emotional. This world was muddled and chaotic, inexplicable as the cosmic starry sky. Living in this world, no one knew what they wanted to do or what they could do.

People of the Outer City lived within trajectories planned by the Inner City, and perhaps the people of the Inner City also lived within trajectories planned by those in the Moon Towers. No one could truly obtain the freedom they desired.

I cultivate sword techniques and painstakingly practice martial arts—what is it all for? After a long time, this question flashed through his mind again.

But now, seeing Tao Xuehai's plight, he understood.

That's right. I painstakingly practice martial arts so that when disaster strikes, I can wield my sword to sever all misfortune and cut down all incoming enemies. Isn't that it?

The thoughts in his heart were incomparably clear at this moment, and Lin Hui suddenly felt a marvelous sense of lucidity.

Creak.Suddenly, the door to the guest wing opened, and a figure walked out slowly, looking up at Lin Hui on the roof.

Chi.

The figure vanished and reappeared directly in front of Lin Hui. It was Tao Xuehai.

He lowered his head, his lips slightly parted. His originally heroic and spirited face was now incomparably haggard, and his eyes, once full of vigor, were filled with bewilderment.

"Master…"

"What happened last night?" Lin Hui sighed.

"My family was besieged by the Clear River Sect and some jackals. Many, many people died. Father and Mother… they exerted all their strength to use a secret killing technique. After killing two people, they broke out of the encirclement and took us to escape," Tao Xuehai answered in a low voice.

"The Clear River Sect again…" Lin Hui frowned. "Then, besides you two, did anyone else escape?"

"There should be. I estimate they were scattered and sent to other places," Tao Xuehai replied gloomily.

"Then your parents…"

"Their Life-bound Artifacts shattered. They must have fallen." Tao Xuehai's tone was calm. He lowered his head, letting his long hair hang down to cover his face.

"…" Lin Hui didn't know how to comfort people. He wasn't good at it. At this moment, he could only remain silent.

After a long silence, Tao Xuehai spoke again.

"If we stay, we'll only implicate you, Master. In a while, my sister and I will pack our things and leave. Otherwise, once the Clear River Sect catches up—"

"Just stay here with peace of mind. Hide your identities well. The Clear River Sect looks like they were just taking advantage of the situation to loot; they don't have a deep, blood-feud hatred with the Tao family. If they really can't find anyone, they won't put too much effort into tracking you down," Lin Hui said in a deep voice. He didn't care about the Clear River Sect's tracking.

After all, he himself had successively wiped out two of their halls. His grudges were much greater than those between the Tao family and the Clear River Sect.

A debt is a debt, whether it's one or two. In the end, they all have to be settled by force.

It was just that he hadn't truly fought against a High Divine Officer-level opponent, so he wasn't clear on the strength disparity. Otherwise, if he could win, he would probably be scouring the city for Clear River Sect experts to silence them by now.

"But…" Tao Xuehai wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Lin Hui raising his hand.

"Where can you and your sister flee to if you leave? Without sufficient preparation in the Mist Zone, the two of you will undoubtedly die. What's more, on the surface, I still have connections with the Rain Palace. No matter how rampant the Clear River Sect is, they can't possibly make a move against me in broad daylight."

He wasn't speaking recklessly. On the surface, Liu Wujun was a top genius of the Rain Palace's Yuanming Hall and ranked within the top ten of the entire Rain Palace. With such prestige, if his family were touched by the Clear River Sect, it would be a thorough slap in the face to the Rain Palace and the Shayue Sect behind it.

As one of the Three Great Powers ruling all of Tuyue, the Shayue Sect's influence and number of followers could be said to be the strongest among the three. He felt that if the Rain Palace were truly angered, whatever power stood behind the Clear River Sect would likely find it hard to bear.

In the final analysis, Lin Hui was also clear that he was basking in the light of his Big Brother Liu Wujun. He was borrowing the momentum of the Rain Palace and the Shayue Sect. This point had been made clear ever since the conflict with the Red Rice Association, after which the Inspectorate Division sent people to learn from him, indicating Hong Ling's attitude. The power backing Clear Wind Temple had been brought into the open.

This was also why the New Martial Alliance, after their envoy was heavily injured earlier, hadn't made a single move until now.

"But…" Tao Xuehai opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but ultimately couldn't say anything. He thought about it; if he and his sister really left here, they would likely be found by the Clear River Sect very quickly.

He could disregard himself, but as for his sister…

"From today on, you need to change your name. Your sister as well. Then your faces… you can wear masks, or use other methods to modify and disguise them." Lin Hui reached into his waist pouch and took out a small, dark stone box.

"This is a safe, non-toxic, special medicinal mud called Form-Shaping Paste. It can be applied to the face to change one's appearance, and it closely matches skin color. One application lasts for a week. This box can be used for half a year. When it's finished, come to me for more."

He possessed the special effect Concordance, which forcibly increased the pill refining success rate by thirty percent. As long as the steps were correct during refining and there were no major missing items, this trait could be activated.

So, after realizing the situation of the Tao siblings, he looked up a pill formula overnight and quickly refined a few batches of Form-Shaping Paste. This was his first time refining this stuff, so he didn't know how effective it would be.

But in any case, if daubing and smearing didn't work, they could just wear masks directly; it wouldn't hinder anything.

"Thank you… Master." Tao Xuehai lowered his head and took the box, tears dripping down from his chin.

Perhaps he was thinking of his parents and relatives, or perhaps he was feeling the confusion and fear of the future.

From today onwards, he would no longer be that young master of a great clan, a wealthy scion, but a remnant orphan who could only conceal his name and hide from pursuit.

Without saying anything more, Lin Hui flashed away from the roof. Next, he had to arrange the situation within the sect.

Some people who would inevitably notice issues had to be notified properly. Not to inform them of Tao Xuehai and his sister's new identities, but to arrange for two completely new people to enter the temple.

As for who the newcomers were, naturally, they would be the Tao siblings who had changed their appearances and names.

The next day, two newcomers quietly joined Clear Wind Temple.

One was named Lin Wuhai, and the other Lin Wuyue. These were the new names Tao Xuehai and his sister had come up with.

Both of them used the Form-Shaping Paste to change their appearances, and they also bought masks to wear daily. With this two-pronged approach, absolutely no one would know their identities.

As a cover, the sister, Lin Wuyue, also decided to follow along and learn Clear Wind Temple's martial arts after recovering from her injuries. Of course, she would only learn the Seven-Section Swift Sword and Nine-Section Swift Sword that ordinary disciples could learn.

Her main cultivation was still her family's inherited Call-cultivation Divine Art. That's right—unlike her brother, who lacked aptitude, the sister, Lin Wuyue, possessed aptitude for the Call. Furthermore, she was already a High-Tier Called One, though she hadn't made much progress in martial arts.

For Called Ones, those with good aptitude progressed extremely fast. Once the induction ceremony began, those with strong aptitude would instantly reach the High-Tier level.

Afterward, they could excavate other potentials, cultivate martial arts, and so on.

In other words, for a Called One, the moment the Call began, their future maximum upper limit was determined.

Lin Hui didn't mind; the only person he cared about was Tao Xuehai.

Not long after accepting the siblings, news came from the Inner City. Lu Xuan of the Rain Palace sent intelligence.

The Tao family's relocation convoy had been besieged by Mist Zone monsters halfway to their destination and was completely wiped out. A large number of Tao family corpses were found, torn and mutilated by the monsters.

After receiving the intelligence, Lin Hui handed it to the Tao siblings. The two wept bitterly. From then on, they began to train frantically, day and night. Perhaps they wanted to turn the grief and indignation in their hearts into strength, so that one day they could find the Clear River Sect and take revenge.

End of July.

The Xue Ying case in the Inner City finally came to a close. After the Chen Family Patriarch led people to battle Xue Ying several times, it was externally announced that Xue Ying had finally been executed. A mutilated female corpse was also displayed to the public, and only then did the dust settle.

Following this battle, the Chen clan and their allied camp suffered heavy losses. The Chen Patriarch and two other Grand Elders of the family also seemed to be heavily injured, and they rarely appeared in public afterward.

The originally arrogant main branch disciples of the Chen family also restrained their arrogance one after another, becoming the lowest-profile group among the Three Great Powers.

August.

The annual Mist Zone cleanup and exploration teams were successively formed and walked out of the Inner City, beginning to sweep through the various ruins in the surrounding area.

For a time, the number of monster parts and scraps transported back increased rapidly. Although they were leftovers—since the key good items were sent into the Inner City—only the parts with short shelf lives were processed locally in the Outer City.

But because the number of slaughtered Mist Zone monsters was extremely large, a massive number of transport carts drove out of the Mist Wall every day, which caused the Outer City merchant houses to become increasingly active.

These resources were generally traded to the Three Great Powers' own close affiliates first.

Lin Hui's Clear Wind Temple was among them, obtaining priority trading qualifications with the Rain Palace's team.

A large influx of materials soon turned into various equipment and medicines, flowing into the market.

The equipment and medicines triggered a scramble among many martial artists and Called Ones, making the Outer City extraordinarily bustling for a time.

But just as everything was proceeding smoothly, with no major difference from previous years, a change occurred.

A government Mist Zone Cleanup Squad met with an accident while exterminating a small group of Mist Zone monsters. A monster leader, which should have only been at the Dangerous level, broke through for some reason, reaching the High-Threat level above Dangerous.

Thus, a tragedy ensued.

The strength gap between the Dangerous and High-Threat levels was vast. When they realized something was wrong, the Cleanup Squad at the time was already too late to retreat.

After fighting desperately, out of the entire team of more than thirty people, only four came back alive.

It was said that the four survivors also showed strange signs of infection: their eyes were blood-red, they occasionally lost their reason, their skin began to ulcerate and grow abscesses, their body temperature rose rapidly, and even their breath carried a similar toxicity that could be transmitted to other living things.

This matter made Lin Hui, who had been paying close attention to the Cleanup Squads, feel his heart skip a beat.

The symptoms of these survivors gave him a subtle sense of familiarity. They bore considerable similarities to the mountain goats he had Purgatory-ized back then.

For this reason, he made a special trip to the Wild Wind Plains to check the environmental changes after his pollution.

As expected, he discovered clues.

Some polluted creatures, after being unconsciously preyed upon by Mist Zone monsters, caused the Mist Zone monsters to also start showing subtle Purgatory-ization characteristics.

There were a few food chains that connectedCleanup Squad the Mist Zone and the Mist-Free Zone. They were not completely separated like the Mist Wall.

After realizing the problem, Lin Hui became even more careful about restraining his Purgatory-aura.

In any case, the influence brought by the Purgatory pollution had already begun to generate an ominous chain reaction.

The Inner City also quickly sent Rain Palace experts to investigate and find the key source of the monster mutation.

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