Decaying World

Chapter 144

"So, Brother, you were the one sent to investigate this time?"

Inside the residential courtyard of Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui and Liu Wujun sat opposite each other, boiling a hot pot for lunch.

"I just happened to need some rest and recuperation, and this area is the one I am most familiar with—my turf, so to speak," Liu Wujun said with a smile. He picked up a piece of pig blood curd with his chopsticks, dipped it in seasoning, and popped it into his mouth. "With you, the local warlord, helping to search and coordinate, resolving this matter will be much easier for me than for anyone else."

"Regarding the pollution, I did indeed observe some traces," Lin Hui said, maintaining his expression as he assumed a contemplative look.

The key to this matter lay in providing his brother with a suitable result to report upwards. After thinking for a moment, he decided to blame the pollution on the Night Mist. As long as the higher-ups believed that this pollution would not expand or worsen, the problem would be solved.

"As far as I know, since the last Night Mist, there have been subtle, abnormal changes in the surrounding towns. On the night of the Night Mist, I encountered an individual very similar to the monster described by the Cleanup Squad. I killed it quickly at the time and didn't think much of it, but unexpectedly…"

He immediately recounted the details of the Purgatory Ram to Liu Wujun.

"In that case, perhaps it was trouble transferred from somewhere else by the Night Mist," Liu Wujun frowned, pondering as he ate. "Then it shouldn't be a big problem. The monsters transferred by the Night Mist are bizarre and varied; anything can happen. However, most are isolated occurrences and won't persist. It should stabilize after a while."

"Indeed," Lin Hui nodded. "So, Brother, how do you plan to report this?"

"I'll reconfirm the situation of the surrounding ruins, determine whether the pollution will expand, and then submit the report. In the end, this pollution isn't particularly powerful; it just caused the Cleanup Squad to misjudge the situation and make errors in their composition, leading to the incident. I just need to ensure that the parameters of the pollution don't exceed the scope of response," Liu Wujun replied.Clearly, the Inner City had long since gained ample experience in handling such matters. This made Lin Hui breathe a sigh of relief.

After the meal, he took the opportunity to ask Liu Wujun about his doubts regarding High Divine Officers.

"High Divine Officers are actually somewhat distinct from the levels of Divine Officers and below. Fundamentally, from the Call to Divine Officer, and then to High Divine Officer, it is essentially a linear path of growth. The goal is always the interference, strengthening, and control of the mind-spirit and consciousness."

Standing in the courtyard, Liu Wujun drew a standard Clear Wind Temple longsword given to him by Lin Hui.

"This involves interference at the cognitive level. The strength of a High Divine Officer lies in this. For example, the Nine Flowers Divine Art I cultivate is famous for interfering with an opponent's judgment of direction. The stronger the skill, the stronger the interference. Would you like to experience it?"

He looked at Lin Hui with a smile.

Lin Hui hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "If possible, I would indeed like to see it."

"Then watch closely." Liu Wujun's face twisted slightly, and black scales flashed across the skin between his eyebrows.

Shua.

He swung the sword at Lin Hui, seemingly at random.

The two were several meters apart. The sword strike carried no Internal Force and no Void Force; logically, it should have been absolutely impossible to affect Lin Hui.

But the moment the blade fell, Lin Hui felt something was off.

He paused and took a step forward. Strangely, he had estimated his step to span exactly one meter. But after actually taking the step, he discovered that his grasp of distance had malfunctioned.

The step he took was less than one meter.

It was a very subtle difference. To an ordinary person, it might not matter—normal people walk every day; isn't it common for step lengths to vary? But for a sword expert like Lin Hui, who trained bitterly every day, sensitivity to distance and precise control of force were acute.

After taking one step, he took another step back.

This time, he still estimated the distance to be one meter, but the distance he actually moved still differed from his estimate—it was still short of one meter.

"It seems you felt it," Liu Wujun laughed, sheathing his sword. "I temporarily influenced your control over distance. You thought you had reached the distance, but in reality, you were just that little bit short. This influence is one of the simplest applications. If one can cultivate the Nine Flowers Divine Art to the extreme, one can even directly reverse one's cognition of general direction."

Sensing the change in his cognitive distance, Lin Hui felt a creepiness in his heart. He had thought High Divine Officers would be strong, but he hadn't expected them to be strong in this way. With such means, once he fell for it, no matter how fast he was, he probably wouldn't be able to avoid being crushed and killed.

"Is there a way to counter it?" he asked in a low voice.

"Aren't you cultivating secret arts to temper your mind-spirit and strengthen your consciousness? That is the counter. The stronger your mind-spirit, the smaller the effect of such influence on you. Besides that, there is also a type of Super-Adapter who can handle it easily," Liu Wujun explained.

"Super-Adapter?"

"Yes, also known as Absolute Natives. Such people are absolute monsters. When facing the ultimate mind-spirit attack of a High Divine Officer, they don't defend, and they don't dodge. Instead, they adapt to the change at an extremely fast rate." When Liu Wujun mentioned Absolute Natives, a trace of fear appeared on his face.

"That speed of adaptation is so fast that in almost a split second, they become accustomed to your offense. That is why the difficulty of dealing with Absolute Natives gives all High Divine Officers a massive headache. If the Call-Divine Officer system is the continuous strengthening and cultivation of the mind-spirit, then the Absolute Native is the insane enhancement of the path of flesh and blood. In the face of any attack, they can quickly evolve a method of response, significantly reducing the damage received, or even converting the damage into their own nourishment to strengthen themselves in return."

Lin Hui felt his hair stand on end listening to this; to think such monsters existed in this world.

"Don't worry, if the sky falls, the Inner City is there to prop it up. It's useless for you, an Internal Force martial artist, to worry too much," Liu Wujun laughed. "These Absolute Natives actually have weaknesses too. As long as the force delivered in a short time is great enough, leaving them no time to adapt and evolve, they can naturally be annihilated."

"The world is vast; truly, nothing is too strange," Lin Hui lamented.

"That's true. Speaking of which, you aren't young anymore. Why don't you hurry up and have a few sons and daughters? In a while..." Liu Wujun switched into family-planning mode.

Lin Hui's head throbbed upon hearing this, and he hurriedly changed the subject.

After managing to fend off the topic of children with great difficulty, he sent his brother back to the Lin family home to rest.

Returning to Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui took out the Steel Sword he had been evolving.

It just so happened that today was the completion time for the Blood Seal evolution. With the support of various medicines, and without consuming one-time treasures like the Spirit-Enriching Reishi and Phantom Dragon Lotus, one month for him now was equivalent to six months of Blood Seal evolution.

This was the effect of Clear Wind Temple's massive financial support.

Now that the Steel Sword evolution was complete, it was time to continue evolving the new subsequent cultivation method. After the Typhoon Sword Technique, a higher-level cultivation method would undoubtedly require an extremely long time to complete. Lin Hui was already mentally prepared for this.

…

At this very moment.

Inside the Purple Crystal Ruins in the Mist Zone.

Two tall figures, one black and one white, appeared at the entrance of the ruins.

The two wore long robes and smooth white masks. The masks had nothing on them—no facial features, no patterns, not even openings for the eyes.

Opening the door, the two entered the ruins one after another. They were immediately met by two Purple Crystal Elemental monsters floating slowly toward them.

These monsters, which had diamond-shaped heads and single slit-eyes resembling old women, surprisingly did not attack upon encountering the duo. Instead, they paused, then walked toward other directions as if nothing had happened, seemingly mistaking the two for their own kind.

Soon, they entered the depths of the ruins. Ahead lay a gigantic divine statue that had been cut into countless pieces.

Beside the divine statue, two other masked figures in black robes had been waiting for a long time. The attire and masks of these two were the same style as the Black and White Sabers, with the only difference being several gold threads embroidered on their cuffs.

"Subordinates greet Lord Black and White Sabers." The gold-threaded black-robed men bowed to the two who had entered.

"We were just passing by. Regarding the incident at the branch hall here, have you found out which faction made the move?" The white-robed one of the Black and White Sabers spoke.

"We can only judge that the killer was an expert swordsman. Based on their strength, they shouldn't be from the Call lineage; we found no traces of Void Force destruction," one of the gold-threaded black-robed men answered quickly.

"Then it's the Inner City Martial Artist system? Three Sects and Six Associations? No, the Six Associations don't have many experts of this caliber, so it must be the Three Sects," the white-robed one speculated.

"It should be. The Three Sects rely on strength, while the Six Associations rely on background and influence. For a swordsman expert to easily kill a Branch Hall Master, they must be at least at the Three Harmonies Grandmaster level," the gold-threaded black robe replied respectfully.

"Three Sects... Strange. We have always kept to our own side of the river and never interfered with the Three Sects. Why would they suddenly come to wipe out our branch hall? Speaking of which, that branch hall in the Inner City was also taken out by a swordsman. Eyewitnesses said he wore four masks and was dressed entirely in black."

"What about the cultivation method? Have you tried deducing it from the technique?" the black-robed one, who had been silent, asked.

"The cultivation method is also strange. The Three Sects don't have speed swordsmen of that level. I met Mu Shanqing from the Inner City branch; he had good aptitude. Three years ago, he could already exchange blows with a Divine Officer within the sect without suffering damage. I didn't expect him to die at the hands of a nameless nobody," the white-robed one replied.

"Which famous speed martial artists are nearby?" the black-robed one asked.

"Regarding this, according to the information gathered by subordinates, among speed martial artists, there are none capable of threatening the two Branch Hall Masters," the gold-threaded black robe answered quickly.

"However, according to the descriptions of many eyewitnesses, on the day the Inner City branch had its accident, the killer's sword generated strong airflow. This characteristic is quite similar to the signs of action of the nearby Clear Wind Temple Master in Xinyu Town, the 'Formless Sword' Lin Hui. We were planning to conduct an in-depth investigation on this person. But because he is backed by the Rain Palace's Yuanming Hall, we..."

"Clear Wind Temple? What is that Lin Hui's strength?" the white-robed one asked.

"Internal Force Perfected. It is said he can fight a Circulation Realm to a draw."

"Then what is there to investigate? With that level of strength, do you think he could single-handedly kill so many branch experts? And even kill Mu Shanqing, an Extreme Martial Artist Grandmaster?" The white-robed one said impatiently.

"Yes, my Lord is right. Then, shall we just send someone to kill him directly? Better to kill the wrong person than let one go," the gold-threaded black robe asked tentatively.

"Killing won't do. Liu Wujun is nearby. Since the style is similar, we can send someone to test him a bit," the white-robed one nodded. "Although it can't be this person, it's possible that an expert behind him is laying out a plan. We must guard against it."

"Alright then. This subordinate will arrange the manpower immediately. Since this Formless Sword can rival the Circulation Realm and possesses extremely fast speed and movement techniques, we must prepare a foolproof strategy. At that time, this subordinate will personally lie in ambush nearby to ensure nothing goes wrong."

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