Decaying World

Chapter 145

Inside the Clear Wind Temple.

Lin Hui examined the newly evolved steel sword in his hand. To be precise, it was labeled as a Special Synthetic Steel Sword. The description on the Blood Seal read:

[Special Synthetic Steel Sword — Carved and perfected from special interstellar warship materials. Its hardness can withstand conventional interstellar travel without damage.]

[Evolvable Branches: 3]

Oh? It can still evolve?

Lin Hui’s hand itched, and he quickly tapped it open to take a look.

[1—Interstellar War Sword.]

[2—Sub-Void Black Scale Sword.]

[3—Primordial Imperishable Sword.]

Good, good. Just looking at the names, I know I can't afford to evolve them.Lin Hui clicked one open. Sure enough, the minimum requirement started at fifty years. If he had fifty years, who knew to what extent he could have strengthened his cultivation method?

He picked up Ruyi and swung it casually.

Shua.

The blade edge gently swept across the courtyard ground. Without a sound or tactile resistance, it sliced a sharp incision.

Lin Hui then pointed the tip downward at the ground and released it, letting its own weight drive it.

Pu.

With a soft sound, Ruyi relied solely on its weight to effortlessly pierce the stone slab, sinking halfway up the blade before coming to a stop.

Truly a divine sword!

Lin Hui rejoiced inwardly. With this sharpness and sturdiness, if he encountered a Three Harmonies Grandmaster with a shell as hard as a turtle’s again, one or two strikes might be enough to settle the matter completely.

The Ruyi sword remained the same size as before: it could expand and contract freely, measuring one meter when short and over 1.6 meters when extended. The blade was slightly wider than before, and the silver edge carried a faint grayish-black hue.

Retracting Ruyi, Lin Hui reined in his joy and focused on the evolution of the new sword technique.

[Typhoon Sword Technique: Deduced from the Wild Wind Sword Technique…]

Skipping the long introduction, he focused on the final evolution branches.

[...Evolvable Branches: 3]

[1—Star Breath Sword Canon.]

[2—Great Tornado Sword Art.]

[3—Solar Wind Divine Sword.]

"..."

Looking at these straightforward, crudely powerful names, Lin Hui felt that the defining features of the martial arts evolved by the Blood Seal might be too obvious...

He first looked at the required years for each to avoid getting envious, only to be disappointed by the duration. Fortunately, all three techniques were just over fifty years.

Hmm, fifty years. Thankfully, it’s not too long... my ass!

Lin Hui’s grip on Ruyi tightened slightly.

Fifty years?!

He had previously spent so long evolving just to complete the ten-plus years for the Typhoon Sword Technique. Now it demanded fifty years in one breath—that was more than three times the previous amount!

Lin Hui felt his blood pressure skyrocket.

Although he had anticipated a long duration, he hadn't expected this much...

After taking several deep breaths to calm his soaring blood pressure, he looked at the descriptions.

[1—Star Breath Sword Canon: Perceive the planet’s breath and transform it into a dominion field of atmosphere. A universally applicable airflow–manipulation sword canon, evolved with the Typhoon Sword Technique as its core foundation. Upon mastery, one gains command over the vast majority of flowing gases.]

[2—Great Tornado Sword Art: A sword technique evolved from the Typhoon Sword Technique, capable of conjuring massive tornadoes. Its destructive power is astounding, but its energy consumption is relatively high.]

[3—Solar Wind Divine Sword: A sword technique that harnesses scorching solar particles as its source of power. Once unleashed, it can incinerate all enemies within a radius of a thousand meters. A casual swing of the blade naturally carries temperatures of around a thousand degrees, while its ultimate move, Solar Star Explosion, can raise the sword’s heat to as high as 100,000 degrees. Its explosive power is terrifying, but its sustained effectiveness depends entirely on the amount of accumulated solar particles.]

Lin Hui eliminated the Solar Wind Divine Sword first. The reason was simple.

Because in both the Mist Zone and the Mist-Free Zone, the sun was rarely visible. This technique clearly relied heavily on sunlight; cultivating it in this environment would be extremely slow.

Then there was the Great Tornado Sword Art. This one seemed decent, but Lin Hui warily noted the words "consumption is relatively high." He instinctively felt an aversion to martial arts with high consumption and insufficient endurance.

After all, in this world, endurance was the hard truth.

So, the Star Breath Sword Canon, being more balanced and straightforward in its description, is the most practical choice. It has broad applicability and no obvious drawbacks.

He hesitated no longer and selected the first option: Star Breath Sword Canon.

Soon, the new evolution option emerged.

[Star Breath Sword Canon — Remaining Time: 54 years, 11 months, 29 days.]

A full fifty-five years...

Sighing, Lin Hui closed the Blood Seal.

A disciple had just dutifully offered a new box of Phantom Dragon Lotus. One box could offset nearly twenty years; it was truly a divine medicine.

Without hesitation, he retrieved the Phantom Dragon Lotus from the study. It was better to use it as early as possible to feel at ease; leaving it out always made him fear theft.

For three consecutive days, Lin Hui did not step out of his door, simply popping pills in his room.

It wasn't until the morning of the fourth day that he consumed all the Phantom Dragon Lotus.

The remaining time for the Star Breath Sword Canon had changed to: 36 years, 1 month, 14 days. A reduction of over 18 years.

But this was the limit.

After over three days of seclusion, he left the study. He first bathed, then checked on the disciples' progress in cultivation. The top ten in the sect had been improving rapidly, with hopes of a new Internal Force martial artist emerging.

This made Lin Hui pay a bit more attention.

In the afternoon, he went to the Lin Manor to see Lin Xiaoliu and his parents, exchanged a few words with his Second Mother, and then returned to the Clear Wind Temple. This had become a habit for Lin Hui.

Only today seemed a bit different.

On the way back from the Lin Manor, Lin Hui had not gone far when he noticed something amiss.

Someone was tailing him.

Although he wasn't using his full movement speed, it was still something that ordinary experts couldn't match. Yet, someone was able to trail him without being shaken off. This was rare.

With a thought, Lin Hui took a sharp turn and suddenly charged back toward his pursuer.

The person was startled, then immediately turned and rushed toward the outskirts.

This suited Lin Hui perfectly.

He didn't want to fight in the town either; if the commotion got too big, it would destroy houses and cause unnecessary damage.

The two rushed to the outskirts, stopping in an area near the Mist boundary.

Surrounded by a dense bamboo forest, Lin Hui landed lightly beside a stream, gazing at a masked man more than ten meters away.

The person was dressed in a black robe with three fine silver lines at the edges and wore a white mask.

"Who are you?" Lin Hui stared at him. "Why are you following me?"

The silver-lined black-robed man said nothing. He simply pulled two wave-shaped short blades from his lower back.

Bang!

An explosive sound rang out. His figure flashed, his speed increasing severalfold as he appeared instantly in front of Lin Hui. The dual blades drew two lines of silver light, slicing toward his throat.

This scene instantly reminded Lin Hui of the woman he had encountered in the Purple Crystal Ruins.

That person had also used a massive amount of Internal Force to explode with power, forcibly propelling themselves to achieve great acceleration. This kind of secret art was likely very damaging to the body, but it significantly increased explosive speed in a short period.

Clang.

He raised his hand casually. Ruyi was drawn in an instant, blocking vertically.

Blade and sword collided, showering sparks.

In the next instant, before the black-robed man could change his move, the curved blades in his hands were sliced through with a puchi sound. The upper halves spun away, flying into the bamboo forest.

The black-robed man was stunned. In a clash between experts, a moment of hesitation was a fatal flaw.

In that instant, a silver light lit up before his eyes again.

It was a silver sword glare sweeping in with the wild wind. Flawless, like a pure metal vortex, it firmly seized his heart.

Puchi.

Ruyi passed through the black-robed man's neck, sending a head flying high, blood sprinkling onto the ground.

Lin Hui’s figure appeared behind him. He held the sword horizontally to check the blade, finding no trace of blood.

Good sword!

He praised inwardly. The strengthened Ruyi was worlds apart from before. That man should have been a Circulation Realm martial artist, yet a single sword strike was enough to resolve the matter.

For this strike, he had only used the Perfected Clear Wind Sword Technique. Although there was the effect of the opponent’s shock from having his weapon severed, as well as the subtle distraction caused by the technique, ultimately, these were all chain reactions triggered by the new Ruyi sword.

The "turtle shell" of the Circulation Realm, under Ruyi's sharpness, might as well not exist...

A Circulation Realm expert could not be a nobody. Lin Hui sheathed his sword and walked over. His Internal Force rolled up a current of air, lifting the mask on the head.

Beneath the mask was an old man with grizzled hair and a kindly face.

He rummaged through the corpse but found nothing to identify him. In the end, he dragged it to the Mist Zone and threw it out to become food for monsters.

"Friend, your movements are very practiced."

Just after clearing the traces, Lin Hui was about to return to the Clear Wind Temple when he discovered that near the Mist where he had disposed of the body, a man in a gold-threaded black robe had appeared.

This person also wore a mask. Just like the one who had died moments ago, it was a pale, bald, oval mask—shaped like a goose egg.

"Here for revenge?" Lin Hui couldn’t be bothered to ask anything more. He had already offended plenty of factions. All he needed to know was whether they were here for revenge: if yes, kill; if not, leave.

"No, no, no… the one who died just now was merely one of our outer members. Essentially, a disposable asset under our control. A Pseudo-Circulation cultivator forcibly raised with special drugs," the gold-threaded black-robed man said calmly.

"And then? You want to fight?" Lin Hui’s hand tightened around his sword hilt. The moment this person answered "yes," he planned to start killing.

"Lin Hui, you were the one who did the Purple Crystal Ruins job, right?" The gold-threaded black-robed man changed the subject. "And the New Martial Alliance branch in the Inner City, that was also you? Correct?"

Although it was a question, his tone was certain.

"Why did you do that? Our Clear River Sect has no grievances with you, right?"

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about." Lin Hui naturally couldn’t admit anything. He began to slowly draw his sword.

"You’re quite bold, daring to take action against us. You’ve slipped through the cracks of several major operations. But now that we’ve confirmed it’s you…" White light bloomed from the gold-threaded man’s hands, and his black robe billowed despite the windless air.

"Do you still think you can escape?"

Another gold-threaded, black-robed figure appeared soundlessly behind Lin Hui.

One had three lines, the other one, one in front, one behind, sealing off all his escape routes.

"It’s very strange. You’re just an Internal Force martial artist with a clean family background and a fully traceable history… so how did you become this strong?" the single-threaded gold man asked, puzzled.

"He probably has some secret on him as well. But let’s not worry about that for now. Our luck is good—one probing move, and we’ve already netted the real culprit. When we return, the two Lords will surely reward us handsomely. With this merit on record, who knows, we might even get a shot at another breakthrough in this lifetime." The triple-threaded gold man laughed.

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