Decaying World

Chapter 97, Idea 097

After leaving the Lin residence, Lin Hui took advantage of the approaching dim fog and walked out alone through the side gate, preparing to return.

His movements are now so fast that he has abandoned the original suggestion from Wang Hongshi and others that the abbot should be accompanied by a large entourage. He can now come and go quickly, which is convenient, fast, and quite worry-free.

It only takes half an hour to get from the Black Dragon headquarters in another town to the Lin residence.

Bringing people along would be much slower.

He had just said goodbye to his mother and stepped out the door when he heard the clamor behind him celebrating for his younger sister, Lin Xiaoliu. He was about to leave.

A figure suddenly emerged from the shadows behind.

"Lin Hui, younger brother. Is it convenient for us to chat?"

The voice was clear; it was a male voice.

Lin Hui turned his head and looked at the other person.

The newcomer wore a light blue, belted long robe with a pair of metallic purple-black gloves hanging at his waist. His long hair was tied in a ponytail, and his features were handsome and serene. He was none other than Liu Wujun, the eldest son of the second aunt, and also his half-brother.

"Brother Liu, it's getting dark. How about we talk another time?"

Lin Hui replied.

"Just a few words, with your agility, it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Liu Wujun smiled.

"I heard about your fight with Zhou Tianwu and Li Chi. You performed very well."

His tone was full of admiration.

“I also have fellow disciples serving as high-ranking advisors in the New Martial Alliance. If you want to develop your career there, you can talk to me about it, and I'll give you a heads-up.”

"Develop your business there?" Lin Hui raised an eyebrow, wondering why the other party would ask such a question.

“You can’t feel it yet, but it will be soon. Judging from the speed of your internal energy cultivation, it will probably take a few years to reach the sixth level of perfection. When you reach your limit, you should switch to developing your power and cultivating your character. This is basically the consistent path of all external martial arts practitioners,” Liu Wujun said gently.

“My aunt mentioned your situation to me yesterday, and I thought that since we are brothers, we should support each other. You agree, right? Now the Liu and Lin families are on good terms, and my sister and I are also working in the Rain Palace. If you need any help, you can send a message to the Yuanming Hall of the Rain Palace in the inner city. Just mention your name, Lin Hui.”

Lin Hui had never had any interaction with the other party, but he never expected that the other party would be the first to extend an olive branch. This surprised him and warmed his heart.

He's always been the type of person who responds better to gentle persuasion than force, so his attitude immediately softened.

"Thank you very much, brother. I will definitely trouble you if I need anything." He paused, then added.

"Although I may know that you two look down on the territory in the outer city, if needed, you can send someone to Qingfeng Temple for matters in the vicinity of the outer city."

This can be considered a reciprocal gesture.

"Mm." Liu Wujun nodded with a smile.

Seeing Lin Hui clasp his hands in a fist salute, turn around, and disappear through the doorway in a flash, as if in a skipped frame, his eyelids twitched.

"Such fast movement! My younger brother is quite skilled. He's a dragon among martial artists in the outer city." He murmured to himself.

"Do you think he discovered me?" Another slender figure emerged from the shadows; it was her younger sister, Liu Xiao.

"Probably not, but his movement skills are quite good. Just now, that one move was about 80% of your speed." Liu Wujun shook his head.

“I’m different. I rely purely on strength to propel my speed. He’s taking a different shortcut,” Liu Xiao retorted.

"That's pretty good too. I originally thought he would be a burden to his family, but I didn't expect this little brother to have such backbone. After all this time, and after such a big incident, he didn't mention a word to me. He went to fight Zhou Tian one-on-one with his sword. Just from his character and integrity, he's a worthy opponent."

Liu Wujun himself has this kind of personality, and he admires such strong and independent people the most.

“That’s true. From this perspective, this brother is indeed a good person. If he needs anything in the future, we can definitely help him out.” Liu Xiao nodded in agreement.

"To be honest, I didn't think much of this family at first, but Uncle Lin and Lin Hui turned out to be really nice people, and Auntie is also very kind. Living together is completely comfortable," Liu Wujun said with a smile. "Now that my younger sister Lin Xiaoliu has been born, our ties between the two sides are even stronger, and perhaps we can really become like one family in the future."

"Perhaps. But compared to the Liu family's main residence, it's definitely much more comfortable here." Liu Xiao's voice was also light, showing deep agreement.

The two stood in the shadows by the door and whispered for a while about the disgusting things the Liu family's patriarch had done in the past before quietly returning to their room.

On the other side, the Linhui Expressway sped along the main road between the towns.

He flashed across more than twenty meters in an instant. To ordinary people, he was like a ghost, invisible and intangible. They only felt a gust of wind blow by before he had brushed past them and disappeared.

Before long, they rushed back to the Black Dragon headquarters and ran into a group of disciples playing and laughing in the enclosed corridor, with an unpleasant smell of alcohol permeating the air.

Upon seeing Lin Hui, the disciples immediately sobered up considerably, quickly lined up in two rows, lowered their heads, and made way for him.

"If you want to have fun, let's go somewhere else." Lin Hui channeled his inner energy, and a gentle breeze blew out in front of him, sweeping away the smell of alcohol.

"Yes!" The disciple standing at the front felt a chill run down his spine and bowed his head in response.

A gentle breeze blew past the jade talisman hanging on one side of the corridor, causing it to sway violently.

Just as Lin Hui was about to leave, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that the jade talisman hanging there had some fine cracks on its surface.

"This jade talisman has a crack; how much longer can it be used?"

“Master Ehui, if there are about five cracks, it must be replaced. This piece can be replaced, or we can try to hold on a little longer,” another bold female disciple said.

Who is usually in charge?

"It's Senior Sister Qiu, Senior Sister Qiu Yiren. She and about ten fellow disciples formed the Night Jade Group, which is specifically responsible for replacing and purchasing jade talismans."

"Isn't the jade talisman free?" Lin Hui frowned.

"Yes, but because of the distance and the large demand, those with large quantities still need to pay someone to help them collect them from the Rain Palace," the female disciple quickly replied. Lin Hui was also planning to thoroughly understand the matter of the jade talisman before focusing on his cultivation and body tempering.

His body tempering process remained stuck at the first level, unable to move.

This speed would have been impossible before. Considering the perfected and evolved Gale Sword Technique, the sword technique itself is definitely not the problem. So the issue must lie in my own training method.

"Have Qiu Yiren come to me... no, to the council chamber to see me." Lin Hui originally intended to say the study, but considering it was dark and it wouldn't look good if word got out that a man and a woman were alone together, he changed it to the council chamber.

"Okay. I'll go find my senior sister right away! She should be supervising the replacement of the jade talismans right now." The female disciple quickly turned and ran, treating Lin Hui like a raging flood.

"Am I that scary?" Lin Hui was speechless. He glanced at the rest of the crowd who were bowing their heads and waiting to be scolded, shook his head slightly, and walked through the corridor to leave.

He hadn't gone far when he heard a series of sighs of relief coming from behind him.

"My god, is this the oppressive aura of the abbot who killed over a hundred people?! It's too strong, I can hardly hold my breath!"

"The abbot is indeed worthy of being called the abbot. Just standing there, I felt like the air around me was being sucked away! It was so oppressive!"

"Did you notice that the abbot's hand is always on the hilt of his sword, but this time, he's not carrying a sword?! This could mean something big is about to happen?!"

"What a big deal! Didn't the abbot's sword break in the battle at Flying Stone Gate?"

"Oh, that's true."

A group of young people started talking all at once, and the atmosphere quickly became lively again.

They were all around ten years old and practiced martial arts, so naturally they couldn't stay still.

Lin Hui chuckled silently as he walked through the corridors. Everyone he encountered immediately stepped aside, bowed their heads, and dared not utter a sound upon seeing him.

He looked like he was going to eat people.

Lin Hui remembered hearing Chen Sui say a few days ago that storytellers in the taverns and teahouses of the town outside had turned his exploits into stories, which were being circulated everywhere to make money, and had a large audience.

It seems to be working very quickly.

After arriving at the council chamber, we waited for about ten minutes.

A gentle knock was made on the wooden door at the entrance and exit of the corridor.

"Master, Qiu Yiren, Huang Shan, request an audience."

"Come in," Lin Hui replied.

He turned from his closed-eye meditation and opened his eyes to look at the person who had come in.

Qiu Yiren pulled a reluctant-looking Huang Shan into the hall. The two of them bowed to Lin Hui with clasped hands.

"Master, you summoned your disciple. What are your instructions?" Qiu Yiren asked cautiously.

She didn't really want to say that, but the problem was that the claim of killing more than a hundred people in one go was too exaggerated.

She herself had killed people, but only a handful, so she knew very well what it meant to kill more than a hundred people, especially more than a hundred Flying Stone Sect martial artists.

To put it bluntly, if Lin Hui were to fall ill now, he could single-handedly wipe out the entire Qingfeng Temple within half an hour.

These were Elder Xue Meng's exact words spoken privately. Therefore, the elder repeatedly instructed them to pay attention to the abbot's emotional state; last time, he suspected the abbot was ill, which is why...
Furthermore, the reason she dragged Huang Shan along, disregarding the fact that he was taking a bath, was because she was worried that coming alone wouldn't be appropriate.

After all, the abbot was rumored to be a womanizer. Although he was never seen to show interest in any woman, all those aphrodisiacs he collected weren't for nothing.

She could see it clearly when the gift was being received; the abbot looked quite happy.

'If the abbot gets sick and attacks me, at least I have a sister to help me share the burden,' Qiu Yiren thought anxiously.

To be honest, if she were to actually get together with the abbot, she wouldn't be so opposed to it, but starting things right away would be a bit too rough, wouldn't it?

If we could cultivate the relationship and let things develop beforehand, that would be perfect.
"Her? Her?!"

Huang Shan's voice pulled her back from her reverie.

"The abbot is asking you a question! Why is your face so red?"

Huang Shan's loud voice sounded particularly jarring in the quiet council hall.

Qiu Yiren froze for a moment, then realized that Lin Hui was also looking at her. She immediately snapped out of her reverie, realizing that she had been daydreaming, and her face flushed red as if she were burning up.

From a young age, she admired the powerful and agile figures in books.

That's why I focused on martial arts when I grew up, trying to become the kind of strong person I imagined.

Unfortunately, due to her limited qualifications, she was not selected or recruited into the Three Sects and Six Gangs. In the end, due to a series of changes, she chose Qingfeng Temple.

They thought the future might be set in stone, but unexpectedly, the new abbot, Lin Hui, suddenly unleashed an unprecedentedly brilliant light, bringing Qingfeng Temple to a height that no one dared to imagine.

Now that the three lineages have merged, their swords are dominating the surrounding area, and the entire Qingfeng Temple has become a behemoth that dominates more than ten towns around it, with an influence that extends to hundreds of thousands of people.

Lin Hui, who created all of this in such a short time, may have an ordinary appearance, but in Qiu Yiren's eyes at this moment, he is dazzling in a way that no handsome man can compare to.

Thinking of this, Qiu Yiren unconsciously closed her legs, lowered her head, and dared not look at Lin Hui again.

"Yiren, what's wrong with you? Your neck is all red!" Huang Shan's loud voice rang out again, filling the entire council hall.

"Why are you still bowing your head? The abbot is asking you a question. Why are you bowing your head?"

(End of this chapter)