Decaying World

Chapter 11 011 Low Point Part 1 (Thanks to Chen Ci, the Alliance Leader)

"Xie Li greets Senior Brother Lin and Senior Brother Chen." Xie Li was only fifteen or sixteen years old, but her words and actions were quite mature for her age. She skillfully clasped her hands in greeting to the two of them.

The two men returned the greeting with clasped hands.

Xie Li smiled and continued.

"In actual combat, the Qingfeng Sword Technique is far superior to the Nine-Section Fast Sword, and its complexity is also far beyond that of the former. Once it is used, the speed of the user and the speed of the sword will be much faster, making the opponent feel as if a gentle breeze is blowing on their face. Before they can even react, they have already lost."

"So, as long as you master the Qingfeng Sword Technique, your strength will increase dramatically?" Chen Zhishen couldn't help but ask.

"Exactly. In fact, this is true of many martial arts. The strongest are the top-tier martial arts, but top-tier martial arts are not something that ordinary people can master. Once mastered, they will create a huge gap between themselves and ordinary martial arts," Xie Li explained.

"Wouldn't using superior martial arts be even more burdensome?" Lin Hui asked, frowning.

“Superior martial arts also come with superior body-tempering methods, which are far more effective than others. How could they be a heavier burden? On the contrary, if you master a superior martial art and then go back to use a slightly inferior one to temper your body into an extremely strong physique, you can unleash far greater power than an ordinary martial artist, no matter what martial art you use.” Xie Li, being knowledgeable, explained with a smile.

"Thank you for clarifying things," Lin Hui said, clasping his hands in a fist salute. "So it seems that not everyone can master the Qingfeng Sword Technique?"

“Yes, to receive the sword technique, one needs not only the trust of one’s master, but also extremely high talent.” Xie Li nodded. “This is also because the abbot came in person.”

"So, Huang Shan and the others might have caught the attention of the abbot and been accepted as true disciples?" Chen Zhishen's tone carried a hint of undisguised envy.

"To be precise, that's right. A genius, you know," Xie Li didn't say much, but there was a hint of something unusual in her tone.

Judging from her speech, she clearly comes from a family with a strong academic background. But even so, in a pure contest of talent, background is useless. You either succeed or you fail.

At this moment, a new round of swordplay competition among the core disciples had begun on the open ground. The disciple named Wu Cheng had mastered several moves of the Qingfeng Sword Technique, and whenever he used them at crucial moments, he would easily defeat his opponents.

This immediately attracted the attention of those around him, and gradually more attention was drawn to him.

Looking at Wu Cheng, who was riding high on the field, Lin Hui fell into deep thought. If, as Xie Li said, everything was divided into strong and weak according to the martial arts skills mastered, then the control of superior martial arts would undoubtedly lock the channels for advancement into the hands of the previous generation.

In situations where talent differences aren't that significant, personal connections might be more important.

Following Wu Cheng's demonstration of the Qingfeng Sword Technique, another disciple stepped forward and displayed his mastery of the technique. However, due to his inferior proficiency, he too was defeated and eliminated.

In Qingfeng Temple, mastering the Qingfeng Sword Technique is a huge gap that sets one apart from others.

The subsequent competitions fully proved this point. Among the twenty disciples, the top five senior brothers and sisters who appeared in the last few matches all mastered the Qingfeng Sword Technique.

Among them, the three senior brothers and sisters even mastered the complete Qingfeng Sword technique. However, upon closer inspection, Lin Hui noticed that although they all mastered the same sword technique, the temperament and feeling they gave off when they used it were very different.

It is obvious that even if they are the same Qingfeng Sword, there are still differences in their levels and realms.

In less than an hour, the small competition was almost completely over. The rankings of the top five were not much different from before, with the senior brother still in first place and the strongest, and the rest following in order.

However, starting from sixth place, the ranking of strength changes.

Wu Cheng suddenly surged to sixth place. Behind him were Qiu Yiren and Huang Shan, two newly emerging geniuses who squeezed out the previous seventh and eighth places, becoming the hottest new focus.

When the show was over and everyone dispersed, the peripheral disciples and students who had watched were quite excited. Even after the show ended, they continued to discuss the skills and achievements of the twenty core disciples.

Lin Hui remained calm and returned to his residence to practice the Seven-Section Fast Sword, as if the previous competition had no effect on him.

Xie Li pulled Chen Zhishen to go out for a barbecue in the middle of the night to get closer to him, but he politely declined.

The two of them had to go on their own.

It's clear that Xie Li is somewhat actively trying to get closer to him; her meeting with Chen Zhishen is just a pretext.

But Lin Hui had no interest in meaningless social interactions. His greatest interest now was staring at his blood mark every day, calculating how many days of evolution time had passed.

The ability to become stronger simply by lying down is undoubtedly incredibly powerful. The only thing that frustrates Lin Hui is that this ability is a bit too slow.

Every few days, Xie Li would drag Chen Zhishen along to invite Lin Hui. After several attempts, they still couldn't get him to come, so the two of them simply hunted some wild game and came to Lin Hui's place to eat together.

Lin Hui didn't mind at all. With someone delivering food to his door and even grilling it for him, he was naturally happy to improve his meals.

As time went by, the three of them gradually formed a new small circle within the Taoist temple.

Under Xie Li's influence, Chen Zhishen seemed to be slowly getting over his painful feelings for Lu Baihua, and the two seemed to have a new kind of strangeness between them.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Hui's fourth move had also evolved completely, followed by the fifth move.

The approaching mastery of the Seven-Section Quick Sword technique filled Lin Hui with a sense of anticipation.

He was eager to see how his perfect, flawless Seven-Section Swift Sword would differ from the other disciples in terms of body tempering and lightness effects.

Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

dong dong dong, dong dong dong!
Lin Hui started practicing his swordplay as soon as it was light, but after only two repetitions, he heard a series of urgent knocks on the door.

His single room had a small open courtyard outside, which he used for drying clothes and sunbathing. The courtyard had a separate gate.

The sound that was being knocked on was coming from the dark brown courtyard gate outside.

"Who?"

Lin Hui asked aloud.

"It's my junior brother Lin!" Hui Shen's urgent voice came from outside. "Open the door quickly, something's happened at your home!" Something's happened at home!?
Lin Hui's heart skipped a beat. He quickly put down the wooden sword, rushed to the courtyard gate, and opened it.

Hui Shen, standing outside the door, had sweat beading on his forehead and a grave expression; he had clearly rushed over at top speed. Upon seeing Lin Hui, he quickly lowered his voice and spoke.

"Your servants have come to deliver a message! They say something has happened to your father! A lot of people have gone there and practically emptied your house!"

"Help me ask for leave!" Lin Hui said without saying a word, then rushed out of the courtyard and headed out of the Taoist temple.

Although he hasn't undergone body tempering yet, his physical fitness has improved significantly due to long-term training.

As soon as he ran out the gate, he saw Sister Luo, who did housework, standing outside with a pale face, being stopped by two gatekeeper boys who wouldn't let her in.

Lin Hui rushed over in a few steps.

"What exactly happened?!" he asked in a deep voice.

"The master told me to come and call you before he left, and told you not to worry, he'll be back soon!" Sister Luo said quickly.

"Let's go back first!" Lin Hui's expression was solemn as he quickly ran towards home.

More than half an hour later, Lin Hui returned to his front door.

The gate to the courtyard was wide open, and the doors to the houses inside were also open. Several men were carrying things out of the house.

"What are you doing?!" Lin Hui asked quickly as he stepped forward, catching his breath.

"This company owes us a lot of money, and the owner asked us to come and collect goods to pay off the debt! What's your name, brother?" The leader walked over, holding a dried brown strip of meat in his hand, chewing it as he did so.

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?!" Lin Hui strode through the door and into the house, only to find it almost completely emptied. His mother, Yao Shan, with red and swollen eyes, slowly walked out, seemingly having heard him.

"Mother!" Lin Hui quickly stepped forward to help her up.

"Ahui... your father..." Yao Shan rushed forward, grabbing Lin Hui's arm, her voice trembling with tears. "I told him not to take any risks, but he just wouldn't listen. Now... now..."

"Don't panic! How is my dad? Where is he?!" Lin Hui asked quickly.

“The benefactor, considering his many years of service and how thorough he has always been, let him off the hook. He’s fine; he just went to another town to check on the rest of his family’s businesses,” Yao Shan sobbed.

Lin Hui finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at his house, which was now almost empty, he felt less anxious than before.

This confirmed his earlier concerns, and when it actually happened, he felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. I’ve started working and earning money now. We can start over at home. It’s okay.” He gently comforted his mother.

"I'm fine, it's just...you've suffered." Yao Shan looked at her home, which had just started to recover, now empty again. That blow, that second devastating blow, almost made her lose all her spirit.

At this moment, she could only hold onto her son's arm tightly, trembling all over, and her face suddenly seemed to have aged a lot.

Lin Hui watched the group move quietly. The man who had spoken to him earlier came in, and seeing this, he realized that Lin Hui was the owner of the place, and immediately smiled apologetically.

It wasn't until the afternoon, when the relocation was complete, that Lin Shunhe, the father, finally arrived.

His face was aged, and his clothes looked somewhat disheveled. When he entered the courtyard and saw that his wife and son were there, he didn't say a word and went into the inner room with his head down.

Lin Hui didn't say anything. He knew his father was already in enough pain. Losing the family fortune was only one aspect; the real loss was the complete loss of the protection of the benefactor.

Now that they've left the Lin family, they can only rely on themselves.

*
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Lin.

Lin Chaoyi summoned the representatives from each branch of the family again for a temporary family meeting.

Seeing the somewhat subdued atmosphere, he took the pipe out of his mouth and gently tapped the small table to the side.

bang bang.

The crisp sound drew everyone's attention.

"You all know about the Shunhe family's affairs, right?" he said loudly.

The group of people were silent for a moment, then nodded one after another.

"I understand. None of you who were on good terms with him before are allowed to reach out to him, help him, or lend him a single penny!" Lin Chaoyi set the tone sternly.

Then, noticing the awkward expression on the eldest son's face, he softened his tone and began to explain.

“It’s not that I, as his father, am heartless, but his fourth son said long ago that he wanted to sever ties, that’s the first reason. Secondly, he’s gotten himself into big trouble this time, angering that important person. This is no small matter. If we step in to help, and it’s seen as if we’re involved with him, it will be too late to regret it!”

He sighed again.

“Don’t blame me for being ruthless, but I’m doing this for the sake of the entire Lin family. In the past few days, ever since Hongzhen from the eldest branch of the family successfully inspired us, you’ve all felt the impact of our family’s prestige, momentum, and influence. Whatever we do, people around us give us face. Even some of the town’s officials have become much more lenient.”

"So our Lin family is on the rise right now, and we absolutely cannot let our fourth son drag us down! This is a major opportunity that we have been waiting for for many years. Once the eldest son's branch has established itself in the inner city, our Lin family may very well become a great clan like the Zhong family or the Mu family in the nearby towns."

"But Father, isn't this a bit too much?" Lin Shunjiang, the father of Lin Hongzhen from the eldest branch of the family, couldn't help but ask.

(End of this chapter)