Decaying World

Chapter 119 Investigation 119 (Xie Xiaoshi, Alliance Leader)
Tao Xuehai lost, but he did not leave, unlike the other challengers who, after losing, were too ashamed to face anyone and turned away.

He was actually extremely interested in Lin Hui's swordsmanship. After repeatedly asking if he could learn such a powerful swordsmanship by simply enrolling, he decided to stay and pay the registration fee.

After that, it was a frantic rush to complete tasks and join expeditions to quickly accumulate contribution points.

In particular, the expedition team, after suffering heavy losses, never went to the Amethyst Ruins again, and instead dutifully continued to draw maps of the surrounding area.

Tao Xuehai's remarkable achievement was that he went home and produced the most detailed map of the surrounding fog area.

This saved the expedition team a lot of time and energy. Some of his disciples were very dissatisfied with him taking over the mission, but he easily appeased them by throwing money at them.

He had only been a disciple for three days when he had already bribed all ten of the top disciples with generous gifts and smoothed things over with them.

Even Xue Meng was given a life-saving healing medicine, silencing any objections he might have.

This isn't even the strongest part. What's truly impressive is that this guy mastered the seven-section and nine-section fast sword techniques he was taught for free in just two days, with every point of force applied flawlessly.

Although body tempering still requires gradual transformation and time to accumulate, this speed has far exceeded everyone's expectations.

It should be noted that even Lin Hui spent a year mastering the seven-section and nine-section fast swords.

Although Tao Xuehai already possessed perfect internal energy and a solid foundation, Xue Meng, who also possessed perfect internal energy, only mastered both sword techniques after two weeks of study.

This demonstrates the person's innate talent and comprehension.

Just as Lin Hui was diligently cultivating his body and about to complete the ninth rank and achieve the special effect.

A group of people rushed out from the inner city. They were all dressed in black armor with pale gold eagles engraved on their chests.

The leader, with his white hair, white eyebrows, and white armor, stood out conspicuously among everyone else in black armor.

It was Hong Ling, the chief investigator who had been investigating the case all along.

He led his team out of the South Ninth Gate. Looking around, his imposing presence made people instinctively keep their distance from him, and some didn't even dare to look him in the eye.

Everyone knows that anyone who dares to act this way after coming out of the inner city must have an incredibly powerful background, someone that is at least not someone that those of them who come and go can afford to offend.

"Is this Xinyu Town? Where is Lin Hui? Can you find out where he is now?" Hong Ling turned to look at a black-armored soldier to the side.

This person was the only one among everyone who wasn't wearing a helmet. Her brilliant golden hair flowed in the wind, her face was delicate, her skin was slightly dark, and her eyes had a faint bluish-green hue. She was clearly a woman from the Blue-Eyed Tribe.

"According to the access token provided by the Chen family, we can pinpoint the exact location to within ten miles of this area," the blonde, blue-eyed woman replied solemnly.

"Could you be more specific?" Hong Ling frowned.

“It’s difficult. The information provided by the jade talisman has been erased beforehand, which clearly indicates that Lin Hui has connections with the Rain Palace.” the woman replied.

“That’s normal. Anyone who dares to enter the inner city and venture alone into the Xuanya District must have some significant background. But no matter what his background is, no one dares to refuse to cooperate with my inspection team. Otherwise, I have the right to directly disable the night fog isolation effect of the jade talisman he is using!” Hong Ling said coldly.

"So, what do we do now?" the woman asked hesitantly.

"Go out and inquire. The outer city is only so big, just a small town. Go directly to the government office to get the registered population files." Hong Ling snorted coldly.

"I'll wait for you in this restaurant while I check the intelligence. Find the person and bring them here within an hour." Hong Ling casually glanced around, found a restaurant that looked nicely decorated, walked over, and left with those words.

"Yes!"

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bamboo forest.

Fallen leaves fluttered down, like rain falling with the wind.

Lin Hui held two swords, closed his eyes, and stood still, sensing the extremely subtle fluctuations naturally emanating from the net woven around his body.

This is the body-tempering method for practicing the Gale Sword Technique. It allows one to fully grasp all internal and external forces, including those that weave a net, annihilating all uncontrollable autonomous pulses and precisely canceling them out with the opposite operation.

This method of physical tempering is also very helpful in tempering the mind and spirit.

Because it requires complete concentration to observe and feel the internal and external conditions.

Countless bamboo leaves fluttered and swept past him from time to time.

But unlike before, now, if a bamboo leaf brushes past him, he is like an ordinary person, everything is normal, and there is no impact on him.

A short while later, Lin Hui suddenly opened his eyes and looked in a certain direction.

Swish!
Three figures in black armor suddenly appeared there. The one in the middle had flowing golden hair that cascaded down her shoulders and a beautiful face. She was the deputy commander of the inspection team who had come with Hong Ling to investigate the case.

"Lin Hui from Qingfeng Temple?" The blonde woman stared sharply at Lin Hui, who was standing in the bamboo forest.

She unfolded a portrait in her hand, compared it with Lin Hui, confirmed that it was him, and then threw the portrait aside.

"We are the Black Armor Army of the Tu Yue Inspectorate under the Inner City Government. We are responsible for investigating the recent disappearance of a caravan in the Xuanya District. There are clues indicating that you passed through the scene of the crime and may have met the murderer. We need you to come here to cooperate with the investigation."

"The caravan disappearance case?" Lin Hui frowned. He remembered it; at the time, he did feel that there might be trouble, and fearing being implicated, he decisively ran away.

I didn't expect the inner city investigation to come knocking on our door so quickly.

It is clear that they must have some special methods that they are unaware of, which enabled them to find me so quickly in an era without surveillance.

“It seems you remember him.” The blonde woman noticed Lin Hui’s subtle expression. “Come with me to see Commander Hong. He’s at a restaurant near South Gate 9.”

“I did go to the Inner City Xuanya District once, but how can you prove that you are indeed from the Inner City Inspectorate?” Lin Hui said calmly.

Several people came and asked him to cooperate with an investigation at a certain place. Naturally, he couldn't believe everything they said. "What kind of proof do you need?" the blonde woman smiled.

"Name, identification, guarantor?" Lin Hui asked.

"Name? I am Dai Enran, the deputy commander of the Inspectorate. What is this document? Because it was too slow, I didn't go to the yamen to bring people out. This is my Inspectorate's token. Can you recognize it?" The woman threw out a pitch-black token.

Lin Hui caught it, glanced at it, and found that the token was made of a cold material. He didn't know what it was, but it was engraved with a dark golden eagle, and a large character "督" (Du) was clearly visible below it.

He had never seen the Inspectorate's token before, but since the other party gave it to him so readily, it must be genuine.

"What about the guarantor? Who will vouch for you as being from the Inner City Inspectorate?" he asked again.

“No guarantor is needed; your strength speaks for itself. If you don’t go, we can easily take you by force.” The blonde woman, Dai Enran, was getting impatient.

"Then you can try forcibly," Lin Hui said calmly, tossing the token back.

laugh!
Before he finished speaking, a soldier in black armor rushed out and pounced on Lin Hui's side in the blink of an eye, grabbing his arm.

The grab was incredibly fast, and the black metal gloves the attendant was wearing even emitted a faint white light indicating perfect inner strength. Clearly, this unassuming black-armored follower was also a powerful individual at the sixth level of perfect inner strength.

Moreover, his fighting style and movements were no less impressive than those of the former Qingfeng Temple Taoist Baohe.

It seemed that besides his internal strength, there was another force subtly propelling and assisting him in his attack.

According to Lin Hui's observation, this is very likely an internal energy martial artist who is a fellow practitioner of the Summoner!

This mere foot soldier was actually a master of both summoning and internal energy cultivation. Although the skin around his eyes under the human-faced armor revealed his advanced age, with fine crow's feet, he was clearly not young.

However, it also shows that the overall average strength of the Inspectorate is very high!

Faced with this grab, Lin Hui stepped back slightly, precisely avoiding the opponent's attack.

Then he dodged again, once again avoiding the man's second change of attack.

Swish swish!
In an instant, the black-armored soldiers launched more than ten consecutive attacks, but they couldn't even touch the hem of Lin Hui's clothes.

"Interesting!" Deputy Commander Dai Enran's eyes lit up slightly. "I thought that as a mere inner force realm martial artist from the outer city, and someone who transitioned from outer to inner force, your potential was extremely low. I didn't expect you to forcefully break through to the peak of inner force, and your movement technique is even quite impressive. I didn't expect that at all."

She took a step forward.

"Tang Zhong, step aside, I'll handle this myself!"

The black-armored soldiers who had attacked had been making moves one after another, but they couldn't touch Lin Hui. They were getting anxious and were about to use their secret techniques, but when they heard the order, they immediately withdrew and left without any hesitation.

The instant he broke away, Dai Enran's figure left a trail of afterimages as he flashed in front of Lin Hui.

Clang!
Lightning flashed as the sword was drawn from its sheath, illuminating the bamboo forest with a silvery light.

It was as if a blinding silver light was shining in her hand.

Everything around was illuminated by a silvery glow in that instant.

Her move was several times faster than that of the black-armored soldier named Tang Zhong.

Around the blade he wielded, there was not only internal force, but also an indescribable, subtle distortion. That distortion was invisible and transparent, carrying a sense of danger that was extremely familiar.

Illusory power!?
Lin Hui instantly recognized the method this person used.

He had just fought with Wang Yueheng, the superior summoner. Enraged, Wang Yueheng used his illusory power again, but due to the huge difference in speed, he was eventually beaten into a pig's head.

Because of his excessive use of virtual power, Lin Hui was able to see the unique power of this superior induction in detail.

This thing is formless and intangible; it only exerts its power the instant it touches the enemy, dissolving everything in its path.

According to Wang Yueheng, there are many things that can be dissolved by illusory power, and even the most powerful divine weapons cannot resist illusory power.

Only Zhou Tian can use a massive amount of internal energy to forcibly wear down the illusory energy, but that also takes a considerable amount of time.

If we use real-world material analogies, then illusory force is like a powerful weapon that can destroy anything, while internal force is like a large amount of fine sand. A small amount of fine sand cannot block illusory force, but a large amount can be used to wash it away, forcibly stagnate it, and make it consume more, making it extremely difficult to use until the user is also unable to support it.

The blade was rapidly approaching.

A crack silently appeared in the scabbard in Lin Hui's hand.

But in the next instant, he still turned into a blur, dodging the attack without drawing his sword.

Swish!
The slash landed deeply, as if cutting tofu, easily creating a black gash several meters long and of unknown depth.

Dai Enran sheathed his sword, stood still, and looked at Lin Hui, who was slowly solidifying a few meters away. His expression was no longer as calm as before.

"Good form!"

This was the first time she had ever seen such exaggerated speed and agility from someone at the Inner Strength Realm.

She had just used all her speed except for the secret technique, and with all her might, she slashed with the blade, aiming to use the ethereal force around the blade to automatically expand and bind Lin Hui the moment it touched him.

But to my surprise, it still didn't work out.

Even with this kind of sword-drawing speed, I can't keep up with the opponent. It seems that the only solution is...

(End of this chapter)