Decaying World

Chapter 142, Change 142 (What should we eat tonight, Alliance Leader?)
"This is bad. The Tao family is suspected of colluding with Xue Ying on one hand, and on the other hand, they are doing everything they can to participate in the encirclement and killing in order to prove themselves. Now they are pleasing neither side." Lu Xuan shook her head slightly.

Before she could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly arose in the dense crowd of spectators in the front courtyard of Qingfeng Temple, near the gate.

Wang Chengdong of the Wang family sighed at this moment.

"The reason I brought this up is to remind Abbot Lin that it would be best to sever ties with the Tao family as soon as possible, unless absolutely necessary." He looked toward the source of the commotion, where a handsome young man, holding a long sword and carrying a black bundle with silver-edged animal patterns, slowly walked through the gate.

The young man looked slightly haggard, but his distinctive facial features still made him instantly recognizable as Tao Xuehai, whom people hadn't seen in a long time.

Immediately, a series of greetings from Senior Brother Tao rang out. The Qingfeng Temple disciples around had always had a very good impression of this handsome and generous senior brother.

He nodded briefly in return, then his gaze swept over everyone and landed on Lin Hui, who was sitting in the main seat.

Swish!
The next second, he flashed across dozens of meters, touched the rope at the edge of the ring with his toes, and flashed again, appearing a few meters in front of Lin Hui, kneeling on one knee.

"Tao Xuehai greets Master!" He bowed his head, and the tension in his body relaxed instantly.

Although he hadn't known Lin Hui for long, he clearly felt that Lin Hui's kindness towards him was genuine and unadulterated.

So, after leaving the treacherous inner city, he finally felt completely relaxed once he returned here.

Lin Hui stood up, squinted at Tao Xuehai, and then waved to his disciple to take him away to rest.

Before the disciples beside him could even get there, they heard Tao Xuehai raise his head and transmit his voice.

"Master, there's no need for you to trouble yourself. I've only come back to visit you. Also, this year's batch of Illusionary Dragon Lotuses has been placed at my residence in the temple; please go and collect them as soon as possible. I have other matters to attend to and must return. It may be a long time before I can come again..."

"You're injured and in this condition, why did you go back?" Lin Hui frowned and transmitted his voice.

Internal force transmission is simply controlling internal force, condensing it into a beam, and sending it to the other person's ear. The method is not difficult, but it requires a high degree of precision.

He quickly mastered the method while studying internal energy techniques.

"I have family members who need my care, so I have to return," Tao Xuehai replied in a deep voice.

The Tao family is large and powerful, yet such a prominent clan in the inner city still needs a junior like him to help take care of them. This shows how dire their situation is.

"Don't go back. Just stay here. No one will blame a junior like you," Lin Hui said reluctantly.

Tao Xuehai didn't reply, but simply clasped his hands in a fist salute, stood up, bowed, and then turned to leave.

The Tao family is now in dire straits, having suffered heavy casualties in several attempts to suppress Xue Ying. It was only under these circumstances that he was fortunate enough to break through to the Zhou Tian realm, barely qualifying him to help his older sister and brother avoid assassination attempts.

Now that his family is in decline, his grandfather and uncle have perished, and his parents were severely injured in the encirclement, he, though only at the Zhou Tian level, is invaluable at a time when many experts have scattered and fled like birds. While his strength may not be enough to protect people, his speed and agility are sufficient to carry them away from danger!

At this moment, everyone watched him leave without saying a word.

Lin Hui was in the same boat. The Tao family was essentially defeated by Xue Ying and the forces behind him, and there was more than one such powerful family in the inner city recently.

After all, more than one high priest had died or been wounded in the multiple sieges. Both sides were now fighting with real intensity.

The fall of each high priest represents the fall of a great clan from the clouds.

"Let's continue with the smaller competition," Lu Xuan suggested.

On the surface, this was a suggestion, but in reality, it was a subtle reminder to Lin Hui that it was best to let the matter drop and not get involved in the Tao family's affairs.

She meant well, after all, she represented her elder brother Liu Wujun, so naturally she was on Lin Hui's side.

“No matter how arrogant Xue Ying and the others are, they wouldn’t lay a hand on a young child who isn’t even a high-ranking official. There’s no need to worry about Tao Xuehai’s safety,” Wang Chengdong reminded him.

"I know," Lin Hui sighed. Watching Tao Xuehai's figure flash and disappear at the gate, he knew that this kid had come specifically to say goodbye and give away the Illusionary Dragon Lotus.

He left in front of everyone to dispel any suspicion that people might remain at Qingfeng Temple.

Although this method is naive, one can sense his simple desire not to involve anyone.

"Continue." Lin Hui waved his hand and sat down again.

It was as if nothing had ever happened. As if Tao Xuehai had never been there at all.

Soon the preliminary rounds began, and one by one the disciples went on stage to demonstrate their swordsmanship. Their movements and sword speed were significantly faster than those of the Qingfeng Temple disciples.

The eyes of the representatives from the prominent families who had their own interests gleamed with interest.

Previously, I had only heard that Lin Hui was famous and strong, but now it seems that the strength of the entire Qingfeng Temple has increased significantly.

Just by looking at the expressions of these representatives, it's clear to anyone with discerning eyes that the time has come for Qingfeng Temple to truly take root.

After this small competition, many of the remaining major clans will likely change their previous wavering attitude and send their elite disciples to learn martial arts.

Qingfeng Temple will also be completely integrated into more than ten surrounding towns, with each town intertwined with the other.

*
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Streetside in town.

Tao Xuehai sped past the eaves of the houses, his body not touching the ground, but only lightly touching the edge of the eaves with his toes, and then he flew out at high speed.

Like a bird flying at low altitude.

Before long, he left the town and arrived at the plains near the foggy outskirts.

This area is right near the Gale Plains, where Lin Hui often comes to practice his swordsmanship.

A caravan was resting at the entrance to the foggy area.

The caravan, including its people and vehicles, was completely covered up in thick brown furs.

The group was led by a middle-aged couple.

The couple's faces were stiff and their features were pale, but their eyes were unusually bright and lively, clearly indicating that they had used some kind of special disguise technique to cover their faces.

Seeing Tao Xuehai return, the couple slowly stood up. "You're back? Is it over?" the middle-aged man asked in a deep voice, his inner-city accent barely concealed.

"Hmm. Are we really not coming back?" Tao Xuehai turned around and looked at the hazy Xinyu Town in the distance.

“Perhaps I will return someday, but not now. There are people targeting us in the Moon Tower. Your uncle died under suspicious circumstances, supposedly related to Xue Ying, but…” the man replied in a low voice.

Tao Xuehai fell silent.

The caravan members silently prepared for the various tasks involved in entering the fog zone.

After waiting for about ten more minutes, the entire group slowly started moving again, heading towards the direction where the fog remained steadfast.

The group quickly entered the fog. Ning Xiang propped up one spherical cavity after another, and all the cavities were linked together, like a beaded chain, and they continued to move forward in the fog.

The group consisted of about a hundred people, all of whom were taciturn, and most of them were couples with children.

This migration involved the entire Tao family. It also signified their withdrawal from the major upheaval in the inner city, where the Xue Ying incident was used to reshuffle the power structure.

After traveling for about half an hour, a low laugh suddenly came from the sky above the mist.

"Tao Mengzhi, Ruan Yuling, with so many good things, where do you think you're going to run off to?"

The caravan suddenly stopped, and everyone looked up, their expressions tense.

The couple leading the group had white light shining from their bodies as they looked up and gazed into the air.

In the mist there, a huge, grayish-brown moth was fluttering its wings, slowly descending and swooping towards this side.

The moth is grayish-brown overall, with a fuzzy surface and regular brown stripes.

Its abdomen was covered with more than a dozen pairs of legs, and its back had a large white platform resembling a groove, in which a few sparse black shadows stood.

As the moth flew closer, its size rapidly increased.

By the time the moth was almost above the caravan, it had transformed into a colossal creature over ten meters long and seven or eight meters wide.

On the platform on the back of the moth, four figures rose into the air and landed on both sides of the caravan.

"Yan Long, Chen Changjun, what? Do you really think that just because the Tao family has declined, you people can get away with it?"

Among the couple at the front of the caravan, the man also took to the air, leaped a few times, and landed on a wagon in the middle of the caravan. He looked around and said coldly.

“We alone are not enough. Although you and your husband are injured, you are still high priests. But what if we add them?”

The leader of the shadowy figures chuckled and looked up at the mist ahead of the caravan.

Two tall men, one dressed in black and the other in white, were slowly walking out from there.

"Qinghe Sect!? Black and White Blades?! You!?" The couple's expressions changed drastically as they instantly recognized the strangers.

*
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Inside Qingfeng Temple.

The competition has successfully concluded, and a new top ten has been selected.

Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, Chen Sui, and Wang Hongshi are still there. The few extra people are old disciples whom we have met before, such as Ding Shu and Xiao Hu.

Yes, Xiao Hu is a completely different person now. He has officially completed the seven-section fast sword tempering and has achieved profound mastery of the nine-section fast sword. He has managed to surpass the tenth place from last time and successfully advanced.

This made Lin Hui nod slightly, feeling somewhat gratified, as it was worth it for him to often guide Xiao Hu and Xiao Pang.

Looking at the two boys, who were now much taller than before, he was momentarily stunned. Unbeknownst to him, the little rascals of yesteryear had grown up, gradually revealing the heroic spirit of youth.
After the preliminary rounds determine the rankings, the next steps are the awards ceremony and a post-match reception for introductions and networking.

The cocktail party was a method that Lin Hui learned from the inner city and combined with his previous life.

Allowing representatives from prominent families who are interested in hiring or forming marriage alliances to meet privately with the top ten disciples at the banquet will increase the chances of reaching a cooperation agreement.

He then personally saw off the representatives of the various powerful forces who had come to show their support. Powerful forces like Amamiya and the Inspectorate were absolutely not to be neglected.

He was busy until it was almost dark before he returned to his residence at the back to rest.

He had only just returned to the courtyard when he entered the door and sensed something was wrong.

Because he had lived in this courtyard for a long time, he knew every detail of it by heart.

Because of the aura of purgatory, he has been paying close attention to controlling his perception of the surrounding aura lately, fearing that he might accidentally leak it out and corrupt those around him.

In recent days, he has noticed that some disciples in the temple have become irritable, but their strength has actually increased significantly.

Many people couldn't figure out why their physical abilities had inexplicably improved, but Lin Hui knew exactly where the source was. He reassured everyone, explaining that it was due to an improvement on his unique body-tempering medicine, and told them not to worry.

But in reality, all of this stems from the aura of purgatory.
At this moment, he clearly sensed that something was wrong.

There were two more people in his yard.

Swish!
He flashed away in an instant, appearing behind the artificial hill by the pond, where he saw the two extra people.

Tao Xuehai was holding a pale girl in a purple dress, lying unconscious by the rockery, covered in blood.

There was also a note next to the two of them.

With a thought, Lin Hui used his inner force to create a gentle breeze, which lifted the note and placed it in his hand.

"A name change, a new look, I hope you find peace; I am deeply grateful. — Tao."

Lin Hui silently crumpled the paper into pieces, letting it scatter in the wind. Looking at the unconscious Tao Xuehai and the other person, he sighed softly.

(End of this chapter)