Decaying World

Chapter 160, Exchange 160 (Thanks to Alliance Leader Xie Zhenkong and Zero Point Energy)

More than an hour later.
In another village on the Bone-Eroding Plain.

A tall, black bison covered in pustules was growling angrily at Lin Hui with its three horns, which were burning with dark red flames.

Moo!

The bison's muscles were bulging all over its body, its eyes were bloodshot, and it kept spewing out specks of red sparks from its mouth and nose.

Wherever their four hooves trod, they left behind smoky scorch marks.

'This time it's truly a hellish transformation; the Triangular Bull is a high-risk monster, a gatekeeper of the high-risk level.'

Lin Hui gripped the Ruyi scepter, looked up past the triangular bull in front of him, and gazed into the village inside.

They discovered that there were also triangular bulls, transformed into demons, roaming around inside. As for where the original inhabitants of this village had gone, the answer is self-evident.

The black, triangular bulls, each over two meters tall and five meters long, resembled mobile tanks, easily crushing and collapsing any stone houses they occasionally bumped into.

'Let's finish this quickly. We've located three Infernal Contaminated Clans; hopefully, the other one is still intact.'

Lin Hui brandished his sword and slowly walked towards the bull.

'After undergoing Hellfire Transformation, recovery and strength will be greatly enhanced, so a one-hit kill is the best option.'

laugh!
The next instant, the others had already brushed past the triangular bull.

call!
The entire bull was suddenly split in two, bursting into a large area of ​​dark red flames.

The flames shot out and chased after Lin Hui, disappearing into his back.

Then comes the next one.

Hiss hiss hiss hiss!
After a series of flashing slashes, one after another, the Hellfire Triangular Bulls crashed to the ground, turning into dark red torches and burning to black ash.

The infernal flames that were burned continuously gathered on Lin Hui's body, causing his body surface to also ignite with raging infernal flames.

But the flames did not burn his clothes; they burned and flickered around his body as if they were phantoms.

'This feeling...it's wonderful.'

After the last triangular bull fell to the ground, Lin Hui felt the changes happening in his body.

With a significant increase in strength, more abundant mental energy, and a clearer consciousness, there seemed to be an endless surge of desire within the body, which was clearly an overabundance of energy that wanted to be released.

'Interesting. Is it an excess of energy due to the dramatic increase in resilience? No wonder the creatures become incredibly irritable after being transformed into Hellfire beings. It's purely due to excessive energy, isn't it?'

Standing on the outskirts of the village, Lin Hui touched his forehead, thankfully he hadn't grown sharp horns like the Hellfire Goat and the Wild Bull.

He touched his ears again, and they became slightly pointed. Bright red patterns appeared on his hands and body, resembling burning flames, which contrasted sharply with his original fair skin.

Apart from that, there are no other changes.

'Hmm? My hair has gotten longer?' Lin Hui suddenly noticed that his hair seemed to have grown longer than before.

He touched it; his black hair now almost reached his waist, whereas before it only reached his vest—it had grown at least ten centimeters longer.

'It must be the excessively strong recovery ability that has led to the body's accelerated metabolism. A burning, burning-like accelerated recovery ability—it truly lives up to its name.'

Suddenly he felt that Purgatory Transformation was an extreme form formed by maximizing the regenerative ability of a living organism.

An excessively strong recovery ability brings about a series of changes, including great strength, strong impulses, and a powerful metabolism.

Swish!
The next instant, he vanished from his spot and headed towards the third purgatory contamination point.

The infernal flames on his body quickly dimmed and extinguished, disappearing completely and being forcibly suppressed.

Half an hour later.
In a black stone forest, amidst pale green acidic mud, humanoid monsters covered in black bandages surged towards Lin Hui from all directions.

hiss! !

These monsters had only one eye on their faces, which were hideous and dark red. Hot pus dripped continuously from their bodies, and infernal flames covered their backs, burning and emitting wisps of black smoke with a sulfurous smell.

"wind."

Lin Hui raised his sword, and an invisible, violent current of energy swirled around him at high speed.

Swish!
In an instant, he leaped and flashed behind the one-eyed bandaged monsters, drew his sword, and then flashed again.

One sword, one kill.

One by one, the one-eyed bandaged monsters were split in two from top to bottom, turning into burning, screaming crimson torches.

Before long, all thirty-odd monsters in the entire group were transformed into torches.

Clusters of dark red infernal flames flew towards Lin Hui like thousands of birds returning to their nests, merging into his body and disappearing.

That's how speed-based combat works. Once you can't keep up with its speed, and once you don't have a suitable way to deal with it, even if the difference in strength isn't that big, the battle will end very quickly, and it can even be a matter of instant kill.

In the midst of battle, the slightest opening can mean the difference between life and death.

The speed-based approach is the fastest at finding weaknesses.

Clusters of infernal flames continuously surged into Lin Hui's body.

His figure also began to grow taller, and his eyebrows and eyes gradually became narrower and redder, with the corners of his eyes even becoming somewhat sharp, giving him a sharp, razor-like appearance.

Her black hair grew longer and longer, eventually reaching her thighs. Thick and voluminous, it swayed in the wind like a large ball of black flame, contrasting with the infernal fire. But what was most striking were her eyes.

The original black and white in his eyes turned into a clear dark red, and black patterns resembling flames even appeared on his pupils. From a distance, his eyes shone with a striking red light, deep and mysterious.

'That's about enough. If we continue, the aura of purgatory will become uncontrollable.' Lin Hui gently touched the back of his head, where some hard, pointed things were faintly protruding, and something resembling horns was trying to grow.

This made his scalp itch, and it was only when he realized this that he decisively stopped his actions of strangling the infernal creatures.

This situation occurs even though I've been continuously suppressing and restraining it. It means my suppression is no longer enough to control the infernal flames and must be temporarily halted. Otherwise, the physical and mental changes brought about by the infernal transformation might negatively impact my values ​​and even my personality.

He wisely stopped absorbing the energy, looked at the black ash covering the ground, and sheathed his sword.

At this moment, he felt as if he were walking on air, his strength had increased by an unknown amount, and his recovery ability was also greatly enhanced, as if he could practice swordsmanship endlessly.

The Nine Eyes have been fully restored, and everything is ready. The purpose of this trip has been achieved, and it's time to go back and properly digest the effects of absorbing too much of the Purgatory Flame.

Lin Hui slowly turned around, lifted his foot, and landed.

hiss.

Suddenly, a wisp of black smoke rose from the ground.

He was startled and looked down, only to see that the smoke was coming from the ground he was standing on.

'It seems we really need to tighten controls a bit before we can go back.'

The power of Purgatory is growing too fast. This feeling is on a completely different level compared to ascetic training.

The idea that one can become stronger simply by killing is a fatal temptation compared to the arduous training that took years to complete.

'Is this the temptation of purgatory? Once you truly get used to this mode of becoming stronger, you may never be able to go back to your original principles.'

However, he could also sense that if he really focused on becoming stronger in this way, the final result would inevitably be that his mind would be completely dominated by the power of purgatory, turning him into a completely irrational killing machine and a machine of destruction.

Bang.

I lost focus for a moment.

The ground beneath Lin Hui's feet suddenly collapsed, creating a deep pit the size of a washbasin.

He reluctantly lifted his foot, his body enveloped in a surge of energy to help him control his strength.

Then, step by step, like a baby learning to walk, he tried to take his first steps forward.

*
*
*
Outside Qingfeng Pavilion.

The two old men, Black and White Knife, sat listlessly on the third floor of the restaurant, looking out the window at the temple across the street.

"Still not back?" The old man with the black knife picked up a fried soybean in front of him and ate it listlessly, dipping it in soy sauce.

"It's only the first day, what's the rush?" The old man with the white knife lifted his buttocks and farted, then looked at his brother opposite him with satisfaction, making sure he hadn't been discovered, before picking up his teacup and taking a sip.

Just as he lowered his head to drink his tea.

puff!
Suddenly, an inexplicable aura appeared abruptly within the range of his senses.

The moment he sensed this presence, Bai Dao couldn't help but spit out the tea in his mouth, spraying it all over the table.

Their side dishes were also completely soiled by the mixture of saliva and tea.

But Black Knife had no time to pay attention to that at the moment.

He sensed that aura as well.
He raised his head and looked solemnly at his brother opposite him.

"What was that?! Was I hallucinating?!"

"..." Bai Dao did not reply, but turned his face to look at the entrance of Qingfeng Temple through the window, his eyes extremely solemn.

At this moment, a pure-looking woman in a brocade robe was standing at the gate.

The woman had snow-white skin, and her long robe was embroidered with exquisite gold patterns. It was fitted at the waist and had broad shoulders, making it seem more like men's clothing.

Her long, ink-black hair hung down her back, with a golden ribbon peeking out from the middle.

If that were all, the two wouldn't be so solemn. But the key point is the faintly visible character for "dream" on the woman's long hair ribbon.
"We should retreat," Black Knife said telepathically, his expression frozen in place.

He slowly stood up. But as soon as his buttocks left the seat, Bai Dao grabbed his hand and pressed it down.

"Don't move! This old monster can monitor all unusual movements within a ten-kilometer radius at any time!! Keep your heartbeat steady, don't pay attention to him! Let's continue with our previous actions!" Bai Dao transmitted solemnly. "Anything abnormal, or any unusual movement caused by his presence, will be detected by him!"

"But staying here like this is even more dangerous!!" Black Knife gritted his teeth and said.

"Listen to me!! Have you forgotten how Xiaoling'er's parents died?!" Bai Dao reminded her sharply.

Black Knife fell silent.

The deaths of their daughter and son-in-law have always been their greatest pain. Otherwise, they wouldn't have joined the Qinghe Sect at their advanced age and with their current cultivation level.
Sensing the terrifying aura, the two slowly walked into Qingfeng Temple, their fear growing stronger.

The man entered the gate and, guided by a disciple, began his tour.

The two of them struggled to regain their composure, got up to pay the bill, and slowly walked out of the restaurant, heading towards the end of the street.

They maintained this pace for over a thousand meters before daring to accelerate slightly, then faster and faster, until they plunged into the fog without looking back and disappeared from sight.

(End of this chapter)