Decaying World

Chapter 18 018 Body Tempering Part 4 (Xie Lan Die's Wings Alliance Leader)
Lin Hui was left alone in the courtyard, looking at the dim sky, feeling a strange sense of peace.

Not long after they sat down, the courtyard gate was knocked on again.

dong dong dong.

He got up and went to open the door.

Standing outside the door were Brother Huang and his companion who had just left, as well as a thin, scarred woman.

"Brother Lin, this is the money your family used to pay. It's all been returned, not a penny less. And this is a small apology; I apologize for not clarifying the details before." Brother Huang handed over a small money bag, along with a bag of kumquats.

The recent kumquat harvest was poor, causing prices to rise and making it a relatively expensive fruit.

"Okay, I'll take the money, and the kumquats..." Lin Hui took the money bag, but before he could finish speaking, the other party forced it on him.

"We accept it, we accept it. We broke the rules first. This is an apology. We hope you will be lenient with us at the martial arts school." Brother Huang said humbly.

He was just an ordinary gang member. If he were to be targeted by these martial artists who were undergoing body tempering, and were to be ambushed and killed one day, then all his efforts would be in vain.

So, this bag of kumquats was actually a gift he bought out of his own pocket as an apology. He might have to take better care of the Lin family afterwards to make amends.

"Alright, I won't spread this around. Let's leave it at that." Lin Hui put away the oranges. "Is there anything else?"

"No, it's nothing. This is my sister. She'll be patrolling the area later. I brought her here to get to know her." Brother Huang patted the scarred woman's back and said politely.

"Okay, go back if you have nothing else to do. I won't see you off." Lin Hui didn't want to waste words with these low-level gang members. He understood their way of survival, but while he understood their tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong, he didn't want to associate with them.

"Alright, alright, then I won't bother you any longer." Brother Huang nodded repeatedly.

The courtyard gate closed gently.

Lin Hui, carrying oranges and a money bag, turned around and saw his mother standing at the door of the inner room, looking in their direction.

He held up the money bag and oranges to his mother.

"It's nothing, it's just the Muhua Gang coming to return the money and apologize."

Upon hearing this, Yao Shan's expression immediately relaxed, and then her gaze fell on the money bag and oranges.

The people from the Wood Flower Gang actually came to repay the money. Only when she actually saw the money did she truly realize the real impact her son's becoming a formal disciple had on her family.

That's not something ethereal or intangible; it's an influence that can be tangibly translated into money and profit.

Looking at her son Lin Hui standing in the yard, Yao Shan suddenly realized that the family, which had been struggling to stay afloat with only her husband's help, now had an extra pillar of support.

Although the pillar wasn't thick, it helped her husband stabilize the roof, which was on the verge of collapse, allowing the house to continue to shelter her from the wind and rain.

I stayed at home for three days.

Lin Hui also met the people from the Fu'an Gang. The other party tactfully returned half of the fee, which was quite good since there were no people from Qingfeng Temple in the gang.

This brought a significant amount of cash flow back to the family.

With his parents seeing him off, Lin Hui returned to Qingfeng Temple and first went to see Daoist Mingde.

After all, it was Mingde who arranged for him to enter the temple in the first place, so he always had to go and see him after his body was tempered.

Mingde's room was located in a secluded courtyard outside Qingfeng Temple.

He didn't live inside the Taoist temple, but instead built his own courtyard right next to it.

When Lin Hui arrived, he was scattering a handful of dry rice to feed the chickens.

A flock of plump, waddling yellow chickens, resembling a group of pale yellow spheres, rolled and scurried around the yard.

"Disciple Lin Hui greets True Man Mingde." Lin Hui stood outside the courtyard and bowed to the other party through the fence.

"It's you. How's your dad?" Mingde finished scattering all the rice and looked up at Lin Hui.

"Huh, you've finally broken through to the Body Tempering stage? Not bad, not bad."

A smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks to the Master's blessing, I was fortunate enough to break through," Lin Hui said in a deep voice.

"For someone your age, breaking through to the next level in time is not bad. But the real gap will widen from here. Have you thought about how to make money? You won't earn much money staying at Qingfeng Temple," Mingde said casually.

"I haven't decided yet." Lin Hui was taken aback and shook his head.

Mingde opened the door and let him in, then turned and walked toward the inner room as he spoke.

"Now that you've broken through the Body Tempering Realm, Old Lin's life is a bit easier. He's such a stubborn guy, he absolutely refused to let me help him. Now that's better, you're somewhat useful now."

"Thank you for your kindness, Master." Lin Hui said sincerely again.

From that last sentence, he understood that Master Mingde had been keeping track of his family's situation. It was just that his father, due to personal relationships, was unwilling to let him help.

"Don't mention it. Your father helped me a lot back then. Come and sit down." Mingde found two stools, one for each of them, and they sat down at the table in the inner room.

"Since you don't plan on it, how about I make arrangements for you?" He seemed to have been prepared all along.

"Please speak, sir," Lin Hui said hurriedly.

"Because of your contract with the temple, you can't go to the wealthy households. However, the temple has always cooperated with the town government. They need to transfer people from here to form a security auxiliary patrol team with the other martial arts schools. This team will cooperate with the government officials to patrol the surrounding area. The main task is to catch robbers and thieves and kill any ferocious beasts or monsters that wander into the foggy area. Of course, you will only play a lookout role in the latter, so don't worry about it."

Mingde paused for a moment, then continued.

"The work will still be included in the Qingfeng Temple contract. In addition to the temple's share, the salary will be an extra 10,000 yuan per month, and room and board will be free. Most importantly, we martial artists always need real combat experience. You can't become a master by just practicing behind closed doors all the time."

"This disciple is willing!" Lin Hui readily agreed.

"Just kidding, besides the salary at the temple, you can get ten thousand a month, that's definitely a lucrative job. Although it's a bit dangerous, as Mingde said, martial arts training always involves real combat." "Alright, I'll send your name over later. You need to practice the Nine-Section Fast Sword a lot from now on; you'll be fighting in real combat outside. Also..."

He got up and went to a wooden cabinet in the corner, opened the cabinet, and took out a silver-black sword that was more than a meter long and wrapped with non-slip cloth.

"This is for you." He placed the sword in front of Lin Hui.

"This is a top-quality sword from Yun Song Pavilion. Take good care of it; it will last you a long time. Remember to maintain it and sharpen it regularly."

"This is too valuable!" Lin Hui was shocked. Real weapons are expensive to begin with, even the cheapest metal weapon costs tens of thousands of coins, let alone this one from Yun Song Pavilion.

Yun Song Pavilion is a renowned weapons shop in the inner city, offering superior quality weapons at equally high prices. This sword, by that calculation, would probably cost over 100,000!

He quickly stood up and declined.

"What's the rush? Consider it a loan. You can pay me back when you make more money," Mingde said nonchalantly. "Alright, stop nagging. This sword is useless to me; it'll just rust. Take it and consider it a favor to help me maintain it. This house will fall into disrepair if no one lives here for a long time, let alone weapons."

Without giving him a chance to explain, he forced Lin Hui to take the sword with him, and then gave Lin Hui some pointers on the essentials of practicing the Nine-Section Quick Sword.

The two chatted for more than ten minutes before Lin Hui got up to say goodbye.

Only after Lin Hui had completely left and gone far away did a long-haired girl emerge from the bedroom.

"Father, it's just a favor from a long time ago. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths? That kid isn't exactly a genius, and he doesn't have much potential for the future. Is it worth it?"

The girl's appearance was about 50% similar to Mingde's, with a pretty face, and the other 50% was obviously inherited from her mother.

Her figure was curvaceous, especially her long, rounded legs, and her waist and lower body were firm and taut. Even a light green dress could not hide her mature body curves.

“Weiwei, Lin Shunhe helped me through a difficult time back then, and now that I’m repaying him, he doesn’t want it. So I can only repay him through his son, which is also the result he wants,” Mingde said calmly.

"But is it really necessary to go to such lengths?" her daughter, Weiwei, said helplessly. "There's no way this will ever pay off. It's all a waste of money."

“This is my principle in life!” Mingde’s voice rose slightly. “Weiwei, remember this: there are always some things in this world that cannot be measured by money.”

"Yes, yes, yes," Weiwei rolled her eyes speechlessly at this old-fashioned argument. But she stopped arguing with her father.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and Mingde's help for his friend had already placed a considerable burden on his family. But no matter what they said, it was no use.

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Lin Hui returned to his residence and, seeing that it was still early and before it got dark and foggy, took his wooden sword and went to the front school field.

He plans to formally learn the nine-section sword.

As for the Blood Seal, it has officially begun its evolution of that dead insect egg.

The evolution direction is a one-month sealing array toxin.

It's only a month; he can wait.

Upon arriving at the front yard, the training ground was divided into ten areas, most of which were already occupied.

Only the seats near the front door were unoccupied, perhaps because people were constantly coming and going there, causing significant disturbance.

Lin Hui drew his sword, took up a spot, stood in the center, and slowly began to practice the Seven-Section Fast Sword.

Not far behind him was his senior brother, Chen Sui.

On the other side, in another area, was the genius Huang Shan; the two of them had clearly been practicing for a while.

Seeing Lin Hui approach, Chen Sui remained unaffected and continued practicing the Qingfeng Sword technique with unwavering focus.

Huang Shan had some recollection of Lin Hui, all because Chen Chong had touched her buttocks back then, and Lin Hui had also had a conflict with Chen Chong because of her friend.

She witnessed Chen Zhishen's affair from afar.

Both men shared similarities due to their conflicts with Chen Chong.

Seeing Lin Hui practicing his sword at this moment, his seven-section fast sword routine unfolded like flowing clouds and water, giving people an indescribable sense of agility.

Huang Shan's eyes lit up immediately. For some reason, she felt that Lin Hui seemed to be even better at training than she was.

After watching several times, she saw Lin Hui go to Mingxiu, the Taoist priest on duty, to learn the Nine-Section Fast Sword.

Lin Hui quickly learned the first few moves of the Nine-Section Fast Sword. When he returned and practiced them repeatedly, he completely lost his previous amazing skills and became slow and clumsy, like a child dancing.

Huang Shan quickly lost interest.

Time passes day by day.

Lin Hui quickly obtained the position of inspector at the town government office that Mingde had mentioned. Besides him, there were four other people who went on the inspection.

Among them, Huang Shanqiu Yiren and Chen Chong were prominently listed.

The last person was Chen Sui, the senior brother in charge of leading the team.

Clearly, in this team, the senior brother relies on his strength, Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren rely on their talent, and he and Chen Chong rely on their connections.

Lin Hui clearly understood this point.

Because there was no bloodstain, his progress with the Nine-Section Quick Sword was extremely slow. But he remained completely calm.

Because his body tempering speed was maximized every day, he could feel his body becoming more and more agile.

Until two days before they were to depart for the inspection.

Lin Hui finally got the Blood Seal's special effect on the Seven-Section Quick Sword activated.

(End of this chapter)