Decaying World

Chapter 227 Dissipation Part 227 (Xie Gunmei's Solo Recommendation of the Alliance Leader)
On the foggy plains.

Lin Hui landed slowly, followed by Su Yaping and Yun Xiazi.

Even as the three of them hovered in the air, everyone below had already noticed them.

At this moment, the Lin family members stepped out of the carriage and looked towards Lin Hui from a short distance away.

The disciples of Qingfeng Dao watched this scene with a mixture of fervor and trepidation, though they were some distance away.

As for Elder Du, the Lin family's guards and martial artists only dared to watch from afar, not even daring to approach.

After all, they had only heard of such powerful individuals in stories and novels before; they had never seen one in person.

But everyone knew in their hearts that from now on, the Lin family would surely become a legend in Xinyu Town.

“Ahui.”

Surrounded by countless gazes, Lin Shunhe didn't dare to ask anything. Only after carefully examining and confirming that Lin Hui was still his own son did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief and speak.

Given the stark contrast between his previous and current appearances, he was genuinely worried that some old monster might be impersonating his son.

But now, from some subtle gestures, he felt a strong sense of familiarity, knowing that the person was still the same person, and the son was still the same son.

It's just that this naughty son has been hiding his true nature a little too well.
"Now, what do we do?" Lin Shunhe asked in a deep voice.

Now that they knew their son was so capable, the power of the conversation naturally fell to Lin Hui.

Lin Hui looked around and found that everyone's eyes were focused on him.

His gaze swept across the room and he suddenly saw his eldest sister, Liu Xiao, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated. However, as he looked over, Liu Xiao blushed for some reason and didn't dare to meet his eyes. She lowered her head and looked elsewhere.

Lin Hui chuckled, realizing that his eldest sister was essentially someone who revered authority. Now that her younger brother had become that authority figure, her pride immediately waned.

To be honest, these little changes that come with becoming stronger are one of the little pleasures he enjoys observing.

Otherwise, wouldn't life be too boring if one only cultivated to become stronger?

"Just follow the plan as Father said before. Unexpected events here won't have a big impact," Lin Hui transmitted calmly.

"Okay! I'll listen to you." Lin Shunhe nodded.

He quickly began to urge everyone to continue on their way.

The convoy continued moving forward and began to move. This time, Lin Hui and his family, along with the top ten members of Qingfeng Dao, all joined together.

The two teams have now completely merged into one.

Lin Xiaoliu nestled in her mother Liu Shenglan's arms, secretly glancing at Su Yaping and then at Lin Hui, before burying her head in her hands like an ostrich and continuing to hide.

Actually, it wasn't just her; everyone in the team had been suppressed by Su Yaping's illusory force field before, and the uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe was still fresh in their minds. Naturally, they had a natural fear of Su Yaping.

"I'm here, you don't need to follow me. Go and do your own thing." Seeing this, Lin Hui turned his head and whispered to Su Yaping and Yun Xiazi.

Feeling somewhat awkward standing there, the two decisively nodded their goodbyes and went to the outer perimeter of the group to provide support.

Not long after the team set off, just as the atmosphere was gradually returning to normal, two more figures rushed up from behind.

"teacher!"

Xia Si suddenly appeared to the right of Lin Hui's carriage with one other person.

"This guy said he wanted to surrender and join us."

The girl pointed to a bearded man with a black knife on his back behind her.

"My lord, my name is Yan Jinghong, the leader of the Blade Hall of the Tu Yue Sect in this attack by the Wanhua Sect. Having witnessed your extraordinary strength and majestic power, I am deeply impressed and intend to abandon the darkness and follow you to serve you faithfully, seeking the ultimate in martial arts. I humbly request that you accept me!"

Red eyes?
Lin Hui sized up the man. In his eyes, this guy, who couldn't even beat Xia Si, was just a negligible individual.

"Then you should follow Xia Si for now and see how she performs. Does the Wan Hua Sect have many experts this time?"

"Yes, this time the Wanhua Sect sent twelve priests, five high priests, one palace master, and about two hundred troops. The number is not large. The main force this time is actually the Tianyan Army of the Hongyin Empire. We don't know their strategic purpose, but this time the Tianyan Army sent seven generals. When they join forces, they can be comparable to a marshal. Their overall strength is extremely terrifying."

"How strong is the general? How strong is the marshal? How do they compare to the Grand Priest of the Inner City Moon Tower?" Lin Shunhe couldn't help but ask from the side.

"In the Hongyin Empire, there's no distinction between high priests, grand priests, and palace masters. Strength is primarily differentiated by military rank. Generals can be further divided into many levels, the weakest being at the priest or Zhou Tian level, while the strongest can rival grand priests and palace masters—the gap is vast. Marshals, on the other hand, are basically Blood Ancestors, said to be far stronger than ordinary Blood Ancestors. They're terrifying." The black-bearded man paused. "In the two historical massacres of cities, both Tai Su and Tai Su were lured away by the Mist People, and then single-handedly slaughtered and destroyed by Hongyin's marshals. Therefore, later, major cities required at least a double-digit number of Blood Ancestors stationed there. A double-digit number of Blood Ancestors could form a federal formation to fight against a marshal."

Nodding, Lin Hui still took the Marshal to heart; he was undoubtedly a powerful rank somewhere between a Blood Ancestor and a Mistman. This intelligence was quite valuable. As for Yan Jinghong's loyalty, that would be revealed later.

The most urgent task now is to continue our journey and get away from the battlefield.

He had just killed a Blood Ancestor, and Tu Yue's inner city definitely had similar sensing methods to detect it, so clearing his name was the most important thing.

The group quickly continued their journey.

This time, no one felt any panic. With powerful figures like Lin Hui and Su Yaping at the Palace Master level in charge, the monsters in the Fog Zone were nothing more than kittens and puppies, easily dismissed as a gentle breeze.

Strangely enough, we traveled at least ten kilometers, but we didn't encounter a single monster in the foggy area that should have been teeming with them.

Lin Hui sat in the carriage and sat silently with his father, listening to the sound of the wheels outside.

After a long while, Lin Shunhe finally sighed.

"Don't you... have anything you want to say to me?"

"I mastered martial arts on my own and consumed a rare item in the misty region, breaking through my limits. However, I feared that possessing such a treasure would attract trouble, and that someone might try to use me to refine a human pill. Therefore, I have been focusing on cultivation and concealing my strength. In fact, I myself am not sure what level I have reached. So what do you want me to tell you?" Lin Hui said naturally.

"Your reasons are so well-structured, leaving no loopholes whatsoever," Lin Shunhe said, speechless.

"And what about you? Why did you suddenly gain such strength? You're an old man in your forties or fifties who never cultivated in the first half of your life and had no aptitude for spiritual cultivation. Suddenly you've risen up and can fight a high priest. Shouldn't you explain how that happened?" Lin Hui retorted.

"I merely fused with a replica of an evil weapon, joined a faction, made some insignificant contributions, and that's it. You know I'm a coward, so I try to hide as much as possible. It can be useful in a pinch. Didn't it work just now?" Lin Shunhe's reasoning was quite sound.

The two looked at each other and both sighed deeply.

"Alright, let's all stop talking about it then. Are you still planning to go back?" Lin Shunhe asked.

With so many people's strength exposed, they will definitely be unable to hide it when they return. They will inevitably come into the Blood Ancestor's sights, and if they are targeted by those man-eating guys like the Blood Ancestor, conflict will be inevitable.

This is the fundamental reason why there are basically no Blood Ancestor-level powerhouses in the city, apart from the elders.

The powerful aren't stupid. Why would they stay on the edge of the city and wait to be besieged and devoured by the Blood Ancestors?
So at this point, Lin Hui and Lin Shunhe both knew that they either had to join the inner city and become part of them, serving as dogs for the original blood nobles and as reserve food for the future blood ancestors.

Either leave.

"It seems that leaving is really the only option now. Life is unpredictable and often leaves people with no choice but to drift along with the tide," Lin Hui sighed.

“There’s no other way. You’re all in the core of Qingfeng Dao now. Go ask around. Take those who want to come along, and let those who don’t want to go back. That would be a good ending,” Lin Shunhe said.

"Hmm. But since you want to go to Black Cloud, Dad, you should have made some preparations for feeding and tending so many people and horses, right?" Lin Hui asked.

"Of course. When have you ever seen your father without a backup plan?" Lin Shunhe said calmly. "I've arranged for an old friend from Black Cloud to meet us in Yuhai. It's a large merchant caravan there. However, they don't know our true strength; they just think we're an ordinary family of internal energy martial artists. Be careful when you go there, don't expose yourself. It's best to wait until we get to Black Cloud and establish ourselves before slowly revealing our strength and joining them. Otherwise, going directly there will have too much of an impact and cause a strong backlash. After all, someone of your level can't possibly keep a low profile anywhere."

Lin Shunhe shook his head.

"Understood." Lin Hui nodded.

"Of course, I must also remind you that Black Cloud is much stronger than Tu Yue, and is one of the three most prosperous cities in the entire Federation. The scale of the Moon Tower in the inner city and the number of strong people are much stronger than those in Tu Yue. Moreover, because they have been fighting with Hong Yin for many years, I suspect that their overall military strength is enough to easily defeat several Tu Yue cities. So you must not be arrogant just because you have some strength."

"Don't worry, Father. I've never cultivated for the sake of arrogance and oppression. I just want to live the life I want, that's all," Lin Hui said with a smile.

"That's good. It seems that my son and I are both gentle and low-key. If it weren't for the dangerous and chaotic world, who would want to live so cautiously and fearfully? Sigh," Lin Shunhe sighed again.

The father and son then chatted about some everyday incidents that had occurred in the past, exchanging information with each other. Analyzing the various events, big and small, that had happened to Tu Yue from each other's perspectives, this sharing yielded many new insights.

The group continued on for more than an hour, and soon it became dark.

The group found a mountain hollow, took out the pre-prepared isolation shed, and set up a simple, enclosed cavity against the mountain.

With Ningxiang's help and others taking turns keeping watch, nothing happened throughout the night.

Early the next morning, Lin Hui summoned all the Qingfeng Dao disciples and told them about his decision to abandon Tu Yue and go to Hei Yun, asking them who was willing to follow him.

"Go to Black Cloud!?"

Wang Hongshi and the other top ten disciples all looked surprised. Receiving such a momentous decision caught everyone off guard.

Black Cloud is not a nearby town; it is far, far away from Tu Yue.
"Master, how long will it take to get past these dark clouds? How can we get through them?" Wang Hongshi asked the most pressing question on behalf of everyone.

They'd finally managed to get in touch with such a powerful Daoist leader, and everyone saw a bright future ahead. But now, suddenly they have to run so far away, which is a bit...
After all, most of their family and friends are in Tu Yue. Asking them to give up everything and go to Black Cloud to start over is futile.
(End of this chapter)