Decaying World

Chapter 250, 250 Strange Events II

“Deputy City Lord, there’s no need to worry. On the contrary, your reputation is excellent. Many women hope to compete for this position. I was only able to secure this spot because of my superior figure and physique,” ​​Ouyang Yining replied quickly.

She wasn't making things up; Lin Hui's reputation within the Blood Ancestors was indeed excellent. He was simply fond of women, not tyrannical, had a stable temper, and didn't seem to have any dangerous side effects. He spent most of his time cultivating and rarely interfered in affairs.

Many blood ancestors hoped that their bloodline could follow Lin Hui and form a good relationship.

Of course, the most crucial factor is that Lin Hui's aptitude seems a bit too exaggerated, and Liu Xiao seems unable to withstand his bloodline essence, which is why she hasn't conceived after so long. This has given others the idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation to obtain a trace of his bloodline.
"Alright, now you know the exact location of the divine group's unusual movements, right?" Lin Hui didn't ask any more questions and went straight to the point.

"Yes, in the Jade Sea, about 40,000 miles northwest of Black Cloud, the Minglan Divine Group seems to have held some kind of large-scale ceremony, causing the surrounding thousands of miles of sea to turn black, with red lightning spreading, and the fog thickening, making it impossible to see anything."

Ouyang Yining continued.

"According to feedback from passing merchant ships, the area has now become a black fog dead zone. This fog cannot be dispersed by the wind. An elder went there to test it, but there was no response. Now the area of ​​the fog seems to be expanding further. If it is not controlled, it will definitely affect the main shipping route between the two cities of Heiyun and Tianchong. It will have a great impact on the trading fleets."

"Let's go check it out first," Lin Hui nodded. "Does Extreme Desire Heaven have a solution?"

Every city has both the Extreme Desire Heaven and the Primordial Plain. Since the city lord of the Fog People generally doesn't interfere, the daily operations are mainly carried out by these two institutions working together. Therefore, the Extreme Desire Heaven, as the administrator, should have already tried various methods to handle this matter.

That's why he asked that question.

“Jiyutian has tried more than ten methods of dispelling the fog, but all have been ineffective. Finally, after sampling, it was discovered that this black fog contains a rather strange unknown power. It is not the power of the Fog God, but rather it draws on some strange power in the night fog. It will be difficult to resolve in a short time. According to speculation, to completely dispel this black fog, we must either forcefully compress, disperse, and cover it with a higher concentration of powerful energy, or we can only delve into it and solve the core source,” Ouyang Yining said in a deep voice.

"Have you tried to address the root cause?" Lin Hui asked.

“We’ve tried nine times. The highest-ranking team that went in was a Palace Master, and none of them returned,” Ouyang Yining replied.

"One last question, what is your level of strength?"

“I have only recently been promoted to Blood Ancestor and have not yet entered the Extreme Desire Heaven and the Primordial Plain. This battle will determine my future allegiance,” Ouyang Yining said quickly.

"Let's go." Lin Hui sighed. Even the Blood Ancestor was now his assistant, which meant that this disturbance was extremely troublesome.

All the Black Army rose and lined up at the edge of the Moon Tower.

There is a step leading down from the edge where there is no fence.

Below the steps is a small, round white jade platform.

At this moment, high in the sky outside the circular platform, hovered several enormous moth-shaped vehicles, entirely black and clad in silver armor.

Each of these moths has four wings, with white eye-shaped markings in the center of each wing. The moths also have extremely sharp mouthparts, full of serrated teeth, making them look quite ferocious.

Each moth-shaped cart could accommodate ten Black Army soldiers. Eleven moth-shaped carts in total, carrying people one after another, quickly flew out of the artifact protective array and headed towards the strange sea area against the gale.

Lin Hui stood in the largest moth cart, gazing ahead.

Above the sea of ​​fog, in the distance, the brilliant golden sun hangs high in the sky.

The sky above is blue.

The fog below appears grayish-white.

Looking down, Lin Hui saw small moth carts slowly flying by from time to time below the moth cart convoy. Some moth carts also pulled large, magnificent small merchant ships, sailing across the foggy sea.

This place is much more lively than Tu Yue.

Looking out over the sea of ​​fog, one can see no fewer than twenty moth-shaped vehicles and skyships moving in and out of the dark clouds.

As time went by, such sights gradually became less frequent until they disappeared completely.

The vast, boundless sea of ​​white fog has returned to calm.

“Because the distance is quite far, we will need to briefly accelerate the Moth Cart's flight and use precious relics to enter the empty well to save time. Please also be careful not to let your mind wander, otherwise the rapid movement and jumping may tear your mind apart and cause injury,” Ouyang Yining reminded.

"Understood!" Lin Hui nodded. "What is this empty well?"

"Voids are special cavities created when rare, treasure-level relics activate their super-speed abilities. These cavities only appear when the speed reaches a certain limit, and their appearance is extremely brief, appearing only briefly. Entering such a cavity allows one to travel a distance of 10,000 kilometers in a straight line in a fixed direction in a very short time. Therefore, it is generally suitable for ultra-long-distance travel."

Ouyang Yining had researched Lin Hui's background beforehand and knew that he came from a small town called Tu Yue and was unfamiliar with many things and common sense, so she patiently explained.

"I see. What about the Fog People's superhuman speed? Can it activate such a hollow well?" Lin Hui asked.

"This... I'm just a Blood Ancestor, and I've only recently been promoted. I don't know these things. I'm sorry," Ouyang Yining said with difficulty.

Lin Hui nodded knowingly and said no more.

Soon, the Black Army Moth convoy began to accelerate.

Eleven giant moths in total began to flap their wings faster.

As Ouyang Yining took out a colorful, egg-shaped relic, he rubbed it ten times.

The wings of all the moths in the entire moth-drawn carriage procession began to burn, illuminating the scene with bright red flames.

Corresponding to this flame, the moth carts moved faster and faster.

In just one minute, it accelerated to an exaggerated point where even Lin Hui couldn't see his surroundings clearly.

The powerful air currents at high altitude were completely isolated by this strange flame, and for a moment the surroundings seemed to fall into absolute silence.

Lin Hui stood at the front of the moth cart, watching the two sides completely turn into a blur of white, blue and gold.

Only a small area directly in front of you can still clearly see the sea of ​​fog and the sky.

puff!
Suddenly, a black hole the size of a fist appeared right next to the head of the moth directly in front of them.

The opening gradually solidified, turned black, and stabilized.

Then, with a soft "pfft".

The moth cart shrank completely and carried everyone into the cave entrance.

The surroundings went dark instantly, but the darkness lasted only a second before returning to normal.

By the time Lin Hui realized what was happening, it was already quite dark around him. The sun was still there, the sky was still there, and the sea of ​​fog was still there, but the overall brightness was much dimmer than before.

“If we fly a little further ahead, we’ll reach the area of ​​the strange sea. We still have about half an hour’s journey to go,” Ouyang Yining explained from the side.

"Okay, you can arrange it as you see fit. I just need to know when to act," Lin Hui nodded. He didn't know much about leading troops, so he figured he could leave the professional work to the professionals.

It is a big no-no for laymen to give orders haphazardly.

"Thank you for your understanding, sir." Ouyang Yining breathed a sigh of relief. This Deputy City Lord Lin Hui was even easier to get along with than she had expected. It was worth the effort she had put in to secure this opportunity.

However, Lin Hui, whom she thought was easy to get along with, was now secretly worried.

He was worried that since this sea area was shrouded and covered by the strange black mist, it must be extremely dangerous. There were many dangerous monsters living in the Jade Sea. If he could get rid of this black mist, would it be considered that he had saved a large number of monsters in the Jade Sea?

Therefore, will one be able to obtain a massive amount of life force and complete the first level of enlightenment in one fell swoop?

Hard to say.

He felt that this was highly likely.

He worried that the source of the pulse of life might also affect the efficiency of his final insight.

Moreover, recently, it seems that ever since his battle with Tu Yue, he has been vaguely feeling that something is wrong with his body.

The power of the storm seemed to be further and more profoundly transforming his body.

It felt as if he wasn't actively guiding and absorbing the power of the wind disaster, but rather as if the wind disaster was impatiently pouring more power into his body.

Because his physical strength was insufficient, the typhoon also thoughtfully provided him with a physical enhancement package.

This inexplicable and bizarre acceleration felt completely unresponsive to my own efforts in cultivation. It felt like I was lying on the ground being dragged forward by the earth.

Lin Hui felt a little flustered.

He could become stronger quickly even without lying still or cultivating, but the more he did so, the more panicked he became.

There is no gain in this world that comes without a price. If there were truly no price to pay, or a price to pay that is minimal, then such a gain would be something everyone possesses, something ubiquitous and commonplace.

If you are the only one who has this achievement, and it is so easy to obtain, then you need to think about what makes you special, or why you are the only one who has it when the difficulty is so low.

Are all the other people stupid?
The only thing that gave him some relief was that when he cultivated the Star Breath Sword Manual, he seemed to be able to suppress the strange changes brought about by this wind disaster.

The Star Breath Sword Manual seems to bring another kind of vast, immense, and ancient special power, a power that is boundless and seems to originate from the native power of this world. It can resist the erosion and infusion of wind disasters to a certain extent.

This is also one of the core motivations for his current frantic cultivation of the Star Breath Sword Manual.

After all, compared to his previous fight with Tu Yue, he now felt that his physical strength had increased by about 30%. Now, all the power he used casually would carry the power of natural wind disasters. He had to actively and consciously control it to let the wind disaster power break away from the attached fusion state in order to disguise it as a normal situation.

*
*
*
Above the Jade Sea.

Despite it being daytime, the sea was turbulent, and the originally turquoise waters were stained black.

A thick black fog enveloped the sea area spanning thousands of miles, transforming it into a gigantic black sphere of mist.

The wind howled, sounding like the wailing of ghosts and gods.

Large numbers of skeletal remains floated on the sea surface outside the black fog, and the stench of decay and strong acid permeated the surroundings, making it extremely unpleasant.

At this moment, black merchant ships passing by were swaying and struggling forward in the huge waves.

These merchant ships were all enclosed, with no one on deck; everyone was hiding inside the ship.

Inside one of the ships.

Weiwei, Mingde, Mingxiu, and Mingchen, dressed in simple black short-sleeved clothes typical of slave laborers, gazed at the surging dark green waves outside the window, remaining silent for a moment.

They were surrounded by human slaves like themselves.

The completely stagnant air was filled with a foul stench of vomit, feces, urine, and sweat.

Some people even died in corners, left unattended, and their bodies became infested with worms.

Without decay, the slave laborers here wouldn't even live long enough to decay; they would die within ten years.

Because the four of them were from the same sect, they helped each other and managed to maintain a basic quality of life.

"It's this kind of weather again. We've been traveling for three days and we still haven't left this black fog sea area. I don't remember it being this large last time, right?" Mingde sighed.

"No, this time something really might happen." Mingxiu sighed, tugging at his unkempt beard.

Mingchen, the last one, huddled to the side, hugging his knees and remaining silent.

The three of them were successively deceived and then sold into slavery by their so-called python friends.

The last to arrive was Mingde's daughter, Weiwei. After discovering she had been scammed, Weiwei tried to run away immediately, but she was beaten and caught, and her leg was broken. She has only recently recovered from her injury.

She thought she had found the love of her life, but little did she know that he was actually a slave trader from the Python Clan who specialized in deceiving naive young girls.

They were lucky; the pythons' and humans had vastly different aesthetic tastes and weren't interested in them. Otherwise, someone like Weiwei would have been devoured and used as a breeding ground immediately.

From that time on, the four of them traveled back and forth across the vast Jade Sea, between Tianchong City and Heiyun City. As the ship owner's private property, they managed the cargo, cleaned the cabins, and were also responsible for most of the servants' work.

They considered escaping, but here, every crew member possessed at least the strength of a high-ranking summoner.

Ships capable of traveling to and from the Jade Sea would be unable to transport goods safely without sufficient strength.

Their ship was ostensibly a merchant vessel, but in reality, it was a pirate ship. The ship owner's strength was unfathomable; it was rumored that he might be a Palace Master-level expert.

Despite their dire situation, the four did not give up hope. They continued to wait for an opportunity to escape.

However, before the four could successfully carry out their plan, they encountered this perilous situation shrouded in black fog.
(End of this chapter)