Decaying World

Chapter 28 028 Unexpected Events (Part 4)

hum.

When the outcome was decided, everyone in the stands erupted in cheers.

Everyone has seen people win, but this way of winning is something no one has ever seen before.

Standing on the stage, Lin Hui saw that the audience around him seemed to be in an uproar because of his victory. Even the Ming-generation masters and Baohe Daoist in the main area were discussing something among themselves.

'It seems I've gone a bit too far. But it's alright, soon everyone will see that I'm about as weak as the others. Everyone in the top ten is quite strong.' He remained calm, sword in hand, waiting for the next person to step onto the stage.

"You Wushuang, the fourteenth, please come up on stage!" the young Taoist's voice rang out.

You Wushuang was a black-haired woman wearing glasses. She came onto the stage carrying a black sword and looked wary.

As soon as the gong sounded, she drew her sword swiftly, her nine-sectioned blade attacking Lin Hui with ferocious madness. Clearly, she intended to deny him time to recover his strength.

but.
Ding ding ding ding! !
The dense impact sounds were like raindrops exploding and snowflakes falling. You Wushuang frantically attacked Lin Hui with his sword, but each sword seemed to land on a wall, only producing a crisp clash.

No matter which direction she attacks with her sword, the result is the same.

Even without turning around, the opponent simply stood there, casually making moves with one hand in all directions, and accurately blocked all of her attacks.

Soon, fifty swords had been swung.

Sixty swords.

Eighty swords.

One hundred swords!

clang!
Yu Wushuang lost his grip on the sword blade and was thrown off balance, landing in a corner of the arena.

She stood there blankly, her wrists red and her face pale.

“You can pick it up and continue,” Lin Hui said softly to her.

Pick it up?!
Are you kidding me?!
Yu Wushuang's ears were ringing. She looked at the countless gazes directed at her, her face growing redder and her breathing becoming increasingly labored.

what! !

Suddenly, she turned and jumped off the stage, running away without even taking her sword.

The surrounding stands were silent, everyone stunned by this unexpected turn of events.

The main area of ​​the stands.

Master Baohe looked on with admiration, stroking his white beard.

"This nine-section fast sword technique isn't great, but the accuracy of the strikes is extremely high, showing that the basic skills were very strong when practicing the seven-section fast sword."

"His understanding of swordsmanship far surpasses that of others; those ranked below the top ten are not even worth considering." Mingchen nodded in agreement. "Whose talent is this? How come we didn't notice him before?"

Clearly, he had once again forgotten Lin Hui, whom he had met twice before.

"It's not from any particular family, it's just a descendant of an old friend of mine," Mingde chuckled as he sat down. He hadn't expected that this competition, which was similar to previous years, would give him such a small surprise.

Lin Hui, that kid, I didn't realize he had such a solid foundation before, but now he's suddenly shown off a lot on the stage.

It really made him look good!

"Such comprehension is worthy of being considered. Has he not taken a master yet?" Daoist Mingxiu held his wine cup, a hint of excitement in his voice.

He has always lacked a true, capable disciple to take charge of things.

“When I first introduced him to the sect, I didn’t expect him to have such good potential,” Mingde said, noticing something amiss.

"I haven't even said anything yet, and you're already getting impatient," Mingxiu said speechlessly.

"Hehe, didn't we fall for that once before?" Mingde laughed, glancing at Bao and the Taoist.

He was actually the one who discovered Chen Sui back then, but before he could even open his mouth, the abbot...
Now, looking at Chen Sui, who is at the ninth level of Body Tempering, and whose swordsmanship could break through the shackles at any moment and step into the Inner Force Realm, he felt a pang of pain in his heart.

"Although he's not bad, he only has potential. Compared to Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, and Wu Cheng, he's still a bit lacking. After all, the Seven-Section Quick Sword tempering technique is still inferior to the Qingfeng Sword Technique. The earlier the tempering begins, the better the effect, and the greater the gap will become," Baohe Daoist chuckled. "So you don't need to fight over it. Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren can each have one, and Lin Hui shouldn't compete with Mingde for him."

He was known for his good temper within the temple, and when he stepped in to smooth things over, the three members of the Ming generation could no longer argue and immediately calmed down to continue watching the arena.

At this moment, another person entered the arena and, while they were talking, had already won another match, and was now fighting Lin Hui.

This time, the opponent was much stronger than before. Their Body Tempering had reached the third rank.

He is also extremely skilled with the nine-section sword, possessing a profound understanding of its techniques, and his moves are swift, ruthless, and precise.

Lin Hui no longer just defended without attacking, but instead engaged in a back-and-forth battle with his opponent.

About two minutes later, with a soft sound, the man was knocked off his longsword, took a step back, and had a small cut on the side of his wrist.

"Thank you for showing mercy, Junior Brother Lin."

"Concession."

Lin Hui clasped his hands in a fist salute, his breathing becoming somewhat rapid.

Running through three people in a row is quite a challenge for his physical stamina. He originally thought he could handle four people, but now it seems he's struggling.

"Next, ranked tenth, Ouyang Zhong." The young Taoist priest's voice was hoarse as he called out.

A gong sounded.

With a whooshing sound, a figure leaped into the air, cleared the fence, and landed steadily on the arena.

This was clearly not a movement technique from Qingfeng Temple, immediately drawing discussion from the surrounding stands. "Qingfeng Temple doesn't prohibit learning martial arts from outside. Ouyang Zhong already possessed family martial arts skills, so he became an apprentice with them already learned. Not only that, but several of the top ten were like that. For example, Second Senior Brother Zhao Jiang'an has mastered multiple martial arts techniques and is extremely strong, second only to Senior Brother Chen Sui." On the stands, Deputy Director Yu Zhenhao explained softly to Director Ning Shaolang.

“In that case, Lin Hui is in danger. From what you’ve said, he only started learning martial arts later in life, and his merchant family doesn’t have any family martial arts traditions,” Ning Shaolong said thoughtfully.

“That’s true. This external martial arts school is very different from the internal martial arts sect you come from. The more martial arts one practices in the external school, the stronger one becomes, while the internal school emphasizes purity. It focuses on naturalness and is different.” Deputy Director Yu Zhenhao nodded in agreement.

At this moment, it wasn't just them who were discussing it; most of the spectators in the surrounding stands were also drawn to Lin Hui's winning streak.

Some have even started speculating how many more games he can win, and whether a five-game winning streak is possible.

Chen Zhishen sat in the stands at a distance, with Ah Hu beside him. The two watched the ring with tension.

"See that? Isn't your Uncle Lin incredibly strong?"

"powerful!"

“Let me tell you, even if your Uncle Lin loses this match, he will still be honorable. After all, he has only been practicing martial arts for a short time, while Ouyang Zhong has been practicing since he was a child, for more than ten years now. They are not even in the same league,” Chen Zhishen said in a low voice.

"Uncle, why are you even more nervous than on stage?" Ah Hu asked, puzzled.

"Because this match is crucial. If we win, we'll be in the top ten, and your Uncle Lin will be rich this time!"

Chen Zhishen clenched his fists, feeling that his palms were covered in sweat.

Top ten! The title of Qingfeng Temple's top ten elites is enough to make some small gray organizations in the outer city wary, and it can also be put on the police station's list of key targets.

Some wealthy and powerful families will also focus their attention on them, investing resources in advance in order to build relationships and connections.

After all, the current top ten are very likely to achieve the same level of strength and status as the "Ming" generation in the future.

In this chaotic outer city area, such martial prowess is already quite formidable.

Aside from these, the most crucial factor is that the top ten can hold positions at the local police station, obtain legal status, and then receive tax and corvée labor exemptions.

Chen Zhishen was well aware that, as a farmer's son living at the bottom of society, he had long ago vaguely realized that the lives of people at the bottom of society were not lives.

When exploring the fog, it was common for the government to send people to lead the way, often just grabbing a few low-level people living on the edge of the fog to explore.

When someone dies, they're gone; a little compensation will suffice.

Every now and then, when the government needed to repair something, it would forcibly conscript laborers from the lower classes. And that wasn't all; the laborers had to bring their own rations. They would be gone for months at a time, disrupting the farming season and resulting in a year of no harvest. They could only rely on stored grain.

Those who had no food reserves had no choice but to sell their children, leading to a life of unbearable hardship.

Even so, the civilians still couldn't escape, because the fog completely blocked all escape routes. Without a large caravan to lead them, escaping meant certain death.

Pulling his thoughts back, Chen Zhishen looked towards the arena, watching Lin Hui's figure constantly exchanging blows, silently cheering him on in his heart.

*
*
*
In the arena.

Lin Hui parried left and right. He and his opponent fought to a standstill, both taking a step back and breathing heavily.

"Top ten, just a close call for five consecutive wins. Why don't you be kind enough to let me have my way this time?" Lin Hui said softly.

"Junior brother is already so tired, why do you have to work so hard? It's just a top ten spot, is it worth it to push yourself so hard?" Ouyang Zhong practiced his family's martial arts, had extremely strong physical strength, and was skilled in leg techniques. Combined with his swordsmanship, he put a lot of pressure on Lin Hui.

“Senior brother is quite wealthy, so naturally he wouldn’t care about being in the top ten, but I’m different. The temptation of being in the top ten and having a five-game winning streak is too great, I have no choice but to do it,” Lin Hui said sincerely.

“Junior brother, you are mistaken. The top ten are determined entirely by strength. If it were based on humility, why hold a competition at all? Wouldn’t it be enough for everyone to humbly discuss and rank themselves offstage?” Ouyang Zhong sighed.

"Senior brother." Lin Hui suddenly showed a troubled expression. "Very well. For the sake of the top ten, I have no choice but to offend you."

After he understood the significance of being in the top ten, and seeing that he was so close, his bottom line began to waver.

Use once.

Use it only once to get the first 15 pulls, that's enough.

"Actually, I'm naturally a little bit stronger than the average person in terms of explosive power."

Lin Hui quickly decided that a single use of lightness of body would suffice. As long as it wasn't too exaggerated, the sword speed could still be explained by a burst of potential.

"Explosive power? I'd like to see just how strong this explosive power you're talking about is!" As soon as Ouyang Zhong finished speaking, he drew his sword and swiftly struck Lin Hui's side.

With the sword tip trembling, the subsequent series of altered moves completely blocked Lin Hui's dodge options.

This swordsmanship is on a completely different level from the previous opponent's, and it has indeed reached a level similar to Lin Hui's at this moment.

Cheers! !

Just then, Lin Hui suddenly let out a fierce roar.

He raised his sword, and in an instant, the speed of the sword increased dramatically, as if all the power in his body was being poured into the sword.

The sword was raised from below, and before it even reached Ouyang Zhong, it created a sharp gust of wind that made his chest and abdomen go numb.

Special effects lightness, activate!

Lin Hui's arm instantly became a blur, and the speed of his sword swing more than doubled in that instant!

The terrifying speed of the sword caught the opponent completely off guard, leaving them no time to react, defend, or dodge!

Ouyang Zhong could only freeze in place, stop drawing his sword, and stand there with his head tilted back, watching the silver sword shadow flash by.

laugh! ! !
The sword flashed past him, severing several strands of black hair and sending a sharp whistling sound through the air. It narrowly avoided splitting him in two.

(End of this chapter)