Decaying World

Chapter 36 036 Change of Heart (Part 4)

"Why is it none of your business?" Deng Mingchao said coldly.

"Hehe." Mu Qiaozhi chuckled, her muscular body, like that of a female leopard, slowly approaching and closing the distance.

"You look angry?"

"Why can't I be angry? Facing a traitor." Deng Mingchao said with a sneer, but he was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"What did I betray?" Mu Qiaozhi laughed. "No, Junior Brother Deng, isn't your idea a bit ridiculous? Qingfeng Temple opens its doors to teach martial arts. We pay to enter and learn. It's just external martial arts. You can learn it anywhere. Rich people can use it to exercise, and poor people can use it to make a living. Do you really intend to make it your lifelong goal?"

"..." Deng Mingchao wanted to say something, but for a moment he didn't know how to refute it.

“Junior Brother Deng, these external martial arts schools are just training grounds that come and go. They pass on skills to you for a fee, and they don’t teach any important or rare martial arts. If one doesn’t work out, we can just go to another one. Every now and then, all sorts of martial arts schools will close down and rise up. If everyone is as stubborn as you, do you plan to go down with the martial arts schools?” Mu Qiaozhi continued with a smile.

"What does Senior Sister Namu mean by coming over?" Lin Hui couldn't help but ask from behind.

"I just wanted to bring you all to the Black Dragon Gate. Qingfeng Temple's martial arts are too weak. Even if they have a slight advantage in agility, their overall disadvantage can't offset the huge gap," Mu Qiaozhi said with a smile. "Don't forget why we practice martial arts?"

She walked to a point three meters away from the two of them and stopped.

"Isn't it just about having more protection for yourself and your family after failing the selection?"

With a sigh, she slowly raised her hand and moved her black metal claws.

"If we could be selected to become Inspirers, who would still want to learn martial arts? Forget about internal martial arts, and the upper limit of external martial arts has always been there. We can just learn a little and be done with it. The masters can teach us casually. Everyone knows that external martial arts can only be so-so at the end. That's the reality."

“What Senior Sister said makes sense, but…” Deng Mingchao began, his face grim.

"But what? Even your master, one of the three Ming generation, was in the same situation back then. He failed the selection and could only settle for the inner city's three sects and six gangs, but he was not selected either. In the end, he had no choice but to learn external martial arts. If he had a choice, who would stay in the outer city to practice these miserable second- or third-rate martial arts?" Mu Qiaozhi continued.

Hearing this, Lin Hui understood somewhat. The martial arts schools in the outer city were like training institutions, accepting young people who failed the selection process and could not enter the Three Sects and Six Gangs.

These young people wanted to learn martial arts to protect themselves, but they struggled to find a way, which led to the creation of this huge market.

As a result, a large number of martial arts schools have sprung up in various towns in this market.

Because external martial arts are not selective, anyone can practice them, as long as they pay money.

This is also the key reason why Mu Qiaozhi holds such a mindset.

"Mu Qiaozhi, have you said enough?" Deng Mingchao's expression had become extremely ugly.

"Draw your sword and unleash your strongest move. As classmates, I've come to show you how much better the Black Dragon Sect's martial arts are than Qingfeng Temple's!" Mu Qiaozhi laughed again.

Clang!
With a clang of a sword, Deng Mingchao could no longer contain himself. He drew his sword, its shadow as swift as a gentle breeze, far exceeding its previous speed, and instantly arrived before Mu Qiaozhi.

This sword strike was clearly complex and varied, but at the very last moment, the sword speed suddenly increased dramatically, as if everything before it was a compressed spring, which was then released in the final strike.

That sword speed!?

Lin Hui immediately recognized it from behind: it wasn't the Nine-Section Swift Sword, but the Gentle Breeze Sword Technique!

The defining characteristic of the Qingfeng Sword Technique is its speed! Extremely sudden speed. It catches people off guard, leaving them no time to react.

This sword strike was even close to the speed of Lin Hui's own sword strike with special effects activated. Clearly, this Senior Brother Deng had been hiding some of his strength all along.

It should be noted that Lin Hui has now reached the sixth level of Body Tempering, and is close to the seventh level.

With the special effects enabled, the sword speed at this point far exceeded that of the senior brother's full-force sword strike.

The fact that Senior Brother Deng Mingchao could barely approach that speed shows that he not only learned the martial arts of Qingfeng Temple, but also had other martial arts to assist and enhance him.

In an instant, the sword shadow, as swift as a gentle breeze, flew towards Mu Qiaozhi's chest, about to pierce her.

Unfortunately, a black metal claw ignored everything and swung forward with lightning speed, creating a large area of ​​black claw shadows.

Ding ding ding ding! !
Four consecutive sounds rang out as the Qingfeng Sword and the black claws clashed rapidly before separating.

The immense force of the black claws deflected the sword's momentum, redirecting it towards Deng Mingchao's chest, using his own methods against him.

brush!
The black claw hovered steadily in front of Deng Mingchao, motionless.

A strong gust of air blew against Deng Mingchao's uniform, pressing it tightly against his chest.

He was breathing heavily, and an expression of disbelief crossed his face.

Even though he was weaker than Mu Qiaozhi, the opponent never used the Qingfeng Sword Technique from beginning to end; instead, she used the Black Dragon Gate martial arts.

How long has Mu Qiaozhi been working there? And already!?
"See that?" Mu Qiaozhi retracted her claws. "This is the difference in martial arts. Junior Brother Deng, Junior Brother Lin, when a path is destined to be short-lived, it is the right way to turn around and choose a longer one as soon as possible. Don't waste your time and regret it when you get old."

After saying this, she turned around and walked back to the dark alley she had come from, quickly disappearing from sight.

Deng Mingchao and Lin Hui remained standing there, silent, their minds filled with a myriad of thoughts.

I stood there for several minutes.

"Senior Brother Deng?" Lin Hui finally spoke. He noticed that Deng Mingchao seemed a bit distracted, his face was extremely pale, and he even seemed to be struggling.

Seeing this, he realized that Senior Brother Deng was wavering.

If the difference between the martial arts of the Black Dragon Gate and those of the Qingfeng Temple is only slight, he believes that Senior Brother Deng will not be easily swayed. After all, there are sunk costs involved, and with Teacher Mingde taking care of him in the Qingfeng Temple, the treatment is different, so there is no need to say which side to choose.

The problem is, judging from Mu Qiaozhi's demonstration just now, the difference in martial arts skills between the two sides is indeed quite significant.
Lin Hui knew that the others were different from him. He had a choice, but he chose Qingfeng Temple for the sake of speed. The others, however, had no choice but to join Qingfeng Temple.

Others learn martial arts to become stronger, focusing on becoming stronger, but I am different. My main purpose is to learn martial arts to escape, focusing on saving my life.

Even though Mu Qiaozhi showed a huge gap in strength, Lin Hui remained unmoved by the Black Dragon Gate, because no matter how strong the Black Dragon Gate was in a direct confrontation, their escape speed was not as fast as Qingfeng Temple's.

If Baohe Daoist hadn't been concerned about saving face and turned to run away instead of engaging in direct combat, he definitely wouldn't have been injured.

Seeing the change in Deng Mingchao's expression, Lin Hui sighed inwardly, knowing that it might not be long before he lost another senior brother. He couldn't say for sure what the future held for Qingfeng Temple.

"Let's go." Deng Mingchao exhaled, composed himself, and continued leading the way.

The two then dealt with two more Blood-Eyed Ones and one Blood-Body One, but Deng Mingchao did not utter another word.

Lin Hui also took action and dealt with the Blood-Eyed One. As it was time to return, the two turned back and left the Black House area.

At the rendezvous point, most of the team members had already returned.

Senior Brother Chen Sui, Huang Shanqiu Yiren, Zhao Jiang'an from the Black Dragon Gate, Mu Qiaozhi, and others were all present.

However, when he saw his senior brother, Lin Hui's expression suddenly changed slightly. He noticed that Chen Sui's right hand, which was gripping the sword, had a faint cut on the tiger's mouth.

Moreover, Chen Sui's facial expression was very similar to Deng Mingchao's just now.

His gaze kept drifting towards his former senior brother, Zhao Jiang'an.

Seeing this, Lin Hui had his own guess. Deng Mingchao, who was beside him, was no fool either; he also noticed something amiss, and his expression became even more unpleasant.

"Each team, report your numbers," Constable Xu Ansheng said in a deep voice.

"I have nine people with blood-eyed eyes and one person with blood-bodied body here."

"Six people with blood-red eyes, and two people with blood-red bodies."

"Five people with blood-red eyes, and two people with blood-red bodies."

"Four people with blood-red eyes, and two people with blood-red bodies."

Each team reported the number of patients they had killed.

"Not bad, time to wrap up. Thanks for your hard work, everyone. See you tomorrow." Xu Ansheng nodded. The number of patients in this surge was estimated to be between twenty and thirty, and this trip resolved most of them—quite efficient.

Soon everyone quickly returned in the direction they had come from.

Throughout the journey, Deng Mingchao did not utter another word, and even when he parted ways with Lin Hui, he disappeared in silence.

Upon returning to Qingfeng Temple, Lin Hui immediately told his teacher, Mingde, about what had happened that day.

At Mingde's home.

A sigh escaped.

Master Mingde held a cup of freshly brewed medicinal tea, his expression desolate.

"It's not his fault. Even I, after hearing about the difference in skill levels, would be tempted to switch sides, let alone a young person."

Inside the room, by the window, he put down his teacup and tugged at the cotton coat he was wearing.

"What about you? Are you tempted? Right now, the Black Dragon Gate is lacking core elites, and this is the perfect time to put them to good use."

Upon hearing this, Lin Hui shook his head slightly.

"The martial arts of the Black Dragon Gate are not what disciples pursue."

"The truth or are you just trying to fool me?"

“Of course it’s the truth. Given the current situation, I have no reason to lie to you,” Lin Hui said calmly.

"That's true." Mingde smiled, a bitter smile. "I never expected it, never expected that with Senior Brother Baohe gone, the vast Qingfeng Temple would disintegrate so quickly."

"Don't worry, teacher. If we lower the tuition, there will always be students," Lin Hui suggested. "We'll just avoid direct competition with the Black Dragon Sect."

“That’s true. Qingfeng Temple is now only supported by the three of us from the Ming generation. Even so, it’s divided into three branches, each going its own way. Decline is inevitable. Tuition fees should indeed be lowered.” Mingde nodded in agreement.

"But..." He hesitated, then stopped, sighed, and fell silent.

Reducing tuition fees meant that Qingfeng Temple would henceforth fall to the bottom of the list of martial arts schools, dropping from the middle to the lowest level.

Lower-tier martial arts schools accept almost anyone who comes in, and their tuition is usually less than half that of mid-tier schools. They can barely make ends meet and can't afford to grow any larger.

But given the current situation, Mingde has no time to hesitate.

So, the day after accepting Lin Hui's suggestion, he decisively posted a notice outside, announcing that the tuition fee for those who entered his school to practice martial arts would only be one-third of what it used to be.

As soon as the announcement was made, many students came to inquire within a few days.

Lin Hui and Weiwei were in charge of receiving and explaining the visitors, and then they occupied a piece of land at Qingfeng Temple as their new place for cultivation.

Soon, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The original territory of Qingfeng Temple was divided into three parts, which were respectively controlled by Mingchen, Mingxiu, and Mingde.

Mingchen and Mingxiu changed the name of Qingfeng Temple to Kuaijianmen and Fengjianmen, and started recruiting students on their own.

Only Mingde still cherishes the past and continues to use the name Qingfeng Temple.

In addition, Deng Mingchao also left silently. After leaving a letter, he joined another sect, but not the Black Dragon Sect. Instead, he joined another sect founded by other experts from the outer city.

Only Lin Hui, Weiwei, and Wang Yun remained from Mingde's school.

The quality of new students signing up was also much lower than before. Some came to practice for fun, while others were there purely for cheap and professional physical training, not caring about their swordsmanship skills, as long as it was cheap. There were even some who were attracted by Weiwei's beauty in pursuit of her.
In an instant, Qingfeng Temple, which was inherited by Mingde, seemed to have turned into a training class that Lin Hui used to see in his previous life.

While practicing swordsmanship, everyone chatted and laughed in the backyard, completely losing their previous seriousness and solemnity.

Mingde, disheartened and unwilling to pay attention, taught the basics of the Seven-Section Quick Sword once and then went back to his room to rest. Weiwei and Lin Hui were left to maintain order.

(End of this chapter)