Decaying World

Chapter 67, Part 067 (Thanks to the Alliance Leader for his help)

The conversation with his son went surprisingly smoothly. Lin Shunhe left the attic with a mix of pride, worry, and relief in his heart.

In the enclosed corridor leading back to his room, he looked at the hazy mist outside the newly installed glass windows and suddenly said...

"Mr. Du, what do you think of Ahui now?"

The old man in black who had been following behind him slowly straightened his back.

"Young Master Hui is a thoughtful person."

There were no other comments, just this one sentence. But Lin Shunhe knew that, given Du Lao's personality, it was quite a good comment.

After a moment of silence, he asked again.

"Actually, Ah Hui's martial arts skills are already set. I don't want him to continue down that path. Mastering external skills like the Qingfeng Sword to the highest level is his limit. But even at the limit, he's still no match for internal energy masters. Internal energy has six levels, each more difficult than the last. Besides, there are quite a few masters in the inner city who have reached the Zhou Tian stage. Ah Hui no longer has the chance to start cultivating internal energy from scratch. His external skills are already at their limit. It would be better for him to learn business management from me. When the organization bestows upon him a replica of the evil weapon in the future, he can make up for the gap in martial arts in one fell swoop."

“Master, you may not know, but even with the fusion of the imitation evil weapon, experience is still needed in combat. It’s not bad to let Young Master Hui start playing around now,” Old Master Du said calmly. “It just so happens that there are many skilled martial artists in the outer city, who are good at honing their combat experience.”

"Sigh," Lin Shunhe sighed. He had already received a promise from his superior, the Black-Faced Lord, that the formal evaluation of his merits had begun.

Since their last conversation, he has been rapidly expanding his business and has successfully established a relationship with a priest from Amamiya, one of the three major families in the inner city.

Priests are powerful individuals of the rank of High Summoner or higher. They usually reside in the Moon Tower area and rarely venture out.

If it weren't for his help in finding a valuable medicinal herb in an important foggy area for his most beloved son, coupled with the newly acquired Liu family's connections in the inner city, it's unlikely that this connection could have been established.

Therefore, Lord Blackface speculated that his assessment this time would likely go very smoothly. Both the inner city's Liu family and Priest Amamiya perfectly met the organization's requirements for the mission.

Their business has expanded to most of the towns, ensuring that there is a Shanhe United Supermarket in every town they are involved in.

Profits are pouring in every day, flowing in endlessly.

At the same time, because the United Supermarket needed a large number of guards, it also facilitated the organization to continuously send personnel to both the outer and inner cities.

Some have already suggested that his side should be set up as a separate branch, existing as an organizational structure for Tu Yue.

"The review and evaluation will take about a month. With your qualifications, Master, you will definitely succeed. The only thing to consider is which replica of the evil weapon you will be assigned to. Once it is fused, it will be much easier for you to secure the next one for Young Master Hui," Old Master Du said earnestly.

"That's true. Before that, please keep an eye on Ah Hui for me."

"Well, although I failed to fuse, my physique has undergone a qualitative change, so I still have no problem dealing with most of the high-ranking members of the New Martial Alliance." Old Du said this calmly, which sounded quite impressive.

"I'm relieved to hear that, Elder Du." Lin Shunhe nodded in satisfaction.

After passing through the corridor, the two parted ways. Lin Shunhe returned to his bedroom and saw his wife, Yao Shan, sewing a white fur coat by hand.

"I've told you so many times, don't do these things yourself, just let the people below do them for you." He stepped forward, gently took the fur, and scolded.

"I've got nothing better to do, haven't I? I'm just idling around anyway, and the life of the First Madam is rather boring," Yao Shan replied with a smile, not angry that the fur had been taken away.

"It's getting dark, don't hurt your eyes." Lin Shunhe took off his outer robe and hung the fur on the wooden rack.

"I chatted with Ahui today. He was at Qingfeng Temple before, right? Guess what he's been doing these past few days?"

"You broke through in sword practice?" Yao Shan was taken aback and guessed.

"No. He ran to the entrance of another martial arts school with a sword and challenged them in front of more than a hundred people!" Lin Shunhe sat down heavily and patted his thigh.

"Huh?" Yao Shan was startled. "How dare he?! What if he gets hurt?!"

"Hey, not only did your son not get hurt, he also took over the martial arts school!" Lin Shunhe laughed.

"This!" Yao Shan looked at her husband's slightly smug expression and realized that he had come to show off to her.

But isn't his son his own son too? What's there to brag about? It's just that he knew a little earlier, so what?
"That's good. I haven't talked to Ahui in a while either. He's focused entirely on martial arts training now, and he only comes home once a week. We hardly ever see each other," Yao Shan sighed.

“I’ll talk to him about it later. You can go visit him yourself if you have nothing else to do. His yard isn’t far away,” Lin Shunhe said.

“That’s true. Children will always grow up and can’t always revolve around their parents; they won’t achieve anything that way.” Yao Shan understood. No one who has achieved great things in this world has done so by relying on their parents.

*
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*
In the attic.

Lin Hui looked at the two boxes on the table in front of him, gently reached out and opened one. He took out the Ganoderma lucidum, took a small bite from the edge, and chewed it slowly.

Just now at the Black Dragon Gate headquarters, he confirmed through his experiments that the medicine was very potent; even a small amount could reduce his evolution time by three days. It was extremely strong and couldn't be taken too quickly at once.

Otherwise, the stomach and intestines won't be able to absorb it, which would not only cause diarrhea, but also waste the efficacy of the medicine.

Therefore, he needed to consume these two precious herbs as quickly as possible, within the limits of his digestive system's absorption capacity. That night, he did nothing but slowly drink water and chew and swallow the two Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms.

As it was continuously digested and absorbed, the evolution time of the Gale Sword Technique in its field of vision was rapidly reduced from nearly two years.

After the first plant was eaten, the time was reduced by more than three months.

After the second plant was eaten, the remaining three months were reduced.

In total, just one night reduced the time by more than half a year, shrinking the remaining time of the Gale Sword Technique to one year and a little over 130 days.

This excited Lin Hui, and the next morning he went to the Black Dragon Gate headquarters again to find Chen Yuan, who was organizing the channels.

"The channel for the Spirit Mushroom? It's still there. There are three more that Master Song ordered before, they should be delivered soon," Chen Yuan replied.

"Do you know where the medicinal man was collected?" Lin Hui asked in a deep voice.

“It must be somewhere very deep in the fog,” Chen Yuan replied cautiously. “As you know, the fog zone is actually very, very large, much larger than our Tu Yue, boundless. I really don’t know its exact location.”

"This is a secret passed down through generations of medicine practitioners. The medicine practitioners that Master Song contacted are no pushovers either. They are a leading clan in the local town, known as the Ten Thousand Medicine Manor. Their strength is no weaker than our Black Dragon Gate's Qingfeng Sword Sect," Wang Hongshi explained in a deep voice.

Lin Hui nodded.

Indeed, anyone who can gather such a precious herb must be quite skilled in martial arts. Add to that the quick money it brings, and it's no wonder they're wealthy. With strength, money, and the herb, they could easily become a formidable force in the area simply by having a few children.

"Then send someone over to keep an eye on things," he instructed.

"Yes, but the Black Dragon Gate branch has two groups of members: disciples and students."

"Disciples are supported by the sect and are people who devote themselves to martial arts without engaging in production. Students simply pay money to enter and learn martial arts. Generally, disciples are assigned and need to be paid money and monthly allowances. Now, some of the disciples who left have returned. What do you think? Should we still accept them?" Wang Hongshi asked.

"I'll take those who have undergone strength tempering. I don't want the rest," Lin Hui said casually.

After explaining everything, he took the secret scroll of the Black Dragon Claw and entered the Song residence. In the center of the empty mansion, he found a pavilion, sat down, and carefully perused it.

"Black Dragon Claw, originally named Black Dragon Skill, was created by the Black Dragon Master of Feiqing City. The technique requires first soaking the entire body in a special medicinal solution to gradually thicken the skin, making it as tough as cowhide. Then, external body-strengthening techniques are used to beat various parts of the body, combined with internal forging methods, using internal medicine and the Black Dragon Roar secret technique to temper the internal organs. Ultimately, one can achieve a state where both the inside and outside are like dragon skin, incomparably tough and impervious to blades and spears."

"This cultivation method begins with the initial body tempering technique. Each level of tempering consists of three grades, with the ultimate limit being the third grade at the ninth grade. The tempering can be repeated three times, for a total of nine grades. Upon mastery, one can progress from external to internal, cultivating internal energy and entering the realm of internal martial arts. The only weakness is the eyes, which must be strictly guarded against in combat. Furthermore, because this method follows a path of extreme limits, completing the first ninth grade of body tempering will cause symptoms of excessive sexual desire, leading to irritability and anger. This is due to an imbalance of the heart and kidneys, requiring harmonizing methods to restore balance."

Seeing this, Lin Hui confirmed his previous guess. Sure enough, the Black Dragon Claw was an ultimate martial art. Just look at how strong its defensive power was. Even Bao He Dao Ren, who was also at the Inner Force Realm and whose Inner Force could extend to his weapon, was at least at the sixth level. Yet, he couldn't even hurt Song Zhanlong back then.

This shows how exaggerated it is.

"The body tempering was repeated three times, while the Qingfeng Sword Sect only tempered their bodies twice. No wonder the Black Dragon Claw is so powerful," Lin Hui sighed as he quickly finished flipping through the booklet.

'I was originally planning to start practicing them at the same time, but this side effect is a bit troublesome. I'll wait until the Gale Sword Technique evolves before practicing it. Anyway, with the acceleration from the drugs, it shouldn't be too long.'

He thought to himself that if it weren't for him, the Qingfeng Sword Sect might never have had a chance to turn things around. After all, the difference between the second and third body tempering was obvious to anyone with eyes.

As expected of those from Xingdao City, the Black Dragon Claw is not only an ultimate martial art, but it has also undergone three rounds of body tempering, making it far stronger than the Qingfeng Sword.

Lin Hui put away the secret manual, stood up, and began his daily second body tempering again. Although the perfect version of the Qingfeng Sword Technique was at its limit after the second body tempering, it still had its benefits.

That means internal strength develops early.

Especially in the perfect version, the speed at which internal energy grows is almost three to five threads of internal energy per day, accumulating rapidly.

Moreover, as the internal energy threads accumulated, Lin Hui could vaguely feel that these internal energies would also silently affect his body. They faintly emitted subtle power, whether it was particles, radiation, or a force field, and this power acted on all parts of his body.

Lin Hui clearly felt that since entering the Inner Strength Realm, his senses had become more acute. His eyesight, hearing, smell, and other five senses were much sharper than before.

Moreover, and more importantly, he seemed to be able to sense the fine, transparent web that had formed around his body.

Weaving a net is the fundamental way to filter and absorb external forces, transforming them into internal strength.

Previously, he could only vaguely sense the existence of the web through other means. But recently, he could faintly feel that the web was floating around his body, as if it were woven from countless threads extending from within him.

After continuously tempering his body to its limit, Lin Hui felt that no more internal force lines were being generated within his body, and only then did he stop.

After resting cross-legged in the pavilion for a while, just as he was about to delve deeper into the secrets of the Black Dragon Claw,

A disciple trotted in and bowed to report.

"Sect Master, three former disciples from the Qingfeng Sword Sect's front courtyard have come to pay a visit. Would you like to receive them?"

(End of this chapter)