The Decaying World

Perhaps finding another old acquaintance helped lift Lin Hui’s spirits from their recent hollowness.

After completing his daily observation records of the terrestrial energy, he once again began to determine the next evolution target for his Blood Seal.

Inside the study.

Lin Hui took stock of everything he currently needed.

’The environment is degrading, but my personal strength is more than enough to ensure my safety. The formation’s mobility has also finished evolving and is extremely fast. In terms of self-sufficiency, I can basically produce and internally supply most materials. Drinking water is no longer a problem either...’

At a glance, it seemed there was nothing he particularly needed.

’In that case, I’ll try evolving a life-extending item... Better to be prepared. Since the world’s environment no longer allows for more life-extending items to appear, I’ll try creating one myself.’

’No... a life-extending item is gone once it’s used; it’s a one-time thing. A life-extending Secret Technique, a special organ, ability, or Talent would be more suitable...’

He deliberated for a moment, then set his sights on the divine life-saving skill—the Eye of Life.

This special organ, which increased the number of times one could survive over time, could be called his greatest assurance for protecting the lives of his family and Disciples.

This ability could transform his eyes into special organs capable of storing up to ninety-nine uses of an active life recovery technique.

With the passage of time, the Eye of Life had now stored about three uses of full recovery, ready to be deployed.

With the thought of ’I’ll just try evolving it and see what happens,’ Lin Hui decided on a new evolution test based on the Eye of Life. Even if it didn’t result in life extension, he might get a better passive life-saving Secret Technique out of it.

The active-use effect of the Eye of Life was still too limited. If he couldn’t mentally activate it in time, it would be useless.

He now sat cross-legged in his study and lit a stick of incense.

With a single thought, the shielding formation activated automatically. A red sheen flashed across the surrounding walls and floor.

Only after doing all this did he summon the Blood Seal and set the Eye of Life as the evolution target.

’Eye of Life: A radiation field collection organ originating from the Holy Night Sect... Current uses available: 3.’

’Evolvable branches: 4.’

He opened the branches directly.

’1—Holy Spirit Eye: A supreme secret artifact of the Holy Night Sect. Building upon the Eye of Life, it has been further enhanced to develop a powerful assassination technique that uses one’s own recovery charges to annihilate the life force of an opponent of the same level.’

’2—Immortal Saintly Eye: An evolved version of the Eye of Life. While retaining all basic attributes, the strength of the eyes is greatly increased. As long as the eyes are not destroyed, life is not extinguished. No matter how much damage the body sustains, even if it is completely annihilated, as long as the eyes remain intact, everything will automatically and rapidly recover completely. The number of recoveries is determined by the charges stored in the Eye of Life.’

’3—Heart-Annihilating Demon Eye: For every living being’s Heart and Spirit you destroy, you gain one passive life substitute. Upon death, you will automatically be replaced by a substitute. The number of substitutes is unlimited.’

’4—Soul-Hosting Calamity Eye: One of the supreme Secret Techniques of the Jiuxiao Sect. It allows one to connect to Disaster Power through the eyes and merge one’s soul into it. In this way, no matter how the body is destroyed, the soul, combined with Disaster Power, can gather matter and infinitely reshape and restore itself, thus achieving a state of indestructibility.’

"..." Lin Hui was calm seeing the first few options, but the last one... put him on high alert.

Jiuxiao Sect... Connecting this to the True Monarch of Seven Destructions’ situation, he instantly understood. Qimei had probably used this technique, and after cultivating it to Great Success, merged himself with the Source Calamity, entrusting his soul to it to achieve indestructibility.

He had to admit, this Dharma Gate was truly outrageous. It was highly likely that even a terrifyingly powerful being like Qimei relied on this technique to achieve his indestructibility.

The temptation was immense.

But... Lin Hui paused, then quickly clicked on the fourth option to check the details.

The evolution resources and time required totaled... one hundred years!

Seeing this time requirement, his vigilance shot to its absolute peak.

Such an outrageous Secret Technique only required one hundred years to evolve!?

Considering the recent increase in the number of people contaminated by the ’weathering wind scars’, Lin Hui quickly made his choice.

He directly chose the second option, the Immortal Saintly Eye.

This one was much more normal. It changed the active use to a passive trigger, inherited all the attributes of the Eye of Life, and only required a thousand years.

’Are you sure you want to evolve the Immortal Saintly Eye?’ The Blood Seal’s query appeared.

’Confirm.’ Lin Hui decided without hesitation.

Then he took out the sharp horn and examined the thing. It was a good item, but the problem was that the Duke of Purgatory hadn’t told him how to use it.

After observing it for a long while, he picked up the sharp horn and stuffed it into his mouth.

CRUNCH.

His sharp teeth, imbued with Disaster Energy, easily bit off a piece of the horn, and he began to chew slowly.

’It actually tastes pretty good...’

Lin Hui slowly swallowed, watching as the Blood Seal’s evolution timer rapidly shortened from one thousand years to nine hundred.

Then, eight hundred, six hundred, three hundred, one hundred... complete.

Immediately after, a sharp pain shot through his eyes as a great torrent of heat surged out. The heat lasted for a few breaths before disappearing on its own.

Then, there were no further changes.

He wasn’t bothered by it. At his level, his strength and Realm were so immense that a simple evolution could no longer cause a large-scale impact on his body.

After the evolution was complete, Lin Hui glanced at the sharp horn, which was still more than half-full, and simply chose to evolve the Immortal Saintly Eye once more.

This time, three branches appeared. It was clear that as the evolution level increased, the number of available branches began to decrease.

’1—Destruction Eye: The eye that manipulates one’s own life and death. A terrifying sacred organ from the Holy Night Sect that exists only in legends. As long as the eyes are not destroyed, life is not extinguished. Possesses uniqueness.’

’2—Myriad Dharma Eye: Consumes life force to instantly see through all techniques and learn them rapidly. The upper limit is determined by the quality of the life force consumed.’

’3—Eternal Tribulation Eye: Allows one to see the tribulations a living being will face within a certain period. Consumes one’s own life force. The more consumed, the deeper the insight. Note: Ineffective against the Source Calamity.’

The second and third options were very tempting. Paired with other methods of replenishing life force, they could unleash terrifyingly immense power.

But Lin Hui’s goal was survival, so the first option, the Destruction Eye, best suited his needs.

It removed the limit on accumulated charges, allowing for infinite revivals. The only condition was that the eyes remain undamaged. This could be achieved simply by crafting some powerful protective helmets.

For the family and friends he wanted to protect, this was undoubtedly the best choice.

After all, he could simply evolve a batch of ultra-high-strength materials to make helmets for his loved ones to wear. This would raise their safety threshold to an outrageous level.

He chose the Destruction Eye. Evolution time: 7,000 years.

Lin Hui sighed, then ate the rest of the horn in one go, instantly shortening the time by more than four thousand years.

The remaining two thousand-plus years would just have to be endured slowly...

*

*

*

「Three months later...」

Civil unrest erupted in Black Cloud City. After the Fogman City Lord’s departure, Gongsun Wuhan attempted to consolidate all the factions and was assassinated.

Fortunately, Su Yaping of Qingfeng Dao intervened, killing three Blood Ancestors in a row and suppressing the situation.

However, some dissenters still took the opportunity to flee under the cover of night.

The night mists had grown much thinner now. As long as one was careful not to rush recklessly into any strange areas, their safety could be guaranteed.

This changing environment gave these Blood Ancestor factions an opening to escape.

Two days later, the situation stabilized, and the city began clearing away the large number of dead and wounded.

Inside the Qingfeng Dao Courtyard.

Su Yaping and Xia Si entered together to report on the situation.

"Those are the specifics. The escapees are mostly remnants of the factions that the three former City Lords destroyed. They saw an opportunity and decided to stir up trouble. Their goal wasn’t to rebel against our Qingfeng Dao, but was purely for revenge, to eliminate as many members of The Three Great Original Blood families as possible," Su Yaping said gravely.

"The three families are large; just make sure they aren’t wiped out completely... Let the others do as they please. Also, don’t let Gongsun Wuhan die," Lin Hui instructed coolly.

"Yes," Su Yaping replied.

"Xia Si." Lin Hui’s gaze fell on Xia Si, who was lost in thought off to the side.

"I sent you out to patrol the surroundings and map the sea charts. How did it go?"

"It’s done... but..." Xia Si’s expression was one of sheer boredom. "They’re too weak... everyone everywhere is too weak... I can’t even find anyone to fight..."

"You can find someone within the sect," Lin Hui said.

"I’ve fought everyone in the sect too many times..." Xia Si sighed.

She had always been quite lonely in the sect. Because her strength was too overwhelming, everyone was a little afraid of her.

Thus, the only ones she could interact with as equals were Su Yaping and Master Yunxia, who were freaks like herself.

But Su Yaping couldn’t beat her, and Master Yunxia didn’t like to fight her. So her life returned to being one of idleness, with nothing to do day after day but Cultivation.

"Then there’s nothing to be done. Unless... you want to fight me?" Lin Hui said calmly.

"..." Xia Si’s eyes narrowed, and her imposing aura flared up again. "Can I?"

"Of course you can..." Lin Hui smiled. He stretched out his hand, pointing his index finger gently in Xia Si’s direction.

POP.

The next second, Xia Si’s eyes rolled back. The golden light that had just begun to gather behind her instantly dissipated.

Her body slumped over and fell to the floor, where she lay in a deep, baby-like sleep.

There was no contact. They were several meters apart. It was just a single point of his finger from a distance.

Xia Si, an expert whose strength was comparable to the Emperor Blood Fog People, had been knocked unconscious without any ability to resist.

Su Yaping, standing to the side, felt her scalp tingle. She now understood that the Daoist Master’s strength had reached a level they could no longer comprehend.

’Can the Martial Dao really reach such a height?’

A deep-seated doubt quietly seeped into the bottom of her heart.

"Let her sleep here for a while," Lin Hui said with a smile. Ever since he had stopped killing, he felt much more at ease, as if he were cultivating his character and nurturing his nature, feeling a sense of natural liveliness.

This gave him a new understanding of the Celestial Father Seal.

"Daoist Master, there is one other piece of news. It’s from the Good Heart Sect," Su Yaping said respectfully, lowering her head.

"The Good Heart Sect is still around?" Lin Hui was a little surprised. With the world in such upheaval, it was impressive that the Good Heart Sect had managed to survive.

"They are, but they were previously targeted by the Royal Capital for secretly supporting the Bright Heart Association. However, due to the world’s degradation, the ones sent to purge them disappeared midway through, so the operation was halted, giving them a chance to breathe. Now, the previous batch of Sect Hierarchs and Vice Sect Hierarchs have all perished, and the newly appointed Vice Sect Hierarchs are fighting for power, splitting into several factions and warring with each other. The Black-Face faction contacted me yesterday, hoping to trade various treasures and relics in exchange for allowing the former Sect Hierarch’s descendants to take refuge on Qingfei Mountain."

"Send them over. We have some history with the Good Heart Sect, after all," Lin Hui agreed.

Listening to these trivial matters, which at most involved the Blood Ancestor level, he suddenly understood a bit of how Xia Si felt.

’Oh, well. In a few days, I should make a trip to the Royal Capital to see Han Xiaoyue.’ Xie Chang’an and Zhang Yao were over there too...

After this trip, he planned to stay home from now on and spend time with his family.

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