The Decaying World

Lin Hui’s thoughts on practicing Martial Arts were simple. He only planned to use it as a pretext, laying the groundwork for when he would eventually start brandishing swords and spears.

He was also a little curious to see the foundational Martial Arts system of this world.

So, after getting his affirmative answer, Lin Xiangnan and Fu Yunxin immediately packed their things. The very next day, they took him to enroll.

The weather was dry and arid. On the way to the sword hall, Lin Xiangnan led Lin Hui as they walked single-file along the side of the road.

The city, named Xidong, had terrible infrastructure. The roads were just ordinary dirt paths, and whenever a horse-drawn carriage, an oxcart, or a slow-moving automobile passed by, it would kick up a hazy cloud of yellow dust.

Small, sparsely scattered shops and stalls lined both sides of the road.

In addition, there were gaunt men and women kneeling on the ground, each with a piece of gray cloth draped around their neck.

Their clothes were tattered, filthy, and in ruins, so full of patches and holes that it was impossible to discern their original color. Their hair was mostly matted, clearly unwashed for a very long time. As they passed, a pungent, mixed odor of sweat and earth filled the air.

As Lin Xiangnan led Lin Hui past these people, he tried to use his own body to shield the boy, blocking his line of sight.

"Who are they?" Lin Hui asked.

"..." Lin Xiangnan fell silent for a moment. "They’re selling themselves. All of them."

"Selling themselves?" In the few years since he’d arrived in this world, Lin Hui had always lived in a relatively nice residential area and rarely went out. The news he followed was mostly about strange and unusual events. Hearing such a familiar yet foreign phrase now, he was momentarily stunned.

"Yes. Because of the recent drought, the fields have no water, and most of the crops have died. Many farming families can no longer survive, so they have no choice but to sell themselves," Lin Xiangnan explained in a low, sighing voice.

"Don’t they have any grain reserves?" Lin Hui remembered the weather only started getting hotter and the rain scarcer this year. ’How could these farmers be reduced to selling themselves in just a single year?’

"They have to pay seventy to eighty percent of their harvest as land rent. How could they possibly have any grain reserves?" Lin Xiangnan said with a helpless air.

Seventy to eighty percent!?

Lin Hui frowned. ’With land rent that high, it’s no wonder these people are forced to sell themselves. If they weren’t truly on the brink of starvation, who would willingly cast aside all dignity to kneel on the street?’

"Also, for the past few years, several of the official commanders have been at odds with each other. They’ve been secretly abducting people from the countryside, wiping out entire households, and raiding each other’s territories to press-gang men into their armies. It’s only in the big cities, which have more influence and powerful backers, that they don’t dare to pull such stunts. So it’s relatively much safer here." Seeing that his son could understand and keep up with the conversation, Lin Xiangnan elaborated a little more.

He was a university student, which in this era and this country, already made him a top-tier intellectual. Yet, the more he knew and the more he saw of the world’s misery, the more powerless he felt.

The only thing he could do was try his best to shield his son’s eyes, lest the boy see too much and be unable to sleep at night.

Neither of them was in the mood to speak after that. Following the address written on the flyer, they soon arrived at the Pine Wind Sword Hall.

The sword hall was rather dilapidated. Located in the suburbs, it consisted of a large, dusty training ground with a small earthen house at its edge. A large character for "Guard" was pasted on the house’s wall.

It marked the resting place for the watchman.

The two of them entered the half-open gate to the training ground and saw about a dozen pre-teens scattered about. The vast majority were boys; only a few were girls.

They were all gathered in a circle, watching someone demonstrate some moves in the center.

Everyone wore simple, coarse-cloth tunics and trousers, with sashes tied at their waists. Their hair was tied back as well.

Lin Xiangnan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to another middle-aged man who was resting in a chair at the edge of the training ground. The two spoke for a moment, the fee was quickly paid, and it was confirmed that Lin Hui would officially join the sword hall as one of its members.

The middle-aged man rose and came over to glance at Lin Hui.

After a casual glance, he nodded, exchanged a few more words with Lin Xiangnan, and confirmed the specific schedule for future lessons.

Next came the introductions. The middle-aged man was the master of the sword hall, Xiao Dayong.

The disciples here were divided into two types: Crude Martial and Refined Martial.

Crude Martial disciples paid no fees; instead, they performed chores, manual labor, and ran errands in exchange for their training. Refined Martial disciples, on the other hand, had to pay a considerable sum, but they were exempt from chores during their daily practice and would often receive personal instruction from the hall master himself. The two tiers of treatment were worlds apart.

Lin Hui, naturally, was enrolled as a Refined Martial disciple, to be taught personally by Hall Master Xiao Dayong.

However, when Lin Hui sized the man up, it was obvious his own skill level was extremely poor.

He had no Inner Strength, let alone True Power. He was just an ordinary man who exercised regularly.

This instantly dashed his hopes of witnessing this world’s native Martial Arts, and a trace of disappointment crept into his heart.

But he quickly adjusted his expectations.

’It’s fine to be disappointed,’ he thought. ’There will be time and opportunities later. Since I have my pretext, I can use this Pine Wind Sword Hall as a shell, a starting point for my own operations.’

’When the time is right, I can casually create some simple Swordsmanship techniques and use them to build my own small faction.’

’A faction like that would be incredibly useful for gathering intelligence and resources. Otherwise, I’d have to run around and collect everything myself, which would be far too time-consuming and exhausting.’

Soon, the introductions were complete and the schedule was set. The hall master didn’t even bother to check Lin Hui’s aptitude before waving them away, telling them to come back tomorrow.

Lin Xiangnan happily took Lin Hui home. The next morning, he even packed five large meat pies wrapped in oil paper for Lin Hui to eat during his training.

In a corner of the training ground.

Lin Hui was left alone. Lin Xiangnan had to go teach his own classes and wouldn’t be back to pick him up until the afternoon.

Thus, the nearly five-year-old Lin Hui had to face Hall Master Xiao Dayong by himself.

Oh, and there was also his dark, chubby, five-year-old daughter, Xiao Shishi.

"Alright, Lin Hui, is it? I’ll teach you a simple set of movements first. Follow my lead, and once you’ve learned it, we’ll move on to the next part," Xiao Dayong said casually, a Wooden Sword in hand.

"Okay," Lin Hui nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the chubby girl, Xiao Shishi, already sneaking one of his meat pies from its oil-paper wrapping.

He frowned and was about to tell her to stop.

"Get over here, Er Hei!" Xiao Dayong suddenly barked. The shout made Xiao Shishi jump, and she nearly dropped the meat pie. Seeing her father was angry, she had no choice but to obediently walk over and stand in a line with Lin Hui.

"Practice with him," Xiao Dayong said sternly. "Or you’ll get a beating!"

Helpless, Xiao Shishi could only nod obediently.

The girl was dark, chubby, and had buck teeth. It was clear she wasn’t going to win her father’s affection with her looks.

Then, Xiao Dayong slowly demonstrated a basic, simplified version of the Pine Wind Swordsmanship.

The routine was very simple. For Lin Hui, it was naturally something he could grasp after one viewing and master after a moment’s thought.

There were twelve techniques in total, covering four areas of focus: attacking, defending, dodging, and retreating.

"Your turn," Xiao Dayong said, pointing at Lin Hui. "How much did you get?"

Lin Hui couldn’t be bothered with small talk. He simply took the Wooden Sword and performed the routine with ease, deliberately making a few mistakes to appear more ordinary.

"Not bad at all," Xiao Dayong said, slightly surprised. "You have the best memory of all my apprentices. Yes, very good. Watch closely, I’ll do it one more time."

He demonstrated it again, then had Lin Hui follow his movements.

This time, he performed it perfectly.

Xiao Dayong nodded in satisfaction. ’Teaching a good student is so relaxing and effortless.’

"Practice hard. When you get home, go through it at least three times a day. Do that, and staying healthy and free of illness in the future won’t be a problem," he instructed.

"Yes, sir," Lin Hui nodded. "Can I ask, how powerful is our Pine Wind Sword Hall in Xidong?"

"How powerful? This is the age of firearms. How powerful do you think you can be? If you have a dozen rifles aimed at you, what difference does it make how good you are? You’ll still be dead," Xiao Dayong laughed. "You should listen to fewer storybooks. Even if you train your Swordsmanship and Martial Arts to the highest level, you’re still no match for Mages, rifles, and cannons. We’re not practicing to pick fights and prove our strength. We’re doing it to build up our bodies and avoid sickness."

"Oh, I see..." Lin Hui put on a deliberately disappointed expression. "Are there really no Martial Arts masters who can fly around and aren’t afraid of guns?"

"I’d like to know that myself. In all my years—and I’ve lived a good long while—I’ve never once seen a master who could stand up to rifles and cannons. Alright, you little squirt, enough with the questions. Go practice your sword!"

He couldn’t be bothered to explain further and waved his hand to dismiss Lin Hui.

He was just an ordinary Swordsmanship instructor running a hobby class. What time did he have to play Q&A with a little kid?

Over the next while, Lin Hui found every opportunity to make small talk with him, asking all sorts of questions about Martial Arts.

Unfortunately, it was clear that even Xiao Dayong himself, who had practiced the Pine Wind Swordsmanship for over twenty years and had long since achieved Great Success, didn’t believe he possessed any great ability.

According to him, even if you practiced the Swordsmanship to its absolute peak, it wouldn’t amount to much. Someone with a rifle could still take you out, so you shouldn’t even think about using his Pine Wind Swordsmanship to get into brutal fights. It was useless!

Lin Hui also carefully analyzed the Swordsmanship. It was indeed completely ordinary. There were only some crude techniques for applying force and twelve moderately intricate Sword Techniques, all of which relied on pure physical strength.

According to Xiao Dayong, he had learned this Swordsmanship from an old Taoist priest he met in a dilapidated temple deep in the mountains.

It was said that reaching Great Success would grant one a robust physique, a long life, and immunity to all illnesses. If one were to go a step further and practice it to the absolute limit, one could even gain a slight ability to defend oneself. By striking acupoints with precision and moving like the wind, one could possess a certain degree of combat effectiveness.

But what made Lin Hui frown was that the man had genuinely never even heard of Inner Strength.

It wasn’t just the Pine Wind Sword Hall; all the other Martial Arts institutions followed a fitness-oriented path. None of them had ever heard of anything called Inner Strength.

’Isn’t this just a calisthenics routine?’ Lin Hui concluded after his final round of questions.

"Haha, you’re right! It really is just like those calisthenics routines that have become popular recently, the ones from overseas!" Xiao Dayong roared with laughter upon hearing this.

The Pine Wind Swordsmanship had essentially no practical combat applications. Many of its techniques were purely for stretching and exercise, some were included just for aesthetic appeal, and others existed only for creating smooth transitions between movements.

In short, the techniques served all sorts of purposes—none of which were for actual combat.

At this point, Lin Hui completely gave up on the idea of using this Swordsmanship for actual fighting. It seemed he would have to rely entirely on himself.

「Three years passed in the blink of an eye...」

Lin Hui was now eight years old. He had diligently continued his sword practice at the Pine Wind Sword Hall, and his body, just as the hall master had promised, was robust and free of illness. This delighted Lin Xiangnan and his wife, who had given Xiao Dayong a hefty red envelope during the last New Year’s celebration.

During these three years, while continuously gathering all sorts of strange intelligence, Lin Hui had also created several impressive, modified versions of the Pine Wind Swordsmanship. Yet, no matter how he practiced, not a single one of his creations could generate Inner Strength.

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