The Decaying World

After the blood letter case, Tie Niu’s father was finally laid to rest, and a period of peace settled in.

Brother Hao and his two men were so shocked by the formidable strength of Wu Anning and the Pine Wind Sword Hall that they all voluntarily signed up as students. They even paid to repair the wooden door they had shattered.

Everything seemed to fall silent once more.

Under its new commander’s governance, Xidong City seemed much more stable than before. Despite having just endured the Drought Calamity, the city’s population had actually increased slightly.

Meanwhile, Lin Hui began screening disciples he planned to take under his personal tutelage. Just then, Zhao Lingxiao arrived at the sword hall with her best friend, Liu Xuezhen.

Without the slightest hesitation, Liu Xuezhen immediately registered, paid the tuition, and became one of the sword hall’s elite martial students.

"Aren’t you going to check it out a bit more??" Zhao Lingxiao looked at her friend helplessly. ’That’s an ongoing tuition fee you have to pay every year. You’re just going to casually hand it over and sign the contract like that?’

"Check what out? Brother Hui is here. Wherever he is, I’ll be!" Liu Xuezhen giggled.

"I’m honestly speechless when it comes to you." Zhao Lingxiao shook her head, lost for words, as her gaze swept over the disciples practicing their Swordsmanship in the training yard.

To be honest, if she hadn’t come to see it for herself, she never would have realized the sword hall’s training yard had transformed into... this.

’Look at those hulking figures practicing with their swords. You can barely tell their gender. All you can see are masses of powerful muscle, flexing and contracting under the sun as sweat pours off them.’

’And what are those things they’re holding?’

’Are those iron rods as thick as an arm they’re using as swords?’

Just from the sound of them cutting through the air, she knew the force behind each swing was absolutely ferocious.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Just then, a few pairs of disciples in the corner began to spar. Their iron swords crashed toward each other like a raging storm, and when the two blades collided, they sent sparks flying.

The piercing sound of the impacts alone was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

Zhao Lingxiao flinched and looked over at her best friend, Liu Xuezhen.

She saw that her friend’s expression had also gradually grown serious.

"Xuezhen, I feel like... this place is a little off... Do you get that feeling too?"

"A little..." After all, Liu Xuezhen came from a warlord’s family and had some worldly experience. Her initial, playful intentions were now starting to change.

If she had initially come just for Lin Hui’s physique and good looks, now she was starting to get a faint feeling that there was something more to this place.

"To be able to run a sword hall this long and this stably in an age where guns and cannons run rampant, this place must have some serious connections. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have survived," Liu Xuezhen said in a hushed voice.

Beside her, Zhao Lingxiao nodded in understanding.

"You have expert bodyguards at home, right? How do these guys compare to them?" she asked in a low voice.

"Of course I do. And not just bodyguards. We have Daoists and monks for protection, too, but Daddy never lets me interact with them. They’re always so mysterious. I have no idea what they’re capable of," Liu Xuezhen said softly. "This is perfect. I’ll study hard here. Maybe after I master some peerless Martial Arts, I can go home and give Dad a real shock!"

As she spoke, a playful glint appeared in her eyes.

"You’ll have to endure a lot of hardship, then. I hear this kind of training is exhausting. And it all depends on your aptitude and comprehension," Zhao Lingxiao sighed.

"I’ve got both. I trained with firearms when I was little. Balancing bricks on my hands, shooting with water jugs hanging from my arms, dynamic combat rolls... I’ve done all sorts of drills and endured plenty of hardship. I’m not afraid of suffering. Besides, with Brother Hui around, I can feast my eyes on him when I get tired. That’s the life... tsk, tsk, tsk..." Liu Xuezhen was clearly already fantasizing about her happy life to come.

’All I have to do is pretend I don’t know a certain move and need some guidance, then ask Brother Hui to help me, hand-over-hand... His body gently pressing against mine, his scorching, powerful chest, his handsome face drawing near...’ Her gaze grew distant and hazy.

Zhao Lingxiao was completely speechless. But, urged on by her best friend, she also signed up and joined the sword hall.

From then on, the two began their formal sword training.

At first, Zhao Lingxiao could handle it. But after a week, her body ached all over, and she finally couldn’t take it anymore. She quit, got a refund, and went home. This left Liu Xuezhen by herself, who, surprisingly, was still tirelessly practicing her sword every day.

In addition to sword practice, the hall also distributed a medicine called the Red Emperor Pill to be taken alongside their training.

What she hadn’t expected was that she actually had some Talent. Perhaps due to all her training since childhood, she managed to master the basic Pine Wave Swordsmanship in just one month.

Next came the more advanced Pine Wind Swordsmanship.

In the blink of an eye, Liu Xuezhen had been training at the sword hall for over three months.

The rainy season had begun, and a fine drizzle often left the streets a muddy mess.

Today, Liu Xuezhen woke up bright and early and took a horse-drawn carriage with her bodyguards to the sword hall for morning practice.

Her father, Liu Changjing, stood at the entrance of their residence, also preparing to leave for official business. He saw the flirtatious smile on her face and then looked at her outfit. It was extremely form-fitting. Beneath a white trench coat, she wore only a tight black athletic outfit that completely revealed the curves of her figure, even hinting at certain assets that were best left unseen.

The moment he saw this, a vein on Liu Changjing’s forehead throbbed as rage rapidly built within him.

"Dressing like that is completely improper! Go back and change!"

"But Dad, I like wearing this. It’s close-fitting and comfortable," Liu Xuezhen said, her eyes wide with feigned innocence.

She had deliberately dressed this way to get some private extra training from the hall master. As an elite martial disciple paying ten times the tuition of a regular student, she naturally deserved some special treatment.

"I sent you there to train your body, not to get involved in other nonsense!" Liu Changjing knew the sword hall his daughter attended had some real skill and wasn’t run by common swindlers. Otherwise, he would have secretly shut it down long ago to prevent it from wasting his daughter’s time.

He had originally tested his daughter’s aptitude for both Daoist and Buddhist cultivation and found her lacking, which was why he had reluctantly allowed her to choose her own path.

’Although the Martial Dao and Swordsmanship are not even worth mentioning compared to cultivation of the Great Dao...’

’...it at least provides a bit more self-defense than, say, dancing. After all, being able to run fast in a critical moment is also a kind of skill.’

However, while he had anticipated one thing, he hadn’t anticipated another. It seemed his daughter’s intention to "train her body" was a pretense, while her romantic fantasies were all too real.

"But..." Liu Xuezhen pouted, displeased, and was about to try and get away with it by acting cute as she usually did. But when she saw her father take a horsewhip from his aide, she shuddered in fear and scurried back into the residence.

A short while later, she came out in different clothes. Her father’s car had already left, so she could only get into her own carriage and head helplessly toward the sword hall.

What she didn’t notice, however, was that as soon as her carriage left the residence, it was targeted by three pairs of hidden eyes.

"Is that her? Liu Xuezhen, Liu Changjing’s only daughter. If we capture her, we should be able to force Liu Changjing to hand over the Hongyuan Scripture." Under the eaves in an alley, an old, wealthy-looking gentleman strolled slowly with a cane, followed by two servants. He looked like any other old man out for a morning walk, completely inconspicuous.

The gazes of all three swept past Liu Xuezhen’s carriage, confirming their target.

"Yes, that’s her. She has an expert from the Qiankun Temple, arranged by Liu Changjing, protecting her," one of the servants said, his lips barely moving.

"What’s his level?"

"He’s nicknamed Nine-Chain Blade Chen Chong. He wields a blade in one hand and a gun in the other. His Sword Technique is no worse than yours, sir. His marksmanship is slightly weaker, but he’s still a sharpshooter within a hundred meters. A bit tricky. However, Chen Chong doesn’t stay by her side constantly. According to our observations, after Liu Xuezhen enters the sword hall, there’s a ten-minute window around noon when he goes to the latrine. At that time, he’s replaced by an ordinary old gunman," the other servant replied quickly.

"It’s a trap," the old gentleman said calmly. "That deliberately created ten-minute window is the trap. Knowing Liu Changjing’s methods and cunning, it’s definitely a trick. So we can’t use that as our breakthrough point. We should target the sword hall directly."

"Target the sword hall?"

"Correct. The master of the Pine Wind Sword Hall is admired by Liu Xuezhen. As long as we control him and create an opportunity from the side, it will be much easier. If we play our cards right, we won’t even have to make a move ourselves. We can have the hall master subtly guide Liu Xuezhen and complete the mission," the old gentleman said with a smile.

"As expected of our captain! Truly, the older the ginger, the spicier it is. Brilliant!"

"It is a good plan, but I heard rumors that someone at that sword hall with innate Divine Power repelled a living corpse head-on... Won’t he be a little difficult to deal with?"

The two servants voiced their concerns.

"He’s just an ordinary martial artist. With innate Divine Power and a good weapon, it’s true he could suppress a normal living corpse. Nothing surprising about that. But how can we be compared to a mere living corpse? Ten or twenty of them would be nothing but puppets in our hands. What is there to worry about?" the old gentleman said with a smile.

He had already investigated thoroughly. No one at the sword hall showed any trace of having cultivated Mana. Back when they fought that living corpse, they had relied on brute force.

He had dealt with countless martial artists like that before. It was child’s play.

"Let’s go. We make our move tonight."

"Yes, sir!"

*

*

*

Inside the Pine Wind Sword Hall, within the largest of the newly built quadrangles.

Lin Hui gazed down at Wu Anning, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Do you know why I have summoned you?"

His black hair was now tied in a high ponytail that hung down his back. He held the Ruyi Sword in one hand, and his formidable frame cast a large shadow on the ground, completely enveloping Wu Anning.

"This disciple does not know." Although Wu Anning was publicly known as Lin Hui’s junior martial sister, in truth, she had long since taken him as her master.

"Anning, this world is sick. Gravely sick..." Lin Hui sighed. "Do we, who practice Martial Arts and the sword, truly do it just to strengthen our bodies?"

"Whatever Hall Master wishes to do, you need only give the command. My life is yours!" After following him for so many years, Wu Anning was completely devoted to Lin Hui.

Two years ago, when her parents had passed away from illness, it was Lin Hui who had helped handle the funeral arrangements. Now, with no other attachments in the world, Lin Hui was effectively her closest family.

She didn’t know about grand principles, nor did she care about the state of the world. That had nothing to do with her. All she knew was that she would do whatever the Hall Master said. She didn’t think about anything else, nor could she be bothered to.

Seeing her resolve, Lin Hui was struck speechless for a moment before chuckling, realizing he had been overthinking things.

Wu Anning didn’t need him to beat around the bush and persuade her. All he had to do was ask.

"Good child..." Subconsciously, a flash of gentleness from his past life flickered across his expression.

"In that case, close your eyes and focus your mind!"

He raised his hand, a dot of white light glowing on his index finger. In an instant, he pressed it forward.

With a soft touch, the white light sank into the center of Wu Anning’s brow, instantly transforming into a white pattern that flashed and then vanished.

After so many years, the Righteous Body, the first of the Four Great Dharma Seals of the Clear Wind Dao, had finally seen the light of day once more!

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