The Decaying World

"...." Tian Long was speechless. "You truly are a strange one."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"I wasn’t complimenting you. If you really can’t get involved directly, then do as I do: find some pawns to test the waters. Then, by comparing the effects on them, you can determine if the specific power of the Immortal Law poses a threat to you," Tian Long said.

"Not a bad idea." Lin Hui’s eyes lit up. He was a man who only knew how to cultivate and knew nothing of management or strategy. His solution to trouble was always to just swing his sword.

Now, with Tian Long’s advice, he immediately felt the method was a perfect fit.

"The only difficulty with this method is finding suitable pawns. If they’re too weak, you won’t get the results you want. If they’re too strong, they’ll be hard to control," Tian Long said.

Lin Hui was lost in thought, an idea already forming in his mind.

*

*

*

"Latest news! The Master has decided to select Core Disciples! Candidates must have the highest degree of loyalty to the Master. All selected disciples will receive a monthly stipend, be taught the Master’s Secret Techniques, and see a massive increase in their strength!"

The basic martial arts disciple in charge of the announcement repeatedly struck the ground with an iron rod to attract everyone’s attention.

"A stipend?"

"A Secret Technique??"

Each student, captivated by a different part of the announcement, turned to look at the one making it.

On the training grounds, Liu Xuezhen, who was practicing her Swordsmanship with a female student, also heard the news.

"Core Disciple?" The moment she heard the term, her mind immediately jumped to certain... unspeakable scenarios.

"Does that mean I’ll be able to spend every day with the Master??" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Well... I guess so. Before, Senior Sister Wu Anning was pretty much the only core member in our dojo. She basically spends a lot of time with the Master every day," her one-on-one Swordsmanship instructor, a senior sister, said with some hesitation.

"Hey, hey, I want to sign up!!" Before the instructor could react, Liu Xuezhen had already vanished from sight.

A short distance away, she had already squeezed her way to the front of the line and was giving her personal information to the basic disciple taking registrations.

The senior sister shook her head helplessly and turned to leave.

Not everyone yearned for the treatment of a Core Disciple. Anyone could see that such generous benefits and rewards would surely come with an equivalent price.

But within the Sword Dojo, there were always students in need, whether of the stipend or the Secret Technique. Some joined to survive, others to grow strong enough to protect themselves. There was always something to attract them.

The selection process lasted only a single morning, and the list of names was finalized.

At noon, they had lunch, which was provided by the Sword Dojo. There was plenty of meat and all the rice you could eat. Besides not being allowed to take any to-go, everything else was unrestricted.

The food alone made Liu Xuezhen marvel silently.

Ordinary martial arts dojos would never dare to be so generous. After all, these students who trained and tempered their bodies every day were not ordinary people who only ate a bowl or two per meal. Five or six bowls of rice, plus a few pounds of meat, was on the light side for them.

After lunch, everyone on the list was led to a separate, small courtyard in the afternoon.

This was the core courtyard that Lin Hui had prepared specially. It was to be the headquarters for the Core Disciples, just like the Qingfeng Daoist Academy in the Fog People World before.

As the registered students filed in one by one—seven in total, including, to his surprise, Liu Xuezhen—Lin Hui was momentarily stunned.

But he quickly composed himself. ’The girl has only been here for a short time. It’s basically impossible for her to pass the loyalty screening.’

To avoid the glow of the Dharma Seal used for the screening from causing a commotion, Lin Hui specifically suppressed its light.

Furthermore, unlike with Wu Anning, to whom he had directly granted the Righteous Body which caused the greatest change, he instead chose the highly subtle Zhengde Seal.

This would enhance their comprehension and perception. While the effects wouldn’t be noticeable in the short term, it would allow Lin Hui to immediately determine if a person was sincere.

Soon, the students came forward one by one to receive the seal.

Wu Anning recorded the results on the side as each person was tested.

"You may all go back now. We will send someone to notify those who passed the test individually," Lin Hui said with a smile.

"Yes, sir."

The group dispersed, leaving the courtyard one after another.

They had all thought there would be some additional, special trial to complete the final assessment. But it turned out to be just a simple touch to each person’s forehead?

Only after everyone had left did Lin Hui give the list of those who passed to Wu Anning so she could make the subsequent arrangements.

"This... Liu Xuezhen passed too?" Wu Anning asked, surprised.

"Mm, I don’t know why, but a pass is a pass. Record it." Lin Hui wasn’t concerned. Liu Xuezhen’s background was only slightly special; in his eyes, there wasn’t much difference between her and the other students.

After the test, he had already gained a basic understanding of the general power levels in the cultivation world.

Of the seven, only four had actually passed. Besides Liu Xuezhen, the other three were Liu Xiu, Du Changjun, and Ouyang Shan.

Of the four, Liu Xiu and Liu Xuezhen were both women.

And apart from Liu Xuezhen, the other three all came from a basic martial arts background, which was in line with Lin Hui’s basic assumptions.

The refined martial arts students didn’t have as much motivation to strive so hard.

"Sigh, I thought everyone from the basic program would be willing to join..." Wu Anning sighed. "The world has barely stabilized a little, and people are already starting to slack off."

It was only recently, under Liu Chang’s governance, that the entire city district had become much more stable than before.

And clearly, now that the lives of the basic disciples had improved to a certain extent, they too were beginning to grow complacent.

"It’s human nature. You get used to it," Lin Hui said, unconcerned.

He raised his head, looking at the sickle moon in the night sky.

"Tonight might be a good night."

"?" Wu Anning didn’t know why he would say that at a time like this, but it didn’t matter. As long as the Master said it, she agreed with it.

*

*

*

「Inside the South City Mansion.」

In her enormous pink bedroom, Liu Xuezhen was rolling around on her bed, trying to stifle her laughter.

"BWAHAHAHA!! I knew it! I knew I would pass!!"

She hugged her stuffed teddy bear, ecstatic, practically drooling with excitement.

After rolling around a few more times, she sat up.

’But now that I think about it, the Swordsmanship taught at the dojo is a bit strange. It seems very different from other martial arts dojos.’ She had visited other dojos to compare, but even the strongest one in the city didn’t give her the same strange feeling as the Sword Dojo.

It was as if the two were practicing completely different systems.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

At that moment, there was a soft knock on her bedroom door.

"Zhenzhen, are you asleep? May I come in?" Her father, Liu Chang’s, voice came from outside the door.

"Come in, Daddy, I’m not asleep," Liu Xuezhen said quickly.

CLICK. Liu Chang opened the door and came in. He glanced at his daughter’s flushed face and recalled what his bodyguard had reported to him about the day’s events. He instantly understood what was going on.

"Zhenzhen, you should really reconsider this selection for the Songfeng Sword Dojo." ’They’re obviously selecting core members to cultivate their inner circle. What is my daughter doing getting mixed up in all that?’

"Reconsider? Reconsider what?" Liu Xuezhen asked, confused.

Seeing her clueless expression, Liu Chang felt a sense of helplessness. He immediately explained the whole situation to his daughter in detail.

Unexpectedly, after she finished listening, she wore an expression that said it was all perfectly natural.

"But that’s exactly why I joined!"

"You have to consider your status! Who are you? And what level is the Songfeng Sword Dojo at? With a single word from you, countless dojo masters would be forced to shut down their schools, and now you want to go and join *their* inner circle? It would make more sense for *him* to become your confidant, not the other way around!" Liu Chang was utterly speechless.

"Then why don’t you go ask him to be my confidant, Dad?" Liu Xuezhen countered.

"Well..." Liu Chang was a man of great principle. He really couldn’t bring himself to do something that was pure bullying.

"See? You can’t do it, can you? Our Master is different from the ones at other dojos. He’s different!" Liu Xuezhen said with a serious expression.

Looking at his daughter’s utterly love-struck expression, Liu Chang was completely helpless.

He tried to persuade her a little longer, but seeing it was still having no effect, he could only shake his head and leave the room.

He had even specifically hired a Mage before to check if his daughter had been bewitched by some kind of Magic or charm, but the result was negative.

His daughter was perfectly normal; all her decisions were being made entirely of her own free will.

This, paradoxically, made him feel even more helpless.

After her dad left, Liu Xuezhen got up and started on her evening homework.

Besides practicing the dojo’s Swordsmanship, her main task was to focus on her unfinished schoolwork.

Her father had hired private tutors for her comprehensive education, which included multiple foreign languages, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and philosophy.

In fact, aside from the two hours in the morning and evening that she spent at the dojo practicing Swordsmanship, she had to spend the rest of her time on these subjects.

She had even carved out those two hours by taking one hour from her personal rest time to give to the dojo.

Now back at home, she took out the day’s homework assignments again. First up was math.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Liu Xuezhen noticed something was wrong.

The math problems that she usually found extremely tedious, boring, and difficult were now being solved as easily as eating and drinking.

It felt like there was no difficulty at all.

’Could it be that I’m just in a good state today?’ she wondered. After quickly finishing her math homework, she moved on to studying her three foreign languages.

And this time, her studies truly confirmed it: something about her had suddenly changed.

Memorizing and retaining vocabulary for the three foreign languages, she could practically get it all down in a single pass with just a glance.

Then came the other subjects. The more Liu Xuezhen tried, the more shocked she became.

In less than an hour, she had finished all her homework—a workload that would normally have taken her at least two and a half hours.

’What on earth happened today? How am I so much faster than usual?’

If it were just a slight improvement, she could have attributed it to being in good form, but she was so much faster...

That couldn’t be explained away by just being in the zone.

As she carefully recalled the day’s events, a sentence the Master had said during the test in the courtyard flashed through her mind.

"After today, some of you will likely feel that things are quite different than usual, but do not be alarmed. This is all normal. When you return to the Sword Dojo, everything will become clear."

"Could it be!?" Liu Xuezhen’s eyes suddenly lit up. She sensed a hint of mystery.

And at that very moment, Lin Hui, who had just finished bestowing the seals earlier in the day...

...was wearing a black mask, his body surrounded by a faintly distorted airflow, as he stood in a mountain forest, gazing at a small, dilapidated summer garden in the distance.

He had learned the location of a small, independent faction of Mages from three people he had kidnapped. So, he decided to adopt a new identity and come here to collect some expendable pawns.

’Cultivating confidants in the open while capturing and subjugating skilled individuals in the shadows. Combining the overt and the covert, a two-pronged approach—that’s the most efficient way.’

As for whether this faction was willing or not—that was no longer up to them.

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