The Decaying World

Hiss...

The being called Lan Xiao floated directly off the ground. Its feet left the floor as it hovered silently in mid-air, facing Lin Hui.

"I am the head of the Renyi Court’s branch in Xidong. A pleasure to meet you, fellow Daoist."

A soft, bewitching female voice drifted from the wolf’s mouth.

So this branch Court Master was actually a woman.

"If you have something to say, I hope you’ll be quick about it," Lin Hui said with a smile.

"I am Zhuge Qing. May I be so bold as to ask your name?" the other party inquired.

"Qing Fei."

"Excellent. Since Mister Qing Fei has not been out of seclusion for long, you may not be aware of how perilous and bleak the state of the world has become. This is a perfect opportunity for me to explain it to you. The Pavilion of Yin Yang, strictly speaking, is nothing. But to gain the understanding and support of a powerful individual such as yourself would be the Renyi Court’s greatest fortune."

From the very start, this branch Court Master, Zhuge Qing, positioned herself humbly. Her tone and words were quite sincere, with none of the arrogance typical of a major power.

This improved Lin Hui’s impression of her somewhat.

"Please, speak." His own attitude immediately became more serious.

"Since you have taken the Pavilion of Yin Yang, you must have things you need—people, influence, wealth, or resources. Whatever you desire, my Renyi Court has it. That being the case, rather than cooperate with the insignificant Pavilion of Yin Yang, why not work directly with us? Whatever you want, whatever you seek, we can provide a hundredfold more. In the current state of the world, very few can make such a promise," Zhuge Qing said earnestly.

Lin Hui could hear the recruitment attempt in her words.

"We know very little about each other. You want to use benefits to recruit me based solely on the fact that I took over the Pavilion of Yin Yang... From the sound of it, your Renyi Court must be a motley crew where anyone can join, can’t they?"

"Why must you be so harsh, Mister? In this world, even mortals huddle together for warmth, to say nothing of Cultivators like us. Whether one is a Mage or an Immortal, these are merely stages in one’s cultivation. It’s only natural to want money, land, and resources," Zhuge Qing said, as if it were a matter of course.

"True enough. It’s just a matter of mutual benefit," Lin Hui nodded. "Very well, then what’s the price? What must I give in return for what I want?"

"Give-and-take is normal in any transaction. It all depends on the specific resources you require. The more expensive and rare the resource, the heavier the price, naturally. Of course, if you are willing to join our Renyi Court, you would be subject to some minor contractual restrictions, but in terms of resources, you would have an endless, open supply."

’Wow. I haven’t even seen a shadow of what they’re offering, and this woman is already trying to reel me in.’

"Let’s try it out first and see," Lin Hui said. His knowledge of this Renyi Court came from the impression he got when they tried to recruit the old Daoist Tian Long.

Now, judging by this branch Court Master, the Renyi Court operated with open doors; anyone with sufficient strength who was willing to switch allegiance could easily join.

’In that case, there must be another, core power supporting and guiding the entire organization.’

The two quickly finalized the agreement that the Pavilion of Yin Yang would belong to Qing Fei in name from now on. Next were the contact methods, which would be centered in the underground palace here at the Pavilion of Yin Yang.

Because it was isolated by formations and located underground, its concealment was excellent. It was indeed a prime location for transactions.

A conflict that had been on the verge of starting was thus dissolved.

After exchanging contact personnel for their trades, Lin Hui inquired about the situation with "Light Soul Water," wanting to see just how much of it he could obtain.

"As for Light Soul Water, the branch has about a three-year supply in reserve. The rest has long been traded away or consumed for cultivation. If you need it, Mister, you can trade for it with items of equivalent value. You could also complete a mission for our Renyi Court and receive the stocked goods directly as a reward," Zhuge Qing said with a smile.

The probing he had anticipated didn’t happen, leaving Lin Hui feeling somewhat unsatisfied. He then asked for the specific address of her branch Court, but Zhuge Qing avoided the question.

Seeing how tight-lipped she was, Lin Hui tentatively changed his approach.

"What kind of items would be of equivalent value?"

Zhuge Qing immediately rattled off a dozen or so names of various resources, none of which Lin Hui had ever heard of.

To be precise, his knowledge of the cultivation world’s Treasure Medicines and resources was extremely limited.

He glanced at the Pavilion Master of Yin Yang, who simply shook his head helplessly, indicating that the Pavilion had none.

"What about the reward mission, then?" Lin Hui asked, left with no other choice.

"The mission is actually quite simple." Zhuge Qing’s voice turned cold. "The warlord of Jue Shui, Bao Chengji, forced the land under his rule to be replanted with Redstone Grass. This led to an extreme food shortage during a drought year. Over ten million people in his territory have been affected, and hundreds of thousands have starved to death. The mission is to go and assassinate this man."

Lin Hui’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"What’s the real reason?"

"That is the real reason," Zhuge Qing said seriously.

"Why didn’t you do it before?" Lin Hui asked again.

"Hasn’t the mission just been issued? The truth is, warlords everywhere are planting Redstone Grass on a massive scale. It’s all about making money. But a person must have some bottom line. What makes this man so detestable is that he converted over ninety percent of the farmland under his rule to grow Redstone Grass..." The disgust in Zhuge Qing’s tone was almost undisguised.

"What power is protecting him?" Lin Hui asked.

"Some Cultivators from the Red Sand Temple. If you find it too troublesome, Mister, you can always choose a different mission," Zhuge Qing said with a smile.

Judging from her tone, it seemed this Red Sand Temple had some depth. The two monks who had tried to force their way into the Pavilion of Yin Yang earlier had also claimed to be from the Red Sand Temple.

At the time, he had thought the faction was nothing special, but now it seemed he had underestimated them.

As Lin Hui thought of this, he couldn’t help but recall his time in Tuyue. It had been the same back then; after joining the Good Heart Sect, he had also carried out missions in exchange for Treasure Medicine.

’A different place, but it’s all leading to the same end...’

"I’ll give it a try first," he said after a moment’s thought, deciding to accept the mission for now.

This time, he had no intention of obediently following the mission parameters as he had in Tuyue.

Anyway, the elite team he had assembled was already secretly dealing with the Iron Buddha Temple. He might as well temporarily switch their target and test the waters with the seemingly weaker Red Sand Temple.

After they reached an agreement, Lan Xiao cupped her fist in farewell and left the underground palace.

Lin Hui then ordered the Pavilion of Yin Yang to send someone to inform the "Qing Fei Squad" to change their target to the Red Sand Temple.

Coincidentally, Shengma County, the location of the Heavenly Immortal genius that the three great Buddhist temples were fighting over, was not far from Jue Shui.

It was a perfect opportunity to go observe the struggle and perhaps find a chance to take care of this matter at the same time.

After returning to Xidong, Lin Hui announced that very day that he would be heading to Liujiang City, in the direction of Shengma, to participate in a martial arts exchange event being held there.

This event, it now seemed, was clearly just an excuse for a group of spectators like themselves to gather and watch the excitement.

Otherwise, the location wouldn’t be so conveniently close, nor would the timing coincide so perfectly.

After setting the date and itinerary, three disciples signed up to accompany him: besides Wu Anning, there was Xie Tie Niu, who had just returned from his period of mourning, and the other was Liu Xuezhen.

After informing his family, Lin Hui quickly packed his luggage and boarded the train to Liujiang City with the three of them.

*

*

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CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA...

The rhythmic sound of the train vibrated in his ears.

Sitting by the window, Lin Hui felt a familiar sensation he hadn’t experienced in many years, and he felt a little dazed.

This train was a real train, but the technology was truly ancient. It even had a coal-burning boiler on board...

When it moved, the noise and shaking were quite considerable.

And the speed was unbearably slow.

But that was all relative. It was certainly slower than traveling by himself, but compared to other modes of transportation of this era, the train was quite fast.

Across from him, Wu Anning was looking around with great interest, touching and examining everything, while Liu Xuezhen, sitting with her, patiently explained things.

Xie Tie Niu sat with Lin Hui, fidgeting restlessly. His body was tense, and he wore the expression of someone facing a great enemy.

Seeing his pale face and the constant bobbing of his Adam’s apple, it seemed he was... motion sick?

Lin Hui was speechless.

Less than half an hour after the train started moving, Tie Niu couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up shakily, wanting to go to the restroom.

Lin Hui reminded him to remember their seat number before letting him go.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Tie Niu left, Liu Xuezhen plopped herself down in the seat next to him.

"Master, what’s the deal with this exchange event we’re going to? Could you tell me more about it in detail?"

She wore a yellow, floral-print one-piece dress. Her legs, wrapped in white pantyhose, were shapely—neither too thin nor too thick. At this moment, they were pressed together and leaning diagonally against Lin Hui’s leg, causing her whole body to tilt closer to his right shoulder.

Liu Xuezhen’s looks were not bad; while not stunning, she was definitely above average. Having dressed up carefully for this trip, she was even more attractive, drawing furtive glances from the male passengers in the car just by sitting there.

But she paid them no mind, her eyes fixed entirely on Lin Hui.

However, most of the men, upon seeing Lin Hui’s powerful build that was apparent even while he was sitting, suppressed any thoughts of approaching the beautiful woman to strike up a conversation.

"It’s just a simple martial arts exchange. Right now, the most famous person in the entire country is Mister Chen Zhifu, who publicly defeated several foreign Martial Dao grandmasters in the capital all those years ago. And here in Liujiang, it is the Xingwu Association, founded by one of Mister Chen’s personal disciples, that is hosting this exchange." Although Lin Hui was more interested in the world of Cultivators, as a semi-member of the martial arts world, he naturally knew of such basic things.

"I see. The Xingwu Association... is that Mister Chen Yuqiang, the one who took his master’s surname?" Liu Xuezhen’s broad knowledge allowed her to immediately recall the name.

"That’s him."

"Speaking of which, one of my father’s bodyguards studied under this Mister Chen Yuqiang. His skills are truly formidable," Liu Xuezhen said in admiration.

"What a coincidence. Actually, you didn’t need to come along on this trip. You’ve been a disciple for too short a time; you should be back at the dojo building a solid foundation." Lin Hui could see what the girl was thinking, but ever since Xiao Xiao left, he had lost all interest in such matters. For him, although he had once promised his father he would carry on the family line, he had almost never met a woman who could withstand his body, so that promise remained unfulfilled.

Although Liu Xuezhen was very forward, her constitution was far, far too weak—not even close to Liu Xiao’s back then... If he were to actually marry her, he feared their wedding day would also be the anniversary of her death.

The two were chatting idly when a noisy commotion suddenly erupted from the front of the train car.

It was immediately followed by a sudden gunshot.

BANG!

Because of the commotion and the rhythmic noise of the train itself, most people mistook the gunshot for a firecracker or some other random noise.

But Liu Xuezhen was extremely sensitive to the sound. She had practiced marksmanship since she was a child and had heard all kinds of gunshots no less than a million times; she was thoroughly familiar with them.

Hearing the sound now, her pretty face changed slightly, and she immediately sat up straight.

"That was a gunshot!" she whispered as a warning.

Lin Hui nodded nonchalantly.

Although he had restricted his Mental Power to a radius of just over ten meters to avoid trouble, he could still tell whether that sound was a gunshot.

It was just that even if it was a real gun, to him, it was no big deal and certainly not worth getting so worked up about.

Before Liu Xuezhen could say more, a series of gasps came from the crowd ahead.

CRASH.

With the sound of shattering glass, something up ahead leaped from the speeding train, disappearing into the mountain forest.

Immediately after, the sound of an aggressive scolding came from the front, rapidly approaching their direction.

Liu Xuezhen clearly grew tense. Her hand subconsciously reached for the small, yellow shoulder bag she was wearing.

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