The Decaying World-Chapter 135 - 126: Test 4

Hiss...

The Blood Seal’s pattern coalesced into a rhombus again.

In his vision, a thin line appeared beneath the pool of water, with a line of text at its end.

’Waterman: 6 months remaining. Under the influence of a special environment and unknown forces, water flow can form a unique, creature-like life form. Its basic lifespan is 30 to 50 years. It possesses the potential for growth.

Hint: Once formed, the Waterman will only possess simple intelligence and will obey the commands of its master alone.’

After reading the description, Lin Hui quickly took out the Illusory Dragon Lotus, bit off a small piece, and held it in his mouth.

He hadn’t expected it would only take half a year. He guessed it was because his own physical fitness, spirit, and stamina were all improving. Thus, the total fixed amount of evolution required became shorter relative to the progress he could make each day.

Soon, before he had even gnawed through a third of the Illusory Dragon Lotus, the Blood Seal’s evolution was complete.

SPLASH.

The sound of splashing water came from the pool in front of Lin Hui.

The oval-shaped pool of water was now churning and splashing as if being squeezed and struck by some immense, invisible force.

A few disciples in the distance were drawn over by the sound, but Lin Hui waved his hand, ordering them to seal off the area and stay far away.

Lin Hui watched the clear water in the pool silently.

One second.

Two seconds...

Soon, a transparent head slowly rose from the pool.

It was followed by shoulders, a torso, and limbs.

A few seconds later, a two-meter-tall humanoid figure made of flowing water was floating before Lin Hui.

Its legs stood on the surface of the pool, as if it were weightless.

’This is the Waterman?’

Lin Hui sized up the creature curiously.

The Waterman had no facial features, only a rough humanoid outline. Its torso was completely transparent, allowing one to see the refracted, distorted scenery on the other side.

Its head was smooth and bare. From time to time, its body would bulge out in one spot or protrude in another, like modeling clay.

But the bulges would quickly flatten back into its body.

’What can this thing even do?’

Lin Hui looked at the Waterman, pondering, but he couldn’t think of any use for it.

"Attack that wall," he said, pointing to the grayish-white surrounding wall to his right.

Ptooey!

The next moment, the Waterman flicked its head forward, and like someone spitting phlegm, it shot out a large blob of transparent water.

The water went SPLASH, hitting the wall and soaking a large section of it.

"..." Lin Hui watched the display of power from afar and fell silent.

’This thing is weaker than a child throwing a brick at a wall...’

He walked forward, reached out, and gently touched the Waterman’s skin.

There was no resistance. His fingers passed right into the Waterman’s arm as if he were sticking them into a mass of water—there was no difference at all.

Lin Hui pulled his hand back and was surprised to find that it wasn’t even wet. None of the water had been carried out of the Waterman’s body.

He circled the Waterman, poking and prodding it here and there. The creature felt just like a moving mass of water.

He reached out, even shoving his entire arm through the Waterman’s back until it emerged from its chest.

The creature felt nothing, letting him test it as he pleased.

Lin Hui withdrew his hand, then drew his sword and, without using any Inner Strength, slashed viciously across the Waterman’s neck.

PFFT!

A gash was cut into the Waterman’s head, but it instantly healed itself.

It stared blankly at Lin Hui, still showing no reaction.

’Let’s try again.’

His interest piqued, Lin Hui gripped his sword, his figure flashing as he delivered dozens of lightning-fast stabs in a single second.

Each stab pierced a different part of the Waterman’s body.

When all the stabs were done, he retracted his sword and stood still, only to find the Waterman still standing there blankly, completely unharmed.

All the sword wounds had already healed completely.

’Immune to piercing attacks? I wonder how it’ll fare against blunt force,’ Lin Hui thought, finally discovering some use for the creature.

’What if I use Inner Strength?’

He tried again, slowly coating his sword blade with a layer of Purgatory Internal Power, which was white with a reddish hue.

The moment he channeled it, the Waterman before him trembled and began to back away, showing a fearful posture.

"Forget it. Just stay in the pool and don’t come out and scare people," he ordered helplessly, dissipating the Inner Strength on his sword.

SPLASH.

The Waterman dissolved back into water and returned to the pool. Everything fell silent.

Watching the pool return to its original state as if nothing had happened, Lin Hui sighed. He felt a pang of regret, as if he had wasted a portion of the Illusory Dragon Lotus.

’Oh well. I would’ve always been wondering if I didn’t try. Besides, this thing is so stealthy, it might be useful for something in the future.’

He glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the stone bricks and trees.

’It seems the Stone Man and Treeman are probably similar, and a Chopstick-man would be about the same. They’re just animated objects.’

’So... next, I should try something purely conceptual. Since a skill like Swordsmanship can be evolved, what about other concepts?’

He pondered for a moment, looked around, then slowly crouched down and placed his palm on the ground.

The cold, white stone bricks had a slightly coarse texture. Where his palm met the ground, there were some small grains of sand and bits of grass.

Lin Hui closed his eyes, setting the target for the Blood Seal’s evolution as... the entire courtyard.

Hiss.

Suddenly, the Blood Seal’s pattern coalesced into a rhombus once more.

A new line of information appeared.

’Ordinary Stone Courtyard: A common courtyard built from hardened white sandstone, part of the Qingfeng Temple estate. Quality: Ordinary. Functions: Rest, strolling, relaxation. Evolvable Branches: 3.’

’It actually worked!?’ Lin Hui was astonished as he stood up.

He looked around.

He had only been trying it out, not expecting the Blood Seal to actually respond.

After a moment of thought, he opened the evolution branches to examine them closely.

’1—Mechanical Courtyard.’

’2—Immortal Sect Courtyard.’

’3—Elemental Courtyard.’

The styles of the three names already gave him a general idea of their direction based on the keywords.

With a flicker of interest, Lin Hui opened the first one.

’Mechanical Courtyard: A functional and ornamental courtyard from the wealthy district of some technological federation. Possesses minor technological functions. Power source can last for one year.’

The second one.

’Immortal Sect Courtyard: An ornamental courtyard in the public area of the Seven Abyss Sect’s building complex. Generally used by sect disciples for relaxation and leisure. Possesses minor illusionary functions. Power source can last for one year.’

The third one.

’Elemental Courtyard: The private courtyard of the Mage Anthony. An Elemental Flower Cluster is planted inside, and it has already spawned an Elemental Fairy.’

’Another tough choice of one out of three...’ Lin Hui sighed.

He thought about it but decided not to choose an evolution. After all, this was a courtyard, and if he evolved it, it would be difficult to conceal. If someone discovered something was amiss, it would be big trouble.

The existence of the Blood Seal and its ability to evolve things was a secret he knew he absolutely could not let leak.

Especially when he had yet to determine where his own strength ranked within the Inner City, he absolutely could not let any word of it get out.

’Speaking of which, it’s time to go to the Inner City and make contact with some real Priests and High Priests. I need to see what level my current strength is at.’

How to make this contact was the question. It would be best to probe them indirectly and gently.

If he acted personally and caused some major trouble that his strength couldn’t handle, his secrets might be exposed, and the whole situation would collapse.

There were a lot of lunatics among the Inner City People, a fact he had long since confirmed. Therefore... a suitable candidate appeared in Lin Hui’s mind.

’Tao Xuehai...’

’This kid has extremely high aptitude and abundant resources, all of which indicates he has an impressive background and is highly valued at home. On top of that, he happens to admire me, and his own Martial Arts allows him to quickly receive the inheritance of my Perfect Swordsmanship. Using him to indirectly probe the Priests and High Priests of the Inner City is a good choice.’

Dismissing the Blood Seal’s information, Lin Hui had one last test to perform.

He temporarily set aside his plan to use Tao Xuehai for probing and refocused his thoughts on the next target for the Blood Seal’s evolution.

Standing in the courtyard, he took a deep breath.

He drew his sword and touched its tip to the ground.

’Blood Seal, evolve the entire Qingfeng Temple sect.’

Hiss.

The next second, the Blood Seal on the back of his hand dispersed and then reformed.

A new line of text quickly appeared.

’Qingfeng Temple: A Quick Sword Sect founded by Daoist Qingfeng, specializing in Qingfeng Swordsmanship. Current Observatory Master: Lin Hui. No special effects. Evolvable Branches: 3.’

Lin Hui noticed that the Blood Seal’s evolutions usually offered three branches; only on rare occasions would there be more than three.

He sheathed his sword, walked into his room, and sat down to rest.

Then his gaze fell upon the three evolvable branches.

’1—Qingfeng Temple (Demon)’

’2—Qingfeng Temple (Immortal)’

’3—Qingfeng Temple (Secret)’

’What’s this all about...?’ Lin Hui wondered curiously. He quickly tapped to view the details.

’Qingfeng Temple (Demon): A sect evolution leaning toward the Demon Dao style. Members gain a 100% increase in cultivation speed, but the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks increases by 30%.’

’Qingfeng Temple (Immortal): An evolution path leaning toward the Immortal Dao style. After receiving the title of sect disciple, members gain a special effect that reduces the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks by 30%, but their cultivation speed is halved.’

’Qingfeng Temple (Secret): A secret-style evolution path. After receiving the title of sect disciple, members gain special effects that increase cultivation speed by 50% and reduce the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks by 10%. These effects are lost upon leaving the sect.’

’It can do this too!? Just having a title grants you buffing special effects??!’ At this moment, even Lin Hui, who considered himself quite adaptable, found these three evolutions utterly absurd.

Just by joining the sect and getting a title, you can instantly become a genius?

This was simply a divine artifact for sect development!

He opened them to check the time required for the three branches.

Twenty years, twenty-five years, thirty years.

The three evolution times instantly cooled him off. Unaffordable. Completely unaffordable.

’For now, I should focus on increasing my own strength. As for factions and whatnot, once I’m strong enough, I can just go out and snatch up some experts. With more experts, the faction will naturally become strong.’

Thinking of this, Lin Hui’s mindset stabilized considerably. The Blood Seal was now idle, and his Typhoon Swordsmanship didn’t need further evolution for the time being.

He pondered for a moment, thinking about how to improve his own strength.

’Right, my sealing ability... The Sealing Array I extracted before is useless against my current opponents, who are all experts in Inner Power Circulation and the Dual Cultivation of Summoning and Incarnation. Maybe I can find a way to strengthen this ability.’

He recalled that the original Sealing Array had come from an item called a Sealed Insect Egg.

"Someone, come!" Lin Hui suddenly called out.

"What are your orders, Observatory Master?"

A disciple quickly ran in, cupped his fist, and bowed.

"Go and post a mission for me. Set the rank to medium. The content is: ’Acquire a Fog Area creature called a Sealing Worm. Dead or alive is fine,’" Lin Hui said in a low voice.

"Yes!"

Lin Hui thought that the Sealing Array ability was very useful. If he could strengthen it through another evolution, it might give his strength another boost in a short amount of time.