The Decaying World-Chapter 66 - 61: Probing, Part 1

On the training grounds.

The crowd of old men and women were frozen, as if someone had hit a pause button. The moment they witnessed Lin Hui cross more than ten meters in a single instant, they fell completely silent.

His speed was unbelievable. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed a great distance and appeared out of nowhere behind Mu Qiaozhi.

It was as if everyone’s eyes were playing tricks on them.

Only Xiaohu and Xiaopang, who had truly undergone Body Tempering, and Xie Li, could barely make out Lin Hui’s movements in that instant.

It was too fast, simply inhuman.

The three of them suspected that even the Ming Generation back in the day weren’t as fast as Lin Hui was now.

But with no direct comparison, it was only a vague feeling, a flicker of doubt in their minds.

A light breeze blew.

On the training grounds, Mu Qiaozhi didn’t dare to move a muscle. She could clearly feel the tip of the sword had already pierced the skin of her scalp, and a trickle of blood was slowly seeping through her hair.

Her Hard Skills were not yet at the level of being impervious to blades. One needed at least Seventh Grade Black Dragon Claw Body Tempering to even begin resisting ordinary swords and sabers. Against a fine sword like the one in Lin Hui’s hand, coupled with his incredible speed, Mu Qiaozhi had no confidence she could block it.

"A misunderstanding!" A smile abruptly appeared on Mu Qiaozhi’s face. "I was just... just joking with Weiwei." She gently lifted her claw-like hand, releasing her grip on Weiwei’s knee.

"I was also just joking with you," Lin Hui said calmly, lowering his sword.

He looked at Weiwei on the ground, and after confirming she wasn’t seriously hurt, he moved his gaze back to Mu Qiaozhi.

Mu Qiaozhi and Xie Li took the opportunity to retreat and stand together.

Mu Qiaozhi, in particular, had just experienced that lethal threat firsthand. The way she looked at Lin Hui now was filled with extreme wariness.

She couldn’t fathom how Lin Hui had become so fast in an instant. Even she hadn’t been able to react.

"Mu Qiaozhi, since you’ve betrayed the sect, you no longer have the right to use the Martial Arts of my Qingfeng Temple." Lin Hui raised his sword, twisting it slightly. The silver glint of the blade reflected on his chin, splitting his face into light and shadow.

"You...!" Mu Qiaozhi’s expression changed. "What are you trying to do!?"

"Your sword hand is your right hand."

Suddenly, a soft voice sounded from behind her.

The Lin Hui in front of her silently dissolved into an afterimage and vanished.

In his place, a new Lin Hui appeared less than a meter behind Mu Qiaozhi.

Only then did Mu Qiaozhi belatedly realize what had happened. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"This kind of speed... How is this... possible!?!!"

SHLICK!!

Her entire right arm, severed cleanly at the elbow, dropped to the ground, spewing a massive amount of blood. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The blood sprayed, splattering on the ground, staining a fan-shaped area on the gray floor.

THUD.

Mu Qiaozhi collapsed to her knees. Shaking uncontrollably, she clutched the stump of her arm, desperately pinching the arteries to reduce the blood loss.

But she had just been in a fight, so her blood was already pumping furiously. With the sudden severing of her arm, her blood pressure plummeted. The shock of this physiological change made her vision swim, and her body involuntarily slumped forward.

Behind her, Lin Hui slowly sheathed his sword. Because of its incredible speed, not a single trace of blood remained on the blade.

"My arm!!!" Mu Qiaozhi roared in agony.

Only now did it hit her: her right arm was severed. Gone!

Whether it was for the Qingfeng Sword or the Black Dragon Claw, she had painstakingly trained her right arm! And now, her dominant arm was gone!?

This was equivalent to crippling more than half of her Martial Arts!

Even if it were reattached later, her cultivation could never be fully restored, and the reattached arm’s dexterity would be far inferior to its original state.

Anger and fear, along with the pain, gnawed ferociously at Mu Qiaozhi’s heart.

But feeling Lin Hui’s piercing gaze on her back, the anger and pain in her heart were gradually suppressed by an even greater fear.

"Xie Li! Help me up! Let’s go!" she hissed.

Xie Li finally snapped out of it. She had been completely stunned by the scene before her.

She had originally expected to see her senior sister easily take care of Weiwei and Lin Hui as a matter of course. When she saw her senior sister lose her cool and nearly cripple Weiwei, she had even felt a bit worried, since Weiwei still had an Inner Power Realm father whose whereabouts were unknown.

Although the Mu Family was also backed by a Summoner Clan, it was best to avoid unnecessary trouble.

But the subsequent turn of events had left her dumbfounded.

Lin Hui appeared, forced her senior sister to release Weiwei with a single sword strike, and then instantly severed her right arm.

Calm, impossibly fast, and ruthless.

Absolutely no hesitation!

Such a display was a stark contrast to the sword-obsessed idiot she remembered him as.

’When... when did he get so strong!?!?’

Confusion and doubt flooded Xie Li’s mind, nearly overwhelming her thoughts.

"Xie Li!" Her senior sister’s sharp cry finally jolted her awake.

"Let’s go!"

"Y-yes!" Xie Li finally came to her senses. She hurried forward to support Mu Qiaozhi, and after picking up the severed arm, the two of them staggered quickly out of the Daoist Temple.

But Lin Hui didn’t pursue them, merely watching calmly as they left.

He looked up at the sky. The gray mist was the same as ever, but he was different now.

He looked at Weiwei slowly getting up from the ground, at the shocked gazes of the old men and women around them, and at the worshipful expressions on Xiaohu and Xiaopang’s faces.

Lin Hui turned and headed back toward the main hall.

"Continue your training. This matter is settled."

With that, he disappeared through the hall’s entrance.

Weiwei dusted herself off and clenched her teeth, recalling the sudden turn of events. For a moment there, she had truly thought she was going to be crippled.

Although a shattered kneecap could be healed eventually, it would have set her back by at least half a year. And even after recovery, it would be incredibly difficult to return to her peak condition.

By that time, Mu Qiaozhi would have probably rebuilt her training class and completely taken over the new market.

’That was probably her goal.’

’But I never expected... that my usually low-key junior brother, Lin Hui, would suddenly make a move...’

She could never have imagined that Lin Hui was actually this strong!

She had always thought that Lin Hui was about the same as her. He might be a little stronger, but not by much; they should have been on the same level.

But today...

That blindingly fast speed.

Weiwei couldn’t understand it. She even had a faint feeling that her own father wasn’t as fast as Lin Hui.

’How... how is that possible? Dad is an Inner Power Realm expert. It must be my imagination.’ She argued with herself internally, then hurried to her room to change her clothes and apply medicine to her wounds before heading to the main hall to find Lin Hui.

She entered the main hall.

Lin Hui was standing before the Divine Statue, his head raised as he silently gazed at the dilapidated sculpture.

"Junior Brother..." Weiwei said softly.

"You should call me Sect Leader," Lin Hui interrupted, turning around. "Are your injuries okay?"

"No... just a few scrapes." Weiwei could faintly detect something unusual in his tone.

"That’s good." Lin Hui nodded. "Mu Qiaozhi’s visit made me realize something. A sect can’t rely on me alone. There will often be times when I’m away or in seclusion for cultivation, and during those times, I’ll need others to hold the fort."

"Yes, like today... if it weren’t for you..." Weiwei’s face was still a bit pale.

"It’s good that you understand, Senior Sister." Lin Hui turned back to the Divine Statue. "But I can’t find experts strong enough to support the sect on such short notice."

"Yes... It takes many years to train an expert..." Weiwei nodded.

"Indeed," Lin Hui replied. "Before, I thought that if I kept a low profile and didn’t compete or contend with anyone, no one would bother me. I thought it would be enough to just quietly practice my sword and live a peaceful life. But I never imagined that even so, people would still come looking for trouble over the smallest of interests..."

"So, what are you planning to do?" Weiwei could no longer gauge Lin Hui’s strength.

She only knew that he was very, very strong. Though he hadn’t reached the Inner Power Realm, his speed was terrifying. He was possibly even faster than Observatory Master Baohe had been.

It practically made him invincible.

"What did the Black Dragon Sect do back then?" Lin Hui said softly. "I’ll do the same."

"But... in a direct confrontation, we don’t stand a chance... and our manpower..." Weiwei was taken aback, then replied.

"It’s fine. Manpower can be stolen," Lin Hui said with a slight smile.

"But how loyal can people who are stolen be?"

"Were the disciples Qingfeng Temple spent so many years cultivating loyal?"

Lin Hui’s rhetorical question left Weiwei speechless.

"The Black Dragon Sect Leader taught me a lesson. If you don’t have enough manpower, you just take it. Since you can’t cultivate loyalty in people’s hearts, then you just make them fear you," Lin Hui said with a laugh.

He stood before the Divine Statue, having thought for a long time before finally reaching this conclusion.

He had to display an appropriate amount of strength and openly gather enough power to protect his interests. Only then could he better guarantee his own safety.

’As for loyalty?’

’People’s hearts are fickle. How could one ever guarantee long-term loyalty?’

’As long as I am strong enough, fear is the best medicine for maintaining loyalty.’

"This... this is wrong..." Weiwei couldn’t refute him, but her long-held values still made her feel that this was bad, very bad.

But Lin Hui couldn’t be bothered to answer her anymore.

"The Black Dragon Sect came knocking on our door. I need to give them a little something in return."

"What... are you planning to do?" Weiwei’s breath caught. The image of Song Zhanlong defeating the heavily injured Daoist Baohe involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

Lin Hui smiled but said nothing.

*

*

*

「Black Dragon Sect.」

CRACK.

Song Zhanlong stared at Mu Qiaozhi, who was half-kneeling on the floor. Seeing her severed right arm, the teacup in his hand suddenly cracked, spilling tea.

"You’re telling me you went to Qingfeng Temple, and not only did you fail to take care of the matter, but you also lost your right arm!?"

It wasn’t just him; the hearts of the surrounding disciples who saw this scene were all pounding.

Everyone knew what Mu Qiaozhi’s strength was. The internal rankings of the Black Dragon Sect were earned through actual, hard-fought battles.

With her cultivation at the Seven-Section Quick Sword Body Tempering Limit, stacked with Sixth Grade Black Dragon Claw Body Tempering, to think she was defeated so miserably...

"This disciple was incompetent..." Mu Qiaozhi said, bowing her head and forcing back the pain.

The closer one got to Song Zhanlong, the more one could feel his terrifying power.

Even the Summoner elder from her clan would most likely be no match for Song Zhanlong.

Judging from his imperviousness to blades back then, Song had likely already reached the Fifth Realm of the Inner Power Realm, where Inner Strength covers the entire body. He was just one step away from the highest Sixth Layer.

The Inner Power Realm... She had struggled for three years to break into that realm. She knew all the details about it by heart, but...