The Decaying World-Chapter 115 - 108: Intrusion 4

"If this were the Good Heart Sect, I’d be a bit more cautious. But your Wanhua Sect... heh." Liu Wu Jun’s expression held a trace of contempt. "Tell me what you’re doing here, and I’ll take your father into account and just break one more of your legs. If you don’t cooperate... then don’t blame me for being disrespectful...!"

"Brother, why not just kill him?" Liu Xiao frowned beside him, sending a mental message.

"You idiot! If I let him go now in front of all these people, I’m giving the Wanhua Sect’s High Priest plenty of respect. Then, when he turns up dead in some godforsaken corner later, killed by someone else, it will have nothing to do with me. After all, we showed them the proper courtesy and let him leave," Liu Wu Jun explained patiently via the mental link.

"...Brother, you’re so devious," Liu Xiao replied, speechless.

"You can’t always be so direct. That makes it too easy for others to predict your moves and plot against you. You have to alternate between feints and genuine attacks, keeping things unpredictable. That’s the only way to keep people from figuring you out," Liu Wu Jun said earnestly.

"So what do we do now?" Liu Xiao asked, looking toward the ruined temple, which had once again fallen silent.

"Not answering? That’s fine. We have all the time in the world to wait."

Liu Wu Jun waved his hand. The Summoners behind him raised the cylinders in their hands and took aim.

Although they were all Lower-Tier Summoners, their superhuman dynamic vision, combined with the special weapons in their hands, was enough to pose a huge threat to any enemy, so long as they could track their Body Technique.

SWOOSH!!

The next moment, a volley of dark spheres shot out from the cylinders at incredible speed, slamming into the ruined temple.

BOOM!!

A massive explosion, accompanied by scorching flames, blew the ruined temple apart from the inside out.

The high-temperature shockwave, like transparent rings, expanded with the blast, flinging rubble and dust outward and leaving a series of arching, scorched black marks on the ground.

"AHHH!! Liu Wu Jun, may you die a horrible death!!"

A charred, humanoid figure engulfed in flames burst from the inferno and fled into the distance.

His charge was accompanied by shrill, agonized screams.

"He’s still got so much energy in his voice. Looks like he can take a bit more," Liu Wu Jun remarked nonchalantly.

He held out his hand to his right.

One of his men, carrying a Giant Bone Bow over two meters long, placed it in his hand.

Raising the Bone Bow, Liu Wu Jun mimed drawing the bowstring with one hand.

HISS.

A silvery-white mist seeped from his body, coalescing into a bowstring that he drew back.

To a full draw.

"Sister, watch closely. This is the Seventh Technique of the Jiuhua Divine Skill."

Liu Wu Jun’s face twisted slightly. The skin between his brows bulged, and fine black scales faintly emerged.

Not only that, but for a moment, an ornate suit of pure silver bone armor seemed to materialize around his entire body.

The layer of bone armor vanished in a flash.

The next instant.

THWIP!

The string of the arrowless Bone Bow, drawn taut, was released.

Though there was no arrow, Liu Xiao and the surrounding Summoners could clearly sense that an invisible force had been unleashed by the bow.

At that moment, Zhou Fan was already several hundred meters away. Charred black and enduring excruciating pain, he kept his head down and continued to sprint.

Suddenly, he faltered. One foot stomped heavily into the mud, sinking deep. Before he could pull it free, his other foot landed right on top of it in the exact same spot.

As a result, he instantly lost his balance and went tumbling head over heels, crashing through debris and stones like a bowling ball before slamming hard into a withered tree.

THUD.

He left a deep dent in the tree. Fortunately, a Priest’s body was much tougher than a Summoner’s, so he was not seriously injured.

He quickly scrambled to his feet.

He was about to press on when the world suddenly spun. His own feet tangled, and he fell hard to the ground.

SMACK!

The ground trembled slightly. Now starting to panic, Zhou Fan quickly climbed to his feet.

This time, he slowed down and carefully took a step forward.

Sure enough, the moment he moved his right foot, it bizarrely deviated from his intended path, veering sharply and pulling him off to the right.

The sudden twist nearly sent him sprawling again.

"This... This is the Jiuhua Divine Skill’s Chaotic Heart Direction! Damn it, Liu Wu Jun, what the hell did I ever do to you!? I was just passing by your family’s estate! You’re actually using the Jiuhua Divine Skill on me!?"

This bizarre ability, unique to High Priests, could not be undone quickly once it took effect. Only a counter-ability of the same level could nullify it. Therefore, the only thing he could do now was slow down, adapt to the patterns of the Chaotic Heart Direction, and relearn how to run under these new, temporary rules!

And he had to do it quickly. Otherwise, if Liu Wu Jun caught up to him...

Zhou Fan felt like he’d drawn the short straw for eight lifetimes. What had possessed him to sneak back for a bit of revenge?

’I must have been kicked in the head by a donkey to take this mission!’ Zhou Fan wanted to cry but had no tears. He slowly, step by step, familiarized himself with the new rules of movement.

Fortunately, his own father was a High Priest of the same level, so he was very familiar with this kind of bizarre ability.

He knew that activating such an ability was very costly and generally couldn’t be used a second time in quick succession.

The cost of this ability wasn’t stamina or Heart and Spirit, but some kind of invisible, intangible, unknown power.

Replenishing that power was extremely slow, which was why most High Priests would not use it lightly.

He never expected Liu Wu Jun to use such an ability on him without a moment’s hesitation...

The thought made Zhou Fan curse wildly again. But he still had to keep running.

And so, like a toddler learning to walk, he wobbled forward one step at a time, fleeing for his life.

SHH!

But the next second, on the plain directly in front of him, their figures materializing in the gentle breeze, stood Liu Wu Jun and Liu Xiao, blocking his path.

"Don’t blame me for not giving you a chance," Liu Wu Jun said, raising his hand. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

A vast, invisible distortion spread out for dozens of meters, instantly freezing everything in its vicinity.

The wind stopped blowing; the leaves on the withered trees ceased their rustling.

A gray sparrow that had just taken flight from a branch was frozen in mid-air, its wings still mid-flap.

Dust that had just risen a few centimeters from the ground hung suspended, as if part of an oil painting.

And also frozen in place was Zhou Fan, his face a mask of terror, his body limp and charred like a piece of charcoal.

*

*

*

「Half a minute later.」

A white shadow abruptly appeared on the muddy plain, gazing at an enormous, perfectly square pit in the ground, its sides over twenty meters long.

He crouched down, lightly touching the edge and inner wall of the deep pit.

’It’s smooth... crystallized. And still warm.’

Lin Hui pulled back his hand and sniffed his fingertips. They smelled of scorched earth.

Standing up, he looked down into the massive pit.

The pit was over three meters deep. Standing at its edge, it looked as if a giant stamp had descended from the sky and pressed forcefully into the ground.

’The soil here is soft, sure, but to create this much pressure over such a large area... Whoever did this... is incredibly strong.’

Lin Hui knew he was fast, but what if he faced an opponent who could unleash a single attack that covered a thirty-meter area?

If an opponent’s attack speed was fast enough to strike dozens of times in a second, they could cover a range of several hundred meters.

His own speed would be useless.

Not unless he could retreat hundreds of meters in an instant.

Otherwise, his only hope would be to predict the direction of his opponent’s attack and dodge ahead of time.

The problem was, an expert of that caliber would be able to conceal their intentions, and their attack speed would be anything but slow.

A repeat of his fight against the Martial Artists from the Flying Stone Sect was clearly impossible.

’Right, what about Zhou Fan?’ Lin Hui suddenly remembered the target of his trip.

He quickly jumped down into the pit and walked toward the center.

But after searching the entire crystal-smooth pit, he found no trace of a human body.

Left with no other choice, Lin Hui climbed out and left.

Before leaving, he carefully broke off a small piece of the crystalline edge to take back for research.

He returned to the vicinity of the Lin Mansion and stood watch for another three days. Only after confirming that the matter with the Wanhua Sect was truly over did he head back to the Qingfeng Temple headquarters.

In the following days, experts from the Inner City appeared around the town, hunting down and arresting members of the Wanhua Sect.

At this point, Lin Hui was finally certain that Zhou Fan of the Wanhua Sect was truly done for.

The man was gone before Lin Hui even had to make a move.

Although he didn’t know who did it, Lin Hui suspected it was most likely the Liu Family siblings—his so-called older brother and sister.

After several more days of investigation, Lin Hui returned to Qingfeng Temple and called off the alert regarding the Wanhua Sect.

Only then did life return to normal.

He breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his cycle of swordsmanship practice, Body Tempering, and consuming medicinal concoctions.

「One week later.」

Just as Lin Hui’s Body Tempering advanced again, reaching the Fourth Grade.

The Qingfeng Temple expedition team that had gone to the Fog Area had finally returned!

*

*

*

Deep in the dense forest behind the original site of Qingfeng Temple.

A team dressed in white, their clothes stained with blood, slowly emerged from the immense white Fog Wall.

The team had clearly once worn white robes over leather armor vests. Now, the robes were caked with dark red blood, and the armor was in tatters—some vests were cracked, others had large holes, and some were dented and shattered over vital areas.

Moreover, most of the weapons they carried were broken Longswords. Many were without sheaths, a clear sign they had endured a brutal battle from which they’d had no time to even retrieve them.

At the head of the team was Chen Sui. A gray bandage was wrapped around his forehead, and he had grown a thick beard that covered his jaw and cheeks.

His world-weary eyes gazed at the clean, safe No-Fog Zone ahead. He turned, looking back at the deceptively pure and silent Fog Wall.

"We’re back!! We’re finally... back!!"

He raised his arms and roared.

The team had twenty-two members when they left...

Now, as Chen Sui looked back, only fourteen remained. Eight of them had died in that mysterious, terrifying underground ruin.

But in return, they had brought back a harvest so great it was cause for elation.

They had found a unique purple crystal in those ruins. Cultivating while holding it in one’s hand could drastically increase cultivation speed. It was thanks to this that the team leaders, especially him, had managed to break through to the Inner Power Realm. Relying on that and a bit of luck, they had barely managed to escape the ruins and avoid its terrifying monsters.

’After this breakthrough, I need to trade with the Observatory Master for the complete version of the Qingfeng Swordsmanship! These Purple Crystals should be more than enough to earn the Contribution Points!’ Chen Sui had already made his plan.

He had named these cultivation-enhancing crystals, Purple Crystals. After breaking through, he discovered they also helped with cultivating Inner Strength, so he was confident the Observatory Master would want them.

Aside from the portion he planned to hand over, he had kept half for his own personal cultivation.

"Let’s go! Back to the temple!" Chen Sui waved his arm and took the lead, employing his Body Technique to speed toward Qingfeng Temple.

But he had only taken a few steps when another team appeared, blocking their path.