The Decaying World-Chapter 133 - 124: Test 2

Qingfeng Temple.

After seeing Han Xiaoyue off, Lin Hui returned to the temple to continue his Body Tempering and cultivation.

With the final stage of his Body Tempering nearly complete and the special effects almost within his grasp, his motivation soared.

To his relief, on the second day after his return, Tao Xuehai proactively presented him with a box of Illusory Dragon Lotus, the same kind he himself used, under the guise of a discipleship gift.

"My apologies, Master. The Miaofu Pills from my family cannot be shared with outsiders. This disciple could only do his best to reallocate his share and supplement it with extra Illusory Dragon Lotus to honor you."

Tao Xuehai bowed and presented the White Jade Box in his hands, placing it on the desk in Lin Hui’s study.

"Illusory Dragon Lotus... This is far too precious...!" Lin Hui sighed.

"Compared to the grace of you passing on your art, Master, these mere material resources are not worth mentioning!" Tao Xuehai said with a solemn expression. "Once you have finished, this disciple will bring more when my annual quota is replenished."

"Sigh... You’re too thoughtful..." Lin Hui reached out and opened the box. Inside, a strip of paper thoughtfully detailed the usage instructions and contraindications.

A row of ten medicinal herbs resembling dried chrysanthemums was arranged neatly inside.

"How is your mastery of the Qingfeng Sword coming along?" Lin Hui, pleased, looked up at Tao Xuehai.

"I’ve reached Second-Grade Body Tempering, but the progress has slowed significantly since then. By my estimates, I’m afraid it will be difficult to achieve full mastery in less than two years..." Tao Xuehai replied in a low voice.

"That’s normal. The Body Tempering from the Perfect Qingfeng Sword is much more effective than the previous Seven-Section Quick Sword, and it will greatly enhance your Body Technique and Sword Speed," Lin Hui said.

This disciple was so savvy, so Lin Hui naturally began to pay more attention to him.

"Yes! This disciple has already experienced the massive improvement in my Body Technique!" At the mention of this, Tao Xuehai grew visibly excited. The stronger the improvements from the Qingfeng Sword, the more mystical his speculations about Lin Hui’s power became.

By his current estimation, although his master Lin Hui appeared to be only an Inner Strength Martial Artist on the surface, his actual combat prowess had definitely far surpassed that realm.

His past achievements, like fighting Zhou Tian to a draw, proved that his master’s strength was not nearly as simple as it appeared.

And with his master’s comprehension and natural talent, he was surely still improving at a tremendous pace, growing stronger by the second!

At this very moment, in his mind, Qingfeng Temple had transformed into a place in the Outer City as mysterious as a ruin in the Fog Area.

Master Lin Hui’s power, like that of the formidable creatures within the ruins of the Fog Area, was impossible to grasp, impossible to estimate.

It was definitely not just on par with Zhou Tian!

Having cultivated to this point, Tao Xuehai was now utterly convinced of this.

He had only reached Second-Grade Body Tempering with the Qingfeng Swordsmanship and his strength had already increased by a huge margin. To say nothing of his master, Lin Hui, who had long ago achieved Perfection in the Qingfeng Sword’s Body Tempering.

"Alright. You may go. Cultivate diligently, and once you have mastered the Qingfeng Sword’s Body Tempering, don’t forget to redeem the two Secret Techniques from the sect. These two Secret Techniques can significantly enhance your combat strength," Lin Hui instructed.

"Yes! This disciple will remember!"

「After Tao Xuehai left.」

Lin Hui picked up the box and opened it gently.

’So this is the thing that can dramatically boost one’s essence, energy, and spirit, allowing for continuous cultivation without sleep?’

He picked up the slip of paper and read the instructions. All he had to do was bite off a small piece and hold it in his mouth.

He couldn’t swallow it; he had to keep it in his mouth continuously for the medicinal effects to work.

He picked up a stalk and gently bit off a tiny piece.

He kept his Inner Strength ready to envelop his mouth, ensuring that if the substance was poisonous or caused an allergic reaction, he could immediately wrap it up and expel it from his body.

「A moment later.」

Lin Hui’s eyes lit up. He picked it up again and bit off another piece.

Before his eyes, at the bottom of his vision, the evolution progress for the Black Emperor Pill Elixir Recipe in his Blood Seal, which previously had over a year remaining, suddenly began to decrease rapidly.

The rate of reduction was even faster than when he consumed Yun Lingzhi!

Lin Hui kept nibbling on the Illusory Dragon Lotus, taking another bite the moment the progress stopped. He continued until the Black Emperor Pill Elixir Recipe’s evolution was complete and the Blood Seal became idle.

More than half of the Illusory Dragon Lotus stalk in his hand was gone.

After a rough calculation, he discovered that a single stalk of Illusory Dragon Lotus could actually provide the energy needed for one to two years of Blood Seal evolution!

’What a treasure! An incredible treasure!’ Lin Hui was overjoyed. ’A single Yun Lingzhi only provides four months’ worth of energy, a reduction of just four months. But this Illusory Dragon Lotus can shorten the time by one to two years! This disciple was well worth taking!’

Aided by the Illusory Dragon Lotus, Lin Hui skipped sleep and persisted with his Body Tempering that very night.

Now that his Body Tempering was in its final stages, the commotion caused by his cultivation was minimal, so he no longer needed to go to a wide, open space outside.

The next day, he immediately began preparing for the refinement of the Black Emperor Pill. In the new Elixir Recipe, the key rare medicinal ingredients had been replaced with common ones, although this made the overall refinement process much more tedious.

But when Lin Hui attempted to refine a batch, he actually succeeded. The cost was only a few hundred thousand cash per batch, and a successful refinement could yield about five to seven pills.

*

*

*

「Inside the pharmacy.」

Lin Hui and Pharmacist Chen Meng were studying the newly refined Black Emperor Pills.

Over a dozen cages containing different animals—mice, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, sheep, and so on—were placed to one side.

"Its medicinal potency is about half that of Yun Lingzhi. Furthermore, it has minor side effects. No more than three pills should be taken in a month." Chen Meng concluded, having determined the Black Emperor Pill’s efficacy through comparative experiments.

"That’s more than enough..." Lin Hui mentally calculated the hodgepodge of medicines he was already taking. If he added the Black Emperor Pill to the mix, one month of his time could count as six months for the Blood Seal’s evolution!

"Forgive my bluntness, Observatory Master, but you cannot increase your monthly dosage any further. Your body is already showing slight signs of medicinal poisoning. If you continue to increase the load, even with your high Cultivation, the poison will cause various long-term side effects," Chen Meng advised earnestly.

She was living very well at Qingfeng Temple now. Her salary was three times what it used to be, and following a generous boss like Lin Hui, her life was much more comfortable than before.

She really didn’t want anything to suddenly happen to Lin Hui and lose her current lifestyle.

She had even gone on a blind date a few days ago and met a handsome man from a wealthy background. Things were about to get serious, and she couldn’t afford any mishaps.

"Understood... I’ll be careful." Lin Hui nodded. He also knew he was taking a few too many medicines. Outsiders might not know, but he definitely couldn’t hide it from Chen Meng, who assisted him with processing ingredients and refining elixirs.

In a single month, the money he spent on elixirs alone amounted to over three million.

It was only because the profits from Qingfeng Temple and the Baihua Sect were enough to support it that he could maintain this method of rapidly shortening the evolution time.

After confirming the efficacy of the Black Emperor Pill, Lin Hui left the pharmacy.

’I’ve hit the limit with elixirs for now, so it’s time to take a break. Next, the Blood Seal needs to select a new evolution target.’

He walked slowly, passing the training grounds. He paused for a moment, watching the numerous disciples outside shouting as they practiced their swords, then continued on his way.

Leaving Qingfeng Temple, Lin Hui didn’t stop, instead wandering casually through the streets and alleys.

It was morning, and the fog had just dissipated not long ago. Stalls of various sizes were just being set up along the streets.

Among the twos and threes of customers in front of the stalls, at least half were wearing the white formal clothing of Qingfeng Temple.

Clearly, the disciples and students of Qingfeng Temple had brought a large amount of foot traffic, spurring commercial development in the surrounding area.

Lin Hui casually walked up to a small skewer stall.

The stall owner was an old man with a missing front tooth. Seeing Lin Hui, his face immediately broke into a brilliant smile.

"Observatory Master Lin, what can I get for you today?"

Lin Hui often bought food at the entrance of Qingfeng Temple, so these street vendors were long familiar with him.

"One skewer of each. Lamb, pork, beef, dog, rabbit. You’ve got more variety now? Give me some cauliflower too, and grilled green peppers. And some Black Mountain mushrooms." Lin Hui quickly ordered a pile of things, all pre-cooked and ready to go.

The old man could see he didn’t want to wait and deftly packed the skewers and handed them over.

When Lin Hui went to pay, the man waved his hands repeatedly.

"It’s my good fortune that the Observatory Master comes to eat here! This one’s on me! Consider it a treat from Old Zhao!"

"I can’t do that. Rules are rules." Lin Hui smiled, left a silver note of the smallest denomination, and turned to leave with the paper bag.

Returning to his residence behind Qingfeng Temple, Lin Hui dismissed the disciple at the gate, took out the paper bag of skewers, and began removing them one by one.

He hadn’t bought these skewers to eat, but rather to test the Blood Seal’s evolution.

He still remembered the evolutionary branch that had appeared from a chicken leg when he first started using the Blood Seal.

And now, he intended to try again.

First was a skewer of grilled lamb.

The chunks of lamb on the bamboo skewer, alternating between fat and lean, glistened with oil and emitted a rich, charred aroma.

As he focused on it, the pattern of the Blood Seal twisted and quickly transformed into a rhombus shape.

At the same time, a new line of text appeared at the bottom of his vision.

’Grilled Lamb Skewer: A common food that replenishes qi and blood. Shelf life of three days. Excellent quality.’

’Looks like I can eat at Old Zhao’s more often. These skewers are pretty good.’ If even the Blood Seal rated them as excellent quality, the ingredients couldn’t be bad.

Lin Hui nodded to himself and continued reading.

’Evolvable Branches: 3.’

’1—Nether River Dream Lamb Skewer.’

’2—Prehistoric Earth Core Lamb Skewer.’

’3—Purgatory Ram Lamb Skewer.’

".....This stuff... is it even edible after evolving?" Lin Hui was speechless. He stared at the three options, hesitating.

’The first one... the name alone sounds dangerous. Something mixed up with the Nether River probably isn’t good for a living person like me. I can tell from the Martial Arts descriptions that the Blood Seal’s introductions aren’t embellished. They’re completely literal and don’t exaggerate.’

For safety’s sake, Lin Hui temporarily ruled out the first option.

Then there were the second and third.

’What the hell is a Prehistoric Earth Core Lamb Skewer? Don’t tell me there’s actually a creature called the Prehistoric Earth Core Sheep?’ Lin Hui thought that was a real possibility.

He hesitated for a moment, then looked at the last branch: Purgatory Ram. He had seen the word ’Purgatory’ many times before.

’I’ll open the descriptions and see.’

He quickly focused his will and opened the detailed descriptions for each of the three evolutions one by one.

’1—Nether River Dream Lamb Skewer: One of the Netherworld’s famous delicacies. After consumption, one will fall into a deep sleep. Upon being awakened, one will be reincarnated as a fetal member of the Sheep Race.’

"....." What the hell is this thing?

Lin Hui continued to the second.

’2—Prehistoric Earth Core Lamb Skewer: Legend has it that before the dawn of civilization, before recorded history, a mysterious lamb skewer appeared. It has been passed down for countless years, yet it still exists—incorruptible, indestructible, unchanging in size. Even the bamboo skewer it was made with cannot be worn down in the slightest. Hundreds of millions of years later, a powerful historian, Yu Gongfeng, discovered it on an altar in a subterranean palace deep within the ruins of a planet. It was clear that it had been worshipped as a god by the planet’s primitive civilization for a very long time...’ 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"....." Lin Hui was beginning to think that the Blood Seal’s "evolution" might not be evolution at all, but rather stolen goods from who-knows-where that had been slightly modified...

He went on to the third one.

’3—Purgatory Ram Lamb Skewer: A skewer made from the Purgatory Ram race. It is one of the favorite delicacies of Purgatory Demons and can enhance the Purgatory’s searing heat qi within the body.’

This one was the most normal...

Yes, compared to the other two, Lin Hui actually felt that the third one was a standard food item...

So, which one to choose?

His eyes flickered as he raised his hand.