The Decaying World-Chapter 62 - 57: Identity (Part 1)

After calming down, Lin Hui carefully sensed the state of his Inner Strength.

He was very curious about this peculiar power that could enhance his defenses and even improve his entire constitution.

Extending his hand, he stared intently at his palm, circulating a sliver of Inner Strength to his fingertip.

Under the morning light, a faint white glow slowly appeared at the tip of his finger.

The white light was weak and faint, yet it was as distinct as a wisp of mist, clinging stubbornly to his fingertip.

Lin Hui touched it with his other hand. It felt soft yet resilient, and warm to the touch. When he pressed down hard, he couldn’t reach the fingertip beneath it no matter how much force he applied.

’It’s like some kind of extremely high-strength gel...’ The thought flashed through his mind.

Then, he flung his hand forward, trying to launch the Inner Strength, but there was no reaction. The Inner Strength stuck to his hand like glue.

Retracting his Inner Strength, Lin Hui glanced at Xiaohu in the distance, who had resumed teaching the old men and women in the training yard.

"Xiaohu, I’m going inside to rest. If you need anything, find me in the study in the main hall."

"Yes, Master," Xiaohu called back from afar.

He and Xiaopang had already formally become Lin Hui’s disciples, albeit nominal ones.

To be honest, in a Qingfeng Sword Sect with barely a handful of members, the fact that Xiaohu and Xiaopang had stayed steadfastly with Lin Hui without running off showed they had excellent character.

The reason they were only nominal disciples was mainly that Lin Hui was worried about holding them back. He wouldn’t accept any true disciples until he was certain that the Perfect Clear Wind Swordsmanship could genuinely allow ordinary people to drastically increase their strength.

This way, if Xiaohu truly couldn’t make it, he could quickly leave to join another sect.

Instead of being suspected and ostracized by other sects for being a true disciple.

Right now, Xiaohu was still practicing the Seven-Section Quick Sword and undergoing Body Tempering. With the help of medicinal aids, he had painstakingly reached the Second Grade.

Xiaopang, on the other hand, was at the First Grade.

After giving his instructions, Lin Hui entered the main hall, walked into the small study on the right, and began searching through the rows of bookshelves.

These were all miscellaneous books that the Qingfeng Temple had accumulated over many years. The ones related to Martial Arts or of any value had all been packed up and sold or taken away by Mingchen and Mingxiu. The rest were just unwanted leftovers.

The reason Lin Hui had come in was that not long ago, before Mingde left, he had placed a scroll he had written about Inner Strength here.

It contained fundamental knowledge for Lin Hui to read after breaking through to the Inner Power Realm. Originally, Mingde had planned to write it a few years later, since breaking through to the Inner Power Realm was supposed to take a long time—at least two or three years.

But who would have thought... in only his second month, Lin Hui had rapidly broken through. He didn’t need to reach the limits of a Second-Time Body Tempering; his Inner Strength had simply generated quickly and with no difficulty at all just by circulating his swordsmanship.

Lighting an oil lamp, Lin Hui rustled through the bookshelves for a while before quickly pulling out a grayish-white scroll. He untied the thin cord and gently unrolled it.

Line after line of small characters written by his master, Mingde, appeared.

"The Inner Power Realm. Because the quality and intensity of Inner Strength cultivated from different Martial Arts vary immensely, the power gap in this realm can widen rapidly. Remember, never judge strength based solely on the layer of one’s Inner Power Realm. Sometimes, someone who has just entered the realm can display the combat effectiveness of a Late Stage practitioner. You must not be careless."

This was a passage left by Mingde.

Below it were the specific divisions of the Inner Power Realm.

"The Inner Power Realm is externally known as the Inner Family. Unlike the Outer Family’s Ninth Grade Body Tempering, the Inner Family is divided into a total of Six Layers. From one to six, each layer is more profound and powerful than the last. The gap in Inner Strength between each layer is at least double—a comprehensive difference in quality. Furthermore, due to one’s constitution and the external ’woven net,’ the amount of Inner Strength each person can contain differs. Therefore, one’s Inner Power Realm layer is only relevant to oneself and can only serve as a rough indicator for one’s own Inner Family development. In an actual life-or-death battle, one must be judged by their combat record."

"After the Sixth Layer of Inner Strength, a few geniuses may step into the Circulation Realm before their bodies begin to decline at the age of sixty. If the Sixth Layer of the Inner Power Realm corresponds to the low-to-mid tiers of Summoners, then the Circulation Realm corresponds to the Upper-Tier Summoner level. An Upper-Tier Summoner’s strength is considered formidable in both the Inner City and the Outer City. And this... is the limit of our Qingfeng Sword."

"The highest realm the founding patriarch reached was Circulation. It is impossible for your master to ever touch such a level. But you, Ah Hui, if you are lucky enough to enter the Inner Power Realm before you turn twenty, you might have a chance to touch the Circulation Realm before you’re sixty... At that time..."

After that, Mingde hadn’t finished writing, leaving only a long trail of ink.

Lin Hui sighed softly. Feeling the cool threads of Inner Strength within him, he finally understood. No wonder the perfect version of the Qingfeng Sword had no Special Effects—this ridiculously fast generation of Inner Strength already surpassed any Special Effect.

Further down, the scroll recorded the distinguishing features of each of the Six Layers of Inner Strength.

Specifically, Inner Strength would go from only being usable in the limbs at the beginning, to gradually covering the entire body, then extending to weapons and equipment, until finally reaching the limit of the body and the ’woven net’ at the Sixth Layer.

When Inner Strength completely filled the body and the ’woven net,’ making it impossible to absorb any more, that was the Sixth Layer of the Inner Family.

Lin Hui carefully committed the contents of each layer to memory before cautiously placing the scroll back in its original spot.

Walking out of the study, he came to the center of the main hall and sighed as he looked at the nameless Divine Statue, whose upper body was missing.

In truth, ever since entering the Inner City, he had fallen into a state of unusual confusion.

Life in the Inner City was safe and pleasant. Aside from needing Feather Blood, people didn’t have to worry about any trouble. As long as you didn’t go looking for it, the Summoners and nobles wouldn’t just kill people for no reason. They mostly lived in the Central Ring and the Core Area, separate from the common folk. It was a completely different world from that of ordinary people.

And the high-and-mighty Original Blood Nobility had always lived at the top of the Thousand-Layer Moon Tower, almost never even touching the ground.

’The Outer City is just a dark, abandoned corner...’ Lin Hui lamented from the bottom of his heart.

He walked to the window of the main hall and looked out at the training yard through the tall, narrow window.

In the training yard, Xiaohu was handing out hot towels to a group of elderly students to wipe their sweat. Beside him, Xiaopang was leading a donkey-drawn cart loaded with a pile of various snacks and pastries, offering them to the crowd to replenish their energy after exercising.

Their service was truly meticulous.

’In the Outer City, you never know if you’ll live to see the next day. Your safety depends on others. If you happen to offend someone from the Inner City one day, your whole family might mysteriously disappear overnight.’

’In the Inner City, everyone has to purchase enough Feather Blood, or else they’re forced to work for The Three Greats, struggling to obtain permits and identification. And before all that, you have to spend a fortune on a house...’

At this thought, a wave of irritation naturally rose in Lin Hui’s heart.

He detested this kind of life where everything was planned out by others. And in the Inner City, joining The Three Greats or becoming rich enough to buy large amounts of Feather Blood were the only two unavoidable paths.

But for now, there was no other way. He could only endure it.

’Am I really just going to follow this path, step by step? Even if I reach the Circulation Realm of the Inner Power Realm, so what? Even if I become an Upper-Tier Summoner, there are plenty of them in the Inner City too... What is this world, really?’

ROAR!

Just then, the furious roar of a beast echoed faintly from the distance, outside the Daoist Temple.

The roar echoed continuously, growing closer and closer, shaking the main hall of the Daoist Temple so much that dust began to fall from the ceiling.

Lin Hui rushed out of the main hall, leaped up, and scrambled up a large tree at the edge of the training yard to gaze into the distance.

To the west of the Daoist Temple, a thick plume of black smoke was rising into the sky. He could faintly hear the soft clash of weapons.

’That’s the direction Rain Palace Youying’s team went...’ Lin Hui had been keeping a close eye on this investigation team from the Inner City. After finding a guide, they had left via the North Wind Forest Dao and would return to the city every few days.

They must have run into a powerful monster in the Fog Area.

The roaring continued for several minutes before finally stopping.

The old men and women in the training yard were all alarmed. They stopped practicing their swordsmanship and ran out of the Daoist Temple to see what was happening.

Hearing the commotion die down, they breathed a sigh of relief and began to chatter amongst themselves, speculating about the situation.

Xiaohu and Xiaopang came over to Lin Hui.

"Teacher..."

"It’s fine. I’m going to check on the situation. You two wait here. Close the main gate, lock it, and wait for me to return," Lin Hui ordered in a low voice.

"Yes!"

"Ah Hui, maybe I should go instead?" Weiwei also emerged from a corner.

"It’s okay." Lin Hui shook his head, quickly pushed open the gate, and ran in the direction the sound had come from.

As his Body Tempering deepened, his current running speed allowed him to cover seven or eight meters in a single stride. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed ten or twenty meters.

He left Qingfeng Temple, passed through the surrounding woodland, and came upon vast, lush fields of young crops.

Square plots of farmland stretched one after another as far as the eye could see.

Lin Hui picked up his pace. After running for half a minute, a stretch of collapsed buildings soon came into view.

It was a dusty gray temple. On the ground outside lay a plaque for Hongqu Temple, now broken in half. The black base and red characters still gave off an impressive air.

Now, only half of it remained.

’Hongqu Temple...’ Lin Hui knew of this newly opened martial arts hall. It had been established around the same time as the Black Dragon Sect’s new hall, and its master was also an Inner Power Realm expert. He never expected...

From a distance, he could see pools of blood amidst the bricks and stones of the collapsed temple, as well as severed arms and legs scattered everywhere.

In the main hall, deep inside the temple, a massive Black Feathered Tiger was locked in a fierce battle with three figures wielding long weapons.

The walls and floor of the main hall were constantly being struck, and it looked like they were about to crumble and collapse.

Lin Hui watched from afar and saw that the three figures were gradually gaining the upper hand. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Judging from the dense white light covering the three of them, they were clearly Inner Power Realm experts.

’In that case, there’s no need for me to intervene. I’ve only just broken through to the Inner Power Realm. Even if I joined the fight, I wouldn’t be able to change the outcome.’

The Inner Strength he had just generated could only cover his fingertips; it was completely useless for full-body protection.

Without using his trump cards, he couldn’t even break through the monster’s defenses. He had already tested this on the Tree Scorpions the last time he went to the Fog Area.

Thinking this, Lin Hui quickly retreated, heading back toward Qingfeng Temple.

With three people ganging up on it over there, it shouldn’t be a big problem.

That monster had destroyed the entire Hongqu Temple, a testament to its strength. Since things were under control, he naturally wouldn’t take the risk of getting involved.

「Just as he was swiftly departing.」

On the other side of Hongqu Temple, on a slope, two tall figures cloaked in gray robes that even hid their heads were watching the battle inside the temple.

"A little one got close, then ran off," one of them said softly. "Should we lure him in to join the test?"

"No need. Three Inner Power Realm Martial Artists are enough. We have a rough idea of the Black Feathered Tiger’s strength now. Three Inner Power Martial Artists are its limit," the other person said softly.

"But won’t word get out?" the first person reminded them.

"This Black Feathered Tiger was just a half-finished product, an experimental subject destined to be abandoned anyway. We’ll clean things up properly in a bit. It won’t attract Chen Xunhai’s attention," the other person said nonchalantly.

"Understood."