The Decaying World-Chapter 84 - 79: Gale 3

After practicing it a few times, Lin Hui stood on the edge of the hill, carefully contemplating the practical applications of the Gale Swordsmanship.

He held his Longsword and executed the first technique of the Mountain Rubbing Technique, Breaking Cone.

WHOOSH!

In an instant, the tip of his sword flashed forward, tracing at least thirty circles in less than half a second.

And as his Inner Strength surged, the thirty circles formed, and the web-like structure outside his body frantically drew upon an unknown external power.

This summoned external power didn’t enter his body. Instead, it followed the Sword Technique and poured directly into the direction the sword tip was thrusting.

Instantly, a gale howled to life, blasting forward like a giant industrial fan.

’But if all it does is blow wind, what’s the use of this Swordsmanship in a real fight? Against an expert with Inner Strength, a slightly stronger wind would at most cause a minor debuff or affect their senses. When it comes to a real battle, it all still depends on one’s Inner Strength, speed, and power.’

Lin Hui pondered. Since this Gale Swordsmanship was an evolution of the Qingfeng Sword created by the Blood Seal, it had to have some extraordinary aspect.

’It couldn’t possibly have such a major flaw...’

Lin Hui once again swung his Longsword, executing the first technique, Breaking Cone.

Again and again. Ten techniques, twenty, thirty, sixty...

Gradually, he felt something was wrong!

"Wait! What’s going on!? Why do I feel... like my Sword Speed is much faster than when I started!?"

His heart suddenly tightened. He stopped the Sword Technique and carefully recalled the sensation.

’What if I was wrong from the start? What if the gale isn’t for the enemy, but for myself?’

Thinking this way, and combining it with the infused experience from his arduous training, he seemed to understand something.

Once more, he raised the Qinghe Sword.

Breaking Cone!

Breaking Cone!

And Breaking Cone again!!

This time, he executed Breaking Cone hundreds of times in a single breath!

In the clearing on the edge of the hill, his Sword Speed was initially slow enough that you could still make out his form. But later, not only did the sword disappear, but so did he.

All that could be seen was a blurry, illusory afterimage, spinning in place.

As he swung his sword and spun, a gray boulder over two meters long on the flat ground ahead began to tremble faintly from the wind.

A large amount of soil was kicked up, churning and piling up further and further away.

A dead tree in the distance also began to shake violently, as if its branches were about to be snapped off.

As the wind howled, Lin Hui finally discovered the true secret of the Gale Swordsmanship’s combat application.

’This gale kicked up by the Swordsmanship is meant to augment my own Sword Speed and Body Technique! If an opponent were in front of me, I would merge with the wind, my Swordsmanship would be amplified, and my Sword Speed would get faster and faster. The longer it goes on, the more speed I accumulate, and the stronger it becomes. So this is the true essence of the gale!’

Lin Hui had an epiphany.

Suddenly, he directed his sword toward the ground.

Breaking Cone!

BOOM!!

The earth exploded as if a landmine had detonated. Soil from a three-meter-wide area flew into the air, spraying forward in a fan shape.

Gray and black dirt rained down, leaving behind a large crater more than three meters wide.

Lin Hui sheathed his sword. Despite unleashing so many techniques, he felt as if he had only executed two or three.

The energy efficiency of this Gale Swordsmanship was simply extraordinary.

’It seems this Swordsmanship is designed for battles of attrition. The longer I use it, the stronger and more energy-efficient it becomes.’

Next, he tried the other techniques and found they were all the same, just that each one was suited for a different type of opponent.

Mountain Rub was for high defense, Stacking Clouds for high speed, and Qingming for long-range. Although each style only had three techniques, those three corresponded perfectly to attack, defense, and evasion, covering all possible applications.

He trained until dusk and returned, satisfied. He didn’t go back to Qingfeng Temple this time. The place was empty and utterly deserted, save for a gap-toothed old man who stood guard and a pair of hired cleaning ladies who came by once in a while.

Other than them, the place was deserted.

Lin Hui decided to use this place as his private training ground for swordsmanship. The Black Dragon Branch, on the other hand, now served as his headquarters.

He hurried on his way and finally arrived at the Black Dragon Branch just before nightfall.

As night fell and the fog rolled in, the disciples and students still living at the branch hurried to close their doors and windows, light their oil lamps, and check if their hanging Jade Talismans had run out of power.

For a moment, a series of thuds from closing windows could be heard all around.

By now, Lin Hui had passed through the enclosed corridor and arrived at the elixir dispensary in the rear hall, the sect’s facility for brewing and decocting medicinal herbs.

This was a small room sectioned off from the main kitchen, designated for the Pharmacist to prepare and brew medicines.

It was located to the left of the passageway between the branch headquarters and the former Song Mansion.

The Pharmacist in charge was a young woman named Chen Meng.

When Chen Meng heard Lin Hui’s request, she immediately looked troubled.

"Observatory Master, it’s not that I don’t want to do it. But to quickly produce finished products from these Elixir formulas requires a lot of trial and error, and that costs a significant amount of money. If you want the medicine right away, it would be best to go to the source of these formulas and get the pre-made elixirs. After we get them, we can run a test or two ourselves. Once we’re sure there are no issues, you can take them."

"Can testing the medicine guarantee its safety?" Lin Hui still felt uneasy. After all, this was something he had to ingest. His experience with the internet from his past life told him that there were countless ways to tamper with medicine without being detected.

"There’s no complete guarantee, but for some Elixirs that have been sold on the market for a long time, we can perform comparative tests. There shouldn’t be a major problem," Chen Meng said hesitantly, not daring to give a 100% guarantee.

"Actually, Observatory Master, if you’re still worried, why not try learning about medicine and poisons yourself?"

Her words immediately made Lin Hui’s eyes light up.

’That’s right. If I’m worried, I should learn about it, study it in depth. Only when I’ve mastered it myself can I stop being constantly afraid. Besides, I have plenty of time outside of practicing swordsmanship and Body Tempering. And the Blood Seal’s evolution just requires waiting anyway.’

Her suggestion immediately appealed to him. After all, there would be many times in the future when he would need to take medicine to speed up his progress. If he started learning now, he wouldn’t be clueless and miss out on valuable materials when he encountered them in the Fog Area later on.

He nodded slightly at once.

"That’s a good suggestion. Do you have any basic books on medicine here? How should I start learning about pharmacology?"

"You can start with this book." Chen Meng turned and took a book titled *Medicinal Herb Recognition* from the shelf and handed it to Lin Hui.

"This is my teacher’s work. Although it’s just about medicinal herbs, it contains a lot of analysis, summaries, and combinations of their properties. The human body needs to maintain a balance of yin, yang, and the five elements. The purpose of identifying medicinal properties is to find the right substance to restore that balance when it’s disrupted. This is the fundamental philosophy of us Pharmacists."

"I see..." Lin Hui murmured in realization. ’Isn’t this just the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine from my past life? It seems many principles are universal, no matter where you are.’

He took the book and cupped his fist in thanks.

"By the way, if I wanted to take these medicines long-term, how long would it take you to familiarize yourself with these formulas from scratch and guarantee a relatively high success rate with Alchemy?"

"Well... I’ve never tried, so I’m not sure. But it would be very difficult. Many of these formulas contain subtle tricks and contraindications that you’d never figure out without countless attempts—you can only succeed by throwing a lot of money at it. If I were to research one formula from scratch, it would probably take at least three years. And that’s assuming an unlimited supply of medicinal herbs for experiments," Chen Meng said, looking troubled. "You’d be better off hiring a Pharmacist who specializes in this."

Lin Hui frowned. ’It’s that troublesome? Does this mean I have no choice but to go back to the Baihua Sect for help?’

’Or maybe I could hire a Pharmacist directly from the Baihua Sect to handle the Alchemy for me?’

He quickly dismissed the idea. It would be better to just buy the pre-made elixirs, have others test them, and then take them himself. While taking them, he could study pharmacology on his own and eventually reach a level where he could perform his own Alchemy.

That way, he would never again have to worry about being secretly poisoned.

After bidding farewell to Chen Meng, Lin Hui returned to his room to rest. Early the next morning, he went to the Baihua Sect and brought back a batch of finished Elixirs.

These were originally intended to be shipped out and sold on the market, but he had intercepted them for his own use.

After returning, he first found ten middle-aged disciples who had wives, and in exchange for a large reward, had them try each of the Elixirs one by one.

Only after confirming there were no issues did he take the medicine back to his own courtyard residence.

Three Yang Powder, Dragon-Overturning Pill, and Full Essence Powder, taken together. After careful experimentation, he calculated the effects.

’If I take the full dose, I can probably reduce the evolution time by eighty to ninety days per month. When I have Yun Lingzhi, the progress will accelerate significantly, so that needs to be calculated separately.’

By that calculation, if he supplemented it with a few other things, one month could be equivalent to four, shortening the time to a quarter of what it was before!

He then looked again at the time required, displayed on the Blood Seal.

Fourteen years, eighteen years...

’Even with this reduction, it’s still a very long time... It seems I have to start with the Yun Lingzhi... Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa...’

Lin Hui fell into deep thought.

First, he had to solve the problem of safely creating and taking the elixirs. Then, he would make a trip to Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa.

That night, by the light of an oil lamp, he immediately began studying the medical book he had just acquired.

After finishing the book, he practiced the perfect version of the Qingfeng Sword before bed. The effect of the Second-Time Body Tempering was mainly to stimulate the generation of Inner Strength. After he succeeded in generating Inner Strength, the Body Tempering effect of this Swordsmanship shifted to accelerating the increase of his total Inner Strength.

The Gale Swordsmanship, on the other hand, initiated a new Body Tempering phase when he practiced it.

The Third-Time Body Tempering, which came after generating Inner Strength.

This was an unknown path, and Lin Hui himself didn’t know where it would lead. He also wasn’t sure if he could fight against the Summoners of the Circulation Realm from the Inner City, as he had never witnessed their martial prowess.

But with faith in the Blood Seal, he practiced with unwavering determination.

The days passed one by one.

Lin Hui first sent people out to inquire around the market for Pharmacists who could perform Alchemy, wanting to hire someone to start production. Even if the cost was high, at least he could start taking the medicine while he learned.

But to his disappointment, while there were indeed Pharmacists on the market, none of them were confident they could successfully concoct elixirs from these formulas.

These types of medicines were part of the Baihua Sect’s core competitive advantage. Not only were the formulas filled with various traps, but the refinement process also had many complicated steps.

The few Pharmacists who had mastered good elixir recipes had long since been recruited by the major powers and prominent families, kept on retainer with high salaries.

The contracts these people signed were incredibly strict, and their families were held as leverage, making it impossible for them to break their agreements.

"This is troublesome..." Lin Hui had thought this matter would be simple, but he never expected it to be so complicated in practice.

He finally understood just how difficult it must have been for his old man to obtain the Full Essence Powder before.

That was something truly bought with a mountain of money.

He picked up the pre-made medicine he had bought from the Baihua Sect, a contemplative look on his face.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Just then, there was a soft knock on his study door.

"Observatory Master, an Inner City person has come to visit you. They say they’re from the Rain Palace." Wang Hongshi’s voice came from outside the door.