The Decaying World-Chapter 119 - 112: Fame 4

"What idea!? Stop laughing. You’re laughing so much I want to hit you." Lin Hui’s skin crawled.

"Well, I know someone who’s also getting pestered about marriage and matchmaking all day. It’s driving her crazy, just like you. The way I see it, why don’t you two just pair up? Pretend to get engaged to get everyone off your backs. When you find someone you actually want to marry, you can just go your separate ways. What do you think?" Wang Yueheng said with a grin.

"Shut up. Let’s have a match first."

Lin Hui kicked his stool away, stood up, and drew his sword.

"Heh, you think I’m afraid of you!? I told you last time I was just letting you win! I haven’t even used my ultimate move!" Enraged, Wang Yueheng also stood up.

"To the Gale Plain." Lin Hui’s figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

Wang Yueheng followed close behind.

「A little over ten minutes later.」

Lin Hui reappeared in the pavilion. He sheathed his sword, sat down cross-legged, and poured himself some tea.

Behind him, Wang Yueheng, with a bruised and swollen face—one eye bigger than the other—silently returned to his cushion and sat down.

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"I was trying to help you, and you still hit me?" Wang Yueheng said gloomily.

"You call that trying to help me? You had such a devious look on your face you could barely contain it," Lin Hui glanced at him.

"I was just worried you wouldn’t agree." Wang Yueheng shot him a resentful look. "Her situation is a little complicated. She’s a good friend of my older sister’s, has been single for a long time, and is completely fed up with all the matchmaking proposals. But they just keep coming, one after another. It’s endless."

"If that’s the case, then why did you have that look on your face?" Lin Hui questioned.

"It’s mainly that... she’s a bit older... just a little bit." Wang Yueheng held up his hand, making a gesture for "a tiny bit."

"Are you sure this will work?" Lin Hui asked.

"Yes, absolutely! You’re my friend, plus your sworn brother is Liu Wu Jun. I’d trick anyone before I’d trick you!" Wang Yueheng said quickly.

"Alright, we can give it a try then. Getting constantly pushed into these matchmaking sessions is really annoying," Lin Hui nodded. He could tell the other man was hiding something, but he figured that no matter what it was, as long as his own strength continued to skyrocket, nothing would be a problem.

Based on what Wang Yueheng said, he guessed the woman was probably a noble lady from the Inner City with an extraordinary family background who was also being pestered about marriage. If so, it would be a perfect match, and they could both use the other person to deal with these annoyances.

"Don’t worry, I wouldn’t even suggest this to anyone else. It’s only because you’re an upright person with a clean personal life, completely dedicated to the bitter training of Martial Arts, that I’m willing to make this connection. She’s the same way, a lot like you. All she wants is to focus on her training and isn’t interested in anything else," Wang Yueheng explained.

"Alright then. Set up a place for us to meet. If there are no issues, we can finalize it," Lin Hui nodded. It was just a title, anyway, and he had no intention of latching onto her for anything. Seeing how fast the Purple Crystal was accelerating his progress, he knew his Body Tempering was about to break through again. This rapid increase in strength gave him absolute confidence.

If he were to fight Li Chi from the Flying Stone Sect again now, he felt the man probably wouldn’t be able to withstand a hundred of his moves.

The improvement from Gale Swordsmanship’s Body Tempering wasn’t just about speed; it was a comprehensive enhancement of his power, reflexes, physical strength, and Sword Speed.

This all-around improvement resulted in a huge leap in his absolute killing power. And, most crucially...

He had reached the Perfect Sixth Layer of Inner Strength. When he covered his blade with Inner Strength, the killing power of piercing through a surface with a single point increased dramatically.

Saying Li Chi could last a hundred moves was a generous overestimation.

Just now, in his sparring match with Wang Yueheng, he had only been playing around, testing the waters, yet he had easily used the flat of his sword coated in Inner Strength to beat the man’s face into a swollen mess.

And with that, he had re-established the fundamental pecking order of who was the boss between the two of them.

"Great, it’s a deal then!" Wang Yueheng said, getting up. "I’ll go back and arrange a time for you right away. Don’t you dare back out."

"Don’t worry, I won’t," Lin Hui said flatly.

After seeing Wang Yueheng off, he took his Purple Crystal and returned to the Gale Plain to continue his bitter training. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Meanwhile, inside Qingfeng Temple, arrangements were being made for the compensation and settlement for the expedition members who had died in the ruins.

A large amount of silver coins was paid out, spreading Qingfeng Temple’s benevolent reputation.

After all, while other expedition teams also offered compensation, it was never this generous.

With a wave of his hand, Lin Hui had everyone compensated at double the standard rate. He was flush with cash right now anyway, so it was no big deal.

Between the tuition fees submitted by disciples, the profits from his various enterprises, and his cut from the Baihua Sect, his income had reached an absurd figure of nearly eight million a month. And that was just his personal income, after deducting the sect’s expenses and the shares given to other factions.

「Time passed. Before he knew it, three months had gone by.」

Spring arrived. The chirping of insects grew more frequent, the temperature gradually rose, and the farmlands around the town began to sprout patches of green.

The flocks of birds flying overhead were also much more numerous than before.

As Lin Hui went out to practice his sword daily, he would see people going in and out of temples that housed strange statues of children, though he didn’t know if they were worshipping or doing something else.

He had someone look into it briefly and learned that these people were worshipping a Fog Spirit named Bai Tong.

This Bai Tong was a statue discovered in some ruins within the Fog Area. Later, someone accidentally discovered that worshipping it would bring a certain degree of good luck, and so, gradually, it began to attract followers.

However, this worship was rather inconsistent. Only when people were down on their luck and needed to change their fortune would they come to pay their respects.

And the many Bai Tong temples around the town were also remnants of a certain special period.

A time when... the Outer City was abandoned, and in their desperation, everyone tried every possible way to save themselves...

Now, in mid-April, Lin Hui had used up his entire share of Purple Crystals and had successfully broken through to Seventh Grade Body Tempering with his Gale Swordsmanship.

And the Special Effect unique to Gale Swordsmanship was finally beginning to show its extraordinary nature.

*

*

*

「Gale Plain.」

Lin Hui leaned against a hill, holding his sword in both hands, carefully sensing the changes happening on the surface of his body.

The Special Effect that could only be obtained after the Ninth Grade, the Gale Swordsmanship’s Wind of Surrounding, was now beginning to show its first traces.

Faint, invisible wisps of wind circled around him, forming a transparent protective layer.

’It’s not just for protection; I can clearly sense any disturbance from any direction. As long as I activate the Special Effect, any attack aimed at me will automatically register on the layer of the Wind of Surrounding, reminding me to prepare my defense in advance...’ Lin Hui concluded in his mind.

’And also...’

He raised his sword and gently stabbed toward the palm of his other hand.

Invisibly, the sword’s tip was strangely deflected by a force, scraping past the edge of his palm and plunging into the ground, where it stood embedded.

’This is automatic force diversion. The effect is pretty good; it should be very useful against ranged attacks. I just don’t know how strong its limit is. I’ll test it again when I reach the Ninth Grade and get the complete Special Effect.’

He stopped the test and incidentally activated his Blood Seal to check the remaining evolution time.

’7 years, 7 months.’

’It’s a shame I’m out of Yun Lingzhi... The thought of heading to Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa again resurfaced.’

Lin Hui had asked Wang Yueheng to help him find some before, but there was still no news. He had no idea what was going on.

’That guy talks a big game, but he’s slow as hell.’

None of that pile of aphrodisiacs had an effect comparable to Yun Lingzhi.

After finishing his sword practice, he leisurely returned to the Lin Mansion to spend some time with his family. He held the crawling-everywhere Lin Xiaoliu for a bit, and was just about to return to Qingfeng Temple to continue his cultivation when his old man, Lin Shunhe, suddenly called out to him.

"Oh, right, Ah Hui, you’re not getting any younger... Dad has a business partner whose daughter is gentle, generous, and considerate. She’s also a top-class beauty and teaches at the academy. Why don’t you set a time for you two to meet?"

"That... I’m not in the mood for that right now," Lin Hui said, speechless. ’Here we go again, here we go again. This is the fourth time this month.’ "Besides, teaching at an academy? Does our Outer City even have a thing like an academy?"

"Of course we do. I asked you if you wanted to go before, but you refused, absolutely refused. It’s a rather expensive place; most families can’t afford it," his dad said with a nod.

"Then what’s the point of introducing a teacher to someone like me who practices martial arts? We’d have absolutely nothing to talk about," Lin Hui said again.

"Well, when you have kids in the future, she can handle their early education at home, can’t she?" Lin Shunhe said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"..."

"Don’t get so annoyed. You’re taking so much medicine, and you don’t have a woman by your side. A lot of people are spreading rumors... asking if you’re into men..." Lin Shunhe said helplessly.

"Who’s spreading them?" Lin Hui gripped the hilt of his sword.

"Lots of people." Lin Shunhe shot him a glare. "You’re unwilling to do this, unwilling to do that... but you have to carry on the family line and have a child sooner or later, right? Your mother and I only have you, our only son."

"No rush. It’ll happen eventually. I’m just not in the right mindset for it now," Lin Hui said, hoping to bluff his way through.

"You punk..." Lin Shunhe wanted to say more, but in a blur, the person before him was gone.

"Bwother... Bwother..."

On the floor, Lin Xiaoliu, chewing on a rubber pacifier, called out. When she saw Lin Hui was gone, her little mouth turned down, and she was about to cry.

Startled, Lin Shunhe quickly went over, scooped her up, and comforted her.

Meanwhile, after leaving the Lin Mansion, Lin Hui looked up at the sky.

Through the gray haze, he could faintly see the bright sunlight above.

’Dealing with the Purple Kite Crystal is too difficult for now. I’ll search Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa one last time, and then I’ll head into the Inner City to see if I can find any medicine similar to Yun Lingzhi. Relying on others is ultimately too slow.’

Although he had been to the Inner City a few times, he was still intensely curious about it.

After all, his visits had been confined to the Outer Ring; he had never entered the legendary Core Area, the Moon Tower District.

Returning quickly to Qingfeng Temple, he organized his information and posted a high-level mission: go to Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa and collect Yun Lingzhi—the more, the better.

Then, he gathered information on the Inner City and spread out a map of the Outer Ring near the Inner City, a copy he had gotten from the Wang Family, to determine his destination for this trip.

His purpose for entering the Inner City this time was clear: to find medicine or an Elixir Recipe that could potentially replace Yun Lingzhi through channels other than the Wang Family.

’That guy Wang Yueheng won’t give me the Elixir Recipe. If I can find one on my own, diversify my medicines, and find another Treasure Medicine like Yun Lingzhi, my progress will surely be even faster. To be honest, I’m starting to feel like Wang Yueheng is stringing me along. After all, when it comes to channels for Elixirs in the Inner City, I can only rely on the Wang Family. I’ve had this feeling ever since he refused to sell me the Elixir Recipe. That’s the real reason for this trip into the Inner City.’

But he had barely started organizing his maps when news arrived from Wang Yueheng. The woman in the same predicament had agreed to meet with him. The time was set for the day after tomorrow, and the location had been chosen for his convenience: Jixiang Residence, a restaurant in the Inner City near the South Nine Gates.