The Decaying World-Chapter 141 - 132: Disturbance 4

Fog Area.

Holding the Ning Xiang, Lin Hui kept a constant watch on the movement of the surrounding fog.

The Ning Xiang could repel the fog, creating a spherical cavity to protect its holder. However, it was ineffective against the night-fog. The night-fog and the fog of the Fog Area were two different things.

The night-fog, which could even invade the No-Fog Zone, was actually far more dangerous than the mist of the Fog Area.

Walking through the Fog Area, Lin Hui was surrounded by a sea of white in every direction. He could only determine his position by comparing the tracks on the ground beneath his feet to his map.

Within the fog, the muddy ground was covered in tracks of all sizes left by various monsters.

Some looked like the trails of a giant python, others were webbed footprints of varying depths, and some were simply sharp, blade-like gashes.

He walked slowly through the Fog Area for a while.

Several grayish-white Faceless People suddenly lunged out, rushing at Lin Hui from behind in an attempted ambush.

These gray, humanoid monsters, with a single horn and no facial features, were Harmless Level. They were among the first monsters Lin Hui had ever faced.

In the past, only a Sixth Grade Body Tempering disciple from Qingfeng Temple could have possibly dealt with them.

OOH...~~~

Amidst the strange, low growls, three Faceless People clawed at Lin Hui’s back from three different directions at once.

But in the next instant, their bodies froze solid.

One second.

Two seconds.

All three Faceless People were simultaneously split in two. Their six mangled halves collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Lin Hui, however, seemed completely unaware of their presence. With his back still to the three monsters, he continued on his way.

He didn’t stop for the Faceless People’s materials, instead accelerating his pace and quickly crossing a quiet, icy stream.

Ahead in the fog, a dark and silent black forest finally came into view.

In the forest, the canopies of ancient, twisted black behemoth trees interlocked, forming a vast shadow.

"This should be the place." Lin Hui glanced at his map to confirm he hadn’t taken a wrong turn, then put it away.

CAW!

Suddenly, a massive black crow with four wings swooped out of the woods.

The crow was three meters long with a wingspan of six to seven meters, kicking up a gust of wind as it approached.

It flew over Lin Hui’s head with no intention of attacking. Instead, it dove into the fog behind him and vanished.

Lin Hui narrowed his eyes and continued onward.

As he entered the black forest, the faint sound of voices drifted from ahead.

The thick gray mud underfoot gradually gave way to a carpet of stacked black leaves.

A strange, pungent, and choking odor wafted through the air.

Lin Hui took out his map again and began searching the surrounding tree trunks. Before long, he found a hidden underground entrance in a small thicket of bushes.

It was on a hill-like rise facing the stream. A round, black wooden door was set into the side of the hill.

The door’s surface was covered in green moss, and only through the occasional gap could one tell that it had once been black.

On one side of the door, Lin Hui found an engraved inscription: Purple Crystal Ruins.

The voices were growing clearer now, obviously nearby.

If he hadn’t read the intelligence report beforehand, he might have actually thought it was people talking. But in reality, the sound was mimicry from a creature called a Four-armed Cannibal Demon, meant to lure living beings closer by making them think it was human, then seizing the opportunity to prey on them.

Lin Hui turned his head and looked toward a certain direction within the spherical cavity created by the Ning Xiang.

He could faintly make out a dark silhouette, only half his height, rising from under the water and rushing toward him at high speed.

As it drew closer, he could finally see it clearly: a humanoid monster with four arms, its body covered in a hard, dark yellow shell.

The monster’s face was dull and rigid, unable to move a single feature. A closer look revealed that its so-called human facial features were just an illusion pieced together from its carapace.

"A Four-armed Cannibal Demon... This is a first."

SHING.

A flash of sword light.

Lin Hui slowly sheathed his sword.

In front of him, the Four-armed Cannibal Demon’s upper body toppled to the ground, while its lower body continued to rush forward a few more steps before spewing blood and collapsing.

The milky-white blood stained a small patch of the stream, but a dense swarm of black insects quickly surfaced and devoured it.

Lin Hui looked away, found the mechanism to open the door on one side, and gave it a light twist.

HISS....

Instantly, the ruins’ wooden door slid to the left, revealing a dark, empty, and fog-free environment inside.

Inside was a pitch-black cave, its entrance connecting to a tunnel that led to an unknown destination.

The walls were embedded with eerie blue Luminous Stones for illumination. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lin Hui lowered his head and first glanced at the green crystal on the left side of his neck.

The crystal, embedded in his skin, was only the size of his little fingernail and very inconspicuous.

A total of nine crystals formed a line from his arm to his neck, perfectly covering his entire left shoulder.

At that moment, only one of the crystals glowed with a faint, extremely weak green light.

This was the change the Spirit-Sealing Array had brought to his body.

He needed to determine when the second crystal would finish charging. ’Can killing monsters substitute for charging?’

But unfortunately, the Nine Eyes crystal showed no reaction; only one was lit, just like before.

He sighed to himself.

Lin Hui stepped through the wooden door, but he suddenly paused and turned his head to look up and to his right.

There, on the dark brown cave wall, two dark red human heads—one large, one small—were growing like mushrooms.

The two heads, one male and one female, both had short, dark red hair. Their eyes moved nimbly, sizing up Lin Hui as he entered.

"Can you talk?" Lin Hui asked aloud.

The two heads didn’t react, their eyes just darted around. They seemed to be alive, but for some reason, they didn’t respond at all.

Lin Hui hesitated for a moment, but decided against smashing the two heads. He turned and continued deeper inside.

This time, he hadn’t gone far before he discovered a stack of uniformly sized wooden crates on the ground to the right of the cave ahead.

The striped wooden crates were stacked one on top of the other. On one crate sat two glass cups with residue of a red liquid inside.

Lin Hui swept his gaze around but detected no other movement.

He clearly remembered the expedition team mentioning that these ruins were uninhabited when they returned; they were supposed to be the first team to discover it.

But now... His guard raised, Lin Hui quickened his pace, came up to the crates, and pierced the surface of one with his sword.

Inside, densely packed and neatly stacked Purple Crystal Ore was revealed.

’Just as I thought, the intelligence was leaked. Either someone inside the temple sold it, or it was the Chi Mi Bang...’

He glanced down the passage that extended deeper into the cave and continued walking.

His first purpose for coming here was to clear out a portion of the Purple Crystal vein and establish a stable resource point for Qingfeng Temple.

His second was to find the special relic capable of warding off the night-fog.

He followed the passage deeper into the cave for about three to four hundred meters.

A strange humanoid creature appeared in his line of sight.

It was a bizarre humanoid, two meters tall, composed entirely of purple crystal.

Its head was diamond-shaped, with a black fissure in the center of its face serving as an eye. Both its hands and feet had sharp, vicious claws.

It was currently hunched over like an old woman, shuffling slowly forward through the cave.

’A Purple Crystal Element?’ Lin Hui recognized the monster. The intelligence from both Wang Yueheng and the expedition team had mentioned this thing.

These things were very powerful, comparable to an expert at Inner Power Perfection. They were the ones who had devoured many members of the expedition team.

’But if there are people here, how can a Purple Crystal Element still be wandering around freely?’ Lin Hui grew more vigilant.

According to Wang Yueheng’s report, the strongest among the Purple Crystal Elements, the Elemental Lords, could even reach the Priest and Grand Priest Level. They were extremely dangerous, so he didn’t dare to be careless.

He stealthily drew his sword and approached it from behind.

SHING!

In an instant, his sword flashed. Without a word, Lin Hui slashed out with his Gale Swordsmanship.

His longsword, coated in Inner Strength and enhanced by his incredible speed, immediately sundered the Purple Crystal Element’s chest.

SCREEECH! Sparks flew everywhere.

A huge gash was carved into the Purple Crystal Element’s body, nearly splitting it in two with a single strike.

It turned its head to roar, but the next sword strike gave it no time. In the blink of an eye, it shattered into two pieces, crashed to the ground, and crumbled into countless tiny particles.

BZZZZZ!!

That one strike was like hitting a hornet’s nest. A deep, muffled roar instantly echoed from the deepest part of the cave.

Then, amidst the heavy THUMP THUMP THUMP of footsteps, Lin Hui saw at least five or six purple crystalline humanoids charging out from the depths of the cave.

Most importantly, unlike the previous crystalline humanoid, these ones were all wearing special armor made of purple metal.

The Blood Seal in his vision instantly identified them, and Lin Hui’s expression changed at once.

’High-level Purple Crystal Element: A creature that coexists with Purple Crystal veins. Can self-destruct upon death. Current creature is not in a non-resistant state, evolution is impossible.

Notice: You are being watched by the Fog Spirit.’

’The Fog Spirit??’

’Self-destruct?!’

He whipped his head around, looking back at the crystalline humanoid he had just cut down.

The particles scattered on the ground were now glowing with a scorching light.

BOOM!!!

In the next instant, Lin Hui retreated, covering his entire body with Inner Strength. But it was too late.

The scorching flames completely engulfed him a moment later.

Two breaths later, Lin Hui’s figure reappeared. The white light protecting his body had been greatly weakened by the blast.

The two High-level Purple Crystal Elements that had arrived later were also pushed back deeper into the cave by the explosion.

Behind them, Lin Hui clearly saw two pale-skinned men wielding thick-backed cleavers hiding behind the High-level Purple Crystal Elements. The two even exchanged a few words with the crystal creatures.

’These people can actually communicate with monsters from the Fog Area?!’

Lin Hui was shocked, and the thought of retreating crossed his mind.

This situation was far more complicated than he had imagined. The mention of the Fog Spirit’s gaze, in particular, felt like a thorn in his side.

But in the next moment, a single sentence from one of the men opposite him transformed his desire to retreat into intense killing intent.

"That guy... looks like Lin Hui, the Observatory Master of Qingfeng Temple?"

’It’s over, they recognized me...’

Lin Hui stiffened. He touched the black cloth that completely covered his head. ’I even wrapped up my hair... How could these people still recognize me?!’

’While their numbers are still low... I have to silence them, quickly.’ His eyes grew cold as he took a reverse grip on the sword handles on his back.

The Purple Crystal was highly valuable, and he didn’t want to expose the full extent of his power. His original plan was to secretly test the waters and clear the vein, but he had been recognized the moment he walked in.

And from the looks of it, the other party seemed to be part of some mysterious organization...

’This is trouble...’

"Couldn’t you just... pretend you never saw me...?" He suddenly drew his weapons. With his dual swords held diagonally downward, a faint breeze began to swirl around him.