The Decaying World-Chapter 76 - 71: Devour 3

"Right, an exchange. Let’s have an exchange. My Intention Blade Sect has a total of five disciples, and every one of them is an elite. Sect Leader Lin, if you’re willing to merge our sects and take them in, and promise them the same benefits and resources as everyone else, then the Intention Blade Sect will merge immediately!!"

It was clear that Xue Meng didn’t care much for his sect’s legacy; his main concern was finding a good home for his disciples.

He was getting old. His physical abilities had begun to decline and his strength was fading. If he didn’t find a good home for them soon, he might not have the standing to face a genius like Lin Hui in the future.

"How is their Body Tempering?" Lin Hui asked with a nod.

"All of them are at the Body Tempering Limit! I have no other disciples. I gave all my resources to them, training just these five!" Xue Meng said in a deep voice.

"Alright then! Brother Xue, let’s head back to headquarters together and discuss the details of the merger, including resources and monthly stipends," Lin Hui said.

An expert at the Sixth Layer of Inner Strength was merging with his sect, and with him still in charge—this was undeniably a great thing.

Of course, if his own strength hadn’t been solid enough, he probably would have been taken down on the spot just now, and his sect’s assets would have been swallowed up.

This was reality. If your strength was insufficient, you were just a piece of meat by someone else’s mouth, ready to be bitten into whenever they got hungry.

Bringing Xue Meng, the Sect Leader of the Intention Blade Sect, back with him, Lin Hui immediately began discussing the techniques for using Inner Strength and the details of breaking through.

After Xue Meng wrote a letter to his disciples, he carefully explained to Lin Hui what he had learned from his past experiences.

He also began to understand how Lin Hui could have created such an exaggerated speed-based Secret Technique. A person so obsessed with the Martial Dao truly couldn’t be measured by common sense.

And this was precisely the image Lin Hui wanted to project to the outside world. This was laying the groundwork for his future early breakthrough into the Inner Power Realm.

Only a few days had passed since the Black Dragon Sect changed hands, and now the Qingfeng Sword Sect was merging with the Intention Blade Sect—with the Qingfeng Sword Sect as the main branch, unifying everything.

This sort of commotion triggered a much bigger stir than before.

One had to understand that the Intention Blade Sect was no small fry. Among the many Martial Artists who had come from Xingdiao, Xue Meng’s strength could be considered upper-mid tier. If he went all out and used his Secret Technique, even top-tier experts like the Baihua Sect Leader wouldn’t dare to underestimate him.

And yet, a great expert of the Inner Power Realm like him had also merged into the Qingfeng Sword Sect.

No, the Qingfeng Sword Sect had decisively changed its sign to Qingfeng Temple.

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「One month later...」

"Sect Leader, the word ’Temple’ on the sign... don’t you think it’s a bit small?"

At the entrance of the Black Dragon Sect’s headquarters, Lin Hui listened to Xue Meng muttering to the side while staring at the plaque, and couldn’t help but smile.

This Xue Meng was great in all other aspects—he was experienced in the Martial Dao, cautious, and knew when to advance and when to retreat—but he had one single flaw.

He was a chatterbox.

The old man couldn’t help but want to talk at all times. Even if no one paid him any mind, he could talk to himself, asking and answering his own questions. He was practically a distant relative of the Lion-men, a paragon of the talkative tribe.

"Let’s stabilize our current scale first. The union of our three sects has already made some factions antsy. We’ll halt our activities for now. Everyone should rest and recuperate. Don’t go stirring up trouble for no reason."

"That’s true. This merger actually toed the New Martial Alliance’s red line. The New Martial Alliance has an explicit rule forbidding large sects from casually annexing smaller ones. This was a special case; you, Sect Leader, used the Black Dragon Sect’s prior rule-breaking as a pretext to successfully push the merger through right on the edge." Xue Meng nodded, paused, and continued, "But the merger of our two sects is different. It still has a fairly big impact. Thankfully, my Intention Blade Sect only has a few people, so it didn’t cause much of a stir. But continuing this definitely won’t work. I estimate the New Martial Alliance will send someone to investigate the situation in the next few days."

"What kind of organization is the New Martial Alliance? Have you had any contact with them, Elder Xue?" Lin Hui asked casually as he watched the new plaque being hung, then stepped back into the training grounds.

"A little less than half of the New Martial Alliance are original members of the Tuyue Martial Alliance; the rest are all from our Xingdiao side. In the entire alliance, the strongest are the Golden Crow Sect and the Carefree Pavilion. Of these two great powers, the Golden Crow Sect is a local Tuyue sect, while the Carefree Pavilion was founded by a high-level Circulation Martial Artist from Xingdiao. I don’t know the specifics. After all, we’re not on the same level, so we don’t move in the same circles. Circulation Martial Artists are just too strong. Even their lifespans are a cut above ours. Outside the Fog Area, they’re basically a different species," Xue Meng replied.

"...I’ve heard that for Outer Strength, training until you go ’from outside to inside’ is the limit. Beyond that, it’s impossible to advance further. Have you heard of such a thing, Elder Xue?" Lin Hui asked in a hushed voice, watching the many disciples practicing in neat formations.

"That is indeed the case." Xue Meng sighed. "’From outside to inside’ sounds great, but in reality, Outer Strength cultivation is very damaging to the body. You don’t feel it when you’re young and your qi and blood are full, but when it’s time to sort out the detailed damage, you discover that the accumulated injuries have already become a great mountain blocking the path to Circulation.

"There are many reasons for being unable to break through. For example, the external energy ’net’ might not be woven precisely enough, filtering in too many impurities. The body might have too many hidden injuries in its veins and blood vessels, causing energy to ’leak’ everywhere. And the most crucial point: Circulation has very high requirements for one’s mental cultivation. Outer Strength practitioners almost never touch on this aspect. By the time they realize they need to train it, it’s already far too late."

"’Mental cultivation...’" Lin Hui mulled over the term.

In recent days, he had heard Xue Meng mention this more than once during their discussions. But even Xue Meng didn’t know how to go about it, saying that this aspect had always been the most important, unwritten secret of the Inner Sects. It was generally passed down orally, never recorded in books, so one couldn’t even find a manual for it.

Left with no alternative, Lin Hui continued to focus on Body Tempering and cultivating his Inner Strength.

The perfected Qingfeng Sword technique was still potent. In just one short month, he easily broke through to the second layer of the Inner Power Realm and began sprinting toward the Third Layer.

Meanwhile, with a constant supply of Full Essence Powder and Yun Lingzhi, the Blood Seal’s evolution time was drastically reduced.

Now that the disciples of the three sects were merged, Qingfeng Temple’s prestige was immeasurably greater than before, vaguely showing a hint of its former glory.

Although it had fewer experts in the Inner Power Realm, the quality was high.

Xue Meng’s strength was far greater than Daoist Baohe’s.

The two of them briefly instructed the top-ranked disciples on their cultivation before heading into the Song Mansion. The entire Song Mansion had been completely converted by Lin Hui into a training and lodging facility for the disciples.

He also lived here himself, treating the place as his new base of operations.

After all, this place was much larger than Qingfeng Temple, and its location was far better.

Not long after they entered, a new kitchen servant had just delivered some tea when Wang Hongshi strode in hastily. With him was Chen Sui, the former senior-most disciple of Qingfeng Temple. For some reason, the two had hit it off and seemed to be kindred spirits.

"Sect Leader, Elder, someone from the New Martial Alliance is here!" Wang Hongshi said in a low voice, cupping his fist. "They’re waiting in the reception hall now. They said they want to have a good talk with the two of you about the sect merger."

"Who is it? The New Martial Alliance has an Alliance Leader and a Deputy Alliance Leader, plus nine Elders, who are the leaders of the participating Great Martial Arts Halls. Someone with Song Zhanlong’s level of strength is just an ordinary member. Although the sect merger is a big deal, its influence is limited to the surrounding few towns. To the New Martial Alliance, it’s a trivial matter. I’m guessing it’s just a regular envoy, right?" Xue Meng asked in a low voice.

"The man calls himself Qianyangzi. He brought two apprentices with him. He should be a hall master at the Inner Power Realm, and he did indeed say he was an envoy," Wang Hongshi confirmed with a nod.

"Then it’s simple. It seems the New Martial Alliance can’t be bothered with such a small matter. If the sect merger wasn’t such a sensitive topic, they probably wouldn’t have even sent anyone. Usually, you wouldn’t see an envoy until they come to collect fees at the end of the year," Xue Meng said with a relaxed smile.

"I’ll go take a look," Lin Hui nodded.

Since it was an envoy from the New Martial Alliance, he didn’t dare to be disrespectful. His Body Technique flared, and he vanished in a series of afterimages, leaving the tea pavilion and rushing to the reception hall.

Just as he stepped into the main hall, he heard an old voice explaining the background of the Black Dragon Sect.

In front of a mural on the left side of the hall, a tall old man dressed in dark green brocade robes was explaining the characteristics of the Black Dragon Sect’s Cultivation Technique and the past of Song Zhanlong to two young disciples.

"Speaking of which, Song Zhanlong didn’t learn the Black Dragon Claw in Xingdiao City. He actually mastered his martial arts in a more distant city before returning to his hometown to found his sect. Later, due to the great chaos in Xingdiao, many Martial Artists fled the city and scattered. He ended up in Tuyue, but little did he expect to die here..."

The speaker turned, and his sharp, blade-like gaze immediately met Lin Hui’s as he walked through the door.

Before this moment, Lin Hui had never witnessed a person’s gaze that could be like a searchlight, making his own eyes ache slightly.

But now, he had.

The piercing gaze made him involuntarily falter, stopping at the doorway.

The next instant, he pushed against the gaze and stepped forward, crossing the threshold.

"You must be the New Martial Alliance’s envoy, Senior Qianyangzi?" Lin Hui said, a gentle smile appearing on his face as he stepped forward to greet the man.

"Just as the rumors say, Sect Leader Lin is indeed very young..." Qianyangzi remarked, sizing him up with a thoughtful expression.

"That’s right, I am Qianyangzi. I have been entrusted by the alliance to come and investigate the matter of Qingfeng Temple’s sect merger."

He paused, looking at Lin Hui.

"Sect Leader Lin, do you have any intention of continuing to merge with the surrounding martial arts halls and sects?"

"Of course not." Lin Hui waved his hand with a smile. "To be honest, this junior hasn’t even broken through to the Inner Power Realm yet. The current situation is all thanks to the righteous assistance of Brother Xue Meng from the Intention Blade Sect. Brother Xue Meng and I hit it off right away. It may look like a merger, but in reality, Brother Xue Meng was just looking for a place to retire and didn’t want to handle sect affairs anymore."

As he said this, Lin Hui sighed, wearing the expression of someone who had gotten a great deal.

"Then there’s no issue," Qianyangzi said, his tone relaxed. "By the way, since you’ve taken on the burdens of the Black Dragon Sect and the Intention Blade Sect, you should pay this year’s alliance fees. Both of those sects are still in arrears."

"Alliance fees... how much is required?" Lin Hui’s heart skipped a beat.

"Not much. Three hundred thousand per sect, so six hundred thousand for both," Qianyangzi said with a smile. "By the way, do you have any conflicts with the Baihua Sect?"

"I don’t believe so. Senior, what do you mean by that?" Lin Hui asked, surprised.

"It’s like this. On my way here, I overheard a few of the Xingdiao martial arts halls in the alliance chatting. They mentioned the situation with the Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa. As you know, most of the medicinal supplies for the dozen or so towns around here are traded from the Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa and its subordinate powers.

"But this time, the Baihua Sect plans to completely monopolize the import and export of medicinal herbs in this area. If they succeed, they’ll have the final say on all herbs in this region from now on. If you want to buy medicine, you’ll only be able to get it secondhand from them."

Qianyangzi was clearly showing goodwill towards Lin Hui; otherwise, he wouldn’t have mentioned this matter at all.

"Ten Thousand Medicine Mountain Villa..." Lin Hui’s expression darkened, the smile gradually fading from his face.

This concerned his supply of Yun Lingzhi.

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior. This matter is of great importance. This junior needs to verify it immediately and cannot accompany you further. Please forgive me."

He tactfully took a large-denomination gold note from his sleeve and handed it over.

The note was for one hundred thousand.

This made Qianyangzi nod slightly, accepting the gold note and putting it away without a change in expression.

"It’s no problem. Important matters come first. Please, Sect Leader Lin, go ahead."

Lin Hui left quickly, instructing two female disciples to entertain their guest well. He himself went into the mansion and had someone summon Wang Hongshi, Chen Sui, Huang Shan, and Qiu Yiren.

The other experts, like the Body Tempering masters from the Intention Blade Sect, were of course also in the sect. However, Lin Hui didn’t trust them enough yet and didn’t plan to use them for now. In contrast, he knew the backgrounds of these few people inside and out, so it was natural to make the best use of their talents.