Decaying World Chapter 276

Once everything was in order and a final headcount taken, they put it to the group. With no objections raised, they agreed to make for Black Cloud.

They waited ten days before the rchant vessel scheduled to pick them up finally arrived.

A mid-sized ship belonging to the Hundred Seas rchant Alliance—capable of holding over a thousand passengers—docked at nearby Jade Sea bay. Lin Hui ushered the group aboard one by one until only Han Xiaoyue and her two companions remained on the dock.

I gave you the address. Don't forget to write, Lin Hui said softly via sound transmission, watching the three prepare to depart from where he stood in the Mist.

"I won't," Han Xiaoyue said. "Don't forget our agreent."

"I'm already married," Lin Hui said flatly.

"It doesn't matter. I never planned to marry you." Her expression was calm. From the very beginning, she had been a person without a future; burdening soone else with that was never her intention.

Leaving behind an heir would be ideal, but if not, it hardly mattered to her.

In this world, it was commonplace for powerful cultivators to take multiple partners. Life was harsh and dangerous, and seeking the protection of an expert was a reasonable aspiration.

"We will et again in twenty years, then." Han Xiaoyue gave Lin Hui a long look—devoid of any lingering attachnt—before turning and striding freely into the distance.

Perhaps for her, this journey to Tuyue was rely a brief interlude in a long life.

She had seen much and experienced more. A man as powerful as Lin Hui might leave a deep impression, perhaps even a trace of nostalgia, but their affection had never run deep enough to tether her to his side. And the existence of the Destruction Key ant she had no choice but to keep moving forward.

"What a pity..." The petite, green-haired Qin Shishi glanced from Lin Hui to her captain, a pang of regret in her heart.

"Let's go. People with no future shouldn't hold others back." Xue Yan gave the girl a light pat on the shoulder and followed Han Xiaoyue.

Lin Hui remained silent. He stood by the ship and watched the trio depart, unmoving, until their silhouettes dissolved into the distance. Then he raised his hand.

Behind him, the massive silver ship slowly turned and set sail.

He leapt—and was gone in an instant.

In the end, neither he nor Han Xiaoyue had ntioned the fact that their agreent had originally stemd from the ti limit imposed by the Tuyue deep core. Now that the restriction had been lifted, the deadline could naturally have been extended. Neither brought it up.

…

The days blurred past.

Once Lin Hui led the team back to Black Cloud, the Clear Wind Dao was whole once more. Everyone found suitable positions within the prosperous Black Cloud City and settled into their new lives without difficulty.

Sha Ye and An Ling joined the Clear Wind Dao as ordinary disciples, learning sword techniques from scratch.

After settling everyone in and giving a briefing to his eldest brother, Liu Wujun, Lin Hui returned to his usual rhythm of cultivation. He cultivated the Sacred Form of Destruction and used the Blood Seal to develop new evolutionary targets.

With his network of contacts, Lin Hui had no shortage of aphrodisiacs in the near term. Black Cloud City's high-end official markets, the Clear Wind Dao's procurent channels through the Hundred Seas rchant Alliance, and the newly opened supply lines of the Benevolent Heart Sect all ensured he could obtain large quantities of the required drugs with ease. Even as his tolerance had grown, he could simply increase the dosage to compensate. A shortage was not sothing he needed to worry about anyti soon.

With that settled, Lin Hui turned to his own work.

One day toward the end of October, after lunch, he casually offered a few pointers to Lin Xiaoliu—who had just returned from the martial academy—then stood alone in the Dao academy's courtyard, staring up at the gray sky.

He appeared to be daydreaming. In reality, he was carefully pondering his next evolutionary target.

At the bottom of his vision, the Blood Seal displayed a row of targeted evolution options—all extensions of Lin Hui's original concept: the halo.

Through continuous experintation over the preceding months, he had finally deduced that the essence of a halo was an extension of a Mist God's Divine Force. Since he lacked Divine Force, he had tried countless alternatives, eventually concluding that producing sothing with a comparable effect would serve just as well.

Drawing on the science fiction of his past life, he conceptualized a radiation field and used it as the foundation to initiate the evolution.

Everything and everyone emits a radiation field. If I can collect this field to inversely strengthen my body—and use my body to strengthen the field in turn—wouldn't that be exactly the effect I'm looking for?

After several trials, Lin Hui settled on the natural radiation field emitted by Clear Wind Dao disciples during their martial arts practice as his evolutionary baseline.

Starting from the Internal Force stage, Clear Wind Dao martial artists walked a fundantally different path from traditional cultivators. Their Internal Force wove a new internal network, drawing the Disaster Energy that originated from the Wind Disaster into their bodies and using it to strengthen them.

Initially, the concentration of this Disaster Energy was minuscule. But as their physical adaptability improved, the proportion of Disaster Energy grew, eventually peaking once they mastered the Wild Wind Sword Technique. From that point on, the Disaster Energy extended beyond their bodies, shaping their minds.

This explained the phenonon Lin Hui had long been studying: why he and his disciples all cultivated the sa Wild Wind Sword Technique. Yet, each developed a wholly unique understanding of it. Because human minds were inherently varied, rging with the Disaster Energy naturally bore different fruit.

As a result, the Internal Force radiation emitted by Clear Wind Dao practitioners was fundantally unlike that of other martial artists—distinct from the very mont their Internal Force first erged.

Lin Hui then integrated the sect's defining essence, restricting his targeting to the radiation of Clear Wind Dao disciples alone. This narrowing produced his current set of options for the radiation field evolution.

[1—Eye of Life: A radiation force-field collection organ originating from the Holy Night Sect. It transforms both eyes into special organs that stockpile the user's radiation power. Upon activation, it grants one full physical regeneration. The Eye of Life can be upgraded through self-cultivation and can hold up to ninety-nine regeneration charges.]

[2—Mark of Antiquity: A special organ originating from the Desolate Brain Demon. It gathers the user's emitted radiation and converts it into a benign force field that continuously enhances their physique. Because of this, the Desolate Brain Demon never needs to cultivate; its strength increases naturally as it eats and grows. The enhancent speed of the Mark of Antiquity scales with the intensity of the user's radiation. The stronger the base physique and digestive capacity, the faster the improvent. Its upper limit is restricted only by lifespan and the material limits of the host world.]

[3—Curse Energy Crystal: An innate organ originating from the Grudge Phoenix. It collects the user's radiation and converts it into a vengeful curse, marking and afflicting any living target responsible for the host's death. The intensity of the curse scales with the host's emotional state at the mont of death.]

Three paths of enhancent—the Blood Seal's answer.

Lin Hui studied the three directions for a long ti. In the end, he chose the first.

In this world, as long as one was alive, there was hope. Only by surviving could one continue to grow stronger, and only by surviving could one savor what life had to offer.

He exhaled softly, then confird the selection.

[Eye of Life: Required resources: 100 years of Reserve Energy and 100 years of mind-spirit reserves. Required ti: 200 years.]

[The organ modification can be granted to all disciples of the Clear Wind Dao, but it is not obtained automatically upon joining the sect. It must be personally bestowed by the Sect Master.]

[Upon completion of the modification, the initial number of regenerations is 1. The regeneration effect is triggered by conscious thought. If the user's consciousness is destroyed before activation, the Eye of Life cannot reverse death.]

Even so, it's already extraordinary, Lin Hui reflected.

Two hundred years of evolution ti was nothing to him now. What mattered was that this redied the critical weakness that had always made Clear Wind Dao disciples so vulnerable in a prolonged fight. More importantly, it narrowed the vast gap between himself and the Mistborn.

He still fell far short of a true Mistborn, of course. But possessing up to ninety-nine regeneration charges—stacked with powerful, scalable abilities like Micro-Flash and Surrounding Wind—elevated his survivability to a staggering degree.

[Confirm the evolution of the Eye of Life?]

The Blood Seal prompted.

"Confirm!" Lin Hui answered without hesitation.

Transforming a naturally emitted radiation field into a powerful organ that provided an explosive surplus of life force was only the first step. Next ca the venue and the arrays.

Now that his martial arts progress had slowed, he had ample ti to thodically shore up every weakness.

Just as he was patiently mapping out his future developnt...

…

...within the first suspended mountain peak, the three great Mistborn City Lords—Xie Chang'an, Zhang Yao, and Gongsun Xinlian—were reviewing the detailed battle report from Tuyue. Standing inside the white jade array at the summit, all three wore grave expressions.

"The Purgatory Duke... the Extre Cold Queen. For Lin Hui to retreat completely unscathed from the Purgatory Duke—even without the Duke unleashing his ultimate form—is a feat no ordinary Mistborn could match. This cannot be concealed; the intelligence has undoubtedly already reached the Assembly," Xie Chang'an said in a low voice.

"For an ordinary mortal to rise until he surpasses a normal Mistborn... even with Eldest Brother's staunch backing, petty maneuvers from the other major factions are inevitable. There will be no shortage of trouble ahead," Zhang Yao said, shaking his head.

"Is this fortune or misfortune for us?" Xie Chang'an laughed, though not without helplessness.

"Fortune, clearly. With Lin Hui guarding Black Cloud, the three of us can take the initiative and strike outward! We can combine our arrays, expand Black Cloud's sphere of influence, and secure more deep core points!" Gongsun Xinlian said. "With more deep core points, we can petition for a stable supply of Super-Adapters to build new urban districts and draw fresh experts to our banner!"

"Indeed... Corruption is accelerating. Without deep core points to keep it in check, any region far from a node will see lifespans drastically shortened. We'd have no foundation to build a city," Xie Chang'an said with a nod.

Containing the Corruption required building cities—an absolute necessity for survival. Without it, even a Mistborn could live two or three thousand years at most before being claid by Corruption. Stray Mistborn wandering the wilds fared worse still: constant slaughter, chance encounters with a Mist God's pantheon, or being swallowed and translocated by the Night Mist all hastened their end.

Becoming a Mistborn was no guarantee of a carefree existence; the world remained rciless all the sa.

"Now that the Fourth Princess has arrived, the news will inevitably draw a steady stream of covetous parties. City security must be tightly controlled." Xie Chang'an looked toward his third sister, Gongsun Xinlian.

"The Fourth Princess... did she an what she said earlier?" Gongsun Xinlian asked with a frown.

"She said she still needs to test Lin Hui. If he passes, she'll take him as her man," Zhang Yao replied.

"How arrogant! Lin Hui has already proven his strength and potential. What further tests does he need?" Gongsun Xinlian said coldly.

"It's understandable—she possesses Emperor Blood, after all," Xie Chang'an chuckled. "Emperor Blood grants imnse benefits to a partner, so so arrogance is only natural. Given her standing, if she wanted a prince consort, she could choose from any number of Mistborn with far better prospects than Lin Hui. You have to rember, she originally planned to devour him outright. This change of heart is already a considerable step forward."

"But Lin Hui is already married!" Gongsun Xinlian argued, clearly displeased.

"Liu Xiao is an ordinary Divine Officer; there's no way she can et Lin Hui's demands on her own. Without soone to share the burden, she won't last long before being thoroughly assimilated by Lin Hui's essence. Her body—inside and out—will be converted into his external flesh and blood, and she'll lose herself entirely," Xie Chang'an said.

"That..." Gongsun Xinlian fell silent, recalling the grim fates of ordinary people who had bonded with Mistborn.

"Regardless, we'll deal with it when the ti cos. I, Xie Chang'an, have never been one to flinch. And speaking of which—a situation like this is genuinely interesting. Far more so than the stagnation of the old days!" He burst into loud laughter.