Decaying World Chapter 279

The family held its weekly banquet as usual.

Lin Xiaoliu had only just returned from the martial academy when she found herself being scolded by her mother.

"How could you be so reckless? Regardless of how strong your perception is, your first priority should have been to find a teacher at the academy—not to handle it yourself. What if that man had turned on you in fury? What would you have done? Do you have any sense of self-preservation at all?" Liu Shenglan's face was stern. She made her youngest daughter stand at attention and delivered every word of the dressing-down with deliberate force.

"It's just that Song Yunhui is my classmate..." Lin Xiaoliu stole a glance at her father nearby, then quickly dropped her gaze.

"Classmate or not, you completely overstepped yourself!" Liu Shenglan snapped. "You think our family has made a na for itself in Black Cloud—that we carry so weight. But isn't all of that because your third brother puts his life on the line every day? What does any of it have to do with you? Are you even close enough to your third brother that he could reach you in ti if you ran into real danger?" The more she spoke, the more agitated she beca, until her words began running ahead of her thoughts.

Nearby, Lin Hui—who had been chatting with Liu Xiao—went slightly still.

These days, apart from cultivating, he mostly settled into quiet Dao contemplation, spent ti with Liu Xiao, and enjoyed the ordinary pleasures of dostic life. "Putting his life on the line every day"...

Observing his second mother's current state, he wisely chose to stay out of Lin Xiaoliu's discipline altogether.

"All right, all right, Mother. As long as Little Sister understands where she went wrong, it's fine. For now, I'll have people escort her to and from school—that should cover things on the road. Once we figure out who that purple-robed man is, the matter will be easy enough to resolve." At the adjacent table, Liu Wujun smoothed things over with an easy smile, unhurriedly eating fried peanuts.

"Speaking of which, First Mother—has there been any movent in your White Child Sect recently? Anything you can share?" After a few lines, he steered the topic toward Lin Hui's mother, Yao Shan.

"None whatsoever. The White Child Sect has always been law-abiding. Our missionary work hasn't broken a single one of Black Cloud's laws. Why are you keeping tabs on ?" Yao Shan replied with an air of mild exasperation.

"It's tied to a case I'm handling. There has been a string of incidents involving children recently—this is already the sixth disappearance, and all of the victims are seven-year-old boys..." Liu Wujun sighed. He now worked in Black Cloud's Security Investigation Departnt, overseeing major civilian cases across both the Inner and Outer Cities.

"The White Child Sect is not so backstreet heretical outfit that abducts and traffics children. You're looking in the wrong direction," Yao Shan said, exasperated.

"What about your side, Little Sister?" Liu Wujun turned to his sister, Liu Xiao.

"I spend my days comforting believers, burning incense, and granting petitions. What news would I have?" Liu Xiao was equally unmoved.

"I won't even bother asking Third Brother." Liu Wujun sighed.

Lin Hui spent his days cultivating. The rest of the ti, he was either with Liu Xiao or teaching his disciples, and then he ca straight ho. Ironically, he was the one who spent the most ti keeping their parents company these days.

His channels for outside information were probably the thinnest of anyone present—even with a Vice City Lord's title, everyone understood it was purely honorary.

"Actually... I do have sothing." Their father, Lin Shunhe, smiled and offered a morsel. "Not from the shop or the rchant Alliance—this ca through the Benevolent Heart Sect..."

Lin Hui shook his head with quiet amusent.

Just look at this family. The White Child Sect, the Benevolent Heart Sect, his own Clear Wind Dao, the Rain Palace, Black Cloud's official departnts, and his eldest brother's Blood Tide Society—between just the people seated around this table, they covered six different factions.

Their weekly family gathering had, in effect, beco a minor intelligence exchange.

But this easy, convivial atmosphere was precisely what he had always wanted.

What people chased in life, when stripped down to its core, was experience. In his previous life, striving for a career had been an experience; playing gas had been an experience; eating and drinking well had been one too. Even simply resting and doing nothing was its own kind of experience.

The experience he wanted now was right here in front of him. From here on, he only needed to protect it.

It would be enough to just keep living like this...

At the thought, Lin Hui's expression eased into a quiet smile.

"By the way—I do have sothing from within the sect," Yao Shan said suddenly. "It may be sothing worth paying attention to."

As the family's matriarch, her standing was already significant—and with her son Lin Hui's teoric rise in power and influence, a single word from her commanded imdiate attention around the table.

"Tell us, Shanshan." Lin Shunhe sat up instinctively. Years of marriage had made him sensitive to when his wife was speaking in earnest.

"Recently, the sect has been mobilizing experts from all its departnts on a large scale, assembling them at a place called Wuhan Island, south of Black Cloud. According to my informants, a mysterious treasure is believed to have surfaced there—and that treasure is very likely an Evil Weapon." Yao Shan's voice remained soft.

"!!?" "!!"

Expressions changed around the table. The easy atmosphere of the banquet grew suddenly grave.

An Evil Weapon or an Insect Canon was the foundation of a Mistborn. A successful fusion ant the birth of a new one.

"Now that you ntion it, I've noticed sothing too. The Hundred Seas rchant Alliance has dispatched several fleets toward Wuhan Island." Lin Shunhe nodded, the recent unusual fleet movents coming to mind.

"With Mistborn falling one after another, a new Evil Weapon or Insect Canon must be seeking a host," Liu Wujun said, his voice dropping. "But this has nothing to do with us. Wuhan Island is far away. Even if things spiral out of control there, it can't possibly reach Black Cloud—we have three City Lords presiding here, and this is the Federation's fourth-largest city."

His words drew quiet nods around the table.

…

After the al, Lin Hui and Liu Xiao returned to the Clear Wind Dao Academy together.

"I attended a friend's funeral two days ago," Liu Xiao said softly.

"What happened?" Lin Hui took her hand and felt a faint tremor in her fingers.

"She succumbed to Corruption and had to be put down by her own colleagues..." Liu Xiao lifted her gaze to the mist hanging over the afternoon sky. "I keep thinking... my aptitude is limited. What if one day I undergo Corruption before you?"

"Don't let your mind go there. It's far too early for that—far too early. Setting aside natural lifespan, there's no shortage of life-extending items. Living several hundred years won't be a problem for either of us," Lin Hui said, keeping his voice steady.

There was no hard ceiling on their lifespans. Reaching two or three hundred years of age was common enough at the Divine Officer level. They had only been together a few years, so dwelling on such distant fears served no purpose.

"You're right..." Liu Xiao exhaled, so of the tension leaving her. She leaned gently against Lin Hui's arm.

Just then, Lin Hui's gaze passed over a nearby alleyway.

A graceful purple-robed woman drifted silently through the air within it, gliding unhurried down the alley before dissolving into the street at the far end.

Her aura was peculiar enough to snag a sliver of his attention—nothing more.

Hundreds of thousands of rchants and travelers passed through Black Cloud City every day, representing all manner of unusual races. Strange physiological traits were hardly a spectacle. Lin Hui glanced at her once and moved on, putting it out of his mind.

As he continued talking with Liu Xiao, his thoughts drifted to the core of the Sacred Form of Destruction.

He had recently begun to sense, faintly, how it might be approached. The inspiration had co, of all places, from the bizarre and formless power of his disciple, Xia Si.

Her power unmade things, reducing them to Ash. Within it, Lin Hui could faintly perceive the true essence of destruction.

In truth, part of his willingness to indulge Xia Si was precisely this—the expectation that she might one day yield a new insight.

…

Several streets away.

The graceful purple-robed woman drifted along. She passed a barbecue joint run by Tiger-man and stopped outside the neighboring liquor shop, looking for all the world like a weary pedestrian resting her feet.

Before long, a faint male voice reached her through a transmission.

"How did it look?"

"I observed him. No anomalies. His aura is consistent with a standard Mistborn, so his impact shouldn't be significant," the woman replied through the sa channel.

"Given his prior combat record, we should adjust his threat tier upward by half a level—placing him squarely within the scope of the Lord's contingency. At that level of presence, he shouldn't pose a major problem," the male voice said.

"Understood." The woman closed the connection and resud her unhurried stroll, indistinguishable from the ordinary passersby around her.

…

Ten days slipped by since the incident with Lin Xiaoliu.

The Rain Palace's public holiday finally arrived. Lin Hui and Liu Xiao set out together toward an island known for its hot springs. They were still on the boat—not even halfway there—when word arrived that another incident had occurred at the academy.

Out on the Jade Sea, aboard a large silver-black vessel.

"This is the situation. Here is your express priority delivery."

A Sparrow-man tasked with ergency dispatches hovered on beating wings. Reaching into a gray cloth pack, he produced a palm-sized parchnt envelope.

"Thank you." Lin Hui nodded and took it. He watched the knee-high ssenger wheel about, clear the ship's railing in a single swoop, and shrink into the distance.

He exhaled slowly, held up the letter, and gave Liu Xiao—who was craning over curiously—a wry smile. "It looks like our trip is already ruined."

"It's fine. Business first," Liu Xiao said, waving it off. Her spirits had been lower of late, and her temper had softened with them. She stepped closer and leaned lightly against Lin Hui's arm as he unfolded the letter.

Lin Hui noted the cover—an urgent, confidential letter from Lin Xiaoliu's class teacher. His brow creased at the thought of his little sister before he had even begun reading. He unfolded it and scanned the first few lines. Liu Xiao's expression turned serious before Lin Hui could react.

"How did Xiaoliu get caught up in this again?" Liu Xiao asked quietly.

"The important thing is it turned out to be a false alarm. But the fact that Song Yunhui survived a second attack ans there is sothing more to him," Lin Hui said. "The odds of Xiaoliu being deliberately targeted alongside him are low—she most likely got caught in the crossfire again. Although... that's not necessarily true either. It's also possible Song Yunhui deliberately used Xiaoliu as a shield, actively seeking her out."

"It's also possible that Xiaoliu, being who she is, inserted herself because she couldn't stand by and watch," Liu Xiao said gravely. "But regardless of which it was, Xiaoliu was far too reckless."

Lin Hui nodded. The Lin family might command a considerable enterprise and estate by now, but that was only relative to ordinary factions. Against the true heavyweights of Black Cloud, they were still modest players.

Setting everything else aside—Black Cloud's three great Trueblood families were the undisputed local powers. Behind them ca branch factions from the Royal City and other major tropolises: organizations that might not appear overwhelming on a local level, but provoking them would set off a chain reaction from their parent organizations that ran far deeper than it seed. There were even a few that the Great City Lord himself would not care to underestimate.

After all, as strong as he was, he was not invincible.