Chapter 218
"Master, this isn't solely the Mystic Eagle Sect's doing," Tao Xuehai said, his voice dropping low. "Relying on us alone would never be enough. This is a coordinated surprise attack by multiple factions. We found a perfect opening—a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. The fallout will be brutal. You must not get swept up in it."
"I have no ties to the Chen clan, so you can rest easy on that front." Lin Hui nodded, accepting his disciple's warning.
"Good. Here are the precious dicines we collected this ti." Tao Xuehai swept his hand out, and a long, black stone box appeared on the ground. "Please accept them, Master."
"Thank you. Once this is done, wash your hands of it. You've made too large a scene—how will you survive the fallout?" Lin Hui sighed. "I've prepared a secret dicine for you. It can replenish your depleted lifespan. There's still hope to fix everything."
"A secret dicine?" Tao Xuehai's eyes widened.
He knew exactly how precious life-extending dicines were. He never expected his master to have prepared sothing so extraordinarily valuable for him.
Yet he shook his head.
"Master, my biggest problem isn't the drain on my lifespan. It's the mutation it has brought on."
He slowly removed his mask, revealing his face. His once-handso features were now ravaged by scars, bloody gashes, and pitted craters. But what sent a cold premonition through Lin Hui was the faint, familiar aura that leaked from Tao Xuehai the mont the mask ca off.
It was—
"Corruption?" he blurted out, his expression changing drastically.
"Yes, Master. Even if my lifespan were restored, I've relied on secret arts for far too long. The erosion runs too deep. I… can't turn back now."
He was dying. He could feel his body rapidly corrupting and mutating, transforming into sothing akin to the monsters of the Mist Zone. The further the Corruption progressed, the more drastically his strength increased. The surrounding Mist had once been what he feared most—yet now, so long as it was nearby, he possessed nearly limitless stamina, spirit, and regeneration.
Sensing that aura, Lin Hui was montarily speechless.
Corruption was the one thing he was entirely powerless against. He had tried using the Wind Disaster's power to purge it, but the corrupted test subjects he'd experinted on had burst like bubbles the instant the Wind Disaster's power invaded them. When the two forces made contact, a volatile reaction erupted at once—they clashed with explosive force, mutually annihilating each other.
He had hoped that once the corruptive power was neutralized, the host would recover. Unfortunately, across every experint, the result was the sa: the corrupted individuals were wiped out alongside the Corruption itself.
The Wind Disaster's power was indeed formidably destructive. But the stubborn, deeply fused, and resistant nature of Corruption had left a lasting impression on Lin Hui.
"Master, could I ask a favor?" Tao Xuehai asked softly.
"Speak," Lin Hui said.
"My branch of the Tao Clan is down to just . Long before planning this operation, I made arrangents." He paused, then continued, "I have a son nad Tao Changsheng. If anything happens to , I hope you can raise him, Master. Just let him live as an ordinary person. That will be enough."
"I can do that." Lin Hui nodded. "Bring him to
when the ti cos."
"I have no way to repay your grace, Master." Tao Xuehai slowly knelt and kowtowed once more.
A light breeze blew past. A mont later, he vanished into the wind.
He left Lin Hui standing alone, staring at the empty space for a long ti.
Is there really no cure for those consud by Corruption?
…
Returning to the Clear Wind Dao, Lin Hui waited for the incident Tao Xuehai had warned him about.
He didn't have to wait long. A few days later, while eating breakfast, he felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. He and the others rushed out into the open clearing and turned their gazes toward the source of the tremor.
High up on the Inner City's towering white wall, a massive, scorched-black hole had been blown open. Chunks of debris tumbled steadily from its jagged edges. Thick black smoke billowed from within, bleeding into the surrounding Mist.
"Dao Master! What do we do?" Wang Hongshi and the rest of the top ten core disciples hurried over, gathering around Lin Hui.
"Pack your belongings. Be ready to dismiss the disciples at a mont's notice and announce a three-day holiday." Lin Hui ordered quickly. Recalling Tao Xuehai's warning, he was fairly certain the Mystic Eagle Sect's assault on the Chen clan had officially begun—though he hadn't expected them to make such a colossal scene.
The Outer City is becoming increasingly unsafe… This is the perfect opportunity to relocate.
But not all the disciples are suited to move to the maze base with . I can escort them there, but surviving the journey back out without sufficient strength is impossible. The maze base is destined to serve only as a hidden internal stronghold for the Clear Wind Dao—only the strongest few will qualify to enter and exit. People like Xia Si or Tao Xuehai.
Upon receiving the order, the crowd was bewildered as to why a single hole in the wall warranted a full evacuation. But out of the long-standing trust they held in Lin Hui, they obeyed without question and quickly sprang into action.
Lin Hui hurried back to the Lin Manor, only to find his father, Lin Shunhe, and the rest of the household already packing.
"I was just about to send soone for you! Perfect timing—we'll leave together!" A large crowd trailed behind Lin Shunhe: mostly guards and rcenaries, though among them were several individuals with formidable auras—including two who had reached the Divine Officer rank.
Lin Hui's eyelids twitched. He didn't ask how his old man had caught wind of the danger so quickly; he simply helped direct the evacuation.
Boom!
Massive explosions erupted again around the edges of the giant hole in the distant white wall. Tiny human silhouettes darted around the breach like frenzied birds, clashing in midair. The Inner City's experts were clearly engaging the invaders.
Lin Hui extended his senses to gauge the state of the battle, but the distance was too great—his perception couldn't reach that far. He had no choice but to abandon the effort.
Aside from the battle raging at the breach, he vaguely sensed waves of a familiar aura quietly seeping around the South Ninth Gate.
Purgatory? Here?! His expression faltered. Didn't I completely purge the Purgatory aura? How is this possible?
No—this aura is entirely different from anything I released. It's definitely Purgatory, but far more tyrannical and chaotic.
Feeling the alien malice in that aura, a sudden suspicion gripped him.
Could it be?!
He moved in a blur, leaping up to the highest watchtower of the Lin Manor, and scanned the surroundings.
Sure enough, most commoners still had no idea what was happening and wore bewildered expressions. A fraction of the wealthier, more prominent families had begun packing, though their movents were sluggish. anwhile, several large clans on good terms with the Lin Manor had already gathered at its gates, hoping to join the convoy and evacuate together. No one had yet agreed on a destination.
Boom!
Another deafening blast rocked the distant white wall. This ti, no new hole was visible—only the roar and the faint trembling of the earth. Another breach had presumably been blown sowhere further along the periter.
Lin Hui instantly grasped that the battle near Xinyu Town was likely just a small corner of the larger conflict. The scale of this attack was unprecedented—it was clearly impossible for the Mystic Eagle Sect to have pulled this off alone.
"Master, please evacuate as quickly as possible. The allied forces are moving on the periter. I am in charge of a sector of the defenses here and will have my people quietly let you through." Tao Xuehai's voice drifted across the distance.
He was using A Thread Across a Thousand Li, the Internal Force sound-transmission secret art. The voice was barely a whisper, yet it carried with perfect clarity.
"Understood!" Lin Hui replied.
Given the chaos, the sheer scale of this display ant the combat power the attackers had amassed far exceeded anything he had anticipated. However great his own hidden strength, he had no desire to serve as a at shield for those Trueblood Nobles of the Inner City.
He leapt down from the tower and led the people of the Lin Manor out of town.
Soon, on the outskirts of Xinyu Town, the convoys of the Clear Wind Dao and the Lin Manor rged. Liu Shenglan linked up with the Rain Palace experts Liu Wujun had dispatched from the Inner City to protect her. The combined column then absorbed the surrounding large clans and wealthy families who had fallen in behind them, swelling into a massive procession. Now numbering four or five hundred strong, they ford a surging tide that stread out of town like a colony of ants, pressing toward the misty border of the Mist Zone.
…
anwhile, atop a teahouse in Xinyu Town.
Wearing his black eagle mask, Tao Xuehai watched from afar as the convoys of the Lin Manor and the Clear Wind Dao successfully withdrew. Only then did he lower his gaze, turning to the man beside him who wore a pure white mask.
The man was burly, his mask a blank, featureless expanse of pale white. Standing on the rooftop, he radiated an icy, imposing aura as naturally as breathing—one that commanded deference. His presence was suffocating.
"My people have safely evacuated. Envoy, you may proceed with the next phase," Tao Xuehai said evenly.
"The Mystic Eagle Sect truly lives up to its reputation. They say the sixth among the Six Elites commands both the greatest strength and the finest reputation—seeing it now, the rumors ring true," the white-masked man said with a smile. "Don't forget this favor."
"I won't," Tao Xuehai replied. "Our preliminary mission is complete. Where are your backup forces?"
"Patience. The Purgatory Gate operation has already succeeded. The Gate of Extre Cold is still being dealt with. This ti, Hongyin's main forces are fully committed—we are rely providing supplentary support. This is exactly the once-in-a-lifeti opening we've been waiting for. The odds of success are very high," the white-masked man said with a low chuckle.
He cast a sideways glance at Tao Xuehai.
Truthfully, he hadn't originally intended to extend the man any courtesy. Evacuating so many people and delaying this long was an enormous risk—if it had derailed their grand plans, he would have been the one forced to answer for it.
But he'd had no choice. A brief exchange had made it plain that he was no match for Tao Xuehai.
Even as a High Divine Officer of the Wanhua Sect, he couldn't defeat a mber of the Six Elites of the Mystic Eagle Sect—a faction that had only risen to prominence a few years ago. Tao Xuehai's speed was too great and his explosive power too overwhelming; his Void Force had constantly missed its mark, leaving him with nothing to do but absorb blows. In under thirty moves, he had been pressed into an absolute disadvantage without so much as glimpsing his opponent's shadow. Conceding had been his only option.
"Huh? Soone from my sect has gone after that convoy you just evacuated," the white-masked man remarked suddenly, sensing the shift.
Tao Xuehai sensed it too.
The Wanhua Sect was a colossal power, riddled with sub-factions and internal fiefdoms, its influence extending far beyond Tuyue and its ranks swollen with experts. Their involvent this ti had been sparked by the brutal slaughter of their local Tuyue branch—an act that drew the wrath of their main headquarters. In response, they had mobilized their forces and allied with several other factions to assault the Tuyue Inner City, their numbers monuntal, their vanguard including the peerless top-tier experts of the Hongyin Empire—all gathered to deal with the Blood Ancestors of the Moon Tower.
But of all the people to chase, they went after Master's convoy… A cold sneer curled the corners of Tao Xuehai's mouth beneath the mask. He paid no mind to fools courting their own deaths.
The grudges that quite a few within the Wanhua Sect harbored against Lin Hui and the Clear Wind Temple—owing to the incident with Liu Wujun—made this inevitable.
Woooo!
High above, the air tore open.
A swarm of Moth Carriages burst from the high-altitude misty clouds, their great wings darkening the sky as they swept down directly over Tao Xuehai and the envoy. Atop one of the Moth Carriages stood a burly man clad in animal skins, his face painted with bloody red patterns. He gripped a battle horn as thick as a water bucket and blew a thunderous call to charge.
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