Decaying World Novel Chapter 239:

anwhile, at the martial academy, Lin Hui maintained an appearance of complete ignorance.

And genuinely so.

Between Surrounding Wind and Wind Disaster Affinity, his raw power and defenses had reached an extraordinary level. Through the body tempering wrought by his Typhoon Sword Technique, the Star Breath Sword Canon had since driven his physical strength considerably further.

According to his own tests, if he stood before an average Divine Officer and allowed them to attack freely, they still might not break his defenses.

With that kind of durability, Lin Hui did not need superficial protection.

Furthermore, his reaction speed far surpassed his peers—a prerequisite for sustaining such extre velocities. Uncontrolled speed would only injure the user; failing to react in ti would cause his combat ability to collapse entirely.

An increase in movent speed, therefore, demanded a comnsurate sharpening of reaction ti. Simply put: anyone slower than him possessed inferior reflexes.

Consequently, Lin Hui restricted his perception to a re two-hundred-ter radius. As long as he reacted before an opponent breached that sensory threshold, he would be fine.

Of course, he had already received advance notice via Wind Chi that Tuyue and Ning Qianzhi were looking for him.

Though initially surprised, he had long imagined how he would respond when he finally faced a Mistborn.

In truth, he was looking forward to it. Even a Blood Ancestor like Han Sanmian could no longer test the limits of his strength—an arranged bout with Tuyue under the oversight of Black Cloud's three Mistborn might not be such a bad thing.

Beyond that, he simply wanted to see whether Tuyue and her companion would actually invade the martial academy and strike.

They didn't. After waiting until noon with nothing happening, it beca clear that Black Cloud's authority superseded Tuyue's.

Satisfied with that answer, Lin Hui headed to the cafeteria, ate at a leisurely pace, and waited. Once Black Cloud finished dealing with Tuyue, they would inevitably send soone to contact him—only a matter of ti.

Before long, a tall, broad-shouldered teacher with a dark complexion approached his table.

"Teacher Lin, the Dean is looking for you. He's in the main building. Please head over."

The Dean? Lin Hui's mind worked quickly. "Understood. I'll be right there."

He stood and followed the teacher out of the cafeteria. They made their way up to the fourth floor of the main building and entered the largest office at the end of the corridor.

The Dean was not inside. Instead, a tall woman with her hair drawn back in a ponytail stood before the desk, tracing sothing across its surface with a brush.

She had fair skin and a commanding presence. Over a dark red dress, she wore a solemn, vertically-striped robe with white trim, as though she had stepped directly from a formal banquet.

At the sound of his approach, she slowly set down the brush and turned.

At that exact mont, the office door clicked shut behind Lin Hui.

An invisible fluctuation rippled through the room. The office sealed itself off, becoming a pocket unto itself.

"Now, neither sound nor aura can leak outside. We can speak freely." The woman's voice was composed, carrying an innate, unhurried chill. "Young friend Lin Hui—what did you do to make a Mistborn travel thousands of miles across the oceans just to capture you?"

"Before I answer, may I ask who I'm speaking with?" Lin Hui crossed the room unhurriedly, pulled out a chair, and sat.

"I am Gongsun Xinlian—one of the three Mistborn of Black Cloud, and a ruler of this city," the woman said flatly.

Her features were strikingly unusual. She was not classically beautiful, yet she radiated a pressure that quietly set one's mind-spirit on edge. She had none of the colored crystals a Blood Ancestor typically displayed. To Lin Hui, she felt more like a strict horoom teacher from his past life—intimidating but not dangerous, serious but never cold. Inexplicably, she inspired a sense of familiarity.

"I see." He leaned back slightly. "I am Lin Hui, a Daoist of the Clear Wind Dao. I was quietly cultivating outside Tuyue City, working to improve my strength—until I suddenly found myself targeted by a Blood Ancestor and reduced to nothing more than a reserve food source."

Lin Hui recounted the events in full, without embellishnt. When he finished, he added one final observation.

"In the end, all I did was exert every ounce of my strength, alongside a friend, to kill a Blood Ancestor of Tuyue—and a low-ranking one at that. I never expected Tuyue herself to co hunting . To be honest, I don't fully understand what drives a Mistborn, and I wasn't certain she would actually co in person."

"Understandable." Gongsun Xinlian's expression eased. Nine thousand years had given her the ability to tell, at a glance, when soone was not lying.

"Tuyue chases profit and cares nothing for principles. She lives for pleasure, promiscuity, and fine food. When sothing catches her interest, she pursues it on a whim without thought for consequence or cost—and if she cannot have it, she would sooner destroy it entirely." She paused. "This is not my first encounter with that woman. She is a parasite. Whatever she wants, she takes; whoever she wants, she seduces—and she wears that eager, disgusting look on her face like a badge of honor."

Clearly, Gongsun Xinlian had a history with Tuyue. The weight in her voice made the depth of that grudge unmistakable.

She did not wait for Lin Hui to ask.

"That tramp delivered herself to my fiancé's door exactly like that—plying every trick she had, wearing that shaless face." She caught herself, cutting the tirade short with visible effort. "Enough. You ca to Black Cloud, and that makes you a citizen of Black Cloud. As long as you do not stir up trouble, my two brothers and I will shoulder whatever cos. That said—you must also prove your worth. If Tuyue becos too great a nuisance, we may not be able to justify protecting you indefinitely."

That final remark was plainly a reminder that Black Cloud's protection was not unconditional.

"Many thanks, Lady Xinlian. Simply having a peaceful place to cultivate is more than this junior could ask for. I will work hard to contribute to Black Cloud and know my place," Lin Hui said quickly.

He genuinely liked this sort of person—soone who would step forward and absorb the blow. If the sky were falling, let soone else hold it up. All he needed was to live his life in peace. That had always been his ideal.

"Good. Continuing to teach at this branch academy wastes your ability. If you wish, you may transfer to the main academy as a senior instructor," Gongsun Xinlian said, her tone softening.

"There's no need. I've already settled in here. Uprooting myself would an starting over—I'm content where I am," Lin Hui replied quickly.

"As you wish."

Her voice had barely faded before Gongsun Xinlian's figure dissolved, as though she had never been present at all. The dinsional seal on the office lifted without a sound, and the room returned to normal.

Lin Hui rose from his chair. The situation had developed well beyond his expectations.

He had assud Black Cloud's Mistborn would hand him over, forcing him to handle Tuyue on his own. He had not expected Gongsun Xinlian to ask a few quiet questions and then casually place herself between him and the problem.

She still carries the weight of her old grudge, he thought.

She simply hadn't had a pretext before. By walking through that door, he had given her one. To reassure him so openly—wasn't that tantamount to declaring she intended to resist Tuyue to the last? He only had to compare the character of Tuyue City with that of Black Cloud to understand the fundantal difference between their respective Mistborn.

Leaving the office, he knew this was far from over. Tuyue had crossed thousands of miles to reach him. That kind of determination would not be satisfied by a single obstruction.

Sure enough, by the ti he finished his classes and headed ho that afternoon, the Wind Chi had filled with ssages—inquiries and expressions of concern from across the Clear Wind Dao. When he arrived at the compound, the majority of the sect's core mbers were already assembled.

Xia Si, Su Yaping, Wang Hongshi—they were all there.

"What are you all doing here? Tuyue won't push too far. This is Black Cloud."

"No—Dao Master—look... over there." Su Yaping pointed toward the right side of the compound.

At so point, unnoticed, a large courtyard mansion had appeared beside their own. Above its main gate hung a single massive character: Ning.

The courtyard gates opened silently, and a slender female figure stepped out.

She wore nothing but two strips of black cloth—arrayed in a deep plunging V across her chest, just enough to preserve the barest semblance of modesty. Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders. With every step, her upper body swayed with heavy, unhurried ease. Her face was ordinary and delicate, yet it emanated a coquettishness so potent it seed to seep from her very skin—as though she were perpetually on the verge of overflowing.

Hiss...

The male disciples of the Clear Wind Dao inhaled collectively.

"Be careful—that is the mind-spirit seduction she excels at!" A cold, sharp voice detonated beside Lin Hui's ear.

Lin Hui understood imdiately. A Mistborn's greatest weapon was said to reside in the mind-spirit; such a technique was only natural for one of their kind.

But in all honesty, he felt nothing. The power of the Wind Disaster had long since rged into his Surrounding Wind, folding into the Internal Force that continually sheathed him—and deeper still, penetrating every layer of his body. Combined with the body tempering of the Typhoon Sword Technique, it continuously reshaped his physique, remodeled his mind-spirit, and hardened his ntal core. That was why his mind-spirit had been advancing so rapidly of late.

"Why must you involve yourself, Sister?" Tuyue gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her voice tinged with soft grievance. "This little sister only wants to have a quiet family talk with a child from her own city. Would you really intervene over sothing so trivial? Does a city as grand as Black Cloud truly have nothing better to occupy itself with?"

"If the Federation's rules didn't forbid it, I would crush you to death here and now for putting on this performance!" Gongsun Xinlian's voice ca from sowhere above—each word colder than the last.

The exchange between the two passed entirely through sound transmission. To anyone watching, it simply looked as though Tuyue had stepped outside, paused, and settled into a wounded, long-suffering expression.

Alright—everyone disperse. I'll handle this, Lin Hui instructed the crowd through the Wind Chi.

Master... please be careful. This woman is extrely dangerous. Even Li Yuanyuan—a female disciple—had been drawn in by Tuyue's pull. The ntal pollution evidently did not discriminate by gender.

Only Xia Si appeared untouched. She bowed to Lin Hui, transmitted a brief, solemn ssage, and withdrew—her constitution apparently offering so form of natural immunity.

"Hm?" Tuyue noticed. Her gaze settled on Xia Si for a beat. "Now I'm becoming more and more interested in you." Her eyes slid back to Lin Hui.

The surrounding disciples dispersed quickly, leaving Lin Hui standing alone in the doorway.

"May I ask who you are?" he said, his voice quiet and unhurried.

"You grew up in my city." Tuyue stepped forward, her body moving naturally into his space, the warm weight of her shoulder angling toward his arm. "Now that you've seen your City Lord with your own eyes—don't you feel the slightest bit of closeness?"

"Tramp!" Gongsun Xinlian's voice tore across the air like a crack of ice. "Lay a hand on him, and I'll make certain you never find your way back to Tuyue City!"

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