After a long silence, Lin Hui finally spoke. "Brother, what's the point of telling
all this?"
"True, knowing won't change anything. But since you and Team Leader Han Xiaoyue were acquainted, you have a right to the truth. Besides," Liu Wujun paused, "your twenty-year agreent is likely fated to co to nothing."
"She told you?" Lin Hui asked.
"Yes. Team Leader Han and I talked extensively," Liu Wujun nodded. "The Blood Tide Society is unlike other organizations. We keep clear of outside conflicts, devoted solely to delaying and stopping Corruption. Because of that, we hold imnse respect for the sacrifices she and the others have made."
"Brother, if you have sothing to say, just say it," Lin Hui interrupted.
"I've already said it." Liu Wujun shook his head. "What the future holds isn't ours to decide; no use dwelling on it. Drink."
He raised his cup, clinked it against Lin Hui's, and downed the tea in a single gulp as if it were liquor.
Ten minutes later, Liu Wujun departed.
Lin Hui sat alone in the courtyard beneath blooming white pear blossoms. A gentle breeze stirred the fragrant branches above him.
Before leaving, his brother had made a promise: if necessary, he would offer conditional assistance in the broader effort to hold back Corruption.
This was clearly sothing his brother needed as well.
It made sense. With Corruption posing such a mysterious and existential threat, how could the Federation not have a dedicated organization to manage it? Lin Hui picked up his empty teacup, his thoughts in a tangle.
Calling upon the Blood Seal, he checked the status of the Grand Yin-Yang Ti Reversal Sword Art.
After consuming all his remaining precious dicines, the evolution tir had dropped from 150 years down to 114 years and 4 months.
I should just focus on my own cultivation. It hadn't even been ten years since he began. Perhaps these matters would easily resolve themselves in another decade.
Resolving to leave future troubles to his future self, Lin Hui steadied his emotions and cleared his mind.
Regarding precious dicines, he had already contacted City Lord Gongsun and secured access to Black Cloud's official procurent channels. As for his compensation, Black Cloud had promised that as long as he cooperated and fought during warti, he would receive the exact sa treatnt and resources as a Mistborn Eldest Son Blood Ancestor.
Lin Hui had rejected all superficial pleasures, converting them entirely into allocations of precious dicine.
Well, precious dicine for him. Which ant aphrodisiacs.
When Gongsun Xinlian learned of this exchange condition, her expression had been complicated, but she still granted the request.
But hoarding precious dicines can only accelerate the Blood Seal's evolution; it doesn't help
cultivate the Star Breath Sword Canon. I still have to proceed step-by-step and collect the pulsation of life...
How am I supposed to save ninety-nine types of living beings?
Lin Hui tallied the pulsations of life he had gathered so far. Recently, by rescuing various animals, insects, and plants, he had managed to save eighty-seven distinct species.
Having exhausted the vast majority of local flora and fauna, his only options for finding new varieties were to target microscopic plants and insects or to explore farther regions.
However, targeting microscopic organisms ant the resulting pulsation of life would be incredibly faint. Lin Hui had a nagging suspicion that such a shortcut would severely cripple his future cultivation of the Sword Canon.
When the Blood Seal had imparted the cultivation mories to him, it had explicitly stated that the pulsation of life relied on cumulative resonance. If that foundation was too weak, the difficulty of comprehending the next stages would skyrocket.
Thus, he devised a new approach.
…
Late April. Black Cloud hosted envoys from the distant Zhuyan Empire and held a grand banquet in the Moon Tower. Lin Hui was invited, but he declined.
In fact, he rejected all social engagents that threatened his peaceful routine. After a few such rejections, the upper echelons of Black Cloud caught on to his intentions and stopped sending people to disturb him.
Lin Hui continued his quiet life as an ordinary teacher at the martial academy. The only slight difference was his promotion: he was now a full-ti staff mber and a class teacher, no longer holding a re auxiliary teaching position.
Aside from spending private ti with Liu Xiao, Lin Hui devoted ninety-nine percent of his focus to studying the Star Breath Sword Canon.
Drawing on his inherited mories and months of painstaking research, Lin Hui finally identified the optimal cultivation target for the Sword Canon's first layer by early July.
The rain passed, and the sky cleared. Golden sunlight pierced the mist, washing over Black Cloud City and dyeing it in a faint, radiant glow.
Inside the Clear Wind Dao Academy, Lin Hui looked down at the exhausted Liu Xiao. Gently pulling the blanket over her, he got out of bed.
After a period of adjustnt, they had finally found a rhythm and intensity that suited them both. Liu Xiao wasn't an ordinary woman, after all. Though her speed and stamina were far inferior to Lin Hui's, she still vastly surpassed a mortal.
Bolstered by the aphrodisiacs thoughtfully provided by the Great City Lord, she could barely maintain her condition—at the very least, she no longer broke down crying like she had their first ti.
"Ah Hui, when do you think we'll be able to have a child?" Liu Xiao asked, her voice heavy with exhaustion, one hand resting anxiously on her flat abdon.
It had already been several months. Aside from their first month of adaptation, they had spent nearly every night together, laboring from dusk to dawn. Yet, for so reason, she had not conceived.
"It's alright, don't worry," Lin Hui murmured soothingly. "Look at all the powerful cultivators in the world—which of them doesn't struggle to conceive? There are no exceptions. We just got married; there's no rush."
In truth, he had a few private theories.
Could his body, so thoroughly modified and strengthened by Wind Disaster Force, still produce normal offspring? It was hard to say.
Wind Disaster Force decomposed everything it touched. To date, he had yet to encounter a single substance or energy capable of completely blocking it. His bodily fluids undoubtedly carried a trace of that destructive power. Whenever he spent himself inside her, he could sense her internal organs suffering microscopic damage.
Fortunately, the mont he noticed the erosion, he rapidly suppressed it.
Because the gap in their strength was so massive, the damage was minuscule, easily weathered by a Called One's robust constitution. Combined with the haze of arousal, Liu Xiao never noticed a thing.
But Lin Hui knew the truth. Unless the situation changed, conception was virtually impossible. It was a classic rejection response—the mother's body simply couldn't withstand the sheer intensity of his essence.
He even suspected that if he stopped holding back, his fluids would decompose and erode her into a puddle of pus and blood within hours. No—even the blood would be broken down into pure Wind Disaster Force, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
"Get so sleep." Lin Hui gently touched her forehead. After confirming she didn't have a fever, he finished dressing and slipped out the door.
…
Ten minutes later. Black Cloud Inner City, the Ninth Moon Tower.
Floating above the vast, white sea of mist at the peak of the Ninth Moon Tower sat a massive conch-shaped palace, defined by its stark white base and striking blue edges.
Semi-transparent screens of white-gold runes revolved around the palace, occasionally flickering in and out of existence.
Lin Hui's figure flashed into being just outside the array. Sensing his presence, the screen automatically parted to grant him entry. With another flash, he materialized beside the conch palace.
Rather than taking the main entrance, he circled halfway around the structure, found an open oval window on the outer wall, and vaulted inside.
The window opened into a modest, square room with white walls. It was cramd with stone bookshelves of varying heights, all tightly packed with thick, gray-covered manuscript copies. A white-haired old man in black-rimd glasses sat at a desk, carefully comparing the contents of two manuscripts.
Startled by the sudden arrival, the old man frowned and looked up. "How many tis have I told you not to enter through the window? Why don't you—" He choked on his words the mont he recognized Lin Hui. His expression snapped to attention, and he hurriedly stood up.
"Vice City Lord Lin! My apologies!" He bowed deeply.
Vice City Lord—this was the title offered by Great City Lord Xie Chang'an to secure his allegiance. As a result, Lin Hui enjoyed all the status and resources the rank entailed.
Although Black Cloud City had many Vice City Lords—making it largely a figurehead title used for political currency—Lin Hui had no desire to wield actual authority anyway. He was perfectly satisfied with the arrangent.
"At ease. Have you compiled the list of powerful nearby non-human races as I requested?" Lin Hui asked, glancing at the manuscripts scattered across the desk.
"I have. They are all here. According to Black Cloud's database, there are thirty-seven distinct non-human races with strictly defined biological differences," the old man answered smoothly. "Among them, twenty-four perfectly et your criteria."
He picked up a dossier and held it out. "Here—take a look."
Lin Hui took the docunts and quickly scanned the pages.
Bull-n, Eagle-n, Sea Snake-n, the Whale Clan, the Jellyfish Clan, the Infinite Clan, the Ghost Clan, the Siren Clan... A long list of powerful, unheard-of races t his eyes. Every single one of these factions was presided over by a Mistborn ancestor, which was the baseline qualification for recognition as a major power.
"Which one is closest?" Lin Hui asked.
"The Eagle Clan. They occupy an island just beyond the Boundary Wall to the west of Black Cloud. According to census data from three hundred and fifty years ago, their population is roughly fourteen million. Their patriarch is Lord Sanqiong, the Heavenly Sea Sword Eagle, who currently presides over Lingxiao City as the Second City Lord."
"Which direction?" Lin Hui asked. He planned to head there first and see if there were any suffering individuals in need of salvation.
With an island that large, if I wander around long enough, I'm bound to stumble upon so unlucky soul in need of rescue. Of course, the target would need to be exceptionally strong, allowing him to efficiently gather a significant pulsation of life.
"Ah, one more thing, Vice City Lord Lin. Recently, there have been several anomalies in the northern sea territory controlled by the Minglan pantheon. The Great City Lord mobilized again yesterday, and the Second City Lord went south to deal with the Wusa pantheon. anwhile, the Third City Lord is in secluded cultivation, tending to two Blood Ancestors who returned with severe injuries. Before entering seclusion, she left explicit instructions that if any ergencies arise, we are to report directly to you... What are your orders?" the old man asked cautiously.
"If any more anomalies occur, notify ." Lin Hui knew exactly what this was: an opportunity intentionally left by the three City Lords for him to prove his worth. Whether he could maintain his peaceful life and generous stipend depended entirely on how well he handled this impending battle.
"Understood!" the old man replied promptly.
"Did the Third City Lord say anything else?"
"Nothing else. For standard anomalies like these, City Lord–tier Mist Gods rarely deploy; the duties usually fall to the Blood Ancestor Elders. But with two Blood Ancestors out of commission, our manpower is stretched thin. We can only ask you to step in this once." The old man, a loyal deathsworn of Great City Lord Xie Chang'an, was privy to much of the inner workings and laid out the situation with careful thoroughness.
"I understand," Lin Hui nodded.
Once he visited Eagle Island, he should be able to clear the bottleneck on the first layer of the pulsation of life. By the ti he returned, his strength would have undergone a significant qualitative leap, making these so-called "anomalies" trivial to handle.
…
anwhile, as Lin Hui painstakingly mapped out the future of his cultivation, a different sort of scheming was taking place far away in the Moon Tower of the Tuyue District.
Tuyue sat with a gloomy expression, hatching a conspiracy with a visiting friend. The target of their sche was none other than Lin Hui—the prize Black Cloud had extorted from her.
"I will not stomach this!" Tuyue gritted her teeth. Rage surged through her at the mory of that public humiliation.
"Patience. Black Cloud is Black Cloud. Xie Chang'an was only willing to stick his neck out for Lin Hui because the man's value was great enough. But if there cos a day when Lin Hui's value diminishes, or the losses he incurs outweigh his worth..." A mysterious man sat opposite Tuyue, floating effortlessly in mid-air, speaking with calm assurance.
"I knew you'd have a way!" Tuyue's eyes lit up.
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