Decaying World Novel Chapter 249

At the end of April, Lin Hui received the first batch of aphrodisiacs procured through Black Cloud City.

Among the shipnt were ten stalks of Purple Cloud Reishi and fifty stalks of Spirit-Enriching Reishi.

It might not have seed like much, but it was a guaranteed annual stipend. The ten stalks of Purple Cloud Reishi alone could shave twenty years off the Blood Seal's evolution ti. Factoring in the Spirit-Enriching Reishi, that reduction jumped to thirty-six years.

By his calculations, he only needed to lay low in Black Cloud City for four years to complete the evolution of the Grand Yin-Yang Ti Reversal Sword Art.

Four years—a perfectly manageable tifra that suited his plans. And that didn't even account for the ti shaved off by his daily consumption of the Black Emperor Pill and other supplents. In reality, the Blood Seal would likely finish its evolution in three years at most.

Although his drug resistance was building, he could easily overco the diminishing returns through sheer volu. At the absolute maximum, it would take no longer than four years.

After gathering enough intelligence on Eagle-man Island and the Minglan pantheon from the Moon Tower, Lin Hui returned to formulate a battle plan.

"How does the Dao Master plan to handle this deploynt?" Su Yaping and Xia Si sat formally before Lin Hui in the Clear Wind Dao Academy, ready to advise.

"This is the first deploynt for our Clear Wind Dao Academy, so we ought to make a strong showing, shouldn't we?" Lin Hui hesitated. "I am no tactician. When faced with enemies, I only know how to eradicate them completely. As for what strategic objectives we should pursue, I must defer to Elder Su's expertise."

Now that Su Yaping had joined the Clear Wind Dao, Lin Hui had appointed him as an Elder within the sect. It was a fitting arrangent; the title carried imnse respect but didn't saddle him with the day-to-day managent of the Clear Wind Dao.

As for the previous Elders, so had been dismissed for fleeing before battle, while others simply hadn't made the journey. In reality, Su Yaping was now their sole Elder. An Elder held only advisory power. Unless the Dao Master explicitly delegated authority, he was essentially a commander without troops, unable to issue direct orders.

"Before setting objectives, the Dao Master must consider one question: what do the City Lords of the Federation expect of you?" Su Yaping asked.

"The City Lords of the Federation..." Lin Hui realized he was guiding him through the political nuances of their situation and imdiately adopted a receptive attitude. "They expect

to keep my head down, avoid causing trouble, and step up at critical monts to shoulder a portion of the pantheon's offensive for Black Cloud."

"Then it's simple," Su Yaping smiled. "The Dao Master rely needs to et that standard. There is no need to overachieve. You don't have to slaughter countless enemies—focus entirely on holding the line. Do neither too much nor too little."

"How do I strike that balance?" Lin Hui asked.

"If your task is to intercept the pantheon's unrest, it ans that unrest is disrupting Black Cloud's normal operations. Neutralizing the disruption is sufficient," Su Yaping explained.

"Understood," Lin Hui nodded.

"Dao Master, do we have any intelligence regarding the Minglan pantheon? How do we distinguish the strong from the weak among their ranks?" Su Yaping asked.

"The Minglan pantheon, led by the Ocean Wave God, is the primary enemy of Black Cloud. Their hierarchy is headed by a Mist God, followed by Divine Descendants, Leaders, and lesser entities. The Mist God is equivalent to a City Lord of the Federation, the Divine Descendants match the Blood Ancestors, and the Leaders are typically intercepted by Palace Masters. The lower ranks pose little threat," Lin Hui rattled off. "As for identifying them, you look for their Divine Seals. The Mist God's Divine Seal is platinum and shines between the brows. The Divine Descendants bear gold seals, and the Leaders have plain white ones. Anyone below that rank has no seal at all. It's a direct reflection of their divine bloodline concentration."

"That simplifies things. Dao Master, please allow

to accompany you into battle," Su Yaping requested earnestly.

"I want to go too! Master, staying cooped up here all day is incredibly boring. Even when I go out to sea, I hardly ever get to fight." Xia Si quickly raised her hand.

"Don't add to the chaos. Given your current strength, you really dare to tag along?" Lin Hui frowned.

"Master, do not underestimate !" Xia Si's slender eyebrows shot up. "I have already reached the Ninth Rank of Body Tempering in the Wild Wind Sword Technique!"

"Hm?" Lin Hui was startled. How much ti had actually passed? How was she already at the Ninth Rank? He rembered her barely scraping through the lower ranks not long ago.

"Lately, I've noticed sothing strange. The Righteous Body Law Seal seems to contain a trace of divine mystery. I can faintly sense that the power strengthening my body cos from sowhere ancient and deeply dangerous. When I cautiously reached toward it, the response was overwhelming. My comprehension of the wind has also deepened imnsely. After that, my Body Tempering advanced at a terrifying pace," Xia Si explained gravely.

"..." Lin Hui's blood ran cold. Could this child have actually sensed the existence of the Wind Disaster?

Since every strand of his hair had beco a conduit connecting to the Wind Disaster, he was intimately aware of its terrifying nature. Even with the Blood Seal suppressing and binding that power, he didn't dare use it casually. Yet Xia Si had sohow brushed against its edge entirely on her own.

"I deploy tomorrow morning to investigate the pantheon's unrest. Do not recklessly attempt to connect with that place again until I return to examine you properly. It is dangerous—extrely dangerous. Do you understand?" Lin Hui warned, his voice grave.

Seeing his grim expression, Xia Si realized the severity of the situation. Her face sobered, and she nodded.

"Yes, I understand!"

"Rember—do not attempt to sense that place again." Lin Hui reiterated, still deeply uneasy.

"Don't worry, Master! I'm always obedient!" Xia Si thumped her chest confidently.

Lin Hui suppressed a sigh; he couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was unreliable.

Off to the side, Su Yaping seed to read sothing into his stern warnings, though he prudently remained silent.

After dismissing the two, Lin Hui sat down to resu pill refining, but a trace of mind-spirit aura snagged his attention.

The mind-spirit aura pulsed three tis outside the Clear Wind Dao Academy, like soone knocking on the door. It was a clear, deliberate greeting.

Intrigued, Lin Hui waved his hand, dispersing a burst of Wind Force to gently pull open the main gates of the Dao Academy.

"Yuanyuan, prepare tea."

"Yes," Li Yuanyuan hurriedly replied from outside the small hall.

As the courtyard gates opened layer by layer, a white-robed man wearing a black mask strode in with slow, asured steps. A shock of white hair frad the mask above, and his robes caught the breeze as he moved, lending him an elegant, ethereal air.

Entering the small hall, the man halted and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Black Face of the Benevolent Heart Sect greets Vice City Lord Lin."

"...Black Face? The Benevolent Heart Sect hasn't reached out in a long ti. I thought you had forgotten about us," Lin Hui said indifferently.

"Vice City Lord Lin jests. We have co today to offer the Lin clan what assistance we can," Black Face said in a deep voice.

Lin Hui's expression remained impassive.

He had completed quite a few missions for the Benevolent Heart Sect in the past, and he had purchased many rare dicines through their channels. In his eyes, their ledgers were balanced. He didn't owe them, and they didn't owe him.

Had the Benevolent Heart Sect stepped in to help when he first arrived in Black Cloud City—friendless and without a foothold—he might have been willing to rekindle their prior working relationship. But now that he had firmly established himself here, their sudden reappearance was nothing more than a blatant attempt to curry favor, driven by their hunger for his current position, influence, and strength.

The dynamics had shifted. He didn't need their ager assistance, nor did he care about their smuggling channels. Whether they could reestablish ties depended entirely on their sincerity.

In fact, he had long suspected that a millennium-old orthodox organization like the Benevolent Heart Sect was riddled with Mistborn informants. With so many conflicting agendas and prying eyes, aligning with them offered few real benefits. If anything, it only increased the risk of leaked secrets and unwanted constraints.

"It seems Vice City Lord Lin harbors so misunderstandings about us..." Black Face felt a surge of helpless conflict. He had never expected that a boy so many rungs below him in the sect hierarchy would rise to Vice City Lord and eclipse him so completely.

The affairs of the world truly were stranger than fiction.

From Lin Hui's tone alone, he imdiately grasped the underlying ssage. Black Face had lived for centuries and had spent his entire career managing difficult relationships; he was extraordinarily adept at reading between the lines.

"Our sect can offer Vice City Lord Lin substantial intelligence support. I doubt you're wholly comfortable entrusting the safety of your friends, family, and clan to the three rulers of Black Cloud alone. Wouldn't it be safer to have a major third-party faction keeping watch from the sidelines?"

Pausing, he continued.

"Furthermore, regarding the pantheon, our sect can provide exceptionally precise intelligence."

"Are you saying the Benevolent Heart Sect has operatives inside the pantheon as well?" Lin Hui was genuinely shocked.

"..." Black Face rely smiled, remaining silent.

After a mont's consideration, Lin Hui decided to accept the Benevolent Heart Sect's offer of cooperation.

Once the agreent was struck, Black Face dropped the topic of the pantheon. Instead, he shifted the conversation to Tuyue.

"Speaking of which, Tuyue City recently welcod a second Mistborn. His na is Xie Jun, and he is a forr lover of the Tuyue City Lord. The two of them once had hundreds of children together, but most died prematurely. The survivors all mutated into monsters and were subsequently exiled from the city," Black Face transmitted his voice.

"Xie Jun?" Lin Hui understood instantly. By bringing this up and highlighting the man's intimate ties to Tuyue, Black Face was delivering a very clear warning.

"Thank you for the warning." He cupped his hands in gratitude. This intelligence was critical. If Tuyue secretly ca after him again and he remained ignorant of this second Mistborn, the consequences of an ambush would be catastrophic.

"No need for such formality, Vice City Lord. Given your faction and strength, there will be many occasions where our sect seeks your assistance. We are rely helping each other," Black Face chuckled.

Lin Hui nodded.

Early the next morning, he packed his dicines and equipnt, bid his family farewell under the guise of a business trip, and flew to the Moon Tower in the Inner City.

As a Vice City Lord, his assigned personal guard from the Moon Tower consisted of a Black Army company roughly one hundred strong.

The Pacification Corps and the Black Army served vastly different functions. The forr acted as the Federation's internal security force, while the latter was a significantly stronger military unit tasked primarily with external defense and garrison duties.

The commander of this specific Black Army unit was a striking woman nad Ouyang Yining. Her most distinctive features were an extravagantly voluptuous figure and the small, white, jade-smooth sheep horns curling from her head. Coupled with her long, powerfully athletic legs, it was obvious she was not entirely human.

"Ouyang Yining greets the Vice City Lord." In the Moon Tower's preparation hall, on polished white floor tiles, the entire squad of black-armored soldiers dropped to one knee in perfect unison.

Leading them was Captain Ouyang Yining, clad in a minimalist, bikini-style set of black armor.

Lin Hui studied her brilliant blonde hair in silence for a long mont.

"Did the Third City Lord send you?"

"Yes. The think tank under the Third City Lord conducted a detailed analysis of your preferences and reputation. They concluded that assigning this subordinate to assist you in combat would ensure maximum coordination and efficiency," Ouyang Yining replied, her tone thoroughly professional.

"Hm... alright," Lin Hui muttered, entirely speechless. "Is my reputation really that bad?"

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