The Decaying World-Chapter 108 - 103: Calm, Part 3

"Anyway, she’s become a Summoner, and with top-tier aptitude. Her lifespan is going to be completely different from that guy’s. He’s going to die eventually one way or another, so he might as well die by my hand. At least you’ll be left with a fond memory, right?" Liu Xiao said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"...I think we’d better not... What if she finds out? Instead of gaining a relative, we’ll have made an enemy." Lin Hui already thought of himself as pretty radical, but Liu Xiao was even more outrageous. ’Are all the Summoners and Extreme Martial Artists from the Inner City a bit unhinged? Don’t tell me all the side effects are psychological?’ he now wondered.

"Besides, I’m just an Outer Martial practitioner. Won’t my lifespan be about the same as a normal person’s anyway?" he added.

"How could that be the same? You’re our little brother. Sooner or later, we’ll get you some Life-extending Medicine. You’ll at least live a few decades longer than that guy," Liu Xiao said impatiently.

"As for making an enemy, if she finds out after she’s had your kid, I’ll just have to beat her to death and find you a new one."

".....She’s from the Chen Family, right? Won’t that cause trouble?" Lin Hui said, exasperated.

"It’s fine. With my status and power, killing a genius is no problem. Even a top-tier one. There are too many geniuses who never get the chance to mature. A few get eliminated and die in the competition every year. At worst, if I get caught, I’ll just get a talking-to," Liu Xiao said nonchalantly.

"Let’s just not. I don’t think she’s my type..." Lin Hui felt this woman was a bit unhinged and quickly came up with another excuse. While he wasn’t exactly a good person, he wasn’t selfish to that degree.

"Heh heh... Then what is your type?" Liu Xiao glanced back at him.

"Well, she has to be good-looking, at least as pretty as you, sis. She needs a good figure, also about the same as yours. Her aptitude has to be decent, just a little bit worse than yours is fine. My standards aren’t high. And finally, she absolutely must have a gentle personality." Lin Hui quickly listed his demands. "Oh, and if she has a good family background, that would be even more perfect."

Liu Xiao raised a hand and pointed past the wall.

"What do you mean?" Lin Hui blinked.

"Get lost!" Liu Xiao cursed.

"In your dreams!" She swung a palm at Lin Hui’s butt, but he dodged with startling speed and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"That kid’s getting faster and faster! No one in the Outer City could probably catch him. At least he’s safe." Liu Xiao felt she had done her utmost for this ’bargain’ little brother. Since he wasn’t willing, he could just stay single. She was about to undergo the trial to become a Priest and would likely be assigned to a post far from the Inner City. By then, she wouldn’t have the chance to help him with matchmaking even if she wanted to.

’You’ll regret this, you little brat!’

She made an angry gesture, then swiftly left with her group of subordinates, leaving behind the guild hall as the fire burned higher and higher.

In the Outer City District, the Government Office’s administration was extremely lax. Never mind that they wouldn’t be able to discover she started the fire; even if they did, they would likely sweep it under the rug due to her status and power.

Meanwhile, Lin Hui returned to headquarters and resumed his cyclical life of Body Tempering, accumulating Inner Strength, and practicing his swordsmanship.

He would occasionally perform Alchemy to replenish his daily supply of medicine, but other than that, nothing much else happened.

As time went on, one celebration after another was held and concluded. A large quantity of various aphrodisiac Treasure Medicines found their way into Lin Hui’s pockets, so much so that for a long time, he didn’t need to spend his own money to buy them; his existing stock was more than enough.

「In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.」

News came from the Lin Mansion: his father was going on a business trip for a while to other major city districts.

These so-called major city districts were large cities extremely far away, similar to Xingdiao.

Lin Hui was a little worried, so he went to visit his father. He confirmed that his father was fine and that he wouldn’t be traveling alone. He was bringing a large group of skilled men, including even a hired top-tier Martial Artist at the Sixth Layer of Inner Strength. They would also be taking the safe, major roads established by the Government Office.

Only then was he somewhat relieved.

After his father left, Lin Hui continued his training while also starting to think about how to make the current Qingfeng Temple provide more support for his cultivation.

It would be a bit dense of him to have built up this whole operation only to not use it, instead continuing to train arduously on his own like a lone wolf.

Thus, his new challenge was figuring out how to make better use of his resources and channels.

"They say you have to know how to spend money to know how to make money."

In a pavilion in the backyard of Qingfeng Temple, Wang Yueheng sat before a small stove, carefully grinding the Purple Jade Tea Powder he had brought from the Inner City. He then carefully added sugar, a pinch of salt, and a small spoonful of feather powder from a Nine-tailed Bird of the Foggy Region. After mixing them, he poured the blend into a Black Crystal Tea Pot.

"On that topic, you’ve come to the right person." He poured in some Mountain Spring Water and stirred the charcoal embers beneath the teapot. Then he looked up at Lin Hui, who was sitting opposite him.

"Given the same amount of money, some people will just spend it on food, drink, and pleasure. But others can use it to open up new channels, to trade it for opportunities to make even more money in the future. Everyone needs money, so this nearly all-powerful thing can be exchanged for most services from those who need it. If you can’t get what you want, it just means you haven’t offered enough," Wang Yueheng said softly.

His impression of Lin Hui was getting better and better, and his attitude toward him grew more serious.

For one, he had discovered that this guy Lin Hui truly had no rival in the Outer City District.

For another, he realized the guy was actually a very straightforward person. If you were good to him, he would be good to you. He was a straight shooter, disliked roundabout methods, and spent all day doing nothing but practicing his sword—oh, wait, and cultivating his Inner Strength, but wasn’t that more or less the same thing?

He really had no idea how this guy would pass the time after reaching his limit.

He knew for a fact that some of the old men and women in the New Martial Alliance, upon reaching the Outer Martial limit, would indulge themselves as much as they had previously trained arduously.

Nights of debauchery, living in a drunken stupor, all ethics and morals abandoned—they did whatever they wanted. It was beyond outrageous.

"What if I want to use it to advance my current Martial Arts training?" Lin Hui asked seriously. "Besides buying resources and collecting training insights, what other uses are there?"

"Resources and insights are useful for your training, but what about sparring partners? Support from other systems? External tools and equipment? Even natural treasures. Believe me, if you really want to spend money, what you have won’t be nearly enough," Wang Yueheng said with a smile.

"...Brother Wang, you have channels?" Lin Hui raised an eyebrow. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it up," Wang Yueheng continued. "Although your Liu Family and my Wang Family don’t get along, our business is our own. In the nearby Outer Ring, my Wang Family is second to none when it comes to Elixirs. So if you want it, I can get you a large amount of Yun Lingzhi. Of course, you’ll have to pay up."

"A large amount? How much!?" Lin Hui’s heart leaped with joy, and he quickly asked.

"Er, not in a short time. We’d need to collect and transfer stock from various places. Besides, Yun Lingzhi isn’t actually the best option. I’d suggest you choose the Nine-Heart Jade Lotus, which has the same function but is much more potent."

"Nine-Heart Jade Lotus?"

"That’s right. It’s a High-tier Elixir refined by an Alchemy Dao master within my family, specifically designed for Martial Artists below the Circulation stage. It’s considered one of our strategic medicines. If taken over a long period, it can gradually imbue your Inner Strength with an icy property, allowing your attacks to carry a bone-chilling cold that erodes your opponent. Of course, the price is steep. But with Brother Lin’s current income, affording it shouldn’t be a problem." Wang Yueheng was clearly making a sales pitch.

"Er... can you sell the Elixir Recipe?" Lin Hui didn’t like consuming finished products; he felt safer refining them himself.

"That’s impossible. But I can sell other Elixir Recipes. What do you need? Aphrodisiacs?"

"Yes, anything that boosts vitality is fine."

"I have two Elixir Recipes for elixirs with effects on par with or better than Yun Lingzhi: the Spirit Emperor Pill and the Cloud Gathering Pill. If you want them, I can give you the internal price, a twenty percent discount—two million per recipe. Just be aware that the success rate for alchemy is quite low," Wang Yueheng sighed in resignation when his sales pitch failed.

"Besides that, are there other ways to spend money to improve myself?" Lin Hui continued to ask for advice.

"There’s also making full use of your many disciples at Qingfeng Temple. Pay them to go out on assignments!" Wang Yueheng said, raising his eyebrows. "What are your top ten elites doing staying inside the temple all day? Send those Martial Artists at the Body Tempering Limit out for real combat. It will both increase their experience and boost the temple’s profits and reputation. Most importantly, the Fog Area is full of good stuff. You can send them to explore it so you don’t have to take the risks yourself. Once you have a clear picture of the situation, you can go in personally to reap the rewards. Isn’t that perfect?"

"That... you can do that?" Lin Hui looked astonished.

"Of course. You make a deal with them: if they obtain Treasure Medicines or other treasures and are willing to turn them over to the temple, you’ll reward them with a certain amount of contribution points, opportunities for personal guidance, or even teach them your self-created top-tier Secret Martial Arts. Isn’t this what you’ve been building up your foundation for?" Wang Yueheng said, exasperated. Seeing Lin Hui’s blank look turn into one of sudden realization, he was about to say more when a thought suddenly struck him.

’Don’t tell me this guy has been training all by himself like a lone wolf this whole time? To reach this level of strength just by self-training... damn... what a monster!!’

His skin crawled, and the way he looked at Lin Hui became a little strange.

"So... Brother Wang, you know about the situation in the surrounding Fog Areas, right?" Lin Hui hesitated for a moment before asking.

"Naturally. Can’t you establish your own exploration teams? Just scout outwards slowly, don’t rush, and it shouldn’t be a big problem. Many of the nearby areas have already been cleared by experts from the Inner City, so no high-risk monsters will appear anytime soon," Wang Yueheng nodded.

"Monsters captured from the Fog Area can be sold for their materials or sold live. They have many uses. The prices are quite good, especially for live ones. A lot of the perverts in the Inner City who enjoy watching gladiatorial combat and torture need a steady supply."

".....Then, what about ruins?" Lin Hui asked.

"Ruins, you ask? Near our Outer City, there are two ruin zones. Inside, there are natural, sealed, No-Fog Zone caves connected to a complex network of underground tunnels. They also hide quite a few Fog Spirit altars. It’s best not to enter recklessly," Wang Yueheng warned.

He and Lin Hui were now deeply tied together; a large portion of Qingfeng Temple’s monthly income was being funneled to him personally. If something were to happen here, the impact would be huge.

That was why he was afraid Lin Hui would do something reckless.

"In a place like that, it doesn’t matter how fast you are. Once the underground tunnels are sealed, not even a ghost could get out. It’s certain death."

"Fog Spirit? What’s that?" Hearing another new term, Lin Hui immediately pressed for more information.

Wang Yueheng poured a cup of tea for Lin Hui and himself, then set the teapot down.

"That’s a general term. To be honest, we don’t know what they are. It’s just that when we first discovered the ruins in the Fog Area, we found massive statues of deities inside them. Hmm, or rather, we guessed they were deities, since no one could recognize the written symbols around the statues. So, for convenience, we just uniformly call them Fog Spirits."