The Decaying World-Chapter 86 - 81: Clash 1

The sky was dim, and flurries of snow drifted down.

On the Gale Plain, Lin Hui silently watched Wang Yueheng, who stood opposite him.

This man was a clear example of the abnormal mental state of the Inner City’s Martial Artists and Summoners. One moment, his mood was peaceful; the next, he suddenly looked ready to tear someone apart.

’Still, a Summoner... This is a new type of opponent, my first time fighting one. I hope I can gather some information.’

He narrowed his eyes, gently drew his Qinghe Sword, and tossed the scabbard aside.

"Brother Wang, please, after you."

Lin Hui said calmly.

He had never witnessed a Summoner’s fighting style, so he decided to let his opponent make the first move. He would use his speed to dodge and observe before formulating a response.

Otherwise, who knew what would happen once he attacked? What if the opponent possessed some bizarre ability to reflect attacks back at him?

"Very well." Wang Yueheng smiled, the chill on his face vanishing. "The Martial Combat styles of the Inner City and Outer City are actually quite different, especially for us Summoners. Because our physiques are incredibly strong, we often prefer cruder methods of attack and defense. In a moment, if you feel you can’t take it anymore, remember to call for a stop."

He held out his hands, flexing his fingers.

"I’ll go easy on you..."

"Then I thank Brother Wang in advance," Lin Hui said calmly.

"Don’t mention it." Wang Yueheng smiled and took a step forward.

WHOOSH!

In an instant, he vanished, abruptly reappearing at Lin Hui’s side and throwing a punch at his chin.

A fierce gust of wind howled; only then did the air crackle with a sharp report.

The immense, suffocating pressure buckled the skin on Lin Hui’s chin.

SWISH.

The fist hit nothing, passing straight through the afterimage Lin Hui had left behind.

Wang Yueheng wasn’t surprised. He spun with incredible speed, ramming an elbow toward Lin Hui, who had just flickered into existence behind him.

CLANG!

The two clashed with lightning speed.

His elbow and the sword blade erupted in a vortex of air.

Wang Yueheng was completely unharmed. Still smiling, he lunged forward like a bolt of lightning.

His hands formed a grapple, reaching for Lin Hui’s shoulders.

SWISH SWISH SWISH!!

The two exchanged a continuous flurry of lightning-fast blows, both occasionally leaving behind afterimages that slowly dissipated.

But it was clear that Lin Hui was faster than Wang Yueheng. No matter what his opponent threw at him, he could always evade it a split second in advance.

As a result, Wang Yueheng launched a hundred frantic attacks without so much as grazing him.

"I thought we were supposed to be fighting. What’s with all the dodging?" Wang Yueheng sneered.

"Brother Wang, you should first figure out how to catch up to me," Lin Hui retorted. "If you can’t even touch the hem of my clothes, this so-called spar is just a joke."

They fought as they spoke, a series of afterimages constantly being pierced, vanishing, and reappearing.

As if provoked by those words, the metallic silver sheen on Wang Yueheng’s skin intensified.

His speed increased along with the explosive power he unleashed, growing faster and faster.

It wasn’t that he was inherently fast; rather, his immense power granted him short, explosive bursts of acceleration.

With a series of loud THUDS, his immense force gouged basin-sized craters into the ground around them.

Only by relying on continuous bursts of immense power could he keep up with Lin Hui’s terrifying speed.

CLANG!

After another collision, they both shot backward like lightning, creating a distance of over ten meters between them before coming to a stop.

Lin Hui stared at his opponent, his breathing steady. For him, this speed was just first gear, but it didn’t seem so easy for the other man.

Of course, the immense Inner Strength he’d felt from his opponent during their series of clashes also made one thing clear: this Wang Yueheng was undoubtedly a powerhouse whose Inner Strength had reached its apex.

The sheer defensive toughness of a body coated in Inner Strength was enough to give him a headache.

’Another turtle shell... and Summoners are built like they’re made of steel, making them even harder to injure...’ He was finally starting to understand just how troublesome Summoners could be.

Their defenses were maxed out. To injure one, you first had to breach their Inner Strength barrier, and then somehow get past the inherent toughness of a Summoner’s body.

At this rate, even with his superior speed and the boost from his Special Effects, he probably couldn’t break the man’s defenses.

"Brother Wang, since you can’t catch me and I can’t hurt you, how about we call it a draw?"

Lin Hui proposed.

"Heh heh..." Wang Yueheng laughed. "It’s true, I’m not as fast as you. But to say I can’t catch you... that’s not entirely accurate."

A look of pure mockery crossed his face.

"It’s true, an Inner Power Martial Artist would be unable to pursue someone with your preternatural speed. Such speed puts you in an almost invincible position. But... since the methods of an Inner Power Martial Artist aren’t enough, don’t blame me for using the true methods of a Summoner."

"You mean... Brother Wang hasn’t been using them this whole time?" Lin Hui’s heart skipped a beat.

"What do you think?" Wang Yueheng slowly extended his right hand, palm facing up. "Speaking of which, most people from the Outer City will likely go their entire lives without ever witnessing the greatest difference between an Upper-Tier Summoner and all the ranks below."

As if to let Lin Hui get a better look, Wang Yueheng’s movements were deliberately slow.

He slightly cupped his palm.

HUM.

A few centimeters above his palm, the very light began to warp.

A transparent, swirling vortex, roughly the size of a basketball, materialized out of thin air above his hand.

"You should be proud." A haughty look crossed Wang Yueheng’s face. "Forcing me to use the Void Power unique to the Upper Rank means you are already invincible among anyone below the stage of Inner Power Circulation."

"...Void Power...!" Faced with this unknown phenomenon, Lin Hui’s vigilance instantly shot to its absolute peak.

’What is this power? How is it activated? How fast is it? What’s its range? How does it attack? How strong is it?’

He knew nothing about any of it.

’And this power... this is basically a Superpower, isn’t it!?’

’And it’s supposed to be in the same category as Martial Artists?!’

He was now completely taut, his entire being poised to flee at a moment’s notice. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Is Void Power something only Upper-Tier Summoners possess?" he asked, speaking again.

"Trying to stall for time?" Wang Yueheng laughed. "Clever of you to notice that Void Power consumes a massive amount of energy. But it doesn’t matter... A single instant is all I need to determine the winner."

The moment he finished speaking.

He abruptly flipped his palm, striking at Lin Hui from more than ten meters away.

Even though they were over ten meters apart, his motion made it seem as if they were face-to-face, close enough to touch!

With that palm strike, the formless Void Power changed drastically.

It was invisible and intangible. Lin Hui could only judge the Void Power’s speed and shape by the subtle distortion of light.

But it was too fast. Even with his full concentration, he still couldn’t make out the Void Power’s trajectory.

Instinctively, he retreated at full speed and activated his Special Effects.

WHOOSH! BOOM!!!

In a flash, Lin Hui retreated more than ten meters, vanishing from his spot. In his place, the ground exploded as if struck by a sledgehammer, leaving behind a square crater over a meter deep.

The dirt was gone, the rocks were gone—it was as if they had simply vanished into thin air.

A perfect cube had been gouged out of the ground!

"Hm!?" Wang Yueheng let out a soft sound of surprise as his attack missed. "You were hiding more of your speed?!" His expression soured.

This Lin Hui was far more trouble than he’d imagined. His speed far surpassed that of any Inner Power Martial Artist he had ever seen.

It was completely unnatural!

’What is with this guy!?’

His thoughts raced, but his hands didn’t slow in the slightest. Once activated, Void Power consumed an enormous amount of energy.

His current level was far from the apex of the Upper Rank, where someone like You Ying stood. If he couldn’t take down this person within ten minutes, his own Heart and Spirit would be depleted first.

Immediately, he began waving his hands again and again.

THUD THUD THUD!!

One after another, cubic craters appeared right where Lin Hui had been.

This torrential assault forced Lin Hui to use his Body Technique to flicker about madly, not daring to stop for even an instant.

After all, a wave of the hand was much faster than he could move at full speed.

Plus, Wang Yueheng himself wasn’t slow. Under this continuous barrage, even Lin Hui was starting to feel the strain.

’So this is the power of an Upper-Tier Summoner!?’ Lin Hui could feel his stamina draining rapidly. It wasn’t because of his Special Effects, but because the constant, high-stakes threat assessment kept him in a state of extreme tension, which was incredibly draining.

THUD!

After dodging another cube of Void Power, he decided he should get away and call a truce.

He had gotten a decent feel for a Summoner’s power now. At his current level, it was impossible to break through Wang Yueheng’s defenses unless he used his Gale Swordsmanship. But this was just a preliminary probe; there was no need to reveal his trump card.

So, he planned to call for a stop and concede.

’The guy is from a major family in the Inner City. Forget whether I could even win if I went all out; even if I did, I couldn’t actually kill him. I can’t even afford to injure him badly, as that would invite disaster. The point of this spar was to demonstrate our respective strengths. Once we both have a measure of each other’s level, that should be enough.’

"Brother Wang, your strength is profound, I conce—" Lin Hui began to say while dodging at top speed, but he hadn’t finished when he saw the corner of Wang Yueheng’s pale, refined lips curl into a smirk. A sense of dread washed over him.

’Retreat!’

He retreated at full speed, fast as lightning.

In his current Special Effect Feathering state, he could cross more than forty meters in a flash, more than enough to instantly escape the range of his opponent’s Void Power.

He’d already tested it—the effective range of the other man’s Void Power was only about twenty meters.

So now... Lin Hui’s figure shot backward. He tapped a foot on the ground, leaning back as he prepared to launch himself away.

But at that exact moment, the formless Void Power—which had previously taken the shape of simple, stamp-like cubes—underwent a drastic transformation.

In the blink of an eye, its cubic form melted, transforming into a rapidly spinning, invisible vortex.

The vortex unleashed a powerful, invisible tractor beam, instantly enveloping a fifty-meter radius.

Strangely, nothing else within that fifty-meter radius was affected. Only Lin Hui.

He was frozen solid, as immobile as an insect trapped in amber.

"This is the Cyan Heron Divine Decision!" Wang Yueheng roared with laughter, aiming a hand at Lin Hui from a distance.

"That wasn’t easy. I never thought that dealing with you would force me to use the ultimate technique of my Cyan Heron Skill, the Floating Light Three Techniques. This is a move I thought only a fellow Upper-Tier Summoner could ever force me to use. To think, a mere Inner Power Martial Artist like you... one who hasn’t even reached the stage of Circulation... could actually..."

With one hand holding Lin Hui in place, he used the other to fish a pale gold pill from a leather pouch at his waist.

The pill contained a Mind-Control Worm. Once released, it would burrow into the target’s nostrils, giving him complete control over their life and death. They would be utterly unable to resist.

While the worm would destroy its host’s potential by consuming parts of their brain, it didn’t matter. For a mere Inner Power Martial Artist—especially one who’d converted from an external style and had no real future—his potential was already capped at Sixth Layer Perfection. Ruining it was of no consequence.

’But that speed of his... once I have him under control, he’ll be incredibly useful for running errands.’

Looking at the immobilized Lin Hui, Wang Yueheng gave a contemptuous smirk and moved to crush the pill.

PFFT!

Suddenly, there was a soft sound.

In the distance, the immobilized Lin Hui actually began to tremble.

A mysterious force began to tear at the Void Power, dispersing it.

The force’s origin was a mystery. It didn’t come from within Lin Hui, but seemed to well up naturally from the air around him.