Decaying World

Chapter 45 045 Thoughts 1
After organizing the materials and putting them in a concealed cloth bag, Lin Hui took the bag and asked for a day off early the next morning, heading to town.

Xinyu Town is small, with only a few streets intersecting to form the town center. The streets seem bustling with people, but most of them are actually farmers and vendors from the surrounding area. Occasionally, a traveling caravan passes through, attracting a group of children to watch.

That's probably the freshest thing here.

The recent changes and decline of Qingfeng Temple is one of the biggest events in Xinyu Town in the past decade.

The various accidents and dangers that had occurred before were common occurrences for the people here, and they had long been accustomed to them.

Lin Hui walked around the town's streets several times with the materials, but couldn't find a suitable place to sell them.

The only shops on the street that could barely fit in were the two pawnshops, but if he went to those two, it would be far too easy for him to leave a trace.

Among these materials are mutated four-armed barbarians; monster materials of this level can easily expose one's true strength.

Reluctantly, he decided to sell some of the lower-grade materials first.

Unicorn Spiders and Centipede Eyeballs—these weaker, harmless monsters are not worth selling.

Lower-grade materials are much easier to handle. He found a channel that his master had given him before—the Illusion Restaurant.

This is a high-end restaurant located in the center of town. It is said that the owner comes from the inner city and is not from any of the town's prominent families. His origins are mysterious, and he claims that any ingredient can be obtained here. However, the prices are relatively low.

However, since Mingde and the manager here are friends and he helped the manager a lot when he was down on his luck, the price that Mingde's disciples pay for the materials they sell is based on the market price.

In the dimly lit restaurant's valuation room, manager Huang Shangying stroked his chin and beard with a smile, examining a pile of materials on the table.

"Not bad, fresh, and the lens quality is good, no signs of decay. There are three top-quality lenses here too. How about 170,000 for the whole thing?"

"Thank you very much, Steward Huang!" Lin Hui said, cupping his hands in thanks.

"You're welcome. It's a fair trade, and both parties are willing," Manager Huang said with an appreciative smile. "You still don't want to leave your master's tutelage, which shows your character. Your master and I have been close friends for many years. Although I'm not skilled in martial arts, feel free to come to me if there's anything I can do to help!"

"Lin Hui thanks the manager on behalf of his master!" Lin Hui clasped his hands in thanks again, his expression sincere.

"Stop making excuses. Just tell your master to come drink with me whenever he wants. As people get older, they don't have many hobbies, but drinking a little wine to pass the time is still quite nice," Huang Shangying said with a smile.

After saying that, he suddenly remembered something, glanced around, and lowered his voice. "By the way, recently another team from the inner city went into Yanshan to explore, but they returned with heavy casualties, seven out of ten were gone. It's possible that the black fog is approaching and the season for exploration is coming to an end. Recently, exploration teams have been going out particularly frequently. Your Qingfeng Temple is located right next to an exploration passage, I think it's the North Wind Forest Path, right? Be careful, and stay away if you encounter any skilled members of the exploration team."

"Black mist?" Lin Hui searched his memory and found that his father had mentioned black mist when he was a child, but hadn't gone into details.

"Manager, may I ask what this black mist is? Everyone says it's dangerous, but what exactly makes it dangerous?" he asked softly.

“This black fog is a natural disaster; it appears at irregular intervals. You’re young and haven’t been in foggy areas much before, so you naturally don’t know. Let me explain it to you in detail.” Huang Shangying paused, organized her thoughts, and continued.

"The black fog is when the fog concentration in the fog area increases dramatically in a short period of time, turning black and becoming much more toxic and corrosive. At this time, Ning Xiang will find it difficult to withstand for long. Moreover, once she comes into contact with the black fog, she will contract an insect disease. People infected with the insect disease have a long incubation period. They will gradually become neurotic, irritable, and prone to madness in their lives. Eventually, they will kill and attack civilians everywhere, and their bodies will also become diseased and ulcerated."

Lin Hui's expression changed slightly.

Is there any medication available?

“Of course it exists, but it’s only available in the inner city, and it’s extremely expensive. Ordinary people in the outer city can only resist the insect disease by relying on Wanfu meat, but you know the drawbacks of Wanfu meat.” Huang Shangying sighed and didn’t continue.

"Wanfu meat" is actually just a case of drinking poison to quench thirst.

Lin Hui felt a chill in his heart. Suddenly, he heard a noise outside. He turned his head slightly and looked out the window beside him.

Below the window on the second floor of the restaurant, a sedan chair from the inner city was slowly passing through the street, forcing the vehicles and pedestrians on the road to give way in awe. Some commoners who were a little slow to move aside were even whipped by the warriors clearing the way in front of the sedan chair.

The class differences between the inner city and the outer city were on full display at this moment.

“The Black Mist period usually lasts two to three months. Before it ends, ordinary people cannot enter or leave. During this time, the city will also experience a shortage of materials and monster meat. So, I actually made a good profit buying this batch of materials from you. By accumulating them, I can sell them to the inner city at a higher price when the Black Mist period arrives.” Huang Shangying stroked his beard. “If you have any more materials in the future, you can send them to me, and I will give you a 10% raise!”

"Okay!" Lin Hui nodded in agreement.

"By the way, if there's anything you want, I can also buy it for you from the inner city," Huang Shangying continued.

"What good stuff is there in this inner city?" Lin Hui really didn't know anything about this. His father used to only supply oil to the inner city and didn't have the opportunity to go into the city often.

In his childhood memories, the inner city was mysterious, tall, and majestic, inhabited by wealthy and powerful people. Occasionally, his father would bring him some novel little toys, such as a rattle that would automatically strike or a blue fish pendant that would automatically light up in the middle of the night.

I don't know about the rest.

"The inner city has so many good things inside," Huang Shangying exclaimed. "Everything inside—clothing, food, housing, transportation, entertainment—is far superior to anything outside. Resources and supplies sent in from outside can only be processed inside and sold as the most ordinary or even inferior goods."

He turned around and took something out of the counter drawer.

It was a feather from some unknown bird, entirely sky blue, with what appeared to be some kind of pale blue viscous liquid flowing inside the rachis.

"This is Feather Blood from the inner city, worth between 500,000 and 800,000 coins per piece. It's a highly sought-after commodity, in short supply. Do you know what it's used for?"

"I don't know." Lin Hui shook his head, his eyes fixed on the blood feather, from which he felt a strange radiation.

It's like being near a blazing furnace in winter; the hairs on your body stand on end, and the sensation is very noticeable.

"This is a bloodline extract that most inner-city residents possess. Or rather, it's the threshold to becoming a true inner-city resident. Out-of-city residents can become inner-city residents by buying property and obtaining identification, but once inside, they still need to continuously spend money to buy this, inject themselves, and increase the proportion of feather blood in their bodies. Otherwise..."

He sighed.

“Otherwise, you’ll be eliminated in the inner city.” “Why? Is there some trouble or danger in the inner city?” Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, curious.

"Have you thought about this? Since the inner city has a power that can isolate the fog, can ordinary people really be safe and sound the closer they are to this power? Can they be free from any cost and unaffected?" Huang Shangying sighed.

"..." Lin Hui suddenly understood. This feather blood might be a drug similar to the one that counteracts the radiation from the inner city's power, requiring long-term injections to maintain its effects.

“Those who are called to the inner city don’t need this. Many residents in the inner city are descendants of those who were called to the inner city, so they don’t need it either. But once the concentration of the bloodline of those who are called to the inner city drops below 30%, they must purchase this item, otherwise they will be eliminated and driven out of the outer city,” Huang Shangying said in a low voice.

Lin Hui's heart skipped a beat, and a new label was added to his original impression of the inner city.

That's cruel.

“If this substance is injected beforehand outside the city, it can gradually increase one’s spiritual bloodline. If more than 30% is injected, one can easily obtain the status of an inner city resident,” Huang Shangying said calmly. “No hard requirements such as buying a house or proof of identity are needed.”

"Then, may I ask the manager, how many injections are needed?"

"I don't know either, but without at least a dozen or twenty doses, forget about it. And once you enter the inner city, your bloodline will slowly decline. You'll need a constant stream of new feather blood injections."

"Even martial artists at the Inner Strength Realm need it?"

"Same."

Lin Hui remained silent.

Next, Huang Shangying showed him some unique products from the inner city.

Examples include exquisitely crafted pastries, amulets said to bring good fortune, black mushrooms with a pungent smell and full of honeycomb holes, and tiny white human skulls the size of an egg.

This gave Lin Hui a new and updated impression of the inner city.

Half an hour later, he finally left the Illusion Restaurant. He went home and checked on his family; his parents weren't there, and only a young girl he had recently hired was guarding the shop. She said she had gone to get more stock.

Left with no other choice, Lin Hui returned to Qingfeng Temple.

Along the way, he saw those strange children's temples that kept popping up.

We encountered three such towns along the way, all located in Xinyu Town alone.

In front of these temples, a group of vagrants with listless expressions and blank eyes gathered.

They clearly exuded a faint, rotten odor, similar to that of disease.

Lin Hui had seen that kind of aura many times when he was clearing out the boundary area before.

He rushed back to his courtyard, put down the silver notes he had received, hid the remaining materials for the four-armed barbarian, and then went out to join the sword practice.

But as he practiced his sword, he couldn't help but think of the image of the feathered blood flashing through his mind.

For several days, he pondered whether entering the inner city was the right choice to ensure safety. If his foundation was not solid, he might still be eliminated after entering the inner city.

This is the key point, judging from the perspective of Feather Blood.

Just as he was still hesitating about whether or not to enter the inner city, on the fourth day, the first move of the Qingfeng Sword Technique was completed.

*
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*
The spring rain fell gently, leaving diagonal lines that spread evenly across the schoolyard behind Qingfeng Temple.

Lin Hui stood under the tree, sword in hand, seemingly resting, but in reality, he was checking his status information after the body tempering was completed.

As he became more proficient in using the Blood Seal, he could now easily organize and view all the information he possessed within it.

At this moment, lines of blood-red writing kept appearing and reflecting in his field of vision.

'Lin Hui—

Mastering martial arts: Perfect version of the Seven-Section Quick Sword, Perfect version of the Nine-Section Quick Sword. Qingfeng Swordplay (incomplete).

Mastery of the ability: Sealing the poison of the magic array.

Possessing items:

In this status bar, Blood Mark only displays the items that it has evolved, while the others that have not evolved through Blood Mark are not displayed.

At this moment, Lin Hui focused his attention on the Qingfeng Sword Technique and gently simulated it.

laugh.

Expand options.

'The first move of the Qingfeng Sword Technique, "Boundless Wind," has been fully evolved. (The body tempering effect will evolve completely after all eighty-one moves are completed.)'

After reading the explanation of the Blood Seal, Lin Hui was not disappointed. Anyway, he hadn't tempered his Seven-Section Quick Sword to its limit yet, so there was no rush.

At this point, I looked around and saw that most of the people had left, and the ordinary students who had just come to practice casually had all gone off to eat.

(End of this chapter)