Chapter 51: Dangerous Situation III

Former site of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

In the area belonging to the Sword Sect, elderly men and women were holding wooden swords, slowly following Xiaohu’s lead to learn the slow-paced version of the Seven-Section Quick Sword for physical exercise.

Even without mastering the force points, this perfected version refined by Lin Hui had a significant exercise effect on the elderly.

Although it was relatively difficult to learn, they could learn one move steadily before continuing to the next. These old folks had plenty of time, if nothing else.

In the afternoon, outside the Clear Wind Sword Sect’s base.

Lin Hui’s father, Lin Shunhe, accompanied by two newly recruited sturdy guards, walked toward the courtyard where Lin Hui lived within the Sword Sect.

The two guards each carried a large pack of Total Essence Powder on their backs, all separated into small yellow paper bags.

“It’s just ahead, then the building on the left. Right, right, look at the doorplate; the one with the character ‘Hui’ is it…”

Lin Shunhe directed the two to the courtyard gate quickly and knocked.

No movement inside.

“Could Ah Hui have gone out?” He looked left and right, trying to find someone to ask, but apart from a group of elderly people practicing swordplay on the training ground not far away and a disciple busy teaching, there was really no one else around.

Just as Lin Shunhe planned to go to Mingde’s residence to ask about the situation.

Suddenly, not far away, a group of tall figures in pure white plain robes strode into the wide-open main gate of the Sword Sect.

The white robes on this group fit snugly, clearly highlighting the strong body contours beneath.

Most eye-catching was that the normal elderly people here, and even Xiaohu and Little Fatty of the Clear Wind Sword Sect, were at most over 1.8 meters tall. But as soon as this group entered, the shortest was over two meters, and the tallest was close to three meters.

That was a strong woman with snow-white skin, her head tied with three thick braids resembling three black horns.

She flexed her arms—just one arm was as thick as an adult’s waist—and her green eyes constantly scanned the field.

“Is this the Clear Wind Taoist Temple? The martial arts hall closest to the North Wind Forest Road?” the woman asked coldly.

A sturdy man behind her bowed and stepped forward.

“Replying to my Lord, it is. If you want to inquire about the specific situation of the forest road in recent years, the people here should know best.”

“Call someone out,” the three-meter-tall woman said impatiently. “If you can’t call someone out within thirty breaths, you will be punished.”

“Yes!” The sturdy man trembled all over, quickly took his leave, scanned the surroundings rapidly, and then rushed straight toward the bewildered Xiaohu.

Puff!

Running up to Xiaohu, he grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

“Kid, where is the person in charge here?! Hurry up and call your master out! Lord Yu Ying of the Rain Palace is here personally; come out and pay respects immediately!”

“My… my master… went out, I don’t know…” At this moment, only Xiaohu and Little Fatty were in the entire Sword Sect, along with a few temporarily recruited ordinary handymen. Mingde went drinking, Vivi went to the gathering, Wang Yun rarely came, and Lin Hui went to hunt materials in another town. For a moment, he and Little Fatty had actually become the persons in charge…

Grabbed by the collar, Xiaohu felt the immense blood qi pressure from the opponent’s proximity. He was instantly three-parts terrified. Trying to struggle tentatively, he found the opponent’s strength far exceeded his own and dared not move again.

“No one? Impossible! You can’t be the only one in charge of this place, right? Where are the others? Where are the adults!? Call them out quickly!” The sturdy man was getting anxious.

“I… I…” Xiaohu’s brain couldn’t react for a moment; he was dumbfounded.

Seeing his foolish look, the sturdy man’s gaze swept over the group of shrinking elderly people. These people were also shrewd; hearing the name of the Rain Palace, even if they had some dissatisfaction originally, their tempers vanished instantly.

“Damn it! Useless trash!” The sturdy man grabbed Xiaohu and lifted him high, his face becoming ferocious. If he didn’t complete the task, he would be crippled when the time was up. As a temporary guard for Yu Ying, he was already the seventh one this month!

The previous six were either dead or driven mad.

Thinking of this, he became increasingly anxious, and the strength in his hand grew greater, choking Xiaohu’s neck and almost suffocating him. At the same time, his eyes searched everywhere for someone who could take charge.

---

Shiqiao Town Mist Zone.

Lin Hui stared at the giant Tree Scorpion in front of him and silently activated the Featherweight special effect.

His body, at the limit of Body Tempering, bent slightly as he gripped his sword.

Chii!

In an instant, he disappeared from his spot, turning into a breeze, executing the Clear Wind Sword Style and continuously stabbing frantically around the Tree Scorpion.

Sparks splattered constantly with the collision of the Clear River sword and the Tree Scorpion’s shell.

Ding ding ding ding.

Amidst the flying sparks, Lin Hui was also searching for the Tree Scorpion’s possible weak points.

Joint gaps, abdomen, eyes, mouthparts—he stabbed every place he could try, but it seemed useless. All were incredibly hard barriers.

The Clear River sword seemed to be constantly stabbing a metal model. His hand was numb from the recoil, yet he still couldn’t find the Tree Scorpion’s weakness.

Amidst the clanging sounds, Lin Hui finally understood how Daoist Baohe felt when facing Song Zhanlong, the Black Dragon Gate Master.

Flawless, impeccable, defense completely unbreakable.

‘No wonder Tree Scorpion tails are so scarce. Even though one tail can provide the quantity for ten portions of medicine, there’s still not much stock on the market. Turns out this guy is so hard to kill.‘

Thinking of this, Lin Hui hesitated no longer. The Sealing Formation Toxin, which he had never used, quietly lingered on the tip of the Clear River sword.

With the next sword strike, he suddenly circled behind the Tree Scorpion and stabbed at its excretion pore.

It just so happened that the Tree Scorpion raised its tail high to fire another poison needle, exposing the excretion pore behind it.

Puff!

This sword strike didn’t penetrate either. The hard shell at the edge of the excretion pore was also incredibly tough, impossible to break through.

This made Lin Hui realize that without internal force enhancement, relying solely on speed and the sword’s sharpness, it was unlikely to kill a Mist Zone monster of the Tree Scorpion’s level.

But the purpose of this strike wasn’t to kill the opponent, but to test the Sealing Formation Toxin.

Click.

The sword tip smashed fiercely against the excretion pore, and the invisible sealing toxin was instantly injected into the scorpion’s body.

An invisible force instantly caused the Tree Scorpion’s massive body to pause violently, remaining motionless.

It lasted for a full second.

Only then did the Tree Scorpion resume movement. But startled by this seal, it was clearly different from its fearless demeanor just now. The Tree Scorpion began to panic.

That inexplicable stiffness made it panic. After discovering it couldn’t hit Lin Hui no matter what, it turned and ran toward the depths of the mist.

Two seconds later, it was caught by Lin Hui again.

Clang!

With a crisp sound, the Tree Scorpion’s massive four-meter-tall body froze in place again, unable to move.

Taking advantage of this time, Lin Hui accelerated frantically, searching everywhere on its body for the weakest point.

Finally, after freezing this guy four times consecutively, he found a weakness that wasn’t exactly a weakness.

—A curved brown pattern at the junction of the Tree Scorpion’s tail and body.

That pattern was protected by a hard shell, but the shell here was much thinner than elsewhere when it couldn’t move.

After Lin Hui constantly dodged to find opportunities and stabbed this spot more than thirty times consecutively.

Crack. A crisp sound.

Finally, the entire tail of the Tree Scorpion was cut in two and fell off.

The severe pain made the tail-less Tree Scorpion even more terrified. It fled frantically toward the depths of the mist, quickly disappearing, never to be seen again.

Left behind was a large scorpion tail, the material Lin Hui wanted for the Total Essence Powder.

‘It took over half an hour… too hard to kill…‘

He stepped forward and picked up the heavy, massive scorpion tail. This tail was over five meters long, covered with a shiny black hard shell, and had a black-red poison needle at the end—very exaggerated.

‘But fortunately, I succeeded…‘ The difficult process of breaking the defense made Lin Hui crave the secondary Body Tempering of the Clear Wind Sword Style even more. If he could generate internal force, killing the Tree Scorpion wouldn’t be this hard…

This difficult material gathering quickly knocked down the trace of pride he had felt after killing the two people from the Hundred Flowers Gate.

He couldn’t even kill a Tree Scorpion, only managing to cut off its tail with all his might. Let alone dealing with an Internal Force Realm high-defense martial artist like Song Zhanlong of the Black Dragon Gate.

It seemed that Song Zhanlong’s defense was definitely much higher than the Tree Scorpion’s. Considering Abbot Baohe couldn’t even pierce it with his treasured sword infused with internal force, the strength was evident.

“Internal force, internal force… I still need internal force…” Lin Hui sighed, dragging the scorpion tail weighing at least several dozen kilograms, turning back the way he came.

This one tail was enough for at least ten portions of Total Essence Powder.

---

Clear Wind Sword Sect Training Ground.

Creak, creak…

Amidst the faint sound of fabric tightening, Xiaohu was held high by the sturdy man. He struggled, slapping and grabbing the arm holding him, but the strength gap was too great, and it was useless.

As his face turned redder and redder, Xiaohu’s struggles became more violent. As time passed, his breathing was clearly severely obstructed.

It looked like he was about to expire.

“Brother, your grip is too strong. Choking his neck like that, even if the child knows the answer, he can’t speak, right?”

At this moment, Lin Shunhe, accompanied by two guards not far away, spoke loudly in this direction with a smile.

“What? You want to stand up for him!? Do you know where the adult here is? Or are you the adult here!?” Counting the time, the sturdy man was getting increasingly anxious.

“Naturally, I am not. But if you want to inquire about the recent situation of the North Wind Forest Road nearby, I know a thing or two. Please put this little brother down first,” Lin Shunhe said quickly.

Hearing this, the sturdy man’s face relaxed. He threw Xiaohu aside, his figure flashed, actually bringing out a string of afterimages, abruptly crossing more than ten meters and instantly appearing in front of Lin Shunhe.

If Mingde had seen this movement speed, he would have been greatly surprised.

Because this movement speed was already comparable to an Internal Force Realm practitioner of the Clear Wind Sword Style.

And this was merely a temporary guard beside Yu Ying who could be crippled at any time.

Puff.

The sturdy man grabbed Lin Shunhe, lifted him up, turned, and rushed back toward Yu Ying at extreme speed.

The two returned to the original spot, stopping in front of Yu Ying.

Their heights—one two meters, one one-meter-seven—compared to the nearly three-meter Yu Ying, were simply like children to an adult, pocket-sized and laughable.

However, after being put down, Lin Shunhe didn’t show any fear on his face. Instead, he looked up calmly at Yu Ying.

“Lord, regarding the North Wind Forest Road, I know the situation within the mist-free zone. But outside the mist zone, you must find the merchant caravans that frequently travel through. As far as I know, the Zhao Kee Dried Goods caravan travels this road most frequently. You can find them to inquire about the details.”

“You go find the person.” Yu Ying looked at him calmly. “From here to the town, I give you one hour.”

“…One hour… is a bit tight…”

“Do it or die. My patience only lasts one hour,” Yu Ying interrupted.

Lin Hui’s father felt a chill in his heart. He had only stepped forward to save Xiaohu because he couldn’t stand seeing him nearly killed. He hadn’t expected this “Lord” to be even more brutal.

“This… I will try my best!”

Seeing the cold look in the opponent’s eyes, having read countless people, he instantly realized she was truly the kind of high-ranking Inner City figure who kept her word.

If he failed, his life and death truly hung on her whim.

He had contacted such people before, but none as direct as the one before him.

But the key to this matter wasn’t just his travel time to town; it also depended on whether the person in charge at Zhao Kee Dried Goods happened to be there… If not, he would be in big trouble…

He had to gamble on luck.

A trace of cold sweat seeped from his back. Lin Shunhe’s mind raced, but his face remained calm. He quickly waved to the two guards, signaling them to come over.

Explaining clearly who to find and which places to go, he promised heavy rewards, instantly making the two guards’ eyes light up. After remembering clearly, they took to their heels and sprinted toward the town.

(End of Chapter)