Chapter 56: Exploration IV

“Go back for what? I can’t find a solution to the troubles within my tribe, so going back is pointless.” The black-furred Lionman released him and sighed.

He was over two meters tall. Standing next to the one-meter-eight Mingde, the size difference was too great, giving the impression of an adult and a child.

“I thought you went back long ago. I bumped into Donghao and the others at the Qingle Workshop last time, and they said they hadn’t seen you for a while.”

Mingde and this black-furred Lionman seemed to have a very good relationship. Standing together, they lowered their voices and chatted incessantly.

Lin Hui stood by the side. After being briefly introduced by name, he was ignored.

He simply ate the iced snow fungus soup served by the stall owner, waiting for his teacher to finish chatting with his friend.

While eating, he observed the man who was still kowtowing on the ground.

“That guy has been here for two days,” the cold drink stall owner explained casually while wiping tables and stools nearby.

“Guest, be careful. Don’t get close, watch out in case he has an episode.”

“Are people like this common?” Lin Hui asked, striking up a conversation.

“So-so. There’s one every few days.” The owner nodded. “Life isn’t easy for anyone these days. When people become destitute and can’t afford Feather Blood, they’d rather die in the Inner City than be driven out to the Black Zone. There are too many people like this.”

“Black Zone?” Lin Hui was stunned. “Does that refer to the Outer City?”

“Yes. Once there, life and death are just a dish in someone else’s eyes; you have no control over yourself,” the owner sighed.

“Then, doing small business like you, Boss, can you gather enough for Feather Blood medicine?” Lin Hui asked, puzzled.

“This little bit is hardly enough.” Hearing this, the owner laughed. This bearded middle-aged man, looking to be in his forties, sized up Lin Hui carefully. “My ancestor was a Summoner. The bloodline can support me and my son for two generations to continue living in the Inner City. We don’t need Feather Blood for now, but my grandson’s generation will have to rely on their own struggle. The money I make now, besides my own use, is also being saved in advance for my grandson’s Feather Blood.”

He paused, then continued.

“Little brother must be from another urban district, right? Our Tuyue is like this. The vast majority of people are ordinary folks like me, earning money honestly, supporting the family honestly, and buying Feather Blood.”

Lin Hui fell silent. Glancing at his teacher who was chatting enthusiastically, he continued to chat casually with the owner.

From the owner’s words, he gradually gained some understanding of life for Inner City people.

“Generally, only wanted criminals, vagrants, and trash people get driven to the Black Zone,” the owner whispered. “The Black Zone is very dangerous, dark, and savage. It’s said that as soon as night falls, huge monsters hunt living people everywhere. Without a jade talisman, one can’t survive at all. Plus, it’s full of trash people and bad guys. If ordinary people like us go in, I’m afraid we’d be eaten immediately and die there.”

“But aren’t there people here who might have episodes too? Isn’t that also dangerous?” Lin Hui heard the thick stereotypes and prejudice in the other’s words.

Although the Outer City was indeed dangerous, it wasn’t dangerous to the extent the owner imagined.

So he couldn’t help but retort.

“How can that be the same?” The owner shook his head. “This is just the outermost edge of the Inner City. Further in… you haven’t been to the Moon Tower District, have you? That’s where the true nobles live. Moon Towers, thousands of stories high, stand on the ground like giant trees reaching the sky. Passages connect the Moon Towers. The passages are wide, containing shops, streets, gardens, and residences. The nobles live up there and basically never come down to the ground. They rely on giant Moth Carriages to fly in and out.”

“People like us in the Outer Ring and Middle Ring can only live on the ground. We’ll never see the high places of the Moon Towers in our lifetime.” The owner’s words revealed a thick longing.

This made Lin Hui understand that the Inner City was also divided into the Outer Ring, Middle Ring, and the central Moon Tower District.

And the Origin Blood Nobles living thousands of stories high would never touch the earth with their feet in their lives. He couldn’t imagine what such people would be like.

Next, he asked about the owner’s family situation and learned that this man had ten children in one go, both boys and girls. He was stunned.

According to the owner, supplies here were very cheap, and no one would starve to death. Scattering a few seeds in the field would yield abundant fruit on its own. Plus, everyone here received twenty catties of high-quality Myriad Fortune Meat every month.

That was a high-nutrient meat with no side effects; eating a piece the size of a fist could keep hunger away for a day.

So people here made money mostly for two purposes: buying Feather Blood and enjoyment.

After finishing the cold drink, Mingde also bid farewell to his friend. The master and disciple left the stall and walked back in the direction they came from.

“How was it? How do you feel about this place?” Mingde walked in front, asking with his hands behind his back.

“Very good. Really very good.” Lin Hui sighed. “There’s no mist at night here, food and drink are cheap, and a large family can be fed with just a little money. No need to worry about missing persons or monsters rushing in from the Mist Zone outside.”

“Yes… that’s why so many people risk their lives wanting to move into the Inner City,” Mingde sighed.

The two were silent for a while, just hurrying along quietly.

If one had never seen true peace, it would be fine. But once one truly saw the Inner City with its living environment far superior to their own, the feeling of unfairness and longing in one’s heart was uncontrollable.

Before long, the two returned to the South Ninth Gate exit.

Looking at the tall and wide circular arch gate.

Lin Hui turned his head, standing high on the cliff, and once again gazed at the vast plain of pavilions below.

At this time, yellow-white lights had lit up in some places in the pavilions, and curling smoke from cooking fires rose.

“Time to go back; it’s getting dark,” Mingde reminded him from the side.

“Mm.” Lin Hui nodded.

“If you want to come in, you can ask your dad to buy a permit. Temporary permits aren’t expensive; they just require certain channels to apply,” Mingde said.

“Understood…” Lin Hui nodded. Finally, looking no more, he turned and strode out of the South Ninth Gate.

This single gate separated two worlds, inside and out…

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After entering the Inner City, Lin Hui returned to his original rhythm of daily teaching, sword practice, and secondary Body Tempering.

From secondary Body Tempering to generating Internal Force, according to his teacher, normally took about three years. If it could happen, it would happen in three years; if not, there was a high probability it would never happen after three years.

Many people were stuck at this step for over a decade without making an inch of progress.

The ratio of those reaching the limit of secondary Body Tempering to those reaching the Internal Force Realm was about one in seven or eight.

Just after Lin Hui confirmed the Blood Seal would continue evolving the Wild Wind Sword Style, something big happened in town the following month.

A poor girl named Yan Wanqiu, during an aptitude test, was found to have the aptitude of a High-tier Summoner. She was immediately taken into the Inner City and entered the Chen family, one of the Three Great Powers.

Rumor had it that even among High-tier Summoners, this Yan Wanqiu’s aptitude was top-notch.

The entire Xinyu Town hadn’t produced such a genius in many years.

Even when Lin Hui was instructing the health class, he could hear the elderly folks discussing this topic.

Unmoved, he continued to take medicine daily to shorten the Blood Seal’s progress and continued his bitter practice of Body Tempering and swordplay.

As expected, after passing the position of Sect Master to him, Mingde went back on his word and left, disappearing mysteriously without a trace.

Leaving Vivi, Lin Hui, Xiaohu, and Little Fatty—the four of them—to support the entire Clear Wind Sword Sect independently.

Not long after Mingde left, the other two branches, Minchen and Minxiu, also ran away.

Originally seeing the Clear Wind Sword Sect’s health class barely surviving, they planned to follow suit.

However, the sword style they taught was useless, no different from other ordinary martial arts. Compared to the Clear Wind Sword Sect, the gap was huge, and no one came.

So, unable to run a health class, the two branches finally couldn’t hold on. They sold their territory to Lin Hui at a discount and also left, disappearing from Xinyu Town.

Thus, the once-flourishing, vast Clear Wind Taoist Temple was left with only the Clear Wind Sword Sect where Lin Hui and the other three were, occupying the entire temple with a group of elderly people.

“I will slowly deduct the money for acquiring the other two branches from the tuition income to pay you back.”

On the training ground inside the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, Vivi explained seriously to Lin Hui.

“Although you are the Sect Master, one thing is one thing. This time, the money came entirely from borrowing from your dad; it can’t be mixed up!”

“It doesn’t matter; I’m not in a hurry,” Lin Hui said calmly.

“I will remember it.” Vivi said seriously. “By the way, how are you getting along with your dad’s new Second Madam? No problems?”

She had heard that the master of the Lin Mansion, Lin Shunhe, had married another woman from the Inner City, rumored to have a deep background and powerful maiden family.

“It’s okay. Second Mother is named Liu Shenglan. She’s quite nice, not beautiful, but very gentle and magnanimous,” Lin Hui replied.

He didn’t meet this Second Mother often, but she didn’t have the arrogance of someone from the Inner City. Her speech was easy-going, and she was very respectful to him and his mother, Yao Shan.

His impression so far was quite good.

“That’s good.” Vivi nodded. “But, your Second Mother is pregnant, right? She’s from the Inner City; do you think the child born will naturally carry Inner City blood?”

Lin Hui was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Actually, precisely because of this, he and his mother, Yao Shan, lived completely separately from the Second Mother and her family. Aside from daily meal times, they basically never saw each other.

Yao Shan told him privately that Second Mother Liu Shenglan and her children would return to the Inner City sooner or later; they couldn’t live in the Outer City for long. Ultimately, they and people like Lin Hui were from two different worlds.

These various signs, along with his mom’s reaction, made Lin Hui involuntarily associate them with a possibility…

That is, could his dad be temporarily taking the fall (acting as a cover) for a big shot in the Inner City?

Thinking of this, the more he looked, the more suspicious he felt.

After talking with Vivi, he picked up his sword alone and went to a corner for extra practice, executing the moves of the Perfected Clear Wind Sword Style gracefully one by one.

Soon, one round ended, and the familiar warm current gushed from his heart, distributing throughout his body.

Just as Lin Hui intended to finish his practice, suddenly, a trace of cold, thin thread generated out of thin air from his dantian.

The thin thread spun rapidly, forming a small vortex in his abdomen, and settled there.

Immediately after, a second cold, thin thread appeared and converged into his abdomen in the same way.

Then a third, a fourth…

‘This is… Internal Force!?‘ Lin Hui had learned the characteristics and sensations of Clear Wind Internal Force in detail from his master long ago. Sensing the changes in his body now, how could he not know he had succeeded?

But… didn’t they say it takes at least three years??!

And isn’t it supposed to aggregate only one thread of internal force at a time?

He stood rooted to the spot for a moment, stunned. Less than two months, and the Internal Force Realm was achieved??

(End of Chapter)