Chapter 36: Change of Heart IV

“The reason is none of your business,” Deng Mingchao said coldly.

“Heh heh…” Mu Qiaozhi chuckled, her fit body moving like a female leopard as she slowly closed the distance.

“You look very angry?”

“Why shouldn’t I be angry? Facing a traitor…” Deng Mingchao‘s expression turned mocking, but he was interrupted before he could finish.

“What did I betray?” Mu Qiaozhi laughed. “Seriously, Junior Brother Deng, isn’t your thinking a bit laughable? The Clear Wind Taoist Temple opens its doors to teach martial arts, and we pay to enter and learn. It’s just external martial arts; you can learn it anywhere. Wealthy families exercise to build their bodies, and poor families practice to make a living. Do you really intend to treat it as a lifelong pursuit?”

“…” Deng Mingchao wanted to say something, but for a moment, he didn’t know how to refute her.

“Junior Brother Deng, these external martial arts halls are just training centers with a constant turnover. You pay money, they teach skills. And what they teach isn’t any important or rare martial art. If this one isn’t working out, we just switch to another one. Every once in a while, various martial arts halls close down and rise up. If everyone were as stubborn as you, would you plan to fall with the martial arts hall?” Mu Qiaozhi continued to laugh.

“Then what does Senior Sister Mu mean by coming over?” Lin Hui couldn’t help but ask from behind.

“Just wanted to invite you to join the Black Dragon Gate. The Clear Wind Taoist Temple‘s martial arts are too weak. Even if the movement technique has a slight advantage, the overall disadvantage cannot offset the huge gap,” Mu Qiaozhi smiled. “Don’t forget why we practice martial arts.”

She stopped three meters away from the two.

“Isn’t it because we failed the selection and wanted to gain some power to protect ourselves and our families?”

With a sigh, she slowly raised her hand, flexing her black metal claws.

“If we had been selected and become Summoners, who would still want to practice martial arts? Internal martial arts might be one thing, but the ceiling for external martial arts has always been there. We learn it just to get by, and the masters teach it casually. Everyone knows that practicing external martial arts to the end is just like that. This is reality.”

“Senior Sister makes sense, but…” Deng Mingchao began, his expression ugly.

“But what? Even your masters, the three Ming Generation Daoists, weren’t they the same back then? They failed the selection and could only settle for the next best thing, trying to enter the Three Sects and Six Gangs in the Inner City, but they failed that too. In the end, they had no choice but to learn external martial arts. If they had a choice, who would stay in the Outer City to practice these bitter, second or third-rate techniques?” Mu Qiaozhi continued.

Hearing this, Lin Hui understood somewhat. These martial arts halls in the Outer City were like training institutions, accepting young people who had failed the selection and couldn’t enter the Three Sects and Six Gangs.

These young people wanted to practice martial arts for self-protection but struggled to find a way, thus creating this huge market.

And this market gave rise to a large number of external martial arts halls located in various towns.

Because external martial arts didn’t discriminate; anyone could practice as long as they paid money.

And this was the key reason for Mu Qiaozhi‘s mindset.

“Mu Qiaozhi, have you said enough?” Deng Mingchao‘s face was extremely ugly now.

“Draw your sword. Use your strongest move. Since we were classmates, I came to let you see how much higher the Black Dragon Gate‘s martial arts are compared to the Clear Wind Taoist Temple!” Mu Qiaozhi laughed again.

Clang!

With the sound of a sword, Deng Mingchao, unable to hold back any longer, drew his sword. The sword shadow was like a wisp of clear wind, far faster than before, arriving in front of Mu Qiaozhi in an instant.

This sword strike clearly involved complex changes in moves, but at the moment of the final strike, the sword speed suddenly surged, as if everything before was a compressed spring, released all at once at the end.

This sword speed!?

Lin Hui recognized it immediately from behind. This wasn’t the Nine-Section Quick Sword, but the Clear Wind Sword Style!

The characteristic of the Clear Wind Sword Style was speed! Extremely sudden speed. Catching people off guard, leaving them unable to react.

This sword strike even approached the speed of Lin Hui‘s sword when he activated his special effect. Clearly, Senior Brother Deng had also been hiding some of his strength.

One must know that Lin Hui was now at Sixth-Rank Body Tempering, approaching Seventh-Rank.

With this foundation, activating the special effect, his sword speed far exceeded that of the Senior Brother’s full-strength strike back then.

And Senior Brother Deng Mingchao could barely approach this speed, showing that he hadn’t just learned the Clear Wind Taoist Temple‘s martial arts but also had other martial arts supplementing and strengthening him.

In an instant, this clear wind-like sword shadow flew toward Mu Qiaozhi‘s chest, about to pierce it.

Unfortunately, a black metal claw disregarded everything and swung forward like lightning, unleashing a large swath of black claw shadows.

Ding ding ding ding!!

Four consecutive sounds rang out as the Clear Wind Sword and the black claw clashed rapidly and then separated.

The immense force of the black claw forcibly knocked the sword momentum askew and counterattacked straight toward Deng Mingchao‘s chest, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Swish!

The black claw hovered steadily in front of Deng Mingchao, motionless.

The intense airflow blew against Deng Mingchao‘s uniform, pressing it tightly against his chest.

He gasped violently, a look of disbelief on his face.

Even if he was weaker than Mu Qiaozhi, the opponent hadn’t used the Clear Wind Sword Style from start to finish but had used the Black Dragon Gate‘s martial arts.

How long had Mu Qiaozhi transferred over? And yet she already…!?

“See that?” Mu Qiaozhi retracted her claw. “This is the gap in martial arts. Junior Brother Deng, Junior Brother Lin, when a path is destined not to go far, turning around early to choose a longer one is the right way. Don’t waste your time in vain, or you’ll regret it too late when you’re older.”

After saying this, she turned around and walked toward the dark alley she came from, quickly disappearing.

Deng Mingchao and Lin Hui were left standing there, wordless. Their minds were filled with thousands of thoughts.

They stood for several minutes.

“Senior Brother Deng?” Lin Hui finally spoke. He noticed Deng Mingchao seemed distracted, his face extremely ugly, even faintly revealing a trace of struggle.

Seeing this, he actually understood. Senior Brother Deng was wavering.

If the gap between the Black Dragon Gate‘s martial arts and the Clear Wind Taoist Temple was only slight, he believed Senior Brother Deng wouldn’t be easily shaken. After all, the sunk cost was there, plus Teacher Mingde‘s care and different treatment within the Clear Wind Taoist Temple made the choice obvious.

But the problem was, judging from Mu Qiaozhi‘s display just now, the gap between the martial arts of the two sides was indeed somewhat large…

Lin Hui knew that others were different from him. He had a choice back then but chose the Clear Wind Taoist Temple for speed. But the others actually had no choice but to join the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

Others practiced martial arts to become stronger, prioritizing strength. But he was different; he primarily practiced martial arts to run away, prioritizing survival.

Regarding the Black Dragon Gate, even if Mu Qiaozhi showed a huge gap, Lin Hui wouldn’t waver because no matter how strong the Black Dragon Gate was in a frontal confrontation, their running speed wasn’t as good as the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

If Daoist Baohe hadn’t cared about face and had turned and run instead of engaging directly, he definitely wouldn’t have been injured.

Understanding the change in Deng Mingchao‘s expression, Lin Hui sighed inwardly, knowing that perhaps before long, he would lose another Senior Brother.

As for what the Clear Wind Taoist Temple would become in the future, he couldn’t say for sure now.

“Let’s go.” Deng Mingchao exhaled, collected his expression, and continued to lead the way.

The two then dealt with two more Blood-Eyes and one Blood-Body, but Deng Mingchao didn’t say another word.

Lin Hui also helped deal with a Blood-Eye. When it was time to return, the two turned back and left the black hut area.

At the gathering point, most of the team members had returned.

Senior Brother Chen Sui, Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, Zhao Jiangan from the Black Dragon Gate, Mu Qiaozhi, and others were all there.

However, upon seeing the Senior Brother, Lin Hui‘s expression suddenly changed slightly. He saw a faint crack injury on the web of Chen Sui‘s right hand, which held the sword.

And Chen Sui‘s expression was very similar to Deng Mingchao‘s just now.

His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the former Second Senior Brother Zhao Jiangan.

Seeing this, Lin Hui had a guess in his heart. Deng Mingchao beside him wasn’t a fool either; he also noticed the clues, and his face became even uglier.

“Report your counts,” Head Constable Xu Ansheng said in a deep voice.

“Nine Blood-Eyes, one Blood-Body here.”

“Six Blood-Eyes, two Blood-Bodies.”

“Five Blood-Eyes, two Blood-Bodies…”

“Four Blood-Eyes, two Blood-Bodies.”

Each team reported the number of patients they had killed.

“Not bad. Prepare to withdraw. Good work everyone, continue tomorrow.” Xu Ansheng nodded. The estimated number of rampant patients this time was between twenty and thirty. This trip had solved more than half, which was very efficient.

Soon, everyone quickly returned in the direction they came from.

On the way back, Deng Mingchao didn’t say another word. Even when parting with Lin Hui, he disappeared in silence.

Lin Hui returned to the Clear Wind Taoist Temple and immediately told his teacher Mingde about what happened today.

Mingde‘s home.

“Alas…” A sigh rang out.

Daoist Mingde held a cup of freshly brewed medicinal tea, his expression desolate.

“I don’t blame him. Even I, hearing about this gap, would be tempted to switch, let alone young people…”

Inside the room, in front of the windowsill, he put down the tea cup and pulled at the cotton coat draped over him.

“What about you? Are you tempted? Now is the time when the Black Dragon Gate lacks core elites. Going over now would ensure you are heavily valued.”

Hearing this, Lin Hui shook his head slightly.

“The Black Dragon Gate‘s martial arts are not what this disciple pursues.”

“Is that the truth or are you just humoring me?”

“Naturally, it is the truth. In this situation, I have no need to lie to you,” Lin Hui said calmly.

“That is true…” Mingde smiled, his smile somewhat bitter. “Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, once Senior Brother Baohe fell, the vast Clear Wind Taoist Temple scattered so quickly…”

“Teacher, don’t worry. Lower the tuition fee a bit, and there will always be people wanting to learn,” Lin Hui suggested. “We just won’t compete directly with the Black Dragon Gate.”

“That makes sense. Now the Clear Wind Taoist Temple relies on the three of us Ming Generation members for support, and even then, we’ve split into three branches, each going our own way. Decline is inevitable. Indeed, we should lower the tuition fee,” Mingde nodded in agreement.

“It’s just…” He hesitated to speak, but in the end, he said nothing more, sighed deeply, and fell into silence.

Lowering the tuition fee meant that from now on, the Clear Wind Taoist Temple would fall to the bottom tier of external martial arts halls, relegated from medium to low-grade.

Low-grade martial arts halls accepted almost anyone, and the tuition was generally less than half of a medium-grade hall. It was barely enough to survive and couldn’t support a larger scale.

But the current situation left Mingde no room for hesitation.

So, the day after accepting Lin Hui‘s suggestion, he decisively posted a notice outside, announcing that the tuition fee for studying martial arts under him would be only one-third of the previous amount.

A few days after this announcement was posted, quite a few students came to inquire.

Lin Hui and Weiwei were responsible for reception and explanation, and they occupied a space in the Clear Wind Taoist Temple as a new training ground.

Soon, half a month passed in a flash.

The Clear Wind Taoist Temple‘s original territory was divided into three parts, controlled by Minchen, Minxiu, and Mingde respectively.

Minchen and Minxiu both changed the name of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, naming their branches Quick Sword Gate and Wind Sword Gate, recruiting students independently.

Only Mingde, still nostalgic for the past, continued to use the name Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

In addition, Deng Mingchao finally left quietly. Leaving a letter, he transferred to another sect, but not the Black Dragon Gate. Instead, he joined another sect founded by other experts from the Outer City.

Only Lin Hui, Weiwei, and Wang Yun remained under Mingde.

The quality of the new students who came to sign up was also much worse than before. Some came just to play around, some purely for professional yet cheap exercise—it didn’t matter if the sword style was strong, as long as it was cheap. Others were actually attracted by Weiwei‘s beauty and came to pursue her…

For a time, the Clear Wind Taoist Temple inherited by Mingde seemed to suddenly turn into the kind of training class Lin Hui often saw in his previous life.

During sword practice, everyone chatted and laughed on the rear courtyard grounds, completely lacking the rigorous solemnity of before.

Mingde was disheartened and too lazy to care. After teaching the introductory Seven-Section Quick Sword once, he went back to his room to rest. Weiwei and Lin Hui maintained order for the rest.

(End of Chapter)