Chapter 45: Thoughts I

Sorting the materials and packing them into a discreet cloth bag, Lin Hui dragged the bag along and took a day off early the next morning to head into town.

Xinyu Town wasn’t large; only a few intersecting streets formed the town center. The streets appeared lively with people coming and going, but most were surrounding farmers and vendors. Occasionally, a traveling caravan would pass through, attracting a crowd of children to chase and watch.

That was likely the freshest thing around here.

The recent decline and upheaval of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple was also one of the biggest events in Xinyu Town in the last decade.

The various accidents and dangers before were common occurrences to the people here, something they had long grown accustomed to.

Lin Hui wandered through the few streets of the town with the materials but couldn’t find a suitable selling point.

The only shops on the street that barely fit the bill were the two pawnshops, but if he went there, it would be far too easy to leave a trail.

These materials included a mutated four-armed barbarian. Monster materials of this level could easily expose his true strength.

Helplessly, he chose to sell some of the lower-level materials first.

Selling a few One-Horned Spiders and Thousand-Legged Eyeballs—these weaker, Harmless-grade monsters—wouldn’t be a big deal.

Low-level materials were much easier to handle. He found a channel his master had given him before—the Illusion Restaurant.

This was a high-end restaurant located in the center of town. It was said that the owner came from the Inner City and was not from any of the town’s major clans, possessing a mysterious background. Any material could be sold here, although the price was relatively lower.

However, because Mingde and the steward here were friends—Mingde had helped him greatly during a low point—disciples under Mingde could sell materials here at market price.

In the dimly lit yellow appraisal room of the restaurant, Steward Huang Shangying stroked his beard with a smile, examining the pile of materials on the table.

“Not bad, fresh, and the crystal quality is good, no rot. There are even three high-quality pieces here. How about one hundred and seventy thousand for the lot?”

“Thank you, Steward Huang!” Lin Hui cupped his hands.

“No thanks needed; it’s a fair trade, willing buyer and willing seller.” Steward Huang smiled appreciatively. “The fact that you still refuse to leave your master even now shows your character. Your master and I have been close friends for years. Although I don’t know martial arts, if there’s anything within my power that I can help with, feel free to come to me!”

“Lin Hui thanks the Steward on behalf of Master!” Lin Hui cupped his hands again, his expression sincere.

“Stop with the ‘on behalf of.’ Just go back and tell your master to come drink with me when he’s free. As people get older, there aren’t many hobbies left; drinking a little wine for relaxation is pretty much the only good thing,” Huang Shangying laughed.

After speaking, he suddenly remembered something, looked left and right, and lowered his voice. “By the way, another team from the Inner City went out recently to explore Yanshan, but they suffered heavy casualties and returned—seven out of ten died. It’s possible the Black Mist is coming, and the season suitable for exploration is ending. Exploration teams have been going out especially frequently lately. Your Clear Wind Taoist Temple happens to be located right next to an exploration passage, the North Wind Forest Road, right? Be careful yourself. If you encounter experts from exploration teams, stay far away.”

“Black Mist?” Lin Hui searched his mind for relevant memories and found that his father had mentioned the Black Mist when he was young, but hadn’t gone into detail.

“Steward, may I ask what exactly this Black Mist is? Everyone says it’s dangerous, but where exactly does the danger lie?” he asked softly.

“The Black Mist is considered a natural disaster. It appears once every uncertain period of time. You’re young and haven’t had much contact with the Mist Zone before, so naturally, you wouldn’t know. Let me explain in detail.” Huang Shangying paused, organized his thoughts, and continued.

“Black Mist is when the mist concentration in the Mist Zone increases drastically in a short time, turning black. Its toxicity and corrosiveness increase significantly. At such times, Tranquility Incense can hardly last long. Moreover, once contaminated by this Black Mist, one will contract Insect Disease. Those infected have a long incubation period; they will slowly become neurotic, irritable, and prone to madness in their subsequent lives, eventually killing people and attacking civilians everywhere, while their bodies also mutate and fester.”

Lin Hui’s expression changed slightly.

“Is there a cure?”

“Naturally, there is, but only in the Inner City, and the price is very expensive. Ordinary people in the Outer City can only rely on Myriad Fortune Meat to resist Insect Disease, but you know the drawbacks of Myriad Fortune Meat,” Huang Shangying sighed and didn’t continue.

Myriad Fortune Meat was actually just drinking poison to quench thirst.

Lin Hui’s heart went cold. Suddenly hearing movement outside, he turned his head slightly to look out the window beside him.

Below the second-floor window of the restaurant, an Inner City sedan chair was slowly passing through the street, forcing carriages and pedestrians on the road to give way in awe. Some commoners who were slower to move were even whipped by the martial artists clearing the way in front of the sedan chair.

Inner City, Outer City—the class gap between the two sides was vividly displayed at this moment.

“The Black Mist period generally lasts two to three months. Before it ends, ordinary people cannot enter or exit. This period will also lead to a shortage of a large amount of materials and monster meat in the city. So, I actually didn’t lose out by buying this batch of materials from you. I can hoard them and sell them to the Inner City at a higher price when the Black Mist period comes.” Huang Shangying pinched his beard. “If you have more materials in the future, send them all to me. I’ll raise the price by ten percent for you!”

“Okay!” Lin Hui nodded in agreement.

“By the way, if there’s anything you want, goods from the Inner City, I can also purchase them for you here,” Huang Shangying continued.

“What good stuff is there in the Inner City?” Lin Hui really didn’t know much about this. His father used to supply oil to the Inner City and didn’t have the chance to enter often.

In his childhood memories, the Inner City was mysterious, towering, and majestic, inhabited by wealthy and powerful people. Occasionally, his father would bring him some novel small toys, such as a rattle-drum that beat automatically or a blue fish pendant that glowed automatically at midnight.

He didn’t know anything else.

“The Inner City… ah, there are so many good things in there.” Huang Shangying sighed with emotion. “Clothing, food, housing, transportation, entertainment—everything inside is more than a grade higher than outside. Resources and materials sent in from outside can only be sold as the most ordinary or even inferior goods after being processed inside.”

He turned around and took an object from a drawer in the counter.

It was a feather of some unknown bird, sky-blue throughout. Inside the quill, some kind of pale blue viscous liquid seemed to be flowing.

“This is Feather Blood from the Inner City. One feather is worth between five hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand qian. It’s a highly sought-after item with supply falling short of demand. Do you know what it’s used for?”

“I don’t know…” Lin Hui shook his head, his eyes fixed on the Feather Blood. He felt an inexplicable sense of radiation from it.

It was like getting close to a red-hot stove in winter; the fine hairs all over his body seemed to stand up, the sensation very obvious.

“This is a bloodline extract that most Inner City residents possess. Or rather, this is the threshold to becoming a true Inner City resident. People from the Outer City can become Inner City residents by buying a house and proving their identity, but after entering, you still have to continuously spend money to buy this, inject yourself, and increase the proportion of Feather Blood in your body. Otherwise…”

He sighed.

“Otherwise, you will only be eliminated in the Inner City.”

“Why? Is there some troublesome danger in the Inner City?” Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, curious.

“Have you ever thought about it? Since the Inner City has a power that can isolate the mist, the closer one gets to this power, can ordinary people really be safe and sound? Can they pay no price and be unaffected?” Huang Shangying sighed.

“…” Lin Hui understood immediately. This Feather Blood might be a drug similar to an antidote for counteracting the radiation of the Inner City’s power, requiring long-term injection and maintenance.

“Summoners don’t need this. Many residents in the Inner City whose ancestors were Summoners don’t need it either. But once the concentration of the Summoning Bloodline drops below thirty percent, they must purchase this item, otherwise they will be eliminated and driven out to the Outer City,” Huang Shangying whispered.

Lin Hui’s heart tightened. A new label was added to his original impression of the Inner City.

That was cruelty.

“And if this item is injected in advance outside the city, it can slowly increase the Summoning Bloodline in one’s body. If injected enough to reach over thirty percent, one can easily obtain Inner City residency qualifications,” Huang Shangying said calmly. “Without the rigid requirements of buying a house and identity proof.”

“Then, may I ask the Steward, how many injections are needed to…”

“I don’t know either, but don’t even think about it without fifteen or twenty. Moreover, after entering the Inner City, the bloodline will also slowly decline. You still have to continuously inject new Feather Blood.”

“Do Internal Force Realm martial artists need it too?”

“Same.”

Lin Hui fell silent.

Next, Huang Shangying showed him some unique products of the Inner City.

Such as exquisitely shaped pastries, amulets said to have a blessing effect, black mushrooms full of honeycomb holes with a pungent smell, small white jade-colored human skulls the size of eggs, etc.

Giving Lin Hui a new update on his impression of the Inner City.

Half an hour later, he finally left the Illusion Restaurant. He went back home to take a look, but his parents weren’t there, and only a newly hired girl was watching the shop. She said they went to restock.

Helplessly, Lin Hui returned to the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

Along the way, he saw those strange child temples popping up from time to time again.

In Xinyu Town alone, he encountered three on the way.

In front of these temples, some wanderers with lazy expressions and blank eyes gathered.

They clearly emitted a faint rotting smell similar to a disease.

Lin Hui had seen a lot of that smell when cleaning the Boundary Zone before.

Returning to his small courtyard in one breath, he put down the silver notes he had exchanged for, hid the remaining four-armed barbarian materials, and then went out to join the sword practice.

However, during sword practice, he couldn’t control his mind from flashing images of that Feather Blood.

For several days in a row, he pondered whether entering the Inner City was a correct choice to ensure safety. If the foundation wasn’t solid, entering the Inner City might eventually lead to being eliminated.

Judging from the Feather Blood, this was the key.

Just as he was immersed in the hesitation of whether to enter the Inner City or not, on the fourth day, the first move of the Clear Wind Sword Style completed its evolution.

---

Spring rain fell continuously, bringing out diagonal lines, evenly spreading over the rear courtyard training ground of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

Lin Hui stood under a tree holding his sword, seemingly resting, but in reality, after finishing Body Tempering, he was checking his own status information.

As his use of the blood-red mark became increasingly proficient, he could now easily list the information he mastered into a status for unified viewing within the blood-red mark.

At this moment, lines of blood-colored text constantly emerged and reflected in his lower field of vision.

‘Lin Hui —

Mastered Martial Arts: Perfected Seven-Section Quick Sword, Perfected Nine-Section Quick Sword. Clear Wind Sword Style (Incomplete)

Mastered Abilities: Sealing Formation Toxin.

Mastered Items: …’

In this status bar, the blood-red mark only displayed the things he had evolved, and those not evolved through the blood-red mark were not shown.

At this moment, Lin Hui concentrated his attention on the Clear Wind Sword Style item and gently simulated a click.

Chii.

The options unfolded.

‘Clear Wind Sword Style First Move: Boundless Wind Direction, evolution complete. (Body Tempering effect will evolve as a whole after completing the evolution of all eighty-one moves)’

Reading the blood-red mark’s explanation, Lin Hui wasn’t disappointed. Anyway, he hadn’t tempered his body to the limit with the Seven-Section Quick Sword yet, so there was no rush for now.

Looking around, most people had left. Those ordinary students who came just to practice casually had finished class and gone to eat.

(End of Chapter)