Lost II

The sword tip was steady, not harming the black ant in the slightest. Yet at the same time, a thread of transparent airflow identical to the one before shot from Lin Hui's fingertip, raced along the blade in an instant, and accurately plunged into the black ant's back through the sword tip.

Crack.

The black ant froze again.

A second later, it finally scuttled away into the distance in terror.

"Eh? That works too?" Lin Hui said in surprise, raising his sword again and pointing it at a black beetle elsewhere.

The beetle raised its massive pincers, about to resist, but the instant the sword tip touched it, it stiffened and stopped moving.

A second later, it turned and fled into the grass in fright.

"So it works through weapons too... That greatly expands its range of application. It only lasts one second, but as long as I touch their body, even the weakest disciple of Qingfeng Temple could strike twice in that second! That's enough to decide victory or defeat!"

Lin Hui was overjoyed.

This Sealing Array toxin appeared to use poisonous gas as its core to paralyze opponents, but in truth, it already faintly displayed traces of something supernatural.

At the very least, across both his past and present lives, he had never heard of poisonous gas being able to travel through a solid metal sword with no openings—and at such speed.

Delighted, Lin Hui tried it several more times, letting all the little insects in the surrounding grass experience what it meant to remain perfectly still.

Only after more than ten minutes did he sheath his sword and stroll leisurely back to the temple.

With this, aside from the lightness effect, he had gained another hidden killing move.

Next, he needed to consider what to evolve the Blood Seal into next. He could not leave it idle and waste it.

After eating at the dining hall, Lin Hui lay on the bed in his room and pondered carefully.

Without realizing it, his thoughts returned to the scenes of ordinary yet genuine civilian life he had witnessed while patrolling the town.

All that reality rested upon those seemingly fragile, tiny black-purple Jade Talismans.

"Wait, the Jade Talisman!?"

Lin Hui suddenly sat upright, his gaze locking onto the Jade Talisman stone hanging behind his door.

"What if I evolve the Jade Talisman?"

He immediately got out of bed and reached out to grip the purple-black stone behind the door.

Unknown Jade Stone: Can disperse the nighttime Mist and drive away Mist creatures. A highly specialized designed product; creator unknown. Evolvable branches: 1.

Lin Hui quickly opened the evolution branch.

1—Peace Stone: Can disperse the Mist over a wide area.

Required resources: one Unknown Jade Stone, one drop of insect blood, 20 years of stored vitality.

Required time: 20 years.

The instant Lin Hui saw twenty years, he helplessly released the Jade Talisman. And that insect blood—he had no idea what it even was.

"Looks like improving my body's overall vitality is still the proper path..."

He let out a breath and looked out the window. For some reason, a strange urge rose in his heart.

"Wait. Since the speed I can truly unleash now already surpasses Senior Brother and the others, why not try approaching the Mist myself?"

"If I can come into contact with even a trace of Mist, perhaps the Blood Seal can analyze it and obtain some clues."

"But before that, I should find people who have entered the Mist and ask about the situation."

As far as Lin Hui knew, the senior brother, the elders of the Ming generation, and even the temple master of Qingfeng Temple had all entered the Mist. Every year, the authorities also gathered skilled fighters into teams to explore it.

Thinking of this, Lin Hui's heart stirred. He had only just gained the benefits of the Sealing Array from the insect egg. If he could get his hands on even more good things, perhaps...

But then he thought of the Body Tempering rank he was rapidly improving.

"No rush... no rush. Once I raise Body Tempering to its limit, push my speed to the extreme, improve my standing in the temple, and obtain enough information on the Mist, I'll be far more certain."

Suppressing the impulse in his heart, Lin Hui calmed himself and took up the Clear River Sword, beginning to practice the Nine Section Fast Sword once more.

This time, he did not hesitate and directly used the Blood Seal on evolving the Nine Section Fast Sword.

Nine Section Fast Sword: An advanced version of the Seven Section Fast Sword, one of Qingfeng Temple's practical combat sword arts. Evolvable branches: 2.

This time, rather than evolving it move by move, Lin Hui tried evolving the entire sword technique in one go.

He opened the evolvable branches.

1—Perfect Version of the Nine Section Fast Sword.

2—Clear Sword Technique.

The evolution effects were exactly as he had expected. Lin Hui did not hesitate and directly chose option one.

Then the required resources and time appeared.

Required resources: one metal longsword, nine months of stored vitality.

Required time: nine months.

"It's shortened again!" Lin Hui was instantly overjoyed.

Previously, every move of the Seven Section Fast Sword required fifty days of evolution time. Now, a single move needed only thirty days. Since the Nine Section Fast Sword consisted of nine moves, nine months meant each move took only one month.

Sure enough, persistently tempering my body is effective! An inexplicable, profound satisfaction rose within Lin Hui.

"The Nine Section Fast Sword—quite a few front courtyard disciples have studied it for years without learning the full set. I only need nine months to master it completely, and it'll be the perfect version, far stronger than what ordinary front courtyard disciples possess. But geniuses like Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren mastered it in just two months. Compared to them, I'm still much slower."

Lin Hui secretly warned himself not to grow complacent. This shortened time made him suspect that his daily hard practice had already given the Nine Section Fast Sword itself a considerable degree of proficiency.

Without delay, Lin Hui swiftly made up his mind and began evolving the new sword art. The Blood Seal on the back of his hand changed from a diamond shape back into a circle.

Lightness, sealing, and now the evolution of the Nine Section Fast Sword—threefold gains left his mind unable to settle for the moment, so he immediately returned to his room to rest and calm his spirit.

The days passed once more. The temperature grew colder, and the skies became ever more overcast.

Disappearances in the Outer City continued to occur with alarming frequency.

As Lin Hui practiced his swordsmanship within Qingfeng Temple, he unknowingly raised his Body Tempering by another rank, reaching the Third Rank.

This brought him close to Chen Chong's Fourth Rank, as well as Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren's Fourth Rank. Yes, those two geniuses had also broken through during this period and reached the Fourth Rank.

Yet although he had advanced, there was no minor tournament ranking for the time being, so no one knew of his progress.

Still, the disappearances in the Outer City worried him. He therefore took two days off and went home to visit his parents.

Xinyu Town—Lin Shunhe's home.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back."

Lin Hui pushed open the courtyard gate. Seeing Yao Shan gathering laundry in the yard, he hurried over to help.

"Why are you back? Isn't it not time for your break yet?" Yao Shan was startled to see him.

"I just wanted to come home and take a look," Lin Hui answered casually. "Where's Dad?"

"He went out to watch the shop. Our family has opened a little general store now, mainly selling game, grain and oil, and miscellaneous goods. The earnings are pretty good." At the mention of this, Yao Shan immediately smiled.

"Come on, let's go take a look." Lin Hui pulled his mother along, glanced at the sky, and headed outside.

Yao Shan could not dissuade him, so she could only put down what she was doing and lead the way to the little shop.

The two chatted as they walked.

"Come to think of it, we really have that Wood Flower Gang man from last time to thank. These days, he and his sister always wander around near our shop whenever they have nothing to do. They don't collect protection money anymore, and whenever we run into even a little trouble, they take the initiative to deal with it. If you see the two of them, remember to thank them properly," Yao Shan reminded him.

"Alright, I know. By the way, Mom, do you know about the disappearance cases causing such a stir everywhere lately?" Lin Hui quickly asked.

"I do. How could I not? When your father first heard about the first disappearance, his face turned white with fright." Yao Shan sighed. "But later, he went out and asked around through his old connections, and only then did he feel at ease. The truth is, these disappearances happen every year. It's just that where we used to live wasn't nearby, so we never told you. What worried your father at first was that the slums near the outermost ring around here are the area where disappearances occur most often."

"Every year..." Lin Hui's earlier conjecture became increasingly clear in his mind.

Before long, the two headed into town. Passing rows upon rows of little shops along the street, they soon found the small store Lin Hui's Old Man, Lin Shunhe, had opened—Mountain River General Store.

The storefront was tiny, only wide enough for three people to enter or leave side by side. It was only five or six meters deep as well, and packed full of goods.

Lin Shunhe sat on a chair at the entrance, holding a small book and leisurely reading its pages.

Hearing footsteps, he turned his head and glanced over, thinking a customer had arrived. But when they came closer, a delighted smile immediately appeared on his face.

"A-Hui, why are you back?"

"I missed home, so I came back to take a look."

Lin Hui smiled and sat down. After briefly asking his parents about how things had been, he quickly changed the subject to the disappearance cases.

"I only managed to ask whether it was safe or not. If you want to know more details, though, there's an invitation here. You can go take a look." Lin Shunhe stood and fished out a simple black-paper invitation from behind the counter.

"Your eldest female cousin sent it over. She specifically addressed it to you."

"Eldest cousin?" Lin Hui froze.

"Of course. Who else besides her would remember you?" Lin Shunhe smiled. "She put together a small gathering herself. She heard that you were helping with town patrols and had also entered Qingfeng Temple's front courtyard, so she sent one to you too."

"What sort of people attend this little gathering?" Lin Hui asked.

"This is a small gathering your eldest cousin is holding in her own name. The people attending are all friends she has good personal relationships with. The fact that she's letting you go means she's probably trying to give you a hand. If you want to gather information, she's in the Sha Yue Sect and has now received a calling—around here, she's a figure everyone is scrambling to curry favor with. The friends she approves of will definitely be of enormous benefit to you. If you can befriend one or two of them, that would be a truly wonderful thing!" Lin Shunhe said seriously. "I had planned to send it to the temple for you in a couple of days, but since you happened to come back, just take it yourself."

"You mean the disappearance cases are connected to the Inner City? So Eldest Cousin might know something?" Lin Hui said thoughtfully.

"I never said that. It's just a guess. In any case, Hong Zhen is close to you. She's clearly trying to lend you a hand, so don't let her goodwill go to waste," Lin Shunhe reminded him.

"I know, Dad." Lin Hui picked up the invitation. A line of small characters was written on it: Azure Ink Tower, Heaven and Earth Private Room. January 11th, 10 a.m. Respectfully awaiting your presence.

"Oh, and I heard Lin Hongyu from the main family is getting engaged to a Chen Family descendant. Things are lively and bustling over there. They even sent someone earlier to invite us, but I turned them down." At the mention of Lin Hongyu, Lin Shunhe's tone abruptly cooled.

"Getting engaged?" Lin Hui gave a dry chuckle and said nothing. He merely tucked the invitation into his clothes.