Perilous Situation II (Thanks to Alliance Leader Drink a Bowl of Porridge Tonight)

"In their eyes... the Clear Sword has its limits. Entering the Inner Strength Realm is its ceiling. But unfortunately, in my eyes, the Clear Sword has no limits..."

Lin Hui sighed inwardly.

"In the end, safety can only be relied on oneself. Relying on others is unreliable."

Closing his eyes, he adjusted his breathing and tried to sleep, but he still felt somewhat unaccustomed to it and could not fall asleep.

After tossing and turning for a long while, he simply got out of bed, picked up his sword, and practiced a set of the Clear Sword Technique. Only then did he feel refreshed all over, and he dropped onto the bed and fell asleep.

Early the next morning.

As soon as Lin Hui got up, he saw a young girl of barely thirteen or fourteen, her hair tied in twin buns. Wearing a pale-blue long dress fastened with frog buttons, she was waiting in the little courtyard outside his bedroom door.

"Young Master Hui, this servant is Ding Ning—Ding as in surname Ding, Ning as in peace. Master arranged for me to serve you. If you need anything, you may instruct this servant to handle it." The little girl hurried forward and bowed with bent knees.

"Ding Ning... a fine name. Understood. Go brew the All Essence Powder Old Man prepared for me and bring it over," Lin Hui instructed.

The All Essence Powder Lin Shunhe had promised him yesterday to boost his energy was perfect for testing whether it truly worked on him.

After reaching the limits of Body Tempering, Lin Hui had not felt the sensation of increased energy for quite some time.

The Blood Seal's pace of evolving one move every four days had never changed. If this medicinal powder worked, perhaps it could further shorten the Blood Seal's evolution time.

"Yes. I'll ask in the rear kitchen." Ding Ning promptly agreed.

Lin Hui washed up and dressed himself, then began practicing his sword.

Because the Blood Seal's evolution took a long time, aside from practicing swordsmanship, he often spent his idle time studying and pondering the principles behind Body Tempering.

The Body Tempering principles of the perfected Seven Section Fast Sword were exceptionally wondrous. It was clearly just a routine sword form only slightly more difficult than the ones from his previous life, yet using the correct points of exertion could actually produce the remarkably mystical effect of Body Tempering.

This made Lin Hui intensely curious about these so-called points of exertion.

After extensively comparing the differences between the original and perfected versions' points of exertion, he carefully recorded and tested them, discovering a trace of the Seven Section Fast Sword's Body Tempering secret.

After practicing the Seven Section Fast Sword once more and reflecting on the conjecture in his heart, Lin Hui began training the Clear Sword Technique.

Half an hour later, Ding Ning hurried into the courtyard carrying a pot of medicinal broth. She also brought a finely made soup dumpling and a small bottle of sour plum juice.

Lin Hui ate breakfast first, then lifted the bowl of All Essence Powder broth and drained it in one gulp.

After resting for a while, he waved Ding Ning off to eat breakfast herself. Lin Hui sat cross-legged on a stone bench in the little courtyard as threads of warmth gradually began to rise within his abdomen.

That warmth continuously spread through every part of his body like ripples on water. The slight exhaustion brought on by his earlier intense sword practice swiftly dissipated beneath the washing flow of the warm current.

Lin Hui's heart stirred, and he quickly summoned the Blood Seal.

Words from the Blood Seal appeared at the bottom of his field of vision.

"Clear Sword Technique, forty-seventh move—Cloud Dispels Mist. Evolution complete."

"It really works!" Joy flashed across Lin Hui's face as he sprang to his feet.

He had only started evolving this move the day before yesterday. Yet now, on only the third day, its evolution was complete!

He had checked just after getting up, and it had still been evolving. Yet not long after drinking the medicine, the evolution was finished.

"Was it a coincidence?"

Feeling the warmth still spreading through his body, Lin Hui did not think so.

Without another word, he continued strengthening the next sword move.

Soon, the Blood Seal's evolution time appeared.

Clear Sword Technique, forty-eighth move—Cloud Mist Emerges from Sea. The required evolution time was still four days, unchanged.

But the warm currents within his body seemed to have found a new target, continuously flooding toward his heart at high speed.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes.

Whoosh.

Lin Hui watched helplessly as the remaining evolution time in the Blood Seal's text rapidly dropped from four days to three.

Only then did the warm current in his abdomen slowly dissipate and vanish.

"One dose of medicine can save roughly two days of evolution time. Not bad, not bad!" Lin Hui was delighted. After all this time, he had finally found something capable of reducing the Blood Seal's evolution time.

He had actually taken medicinal ingredients in the past that claimed to replenish energy, but none had worked. Now it seemed their age had been insufficient, leaving their medicinal potency too weak.

"Since the All Essence Powder works, I'll have to stock up and take more of it from now on..."

Lin Hui made up his mind.

Over the next two days, he took the All Essence Powder twice more at Old Man's place, saving another four days of evolution time.

Because he had consumed it too quickly, the medicinal ingredients were temporarily depleted. Lin Hui simply asked carefully about the prescription and learned that it lacked an ingredient called tree scorpion tail. This ingredient was also the most expensive in the entire prescription, taken from a Mist Zone monster called a Tree Scorpion.

Without hesitation, he asked about the Tree Scorpions' range of activity. It happened to be in the fringe Mist Zone in the direction of another town.

It was also the perfect time to avoid You Ying from the Inner City, as well as the Hundred Flowers Sect's search party.

He had rarely visited the other towns anyway, so he might as well go out and stretch his legs this time—his first journey far from home.

The discovery that All Essence Powder could help his Blood Seal evolve filled Lin Hui with great enthusiasm for hunting Tree Scorpions.

If he could take two packets of All Essence Powder a day, wouldn't that mean he could evolve an entire move in a single day? He could finish the remaining moves of the Clear Sword Technique in no time at all. And with medicinal acceleration, he could even dare try those things whose Blood Seal evolution times were extremely long.

Of course, any medicine would eventually produce drug resistance. He would need to look for other prescriptions as future substitutes.

The moment he thought of it, he acted.

Lin Hui immediately bade his parents farewell, left home with some simple provisions and banknotes, and hurried toward the Fog Zone where the Tree Scorpions lived.

The distant town bordering that direction was called Stone Bridge Town.

Stone Bridge Town lay three towns away from Xinyu Town. It was quite far, and for such a long journey, he had to buy an ox cart.

Originally, Lin Hui had planned to rush there alone using his movement technique. But since he was unfamiliar with the route, on his first trip he still went to the market and bought an ox cart. He joined several traveling merchants also bound for Stone Bridge Town, forming a small caravan before swiftly setting off.

Early in the morning, before the sky had fully brightened and just as the mist dispersed, a small caravan of five ox carts set out along the muddy roads of Xinyu Town at an unhurried pace.

The ox carts were entirely black, their compartments sealed shut.

The black oxen pulling them were draped in thick leather coverings as well. Like old oxen wearing leather overcoats, all they had to do was pull the caps over their heads at night to completely cover themselves for the night.

Lin Hui sat upright on the last small ox cart, seated in the driver's position with a whip in hand, following the four carts ahead all the way forward.

The black ox he had bought was old and slow-footed, but it was steady and pulled the cart smoothly without jolting—perfect for him to sit cross-legged and rest.

This trip, he only needed to obtain enough Tree Scorpion tails. Old Man could make up the rest of the medicinal ingredients.

In truth, if he was not in a hurry, he could simply wait for Old Man to get them. But since he could speed up the collection himself, Lin Hui felt there was no need to waste time. Accelerating his evolution as soon as possible was the true path.

And to avoid the trouble that came with traveling in a group, he simply went alone.

"I hope Master's side doesn't stir up any trouble." Along the way, he thought of the expedition team from the Inner City and the Hundred Flowers Sect's search party, and could not help worrying that his senior sister might run into trouble.

Though he had warned her before leaving, they were still far too close...

The journey passed without incident. It took Lin Hui two days to drive his cart to Stone Bridge Town.

After leaving the ox cart at a carriage house, he took only his sword and an empty bag and headed straight for the Fog Zone outside town.

Gray mist filled the air. Within the spherical hollow supported by Ning Xiang, Lin Hui gripped his sword and walked slowly forward.

His expression was alert as he listened constantly for any movement around him.

"Tree Scorpions aren't Harmless Grade monsters, but Harassment Grade. This grade corresponds to Inner Strength Realm experts... Killing just one lets me combine it with the other herbs to make ten packets of All Essence Powder. It's an excellent bargain..."

Materials from a Harassment Grade monster could fetch more than a hundred thousand in gold for a single one. That was precisely why the income earned by Inner Strength Realm experts through hunting far surpassed that of ordinary martial artists.

But likewise, the risks were great. Compared with the steady income of teaching at a martial arts school, if one encountered a pack-dwelling monster while hunting outside, the outcome...

It was only because Lin Hui had confidence in his movement speed that he dared come here alone.

On one hand, he was here for the materials. On the other, he intended to test the full extent of his current strength.

Especially the poison from the Sealing Array—he had never used that trump card in actual combat. If he did not test it in battle, then when he truly needed it against an Inner Strength Realm opponent, he might fail at the crucial moment.

He had to determine beforehand when to use it, how to follow up after using it, and so on.

After advancing slowly for more than ten minutes, Lin Hui vaguely heard the sound of weapons colliding in the distance to his right. But the sound quickly faded away and vanished.

He paused warily. Only after confirming that nothing was approaching this way did he continue onward.

The Fog Zone here was filled with black dead trees of varying thicknesses. The withered trees formed a forest, mist drifting between them while the ground was carpeted with dead leaves.

Each step produced a crisp crunch, and from time to time he had to reach out and brush aside thin branches blocking his way.

With one hand, Lin Hui placed Ning Xiang into the special leather clasp on his belt. Then, gripping his sword with both hands, he crossed an upward slope.

Ahead lay a massive fallen tree trunk. More than a meter thick, the enormous trunk stretched deep into the mist, its full length impossible to see.

Many portions of its rough black surface had already rotted away, sprouting unknown grayish-white fungi.

The trunk blocked the path. To its right stood a crooked wooden sign, bearing slanted, scrawled words: Ten Thousand Blood Valley ahead. Danger Grade: Harassment.

The lettering was red, striking and clear.

"This is the place." Lin Hui took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his sword, lightly leaped over the trunk, and walked inside.

He had gone barely a dozen meters.

Hiss!

A streak of black light flashed in from the right, shooting toward his chest.

The black light was incredibly fast. It shot out from the mist, passed through the hollow held open by Ning Xiang, and arrived in an instant.

Such speed far surpassed that of any opponent Lin Hui had encountered before. Even Master Mingde's attack speed could not compare to this streak of black light.

But he was no longer the man he had once been. Having completed the Body Tempering of the Seven Section Fast Sword, both his reaction speed and movement technique had reached heights ordinary people could scarcely imagine.

The instant he saw the black light fly from the mist, he activated the effect at the same time.

"Feather Transformation!"

In a flash, the Clear River Sword in his hand swept upward, its tip striking the black light with perfect precision.

A tremendous impact surged through the sword tip, nearly knocking Lin Hui's hand aside with it, but he still forcibly flicked it away.

Whew.

At the same time, a colossal black shadow over four meters tall slowly crawled out of the mist before Lin Hui.

It was a gigantic black scorpion clad in black armor from head to tail, its raised tail swaying from side to side!

"So this is the Tree Scorpion?!"

Lin Hui narrowed his eyes as the intelligence he had gathered beforehand flashed through his mind.

This was his first time facing an uninjured, complete Inner Strength Realm opponent head-on—and one of the stronger ones at that. Perhaps this would reveal the upper limit of his true strength...