Decaying World-Chapter 43

Before long, as time ticked by.
Lin Hui heard the sounds from the mist ahead gradually fade, the roars of the barbarians disappearing.
He exhaled gently.
They have some skill... three mutated four-armed Mist Barbarians, resolved easily.
Lightly jumping down from the tree branch, he turned and walked toward the distance.
Since they can endure so well...
Then let them endure a few more times.
Chi.
With a soft sound, his figure vanished silently into the mist.
Even for the current him, without activating his special effects, soloing a mutated four-armed barbarian would take a good while to finish off. Those two had resolved three so easily; they were indeed formidable enemies.
And his only advantage lay in his speed.
So.
….
Clang!
Wan'er held her knives with both hands, instantly brushing past the four-armed barbarian's waist, carving out a massive gash.
Blood splashed, the wound presenting an explosive, blooming effect—clearly invaded by some special force.
Bang.
This final four-armed barbarian let out a thoroughly wretched howl and crashed face-first to the ground. It breathed no more.
Wan'er panted heavily, flicking the blood off her blades as she looked toward Grandma.
Over there, another four-armed barbarian had long since fallen dead. Grandma, an expert of the Internal Force Realm, wore a gloomy expression as she scanned the surroundings to check the situation.
"Grandma?"
"Three mutated barbarians appearing at once... either we crashed into a small pack, or someone is causing trouble in the dark!" Grandma said, her face cold and dark.
"You mean that kid just now?" Wan'er frowned deeply.
"Clear Wind Temple's movement techniques are good, so it's possible he lured these barbarians here. But theoretically, while Clear Wind Temple is fast, facing four-armed barbarians isn't easy for them either. Fast doesn't mean
that
fast; luring so many in such a short time isn't realistic..."
She calculated in her heart. That kid just now was young; no matter how strong his movement technique, he couldn't be in the Internal Force Realm. And below the Internal Force Realm, the limit of movement speed was set in stone. She had gone to watch that so-called strongest disciple, Chen Sui, fight the Black Dragon Gate disciples a few days ago. It was nothing special.
"Maybe we really did encounter a small pack. Be careful." Grandma said in a deep voice. "If..."
Roar!
Before she could finish, two more four-armed barbarians charged out sideways, waving giant clubs as they smashed toward the two.
Having fought continuously, the two women had consumed considerable stamina. They wanted to shake them off, but Wan'er's movement technique wasn't fast enough to break the barbarians' line of sight in a short time.
"Can't do it! We must retreat first!" Grandma’s palm lit up with white light, ruthlessly smashing a barbarian over. Turning her head, she shockingly saw two Thousand-Legged Eyeballs lunging over as well.
These monsters were the most troublesome. If one's movement speed wasn't fast enough, killing them meant being caught in their self-destruction.
She could use Internal Force to protect herself, but Wan'er couldn't.
"Damn it!" This unusually dense monster attack made her clearly realize someone was playing tricks. Since that young kid didn't seem capable, it was likely another Internal Force expert causing trouble in the dark.
"Don't let me find out who! Retreat!"
Grandma grabbed the bag of collected materials, shouted once, and rushed rapidly in the direction of the Tuyue mist-free zone.
One in front and one behind, the two quickly broke away from the Thousand-Legged Eyeballs' pursuit. Their movement techniques were decent—though inferior to Clear Wind Temple, they were stronger than ordinary External Styles. As they skimmed across the ground, footprints resembling blooming flowers blossomed beneath their feet.
Clearly, this was also a special movement technique.
But they hadn't run far.
Three more three-meter-tall One-Horned Spiders, legs stamping densely, rushed out of the mist and pounced on them.
These One-Horned Spiders were massive, and most importantly, their movement speed was the fastest among the surrounding monsters, almost on par with the two women. And they could spit webs from a range.
Now, they had no choice but to slow down and fight, resolving these two monsters first.
But after killing for so long, even Grandma, an Internal Force expert, was panting and slightly exhausted.
Let alone Wan'er, who hadn't yet entered the Internal Force Realm.
"Wan'er, you go first! I'll block these two monsters and find you ahead after I finish them!" Grandma had to let her granddaughter leave the mist zone first to escape the danger.
They weren't far from the mist-free zone here; a sprint of a few hundred meters forward would reach it.
"Grandma, watch out for the person in the dark!" Wan'er knew staying would only be a burden. At this point, both were exhausted, and a choice had to be made. She immediately grabbed the material bag and broke into a run.
"Hmph!" Grandma flew up and slapped the back of a One-Horned Spider that tried to pursue, staggering it fiercely. Its carapace cracked, spilling milky-white blood.
Hiss!
That One-Horned Spider turned its head in anger, thoroughly provoked, and continued to pounce at her.
Its massive body was like a small ox cart, crashing forward with a boom.
Flowers Blooming in Four Seasons!
Grandma’s hands lit up with white radiance. She abruptly crouched, sliding under the One-Horned Spider.
In an instant, a large swathe of phantom images resembling white flower petals flew from her palms, smashing into the charging spider.
Bang!!
The large and small figures froze simultaneously, colliding together.
Then, with a loud crash, the One-Horned Spider’s eight legs snapped simultaneously under a massive force. It knelt on the ground, its body exploding, breath gone.
Huff... Huff...
Ahw had consumed too much Internal Force. Catching her breath slightly, she turned to dodge the collision of the other One-Horned Spider, leaped into the air, flipped, and delivered another fatal palm strike to its back.
Bang!
A cloud of white petal-like phantoms exploded. The second One-Horned Spider crashed to the ground, dead, its black carapace seemingly branded with a large patch of fragmented flower petals.
….
Meanwhile, Wan'er, who had run a distance ahead, stopped alertly in her tracks. She stared dead ahead at a figure blocking the path up the mountain.
"You finally dare to come out! Despicable guy!!" Wan'er’s eyes were ice-cold. She put down the material bag in her hand and rolled the wrists of her gloved palms.
The opponent's figure remained hidden in the mist, still not quite clear.
But to time the interception so precisely, he must be connected to the mastermind who lured the monsters just now.
So.
"Do you really think we're exhausted, so we had to split up and flee?" As Wan'er spoke, her heavily panting body calmed down rapidly. As if she had merely warmed up.
"Pity, I've disappointed you. Perhaps you aren't clear on what the strongest aspect of our Hundred Flowers Sect is. It's endurance!!"
Wan'er suddenly lunged forward, slamming a palm ruthlessly toward the figure in the mist.
The mist ahead dissipated rapidly, and the figure's form cleared just as quickly.
Whoosh!
Violent wind howled, revealing the figure instantly.
A gray-white fitted Daoist robe, a black longsword at the waist, long hair tied high, and a cold expression.
It was that Clear Wind Temple kid they had met earlier!
"It's actually you!! Damn it! You're finished! Clear Wind Temple is finished too!!" Intense anger flashed in Wan'er's eyes, and the force in her palm increased abruptly.
The Hundred Flowers Palm was characterized by endurance and armor-breaking capabilities, incredibly powerful in tough battles. As long as they engaged in close quarters, even the defense-heavy elites of the Black Dragon Gate wouldn't dare block two of her palms head-on!
As the fourth-ranked core disciple of the Hundred Flowers Sect, Wan'er had absolute confidence that she could resolve the battle instantly once she got close.
Clear Wind Temple's movement was fast, but once within a certain range, the Hundred Flowers Palm had plenty of ways to restrict that speed.
As a powerful palm technique that had emerged victorious from the crazy slaughter of countless External Styles, it had to possess methods and experience to deal with all kinds of martial arts. Otherwise, if its shortcomings were too obvious, it would have been drowned out and eliminated by the competition of numerous martial halls long ago.
The same applied to the Hundred Flowers Palm. As long as he entered her two-meter range and the
Flying Flowers and Falling Leaves
movement technique unfolded, the opponent would find it impossible to escape the palm's restriction and leave safely.
Moreover, she and Grandma had split up deliberately to lure out the saboteur in the dark, so...
She currently carried a massive killing weapon in her bosom as a trump card. As long as she got close, even an Internal Force Realm expert would...
In an instant, the distance between the two shortened rapidly. From ten meters, eight meters, five meters, four meters, three meters!!
Clang!
Finally, the sound of a sword.
In front of Wan'er, that figure drew his sword abruptly. The sword shadow brought out layers of afterimages, stabbing continuously toward her chest.
Looking to die!
Wan'er's eyes lit up. Clearly, the opponent didn't know that the gloves she wore were as light as feathers but incomparably tough, capable of pinching gold and breaking iron without hurting herself in the slightest. Once they truly engaged, if she touched the blade, she could disarm him in one move!
In Xingdao, the Hundred Flowers Palm was one of the renowned martial arts for catching a blade with bare hands. Against a mere Clear Wind Temple kid right now, as long as she touched him...
As the distance closed.
Longsword and palm were about to intersect rapidly, colliding fiercely—
Poof.
Wan'er's hand suddenly grabbed empty air!
That longsword was about to touch her hand, but in the blink of an eye, it actually shrank back!?
Shrank back!??
Wan'er grabbed nothing but air. Making a prompt decision, she unfolded the Hundred Flowers Palm move used to restrict movement.
Flower Shadow Trace!
She shouted low in her heart, shaking both hands abruptly. Two tough steel wires shot from the mechanisms on her wrists, flying toward the figure ahead.
These steel wires were mechanically driven, their flight speed far exceeding the ordinary. Within three meters, even if the Clear Wind Temple's movement was fast, it was impossible to dodge this!
But...
Chi chi.
After two sounds of breaking air, both steel wires missed simultaneously.
"Impossible!!" Wan'er's expression changed drastically. "Clear Wind Temple can't be this fast!! Who exactly are you!?"
"I am a person of the Clear Wind Temple. Do you want me to prove it to you?" Lin Hui slowly revealed himself from the empty space on the side, his previous figure fading away as an afterimage.
His heart moved. The more suspicious the opponent was, the more he affirmed his identity; this would surely produce a counter-effect.
His movement speed, after Body Tempering and using the Perfect Nine-Section Swift Sword, was already unnaturally fast.
Judging by the opponent's reaction, the current him shouldn't be weak. As for exactly what level he could reach, he still needed to compare more.
"Again!" He wanted to attempt more in his heart, immediately executing the Nine-Section Swift Sword again.
His figure instantly pulled out a series of afterimages, the sword tip stabbing toward the opponent's lower abdomen.
Chi!
But when the sword tip stabbed out, just half a meter from the opponent, it suddenly retracted.
Retracted again.
Puchi!
Opposite him, Wan'er struck air with another palm, her face turning pale. She had pulled a shoulder muscle from putting too much force into a missed strike.
Before she could recover, a new sword shadow took advantage of the moment she pulled her muscle, actually lunging again, stabbing toward her neck.
This strike was sinister and vicious, the timing was grasped extremely accurately; blocking was impossible.
Watching the sword shadow arrive almost at her neck, a mere dozen centimeters away—her skin could even feel the bone-chilling cold radiating from the tip.
"Ah!"
Wan'er abruptly threw an object outward with her right hand.
The object exploded upon leaving her hand, blasting open into a large patch of incredibly tough white silk netting, covering and shrouding the front.
But just then, Lin Hui's figure actually shrank back again!
And he had actively retracted the moment before that object was thrown.
Clearly, that sword just now was actually a feint!!!
Bang!!
The white silk net exploded, covering the front, catching nothing but air.
This trump card, under Lin Hui's probing, had fired a blank once again.
"Fuck!!" Wan'er's mentality collapsed. She leaped up and pounced violently, hands executing the Hundred Flowers Palm killing move.
But Lin Hui was still probing.