Chapter 301 |
Three days had passed since the Clear Emerald floating mountain successfully ascended into the sky.
Just as the situation began to stabilize, Lin Hui received an urgent report from the outside world.
"The Federation Assembly's crusade against the Mingxin Society has failed."
Liu Wujun had delivered the message in person. He dropped into the seat across from Lin Hui, picked up a cup of tea, and drained it in one swallow, his whole bearing visibly deflated.
"Failed?" Lin Hui kept his eyes closed, still working through his comprehension of the Sacred Form of Heaven.
Ironically, the more turbulent the outside world grew—and the higher the death toll climbed—the more people pulled strings to secure a place on Clear Emerald Mountain. It was shielded by the top-tier protective arrays of the Clear Wind Dao. Aside from the mild inconvenience of the move, there were no real drawbacks. In times of extreme peril, that kind of isolation was exactly what people needed to feel safe.
"Yeah, it failed. The Assembly Speaker and the Society Master of the Mingxin Society both took heavy losses. The Society Master had his true body destroyed three times—but each time he was blown apart, he reformed into a new, specialized state, his strength surging with every revival. And with an endless draw of Sea Cry energy at his disposal, he weathered the Assembly Speaker's assault and, aided by a giant tentacle reaching out from a Sea Cry rift, forced him to retreat." Liu Wujun sighed.
"Reformed three times..." Lin Hui cracked his eyes open slightly. "So he wasn't using his full strength back in Black Cloud."
"For someone at that level—and an Emperor Blood, no less—why would he ever show all his cards? Men like that have access to top-tier Relics and resources practically at will. Hidden depth is the rule, not the exception." Liu Wujun stretched back.
Lin Hui's current position commanded direct access to the Great City Lords. Liu Wujun had good reason to ask.
"Nothing alarming nearby. For now, just go out as little as possible. If you have no pressing matters, stay here on Clear Emerald Mountain—I've laid arrays throughout; it's safe." Lin Hui's tone was easy but final.
"I know. Truth be told, the Lin and Liu families both owe you everything... without you, this time..." Liu Wujun trailed off, his voice dropping.
"We're family. No need for that kind of talk," Lin Hui said with a quiet laugh.
Liu Wujun drifted through domestic affairs for a while longer. This man—once the Rain Palace's most celebrated talent—had slowly grown wistful with the years.
Lin Hui simply sat and listened. He heard about his brother's master, laid up for a year with injuries that refused to fully heal. He heard about Liu Wujun taking in a female disciple, only to find his feelings toward her growing decidedly improper—the girl was so attentive and capable that the whole arrangement felt less like teaching and more like finding a wife. Beyond that, there was a string of troubles in the Rain Palace: more and more elders succumbing to Corruption, spheres of influence shrinking on all fronts, and the loss of numerous mining and resource points driving increasingly strict rationing.
Lin Hui said little, offering only occasional sounds of acknowledgment. He cultivated quietly while his older brother vented.
It wasn't until Li Yuanyuan arrived—transmitting softly through Wind Chime sound transmission to announce a visitor—that Liu Wujun finally swayed to his feet and took his leave. He was now on the verge of Vice Palace Master. Under ordinary circumstances, reaching that threshold would take fifty years at a minimum. But in recent years, far too many people had died.
After his brother left, Lin Hui looked toward Li Yuanyuan.
"Who is it?"
"An esteemed guest, Dao Master," she transmitted softly.
Lin Hui stilled. His mind-spirit extended through the surrounding area, yet he had detected no one approaching.
"Bring them in," he said.
A moment later, Li Yuanyuan led in a somewhat familiar masked old man.
"Forgive me for not coming sooner, Dao Master. I have made certain preparations in advance before seeking this visit." It was Black Face of the Benevolent Heart Sect—absent for quite some time now.
"So it's you," Lin Hui said, smiling. "I was quite pleased with the gift last time."
The Benevolent Heart Sect's willingness to deliver White Fox had been a gesture of real sincerity. In the time since, through close cooperation with his father, Lin Shunhe, they had supplied a considerable quantity of medicinal goods at short notice. On the whole, the Benevolent Heart Sect had proven itself a reliable channel.
"As long as the Dao Master is satisfied." Black Face smiled, standing slightly stiffly in the courtyard. "I have come today on behalf of the sect to convey the greetings of the Federation's central branch—and also to ask whether you might be willing to shelter a small number of our fellow sect members here in Black Cloud."
Lin Hui understood immediately.
The escalating disasters were pushing important figures within the sect to prepare contingencies. Black Cloud was stable and secure, and so they had sent an envoy to establish a channel—reserving refuge in advance, in case the situation elsewhere grew untenable.
"Fine." He had no objection. "Keep the numbers modest. And once they enter Black Cloud, what happens to them afterward is not my concern."
"Of course, of course," Black Face replied quickly.
"Does the sect have any intelligence on the Sea Cry or the Mingxin Society?" Lin Hui asked.
"We do. The latest reports say the Mingxin Society has successfully allied with the Mist God coalition. Six Mist Gods of immense divine power now form the alliance's highest echelon, with the Society Master of the Mingxin Society at their head."
"Immense divine power?"
"The six most formidable Mist Gods presently within the Federation each lead their own pantheon. Their strength is absolutely terrifying. They once united and fought the Federation's legions—led by the Mistborn Emperor himself—for a hundred years, withdrawing in the end only from sheer exhaustion. Since then, they have held vast tracts of territory beyond the cities." Black Face paused. "In truth, though the Taisu Federation is nominally ruled by the Mistborn, a far greater portion of the Federation's territory belongs to the Mist Gods. We survive only within the small safe zones built around the urban districts."
This was accurate. Lin Hui nodded—he had long suspected that Mist God-held territory dwarfed anything the Mistborn controlled.
"And is there any word on Great City Lord Xie Chang'an, since the Federation mobilized against the Mingxin Society?"
"There is. City Lord Xie and his companions were ambushed on their way back. While attempting to save someone, he was encircled in force and is temporarily trapped. Given his strength, however, he should be able to break free before long," Black Face replied.
"Very well. You may go." Lin Hui nodded.
The Benevolent Heart Sect remained a solid channel for medicines, and their conduct had been consistently excellent. This much, he was willing to grant them.
"Many thanks, Dao Master. Before I leave—might I ask what the requirements are for joining Clear Emerald Mountain?" Black Face ventured.
"Become a disciple of the sect," Lin Hui said with a faint smile.
Black Face nodded, bowed once more, and backed out of the courtyard before turning and disappearing.
Lin Hui was quiet for a moment. He rose slowly and vanished from the spot.
He moved through the courtyard gates, along the covered corridors, and into an open-air detached courtyard at the far end. The grounds were filled with flowerbeds, but every plant within had withered to bare stems. A frail female figure crouched among them, methodically cutting away the dead growth one branch at a time.
She sensed his arrival and turned around.
It was Xia Si. She had grown noticeably thin.
Her expression was cool and composed, yet something fierce still burned in her iron-gray eyes. She wore a set of Clear Wind Dao female disciple robes, with the hem and cuffs cut short for ease of movement.
"You've come, Dao Master. Have you decided to let this disciple out?" Her voice was calm, stripped of inflection.
Over the years of her confinement, Lin Hui had periodically brought her out to study the mechanics, propagation, and polluting vectors of Ash. At first, these summons came frequently. As his understanding of Ash deepened, they grew rarer.
Throughout, her cultivation had remained sealed.
He had revoked her three basic seals and confined her within the Dao Academy under close observation. Her cultivation was entirely suppressed and dispersed—she could not condense a Web. The Web was the foundation from which all martial progress began. Without it, she could neither channel Ash nor wield martial True Force; any attempt to touch that unfiltered, unknown power directly would reduce her to cinders.
It left her as an ordinary person in all but name. Beyond a slightly toughened constitution, she had nothing.
"Do you still hate me?" Lin Hui smiled, entirely unbothered.
"The Dao Master is far-sighted. It is not a question of hatred." Xia Si had clearly done a great deal of thinking during her years of confinement. "I've had time to reflect. What happened back then was not your fault. The anger I felt toward you came more from my own ambition and resentment—and from the influence of Ash."
"I'm glad you can see it that way. I've come because there is something I need you to handle. Do it well, and your confinement ends today." He sent the words through a private transmission.
A light moved through Xia Si's eyes.
"Please speak, Dao Master."
She was no fool. Years of solitude had given her clarity about what she truly wanted. Stripped of her cultivation, she had been quietly tending her spirit in seclusion, holding herself ready for a moment like this.
"Great chaos is coming. I need you to travel to Tuyue and move everything from the maze ruins back here. Do that, and you are free. Go wherever you wish and focus entirely on your own growth." Lin Hui's smile was faint.
As the chaos outside worsened, the population of Clear Emerald Mountain had grown. The currents of life and death moving through its residents were slowly forming a self-sustaining cycle—new births, more frequent deaths, the occasional flicker of Corruption. Watching that cycle of emergence and dissolution had allowed him to glimpse something of the endless turning of all things.
The manifestation of the Nether Acupoint had drawn those threads together further, giving him a nascent comprehension of the vital energy needed for the third layer of the Star Breath Sword Canon.
Now that the great chaos was almost upon them, he saw no reason to keep Xia Si confined in the sect, where monitoring her was a steady drain on his mind-spirit. Releasing her to develop freely, and drawing on what she accumulated at intervals, was the more efficient approach. With the law seals binding her, any true betrayal was impossible regardless.
That said, it would not hurt to add one small safeguard—just in case.
His eyes settled on Xia Si as she weighed her answer.
He raised a hand and pointed.
Chi.
A fleck of black light slipped into her forehead and vanished.
"You—!" She stumbled back, mouth opening on a shout—and nothing came out. Her voice died the instant it formed, sealed inside a sliver of compressed space.
This was a technique Lin Hui had quietly developed as his cultivation climbed into new territory: by manipulating the air itself, he could create a vacuum and sever the transmission of sound entirely. Without a medium, the voice simply ceased to exist.
He lowered his hand with a smile. "Don't be alarmed. It's only a small precaution."
Xia Si clenched her jaw. After a moment, she pressed her anger down. Resistance was pointless, and she knew it.
She had spent years analyzing the past with nothing else to occupy her. She knew exactly what manner of man Lin Hui was.
To those he considered his own, he was gentle, reliable, and easy to approach. To those he considered expendable, he was capable of a coldness that had no bottom.