Chapter 281
281 Shadow 3
Chapter 281 281 Shadow Three
a few days later.
Because of Lin Xiaoliu's matter, Lin Hui and Liu Xiao only stayed at the hot spring for one day before rushing back. They secretly checked on Xiaoliu's condition and were relieved to find out that there were no problems.
Lin Hui shared the same thought as his older brother regarding Song Yunhui: he was a troublesome vortex, and it was best not to even make contact with him.
So, at her father's insistence, Lin Xiaoliu was transferred to the martial arts academy where Lin Hui was nominally working, thus completely distancing herself from Song Yunhui.
Everything quickly settled down again.
What Lin Hui didn't expect was that while Xiao Liu was fine, there was a problem inside Qingfeng Dao.
"Xia Si is in trouble??"
On the jade sea, Lin Hui slowly stopped wielding the Ruyi Sword, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.
Every day, he would come to the Jade Sea to find a spacious, deserted place to practice his swordsmanship and comprehend the Holy Form of Annihilation.
Everyone knew his usual habits, so no one ever contacted or disturbed him at this time. But this time, Li Yuanyuan broke with tradition and sent a message through a wind chime.
“Yes, Senior Sister Xia was still here last night, and during the gathering she said some things that sounded outrageous to us, which led to Senior Brother Su Yaping reprimanding her. The two got into a fight. Senior Brother Su was slightly injured, and Senior Sister Xia left in anger and hasn’t returned yet,” Li Yuanyuan quickly said. “Normally, it’s normal for a strong person like Senior Sister to take some time to cultivate, but because we encountered a problem that required her permission, we tried to contact her today. However, we found that her residence looked like it had been burgled; it was completely ransacked, and there were bloodstains at the scene. I tried to contact her using the wind chimes, but there was still no response.”
Lin Hui tried to sense Xia Si through the mark. As the one who bestowed the mark by the sect leader, he could vaguely sense whether the mark he bestowed still existed, but that was all he could sense; he couldn't pinpoint its exact location.
After sensing it, he no longer cared.
"Don't worry, she's still here, she's just temporarily away from Black Cloud."
"I see, I understand now. I will inform the rest of my fellow disciples of this news," Li Yuanyuan said quickly.
Lin Hui, with the wind chimes broken, floats on the sea, gazing into the distance.
He wasn't worried about Xia Si at all; he just found it amusing. After investigating Xia Si's limitless power, he had confirmed that it was a corrupting power called Ash, a powerful external force similar to Purgatory and Extreme Cold.
With such immense power, it's impossible for her to be in any danger easily.
The key question is, if nothing happened, why was Xia Si's residence destroyed, bloodstains left behind, and now her whereabouts unknown?
'Interesting.' Lin Hui had a vague guess in his mind. 'Strive to become stronger, don't let me down.'
The more he understood the power within Xia Si, the more he felt that the complete condensation and enlightenment of the Saint of Annihilation should reside within him.
When Xia Si becomes stronger, and even stronger, the fruit will ripen, and that will be the day he harvests it.
*
*
*
Tens of thousands of miles away.
Amidst a raging storm, howling winds, and wave after wave of green spray crashing down, creating enormous splashes.
Seawater fell continuously like raindrops.
Amidst the raindrops, a pale golden figure floated high in the air, looking down, holding a black sword. It was Xia Si.
Her face was cold, and drops of blood mixed with raindrops dripped from the tip of her black sword.
"You're a persistent ghost! I only killed a few of you piece of trash, and instead of thanking me for cleaning up your mess, you sent people to hunt me down? Are all members of the Hexin Society so ungrateful?"
Amidst the waves below.
Two tall men, clad in exquisite, openwork emerald-green armor and wearing full-face helmets with horns, stood in different places, looking up at Xia Si, their emerald eyes gleaming with the same green light as the sea.
“Even if those three are useless, it’s not your place to lay a hand on them,” the man on the left said coldly. “Since you’ve chosen to kill, you must bear the consequences of being punished and held accountable by the organization.”
“According to the rules of the association, anyone who attacks a fellow member without going through the trial at the Sea King’s Court shall be sentenced to death!” Another man next to him took a giant two-meter-long halberd from his back.
"Rules? I don't even care about the rules of the Dao Master, why would I care about a mere outsider hiding in hiding like you!?"
Xia Si sneered and swung her black sword forcefully.
"My life is right here. If you're so capable, you can take it yourself."
"Insanity!"
Their eyes narrowed, and their figures flashed rapidly as they soared into the sky.
In an instant, the raging wind and waves mixed together, transforming into a chaotic mass of golden-green matter.
The terrifying destructive power of the Blood Ancestor level instantly affected an area within a hundred miles.
A moment later, the wind and waves subsided, and Xia Si's figure soared into the sky, quickly disappearing into the distant horizon covered in blood.
Before long, several more figures in dark green armor appeared in the sea.
"Damn it, even the two blue-blooded warriors couldn't capture her and were killed instead! This is a huge mess!"
"It seems we have no choice but to report this to the three Sea King generals!"
"Judging from the strength of the power left over from last time, it was clearly far from this level. How could it have improved so much in such a short time? There is at least a difference of nearly 100%! Who exactly is this Xia Si? Her growth rate is terrifying!" A woman in green armor held a disc-shaped object and looked at the numbers jumping on it, her expression becoming increasingly solemn.
"We absolutely cannot delay; report it immediately!"
The group quickly reached a consensus, and with a flicker of their figures, they disappeared from their original spot once again.
*
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*
Qingfeng Taoist Temple.
"There's nothing wrong with Madam's health. She's probably just been injured a lot recently, which has taken a toll on her body. As long as she eats well, rests well, and avoids excessive exertion, she'll be able to recover quickly."
Lin Hui listened to the renowned pharmacist from the inner city speak and nodded.
"Thank you, pharmacist. Yuanyuan, please see the guest out and pay the consultation fee."
Li Yuanyuan nodded and stepped forward, leading the elderly pharmacist away from the courtyard.
Lin Hui then turned to look at Liu Xiao. "It seems it's still my fault after all," he sighed.
"I told you I was fine," Liu Xiao laughed. "Actually, it all comes down to what Sister Gongsun said: my constitution is too weak. You're always so fast, strong, and have such great stamina, I can't keep up."
Lin Hui remained silent.
Every time he and Liu Xiao made love, they were never on the same wavelength. Often, Liu Xiao would have had hundreds of rounds before he could even get one.
That consumption ratio is something Liu Xiao would consider a miracle if he didn't believe it.
Especially recently, his physical condition has reached a new level.
"Let Yuanyuan come along too. If this continues, I might really be finished," Liu Xiao said helplessly, leaning against the pear tree trunk.
She paused, then shook her head. "No, even Yuanyuan isn't enough. Perhaps we need to bring Sister Gongsun in as well."
"Don't talk nonsense." Lin Hui was speechless. He wasn't very interested in matters between men and women. In fact, he was already satisfied with Liu Xiao.
"Alright, alright, but I don't think Sister Gongsun dislikes you either, so there's actually a pretty good chance. Are you really not going to consider it?" Liu Xiao said with a mischievous smile.
"Alright, if you keep doing this I'll come again?" Lin Hui raised his hand and pretended to tap her arm.
This action startled Liu Xiao so much that she immediately turned and ran away.
"You wait, go ahead and be arrogant now, but sooner or later I'll find someone to bring you down!" she said before fleeing.
Lin Hui was left standing alone in the courtyard, his smile slowly fading.
Not long after, Li Yuanyuan returned with the person she had brought.
"Master, there's been another development with Xiao Liu. We just received intelligence that Song Yunhui, despite being so far away, actually found Xiao Liu again and asked her to help him sense the state of a relic. As a result, the two of them were attacked at their meeting point, and the protector we sent was also attacked and fell unconscious. But strangely, when our people woke up, they found that Xiao Liu and Song Yunhui were both unharmed."
"Is only our protector unconscious?" Lin Hui asked.
"Yes."
"Interesting." Lin Hui pondered for a moment. "Go and investigate what happened while our people were unconscious."
"Yes." Li Yuanyuan nodded and was about to leave.
"By the way, are you about to break through to a higher level?" Lin Hui suddenly asked.
"Yes, I have mastered the Qingfeng Sword Technique, and the Kuangfeng Sword Technique has now reached the middle stage of Body Tempering. My physique seems to have experienced some chain reactions as a result, especially my innate racial talent," Li Yuanyuan replied solemnly.
"Clan talent? What is that?" Lin Hui immediately became interested. "I remember your clan is the Shadowhound clan, right?"
“Yes, my original talent was brief shadow transformation, which could last for three seconds each time, allowing me to avoid short-term fatal blows. This was already the longest duration in our clan,” Li Yuanyuan explained. “But recently, with the tempering of my body by the Gale Sword Technique, my shadow transformation can now last for more than two minutes. And I can also briefly bring external objects with me during the shadow transformation.”
"What's it like to become a shadow?" Lin Hui asked curiously.
“It’s like entering a very cold, dark world where everything is just black and white, and the way things exist depends solely on the size of their individual shadows,” Li Yuanyuan replied.
"Could you take me to experience it sometime?" Lin Hui asked.
“Of course, no problem.” Li Yuanyuan nodded.
Lin Hui wanted to ask something more, but suddenly his expression changed slightly, and he turned his head to look in another direction.
There, someone was unleashing a powerful aura without restraint, its energy soaring into the sky and causing the fog a thousand meters above to churn and surge.
"Another challenger. Have Su Yaping deal with him," Lin Hui instructed.
"Yes." Li Yuanyuan nodded and turned to leave the courtyard.
Lin Hui stood alone in the courtyard, turned around, and his human form vanished instantly.
One minute later.
He appeared on a vast, emerald-green sea of jade, thousands of miles away.
This is the very battlefield where Xia Si fought with someone before.
He couldn't actually sense the location of the magic seal, but he had intelligence gathered from various sources. The battle fluctuations here had a significant impact; the lingering aura disturbed passing fleets, and naturally, it reached him as well.
Suspended in mid-air, Lin Hui closed his eyes and carefully sensed Xia Si's presence.
I felt how that golden power turned everything to ashes, and then I compared it with my memories of cultivating the Star Breath Sword Manual in my mind.
hiss.
Gradually, a completely new, blurry human figure slowly emerged from behind him.
The humanoid form remained a white phantom, but compared to the Holy Form of Life, this humanoid form emitted a thick gray smoke, which gave off a strong, chilling, and deathly aura.
This is his progress in the Saint Form of Annihilation over the past few years. At this moment, with his comprehension of Xia Si's aura, the Saint Form of Annihilation began to break away from Lin Hui's back once again.
hiss.
Amidst the faint tearing sounds, the backs of the Saint of Annihilation and Lin Hui were constantly being torn apart by white, root-like threads.
It looked like only a third of the roots were left to detach completely. But then, the detachment stopped.
Lin Hui opened his eyes and sighed.
It's just a little bit short, but that little bit is more difficult than all the previous ones combined.
He had long known that, according to the steps in his memory, the Star Breath Sword Manual was a divine skill that became increasingly difficult and slow the more one practiced it.
But when faced with such slow progress, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.
Most importantly, if it were just a matter of slow progress, everything would be fine, at least he still had plenty of time. The problem is that the calamity energy brought by the Typhoon Sword Technique is still continuously eroding and assimilating his mind and body.
And this trend is getting stronger.
All of this must be achieved by using the progress of the Star Breath Sword Manual to suppress the progress of the Calamity Energy.
Ever since the last time the blood seal revealed information about the founder of the Nine Heavens Sect, Lin Hui has been extremely careful about the details regarding the disaster energy and wind calamity.
(End of this chapter)