Three choices.
Lin Hui was rarely this indecisive, but at this moment, he truly paused, his eyes fixed on the script surfacing from the Blood Seal.
‘I should click to check the time required first.’
He clicked on the detailed information of the three evolution branches one by one.
[1 — Clear Wind Sword Technique (Perfected Version). Required Resources: One steel sword, one year of Reserve Energy. Time Required: One year.]
[2 — Clear Wind Sword Technique (Purgatory Breath Version). Required Resources: One steel sword, five years of Reserve Energy. Time Required: Five years.]
[3 — Clear Wind Sword Technique (Extreme Cold Whispers Version). Required Resources: One steel sword, five years of Reserve Energy. Time Required: Five years.]
“As expected...” Lin Hui sighed inwardly. Looking at it this way, he basically had no choice but to pick the first one.
The time required for the others was too long. Five years—too long. Except for the Perfected Version, the return on investment for the other two routes was too low.
Since the final result would be the Perfected Version of the Clear Wind Sword Technique anyway, splitting it up for evolution was more efficient.
[Formless Wind Trend: Clear Wind first move starting form. Evolvable Branches: 1.]
[1 — Boundless Wind Trend: Perfect form of Formless Wind Trend. Required Resources: One steel sword, five days of Reserve Energy. Time Required: Five days.]
Seeing the new prompt information from the Blood Seal, Lin Hui instantly felt much more at ease.
Compared to when he first strengthened a move of the Seven-Section Swift Sword, a move of the Clear Wind Sword Technique now only required five days. This improvement was immense.
This was likely due to the increase in his total daily Reserve Energy, as well as the reduced difficulty in comprehending and learning the Clear Wind Sword Technique, which brought it down to needing only five days.
Moreover, with such a short time, he could flexibly pause the Blood Seal midway to evolve other items temporarily. It was much more convenient than evolving the entire Clear Wind Sword Technique at once.
Immediately, without delay, he confirmed the start of the evolution.
The Blood Seal script blurred slowly, then transformed into a countdown for the evolution of the first move, Formless Wind Trend.
After confirming, Lin Hui stopped looking. He closed his eyes and began to rest.
But just as he closed his eyes, he heard the swishing sound of his Master practicing swordplay in the outer hall.
“Dad, are you going to sleep or not? Practicing this late at night?!”
Senior Sister Weiwei’s voice drifted from outside, tinged with helplessness and a trace of anger.
“Almost there, soon, it’ll be done!” Daoist Mingde’s somewhat excited voice rang out faintly.
“...” Lin Hui was speechless.
He hadn't expected his perfected swordsmanship to touch his teacher so deeply—something the previous Seven-Section Swift Sword hadn't achieved.
Closing his eyes, he pondered the reason while gradually drifting into sleep.
He slept until dawn.
Early the next morning, just as the mist dispersed.
Lin Hui got up and quickly ate breakfast: a vegetable and meat pancake baked by Senior Sister Weiwei. Then, taking his waterskin and other prepared items, he left his teacher’s home and entered the rear grounds of Clear Wind Temple for morning practice.
Little Hu and Little Fatty had also arrived at the rear grounds simultaneously. They were already waiting there. Seeing Lin Hui approach, they hurried to bow.
“Morning, Senior Brother!”
“Morning, Uncle Lin!”
“Morning to you too. Today we continue practicing the Seven-Section Swift Sword from before.” Lin Hui patiently began to guide the two in basic training methods again. After correcting their mistakes slightly, he started his own ten repetitions of body tempering. Then he sheathed his sword and left the rear grounds ahead of time, before Weiwei and the other students arrived.
Today was the scheduled time for him to head into the mist zone for cultivation.
Carrying his sword and packing the prepared items into a cloth bag, Lin Hui strode toward the small path behind the Daoist temple.
Walking straight along the path through the small woods, he soon arrived at the spot where he had previously visited and carved "Lin Hui was here."
Ahead was one of the entrances to the mist zone.
Just as Lin Hui was about to enter, he suddenly saw two figures, one tall and one short, standing not far to the right in the woods, whispering in front of the mist.
The pair consisted of an elder and a youth; it seemed to be a master leading a disciple into the mist zone for experience.
This combination was actually quite common in the mist zone. Plus, since this was one of the relatively safer entrances nearby, quite a few people came here to enter.
Lin Hui had encountered similar groups when picking up items before, so he wasn't surprised to see them now.
Both were female. The older one had a hunched figure and a face full of wrinkles, gripping a refined iron black cane, her aura impressive.
The younger one had a cold, stern face and exquisite features. She held a short knife in each hand, wore brown leather armor, and her legs were wrapped in tight black leather pants. Her lower abdomen was protected by a silver-gray diamond-shaped skirt armor. Her equipment was quite complete—at least compared to the lightly dressed Lin Hui, it was much more formal.
Lin Hui saw them, and naturally, they noticed him too. Their gazes shifted, looking over.
Their eyes met and instantly withdrew; neither side had any intention of communicating.
“Master, that person is entering the mist zone without even preparing armor. Such confidence—his strength must be extraordinary.”
“Or maybe he’s just poor,” the old woman said abruptly. “There are actually quite a few ordinary martial artists like this who enter the mist zone to get rich. Especially recently, after those martial artists from Xingdao came over to seize the market.”
“Alright, I’ve said all I need to say. Once you go in, be careful of the monsters I warned you about. Remember, your goal is to gather and hunt monster materials as much as possible. Materials are the most important proof for your assessment after returning to the family. This concerns your ranking in the family inheritance,” the old woman instructed.
“Yes.” The woman nodded solemnly.
Swish.
Not far away, Lin Hui’s figure plunged headlong into the mist. When the two women looked over again, he was already gone.
Not long after, the two also entered the mist zone from their own position and vanished.
Hiss!
In the gray mist, a giant eyeball growing a mass of gray tentacles for legs sprinted wildly, rushing toward Lin Hui.
The giant eyeball was dark red all over. Its thick corneal surface was stuck with a large amount of dark yellow secretions, many of which dripped down wetly like mucus.
The entire eyeball was the size of a human head. Including the tentacles growing underneath, it was nearly two meters tall. It ran silently and swiftly.
Pu!
As it got close, the eyeball abruptly split open a slit at the bottom, shooting out a jet of pitch-black, highly toxic mucus.
The mucus shot out like an arrow, flying toward Lin Hui.
Before it even made contact, one could see the black mucus emitting wisps of white smoke, smelling incredibly foul.
‘Thousand-Legged Eyeball. Mainly attacks by spraying toxic mucus. Upon death, it self-destructs instantly, covering a radius of three meters. The explosion splatters toxic liquid, which is extremely corrosive and must not be touched.’
The teachings of his master, Mingde, naturally surfaced in Lin Hui’s mind.
This monster looked fragile, but among the four surrounding monsters, its danger level was actually the highest.
‘Fortunately, although the danger is great, inside the core of the Thousand-Legged Eyeball, there is a black crystal that is very valuable. It’s an important auxiliary ingredient for formulating many tonics. A single piece is worth a thousand to one thousand four hundred coins.’
In Tuyue, there were martial artists so poor that they came here specifically to hunt monsters, hoping to supplement their household income. If they were efficient enough, even after deducting the cost of Tranquil Incense, they could still make a decent profit by risking their lives for a day.
It was just that below the Internal Force Realm, the danger was still very great. Because, apart from Internal Force protection, other protective gear wasn't very effective against mist zone monsters.
Especially against highly toxic monsters like the Thousand-Legged Eyeball.
Lin Hui watched the venom shooting from the eyeball, sidestepped gently, and dodged it perfectly.
The venom splashed onto the ground behind him, instantly corroding a basin-sized pit in the gray-black mud and emitting a large amount of pungent toxic smoke.
‘Theoretically, with the speed and offense-defense of the Thousand-Legged Eyeball, I previously needed at least dozens of breaths circling to find a flaw and kill it in one blow. But now...’
Lin Hui raised his hand. The Clear River Sword unsheathed silently, a flash of silver light.
Chi!
His figure drew out a series of afterimages, instantly penetrating the Thousand-Legged Eyeball and appearing behind it.
Immediately, with a squelching sound, the Thousand-Legged Eyeball’s entire body stiffened in mid-air, swelled up violently, and was about to explode.
But the swelling couldn't sustain itself. Like a leaking balloon, crash, all the venom inside scattered onto the ground.
A black crystal the size of an adult's fist rolled out from within.
Lin Hui flicked his sword tip, knocking the crystal aside, rolling it out of the venom to the side. Then he used a pre-prepared leather bag to pick it up and store it.
Carrying the bag, he continued walking deeper into the mist zone.
‘The power and speed of the Nine-Section Swift Sword... the Perfected Version is truly, truly so much stronger than the ordinary version...’ Lin Hui had used the Nine-Section Swift Sword against enemies before. Back then, the Blood Seal hadn't finished evolving, so he couldn't achieve this kind of decisive, one-hit effect at all.
But now, he only needed one sword.
His movement technique and sword speed were already completely beyond the monster’s reaction time.
Having easily killed a Thousand-Legged Eyeball upon meeting it, his confidence surged. He began to quicken his pace, rapidly searching for wandering monsters nearby.
This area was the territory of the Thousand-Legged Eyeballs. Before long, Lin Hui’s leather bag held nearly thirty black crystals.
This meant fully thirty Thousand-Legged Eyeballs had died under his sword. And the Clear River Sword lived up to its status as a high-quality item gifted by his teacher; despite being constantly stained with toxic mucus until now, there was actually no trace of corrosion. With just a gentle shake, the mucus was flung off.
Dragging the leather bag weighing over twenty kilograms, Lin Hui first stored it in his teacher's temporary wooden hut, then emptied the bag and continued hunting in the surroundings.
However, after continuously encountering only Thousand-Legged Eyeballs, he had to expand his hunting range.
Because his purpose for coming this time wasn't to hunt for money, but to test where his limits actually lay.
Soon, after constantly expanding his circling range, one hour later—after continuously sending spoils back to the wooden hut to pile up—Lin Hui expanded his hunting circle again. Approaching the high-risk Yanshan area, he finally encountered a monster different from before—a strong, mutated Mist Barbarian.
In the gray mist.
Beside a dried-up stream, Lin Hui gripped his sword, staring at the tall body slowly approaching from directly ahead, his expression turning solemn.
It was a strong humanoid monster reaching two and a half meters in height.
Its skin was gray-black all over, covered with thick, scale-like black keratinous layers. Its upper body had four arms, and each hand gripped a crude, spiked wooden club.
‘A variety I haven't encountered before. A four-armed Mist Barbarian. According to the grading of Harmless, Intrusive, Dangerous, and High-Threat... I don’t know what level this is. Maybe I can find some decent materials...’
Lin Hui cautiously observed the opponent’s movements.