"Go back for what? If I can't find a solution to the trouble facing my clan, my return is meaningless." The black-furred Lion-man released him, sighing deeply.
He stood over two meters tall. Next to the 1.8-meter Mingde, the disparity in bulk was immense, creating the visual impression of an adult standing beside a child.
"I thought you had gone back long ago. I ran into Donghao and the others at Qingle Market last time, and they said they hadn't seen you in a while."
Mingde and this black-furred Lion-man seemed to have a close relationship; standing together, they lowered their voices and began chatting incessantly.
Standing to the side, Lin Hui was left unattended after a simple introduction. He decided to eat the chilled snow fungus soup served by the stall owner alone, waiting for his teacher to finish catching up with his friend.
As he ate, he observed the man who was still kowtowing endlessly on the ground.
"That guy has been here for two days already," the cold drink stall owner explained casually as he wiped down the tables and stools nearby. "Guest, be careful. Don't get too close—watch out in case he has an episode."
"Are people like this common?" Lin Hui asked, seizing the opening.
"Common enough. There's one every few days," the owner nodded. "Times are hard for everyone. When they reach the end of their rope and have no money for Feather Blood, they'd rather die in the Inner City than be driven out to the Black Zone. There are too many people like that."
"Yes. Once you end up there, your life and death are just a dish on someone else's table—completely out of your control," the owner sighed.
"Then, doing small business like this, Owner, can you scrape together enough for the Feather Blood medicine?" Lin Hui asked, puzzled.
"This little bit? Nowhere near enough." Hearing this, the owner laughed. The bearded, middle-aged man, looking well over forty, scrutinized Lin Hui carefully. "My ancestor was a Called One. The bloodline is strong enough to support me and my son—two generations—so we can continue living in the Inner City. We don't need Feather Blood for the time being, but my grandchildren will have to rely on their own struggles. The money I earn now, aside from my own use, is also being saved in advance for my grandson's Feather Blood."
He paused, then continued.
"Little brother, you must be from another urban district. Our Tuyue is just like this. The vast majority are ordinary people like me—earning money honestly, supporting our families honestly, and buying Feather Blood."
Lin Hui fell silent. Glancing at his teacher, who was deep in conversation, he continued to chat idly with the owner.
From the owner's words, he gradually gained a certain understanding of the lives of Inner City residents.
"Generally, only wanted criminals, vagrants, and human trash get driven to the Black Zone," the owner whispered. "The Black Zone is extremely dangerous, gloomy, and savage. It's said that as soon as night falls, giant monsters hunt living people everywhere. Without a Tuyue Jade Talisman, you can't survive at all. Coupled with the fact that it's full of trash and bad people, if ordinary folks like us went in, I'm afraid we'd be eaten immediately and die there."
"But aren't there people here who might have episodes too? Isn't there danger here as well?" Lin Hui heard the thick stereotypes and prejudice in the other's words.
Although the Outer City was indeed dangerous, it wasn't as dangerous to the extent the man imagined. Thus, he couldn't help but retort.
"How can that be the same?" The owner shook his head. "This place is just the outermost fringe of the Inner City. If you go further in—you haven't been to the Moon Tower District, have you? That is where the true Nobles live. Moon Towers, thousands of floors high, stand like giant trees piercing the sky, rooted in the earth. Passages connect the Moon Towers; these passages are wide, containing shops, streets, gardens, and residences. The Nobles live up there and basically never touch the ground. Entry and exit rely on giant Moth Carriages flying back and forth."
"People like us in the Outer Ring, just like those in the Middle Ring, can only live on the ground. We won't see the high sights of the Moon Towers in a lifetime." The owner's words revealed a thick longing.
This made Lin Hui understand that the Inner City was also divided into the Outer Ring, Middle Ring, and the central Moon Tower District.
And the Trueblood Nobles living thousands of stories up would never touch the earth with their feet in their lives. He couldn't imagine what such a demographic would look like.
Next, he asked about the owner's family situation and learned that this man had birthed ten children in one breath, both boys and girls. He was stunned.
According to the owner, resources here were extremely cheap, and no one would starve to death. Scattering a few seeds in the field would yield abundant fruit on its own. Plus, everyone here could receive twenty jin of premium Myriad Blessings Meat every month.
That was a type of high-nutrition meat with no side effects; eating a piece the size of a fist could keep one full for a day.
So, when people here earned money, it was mostly for two purposes: buying Feather Blood and enjoyment.
After finishing the cold drinks, Mingde also bid farewell to his friend. Master and disciple rose, left the small stall, and strode in the direction of their return.
"Well? How does this place feel?" Mingde walked in front, hands behind his back, asking.
"Good. Really good," Lin Hui sighed. "No mist at night, food and drink are cheap; you can support a large family with just a little loose change. No need to worry about missing persons, no need to worry about monsters from the mist zone charging in."
"Yes... that's why there are so many people risking their lives just to move into the Inner City," Mingde sighed.
For a time, both fell silent, merely hurrying along the road.
If one hadn't witnessed true peace, it might be fine. But once a person truly saw the Inner City, with a living environment far superior to their own, the sense of injustice and craving in their heart was impossible to control.
Not long after, the two returned to the South Ninth Gate exit.
Gazing at that tall, wide, round-arched gate, Lin Hui turned his head, standing on the high cliff, and once again looked out over the vast plain of pavilions below.
At this time, yellow-white lights had already lit up in some places within the pavilions, and curling cooking smoke was rising.
"Time to go back. It's almost dark," Mingde reminded him from the side.
"Mn." Lin Hui nodded.
"When you want to come in, you can ask your dad to buy a permit. The price of a temporary permit isn't expensive; it just requires certain channels to apply," Mingde said.
"Understood." Lin Hui nodded. Ultimately, he looked no more. He turned and strode into the South Ninth Gate.
A single gate separated two different worlds...
After entering the Inner City, Lin Hui returned to his original rhythm of daily teaching, sword practice, and second Body Tempering.
From second Body Tempering to the generation of Internal Force, according to his teacher, normally took about three years. Those who could succeed would do so within three years; those who couldn't after three years had a high probability of never succeeding.
Many people were stuck at this step for over a decade without advancing an inch.
The ratio of those reaching the Internal Force Realm from the limit of second Body Tempering was about one in seven or eight.
Just as Lin Hui confirmed that the Blood Seal would continue to evolve the Wild Wind Sword Technique, a major event suddenly occurred in town the following month.
A poor girl named Yan Wanqiu, during an aptitude test, was found to possess the aptitude of a High-tier Called One. She was immediately taken into the Inner City and entered the Chen family, one of the Three Major Powers.
Rumor had it that Yan Wanqiu's aptitude was top-tier even among High-tier Called Ones.
How many years had it been since Xinyu Town produced such a genius?
Even when Lin Hui was instructing the elderly wellness class, he could hear the old men and women discussing this topic.
He remained unmoved, continuing to take medicine daily to shorten the Blood Seal's progress, tempering his body, and practicing the sword bitterly.
And Mingde, after passing the position of Sect Master to him, predictably broke his word, swaggered off, and mysteriously disappeared, running off to who-knows-where.
Leaving Weiwei, Lin Hui, Little Hu, and Little Fatty—four people—to support the entire Clear Wind Sword Sect independently.
Not long after Mingde left, the other two branches, Mingchen and Mingxiu, also ran away one after another.
They originally saw that the Clear Wind Sword Sect's wellness class could barely survive and planned to follow suit.
The result was that the sword techniques they taught were useless, no different from other ordinary martial arts. Compared to the Clear Wind Sword Sect, the gap was massive, and absolutely no one came.
Thus, unable to run a wellness class, the two branches finally couldn't hold on. They sold their territory to Lin Hui at a discount and swaggered off, disappearing from Xinyu Town.
And so, the once flourishing and enormous Clear Wind Temple was left with only the Clear Wind Sword Sect, where Lin Hui and the other three resided, leading a group of elderly people to occupy the entire Daoist temple.
"I will slowly deduct the money for acquiring the other two branches from the tuition income to pay you back."
On the martial drill grounds within Clear Wind Temple, Weiwei explained seriously to Lin Hui.
"Although you are the Sect Master, business is business. This time, the money came entirely from your dad; we can't mix it up!"
"It's fine, I'm in no rush," Lin Hui said calmly.
"I'll remember it," Weiwei said earnestly. "By the way, how are you getting along with that new Second Wife your dad married? No problems, right?"
She had heard that the master of the Lin Manor, Lin Shunhe, had married another woman from the Inner City. It was said her background was deep, and her maiden family's influence was substantial.
"It's fine. Second Mother is named Liu Shenglan. She's quite nice—not beautiful, but her personality is very gentle and magnanimous," Lin Hui answered.
He hadn't met this Second Mother many times in total, but in their interactions, she lacked the arrogance typical of Inner City origins. Her speech and conversation were very easygoing, and she was respectful to both him and his mother, Yao Shan.
His impression so far was quite good.
"That's good," Weiwei nodded. "However, your Second Mother is pregnant, right? She's from the Inner City; do you think the child she births will carry the Inner City bloodline naturally?"
Lin Hui fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
In fact, precisely because of this, he and his mother Yao Shan lived completely separately from Second Mother and her entourage. Aside from daily meal times, they basically never saw each other.
Yao Shan told him privately that Second Mother Liu Shenglan and the child she bore would return to the Inner City sooner or later. It was impossible for them to live in the Outer City long-term. They and Lin Hui's group were, ultimately, people of two different worlds.
These various signs, along with his mom's reaction, made Lin Hui involuntarily associate it with a possibility...
That is, could his old dad be temporarily taking the fall for a big shot in the Inner City?
Thinking of this, the more he looked, the more suspicious he became.
After talking with Weiwei, he took his sword alone and went to the corner for extra practice, continuously executing move after move of the Perfected Version of the Clear Wind Sword Technique with a graceful posture.
Soon, one round ended. A familiar warm current surged from his chest, distributing throughout his body.
Just as Lin Hui intended to withdraw his energy and finish, a thread of ice-cold thin line suddenly generated out of thin air from his dantian.
That thin line spun rapidly, forming a small vortex in his abdomen, and settled just like that.
Immediately following, a second cold thin line appeared, converging into the abdomen in the same manner.
Then a third, a fourth...
'This is... Internal Force!?' Lin Hui had learned the characteristics and sensations of Clear Wind Internal Force in detail from his master long ago. Sensing the changes in his body now, how could he not know he had succeeded?
But... didn't they say it would take at least three years??!
Moreover, isn't one supposed to only be able to aggregate one strand of Internal Force at a time?
He stood frozen in place for a moment, stunned. It had been less than two months, and he had achieved the Internal Force Realm??