On the martial drill grounds.
The group of old men and women seemed as if someone had pressed their pause button. From the instant they saw Lin Hui cross a distance of more than ten meters in a flash, all movement ceased, leaving the scene deathly silent.
That speed... it was as if in the blink of an eye, he had crossed a vast distance to appear out of thin air behind Mu Qiaozhi. It was as if everyone's eyes had played a trick on them.
Only Little Hu, Little Fatty, and Xie Li—who had genuinely undergone Body Tempering—could barely make out Lin Hui's movement in that fleeting instant.
Too fast. It was simply inhuman.
The three even suspected that back then, the masters of the 'Ming' generation weren't as fast as the current Lin Hui. But lacking a concrete comparison, they only felt a hazy sense of this, harboring a sliver of suspicion.
A gentle breeze blew.
On the drill grounds, Mu Qiaozhi didn't dare move a muscle. She could clearly feel the sword tip slightly piercing the scalp at the back of her head, a thin trickle of blood slowly flowing down through her hair.
Her Hard-Body Discipline hadn't reached the level of invulnerability yet. Only after the Black Dragon Claw Body Tempering reached the 7th Rank or above could she barely achieve a degree of resistance against swords and sabers. And that only applied to ordinary weapons. Against a fine sword like the one in Lin Hui's hand, combined with his super-fast speed, Mu Qiaozhi had no confidence she could block it.
"I was also just joking with you," Lin Hui lowered his sword and said calmly.
He looked at Weiwei on the ground, his eyes confirming she was alright before shifting his gaze back to Mu Qiaozhi.
Mu Qiaozhi and Xie Li seized the opportunity to retreat, standing together. Especially Mu Qiaozhi—having just felt that fatal threat, the look in her eyes when she watched Lin Hui was filled with immense wariness.
She couldn't imagine how Lin Hui had instantly become so fast. Even she hadn't been able to react in time.
"Mu Qiaozhi, since you have betrayed the sect, you are no longer qualified to use the martial arts of my Clear Wind Temple." Lin Hui raised his sword and turned it gently. The silver sword light reflected on his chin, dividing his face into distinct halves of light and shadow.
"You!?" Mu Qiaozhi's expression changed. "What do you want!?"
"The hand that wields the sword is the right hand."
Suddenly, a soft voice rang out from behind her.
The Lin Hui in front of her silently dissolved into a phantom image and scattered. Replacing him was a new Lin Hui, appearing less than a meter behind Mu Qiaozhi.
Only now did Mu Qiaozhi realize it, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"How is this speed possible!?!!"
Pu!!
Her entire right arm fell from the elbow, severed cleanly at the root, spraying a massive amount of fresh blood. Blood splashed and scattered on the ground, dyeing the gray surface in a fan shape.
With a thud.
Mu Qiaozhi knelt on the ground, trembling all over as she clutched the severed stump, pressing down hard on the blood vessels to stem the flow.
But having just exerted herself in combat, her blood was already circulating at high speed. Suddenly losing an arm caused her blood pressure to plummet as the tension released. This instantaneous physiological change made her vision blur, and her back bent down sharply.
Sss.
Behind her, Lin Hui slowly sheathed his sword. Because the sword speed was too fast, not even a trace of blood remained on the blade.
"My hand!!!" Mu Qiaozhi roared in a low voice, filled with pain.
Only now did she react—her right arm was severed, gone!
Whether it was the Clear Wind Sword or the Black Dragon Claw, she had bitterly practiced with her right hand! And now, this accustomed arm was gone!? This was equivalent to instantly crippling more than half of her martial arts!
Even if it were reattached later, her cultivation base couldn't be restored, and the dexterity of a reattached hand would be far inferior to its original state.
Rage and fear, accompanied by pain, tore madly at Mu Qiaozhi's heart. But feeling Lin Hui's gaze on her back like thorns, the anger and pain in her heart were gradually suppressed by a greater fear.
"Xie Li! Help me, let's go!" she shouted in a low voice.
Only then did Xie Li wake up. She had been stunned silly by the scene before her eyes just now.
Originally, she thought she would see her Senior Sister easily resolve Weiwei and Lin Hui as a matter of course. Seeing her Senior Sister get carried away and almost cripple Weiwei, she had even worried a little; after all, Weiwei still had a missing Internal Force Realm father.
Although the Mu family also had a Called One family behind them, there was no need to provoke trouble if it could be avoided.
But the subsequent changes took a sharp turn downward, leaving her dumbstruck.
Lin Hui appeared, forcing her Senior Sister to release Weiwei with a single sword move, and then instantly severed her Senior Sister's right arm.
Calm, incredibly fast, and ruthless. Without the slightest hesitation!
Such a performance was a stark contrast to the sword-obsessed dullard in her impression.
When did he become so strong!!?
The incomprehension and doubt in Xie Li's heart were like a flood, almost drowning her thoughts.
"Xie Li!" Until her Senior Sister's sharp shout startled her awake.
"Go!"
"Yes, yes!" Xie Li snapped back to reality, hurriedly stepping forward to support Mu Qiaozhi. The two picked up the severed arm, stumbling as they quickly exited the Daoist temple.
Lin Hui didn't pursue, simply watching calmly as the two left. He looked up at the sky. The gray mist remained the same as always, but the current him was different.
Looking at Weiwei slowly crawling up from the ground, the shocked gazes of the surrounding old men and women, and the faces of Little Hu and Little Fatty filled with worship.
Lin Hui turned around and headed back toward the main hall.
"Continue practicing. This matter is settled."
He dropped a sentence and vanished inside the hall doors.
Weiwei patted the dust off her body, gritting her teeth as she recalled that instant of change just now. At that time, she truly thought she was going to be crippled.
Even if a shattered knee could be healed later, it would delay her for at least half a year, and even after recovery, returning fully to peak condition would be very, very difficult. By then, Mu Qiaozhi would likely have rebuilt the training class and completely occupied the new market.
This was perhaps the opponent's goal.
But she never expected that her consistently low-key Junior Brother Lin Hui would suddenly act... No matter what, she couldn't have imagined that Lin Hui was actually this strong!?
Previously, she always thought Lin Hui was similar to herself—stronger than her, yes, but not by much. The two should be on the same level.
But today...
That speed, so fast it dazzled the eyes.
Weiwei couldn't understand it. She even faintly felt that her father wasn't as fast as Lin Hui.
"H-how is that possible? Dad is an Internal Force Realm expert; it must be my illusion." She argued with herself in her heart, hurriedly went to the bedroom to change into a dress, applied good medicine to her body, and then went to the main hall to find Lin Hui.
Entering the main hall.
Lin Hui was standing in front of the deity statue, looking up quietly at the broken figure.
"Junior Brother..." Weiwei said softly.
"You should call me Sect Master." Lin Hui interrupted her. Turning around, "Is the injury serious?"
"No... just a little scrape." Weiwei faintly heard a trace of something unusual in the other party's tone.
"That's good." Lin Hui nodded. "Mu Qiaozhi's arrival made me think clearly. A sect cannot rely on me alone. There will always be times when I leave or go into closed-door cultivation. During these times, others are needed to support it."
"Yes, just like today. If you weren't here..." Weiwei's face was still somewhat pale.
"As long as Senior Sister understands." Lin Hui turned back, continuing to look at the statue. "But in the short term, I can't find experts sufficient to support the sect."
"Yes... cultivating an expert takes many years..." Weiwei nodded.
"Indeed," Lin Hui responded. "Before, I thought that being low-key, not fighting or grabbing, would mean no one would come to provoke me. As long as I quietly practiced my own sword and lived peacefully, it would be enough. But I didn't expect that even so, someone would come looking for trouble over a tiny bit of profit..."
"So, what do you plan... to do?" Weiwei could no longer understand Lin Hui's strength.
She only knew he was strong, very strong. Although not in the Internal Force Realm, that speed was terrifying. Possibly faster than Temple Master Baohe back then. Naturally standing in an invincible position.
"How did the Black Dragon Gate do it back then?" Lin Hui said softly. "I will simply do the same."
"But in a head-on confrontation, we have no chance of winning... manpower is also..." Weiwei paused, then said.
"It doesn't matter. Manpower can be snatched," Lin Hui smiled faintly.
"But how loyal can snatched people be?"
"Were the disciples Clear Wind Temple cultivated for so many years loyal?"
Lin Hui's counter-question left Weiwei speechless.
"The Black Dragon Gate Sect Master taught me a principle. If manpower isn't enough, just go snatch it. Since human hearts cannot be cultivated, just make them afraid," Lin Hui laughed.
He stood before the statue and thought for a long time. Finally reaching this conclusion.
Display appropriate strength, openly gather enough power to protect one's own interests. Only then can safety be better guaranteed.
As for loyalty? Human hearts are fickle; where can one guarantee long-term loyalty? As long as he was strong enough, fear was the best medicine to maintain loyalty.
"This... isn't right..." Weiwei couldn't refute, but her long-established worldview still made her feel this was bad, very bad.
But Lin Hui was too lazy to answer her anymore. "The Black Dragon Gate has come knocking; I need to give them a small return gift."
"What do you plan to do?" Weiwei's breath hitched. In her mind, she involuntarily recalled the scene of Song Zhanlong defeating and heavily injuring Daoist Baohe back then.
Lin Hui smiled without speaking.
….
Black Dragon Gate.
Crack.
Song Zhanlong looked at Mu Qiaozhi, half-kneeling on the ground, staring at her missing right arm. The teacup in his hand cracked instantly, tea spilling out.
"You're saying, you went to Clear Wind Temple, and the result was not only failing to resolve the people, but losing a right hand yourself?!"
It wasn't just him; the disciples around him who saw this scene felt their hearts jump wildly. Everyone was clear on Mu Qiaozhi's strength; her internal ranking in the Black Dragon Gate was fought out through solid match after match. With Mu Qiaozhi's cultivation at the limit of Body Tempering in the Seven-Section Swift Sword, stacked with the 6th Rank of Body Tempering in the Black Dragon Claw, to actually be defeated so miserably...
"Disciple is incompetent..." Mu Qiaozhi endured the intense pain, lowering her head.
The closer she was to Song Zhanlong, the more she could feel his terrifying power. Even that Called One elder in her family would likely not be Song Zhanlong's match in a confrontation.
Judging from his performance of invulnerability back then, Song had likely already reached the Fifth Layer of the Internal Force Realm, covering the whole body, only a step away from the highest Sixth Layer.
Internal Force Realm—a realm she had once tried to assault for three years. She knew the details by heart.