The annexation work of the Clear Wind Sword Sect proceeded slowly. This involved not only taking over the Black Dragon Gate's assets but also a crucial component: the numerous secret manuals left behind by Song Zhanlong.
Indeed, while wandering around the Song Manor, Lin Hui discovered a small study dedicated to storing martial arts stolen from others.
Inside the small study, there were thirteen secret manuals collected by Song Zhanlong, including Fundamental Diagrams.
He made a rough inspection. Just among the manuals marked with the character for "Extinguish," there were nine volumes. This showed just how ruthless and cruel Song Zhanlong had been.
Most of these collected manuals were Hard-Body Disciplines focused on defense, and much of their content overlapped slightly with the Black Dragon Claw.
This led Lin Hui to suspect that Song Zhanlong had been using these numerous manuals to concentrate on perfecting and strengthening the Black Dragon Claw.
After Weiwei left, since the grounds of the Black Dragon Gate were larger than the Clear Wind Temple, Lin Hui simply brought Little Hu and the others along, moved the Clear Wind Sword Sect's plaque, and hung it directly over the Black Dragon Gate's main entrance. He then took his seat there daily to preside over matters.
Trouble arrived exactly as he had anticipated. After only two days of quiet, things started happening.
These two days were likely a buffer period for outside forces to inquire about his strength. Once they clarified the situation, the probing attacks would follow one after another. After all, in the eyes of outsiders, he was just a lucky guy who had managed to swallow the Black Dragon Gate by relying on his movement techniques and sword speed.
Misty rain fell.
The sky was bright. On the martial drill grounds of the Black Dragon Gate branch of the Clear Wind Sword Sect.
Circles of disciples and students surrounded the area, interspersed with members of the Clear Wind Sword Sect Elderly Wellness Class. Everyone looked with inexplicable expressions at the two men facing off in the center of the field.
One was a tall, bald man with bronze skin, wearing only a pair of black short breeches. A massive black wolf head was tattooed on his upper body. He held a Horse-Chopping Saber more than two meters long as he stood on the field, looking at Lin Hui.
"I am Rao Siyi, an Elder of the Seven Kills Sect. Junior, Song Zhanlong is dead, and you certainly moved fast enough to pick up a huge bargain." The man appeared to be at least in his forties. He spoke with an air of seniority, and his gaze toward Lin Hui held a touch of carelessness.
Before coming here, he had inquired thoroughly. This Lin Hui had fought only those below the Internal Force Realm from start to finish. Although the speed he displayed was astonishing, that was all there was to it. Against the Internal Force Realm, he likely couldn't even break their defense—just like the battle between Baohe of the Clear Wind Temple and Song Zhanlong back then.
So, after waiting for more than a day, he, who specialized in a Hard-Body Discipline similar to defense, couldn't hold back any longer.
He was afraid. Afraid that if things dragged on, Song Zhanlong's good stuff would all be transferred away by this Lin Hui.
"Junior, if you know what's good for you, take your people and obediently roll out of this place. These days, any cat or dog dares to call themselves a Sect Master. Have you even reached the Internal Force Realm? Yet you dare to come out and swagger around. Aren't you afraid a passing martial hall master will slap you to death?!"
Lin Hui scrutinized the man opposite him. This was the first Internal Force Realm expert he had encountered since openly occupying the Black Dragon Gate. Obviously, there couldn't be just one person secretly coveting the Black Dragon Gate's assets; the man before him was merely a vanguard with poor patience who couldn't resist jumping out first.
He looked around and saw the doubt and strange expressions in the eyes of the disciples and students.
These personnel, gathered by force, seemed numerous, but in reality, they were like a sandcastle—collapsing at the first touch.
But it didn't matter.
He smiled faintly, slowly drew his sword, and stepped forward.
"After the sandcastle is burned, it fuses into one. What is lacking, before and after, is nothing more than a great fire."
Shua.
The tip of the sword lay horizontally before him.
He looked at his opponent.
"Why do you think I dared to step forward and swallow the Black Dragon Gate before even breaking through?"
Tapping his finger lightly on the tip of the sword, he raised his head and looked at the sky.
"The weather is quite nice today."
"Transform rain into silk; transform sword into silk."
Opposite him, Rao Siyi, the Elder of the Seven Kills Sect, furrowed his brows tightly.
"What kind of ghostly nonsense are you muttering about in that mysterious way!?"
A layer of shimmering white light emerged from various parts of his body. The opponent's speed was too fast; he was worried that a moment of inattention would lead to a slip-up and a huge loss of face.
"Nothing," Lin Hui smiled. "I just suddenly really like this kind of drizzling weather."
Pa.
He took a step forward. The hard sole of his boot struck the stone bricks of the drill ground, making a crisp sound.
The instant the sound spread, he had already vanished from his original spot.
In the next instant, a faint gray shadow emerged beside Rao Siyi.
Before he could swing his saber, a sheet of golden sparks blossomed from all over his body.
Clang clang clang clang!!
Dense sounds of sword strikes exploded almost simultaneously.
"It's useless!!" Rao Siyi roared. The Horse-Chopping Saber swung out a crescent afterimage, cutting off all attacks from the front.
Then he stepped forward, leaped high into the air, gathered his Internal Force into his arms, and smashed down.
Bang!!
The stone slabs on the ground were shattered with a boom, spraying out a large swath of gravel like bullets.
The densely packed gravel moved extremely fast, forcing Lin Hui to find a position to dodge.
"Back then, I only lost to Song Zhanlong by a single move. In terms of Hard-Body Discipline alone, I, Rao Siyi, am in no way inferior to him!!"
Rao Siyi roared, continuously swinging out round after round of crescent moons.
The swish-swish of the blade brought out piercing whistles. Even though every cut hit nothing but air, he continued to slash without pause, completely ignoring the sparks exploding densely across his body.
A contest of endurance—this was what he excelled at.
Ten moves.
Twenty moves.
Fifty moves.
Eighty moves...
The white light of Internal Force on Rao Siyi's body began to tremble.
His expression changed slightly. The consumption required to withstand the sword strikes head-on was much greater than he had imagined.
This wasn't right.
Just a Body Tempering limit who hadn't entered the Internal Force Realm—was the piercing power of his blade really this strong?
What was Lin Hui relying on to explode with such speed!? This wasn't normal!
Rao Siyi's heart began to panic. He estimated that at this rate of consumption, he could withstand at most seventy more moves before he had to find a way to ease up and recover his Internal Force.
I must think of a way—
Puchi!
In that split second, the opponent's sword speed climbed to a new level. In the blink of an eye, dozens of sword strikes dotted a single spot, instantly piercing a long gash through the side of the Internal Force barrier.
"Not good!" Rao Siyi was scared out of his wits and reached out to grab that spot.
But it was already too late.
A blade had rapidly pierced in the moment he reached out, stabbing ruthlessly into his waist.
Blood blossomed. The blade was slowly withdrawn and sheathed.
Lin Hui looked at Rao Siyi, whose whole body had stiffened and could no longer move, and shook his head slightly.
He had only activated Featherweight Ascension for an instant to find the weakest point of the opponent's Internal Force shield. Then, with dozens of strikes piercing a single point, he successfully broke the Internal Force.
Throughout the process, he hadn't used Internal Force at all. Just the pure speed of the Perfected Clear Wind Sword, the Body Tempering limit, and a moment of Featherweight Ascension were enough to take this man down.
Flicking the blood off his sword, he raised his hand, signaling for someone to carry Rao Siyi out.
Two others had come with the Seven Kills Sect—two young disciples, presumably Rao Siyi's apprentices. Looking grim, they rushed up, glared at Lin Hui, and then one helped their master up while the other helped staunch the bleeding.
"The Seven Kills Sect has learned a lesson today! We will return another day to ask for the Sect Master's guidance."
The three dropped a threat and prepared to run.
"No need for another day. How about right now?"
Lin Hui's figure abruptly vanished from his spot and appeared directly at the main gate they were leaving through, blocking their path.
"You!?" The two disciples instantly panicked. They wanted to run in other directions but found that Wang Hongshi, Chen Yuan, and others had skillfully blocked the surrounding paths.
At this moment, after watching the entire battle, the wavering hearts of the surrounding crowd finally settled down completely.
Previously, no one knew if Lin Hui could actually stop an Internal Force Realm expert. Now it seemed the Sect Master's speed was truly terrifying. It was said that he had perfected the sword technique himself, elevating the Clear Wind Sword to an unprecedented level, thereby gaining unparalleled speed.
So much so that even without reaching the Internal Force Realm, he could be fast to this degree.
And once the people of the Black Dragon Gate settled their minds, their capacity for action was super fast.
After all, those with poor initiative had long since been eliminated by Song Zhanlong. Useless people were not qualified to exist within the Black Dragon Gate.
Especially those useless to him. Song Zhanlong had founded the Black Dragon Gate specifically to strengthen his own power and expand his influence.
"One million Tuyue silver notes, and you may leave."
Lin Hui said calmly.
If challengers faced no consequences, wouldn't people come running to cause trouble every day? Would he ever get to cultivate? Was he to become a whetstone for others every single day??
"One million!!?" The two Seven Kills Sect disciples were shocked. Was this a lion opening its maw!?
Where would they get one million!?
"Fine! One million!" Conversely, it was Rao Siyi who spoke. Enduring the agonizing pain in his waist, he took out a stack of gold notes with one hand and placed them on the ground.
"Let's go!"
He lowered his head, daring not to look at Lin Hui opposite him.
Just in the instant his two apprentices had cried out, he had keenly sensed a trace of killing intent.
He knew that if they didn't pay up today, the three of them likely wouldn't be walking out of this Clear Wind Sword Sect.
So he acted decisively, taking out the vast majority of the gold notes on his person, putting them down, and leaving immediately.
This new Sect Master, Lin Hui, and the person in the rumors were two completely different people. This guy was absolutely no novice; his killing aura was heavy!
The three fled the main gate in a sorry state, quickly got into the carriage outside, and left in a hurry.
Behind them, the old men and women of the Black Dragon Gate and Clear Wind Sword Sect erupted in mocking, raucous laughter.
The atmosphere instantly lightened.
Lin Hui also smiled. He sheathed his sword, gave some instructions to Wang Hongshi, the chief steward, and then walked out of the main gate alone, braving the drizzle to head toward a wonton shop diagonally across the street.
The shop was very crude, just a large gray rain awning, square and boxy. Underneath were five wooden tables and twenty long benches.
Several diners were excitedly discussing the grand drama of the master challenge they had just witnessed, unexpectedly finding one of the protagonists of that drama walking right up to them.
"Do you want to fight?" Lin Hui ignored the others and walked only to the table of a middle-aged woman in red, watching her half-eaten pickled vegetable and meat wontons.
"Junior, you are arrogant." The middle-aged woman put down her spoon, wiped the corners of her mouth with a tissue, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash bucket on the side.
"This isn't arrogance." Lin Hui smiled. "It's that I know you can't beat me."
"..." The middle-aged woman's face looked ugly. She fell silent for a moment. "If my hand touches your sword for even an instant, it will break. If the sword breaks, you will die!"
"Want to try?" Lin Hui's smile widened.
The woman fell silent again. Her right hand, resting on her thigh, continuously opened and clenched, repeating the motion.
But she dared not truly make a move.
Indeed, as she said, if she touched the sword, Lin Hui's sword would break, and he would die. But...
But by the same token, if she didn't touch the sword, the one to die would be her.
And judging from the engagement between Lin Hui and Rao Siyi just now, the probability of her... touching the sword was very low.