At this moment, the small private room, originally meant for only four or five people, was suddenly crowded with seven or eight.
A group of young women, all with decent looks and wearing white clothes and white gloves, surrounded Lin Hui in the center.
"Could it be that Sect Master Lin thought that after entering Baishan Town, there would be any movement my Hundred Flowers Sect wouldn't know about? Why not enter openly and righteously from the front? This humble servant would have surely led the crowd to line the streets in welcome," the bewitching woman said in a soft, crumbling voice, her words carrying a double meaning.
"That won't be necessary." Lin Hui picked up the teacup, circulated his Internal Force, and spat out the tea he had been holding in his mouth. Since he realized something was wrong, he naturally wouldn't touch anything here.
It seemed Hu Zhen had long since been molded to fit the Hundred Flowers Sect. Perhaps Song Zhanlong had known this himself; expecting Hu Zhen alone to monitor the Hundred Flowers Sect in Baishan Town was indeed forcing a difficult task upon her.
Perhaps back then, Song Zhanlong had also pretended not to know, barely maintaining relations with the Hundred Flowers Sect.
It was only when Lin Hui arrived that the tacit understanding between the two sides was truly torn apart.
Standing up, Lin Hui's gaze fell upon the bewitching woman in the blue dress before him, who was slightly shorter than him.
"Does Your Excellency have a title?"
"I wouldn't dare offer advice. I merely heard that the Hundred Flowers Sect's Hundred Flowers Palm is strong in breaking defenses, so I came to witness it," Lin Hui smiled.
"Sect Master jests. Calculating it out, the Black Dragon Gate you merged with had conflicts with my Hundred Flowers Sect, and the Clear Wind Sword also had conflicts with the Black Dragon Gate. Between us, there aren't actually that many points of contention. For the Sect Master to be so full of anger is quite unreasonable. Why not sit down and chat? Perhaps for both our sides, cooperation would be more beneficial than conflict," Xiang Ying smiled.
"Oh? Cooperate in what way?" Lin Hui hadn't expected the other party to be so adept at balancing hardness and softness, giving and taking with such ease.
"That depends on why Sect Master Lin has come." Xiang Ying gently crossed her legs and leaned back against the chair.
"Why I came? Naturally, I came for the Myriad Medicine Villa," Lin Hui said frankly. "I heard the Hundred Flowers Sect plans to corner the medicinal herb business in our direction. I presume that besides me, other forces have also come to inquire?"
"That is true." Xiang Ying revealed an expression that said, 'I thought so.'
At this time, bursts of singing came from outside, accompanied by the erhu and pipa. The music was light and brisk, the singing voice crisp.
"Actually, before the Sect Master made this decision, she predicted it would cause such a huge reaction. Therefore, regarding intentions like Sect Master Lin's, we have prepared a method of cooperation to jointly set regional rules."
"Oh? Jointly set how?" Lin Hui had originally prepared to make a move, but he hadn't expected this to be a setup by the Hundred Flowers Sect from the start—a grand scheme seemingly aimed at creating something similar to a Martial Alliance.
Cornering the herbs was fake; taking the opportunity to attract surrounding forces with needs to come and negotiate was the truth.
"The influence of the Clear Wind Temple is now several degrees stronger than the Black Dragon Gate. For the herbs required by your sect, we can form a procurement alliance. With a sufficiently large demand volume, we can negotiate prices with the Myriad Medicine Villa together. In this way, if the purchase volume is sufficient, even if we don't go through the Myriad Medicine Villa, it wouldn't be a big problem for us to go together to the more distant Fragrant Valley to negotiate prices. The cost of travel, when spread over a large enough volume, won't be much more expensive," Xiang Ying said softly.
"So, I have wrongly blamed the Hundred Flowers Sect? This move of yours is entirely to put pressure on the Myriad Medicine Villa to renegotiate prices?" Lin Hui was surprised.
"Is it not? Sect Master Lin likely hasn't paid attention to the price adjustments of the Myriad Medicine Villa over the last ten years. It gets higher every year. In the last two years, our Hundred Flowers Sect's cost for medicine has risen by nearly half compared to when we first arrived. Thus, we had no choice but to resort to this strategy," Xiang Ying sighed.
"So that's how it is." Lin Hui nodded in understanding. "Then why not just send people to notify and invite us, instead of using such a method?"
"If not for this, how could we know which people are qualified to cooperate with my Hundred Flowers Sect... This cooperation also requires some test of qualifications, right?" Xiang Ying smiled.
"Test?" Lin Hui smiled. "Then what qualifications does your Hundred Flowers Sect have to cooperate with me? Why shouldn't I go to the Myriad Medicine Villa to negotiate for myself?"
"Because our medicinal usage is large enough!" Xiang Ying immediately puffed out her chest proudly. "Calculating by average purchase volume, our consumption of medicinal herbs is double that of the former Black Dragon Gate and Clear Wind Sword combined! Every month, the music workshops and art houses under our command consume contraceptive and energy-boosting medicinal powders that account for more than half of the total demand of the surrounding ten-plus towns!"
"..." Lin Hui choked for a moment. So the Hundred Flowers Sect was running a flesh trade; contraception plus aphrodisiacs—no wonder the medicinal consumption was so high.
Fine, on this point, he had nothing to say. He truly couldn't compare.
Seeing a fight about to turn into a business collaboration, he was somewhat unwilling. After all, he had come on this trip to probe the other party's foundation of strength. If they were strong, he would find an opportunity to sneak attack and cripple them; if they were weak, he would directly destroy their high-level resistance forces.
After all, to remove future trouble, the Hundred Flowers Sect had always been on his list. To subdue the entire sect, no one would submit without a display of battle achievements.
Who would have thought that after just a few sentences, the atmosphere would soften?
This wouldn't do. He had to find a pretext to act!
Thoughts spun in his mind. Lin Hui recalled the two Hundred Flowers Sect women who had died under his sword back then. Inside the mist zone, those two had been so arrogant and domineering. Who would have thought the people of the Hundred Flowers Sect would be so polite now...
Just as he thought of this, he heard Xiang Ying speak again from across the table.
"Speaking of which, before this, my Hundred Flowers Sect wasn't this polite internally or externally. But later, because the conduct of our members was incorrect, we frequently encountered conflicts outside, resulting in many deaths and injuries. We even lost a core disciple and an Internal Force Realm Elder who went missing in the mist zone. Since then, the Sect Master has thoroughly reformed the sect from top to bottom, sweeping away the original atmosphere."
Sighing, Xiang Ying changed the subject.
"We have also paid attention to the Clear Wind Temple. The medicinal herbs you mainly require are wrist-maintenance injury medicine for the Seven-Section Swift Sword and Nine-Section Swift Sword, supplemented by Body Tempering medicine. Now that the sects have merged, Sect Master Lin will need to add whatever new requirements there are," Xiang Ying said softly.
"But I came personally this time, aside from the herb issue, to test just how powerful the Hundred Flowers Sect's Hundred Flowers Palm is. When out in the world doing business and discussing cooperation, one must look at the partner to see if they have the qualifications to sit on equal footing with me."
Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, his words faintly carrying an aggressive edge.
"Sect Master Lin talks big. Having not entered the Internal Force Realm, yet defeating a few Internal Force experts, you think the Internal Force Realm of the world is so easily withstood? Are you perhaps thinking too highly of yourself?" With words reaching this point, Xiang Ying could no longer talk in circles.
"I naturally know there are many Internal Force Realm experts beyond my imagination, but haven't I met them yet?" Lin Hui smiled. "Perhaps my luck is bad, and the Internal Force Realms I've met are all relatively weak?"
"Fine. It seems Sect Master Lin came specifically to pick a quarrel." The smile on Xiang Ying's face faded.
"I am a simple person." Lin Hui gripped his sword with one hand. "I like speaking with people of equal strength. If you are too weak to suppress the sound of my sword practice wind, then apologies—why should I use my mouth for something that can be solved with one sword strike?"
"...Good." Xiang Ying's expression turned ugly. "Then let me experience just how fast Sect Master Lin's Clear Wind Swift Sword really is!"
The word 'fast' had just fallen, and it looked like the fight was finally about to start.
Suddenly, a cold shout interjected between the two.
"Stop! It's a misunderstanding!"
A white shadow rushed into the private room, reaching out to block in front of Xiang Ying.
But while she blocked Xiang Ying, she couldn't block Lin Hui.
Clang!
With a clear ring, Lin Hui drew his sword.
He had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and now that he had seized a pretext, he acted decisively!
As for the person blocking? He didn't know her. If she said stop, he had to stop? Wouldn't that make him, the Master of Clear Wind Temple, lose face!?
Since he wanted face, he might as well chop both of them together!
The Clear River Sword abruptly turned into a phantom image, then transformed into a clear breeze, blowing toward the two people in front.
At such close range, in such a small space, with Lin Hui's sword speed, even without using Internal Force or activating special effects, the speed of the Perfected Clear Wind Sword alone was already extremely terrifying.
Just hearing the sword hum, white light flashed on both Xiang Ying and the white shadow as Internal Force rose to protect their bodies.
Crash! A shower of sparks exploded. The terrifying speed of the Clear River Sword struck directly against their bodies, sending large sparks flying.
The two wanted to conduct Internal Force to counterattack, but the sword touched and retreated instantly. The speed was too fast, far too fast. They couldn't even conduct continuously before the connection was forcibly broken.
And the tiny bit of Internal Force that did transfer up was useless, completely unable to interrupt the opponent's sword speed.
Ding ding ding ding!!
Continuous, terrifying sword shadows completely turned into a sword wind in this instant, enveloping the three-meter range where the two stood.
Within this range, tables and chairs shattered amidst the noise, sliced into blocks and scattered on the floor. The parts of their dresses not covered by Internal Force were also sliced and shredded, leaving them in a sorry state.
Left with no choice, the two hurriedly steeled themselves and lunged forward at Lin Hui, attempting to forcibly interrupt his offensive. If this continued, it wouldn't be long before their Internal Force barriers were worn down completely.
The two moved left and right, cooperating with tacit understanding, pouncing toward Lin Hui's sides simultaneously.
Both struck out with their right hands, their palms a dark purple, faintly emitting threads of fragrance.
This was the Enthralling Fragrance Art, also known as the Enthralling Fragrance Palm. It was the Hundred Flowers Sect's other martial art besides the Hundred Flowers Palm. Once touched, anyone without poison resistance would instantly fall to the ground unconscious, as if drugged by incense.
At this moment, the two used it together, resisting the sword wind with Internal Force as they lunged at Lin Hui.
Before they even got close, faint threads of sweet scent could be smelled.
Lin Hui hadn't expected them to besiege him with such chemistry, but it didn't matter. He was fast enough. As long as he wasn't touched, dealing with one or two was just a matter of time.
As for the issue of the cramped space and the large number of people making it difficult to deploy movement techniques...
That was also easily solved.
Shua!
He instantly sheathed his sword, his figure moving like a ghost. He grabbed the nearest white-clothed female disciple and pushed her toward the two in front.
Although he majored in sword speed and movement techniques rather than strength training, he had undergone the second Body Tempering after all. His strength was much greater than a woman's. With one push, she perfectly blocked the incoming offensive of the two.
"Careful!"
"Dodge, quick!"
Amidst cries of alarm, the pushed woman was hit by two palm prints. She was sent flying backward on the spot, vomiting blood and falling unconscious.
But before Xiang Ying and the white shadow could recover, Lin Hui pushed two more female disciples to block the way.
His speed was fast, and his strikes and judgment were precise. His pushes were extremely definitive, perfectly blocking the pursuit of the two behind.
Forcing the two to injure three of their own people, he angered them into actively rushing out of the private room to expand the range.
But just as they rushed out the door...
Xiang Ying was just about to search for Lin Hui's position when she saw a silver light shine brightly ahead. A sword sound, far surpassing the previous ones, exploded instantly.
Chi!!
The Internal Force barrier was declared breached. Xiang Ying looked as if she had been struck by lightning; she flew backward, slamming viciously into the room door behind her, smashing it open and falling to the ground.
On her chest, a straight, diagonal sword mark had appeared.
Only now did the blood inside the sword mark seem to react, rapidly fountaining out.