"Rosemary Soul-Chasing!"
Seeing the situation turn dire, the other white shadow disregarded Xiang Ying's condition. Instead, she struck out with full force, unleashing three palm shadows that curved from different directions, automatically homing in on Lin Hui just as he was retracting his sword.
These three palms were the fastest moves in the Enthralling Fragrance Palm, possessing a gravitational pull of Internal Force that limited the opponent's movement.
But... a split second before the palm shadows could close in, Lin Hui retreated preemptively and thrust his sword once more.
Clang!
The moment the Featherweight Ascension special effect activated, the explosive crack of the Clear Wind sword strike detonated again.
A silver sword trail pierced through several meters at a terrifying speed, driving straight through the center of the three palm shadows and aiming directly for the white shadow's face.
Pu!
Almost simultaneously, the white shadow crushed a small sphere resembling a hidden weapon she had prepared in her hand.
As the smoke and the sword trail collided head-on, the white vapor scattered rapidly. However, it successfully caused the sword trail to deflect, preventing it from piercing directly into the heart of the cloud.
Lin Hui’s figure reappeared by the side door at the rear of the teahouse. He looked back at the surrounding people caught in the dispersing smoke.
The waiter, the Tea Master, and the passing guests—so many people—were collapsing one by one under the influence of the poisonous smoke. In just a few seconds, swaths of them had fallen.
It was only then that cries of alarm interrupted the music in the teahouse. The crowd screamed, fleeing rapidly through the other exits.
The group of female disciples from the Hundred Flowers Sect now gathered around, nervously shielding the white shadow. Clearly, they had all undergone poison resistance training and did not fear the toxic smoke.
"Sect Master Lin truly has excellent swordsmanship... Is this enough?"
The white shadow's weak inquiry came from within the smoke.
"Not enough," Lin Hui said flatly. "Being this weak, what gave you the courage to speak to me as an equal?"
"Why must Sect Master Lin be so aggressive? Xiang Ying and I concede defeat here and now. However, the Hundred Flowers Sect is not comprised of only us two Elders; we also have a Sect Master. No matter how fast your sword is, you cannot possibly win against our Sect Master! There is no life-or-death hatred between us, so why fight to the death only for both sides to suffer?" the white shadow persuaded helplessly.
"Everything you said is correct." Lin Hui nodded. "But I still prefer talking to people who can catch my sword. Cooperation requires the posture of cooperation. Otherwise, lower your heads for me."
These words made the white shadow's expression turn ugly.
At this moment, the smoke dissipated, revealing the other party's face.
She was a matron who appeared to be about thirty years old. Dressed in a white bodysuit, her figure was outlined so clearly it was practically like wearing nothing at all; everything that should be exposed was exposed, and everything that shouldn't be was also exposed.
"I am Li Zhaohan, an Elder of the Hundred Flowers Sect. Since Sect Master Lin has long since broken through to the Internal Force Realm, why pretend to still be in Body Tempering? Now that both Xiang Ying and I have been defeated by your hand, regarding the matter of cooperation, we will naturally defer to Sect Master Lin. We surrender."
The woman had dignified features, and she spoke in a soft, weak voice with an extremely low posture. This immediately blocked any thought Lin Hui had of continuing.
The defense of the Internal Force Realm was astonishing; he couldn't kill them in a single shot, which gave others room to speak. Once they verbally surrendered in full view of the public, it became difficult for him to wipe them out completely.
Unless he dared to slaughter everyone around him directly, including the ordinary people in the teahouse and the passersby on the street outside.
Otherwise, if word reached the yamen, he would be branded a murderer. Did he still want his businesses? Did he still want his medicinal supply channels? Did he still want his daily life?
In the Outer City, even when Song Zhanlong was a loner, he didn't dare to kill people on the spot when challenging Daoist Baohe.
No matter what, one still had to give face to the government. The bottom line was that one could not kill people to their face in broad daylight.
Of course, if it were done covertly, there would be no problem.
However.
"Why do you say I've broken through to the Internal Force Realm? I am clearly still in Body Tempering." Lin Hui changed the subject, staring at her.
"Body Tempering cannot withstand my poisonous smoke. Without poison resistance training, if Sect Master Lin did not have Internal Force automatically protecting his body, he should have collapsed unconscious the moment he touched the smoke," Li Zhaohan explained softly. "Moreover, what kind of secret art could support such terrifying sword speed from Sect Master Lin? If a Body Tempering cultivator dared to do that, the recoil would snap their wrist on the spot. There must be Internal Force protecting it."
Lin Hui fell silent. She wasn't wrong. Indeed, under normal circumstances, that kind of sword speed was not something a Body Tempering cultivator could support. But the problem was, he wasn't normal.
He glanced at the teahouse crowd running into the distance, and then at the two female disciples supporting the blood-soaked Elder Xiang Ying as they walked out.
Xiang Ying was trembling all over; she had been terrified by that sword strike just now. Seeing that Lin Hui was still there, her eyes rolled back, and she actually fainted.
The massive bloody gash on her body had almost sliced her left breast in half. A little deeper, and her heart would have been split in two, killing her on the spot. Of course, with her current injuries and the amount of blood loss, if she didn't stop the bleeding with Internal Force immediately and have someone bind the wound with medicinal powder, she wouldn't last more than ten minutes.
Recalling that sword strike just now, the other Elder, Li Zhaohan, was also trembling.
She finally understood why Lin Hui had dared to go to the Black Dragon Gate alone to pick a fight back then.
Why Lin Hui could successively scare off the numerous Internal Force experts who coveted the Black Dragon Gate.
Let alone her, an Internal Force Realm cultivator who had only broken through a few years ago, even if Song Zhanlong were truly still alive, he would likely be hard-pressed to deal with this man's speed.
"Sect Master Lin, do you have any other instructions? Regarding the cooperation, our Hundred Flowers Sect admits defeat. I will send someone to the Clear Wind Temple to negotiate the details. We will certainly defer to you in all matters," Li Zhaohan said servilely.
"Can you make that decision?" Lin Hui asked in a deep voice.
"Naturally... The Sect Master has long given me full authority over this matter," Li Zhaohan sighed.
Lin Hui thought about it, and it made sense. Although the Hundred Flowers Sect was somewhat stronger than the Black Dragon Gate, in reality, the strongest person in the sect was likely just the Sect Master. The rest were vassals, similar to the model of the Clear Wind Temple back in the day—one Baohe, and three of the 'Ming' generation.
That was probably the limit.
He looked at this group of pitiful Hundred Flowers Sect disciples in front of him. He had the heart to wipe them out, but with the other party submitting to this extent, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He could only let it go.
It could only be said that the two Elders saw that the situation was bad and folded too fast. Such people were fine fighting with the wind at their backs, but once they met a hard target, they collapsed immediately.
But in this world, truly hard-headed people were the extreme minority. After all, in such a dangerous world, if one were truly stubborn, they wouldn't live very long—they would have died in childhood.
"Forget it." Looking at this group of people made him angry for no reason. Lin Hui turned and left into the distance.
When he left home this time, he had originally intended to have a good fight. He didn't expect the Hundred Flowers Sect to grovel immediately after just exchanging blows. This left Lin Hui quite unsatisfied.
He didn't stop for a single step now, heading directly for the Hundred Flowers Sect headquarters.
No matter what, since those two Elders had gone soft, he would go find the Hundred Flowers Sect's reputedly strongest Sect Master. While the news hadn't been transmitted back yet, with his speed, he could get there first and have a fight.
Since he had already taken action, he might as well eliminate future trouble completely. Either beat them into total submission or don't start the fight at all.
The last hope and pillar of the Hundred Flowers Sect was this Sect Master. As long as he thoroughly crushed her, the entire Hundred Flowers Sect could become his vassal.
Yes, merging the sects wouldn't work, so he would just make them vassals.
For a behemoth like the Hundred Flowers Sect, with huge industries and intelligence networks everywhere, he shouldn't give her a chance to recover. Beat her into submission first, then talk.
Asking for directions along the way, Lin Hui soon saw a cluster of white buildings built against the mountain in the northern suburbs of Baishan Town.
Within the complex, he could faintly see many people moving about; it was very lively.
There was only one main road for entry and exit. At the intersection stood a large black stone with the three large characters for "Hundred Flowers Sect" painted in white pigment.
There was nothing to hesitate about.
Lin Hui unleashed his movement technique, pulling a stream of afterimages as he rushed up the mountain road, heading straight for the internal complex.
Arriving at a square in the center of the buildings, he scanned the area casually and headed straight for the largest six-story stone tower.
"Who goes there!?"
At the entrance of the stone tower, because he paused to check the environment, he was spotted by the female guards, immediately drawing shouts of reprimand.
"It's a madman, he wants to storm the Sect Master's palace!"
"Quick, stop him!"
Seeing this, a group of seven or eight people hastily unleashed their movement techniques and pounced toward Lin Hui.
Chi!
But in the next second, a sheet of silver sword shadows fanned out, slicing past them.
Everyone suddenly had a bloody hole over the position of their heart.
Under the severe pain, the forward momentum of the group halted. They fell backward, clutching their chests, unable to rise again.
Seven or eight people down in a second. Lin Hui nodded slightly at the effect, satisfied in his heart.
This was the nature of the speed style: win fast, lose fast. Victory and defeat were decided in an instant, and naturally, consumption was low.
Arriving at the door of the stone tower, Lin Hui pushed the main gate. It was locked dead.
He pushed hard, but it didn't budge. He immediately looked left and right, then leaped up, pressing one hand on the eaves, and vaulted lightly onto the second floor.
With a crash, the glass window shattered, and Lin Hui entered calmly.
In a room that appeared to be a study, two women sitting opposite each other with tea in their hands heard the commotion and turned their heads in shock.
"May I ask where the Hundred Flowers Sect Master is?" Lin Hui smiled politely at the two women and asked.
"D-don't know, I'm here to discuss cooperation, I'm not from here..." the woman on the left stammered.
"Bastard, how did you get up here? Where are the guards? Are they all dead!?" The other woman was different; her face instantly turned extremely ugly, and she stood up with an angry shout.
Chi!
With a muffled bang, the woman looked as if she had been struck by lightning. She flew sideways on the spot, crashed into a bookshelf, and rolled onto the ground.
She had been whipped into the air by the high-speed flat of the sword. The strike hit her shoulder, and after rolling a few times, she couldn't get up again. Her shoulder bone had been forcibly snapped by the sword body, crushed together, the pain twisting her face.
"I hate it when people yell at me." Lin Hui sheathed his sword, ignoring the remaining person, and walked out of the study.
Outside, more than ten disciples in white clothes were holding black metal tubes. All the metal tubes aimed at him, locked on without moving.
And behind them, a towering mass of flesh more than two meters tall shook its pale fat as it looked down from above, staring in this direction.
It was none other than the Hundred Flowers Sect Master, Ou Tianrong.
"Clear Wind Temple's Lin Hui?" Ou Tianrong had seen the attire of the Clear Wind Temple, and in her hand right now, she was holding a pigeon message note that had just arrived. The content described the appearance of Lin Hui, who was attempting to pick a fight.
"What is the meaning of this, Clear Wind Temple?" Seeing this array, Ou Tianrong's expression rapidly darkened.
She originally didn't believe the other party dared to come directly to her door, but now...
"Are you planning to start a war with my Hundred Flowers Sect?"
"I've already walked to this position, what do you think?" Lin Hui laughed involuntarily. "Either you die, or I leave. Pick one."
"Heh, so no matter what, you're fine, right?" Ou Tianrong laughed in anger.
"Correct, because I am fast enough," Lin Hui said as a matter of course.
He liked it when the other party was a bit tougher. The tougher the better, so he wouldn't have to find excuses to escalate the conflict and resolve the Hundred Flowers Sect completely.
Of course, it was also possible that Ou Tianrong's strength far exceeded his imagination, and he couldn't beat her. In that case, he would have to choose to cooperate with her.
After all, she would have proved her strength.
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