The Decaying World

The Formless Celestial Demon...

Lin Hui stared at the top of the stairs, both curious and wary. From their recent conversation, he had gathered that this fellow named Fusheng must have once possessed terrifying power.

For someone like him, who looked down on even realm-breaking experts, to be so wary of the Formless Celestial Demon... it was clear this demon was not to be trifled with.

To be honest, this was his first time truly crossing into another realm.

He had once thought the most likely way he’d do it would be by reverse-crossing through a gate opened by Purgatory’s extreme cold or something similar.

He never expected that, through a twist of fate, the auxiliary Demon Palace that had evolved from the Blood Seal would carry him across realms with it.

Still, this was for the best. At least inside this Demon Palace, he had some measure of protection.

TAP, TAP, TAP.

As the footsteps drew nearer, both Lin Hui and Fusheng’s attention grew more focused.

POOF!

The next second, a white light suddenly tumbled down from the stairs.

The white light rolled upon landing, then with a WHOOSH, it shot forward and stopped a few meters in front of Lin Hui.

"...This is the Formless Celestial Demon?!" Lin Hui’s eyes widened as he stared speechlessly at the large white ball tumbling around on the floor.

To be precise, it wasn’t a ball, but an oval. It looked like a large throw pillow, or a giant steamed bun.

It had a pair of goofy-looking large eyes, and its pursed mouth formed an upward-curving wavy line.

"Ababababa~~~" The thing rolled around Lin Hui, then floated up. It bounced elastically, inflating and deflating as it sized him up from all angles.

"...This is the Celestial Demon’s most common form! Don’t let it fool you!!" Fusheng warned loudly.

"Abababa~~" The white puffball, not paying attention, bounced into the armrest of Fusheng’s chair, sending itself flying. It rolled a few times on the ground.

It then tried to right itself, struggling for over ten seconds without success.

Lin Hui couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He used his control over the wind to help it out, turning it back upright so its eyes were above its mouth.

"To be honest, this is... a little different from the Celestial Demon I was expecting..." Lin Hui said, looking at the white puffball with a peculiar expression.

"You don’t know shit!" Fusheng slapped the armrest. "It’s trying to lull you into a false sense of security!"

"What do you mean?" Lin Hui asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like!" Fusheng snorted, transmitting his voice directly to Lin Hui’s mind. "Do you think that just because they’re called Celestial Demons, they have to look terrifying and monstrous?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of beautiful and alluring," Lin Hui replied.

"Wrong!" Fusheng sighed, glancing at the white puffball still tumbling on the floor.

"Let me ask you, what kind of individual in this world can indiscriminately attract almost all living beings?"

"...That?" Lin Hui was momentarily stumped. "What is it?"

"Do you think it’s a beautiful, perfect member of the opposite sex? Well let me ask you, what about the creatures that have no gender at all?" Fusheng’s words were like a bolt of lightning, illuminating Lin Hui’s thoughts.

"You mean...!?" He immediately understood.

"Exactly! It’s their young!!" Fusheng slapped the armrest.

"Why do the vast majority of creatures cherish and protect their young? It’s because they’ve been naturally bewitched! All living things—as long as they can reproduce—are bound to have a procreative instinct. And in order to procreate, they are bound to retain the instinct to protect their young. To exploit such a universal instinct, the more harmless, cute, and weak a young creature appears, the more it can stimulate this natural protective desire!"

He continued.

"So, when it comes to true, all-around bewitchment, the optimal subject isn’t a potential mate—it’s the young! That’s why when many offspring grow up, their mothers are no longer willing to protect them. It’s because their appearance no longer meets the criteria for being ’young,’ so they lose the fundamental condition for that charm!"

These words made Lin Hui understand at once.

It sounded a bit strange, but when he thought about it carefully, it made a strange kind of sense.

Now, looking at the big white puffball again, he tried to connect it with the title of "Formless Celestial Demon," but he still couldn’t bring himself to feel any strong aversion toward it.

"You’d better be careful, or it’ll eat you up, bones and all," Fusheng reminded him.

Lin Hui blinked and held out his hand.

The Formless Celestial Demon immediately hopped up and flew to his hand. Despite being the size of a washbasin, it landed on his palm as light as a feather.

A soft, warm sensation traveled from his hand to his mind.

A comfortable, warm, and relaxing feeling washed over him.

Seeing this, Fusheng, who was watching from the side, froze.

"You brat... Wait, why isn’t it attacking you!?"

But the next moment, he seemed to guess something.

"Wait, you brat, don’t tell me...!?"

He finally realized that the numerous spiritual light formations inside the Heart Source Demon Palace, which were designed to erode one’s Heart and Spirit, hadn’t been activated at all.

He instantly understood what that meant...

"Don’t tell me... you’re... this generation’s Heart Source Demon Emperor!!?"

"That title is too domineering, it doesn’t suit my style. My strength is too weak; I’m nowhere near arrogant enough to call myself an emperor. You can just keep calling me Daoist Master," Lin Hui said with a smile.

He could now clearly sense a strange connection between himself and the Formless Celestial Demon.

Following this connection, he casually issued a command.

The big white puffball immediately did a backflip, flew far away, and started rolling and squirming on the ground.

He then issued another command.

The puffball promptly flew back and landed in his hand. The soft, warm, and comfortable sensation once again enveloped his palm.

With this confirmation, Fusheng was left speechless.

He had never imagined that the lucky little Insect Person he’d taken for a fluke was actually the new Heart Source Demon Emperor, the inheritor of the Heart Source Demon Palace.

"By the way, can I take this thing out with me?" Lin Hui asked.

"...You mean, take it out of the Sea of Consciousness? To the material world?" Fusheng let out a breath, collecting himself, his tone complicated.

After all, he was a former powerhouse with an incredibly vast range of experience. Though surprised, he quickly readjusted.

"Exactly. Didn’t you say it’s very powerful? If I bring it to the material world, won’t I be able to sweep through everything?" Lin Hui said.

"I advise you not to. The Formless Celestial Demon’s power doesn’t lie in its individual strength, but in its ability to corrupt the material world it inhabits, making all living beings go mad and lose their minds trying to possess it," Fusheng replied.

"Is that so..." Lin Hui released his hand, letting the white puffball hop down and move about freely.

When Fusheng saw this, he realized the Celestial Demon truly hadn’t bewitched or controlled Lin Hui. This confirmed for him that Lin Hui was indeed the new master of this place.

With such weak strength, only the status of being the master here could grant him immunity to the Demon Palace’s corruption and the Formless Celestial Demon’s control.

"I’m going to take a look upstairs first. I’ll come back and chat with you later, Senior," Lin Hui said with a smile. With a SWISH, his figure flickered and reappeared at the entrance to the stairs, and he slowly began to walk up.

He climbed a total of twelve steps, turned a corner, and then climbed another twelve.

A spacious, rectangular hall suddenly appeared before him.

In the center of the hall floated a massive white scroll.

On the scroll, countless colorful lines shifted, flowed, and intersected at high speed, resembling a messy, hand-drawn doodle.

Near the scroll’s edge, close to the roller, were several large words—Heart Source Immortal Demon Map.

"..."

Lin Hui stared speechlessly at the messy tangle of a map for a moment, then began to survey the rest of the second floor.

Besides the map, there was nothing else here.

However, on one side of the hall, a section of the wall had been converted into an enclosed glass balcony.

Outside the balcony, through the glass, he could clearly see purple mist flowing like a river, streaming endlessly from left to right before slowly fading away.

He watched for a while, then walked toward the stairs leading to the third floor.

But when he reached the entrance, an invisible force blocked him.

A clear message flowed into his mind.

’Insufficient level.’

’I can’t even go in?’

’There are four floors in total, yet I, the nominal master, can’t even enter the third.’

Having stayed here for a while, he was faintly beginning to feel a connection to this Demon Palace, as if it were part of his own bloodline.

This feeling even allowed him to stand on the second floor and perceive the situation on the first floor, right through the ceiling.

But the third floor...

He tried to perceive it.

But his instincts screamed of an immense threat that could erupt at any moment.

It was obvious the ’insufficient level’ warning was meant to protect him.

’Oh well. If my strength is insufficient, then it’s insufficient. It’s not too late to come back when I’m stronger.’

He wasn’t in a hurry. The evolution of his Blood Seal had once again brought him into contact with a higher-level world.

This rekindled a faint sense of curiosity in his heart, a desire to explore the unknown.

He went back down from the second floor, returning to the first.

Lin Hui walked straight toward the exit.

"Wait, little friend! Your strength is weak right now. If you just go out like this, you’re bound to run into danger. How about you release this old man? Once I’ve recovered a bit of my strength, I can carve out a safe zone for you in the surrounding area," Fusheng said, seeing his intention. He grew anxious and quickly waved his hand.

"Senior, how do you know I’ll definitely run into danger if I go out?" Lin Hui chuckled, glanced back at him, then stepped over the threshold. His figure abruptly vanished, disappearing completely.

"!?" Now it was Fusheng’s turn to be dumbfounded.

He had no idea what method Lin Hui had used to leave the Sea of Consciousness. The formations inside the Demon Palace hadn’t activated, and there wasn’t the slightest ripple of power. It was clear he hadn’t used them.

Nor did he sense any fluctuations from the various power systems he was familiar with in the outside world.

’This guy...’ In his mind, his assessment of Lin Hui was instantly upgraded from a lucky Insect Person to a mysterious and lucky individual.

"Abababa!" The Formless Celestial Demon at his side hopped a few times, then started rolling itself across the floor toward the stairs to the second floor.

Seeing this, Fusheng sighed, speechless.

’Such a terrifying Celestial Demon, and that guy is actually treating it like a mascot? Truly worthy of the name Formless Celestial Demon. No matter how many times I warned him, I couldn’t make Daoist Master Lin wary at all.’

*

*

*

SWISH!

「Inside the Zhenlong Divine Palace.」

Lin Hui’s figure quickly solidified from a blur.

He looked down at himself; not a single trace of the purple mist had come with him.

’Looks like it’s fine... I gained control of that place through the Blood Seal, allowing me to enter and exit freely. This method is much cleaner than the ones the Demon Fragrance Sect used in the past.’

After his evolution was complete, he had also obtained a great deal of the Demon Fragrance Sect’s past memories and history.

Naturally, he also knew how the previous Sect Leaders and Demon Emperors of the Demon Fragrance Sect had entered and exited the Sea of Consciousness.

’Next, it’s time to try these three wisps of Demon Fragrance...’

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