The Decaying World

June.

Just as the Taixu Federation’s fight against the Haiming pollution was raging, the Extreme Cold Heaven pollution erupted once more from another corner of the world.

Thirteen passages to the Extreme Cold Heaven were opened overnight. A massive number of bizarre, frigid monsters poured through, slaughtering all life in the vicinity and forcing the Federation to divide its forces to suppress them.

Caught in a war on two fronts, the Fog People began choosing sides and joining the factions they identified with.

Everyone knew that in this situation, not picking a side meant you would be the first to be eliminated by a coalition of the others.

After all, neutrality implied a potential to surrender to the enemy, making one an unstable element.

As the three major powers snowballed in strength, some once-mighty Fog People cities seemed increasingly frail by comparison. They began to proactively absorb unaffiliated forces from their surroundings in a bid for self-preservation.

Black Cloud Inner City.

Zhang Yao stood atop the Moon Tower, his expression grim. He stared into the distance, to the right of the city, where a new floating mountain was taking shape.

It was the fifth floating mountain built under the direction of the three Fog People from the Three-Island Alliance. If it were merely floating, that would be one thing.

But the Three-Island Alliance, under the pretext of helping Black Cloud City defend against external threats, had forcibly embedded their floating mountain into the city’s great defensive formation.

"I told you we never should have let them in!" Gongsun Xinlian, her face as cold as ice, was seated cross-legged on the ground behind him.

"We had no choice," Zhang Yao replied, turning back. "Tianchong City and the other major cities have already absorbed a massive number of unaffiliated fighters. The largest have gathered Fog People in the double digits, while even the smallest have five or six. Countless Wild Fog People and newly awakened Fog People have been recruited and placed in important positions. Through the constant external battles, the strongest and most promising among them are being quickly identified."

"..." Gongsun Xinlian fell silent.

She understood. Not absorbing new forces was a death sentence. But doing so would inevitably dilute their own power and interests.

"Still no word from Big Brother?" Zhang Yao sighed.

"I’ve made contact, in a way... Big Brother seems to be very far away, even farther than before. I can only just barely sense his general direction," Gongsun Xinlian said, her head bowed.

"Then there’s nothing to be done. I suspect someone is deliberately preventing Big Brother from returning. Our only option is to have Ah Hui hurry back," Zhang Yao said with a helpless sigh.

"I’ll..." Gongsun Xinlian began to reply, but she suddenly snapped her head up, staring at the sky above.

CRACK.

A sharp, cracking sound echoed from the enormous Haiming fissure overhead.

At that moment, it wasn’t just them.

In the distance, the members of the Three-Island Alliance and all the other powerful experts who had sought refuge in Black Cloud City looked up, their attention captured by the massive commotion.

Even the civilians, who were in the middle of evacuating from the Outer City into the Inner City, were startled by the piercing sound and raised their heads to the sky.

Just as everyone’s attention was fixed on the Haiming fissure...

THUMP!

The next instant.

An impossibly huge, ghastly white hand emerged from the very center of the enormous fissure.

The great hand was devoid of flesh and blood; it was pure white bone.

But its size was terrifying.

First, its fingers stretched out of the fissure.

Then, as if finding the opening a bit too narrow, it twisted forcefully, prying the edges of the fissure wider.

Then, as everyone stood frozen, stunned by this sudden, terrifying development...

Zhang Yao let out a sudden roar. The power of his Evil Soldier erupted from his body in a brilliant flash, and a small, colorful pagoda materialized behind him, releasing countless multicolored particles.

"Heartless Divine Light! Activate!"

He roared.

A ray of colored light shot out from the Evil Soldier behind him, striking a point on the ground of the Inner City below.

Immediately, the entire Inner City lit up like an awakened giant, its body covered in a dense, uncountable number of multicolored formation sigils.

A massive, multicolored curtain of light shot skyward, covering the city and forming a protective shield.

At the same time.

Gongsun Xinlian and the many other Fog People also snapped into action.

The members of the Three-Island Alliance opened their third, multicolored eyes—a trait unique to the Fog People—and unleashed a massive amount of power from their Evil Soldier Insect Scripture, pouring it into the great formation to reinforce the giant light curtain.

"Faster! Faster! This is a Haiming invasion! Everyone, pour all your power into the formation anchors!"

A deep, resonant roar came from the direction of the Three-Island Alliance.

Gongsun Xinlian was also rapidly sending out telepathic commands. In that instant, everyone unleashed their full power, channeling it into the anchors of the Black Cloud City grand formation they had all been briefed on.

Above Black Cloud City, the enormous, multicolored shield began to solidify at a visible rate.

And at that very moment.

The giant bone hand in the Haiming fissure suddenly plunged downward and struck.

BOOM!!!

The terrifying tremor sent a sharp pain through everyone’s eardrums.

The very heavens and earth seemed to shake and tremble from the impact.

The entire Black Cloud City, like an overturned, multicolored bowl, was slammed so hard that its edges sank deep into the ground.

Every powerful expert within the shield, including the Fog People, simultaneously coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The pure, terrifying physical force of the impact was on a scale they could scarcely imagine.

Judging by its sheer size, the giant bone hand was only a fraction smaller than Black Cloud City itself.

The Descent of the Heart God unleashed by an ordinary Fog Person at full power was nothing but dust before it. They were on completely different levels.

HSSSS....

Suddenly, a strange whistling sound echoed from the sky.

Immediately after, the giant bone hand began to pull back. And then...

It plummeted down once more.

BOOM!!!

CRACK.

This impact was far heavier than the last. It instantly smashed a web of cracks into a large, concave section of the Black Cloud formation’s shield.

"Is this the end!?" Zhang Yao cried, a trace of despair in his eyes as he watched the great bone hand retract once more.

’Once Black Cloud City is destroyed, we’ll no longer have it to bear the burden of decay,’ he thought. ’The three of us will enter the final countdown immediately. If Black Cloud lives, we live. If Black Cloud dies, we also...’

But to his surprise, the great bone hand didn’t strike a third time. Instead, it accelerated its retreat.

It withdrew back into the Haiming fissure.

As relief washed over him, Zhang Yao’s keen eyes noticed something—fine, red patches were starting to appear on the surface of the great bone hand.

Furthermore, a large number of tiny white fragments were flaking off its surface.

"This is... decay!?" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

The law of decay stated that the more powerful an entity was, the faster and more severely it would decay.

The great bone hand undoubtedly met this condition, which was why it was being eroded by the laws of decay.

Having figured this out, Zhang Yao kept his eyes locked on the great bone hand. Only after it had completely retracted into the Haiming fissure did he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Finally..."

WHOOSH!!

But before he and Gongsun Xinlian could even finish their sigh of relief...

The next moment, a deluge of blue-black seawater gushed from the massive Haiming fissure, showering down upon Black Cloud City like a colossal fountain.

The torrent of seawater, like a waterfall descending from the heavens, hammered against Black Cloud City’s colorful shield. It flowed down the barrier’s outer surface and poured into the surrounding Jade Sea.

The instant the blue-black water crashed into the pale green Jade Sea, countless waves churned the surface.

Vast patches of blue-black spread rapidly across the sea in all directions.

The air began to fill with the faint, corrupting aura of the Sea Roar Power.

It was a foul, fishy stench—a sticky, sinister cold that made one’s skin crawl.

"Now we’re in big trouble..."

Zhang Yao’s throat bobbed. His hands clenched unconsciously, his expression grim.

*

*

*

「 Zhenlong Divine Palace. 」

Lin Hui gazed calmly at a nautical chart of the surrounding region floating before him.

Beside him, Divine Sound, Bai Lu, and Cloud Cleansing had all assembled, awaiting his next command.

"So, you’re saying that early this morning, in the span of just two hours, three Haiming fissures appeared in the surrounding Jade Sea, releasing massive amounts of polluted seawater?"

Lin Hui asked, his voice low.

"That is correct. This Haiming seawater has a powerful corrupting and mutagenic effect on mist creatures. Many of the creatures we could once influence and control not only become more dangerous after being corrupted, but they also fall beyond the influence of us Fog Spirits," Divine Sound said cautiously.

Somehow, though not much time had passed, she felt that the Daoist Master seemed even more profound, mysterious, and terrifying than when she had last seen him.

And yet, his appearance hadn’t changed in the slightest.

Lin Hui fell silent, his gaze fixed on the nautical chart.

On the chart, the Zhenlong Divine Palace was at the center, surrounded by various Fog Spirit factions.

Aside from Black Cloud City to the south, the other three directions were occupied by Cloud Dragon Hall, the Water God Hall, and Star-Severing Island, respectively.

Like the Zhenlong Divine Palace before them, these three factions had all taken advantage of the chaos to absorb unaffiliated forces, rapidly growing into powerful Fog Spirit domains.

"Daoist Master, all the herbs in our domain have been harvested. If we wish to find more high-vintage Treasure Medicines, we will have to search the islands in the wider sea... but now, with the Haiming fissure invasion..." Cloud Cleansing, the old turtle, spoke up.

"Then we will pause for now," Lin Hui said lightly. "Send envoys to those three factions. Tell them to submit or leave. The choice is theirs. In addition..."

"Send down the order: I am opening our gates to recruit disciples and pass on the teachings of the Great Dao."

Cloud Cleansing and Divine Sound were both taken aback. He had just said they had enough people for now and would not be bestowing any more seals. Why the sudden change of heart?

But Lin Hui’s words, though spoken gently, held an autocratic weight. They dared not disobey. Bowing their heads in acknowledgment, they retreated.

After the two spirits had departed, Bai Lu—Fan Yuntian—remained behind.

"It seems the Daoist Master has had another fortuitous encounter?" Fan Yuntian said, sizing up Lin Hui with a smile.

"A minor one," Lin Hui replied, a little curious how the man could tell. "The world is in upheaval. If I were to simply stand still, how could I protect everyone?"

"Upheaval?" Bai Lu chuckled. "The Daoist Master may not have witnessed the invasion ten thousand years ago, when countless forces of corruption descended at once. That was a truly terrifying sight, far worse than this. The current chaos may seem intense, but its scale is nowhere near a true crisis."

"...Could you elaborate?" Lin Hui asked, his interest piqued. He leaned forward slightly.

"The truth will reveal itself soon enough. This world is far less fragile than you might imagine. We need only wait and see," Bai Lu replied vaguely.

Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, watching as the man turned, walked away slowly, and vanished. He said nothing more.

He stood up and gazed at the palace’s smooth, magnificent stone walls.

’If what he said is true, then I only need to protect those closest to me. In that case, my plan to evolve Qingfei Mountain into a floating island was the correct one.’

’The floating island’s basic defenses will be ready once I return and deploy the grand formation. The levitation arrays will allow it to move. The only thing it lacks is self-sufficiency.’

’I plan to evolve it further to remedy that shortcoming completely.’

’Once all the dust settles, I can stay on Qingfei Mountain with my family and friends, watching the storms of the world roll by from a safe distance.’

’As for the Zhenlong Divine Palace... it is merely a necessary tool to achieve that end.’

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