The Decaying World

「Two days later...」

Lin Mansion.

"Come, everyone, raise your glasses! A toast to Xiao Xiao’s successful recovery!" Liu Wu Jun raised his wine glass, signaling for everyone to join.

Lin Shunhe, Yao Shan, Lin Hui, and Lin Xiaoliu were all present.

Lin Hui and Liu Xiao sat together. Liu Xiao had completely returned to her former self. Aside from being a little weak and pale, she was no different than usual.

Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip together.

Lin Xiaoliu had also matured a great deal. Seated beside her was Tao Changsheng; the two had long since pledged themselves to each other and were soon to be married.

"Sigh... If only Mother had passed away a little later... and Master Mingde..." Liu Wu Jun said softly.

Although no one said it aloud, they all knew. It was undoubtedly the decaying deaths of Mingde and Liu Shenglan that had spurred Lin Hui to find a special Dharma Gate treasure to save Liu Xiao, who was now also facing decay.

It was just that...

Looking at Liu Xiao’s current weakened state, they were all a little puzzled.

Lin Hui explained softly.

"She’s fine now, but the decay wasn’t stabilized or eliminated. It was transferred to something else. And this kind of transfer isn’t without a price."

He paused.

"The price... is Liu Xiao’s cultivation and power... from now on, they will be gone. She can only live as an ordinary person."

"It’s no big deal." Liu Xiao, however, was taking it well. She laughed heartily. "Besides, with my previous power, I was no different from an ordinary person in front of you anyway."

"You’re certainly cheerful about it," Lin Hui said, reaching out to pinch her cheek.

"What’s there to be down about? You, on the other hand, still don’t have an heir... Among the recently captured prisoners of the Wind Prison, I think I saw two who would be very suitable for carrying on the Lin and Liu family line for us," Liu Xiao said with a slight smile.

Lin Hui knew who she was talking about.

One of the two was the apology gift sent by the Good Heart Sect back then—the fox woman.

The other was the Emperor Blood Fog Person, Song Feishi, who had just been captured a few days ago.

The latter, in particular, possessed a physical strength that could definitely withstand Lin Hui’s power. She should be able to bear a sufficiently strong heir for the Lin Family.

But Lin Hui was unwilling.

He knew very well that he was still young. It was far too early to be forced into considering the matter of succession.

And although Song Feishi was a prisoner, he couldn’t bring himself to trample on others for his own selfish desires.

This was especially true for something as important as continuing the bloodline. The choice of the mother was paramount. It was tied to a whole chain of consequences for the child’s future growth.

So when Liu Xiao brought it up, he quickly changed the subject. Seeing his reluctance to discuss it further, the family didn’t press the issue.

Many people had adopted a more open-minded attitude these days. With disaster looming, no one knew when the next great catastrophe would strike the outside world. No one knew if they would even live to see the next month.

Instead of worrying so much, it was better to live for the moment. ’If there’s wine today, get drunk today.’

After the meal, his father and Aunt Yao Shan accompanied Liu Xiao on a walk to chat.

Lin Hui, meanwhile, went to the study with his big brother, Liu Wu Jun.

"The Rain Palace headquarters has lost contact with us." Liu Wu Jun got straight to the point with this major news.

Seeing no change in Lin Hui’s expression, he continued.

"I suspect the fighting between the Haiming and the Royal City has intensified, and the casualties are heavy. Ah Hui, give it to me straight. If something happens to the Royal City, if they can’t hold on... what’s the plan for us here in Black Cloud?"

"I will take you all and flee far away, leaving the Federation. As for everyone else, the most I can do is take the Qingfei Mountain floating island. I’m powerless to help the rest." Lin Hui had already simulated this scenario, so when asked, he answered truthfully.

He had thought of this back when he emptied his pockets to build the floating island.

When the disaster came, he would immediately control the air currents and push Qingfei Mountain to flee into the distance.

But that was a last resort, because the final, fourth level of his Star Breath Sword Manual still needed to be cultivated and perfected here.

After all, the fourth level wasn’t anchored to the floating island of Qingfei Mountain, but to all the earth-qi of this land, from the surface all the way down to its deepest core.

To this day, he was still meticulously exploring this underground network of earth-qi.

It was an extremely complex web of interwoven auras: the qi of people, plants, insects, animals, and microorganisms.

To organize it, he first had to distinguish which qi was normal and stable, and which was chaotic and abnormal.

This alone required long periods of continuous observation and analysis.

"Sigh... For now, the city is fortunate to have the three of us complementing each other with our Evil Energy; otherwise, a famine would have broken out long ago. But while we’re fine here in Black Cloud, I’m afraid the other cities are in real trouble..." Liu Wu Jun sighed.

Lin Hui remained silent, his thoughts turning to the Zhenlong Divine Palace. He wondered how Bai Lu and the others were managing things since he had left.

’It’s probably a complete mess, though.’

After all, the Haiming’s pollution and the spread of decay would inevitably expand as more and more living beings in the Fog Spirits’ territories became contaminated.

When their subjects were polluted, it meant their source of Divine Power would rapidly dwindle.

Without Divine Power, the Fog Spirits would also weaken quickly, perhaps even falling into slumber or perishing.

But none of this had anything to do with him. He simply regarded the Zhenlong Divine Palace as a tool for collecting medicinal ingredients.

As for anything else, he didn’t care.

*

*

*

「The Royal City.」

A colossal, pure white floating city bobbed gently up and down, its golden light at the apex pulsing as if it were breathing.

At the city’s highest point swarmed a dense cloud of jet-black Moth Cars, resembling a sandstorm or a thundercloud.

Each Moth Car was a full hundred meters in size. They flapped their massive wings, their emerald compound eyes dotting the dark swarm like flecks of green.

Around the city, the white walls were covered in purple orbs of light of varying sizes, glowing with a pearlescent sheen.

Within each of these orbs floated several High Priests, their expressions grave.

Their gazes were fixed on the enormous rift in the sky above the blue ocean, just beyond the city’s perimeter.

The rift was still endlessly leaking a massive amount of blue-black energy.

At the same time, the rift was also continuously sucking in the boundless waters of the entire Jade Sea.

Countless torrents of seawater hung upside down, forming inverted waterfalls that flew toward the sky.

Between these numberless inverted, blue-black waterfalls, colossal horned skeletons were once again rising from the sea, charging toward the great city.

These were the Sea Abyss Bone Fiends, arrived from the various rifts.

These terrifying monsters were individually almost as large as Black Cloud City itself. Each step they took could trigger a massive tsunami.

If one were to get too close, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to see their full forms at all. A single one of their smallest, bony toes was like a skyscraper—immense and soaring into the clouds.

Only from a great distance, with the mist cleared away, could one perceive them in their entirety.

But even in the face of such enormous Sea Abyss Bone Fiends, a small group of people on the walls of the White Royal City, dressed in magnificent golden robes, remained composed and utterly unflustered.

"Mere Haiming...! Back then, not even the siege of the four great pollutions could shake this Royal City. And now, you think you alone can..."

The long beard of the golden-robed man in the lead drifted in the wind, his expression cold and ruthless.

"Your Highness, the First Prince, all preparations are complete." A streak of golden light shot over from behind, kneeling on one knee to report.

"Begin." The golden-robed man, the First Prince, nodded slightly.

Soon.

From within the White Royal City, a dazzling golden light slowly ascended.

A few seconds later.

The golden light suddenly exploded, transforming into countless golden beams that shot out in all directions.

Within each beam were innumerable, densely packed golden runes, tumbling and drifting through the air.

Simultaneously, every golden beam precisely struck the Sea Abyss Bone Fiends charging toward them.

The runes within the golden light swiftly spread and climbed over the Bone Fiends’ entire bodies, instantly freezing them in place.

"The Royal City is the greatest Deep Core! Victory or defeat will be decided today!"

Farther away, a massive, pure-white floating warship sped toward the Royal City.

Atop the warship, the Bright Heart Association Leader, the Six Pillar Gods, and two ten-meter-tall, hideous black monsters were all looking in this direction.

At this moment, the aura emanating from the Bright Heart Association Leader far surpassed his state back in Black Cloud.

Merely by standing there, the surrounding space seemed unable to bear his presence, as countless black cracks constantly appeared in the air around him.

As he looked toward the Royal City, he saw through to its true nature with a single glance.

In the deepest core of the Royal City sat a bizarre humanoid figure composed entirely of black chains.

"Kill!!"

With a furious roar.

From behind all the surrounding Sea Abyss Bone Fiends, a torrential tide of countless blue-black monsters surged forth.

The Bright Heart Association Leader soared into the air.

He held a blue sphere of water in his cupped hand.

He raised the water sphere, his expression a mixture of nostalgia and solemnity.

"Deluge!!"

He suddenly shouted.

BOOM!!

In an instant, the massive rift overhead, the countless blue-black waters below, all the charging monsters, Fog Spirits, Fog People, and more...

From everything, dense blue-black threads rose into the air.

The threads converged from all directions into his hand, flowing into the water sphere in his palm.

"I will shatter everything!!"

The Bright Heart Association Leader’s eyes turned sharp. Grasping the water sphere, he spun and shot toward the Royal City.

"Come and fight!!"

"Shatter? Who do you think you are?"

Inside the Royal City, the chained figure moved slightly.

It slowly extended a hand.

WHOOM...

In an instant.

The sky went dark...

All light, at that moment, was sucked into the palm of that hand.

SHING.

The palm clenched forward.

The next second.

All the monsters on the battlefield, the Bone Fiends, all the Fog Spirits of the Bright Heart Association—they all vanished.

Even the colossal inverted waterfalls that had soared into the sky dissipated along with them.

The great blue-black Haiming rift in the sky also strangely disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place.

The sea was calm. If not for the fact that the sea level had dropped significantly, everyone might have thought that everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.

And the Bright Heart Association Leader, their most powerful commander, was also nowhere to be found, as if he had vanished completely.

There was no fight, no struggle, no escape.

Just a pure, simple disappearance.

Inside the Royal City, the First Prince bowed his head deeply, his hands pressed together, softly chanting some scripture.

The other high-ranking Fog People, as if waking from a dream, did the same, closing their eyes and chanting with hands pressed together.

"From this day forward, all things are bound by their limits."

Suddenly, a vague concept, an idea, spread out from the Royal City. It expanded at a speed that transcended light, a speed beyond imagination, instantly blanketing the entire Federation and even spreading to the regions beyond.

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