The Decaying World

The Limit. It forced the once-great Taixu Gods to retreat into the shadows.

Because of it, the Fog People of the past, their Evil Soldier Insect Scripture, and everything they built vanished into thin air.

Now, only the Blood Ancestor’s Blood Heart remains, capable of dominating a region or two.

The world was turned upside down, and all things were brought into balance. Even the lifespans of all living beings were equally cut short.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the root of all this suffering.

Although Lin Hui had used the Tai Chi Divine Sword to extend the lives of those around him, they were still inevitably affected.

If not for the Limit, Li Yuanyuan wouldn’t have been forced to weather away. If not for the Limit, Xiao Xiao might not have been tainted and harmed. If not for the Limit, his master and his father might have held on for much longer.

Lin Hui hadn’t found an answer, but in truth, the answer was already in his heart.

The Limit merely made everything happen sooner. In reality, even without it, these events were bound to occur sooner or later.

People are born with different aptitudes and levels of comprehension, so cultivation will inevitably lead to different lifespans.

The saying "when one person achieves the Dao, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven" only applies to the lower levels. The middle and upper Realms of Martial Arts cannot be reached simply through resources and instruction.

This is what is meant by "life and death are preordained."

Your limits are set the moment you are born.

’That’s why so many people choose to burn their brightest, even if only for a short time... Fate may be fixed, but fortune is not. Seize the opportunity, and charge forward in one fell swoop...’

This thought flashed through Lin Hui’s mind as he left the Black Cloud.

As for himself, because of the Blood Seal, his innate destiny had been granted the fate of the Celestial Father, extending his lifespan to an immeasurable degree.

Therefore, the only things that could still limit him were his fortune in this life and the power he could unleash himself.

Since he planned to see if he could resolve the issue of the Limit before he left, he decided to take action.

How exactly was the Limit created? How was it activated? What was the principle behind it? How powerful was the one who cast it?

He had to investigate all of this first.

And the first place he thought of that might have this information was the depths of the Jade Sea.

In the abandoned Zhenlong Divine Palace, a few large sea turtles rested lazily, and schools of small silver fish swam around it.

Ever since the Fog Spirit vanished, there were no more worshippers here. Its former splendor was quickly eroded, decaying and becoming covered in silt and seaweed.

Lin Hui slowly floated into the divine palace and saw that the White Deer was already waiting inside.

"It seems I’m late."

"No, I was early. You are right on time," the White Deer said with a smile.

"Good." Lin Hui glanced around, then flicked his wrist. A small relic flew out, sealing the area from sound.

Then, he quietly released his Heart and Spirit—which had been strengthened to a ridiculous degree by the Demon Fragrance and his Cultivation Technique—and let it spread over the surroundings.

Only after doing all this did he turn to the White Deer. "I have a question."

"Please, ask. If it is something we know, we will hold nothing back." Seeing these preparations, the White Deer knew this was a matter of great importance. Its heart tightened as it bowed its head and replied.

"Don’t be nervous," Lin Hui said. "I’m just curious. I want to ask, how exactly did the Limit come to be? What is the principle behind it? You’ve experienced it twice, so you must have some analysis or perspective on it, right?"

"Well... we do. It’s not a particularly guarded secret, so there’s no harm in telling you directly." The White Deer paused.

"The so-called Limit, as I’ve mentioned before, is a method that primarily works by plundering the essence of heaven and earth, reducing the total amount to manipulate the upper threshold of power."

"How much power is needed to plunder the essence of heaven and earth? If we were to measure it using the old Fog People system, what level would one need to reach to be able to impose the Limit?" Lin Hui asked again.

"If we measure it by the Fog People system, it would likely be several Great Realms higher than the strongest Fog Person. I don’t know the specifics. But the essence of heaven and earth isn’t something one can control just by wanting to. It is ethereal and illusory. One needs a specific method or Cultivation Technique to forcibly manifest it before it can be touched," the White Deer replied.

Hearing this, it had already begun to make some connections, and its expression grew cautious.

"Why... Your Grace, are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"I’m fine. It’s just that after so much quiet, I feel like moving. I plan to take a look around," Lin Hui said with a smile.

"When you say ’around’...?" the White Deer asked cautiously again.

"Can one visit other worlds?" Lin Hui asked. "I got along quite well with a Purgatory Duke before. Now that I have some free time, I was thinking of going over to Purgatory to see him."

"Well, for Purgatory, you can cross over through the ruins of a Gate of Purgatory. The barrier between worlds is much weaker there. If you have a related token, it will be even easier to open a gate. However, you must close it promptly after opening it. Also, if you plan to physically enter Purgatory, you must completely remove any Purgatory contamination before you can return next time. Otherwise... you may be denied entry by this world," the White Deer explained carefully.

"Is that so?" Lin Hui was beginning to understand. He wasn’t confident he could completely remove the Purgatory contamination either. The Purgatory Aura he’d encountered before was one thing, but physically entering Purgatory was another concept entirely.

He was just saying that, of course. His relationship with the Purgatory Duke wasn’t one of such trust that he could just pop over to Purgatory for a visit in his true body.

He only asked the question in the hopes of gleaning more general knowledge about traversing worlds from the White Deer’s answer.

He had a hunch that the black vortex at the Court Abyss level might also lead to another, unfamiliar world.

And that world might be even more dangerous than Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven.

He then asked a few more questions about ways to travel to other worlds and how to return.

The White Deer held nothing back, answering everything it knew.

Of course, he would need to cross-reference the information to determine how much of what it said was true.

Soon, after getting enough information, Lin Hui took his leave and headed straight for the ruins of Tuyue.

If one were to ask where a gate to Purgatory had been opened most recently, the answer would have to be Tuyue.

That was where the Purgatory Duke had established Purgatory’s territory and promised not to expand further.

Bidding farewell to the divine palace, Lin Hui spent about an hour returning to Tuyue, where he found the ruins of the fortress that was once part of the massive Inner City.

In the middle of a vast, weed-choked plain, a dilapidated black fortress stood empty and silent.

A cold wind howled, whistling in and out of the broken gates and windows, which looked like gaping wounds torn into the fortress.

Lin Hui landed, gazing silently at the Purgatory fortress.

’There’s not a single trace of Purgatory contamination?’

He was a little surprised. Logically, this place should have a lot of residual contamination.

But from the looks of it now...

Raising his hand, he looked at his palm. There was the communication mark the Purgatory Duke had given him.

Before, when he was in the Black Cloud, the mark had been blurry and indistinct, as if forcibly blocked by something.

But right now, the mark was much clearer, as if the signal had been boosted.

Lin Hui flew up and landed on the wall of the fortress ruins. He stood by an archery battlement, quietly waiting for a response through the mark.

Based on his past experience, the mark was like a telephone; he had to dial out, and the other side had to pick up to establish a connection.

After waiting for about a dozen breaths, the Duke’s voice finally came from the other side.

"Finally, a clear connection! You were severely isolated over there! Your whole world has deviated too far from its original orbit. I have no idea what happened," the Duke said with a hint of resignation.

Lin Hui immediately thought of the situation where his cultivation breakthrough had attracted three powerful figures.

But that was just a guess, and he didn’t dwell on the topic.

"My friend, the Duke, I trust you’ve been well?"

"I’m alright, just a bit bored. The hierarchy in this godforsaken place is set in stone. The only way to get promoted is to plunder more Power of Purgatory from other places. And I can’t make a move on your world..." The Duke was clearly still resentful about that.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it? Go ahead," the Duke replied, his personality as forthright as ever.

"What’s the deal with the Limit?"

".....Your world is being limited again?" the Duke reacted instantly. "Tsk, tsk. Tragic, just tragic... Even in Purgatory, where the strong devour the weak, there’s more of a chance to survive than in your world, where one hand covers the sky."

"You know the truth, my friend?" Lin Hui pressed.

"I know a little. The Limit is a powerful, unique ability belonging to a guy from your world called Di Suo. He’s the source of all the Evil Soldier Insect Scripture and the second in command of the Corrupt Primordial Disk. Oh, right, the Corrupt Primordial Disk is what your Fog People Empire’s original Taixu Primordial Disk became. There were three of them in total." The Purgatory Duke was truly a veteran; the old undying bastard had seen it all.

"Which three?"

"The original Emperor Fog Man was at the highest level of the five stages of Imperial Blood: Morning Dew, Aquarius, Origin Stream, Celestial River, and finally, Fog Emperor," the Duke continued. "So he was the core leader of the three. After him was Di Suo. Di Suo is a very strange person. He’s perpetually wrapped in chains and is very respectful to the Fog Emperor. They look like a superior and subordinate, but he is held in very high regard by the Fog Emperor."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"The third person is Huang Weijun. That guy is a cunning and greedy devourer. His main body is unknown, but he has countless avatars. He never uses his full strength and is responsible for all sorts of external dealings and diplomacy."

"The Fog Emperor, Di Suo, and Huang Weijun... I’ve met Huang Weijun before..." Lin Hui remembered sealing that guy before he left.

But since the Purgatory Duke described him as cunning, greedy, and having many avatars, he immediately suspected that the one he sealed back then might have also been an avatar.

"Then you definitely met an avatar. That guy... I’ve dealt with him before. A disgusting devourer. He wants to eat everything and can eat anything. Even after you’ve agreed on terms, he’ll suddenly take a bite out of you from behind when you’re not looking." The Purgatory Duke had clearly fallen for it before, and his tone was quite displeased.

"What about Di Suo?"

"Di Suo is the key figure who controls the Limit. This person... his identity is a mystery. We strongly suspect he might be the Fog Emperor’s unique and most powerful Evil Soldier, separated from the Emperor himself," the Duke said grimly.

"An Evil Soldier..." Lin Hui’s brow furrowed. ’If I look at it from that angle, this inexplicable, wide-range, terrifying ability does resemble that nonsensical Evil Energy.’

Besides, the theorem of the Fog People had never been broken: only a Fog Person can devour another Fog Person. Their True Evil Fog is only ever transferred, never consumed or depleted.

’Viewed this way, if the one imposing the Limit is an Evil Soldier itself, then everything makes sense.’

Why were so many Fog People so easily disintegrated and devolved?

Why did even the Evil Soldiers vanish instantly after the Fog People devolved?

The reason was very likely that they were devoured by a more powerful member of their own kind.

"Then why was the Limit imposed in the first place?" Lin Hui continued to ask.

"That I don’t know. That was the era of the Taixu Gods. Back then, I was just a minor figure in Purgatory. I had no way of knowing secrets of that level," the Duke said with a laugh. "Speaking of which, you’re asking about all this... don’t tell me you’re so unhappy with the Limit that you’re planning to make a move?"

"Not at all. I’m not that noble. It’s just a passing interest, a casual question. After all, the Limit is such a powerful ability. I can’t help but worry it might affect me," Lin Hui said with a small smile.

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