The Decaying World

"Why? Perhaps... it’s because you haven’t yet found the true meaning of your own existence..." the old man said, shaking his head. "From the moment of birth, life is destined to end in death. If that’s the case, what is the meaning of being born at all? If you are fated to die today, would it not have been better to have never been born in the first place?"

"..." Lin Hui remained silent. He had pondered this question before, but he had no answer.

"A destitute man, suffering from hunger and cold every day, won’t ponder the meaning of life. He will only desperately fight to improve his circumstances, to live a stable life with a full belly and warm clothes. That process of striving for self-improvement, and the final goal, that is the meaning he has found," the old man explained.

"Are you saying I lack a need?" Lin Hui asked.

"This old one is merely guessing. If you had a goal that you desired, yet could never fully achieve, then perhaps your life would not fall into nihilism. It wouldn’t be aimless, and you wouldn’t be slowly drifting toward apathy," the old man replied in a low voice. "And when determining this goal, you must first ask yourself: what is it that you truly want?"

Speaking of this seemed to stir up some bad memories of his own. The old man lowered his head and fell silent for a moment. He slowly passed by Lin Hui’s side and started walking away into the distance.

"Old sir, would you be willing to leave your name? Perhaps I could come to discuss these things and seek your guidance in the future," Lin Hui called out.

"Hehe, this old one is known as Mei Xin. You can just call me Mei Xin Mountain Man, my friend," the old man chuckled, his demeanor returning to normal. "I live in a mountain hollow nearby. If you wish to find me, look for the plum tree with the thickest trunk in this area and wait beneath it for a while. This old one often roasts wild game there and enjoys some homemade fruit wine."

’Mei Xin Mountain Man?’

Lin Hui committed the name to memory.

The man was clearly unusual, far from an ordinary person. But Lin Hui didn’t care about that. Anyone who could see the root of his problem at a glance, no matter who they were, was worthy of his acquaintance.

"My name is Qing Fei," he replied coolly. "I will definitely pay a visit in the future."

"Then, right now you’re..." The old man glanced at him, confused. He seemed to understand instantly, said no more, shook his head, and departed into the distance, leaning on his Wooden Staff.

Lin Hui watched until he was completely gone before turning around to face the Garden of Mass Yin in the distance. He resumed his approach, his pace neither fast nor slow.

*

*

*

「Inside the garden.」

HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...

Sweat pouring down their faces, the siblings Chen Yunshi and Chen Yunlan sprinted wildly down a dilapidated wooden corridor.

They kept glancing back over their shoulders as they ran, as if terrified of something behind them.

It was as if something was hot on their heels, forcing them to keep running.

AHH!

Suddenly, a scream echoed from not far away—the voice of an older man.

"Was that Uncle Zhang?! Even Uncle Zhang...? What in the world is going on in this place?! The high monks from the Red Sand Temple vanished in an instant, and now even Uncle Zhang, who has been in secluded cultivation for years...!" Chen Yunlan’s eyes were filled with terror as she asked, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.

"Don’t talk, save your energy! This place seems... it seems Infinite, but actually, I’m sure we’re slowly getting away from that evil ghost!"

Her older brother, Chen Yunshi, tried his best to encourage her.

Chen Yunlan nodded. Forcing down the exhaustion in her legs, she frantically squeezed another ounce of strength from her heart to keep them moving.

But after running for only another five minutes, a swaying, bloody corpse appeared, hanging in the middle of the corridor ahead and blocking their path.

The corpse was bald and wore monk’s robes—it was one of the high monks they had invited from the Red Sand Temple.

But now, the high monk’s skin had been completely flayed off, leaving only bloody muscle tissue exposed.

Chen Yunlan was so frightened she was about to scream, but her brother quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound.

"Quiet! Remember what Uncle Zhang said?! It’s all an illusion! Just close your eyes and charge through!!" her brother’s hushed voice was also laced with fear.

But at this moment, they truly had no other choice.

If the rotting-faced woman in white who had just appeared caught up to them, they would be dead for sure.

"I don’t want to die... I’ve saved so many children every year, helped so many poor people, and accumulated good karma. Doesn’t it say that good is rewarded with good and evil with evil?! Why... why do I have to face this...?" Chen Yunlan muttered, her voice breaking as she grew closer to sobbing.

The two of them sped up and charged forward. Incredibly, they didn’t feel the impact of the corpse at all. It seemed it really was an illusion, passing over them like a light breeze.

And just then, they realized that at some point they had actually rushed out of the corridor and returned to the desolate courtyard from before.

Right in front of them was the large, tightly shut gate that led out.

A spark of hope ignited. Both of them felt a surge of heat rush up from the base of their spines, refilling their bodies with strength. They immediately sprinted toward the courtyard gate at full speed.

Just then, a pale figure shot out from the corridor behind them in hot pursuit.

The figure’s hair was disheveled, and its face was covered in a writhing, putrid, grayish-white substance. Its fingernails were black and sharp as knives, and its thick fingers were inhuman.

The moment it appeared, it let out a piercing cackle and lunged at the two siblings.

It hadn’t gotten far before a middle-aged man leaped out from the side, tackling it and sending it flying.

The man clutched a burning black paper talisman in his hand. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and a faint golden light emanated from his body.

After knocking away the rotting-faced figure, he let out a fierce roar.

"Run!! This place is cursed! Don’t look back, no matter what!"

"A mere Jianghu Sorcerer dares to stand in my way?!" the pale figure shrieked. It reached out and clawed viciously at the man’s chest.

SPLAT.

Blood blossomed in the air.

"Uncle Zhang!!"

BANG!!

Seeing this, the Chen siblings’ eyes widened in horror. The older brother immediately drew the pistol from his waist and fired a shot at the pale figure.

But the bullet passed right through the figure, leaving no mark. They could only watch in horror as it gouged Uncle Zhang’s heart right out of his chest.

"Run... now!!" Uncle Zhang roared with his last breath.

Fighting back tears, the two siblings turned and sprinted for the courtyard gate with all their might.

The distance shrank rapidly.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

Three meters!

Escape was within arm’s reach!

BOOM!!!

The next instant, the courtyard gate bulged toward them, splintered, and then exploded!

Countless wooden splinters shot out, knocking the two siblings off their feet. They tumbled into the weeds, rolling several times before landing in a heap, completely out of strength.

A towering, bear-like figure strode slowly into the courtyard.

"People from the Yin-Yang Pavilion?"

The figure’s gaze swept past the two siblings and settled on the dark interior of the courtyard’s main house.

"The feng shui here is not bad. From this day forward, this place belongs to me. Does anyone have an opinion?"

"Junior, you know this place belongs to my Yin-Yang Pavilion, yet you dare spout such nonsense to my face?! You simply don’t know..."

SWOOSH!

The next instant, a three-meter-high section of a broken wall next to Lin Hui vanished.

CRASH!!

A moment later, the courtyard’s corridor and the main house’s doorframe caved in, collapsed, and were blown to pieces.

The entire corridor, along with a corner of the house—roughly a quarter of the Garden of Mass Yin—was smashed to rubble on the spot.

Bricks, dust, and fragments of moss flew in all directions.

"What were you just saying? You can say it again," the towering figure said in a cold tone.

The courtyard fell silent.

There was no movement from the main house. The pale figure holding Uncle Zhang’s corpse made no further sound.

To say nothing of the Chen siblings, who were lying prone in the courtyard grass.

"...!!"

"...!?"

The two were pelted by debris, and in their sharp pain, they momentarily forgot to even get up and seize the chance to escape.

Now that things had settled down, they looked at the towering figure again.

They saw that, having received no response, he had started walking toward the main house on his own.

"Wait! They’re ghosts and phantoms, not something you can deal with using pure strength! Even guns are useless! Be careful, great hero!!" Chen Yunshi frantically mustered his remaining strength and shouted at the top of his lungs.

But it was too late.

Two pale figures had already appeared silently behind the towering man and were lunging at him like lightning.

"Die, hahaha! A mere brutish martial artist!"

The piercing laughter echoed through the air.

The two figures rapidly closed in, lunging and letting out shrill, manic laughter.

But suddenly, they realized something was wrong.

They were only a few meters away, but they had been flying for several seconds and still hadn’t reached their target.

"My mistake."

Suddenly, a calm voice spoke from in front of them.

"I should have made the insects exit the stage from the very beginning."

"???"

The two pale figures hadn’t yet processed what that meant when they suddenly felt a terrifying wave of pressure erupt from the figure before them.

VMMMM!!!

In an instant, the entire Garden of Mass Yin, including the ground in a hundred-meter radius around it, all sank down an inch.

The houses, the walls, the dirt, the stones, the trees—everything, as if struck by a giant, invisible seal, sank down a uniform inch.

With the towering figure at its core, an unending, terrifying pressure radiated outwards in waves, flowing like a fierce gale, spreading out to suppress anything, tangible or intangible, that tried to resist.

The two pale figures were instantly crushed flat like paper, pinned to the ground and unable to move.

They couldn’t even make a single sound.

An intense aura of fear spread wildly from the figure.

"Sir... my Yin-Yang Pavilion has no quarrel with you, does it!?"

From the depths of the sunken main house, an androgynous, white-clad person with long, eerie hair slowly rose.

The white-clad person stared maliciously at the newcomer, suppressing their rage and terror as they tried to reason with him.

"My name is Qing Fei. From now on, you can call me Master," Lin Hui said, ignoring their attitude and speaking as if to himself.

"Sir! Do you have any idea who is behind my Yin-Yang Pavilion...?"

The white-clad person didn’t get to finish their sentence.

POP!

Their head exploded without a sound.

But just as quickly, a new head grew back.

However, the eyes on the new head held a strange, blank confusion.

"Who... am I?!" they murmured, staring blankly at the scene before them. It was as if they had become a different person.

"You are my slave. All who resist us are sinners," Lin Hui said coolly. "Go and deal with the defiant for me."

"Yes!" As if it were a robot that had just received a new command, the white-clad person bowed respectfully to Lin Hui, then turned and flew into the main house of the nearly ruined Garden of Mass Yin.

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