The Decaying World

The Yin Garden of the Yin Yang Pavilion.

Inside an ancient underground palace, thirty meters below the surface.

A man in an ornate gray robe with the head of a wolf on a human body was frowning, staring intently at the Pavilion Master of Yin Yang before him.

"So you’re saying you really can’t hand over any Light Soul Water this year?"

"Lord Lan Xiao, the Light Soul Water was indeed all taken by that mysterious person. Even if you ask for it now, there’s truly nothing we can do," the Pavilion Master said helplessly.

"Who is this mysterious person? Where did he come from?" the wolf-headed man, Lan Xiao, asked in a low voice.

"We don’t know either. We only know that he’s extremely strong. His power and speed are terrifying. Although he doesn’t have much Mana, his raw destructive power is just too ferocious. We had no time to react, nor could we resist." The Pavilion Master had already received Lin Hui’s instructions and was reporting the situation truthfully.

This was because he was worried that the higher-ups might have some mysterious means of detecting lies.

This was the best way to fool them.

"In that case, I can’t answer to the branch Court. You’ll have to clarify this with them yourself. When we signed the agreement, it was stipulated that you would provide Light Soul Water as the price for joining our Benevolence and Righteousness Court. In return, my Court would secretly protect you. But now..." The envoy, Lan Xiao, shook his head, turned around in disappointment, and prepared to leave.

"Protection? What protection can the Benevolence and Righteousness Court offer my Yin Yang Pavilion?" The brainwashed Pavilion Master of Yin Yang’s expression soured as he retorted, "Ever since we signed the contract, we’ve handled all our troubles ourselves. The Benevolence and Righteousness Court hasn’t shown a shred of its presence from start to finish."

"Why do you think you’ve been able to stay here so peacefully for so many years, without worrying about being attacked by the Qiankun Temple or the Great Golden Cloud Monastery?" Lan Xiao scoffed, half in anger, half in amusement.

"Talk is cheap. Taking credit for something that never even happened... You people are all the same." For some reason, the Pavilion Master of Yin Yang was being particularly foul-mouthed today.

"Insolent!" Finally, Lan Xiao flew into a rage, his hand gripping the jade ruler at his waist.

"Ximen Jiu! Are you tired of living!?"

"I am tired of living. What about it? You want to fight me!?" The Pavilion Master of Yin Yang gave a sinister smile, a faint gray mist swirling around his hands. He had become the Pavilion Master precisely because his casting speed was extremely fast, allowing him to use Magic almost instantaneously.

The other Mages were nowhere near his level of high-speed casting. Combined with his undying Human Immortal body, he had been able to hold his position securely for decades.

"Fine, fine, fine!!" Without another word, Lan Xiao moved to draw his jade ruler. But halfway out, he stopped and slid it back into its sheath.

"Something’s not right here. It seems you have some other scheme today. Just say it. Why are you deliberately provoking me?"

"Quite clever." Suddenly, a cold male voice sounded from beside the two.

The voice was so close that it made Lan Xiao jump, and he nearly drew his Magic Artifact in an instant.

But at the critical moment, he restrained the impulse, merely gathering his Mana secretly, ready to act at any moment.

"Who are you? Are you the real reason the Yin Yang Pavilion couldn’t deliver the Light Soul Water?" The thought flashed through Lan Xiao’s mind, and he voiced his suspicion.

"More or less."

Lin Hui’s figure appeared silently to their right. His body was surrounded by a distorted airflow, making it impossible to clearly discern his build or remember the details of his appearance.

All they could see was a burly man in a black mask and white robes, a sword at his side, standing there quietly.

"I see. The Yin Yang Pavilion is a force under my Benevolence and Righteousness Court. For you to suddenly make a move... it seems you intend to make an enemy of us?" Lan Xiao’s expression darkened.

"That’s part of it. But it also depends on the true extent of your strength. Otherwise, there’s no ’making an enemy’ to speak of," Lin Hui said casually.

SWOOSH!

Before his voice had even faded, Lan Xiao shot backward, making a beeline for the palace exit.

His speed was the fastest Lin Hui had seen since arriving here.

In the blink of an eye, Lan Xiao had crossed a hundred meters and reached the exit gate.

But the next moment, the light ring of a sword suddenly echoed through the air.

Lin Hui was right behind him. He drew his Ruyi sword and lunged for his back.

BANG!!

Lan Xiao blocked with a backhanded move.

An unimaginable force slammed into his body, shattering his arm. He was sent flying into the gate, embedding himself deep within it.

Just as Lin Hui was about to grab him and brainwash him, Lan Xiao’s body suddenly burst apart with a soft POP, transforming into a blurry, grayish-black, sand-like fluid.

Immediately after, the fluid rapidly condensed, forming a giant white wolf over six meters long and three meters tall.

AWOOOO!~~~~

It let out a long howl, leaped up, and bore down on Lin Hui.

In that instant, its sharp claws, combined with the terrifying impact from its powerful limbs, smashed into Lin Hui’s front like a heavy truck.

BOOM!

Lin Hui didn’t move an inch. He swung his sword with one hand and slapped it across the wolf’s face.

The resounding slap made the entire underground palace tremble violently.

The immense force of the blow sent the white wolf flying sideways in a parabolic arc. It crashed into the far wall of the palace, shattering a section of stone slabs.

It was completely embedded, its upper body stuck in the wall, unable to move.

A large amount of blood streamed down its fur and legs.

"Again!"

Lan Xiao roared from within the wall. His body shattered once more, dissolving into a gray, sand-like mist.

After swirling for a moment, the mist quickly re-formed into a new, uninjured white wolf.

But the next moment, what greeted him was the same terrifying Longsword, slapping him from the side.

With a dull THUD, Lan Xiao was once again smashed to the ground. He struggled for several breaths but couldn’t get up again.

"The difference in strength is too great." The Pavilion Master of Yin Yang, who had long since retreated to a safe distance, shook his head and sighed at the sight.

"I was easily suppressed, and this Lan Xiao is only a little stronger than me. It’d be a miracle if he could win."

"The Master’s brute strength is truly incredible. I have no idea how he cultivated it," Zhu Shanguo chimed in, nodding.

At this point, Lan Xiao was still defiant. Pinned by Lin Hui with one hand, every time he recovered, Lin Hui would just break his limbs again.

This repeated more than ten times. Finally, he stopped moving completely, sprawled on the ground, staring at the ceiling, which was now riddled with holes from the debris.

"Your Excellency, just give me a quick death..."

"I don’t like to kill. Besides, there’s no deep-seated hatred between us. Why act like this?" Lin Hui said calmly, holding Ruyi.

"..." ’He won’t kill me, but he won’t let me leave either...’ Lan Xiao helplessly climbed to his feet and returned to his human form.

"Senior, what exactly do you want? Can you just be straight with me?"

"I’ve been in seclusion for many years. Now that I’ve emerged, I find the world has changed dramatically, and there are many things I don’t understand. Since you’re part of the Benevolence and Righteousness Court, you should be well-informed. Why don’t you clear up some of my confusion? Once I’m done with my questions, I’ll let you go." Lin Hui was now roughly estimating the man’s strength.

His strength and speed were about on par with an Inner Power Martial Artist. And that total recovery ability was very similar to the traits of the Fog People.

They turn into a misty state and then re-condense, completely healing all injuries.

"Since you’ve been in seclusion, Senior, you should also know about the major changes that have occurred over the years," Lan Xiao said. "If things could be resolved easily, who would bother running around working themselves to the bone?"

"What major changes? Tell me about them," Lin Hui said nonchalantly.

"This..." Lan Xiao was genuinely stunned now. "Faced with the situation, the Celestial Court and the Underworld didn’t even send experts to follow up. They just watched as things rotted to this state!"

Lan Xiao seemed to be filled with rage whenever this topic was brought up.

He carefully explained the point that frustrated him most about the Celestial Court and the Underworld.

"Right now, the country is torn apart by warlords and in complete chaos. The foreign Mage community took advantage of the weakness to invade, occupying our land as concessions! But who caused all this? During that great sea battle back then, our Mage alliance originally had the upper hand. But later, the foreign Mages summoned the Holy Spirits from their celestial realm. When we tried to do the same, the Celestial Court and the Underworld flat-out refused, giving no response at all."

Hearing this, Lin Hui began to understand.

It turned out that during the fight, his side had a greater chance of winning, but things went wrong when they tried to call for backup. Their Celestial Court and Underworld no longer responded to summons.

So, naturally, their side suffered a crushing defeat. More than half of the participating Mages were slaughtered, with only a few clever ones finding a chance to escape.

This was the infamous Parrot Sea Incident that shook the world back then.

Lin Hui knew of this battle, but the official records didn’t mention anything about Mages. They only simply recorded and compared the circumstances of the battle between ordinary people on both sides.

The conclusion in the textbooks was that the country’s foundational strength was weak, its people were not united, and they lacked combat experience. Therefore, a miserable defeat at the hands of the enemy was only to be expected.

He never expected that this battle, as told by the wolf-headed man before him, would have such a backstory.

"Are you saying that the power behind the foreign armies isn’t the Celestial Court and the Underworld?" Lin Hui asked grimly.

"Of course. Foreign countries have their own celestial realms. This war basically set the stage for the years to come, where our side can’t even hold our heads up when we encounter foreign Mages," Lan Xiao sighed.

"What about now? You should be able to summon them now, right?" Lin Hui asked softly, recalling the scene of the Daoist summoning an Underworld general he’d seen before.

"It’s useless. It’s still the same. We can summon some simple phantoms, but anything slightly stronger is still impossible," Lan Xiao said, shaking his head.

Perhaps seeing that Lin Hui was easy to talk to, he gradually grew bolder.

"Senior, you don’t seem like a wicked person. Since you’ve taken over this Yin Yang Pavilion, we have nothing more to say. We wouldn’t have known each other if we hadn’t fought. You could call it fate."

"What are you getting at?" Lin Hui laughed when he heard these flexible words.

"This junior wouldn’t dare have any ulterior motives. It’s just that when I tried to escape just now, I sent a distress signal to my organization. Now, the branch Court Master has been informed of the situation here and hopes to speak with you remotely, Senior. I wonder what you think of the offer?" Lan Xiao said cautiously.

From their brief exchange, he clearly understood that the gap between himself and this Senior wasn’t just a matter of one or two minor Realms, but at least a full Great Realm.

So, after realizing this, he decisively gave up, stopped trying anything foolish, and immediately called for backup.

And the result was just as he’d expected. The branch was quickly alerted, and the handling level for the incident was rapidly elevated from his field envoy department to the level of the branch Court Master.

The Court Master personally inquired and quickly decided to have a good talk with this powerful Senior who had appeared out of nowhere.

Since the other party hadn’t gone for the kill from the start, it meant he probably held no ill will toward their Benevolence and Righteousness Court. Since there was room for negotiation, it was only natural to talk.

"Alright. Are you saying your branch Court Master can speak with me right now through some special means?" Lin Hui raised an eyebrow.

"Precisely. This was originally a technique from overseas Mages. Due to the restrictions of the Tianluo, we were originally unable to create similar Magic, but after absorbing these foreign techniques, we managed to bypass it," Lan Xiao said quickly. "Please wait a moment, Senior."

He quickly closed his eyes and adjusted his physical state.

A few breaths later, a faint blue fluorescent light began to appear on his body.

Soon, he opened his eyes again. They had turned a pure, sky blue, with no visible irises or pupils.

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