The Decaying World

The Western Continent’s Celestial Court.

The once jade-white palaces and pavilions had all been reduced to rubble.

Above the sea of clouds, countless architectural fragments and specks of gold and silver blood dotted the landscape, painting a silent picture of ruin and desolation.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

A set of exceptionally rhythmic footsteps slowly echoed through the ruins.

The footsteps were completely undisguised, as if deliberately stomping on the sea of clouds to produce a sound for others to hear.

Yet the ground here was made of clouds; it should have been impossible to produce such heavy thuds.

But that person...

"Don’t... don’t be afraid. He won’t find us! Our hiding spot is well-concealed. I’ve erased all traces of our aura, spirit, and soul. Not even the God of the Netherworld could find us here!"

Beneath the ruins, inside a small, egg-shaped space shimmering with a faint silver light, Ophania, the God of Fire, whispered words of comfort to his two daughters behind him.

"Father... what is that thing?! Why was even the Divine King... taken down in a single encounter?!" one of his daughters, Ninia, the Goddess of Warmth, asked, her face streaked with tears and filled with terror.

"I... I don’t know. I only know that creature destroyed the Eastern Celestial Court, and now... it’s our turn. Our migration plan was never even put into action before he came for us..." Ophania struggled to keep his voice from trembling.

He knew he was now his daughters’ only support. If even he lost his composure, they might collapse under the immense psychological pressure before that creature even got to them.

"I don’t want to die... Even if we were to go to the Netherworld, it shouldn’t be like this... It shouldn’t..." The other daughter, the Goddess of Hot Springs, sobbed. Her tears turned into fine golden threads, which, upon hitting the ground, rapidly expanded into golden puddles the size of washbasins.

Her tears were natural liquid gold.

"Don’t be afraid...! I’m here. I’m with you..." The God of Fire reached out, gently pulling his two daughters into an embrace and kissing their long hair.

RIIIP.

But in that very instant.

The three of them froze, slowly looking up.

They saw that the translucent membrane of their hidden, egg-shaped space was being gently torn open by a large hand.

In the opening, the face of a man with a bewildered expression was looking at them, though he seemed somewhat distracted.

His pale green eyes were fixed on them, yet they could feel his attention wasn’t truly on the trio.

He was a very ordinary-looking man with black hair and green eyes.

His skin was fair, with a few freckles on his face, making him seem quite young. He wore a simple, almost worn-out, straight-cut robe of gray cloth.

It was an exceedingly simple type of ancient clothing: a long strip of cloth with a hole cut in the middle. One would stick their head through the hole, and the fabric would drape over the front and back.

A belt tied at the waist completed the outfit, a unisex garment from a bygone era.

"So this is where you were hiding... I’ve been looking for a long time..." the man’s voice was gentle.

"You...!!!" The God of Fire’s voice trembled. He could no longer control his fear, for over the past few years, he had personally witnessed how this man had effortlessly torn apart any god who dared to resist.

Any Divine Power, any Authority, would instantly disintegrate and dissipate upon entering a certain range of this person.

Only through pure close-quarters combat did one have even a sliver of a chance to fight him.

"I mean no harm," the man said, his expression sincere. "I just want to ask a question."

"Wh-what?!" the God of Fire gritted out.

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore..." the man said softly. "I’ve lost my way... I don’t know where to go or what to do..."

"Then leave! Get out of here! This is no place for you!" the God of Fire shouted.

"But my food is here," the man said, shaking his head. "I’ve simply lost my direction... Perhaps you can help me."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about! Get out! Leave! Get out of here!!" The anxiety in the God of Fire’s heart drove him deeper into terror and rage.

"How nice... Beings like you, with clear goals and your own thoughts, will probably never feel lost... Perhaps eating you... will make me clearer," the man sighed.

"Die!"

Hearing this, the God of Fire finally abandoned all hope, instantly drawing the warhammer from his back. With a roar, he transformed into a bolt of red lightning and charged at the man.

The immense Divine Power he had accumulated over thousands of years surged into the hammer, which he brought down heavily toward the man’s face.

If this strike had landed in the mortal realm, it would have been powerful enough to obliterate an entire mountain range. This was a blow with all his might, capable of causing the crust of a small planet to collapse and trigger massive earthquakes.

At this moment, all that immense power was concentrated within the small, one-meter-long warhammer, hurtling toward the green-eyed man.

CLACK.

But in the next instant, the God of Fire’s warhammer froze completely.

It stopped abruptly, just a single centimeter from the man’s face.

It wasn’t that he wanted to stop. A hand, attached to an arm that looked as if it were carved from white jade, had appeared from nowhere and was now firmly gripping the handle of the warhammer, forcing his strike to a dead halt.

The contrast between motion and stillness was jarring, as if that terrifyingly vast power never existed in the first place.

This was clearly a phenomenon that only occurred when there was an enormous disparity in power between two opponents.

"Father!!" At this, the two goddesses behind him finally overcame their fear. They rose, each drawing a short sword, and shot toward the man. Their two weaker streams of Divine Power merged, transforming into an orange meteor that slammed into the side of the man’s arm.

BOOM!!!

The moment of impact, all the Divine Power was forcibly absorbed by some unknown devouring force, vanishing into the man’s skin.

The short swords, however, merely scraped two sparks off his outer arm before proving useless.

PFFT! PFFT!

The green-eyed man turned to look at the two goddesses. Two beams of green light shot from his eyes, instantly piercing their foreheads.

The next moment, the bodies of the two goddesses, not yet completely lifeless, went limp like noodles—deforming, twisting, and melting into two masses of red liquid that flew into the man’s outer arm and vanished.

"NO!!" Utter agony filled the God of Fire’s eyes. His entire body rapidly turned red as his Divine Power, now utterly berserk and completely unrestrained, was violently unleashed from within.

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion erupted.

A golden-red sun appeared above the ruins.

But the sun had only just appeared for an instant before it rapidly shrank, faded, and disappeared.

In its place, the green-eyed man’s unharmed body reappeared. He gave the empty, egg-shaped hiding spot a bewildered glance and continued walking into the distance.

Before long, he seemed to make a new discovery. He turned a corner and headed toward another patch of ruins in the distance.

In the surviving bedroom of an immortal palace, he found Aoshin, the Goddess of Lightning, hiding under the bed.

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore..." the man’s gentle voice rang out once again.

"Get away!! Don’t come near me, you disgusting monster!!" a shrill female voice screamed from within the palace.

But soon, in no more than two seconds, everything fell silent again.

The man flew out of the ruins and continued onward.

He always seemed to be able to pinpoint the hiding places of the gods, not searching, but simply going there.

A short while later.

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to..."

The same voice, the same words, echoed from another hidden corner.

*

*

*

「The Mortal Realm.」

"What is the meaning of life? Have you ever pondered this question?"

Deep beneath the Iron Buddha Temple.

The hidden Heavenly Immortal from before was now carefully preparing a special formation in the underground palace to connect to the Celestial Court.

He had to prove to Lin Hui that the changes within the Celestial Court were exactly as he had described.

Hearing this question from Lin Hui, who was observing from the side, the old monk who called himself Iron Buddha couldn’t help but shudder.

He glanced over at Lin Hui.

"I... I don’t know either. Anyway, it’s better to live a wretched life than die a good death. As long as I’m alive, I’ll take the opportunity to live to the fullest."

"What you’re saying sounds a lot like a friend of mine. He told me that life is meant for happiness. But I can’t find happiness," Lin Hui continued.

"Happiness is relative. You must first have pain and suffering to have a basis for comparison. Without either, you naturally won’t have much happiness," Iron Buddha replied swiftly.

’As expected of a Buddhist Heavenly Immortal, his thoughts are truly profound.’

Lin Hui thought it made sense and nodded slowly.

"But if you want to live, why are you making these meaningless little moves in front of me?" he continued.

"..." Iron Buddha’s movements froze. Realizing he’d been found out, his hands flashed with golden light as he finished the formation’s layout and activated it.

He turned and warily put distance between himself and Lin Hui.

"Because I have no intention of contacting the Celestial Court! That’s a death sentence! I already told you, if you want to know what’s going on, go up yourself! Why do you have to drag me into this?!" Iron Buddha’s hands flew through a series of seals. The golden light from the formation on the ground, which enveloped them both, grew brighter and more blinding.

"When I said ’go up and take a look first,’ I naturally meant you. After all, I can’t just believe everything you say, can I?" Lin Hui replied seriously, as if he hadn’t even noticed the formation on the ground.

"You’ve gone too far!!" Seeing Lin Hui’s nonchalant expression, the anger Iron Buddha had suppressed for years instantly ignited like a powder keg.

He had been in hiding for so many years, his resources and wealth all depleted. He had humbled himself to this extent, only to have someone force their way in and back him into a corner. Pushed this far, even a Buddha would lose his temper.

Of course, he also had his own ulterior motives. In an era where everyone kept their heads down and dared not make any big moves, this man before him could swagger around, casually using his power. Even though he could feel a small amount of the man’s power dissipating with every action, the man himself seemed completely unconcerned.

’This is what I truly want to get to the bottom of. If I can capture him and force out the truth of his origins, if he has his own source to replenish his power, then this encounter might be my ticket out of this predicament.’

’If he has simply accumulated an immense amount of power, then I can use a Cultivation Technique to seize his Cultivation, which would at least compensate for some of my own losses.’

"I’ll let you witness the true foundation of a Buddha!" Iron Buddha suddenly thrust out his hand and grabbed.

In an instant, an invisible, immense force completely froze and locked the space around Lin Hui.

In a three-meter radius with Lin Hui at the center, everything—the air, the dust, the microorganisms—was completely immobilized, unable to move.

’This is...?’ This was the first time Lin Hui had experienced the methods of a Heavenly Immortal.

It was completely different from what he had felt from Earth Immortals. The other party seemed to be directly controlling the space around him, not just the air. It felt remarkably similar to the airflow control ability he had gained from the Star Breath Sword Manual.

There was no significant expenditure of power. It seemed the opponent had merely transmitted a bit of information outward, like sending a signal.

And then, the space around him had spontaneously frozen.

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