The Decaying World

Liu Xuezhen spotted Xie Tie Niu and his daughter behind her. Smiling at them from a distance, she stopped to wait for them to catch up.

"How was our master last year?" Liu Xuezhen asked quietly. "I was away on business, so I missed the last gathering."

"Same as always. It’s like he hasn’t changed a bit," Xie Tie Niu remarked with a sigh.

The three of them arrived at the courtyard gate and gave a slight bow to the tall, sturdy, short-haired woman there.

"Senior Sister Anning, it’s good to see you’re well."

"You as well..." Wu Anning smiled and nodded at them. "My, your child has grown so much. Go on in. The timing is perfect, actually. Master has been talking about going away for a while... After this visit, the next time we want to have a gathering, it might be..."

Xie Tie Niu and Liu Xuezhen’s hearts skipped a beat. They hurried through the gate.

In the courtyard, the pear tree was lush with leaves, and in its shade sat a well-built man with long black hair, his legs crossed. He wore a loose, white sleeveless top and long gray pants. A slender sword in a black scabbard rested at his side.

The man was handsome, his features carrying a cool detachment, a clarity that seemed to see through the mortal world.

He was speaking quietly with two people in front of him.

When he saw the three of them enter, a smile touched his lips.

"Looks like everyone made it this year."

"Master."

Liu Xuezhen and Xie Tie Niu stepped forward to greet him.

"No need for formalities. It looks like you’re all doing well. You had a good year," Lin Hui said with a smile.

As someone who had watched the New Republic’s founding and lived through its difficult early years, he now saw the growing smiles on everyone’s faces and their increasingly modern attire.

It gave him the strange sensation of witnessing the march of an era.

"Thanks to your good fortune, I was lucky enough to be promoted," Liu Xuezhen said humbly, sitting down on the ground nearby.

"I’m now in charge of economic crime investigations for the province."

"I don’t understand all these systems of yours. As long as I know you’re all doing well, that’s enough," Lin Hui said with a smile. "Anning, go get one of those Great Mountain Lord bones we didn’t finish last time. We’ll make soup today."

"Yes, Master." Wu Anning smiled, nodded, and went into the house.

"Senior Sister mentioned that you plan on going away, Master?" Xie Tie Niu asked after sitting down.

"I’ve been thinking about it. After so many years of quiet, it’s time to get out and stretch my legs," Lin Hui nodded. Of course, when he said "get out," he didn’t mean within this world.

In the intervening years, his parents had a second child, another son, who was now growing up. Without Lin Hui’s companionship, the new child had filled the void in the old couple’s hearts.

The year before last, his paternal grandparents had passed away from old age, one after the other. Living past ninety was a long life, by any measure.

Seeing that his parents had a new purpose, that his Disciples had started their own families and were living ever more fulfilling lives, and with the world’s corrupting monsters nearly extinct, the thought of leaving had taken root in Lin Hui’s mind.

He had already collected as many resources and Treasure Medicines as he could, but no Treasure Medicine could affect his body at its current level.

There was little point in remaining here.

Now, after his many years of observation, the natural cycle—the flow of vital and decaying energies—had begun to normalize.

Through on-site observation and statistical analysis in a single location, he discovered that the total volume of these two energies followed a pattern: for a certain period, one would be on the rise, and for another period, the other would be.

On an annual basis, they existed in a state of dynamic equilibrium.

’Although I’m not sure what a true state of balance is,’ he thought, ’this... should be much better than before...’

As he chatted with his Disciples, more former Core Disciples arrived to pay their respects.

Wu Anning stewed a large pot of bone broth for everyone.

The little girl, Xie Huaiyin, even snuck into the kitchen to see what made the soup so delicious. When she saw a giant leg bone nearly as tall as a person, she screamed in fright, drawing cheerful laughter from everyone.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the others asked Wu Anning about her plans for after their master left.

"I... Of course I’m going with Master. I have no other attachments. Besides Master, I have no family," Wu Anning replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The others were taken aback and all looked toward Lin Hui.

They saw Lin Hui nod in confirmation.

"Yes, Wu Anning will be traveling with me. If any of you wish to join, you may come as well. But I’ll warn you now: this journey may last for many years, and we may not be able to return for a very long time..."

At these words, the many Disciples in the courtyard fell silent.

They all respected and revered Lin Hui, but they also had other attachments here. If forced to choose, it would be an agonizing decision.

Soon, someone changed the subject, and the matter was dropped.

They all began chatting about interesting things that had happened to them recently.

The sky gradually darkened.

One by one, the guests rose to take their leave.

Before long, only Liu Xuezhen, Xie Tie Niu, and Wu Anning remained in the courtyard with their master.

"To be honest, I often find myself envying you, Senior Sister," Liu Xuezhen said softly. "I envy how you’ve always been able to stay by Master’s side."

"It’s not always like that. Master’s Cultivation sessions can take a very long time, and when he goes out, he’s often gone for ages. I’m really just an assistant," Wu Anning replied with a smile.

"That’s why, this time, I want to be like you. I’m going with Master!" Liu Xuezhen said with a serious expression.

"Huh? But what about your father...?" Wu Anning was taken aback.

"I recently discovered my father has over a dozen illegitimate children. He won’t miss me when it’s time for someone to look after him in his old age... As for what comes next, I’ll worry about it when it happens," Liu Xuezhen said nonchalantly.

She didn’t hate her father; after all, she had received the most affection growing up. In fact, she felt a sense of liberation. She had always believed she was his only child and thus had to shoulder all the responsibility for him.

This recent discovery, however, made her realize she wasn’t.

"Have you thought this through?" Lin Hui, who had been slowly wiping his sword, Ruyi, with Sword Oil before sheathing it, glanced at her with some surprise.

"I have. The truth is, the longer I spent in my career, the more I grew to loathe the deceit and backstabbing of bureaucracy. If I can live a pure life of Cultivation instead, I’d rather immerse myself in that and purify my body and mind," Liu Xuezhen said with a nod.

Though her face looked as it did all those years ago, her words, actions, and bearing had long since settled into a deep maturity.

"You see things clearly," Lin Hui smiled. "Since you’ve made your decision, come back in three days. Settle your affairs. Then, we depart."

"Yes!" Liu Xuezhen took a step back and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Master, for taking me in again."

"This is your own choice," Lin Hui said.

With two companions for his journey now confirmed, Lin Hui returned to the vault where he kept his collection of sealed crystals.

He had repurposed an underground palace built by the Yin-Yang Pavilion as a storehouse to preserve these artifacts.

Now that he was leaving, these items had to be dealt with and sealed away.

In fact, after discovering the conflict between the Celestial Father Seal and his own principles, he had already decided to use the Blood Seal to evolve the Celestial Father Seal once more, transforming it into a Secret Technique of a different system.

He had no idea what would happen to his collection as a result.

’Your future depends on your own fate now...’

Standing before the entrance to the underground palace, Lin Hui gazed at the rows of sealed crystal pillars lining the walls. Some had already crumbled, their occupants having perished from a long lack of sustenance.

HSSSS.

In the next instant, with a mere thought, a brilliant blue rift tore open in the air before him, unleashing a torrent of Wind Calamity’s Disaster Power.

Seizing the moment, Lin Hui manipulated the airflow and hurled all the crystal pillars into the rift.

Then he swiftly sealed it shut.

All fell silent, leaving not a single trace behind.

*

*

*

「Three days later.」

Outside the small courtyard, Mei Xin Mountain Man leaned on his cane, watching Lin Hui and his two companions, who were packed and ready to depart.

"After we part today, who knows how long it will be until we meet again."

"Perhaps a few years, perhaps longer. Regardless, you must take care of yourself, old friend," Lin Hui said with a smile. "Otherwise, I’ll return to find no one here, and it will all have been for naught."

"Of course." Mei Xin Mountain Man was happy for Lin Hui, having watched his friend’s situation improve over the years. "But since you’re leaving, what will you do with everything in the courtyard? And how do you plan to travel? What will you be taking?"

"Everything has been taken care of. As for how we’re leaving..." Lin Hui noticed his two disciples were looking at him with the same question in their eyes.

He smiled, turned, and gazed out at the vast, deep sea of trees in the distance.

He slowly drew his sword, holding it horizontally before him.

SHIIIIING!!

In that instant, a flash of light from the blade cut through the air.

A pitch-black fissure suddenly appeared in the air.

The fissure grew, and under the dumbfounded gazes of his three companions, it quickly expanded into an irregular, man-sized doorway.

"This path leads to the Black Domain. You two, stay close to me. Do not wander more than two meters away," Lin Hui said. He glanced back, nodded at the stunned Mei Xin Mountain Man, and then became the first to step through the rift.

On the other side lay the Black Domain Void, beyond the barrier of their world. To find something new that could accelerate the Blood Seal, he had only one option.

He had to find a world with a higher Energy Level, one capable of producing such treasures. Finding such a world was, in fact, quite simple.

By following the flow of the Wind Calamity, one could trace it to its source, as it always washed toward places with higher Energy Levels.

According to Master Qimei, the essence of a Calamity was a decomposition mechanism that formed spontaneously across countless universes, spacetimes, and dimensions.

Its very nature was to break down things that were, to the cosmos, like stubborn tumors.

High Energy Level worlds were a prime example. They accumulated vast amounts of energy and matter, forming complex aggregates that disrupted the cosmic cycle. Therefore, Calamities were naturally drawn to them.

As for his two disciples, since they had chosen to follow him, he planned to make them observers of this world.

Someone needed to observe and record whether the corrupting energies could remain in balance long-term. Furthermore, he didn’t know when Xue Shi might return from the desolation. Since he couldn’t stay here forever himself, he would entrust the task of observation to them.

Eventually, when he moved Qingfei Mountain out of the Fog People World and the sect was re-established, all his Disciples would be gathered in one place, and everything would finally be stable.

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