Decaying World Chapter 277:

The news of the Purgatory and Extre Cold invasion sent considerable waves through Black Cloud in the wake of Lin Hui's return, then traveled onward to reach Biqiu, the Royal City of the Federation's Inner Court.

The Inner Court responded furiously, mobilizing vast numbers of the Black Army from urban districts across the federation while dispatching wave after wave of Mistborn from its own ranks.

In response, the Hongyin Empire suspended its small-scale skirmishes with the Taisu Federation, simultaneously pushing troops forward in a probing assault against the Extre Cold Heaven's polluted border regions.

The divine pantheon clustered around the Mist Gods near Black Cloud imdiately pulled back. The previous battle seed to have thoroughly exhausted their accumulated power, forcing them into a period of rest and recovery.

In this climate, Lin Hui used every aphrodisiac he could procure. Pushing through his growing tolerance, he rapidly shortened the Blood Seal's evolution ti from two hundred years down to one hundred and fourteen—slashing nearly half the required ti in one burst. The cost, however, was that he had swept the market clean of any high-grade aphrodisiacs potent enough to work on him.

If he wanted more, he would have to wait for a new harvest cycle or for the transport fleets to scale up their acquisitions.

Left with no other option, Lin Hui entered secluded cultivation to deepen his grasp of the Sacred Form of Destruction. As ti passed, his combat achievents in Tuyue were gradually eclipsed by the torrent of incoming battle reports detailing the clashes between Extre Cold Heaven and the Federation army. Explosive dispatches covering events far more montous than his own were broadcast continuously across every district through Federation special bulletins, amplified by Black Cloud's propaganda departnt until they consud the attention of everyone from the City Lords down to the commonfolk.

And so, at last, he returned to the quiet life he had always wanted.

…

Five years later.

The Thirteenth Branch of the Taisu Martial Academy.

"Hurry, Xiaoliu, hurry! If we don't move, we'll miss it—this was the only slot we had!"

Swept up in the flood of students pouring out of the martial academy, Lin Xiaoliu found herself yanked into a dead sprint by her best friend, Xu Yaya. She threw out her newly learned evasive footwork and charged toward the Outer City gates.

Xu Yaya was round and stocky. Her cultivation thod had steadily broadened her fra until she resembled a small brown bear—a resemblance her classmates had not failed to notice, earning her the nickna "Bear Ya."

Behind her, Lin Xiaoliu was just beginning to show her figure. Though only ten years old, she had grown to the size of a girl of thirteen or fourteen. She had fair skin, a clear and guileless face, and large, perpetually glistening eyes that gave her the look of a distressed rabbit perpetually on the verge of squeezing them shut and screaming. That quality was precisely what drew the tomboyish Xu Yaya to her, always planting herself in front of Lin Xiaoliu like a self-appointed guardian.

"But... I'm going... as fast as I can... My footwork isn't... as good as yours... Slow... down..." Lin Xiaoliu was already gasping.

The Thirteenth Branch was a famously sprawling campus. Running from one end of the academy grounds to the other took over two hours on its own. After the full exertion of their cultivation classes, both girls had been thoroughly wrung out before the sprint even began—and Lin Xiaoliu was falling behind.

"This is the last event of the Sea Lantern Festival! If we don't hurry, we really won't make it! We still need to be ho before dark!" Xu Yaya was frantic.

Lin Xiaoliu's small hand ached from being yanked along. Just as she was feeling helpless, her eye caught sothing in the distance to the right.

On the right side of the academy stood a small, backlit red grove. In its shade, a boy from their year—one who shared their large joint classes—was arguing heatedly with a tall man in an ornate purple robe.

That man... Lin Xiaoliu frowned faintly, her gaze drifting almost without thought from the boy to the purple-robed figure.

Growing up in the Black Cloud Inner City, her various aptitudes had gradually declared themselves. Her martial arts aptitude was average; her Called One aptitude, equally so. Her strongest faculty was perception—sharp and steadily sharpening—but in an Inner City martial academy, even that counted for little. This was a different world from the Outer City: aptitudes that would be exceptional out there were commonplace here, as were the looks and physiques of her peers.

Because of that, she had worked all the harder to develop what she had, training her perception until it grew increasingly acute.

And in that mont, the instant her eyes landed on the purple-robed man, a faint, unbidden unease stirred in her chest.

"Stop spacing out! Get in the carriage!" Xu Yaya's voice pulled her back.

"Ah—oh!" Before Lin Xiaoliu could react, she was hauled into a large black horse-drawn carriage waiting on the road outside.

After a rattling ride, the two arrived at the Sea Lantern Festival on the beach in ti. They bought so dried seafood and ate on the walk ho.

Back at Lin Manor, the family gathered for dinner as usual, the adults drifting into their familiar talk of news and city gossip. The n gravitated toward the battle reports from the Purgatory and Extre Cold frontlines, arguing over the state of the campaign. The won debated new clothing styles, armor designs, and which family's forgework was the finest.

For reasons she couldn't na, Lin Xiaoliu kept returning to the purple-robed man she'd seen on the way out of school.

The night passed without event. Early the next morning, she took the carriage to school. The mont she stepped into the classroom, she could hear the students murmuring in tight clusters, their faces drawn with unease.

"Xiaoliu, sothing serious happened last night!" Xu Yaya appeared from a corner, pulled her aside, and dropped her voice.

"What happened?"

"A boy in our year suddenly fell into a coma yesterday—they couldn't wake him no matter what they tried. A dical apothecary was called in, and the diagnosis was sothing called Soul Loss Syndro!" Xu Yaya said in a hushed, wide-eyed tone.

"Soul Loss Syndro? Who got it?" For no reason she could explain, the purple-robed man from yesterday flashed through her mind.

"Zhang Jingfei from Class One!"

"Him?" Lin Xiaoliu stopped. Wasn't that the boy she had seen in the shade of the red grove?

Her brows drew together. Sothing felt wrong—but no matter how she turned it over, she couldn't pinpoint what. She had only ever known Zhang Jingfei by na. He was from the Zhang family, one of the three great families of the Inner City; even as a scion of its outer bloodline, that was more than enough for everyone to be warned, upon enrollnt, to give him a wide berth.

"Apparently, it might be contagious. The academy's already organizing universal screening," Xu Yaya continued in a whisper.

Lin Xiaoliu nodded, said nothing more, and let the subject drop—but the unease refused to leave her.

…

Clear Wind Dao Academy.

Lin Hui sat cross-legged in the courtyard, gazing up through the transparent crystal-reinforced canopy at the slow drift of the Night Mist above.

Pale humanoid figures moved within it—limbs twisted at wrong angles—occasionally pressing their faces silently against the canopy and peering down. Their expressions were contorted, agonized. They had no clothing, no distinguishing features, no trace of sex or identity. They looked like primordial, undifferentiated beings born formless from chaos, their eyes hollow and black as pitch.

"Ah Hui, it's so late. Why aren't you in bed?" Liu Xiao ca out of the bedroom, draped in an outer robe, and settled softly at his side.

"Couldn't sleep. I ca out to watch the Night Mist." Lin Hui smiled and drew her in by the waist, letting her lean against him. "How has work been lately?"

"Quiet. There isn't much to do at the Void Wish Hall on the Rain Palace side—mostly receiving ordinary people who co to pray or talk through their troubles," Liu Xiao said simply.

"I've never been able to work it out. What god does the Rain Palace actually worship? So kind of powerful Mist God?"

Lin Hui still rembered the Eight-Ard Faceless God statue he had encountered on his first visit to the Rain Palace.

"Nothing like a Mist God," Liu Xiao said with a smile. "The Rain Palace's divine scripture records the origin of all things in this world. Evil Weapons, Insect Canons—everything traces back to a being nad Xiao. Unlike the Mist Gods, this being has never shown itself, and no one knows whether it truly exists. But everyone believes that Xiao represents hope. When He appears, all hardship and peril will be swept away."

"That makes sense. In a world this bleak, hope is what everyone is reaching for." Lin Hui nodded.

He looked up at the Night Mist, his hand resting gently at Liu Xiao's waist. This was the life he had always wanted: days of tranquility and peace—devoted to the study of martial arts, the search for old and new dicines, and the guidance of his disciples and juniors. And the nights spent in easy companionship with Liu Xiao.

Everything was beautiful.

Except that Liu Xiao had been growing weaker lately, and he didn't know why. Her color had worsened, her energy was low, and she fell asleep without cause. And despite five years of trying, she showed no signs of pregnancy.

Over these sa five years, his cultivation had taken trendous strides. He had begun to grasp the contours of the Sacred Form of Destruction, and his reinforcent of the Sacred Form of Life was nearly complete. His overall physical capabilities had been vastly enhanced once more—standing perfectly still, he was now proof against a High Divine Officer's full range of capabilities, physical strikes, and mind-spirit attacks alike. Even with Surrounding Wind dormant, his power, defense, recovery, and resistance were all tenfold what they had been five years prior.

He nad this transformation the Holy Breath Law Body—the law body drawn forth from the Star Breath Sword Canon by the Sacred Form. He regarded it as the advanced iteration of the Clear Source Law Body.

His strength had surged. The matter of fertility, however, remained intractable. He was no closer to an answer.

"Speaking of which—a strange infectious disease has appeared in the city recently," Liu Xiao said. "Have the Clear Wind Dao mbers stay away from crowded places when there's no need to go out. No point risking collateral infection. The transmission chanism still hasn't been identified."

"Mm. Thanks for the reminder."

"A verbal thanks isn't enough!" Liu Xiao's bright eyes flicked sideways, a hint of mischief in her smile.

"You." Lin Hui shook his head, helpless, and reached out to tap her arm.

The instant his fingertip touched her skin, it was like a spark. A sharp, electric tingle flooded through her entire body in one wave.

Liu Xiao let out a soft sound, spun around, and fled.

"You cheated again!!" she called back, already disappearing into the bedroom.

"Hopeless at it, yet she never learns." Lin Hui shook his head. He summoned the Blood Seal and checked its status.

The Eye of Life still had fifty years remaining—the product of five years spent amassing resources and dicines to push its progress forward.

Soon. It'll be soon...

On the surface, all was calm. But recently, Xia Si had been quietly scheming.

Since recovering her mories, Xia Si was a changed woman—or rather, she had simply reverted to her true self. According to the law seal's verification, she still acknowledged her identity as a Clear Wind Dao disciple—but she coveted Lin Hui's seat as Sect Master and harbored open mutinous intent.

To make matters worse, she had broken through again not long ago. Without ever having learned the Typhoon Sword Technique, that stubborn fool had sohow pushed the Wild Wind Sword Technique to heights Lin Hui couldn't begin to asure. Paired with that overwhelming, near-limitless force capable of reducing all things to ash, he had no clear sense of what she was truly capable of now.

Once tainted by that manner of corrupting power, conventional realm divisions lost all aning as a yardstick—such powers were notorious for one thing above all else: they elevated their wielder at an almost unchecked rate.

That said, with the four great law seals in hand and the Nine Eyes sealing web layered atop them, Lin Hui was confident he could still suppress her without much difficulty.