Decaying World Chapter 290

Deep within the Jade Sea.

Vast dark shapes moved through the water, circling a disk-shaped stone array. Ancient pillars, each dozens of ters tall, stood at even intervals along its periter. A faint golden light bled upward from the center and dissolved into the surrounding dark.

Clatter.

Zhang Yao dragged himself back to consciousness. He shifted against the heavy chains binding his limbs and slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings.

You're awake? Gongsun Xinlian's familiar voice surfaced in his mind.

Third Sister? Zhang Yao looked toward the sound, but saw no trace of her.

I barely escaped from the storm. Second Brother—were you also drawn out and defeated by the Mingxin Society? Gongsun Xinlian's voice carried a trace of exhaustion.

"…I was careless…" Zhang Yao murmured aloud, choosing not to reveal that the Society Master of the Mingxin Society was their biological father. At this point, blood ties hardly mattered.

What truly surprised him was that the Society Master hadn't devoured him. He had only imprisoned him.

The Federation had its own thods for suppressing and confining Mistborn. One such counterasure was the Mistborn Prison Disk—a device using precisely calibrated Relic arrays to project a formation capable of suppressing a Mistborn's mind-spirit. A Mistborn's power rested entirely on a cultivated mind-spirit. Without it, they could not resist the instinctual drives of the Evil Weapons and Insect Canons fused into their bodies. As long as specific thods kept those artifacts stable, the imprisonnt held. Zhang Yao was inside one of these Prison Disks now.

There are guards nearby. Gongsun Xinlian's voice returned. I'm heavily injured—if I move rashly, I may not be able to get you out. Wait a mont; I'll draw them away first.

Be careful. Don't push it if it can't be done, Zhang Yao replied.

I know. And don't worry—even with both of us out of the city, Eldest left a contingency before he departed. The Mingxin Society Master won't find things so easy. By now, Eldest must have sensed sothing is wrong and is coming back at full speed. But—

Boom!

A deep concussion rolled through the water, cutting her off. They both turned toward the source.

A Mistborn-level battle, this close? Three of them?! Zhang Yao's eyes lit up. This is our chance. With his little sister working from the outside, a plan for escape took shape at once.

…

anwhile, inside the Moon Tower's library.

Lin Hui eased a manual on sealing thods from the shelf and quickly turned through its pages.

Three Origins Seven Apertures Sealing Art: Uses an earth-attribute Treasure Relic as the array core and nine water-attribute Rare Relics as auxiliaries. Combine with eighteen jin of rcury, one thousand jin of gold, and one thousand jin of sea beast bone marrow to concoct array ink and construct array-patterned pillars…

It was indeed a powerful array—capable of locking down Purgatory—but its complexity far exceeded what he had anticipated. It required not only inanimate materials but also the souls of living creatures. He now understood why Tuyue's sealing fortresses doubled as prisons for death row inmates. Many of them executed condemned prisoners on the premises. Clearly, for exactly this.

Too complicated… and this is the simplest one. I'll still have to try.

Manual in hand, he approached the elderly administrator near the entrance to register the text, then walked to the edge of the Moon Tower and leaped off, soaring toward the Dao academy.

Still in midair, he ntally targeted the sealing art and summoned the Blood Seal. He confird his selection and brought up the evolvable branches.

[Three Origins Seven Apertures Sealing Art: A sealing art originally created by the Second City Lord of Black Cloud City, Zhang Yao. It possesses imnse power and broad application, capable of omnidirectionally sealing all powers of Corruption. Duration: thirty years.]

Below that was a breakdown of the resources he had just read. Lin Hui scrolled directly to the end.

[Evolvable Branches: 4]

[1 — Purgatory Seal]

[2 — Extre Cold Seal]

[3 — Ash Seal]

[4 — Wind Disaster Seal]

This fast?

Lin Hui had tried other sealing thods before, but none had produced a targeted evolution this quickly. Usually, only the first three options appeared on the initial attempt; he would have to cycle through the prompts several tis before a Wind Disaster Seal showed up. This ti, it appeared on the very first try.

He had recently learned that the Blood Seal could generate entirely different branches through repeated attempts. In his earlier days, it had offered few evolution types, and those branches were fixed. Now the evolutionary possibilities had expanded considerably, though the interface could only display a handful at a ti—cycling through required patience. Since the result he wanted had co up imdiately, he didn't wait. He selected the fourth option and opened its details.

[Wind Disaster Seal — Through the Originator Lin Hui's practice of the Typhoon Sword Technique, a Wind Disaster energy rift first manifested in the world. The threat level of this disaster far exceeds Purgatory, Extre Cold, and even Ash. This thod fuses the secret arts of the Emperor Shadow Sect—veterans of countless battles against the Wind Disaster—with the Three Origins Seven Apertures Sealing Art to produce a perfected secret sealing art tailored to the Wind Disaster rifts of this realm. Required resources: 10 years of Reserve Wind Disaster Energy, 50 years of Reserve Energy, 50 years of Reserve Spirit. Required ti: 120 years.]

Lin Hui let out a long breath. It had finally appeared.

He knew Perfected Lord Seven Extinctions' deeds better than anyone; the man had been real, even if his tone implied he saw Lin Hui as a cross-generational inheritor. Yet regardless of whether that inheritance was genuine, Lin Hui couldn't allow the entity to cross over carelessly. Perfected Lord Seven Extinctions was already dead. Was the entity communicating with him truly the man himself—or rely a phantom that had long since dissolved and fused into the Wind Disaster? He didn't know.

If it were the latter, opening the way would trigger a full-scale Wind Disaster invasion. Even lesser Corruption powers like Purgatory and Extre Cold had inflicted staggering casualties. If the Wind Disaster arrived… the tens of millions of residents of Black Cloud City wouldn't stand a chance. It might devastate the surrounding archipelagos as well.

He tucked the manual away and tallied his remaining dicinal supplies. He had already consud the Gold Jade Coral, and everything else he had left combined was nowhere near enough to accelerate the sealing art's evolution.

I'll have to wait for the next procurent batch.

With the Wind Disaster Seal's evolution confird, he shifted course. Another pressing matter had just surfaced in his mind. He banked and flew toward the third suspended mountain peak.

Sothing was wrong with the Fourth Princess. He intended to bring that intelligence directly to Gongsun Xinlian—he needed dicine badly, and information of that weight was surely worth a trade.

But halfway there, he pulled up short in midair, brow creasing. Even at this distance, and despite the mountain's array suppression, his mind-spirit perception told him clearly that Gongsun Xinlian was not there.

He recalled Song Feishi's earlier words. His eyes narrowed.

Rumble.

A low roll of thunder reached him from a distance. Three familiar auras drifted in from that direction.

In this short a ti, this child actually… Lin Hui was mildly surprised as he felt the sheer scale of Xia Si's power. She possessed neither the Blood Seal nor the Clear Source Law Body. Such rapid growth could only be tied to the corrupting power within her: Ash.

Tracking the clash of the three auras, he felt Xia Si's power being steadily overwheld. Her Ash could not overco Wind Disaster energy at an equal or greater level. With their Clear Source Law Bodies active, the combined force of Yun Xiazi and Su Yaping was crushing her offensive entirely.

At this rate, he estimated she would be thoroughly beaten and dragged back to kneel before him in half a minute at most.

Then, in the next instant, three strange explosive bursts detonated against Yun Xiazi and Su Yaping's flank, shattering their combined front.

Seizing the opening, Xia Si's aura vanished—as if she had blinked out of existence. She had used the distraction to make a clean break.

The sheer speed of it left Lin Hui briefly stunned. Her burst of speed was at least fifty percent faster than anything she had shown during their own fight. She had been hiding her true strength all along, waiting for exactly the right mont to run.

The smile on his lips widened as her barely perceptible aura faded rapidly into the distance.

He was growing to appreciate Xia Si more and more. She was the only disciple he had never spent much effort guiding. The others—Su Yaping included—ca to him often. Only Xia Si had relied entirely on herself, clawing her way to these heights through life-and-death struggles out in the open world.

So be it. This farce has gone on long enough.

He adjusted his trajectory and vanished, shooting after her.

…

At that sa mont, on the far side of Black Cloud City, the Mingxin Society Master—still wearing Zhang Yao's face—flew above the harbor with a contingent of subordinates, heading back toward the Inner City's Moon Tower.

He, too, had sensed the Mistborn-level battle erupting nearby.

"City Lord, should we issue a warning and drive them off?" Commander Xin asked in a low voice. He was a subordinate disguised as a Blood Ancestor's personal guard.

"No need. We press on." The Society Master gave a slight shake of his head.

The group flew on.

Swoosh.

A blurred figure streaked toward them at extre speed from the direction of the Inner City. As if sensing the oncoming group, it slowed, stopped in midair, and took shape.

A tall man in white, black hair cascading to his waist, a sword across his back. His face held a strange, flawless symtry—not a single flaw to be found. Yet for all that perfection, it projected nothing of conventional handsoness or beauty.

It was Lin Hui.

The Society Master—wearing Zhang Yao's face—and Lin Hui, freshly departed from the city in pursuit of Xia Si, had crossed paths without either expecting it.

It lasted only an instant. Their auras t. Their eyes locked.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Both n smiled at the sa ti and exchanged a asured nod.

Swish.

The two parties swept past each other—one left, one right—and disappeared into the distance.