Decaying World

I’ve put together the full cultivation and power system hierarchy for this story—you can read it here.

...

Lin Hui looked up. He could faintly make out that the bright yellow halos above seemed to be emitted by giant moths.

He stopped briefly to rest, eating and drinking to replenish his stamina, and relieved himself behind a large rock. On the plain, the wind howled like ghosts, and the temperature was extremely low. In some places, the black soil was coated in a thin layer of white frost.

Several shiny black scorpions rustled as they crawled out of holes in the ground, parading past Lin Hui's feet with their stingers raised high.

Pa.

Lin Hui stomped one flat and gazed far ahead in the direction of his advance. Nothing could be seen in the night.

At this speed, I’ve got to be covering at least a hundred meters a second, right? I’ve been running for so long and still haven’t reached the Core Zone… Is this Inner City just too big?

Suppressing his impatience, he adjusted his mask and dashed forward at high speed.

This time, he didn't run long before the scenery finally changed. The originally pitch-black sky gradually lit up with fine, fragmented points of white light. Giant cylindrical columns rose from the earth, piercing the Mist and extending to an unknown height. These massive gray-white columns resembled a forest of gigantic trees. Viewed from afar, their exteriors were speckled with white light; under the night sky, they looked like illuminating pillars radiating a texture akin to the starry sky.

Lin Hui slowed his pace but continued moving forward.

On the plain ahead, he could now see that the bases of these gray-white cylinders were situated in massive, irregular hollows. They looked like giant white trees growing out of the underground, arching through the earth, and rushing straight into the sky.

Surrounding these hollows were vast seas of pure white flowers.

Densely packed, the sea of flowers filled Lin Hui's entire field of vision. They dyed everything directly in front of him a stark white. But as the distance closed, he discovered that beneath these flowers were patches of white stone buildings.

The buildings were arranged row upon row. Inside the complex, he could faintly see a massive flow of traffic shuttling back and forth like blood flowing through veins.

As he got closer, roads extending into the flower-sea building complex appeared before him. The roads crisscrossed like a miniature spider web. Flowing back and forth on them were large numbers of trucks, ox carts, horse carriages, and carts pulled by black giant deer the size of horses.

They brought large batches of goods in, then carried away huge lumps of Myriad Blessings Meat covered in small mouths, along with other cargo, leaving rapidly.

Lin Hui noticed that no one else had trekked here on foot like him; most people were sitting on passing trucks or passenger buses. Some pointed at him curiously, discussing something unknown.

Continuing forward, he chose a main road and followed the traffic flow, entering the white flower-sea urban area not long after.

Stone houses with roofs planted with large amounts of white flowers appeared increasingly densely on both sides of the road. Some had small courtyards where people watered potted plants inside. In front of some houses, residents washed the bodies of passing horse carriages, ox carts, and deer carts with clear water. Others ran small shops where the shopkeepers played cards with friends, looking relaxed.

This place made Lin Hui feel like he had suddenly returned to some small city in his previous life—if not for the towering gray-white cylinders looming overhead.

He quickly followed the main road, passing block after block, until the road ahead extended to the hollow base of a giant cylinder. At the edge of the hollow, the road curved and sloped downward, spiraling all the way to the bottom of the pit.

Lin Hui paused at the edge to look and did not continue forward immediately. The bottom of the pit was pitch black; nothing could be seen.

By this point, there were very few vehicles; many had diverted to branch lines halfway.

Having run all the way here in one breath, Lin Hui could hear the faint sound of a thin stream coming from within that giant cylinder. Looking back, he saw that in the flower-sea building complex, there were almost no pedestrians walking leisurely on the streets. Everyone was either loading or unloading cargo, immediately getting in their vehicles to leave once finished, not delaying for a moment.

Looking around, he was the only one standing idly at the edge of the cavernous pit.

A few young people saw him from afar, their expressions curious. They exchanged a few words, but before they could conclude anything, the old man leading their team slapped each of them on the forehead, urging them into their vehicle to leave quickly.

"There don't seem to be many people living here; it's just a cargo transit area..."

Lin Hui pondered. He hadn't seen any patrol guards either, yet those people and vehicles were so urgent, unwilling to stay a moment longer. There must be a reason.

He thought for a moment and quickly realized. He took out a permission token issued by the Rain Palace from his waist pouch. On the black permission token, the color was fading at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Super strong radiation? Lin Hui understood.

Ignoring the stares of others, he quickly chose a giant cylinder and ran a lap around it. Soon, on one side of the cylinder, he found a straight stone bridge for entry and exit.

The stone bridge was gray-white throughout, made of the same material as the cylinder. Densely packed trucks were entering and exiting across it.

On one side of the bridge, a huge round hole opened on the surface of the cylinder, from which a silver stream flowed out, splashing down into the deep pit below. The crashing sound of water was incessant.

Lin Hui now understood where the water sound he had heard came from.

"Lord, is this your first time coming to the Tuyue Core Zone?"

At this moment, a guard in full silver plate armor on the stone bridge walked up and cupped his hands toward him. The crashing water made the person's voice somewhat blurry.

Lin Hui withdrew his gaze and looked at him. Through the gap in the helmet, he clearly saw that the face inside was not a normal human face at all, but a flowing, blurry visage composed of gray-white mist.

"You are?" He raised his vigilance and asked in a low voice.

"I am Shixinjie, an Undying Guard responsible for security here. I have been responsible for the basic order here for over thirty years." The guard patted the broad-bladed double-edged sword at his waist, a hint of pride in his tone.

"Alright. I just came here to look around. It's my first time. Is there anything you can introduce?" Lin Hui knew the other party might have mistaken his identity, so he didn't point it out and went along with the conversation.

"Apologies, Lord, I am not responsible for guiding. If you need, you can tour on your own according to the signs. Apart from our Undying Race, very few people can live here long. And our race is basically responsible for order and security," Shixinjie replied.

"Understood. Many thanks." Lin Hui nodded.

"Okay, wish you a pleasant journey." The guard nodded to Lin Hui, turned back to the stone bridge, and continued to lock his gaze on the passing vehicles.

Lin Hui watched the traffic for a while, then simply walked onto the stone bridge, heading toward the Moon Tower entrance just like the cars.

Seeing him do this, Shixinjie bowed slightly to him from afar, performing a salute, and paid no more attention. Soon, a transport truck was stopped by him, and he went up to question the vehicle owner.

Lin Hui quickened his pace, walking inward along the stone bridge. Along the way, strange guards like Shixinjie could be seen from time to time, guarding the passing trucks.

Occasionally, a luxuriously decorated silver horse carriage would speed out. There were usually only one or two people sitting in the carriage, yet it required two to four horses to pull—quite extravagant. The men and women in the carriages were, without exception, dressed revealingly, with large areas of skin exposed. Their expressions were languid, their features exquisite, and they wore light makeup.

Lin Hui looked left and right and found that he was the only one walking on the stone bridge, appearing quite abrupt and conspicuous.

Just as he was considering whether to find a car to blend in...

"Why are you walking here slowly by yourself?"

Suddenly, a silver horse carriage slowed down. The exquisite gauze curtain of the carriage was lifted a crack, revealing a small child. The little tyke had exquisite features, like a doll, but one could still tell she was a girl despite her boyishly short hair.

A pair of eyes glowed red like lava—extremely beautiful. She looked at Lin Hui curiously.

"You aren't a Trueblood; walking like this, you'll die before long, right? Aren't you afraid?"

"I have a permit; I'm not afraid for the time being." Lin Hui saw that she held no malice and answered with a smile.

"Even so, it's better not to stay long. Many Lords are very forgetful. Even if they called you over to do something, they will soon forget, then scold you for appearing here and dirtying their eyes, and then kill you," the child advised.

"Are there many such things?" Lin Hui paused and asked.

"Mhm, there are many every day. I don't know why, but you seem to have a strange smell on you; it smells very good." The girl showed a look of hesitation. "Go quickly, don't let the Lords see you."

"Mhm, many thanks... By the way, what is your name? Maybe we can meet again in the future." Lin Hui nodded.

"I am Sha Ye. If you come to the Blood Creek side often, you can find me to play. But remember not to get too close to the entrance."

"Mhm, thanks for the reminder. Is this stream called Blood Creek? Why does it have the word 'blood' in it?" Lin Hui looked at the silver stream continuously flowing out from the round hole in the Moon Tower's outer wall, falling into the pitch-black deep pit below.

"You don't even know this? Because this is the blood flowing from the Mist Dragon at the top of the tower," the girl said as if it were a matter of course.

"Blood?!" Lin Hui was stunned.

"Mhm, that is the Mist Dragon captured by the Ancestor, imprisoned at the top of the tower, specifically to provide us with drinking water and for watering crops. It's been used for thousands of years; you didn't know?" the child asked in confusion.

Lin Hui shook his head blankly.

"You'd better go quickly; you know nothing. If not for the fact that true visitors mostly enter the Moon Tower from the sky, and those on the ground are usually trucks or servant carts, strolling like this really is too dangerous."

Sha Ye looked at Lin Hui with eyes like one looking at a pitiful worm, lowered the gauze curtain, and drove away.

Lin Hui heeded her suggestion and did not enter the Moon Tower. Instead, he retreated, walking off the stone bridge in the opposite direction.

He chose a white building at random, walked to the door, and went up to greet someone, planning to learn about the situation of this Core Zone from the residents living here.

"Hello, may I ask..."

Lin Hui didn't even finish speaking before he was interrupted by the old man sweeping the floor in front of the building.

“What are you, a normal person, doing running all the way out here? ‘Hello’ my ass—never seen someone so eager to die.” The old man cursed without changing his expression. “Hurry up and ask what you want, then get lost. This place doesn’t keep normal people.”

“...” Lin Hui paused for a moment, then continued, “Uncle, may I ask—”

“‘Uncle,’ my ass! I’m only sixteen this year!” The old man snatched up the broom and swung it at Lin Hui.

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