Decaying World

"Draw your sword," Lin Hui said.

Xia Si's head snapped up.

"Swing it at me," Lin Hui said calmly.

"I... I'm afraid... afraid of hurting you, Master—"

"If you can defeat me, you will be the next Dao Master of the Clear Wind Dao. I will impart our sect's most fundamental and supreme law seal to you!" Lin Hui rested a casual hand on the Ruyi sword.

"I... I..."

A terrifying mind-spirit surged from Xia Si's body, far surpassing that of a High Divine Officer—even exceeding the realm of a Palace Master Called One. How long had it been? Less than a year, yet this child had already reached such a stage.

Lin Hui was inwardly shaken.

His own strength had improved drastically over the past half-year, but his circumstances were different. He possessed the Blood Seal and cultivated the Star Breath Sword Canon—a world-destroying martial art that far exceeded the Typhoon Sword Technique in sheer intensity. At least, that was how he categorized it.

Pushed to its zenith, according to the memories infused within him, the Star Breath Sword Canon would let him execute a single strike—the Breath of the Multitude Stars—sufficient to annihilate a city the size of Tuyue. Power on that scale; if he were back on Earth from his past life, a handful of swings could eradicate all surface life within seconds.

But Xia Si was different. She relied purely on her own foundation and aptitude alone. In just over half a year, she had leapt from a High Divine Officer to what seemed like the Blood Ancestor realm.

She was nearly catching up to Su Yaping.

Hsss—

Instantly, a massive expanse of eerily burning, golden-yellow mist billowed from Xia Si's body.

Within the bizarre mist, a white Wooden Door faintly materialized. Its surface bore a rectangular relief carving at its center, fitted with a black handle. Densely packed, enormous black-and-white faces crowded the doorframe—disembodied, unmoored, pressing against one another like pale masks jammed into the gap.

"Ah!!"

The next moment, the faces unleashed a shrill, wretched shriek directed straight at him.

Xia Si raised her head. The golden mist rapidly retracted, vanishing back into her body. Her eyes shifted to a hollow, pale gold.

Lin Hui studied the sight and vaguely guessed its cause.

But now was not the time to dwell on it.

He rose slowly from the ground. His right hand drew the Ruyi sword at his leisure, its tip angled toward the earth.

"It seems you've remembered a few things."

"Master... You are truly far too strong... So strong that, even after recalling the past, I still don't dare... swing my sword at you," Xia Si said, her voice trembling and low.

"But you're doing it now," Lin Hui smiled.

"Y-yes..." Xia Si closed her eyes, holding her black sword level at her side. "After receiving the inheritance of the Typhoon Sword Technique, I knew that merely chasing your footsteps would never give me the chance to defeat you!"

"Do you realize," Lin Hui said, gently twirling the Ruyi sword, "that if you stop giving chase, you may not even catch sight of my back?"

"I don't believe it!" Xia Si threw her head back. Large swathes of golden mist poured violently from her pale golden eyes.

She drew a deep breath, gripped her sword with both hands, and glared up at Lin Hui, who hovered midair with a quiet smile.

"Wind!" they both shouted simultaneously.

One voice was explosive, the other calm.

A wild wind rose.

Terrifying air currents shaped themselves into two massive, grayish-white cyclones hundreds of meters tall that rapidly engulfed them both.

…

Beneath the surface of the distant sea, the Fourth Princess, Song Feishi, lay in silent ambush, her full attention on the battle between master and disciple. Her gaze was locked onto Xia Si. From the moment the golden mist had appeared, most of her attention had been fixed on the girl.

Purgatory, Extreme Cold Heaven... both have already made their presence known in this world. Is it Ash's turn now? Corruption spreads faster, old calamities resurface... This world...

Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven were not the only forces eyeing this world; many other powers had once attempted to invade it. According to the earliest history her father had recounted, this world had once known nothing of Corruption. Corruption was simply the first to invade and seize the position of overlord—and since then, it had constantly expelled and suppressed any other power attempting to encroach on its territory.

And Ash was a polluting power slightly stronger than both Purgatory and Extreme Cold Heaven.

In the brief moment she had lost focus, the battle outside had already entered its final stages.

Song Feishi cleared her mind and refocused.

…

Back in the circular drill grounds, Lin Hui remained floating in his original position. The cyclone collision had given him a rough measure of the intensity of Xia Si's Wild Wind Sword Technique.

It was incredibly strong—already matching what Han Sanmian had wielded in his time.

The Wild Wind Sword Technique was naturally adept at awakening external, unknown forces; only now, instead of channeling the Wind Disaster, it had latched onto something else entirely.

Moreover, beyond sheer intensity, Xia Si's power carried a strange erosive quality. The instant it met his own, it stained a portion of his Disaster Energy gray and crumbled it to drifting ash.

This genuinely surprised Lin Hui.

His current Disaster Energy was a potent force forged from a massive influx and fusion of Wind Disaster power. It carried an exceptionally potent polluting force of its own by nature. He hadn't expected her power to actually erode it.

Although the exchange was steep—roughly ten parts of hers consumed for every part of his eroded—it still placed her power in a tier approaching the Wind Disaster itself.

Why do all my disciples have problems? Fan Lingxi is connected to the Extreme Cold Heaven, and now Xia Si is connected to this unknown power... Is my luck just terrible, or did these forces deliberately choose the people around me?

Lin Hui vaguely suspected the sword technique was at the root of it.

While he was momentarily distracted, a twisted, grayish-black giant sword condensed from the wild wind and shot toward him.

The giant sword pierced straight through his body.

Lin Hui turned to look at a dumbfounded Xia Si.

"Is this the Typhoon Sword Technique you've always wanted to learn?"

Swish.

He sheathed the Ruyi sword and spread his arms casually.

"Come. Use all your strength."

"Ah!!!"

Xia Si's eyes blazed with golden light as she landed firmly on the ground, the white Wooden Door faintly taking shape behind her.

The door slowly creaked open, and a deluge of crimson water poured through the gap.

She gripped her sword with both hands. Countless streams of blood swirled around her blade, merging into the cyclone and dyeing it entirely red. A lethal aura pulsed from the crimson cyclone.

The longsword began absorbing the cyclone and the pouring blood at breakneck speed. The originally black blade turned dark crimson, its edge shining with a flowing, rippling luster.

She vanished from her spot in an instant, flashing to Lin Hui's side and driving a horizontal slash across his body.

Pfft!

The blade once again passed cleanly through him.

He was completely unharmed.

The golden light in Xia Si's eyes grew increasingly agitated, flickering wildly.

She rose into the air before him, her hands blurring past sight, replaced by a circular curtain of red sword glares that closed around Lin Hui entirely.

But it was useless.

Every attack passed harmlessly through his phantom-like projection.

"It's useless," Lin Hui said, his expression placid as he stood amidst the furious sword curtain. "This is the Typhoon Sword Technique you have always yearned for, yet could never master."

"I... don't believe it!" Xia Si madly accelerated her swings.

Faster!

Faster!!

Just a little bit faster!!

She roared inwardly. Driven by feverish urgency, the sword drew in still more of the blood gushing from the door. Its speed climbed even higher.

Song Feishi's heart sank from her hiding place beneath the waves.

This is dangerous. She's about to enter the rift phase.

When polluting powers like Purgatory, Extreme Cold Heaven, and Ash invaded, it always began with a simple infection phase. Following that was the fusion phase—Xia Si's current state. Both were still considered controllable. With the Mist's Corruption acting as a natural barrier, it was no great crisis.

But the third stage was the most troublesome—the rift phase.

Once it began, the gateway of infection would tear fully open. Fortresses had been built to seal the Gate of Purgatory and the Gate of Extreme Cold precisely because the opening of a door during the rift phase was irreversible. Once the rift phase started, the Ash rift would draw the attention of countless dangerous creatures from the opposing world. Myriad powerful entities would swarm through it, triggering a massive influx of monsters and a pollution disaster.

She tensed.

The duel itself—the powers and techniques the two combatants unleashed—was barely worth her notice. But once that rift fully opened and stabilized, it would likely attract Ash monsters of a caliber genuinely troublesome even to her. That was the real danger.

She gathered herself, ready to move the moment Xia Si truly opened the Ash rift. Even if she exposed her position, she had to seal it shut.

She quietly formed a golden arc of electricity in her palm. It wove itself into an intricate, magnificent character that slowly rotated like a top.

"Ma... ster! I... am... losing... control..."

By now, Xia Si's strikes had reached a terrifying speed, the curtain of sword glares thickening until it was almost a tangible dark red wall.

Yet Lin Hui, standing at its center, remained an illusory presence—flickering continuously, completely unharmed.

"Controlling power versus being controlled by power is the difference between a human and a beast," Lin Hui said. "And beasts are only fit to be our next meal."

Sizzle.

He drew the Ruyi sword slowly, his gaze settling on the ever-widening crack in the Wooden Door behind Xia Si.

"You're tired. Rest for a bit."

A faint smile touched his face.

BOOM!

In that instant, his entire body flickered, transforming for a split second into his blue-haired Clear Source Law Body.

The Ruyi sword became a horizontal beam of blue light. It cut abruptly through the curtain of sword glares, passed cleanly through Xia Si and the Wooden Door—and slowly dissipated.

Whoosh—

Everything fell silent.

The wild winds scattered, fading into a gentle breeze.

Lin Hui sheathed his sword, returned to his normal state, and looked down at Xia Si, who had gone completely still.

"Do you understand now?"

Xia Si stared at him blankly and gave a stiff nod.

In that instant, the terrifying power she had believed to be boundless shattered and vanished like a soap bubble beneath the Ruyi sword—as if nothing had happened at all. As if the surging force and her blinding rage had all been hallucinations.

Lin Hui said nothing more. He turned and flew away, his figure dissolving into an afterimage and fading from sight.

Xia Si dropped from the air and landed with a heavy thud. She sat on the ground without a word. Beneath her, the circular drill grounds had long been reduced to a wasteland of rubble.

Meanwhile, the golden character in Song Feishi's palm slowly dissipated into the seawater.

She had almost acted a moment ago. But...

That sword strike of Lin Hui's...

Her mind kept replaying the extraordinary speed of it.

Song Feishi closed her eyes.

Interesting... This Lin Hui is truly becoming more and more interesting...

The corners of her mouth curved into a faint smile. She felt increasingly certain that coming to Black Cloud City had been the right choice.