The Decaying World

「A couple of hours later...」

In another village on the Bone-Eroding Plain.

A towering, black-furred wild bull, its body covered in pustules, aimed the three horns burning with dark red flames on its head toward Lin Hui and let out an angry, low roar.

MOO!!

The wild bull’s muscles were knotted and bulging, its eyes bloodshot. It constantly snorted out sparks of red fire from its mouth and nose.

Wherever its four hooves trod, they left behind smoldering scorch marks.

’This is a true Purgatory Transformation... A Triceratops Bull... a High-Risk Level monster. It’s basically the gatekeeper of the High-Risk Level.’

Lin Hui gripped Ruyi, his gaze lifting past the Triceratops Bull before him to look into the village proper.

He saw more Purgatory-Transformed Triceratops Bulls wandering inside. As for what happened to the original residents of this village, the answer was self-evident.

The black Purgatory Triceratops Bulls, over two meters tall and five meters long, were like moving tanks. They could easily smash a chunk out of a stone house and cause it to collapse with a casual bump.

’I should end this quickly. Of the three Purgatory-contaminated clans I could locate, I hope the last one is still there and hasn’t run into any trouble...’

The tip of Lin Hui’s sword twitched as he slowly walked toward the bull.

’After Purgatory Transformation, their recovery and strength are massively enhanced. So... a single, killing blow is the best option.’

SHIING!

In the next instant, he had already brushed past the Triceratops Bull’s side.

WHOOSH!

The bull’s entire body split in two with a loud crash, erupting in a swathe of dark red flames.

The flames shot after Lin Hui and sank into his back.

Then, the next one.

SHIING! SHIING! SHIING! SHIING!

After a continuous series of flashing strikes, one Purgatory Triceratops Bull after another crashed to the ground, turning into dark red torches before being incinerated into black ash.

The Purgatory flames they produced flowed ceaselessly toward Lin Hui, causing his own body to ignite with the same raging Purgatory fire.

But the flames didn’t burn his clothes. They were like phantoms, merely burning and dancing around his body.

’This feeling... it’s strange.’

After the last Triceratops Bull fell, Lin Hui felt the changes happening to his body.

His strength was increasing dramatically, and his spirit and energy felt more abundant. His consciousness grew ever clearer, and an endless desire seemed to surge within him—a clear sign of excessive energy seeking an outlet.

’Interesting. Is this excessive energy a result of the massively increased recovery rate? No wonder creatures become so incredibly irritable after Purgatory Transformation. It’s probably caused purely by having way too much energy, isn’t it?’

Standing on the outskirts of the village, Lin Hui touched his forehead. Thankfully, he hadn’t grown horns like the Purgatory Goats and bulls.

He then felt his ears; they were becoming faintly pointed. Bright red patterns had appeared on the skin of his hands and body, resembling burning flames and creating a sharp contrast with his originally fair complexion.

Other than that, there were no other changes.

’Huh? My hair has gotten longer?’ Lin Hui suddenly realized his long hair seemed to have grown.

He touched it. His black hair now reached almost to his waist. Before, it had only reached the middle of his back, meaning it had grown at least ten-odd centimeters.

’It must be the overly strong recovery ability accelerating my body’s metabolism. A burning... a burning-fast recovery. It really lives up to its name.’

He suddenly had a thought. Perhaps Purgatory Transformation was simply the extreme enhancement of a creature’s regenerative ability, an ultimate form achieved by pushing it to its absolute limit.

This overly powerful recovery ability brought with it immense strength, powerful impulses, an accelerated metabolism, and a series of other changes.

SWISH!

In the next instant, he vanished, heading for the third Purgatory contamination point.

The Purgatory flames on his body quickly dimmed and dissipated, forcibly suppressed by him.

「An hour later...」

In a forest of black stone, amidst a field of pale green acidic mud, humanoid monsters wrapped in black bandages swarmed toward Lin Hui from all directions.

HISS!!

These monsters had only a single, sinister, dark-red eye on their faces. Scalding pus dripped continuously from their bodies. A shallow layer of Purgatory fire burned on their backs, emitting wisps of black smoke that reeked of sulfur.

"Wind."

Lin Hui raised his sword, and an invisible, violent torrent of air began to spin rapidly around him.

SWISH!

In a flash, his figure flickered behind one one-eyed bandaged monster after another. He struck with his sword, then vanished again.

One strike, one kill.

One by one, the one-eyed bandaged monsters were split in two from top to bottom, turning into screaming, dark red torches.

Before long, the entire clan of more than thirty monsters had been turned into torches.

Clusters of dark red Purgatory flames flew toward Lin Hui like a flock of birds returning to their nest, merging into his body and disappearing.

This was the way of a speed-focused style. If you couldn’t keep up, and if you had no suitable way to counter it, the battle would end in an instant, even if the gap in strength wasn’t large. It could even lead to an instant kill.

In a life-or-death battle, a single opening was the difference between life and death.

And a speed-focused style was the fastest at exploiting those openings.

One cluster of Purgatory fire after another surged into Lin Hui’s body.

His figure began to grow taller. The space between his brows and eyes slowly elongated, turning red. The corners of his eyes even sharpened to a point, giving him a blade-like sharpness.

His black hair grew longer and longer, reaching his thighs. It was thick and dense, and as it floated in the wind, it looked like a great mass of black flame, complementing the glow of the Purgatory fire.

The most striking change was in his eyes.

The original black and white of his irises had turned a clear, dark red. Black, flame-like patterns even appeared on his pupils. From a distance, his eyes seemed to glow with a conspicuous red light, profound and mysterious.

’That’s about enough. If I keep going, I won’t be able to control the Purgatory Aura...’ Lin Hui gently touched the back of his head. He could feel faint, hard points bulging there, something like horns trying to grow.

It made his scalp itch, and it was the realization of this that made him decisively stop his slaughter of Purgatory creatures.

’This is happening even while I’m actively suppressing it, which means my suppression can no longer contain the Purgatory flames... I have to stop for now. Otherwise, the physical and mental changes from the Purgatory Transformation might affect my worldview, or even my personality...’

He sensibly stopped absorbing the power. Looking at the black ash covering the ground, he sheathed his sword.

At this moment, he felt light on his feet as he walked. He had no idea how much his strength and recovery had increased; it felt as if he could practice his swordplay endlessly without rest.

The Nine Eyes were now complete, and all preparations were in order. He had achieved all the goals for this trip. It was time to go back and properly digest the effects of absorbing too much Purgatory fire.

Lin Hui slowly turned, lifted his foot, and set it down.

HSSS.

Suddenly, faint black smoke rose from the ground.

He froze and looked down, only to see that the smoke was coming from the spot his foot was on.

’Looks like I really need to get my control a little stronger before I can go back...’

The power of Purgatory grew far too quickly... This feeling was on a completely different level from arduous cultivation.

Just kill, kill, kill, and you get stronger. Compared to the years of difficult training before, this cheat-like method of strengthening oneself was a fatal temptation.

’Is this the temptation of Purgatory? Once I get completely used to this method of growing stronger, I might never be able to return to my former discipline.’

But he could also sense that if he truly relied on this method to become stronger, the final result would inevitably be his Heart and Spirit being completely dominated by Purgatory’s power, turning him into a mindless killing machine, a machine of destruction.

BOOM.

A moment of distraction.

The ground beneath Lin Hui’s foot suddenly caved in, forming a deep pit the size of a washbasin.

He sighed and lifted his foot, wrapping his body in a current of air to help control his strength.

Only then did he begin to take tentative steps forward, like a baby learning to walk.

*

*

*

Outside Qingfeng Temple.

The two old men of the Black and White Blade sat on the third floor of a tavern, bored out of their minds, peering through the window at the temple across the street.

"Still not back yet..." the old man, Black Blade, mumbled, listlessly picking up fried soybeans with his chopsticks and dipping them in soy sauce.

"It’s only the first day. What’s the rush?" The other old man, White Blade, lifted his rear, let out a fart, then glanced at his brother opposite him with satisfaction. Certain he hadn’t been noticed, he picked up his tea and took a sip.

The instant he lowered his head to drink his tea...

PFFT!

...an inexplicable aura abruptly appeared within the range of his senses.

The moment he sensed this aura, White Blade couldn’t stop himself from spraying a mouthful of tea all over the table.

The side dishes the two were sharing were completely soaked in the mixture of saliva and tea.

But Black Blade had no time to worry about that now.

He had sensed that aura as well...

He raised his head and looked grimly at his brother.

"Just now... what was that!? Am I hallucinating!?"

"..." White Blade didn’t answer. He just turned his head to stare solemnly out the window at the entrance of Qingfeng Temple.

Standing at the main gate was a woman in a brocade robe with a pure and innocent appearance.

The woman’s skin was snow-white. Her robe was embroidered with exquisite golden patterns, cinched at the waist with wide shoulders, making it look more like men’s attire.

Her ink-black hair cascaded down her back, with a gold ribbon faintly visible within it.

If that were all, the two wouldn’t have been so grave. The crucial point was the character for ’dream’ faintly visible on the ribbon in her long hair...

"We need to leave..." Black Blade’s expression was frozen as he sent a message using his Inner Strength.

He slowly began to rise. But just as his butt left the seat, White Blade clamped a hand on his.

"Don’t move! That old monster can monitor all disturbances within a ten-kilometer radius at any time! Keep your heartbeat steady. Don’t focus on him! We continue what we were doing!" White Blade transmitted his voice with grim urgency. "Any abnormality, any change in our behavior because of his arrival, will be detected!"

"But staying here is even more dangerous!" Black Blade said through gritted teeth.

"Listen to me! Have you forgotten how Xiaoling’er’s parents died!?" White Blade reminded him sharply.

Black Blade fell silent.

The deaths of his daughter and son-in-law had always been the greatest source of pain in their hearts. If not for that, they wouldn’t have joined the Qinghe Sect at their age and with their level of cultivation...

The two of them sensed that terrifying aura slowly enter Qingfeng Temple, the fear in their hearts growing thicker and thicker.

They watched until that person entered the main gate and began a tour under the guidance of a disciple.

Only then did the two manage to steady themselves, get up to pay the bill, and slowly walk out of the tavern, heading for the end of the street.

They maintained this pace for a thousand meters before daring to speed up slightly. Then they went faster and faster... until they plunged headlong into the Fog Area without looking back, and disappeared.