The Decaying World

High above Black Cloud City, just as they were about to reach the white walls of the Inner City.

The Association Leader suddenly came to a halt.

"Go investigate the identity of that person who just flew by," he said, turning his head to the Xinshuai at his side.

For this venture, he had mobilized three of the association’s five Xinshuai to accompany him. His goal was to seize control of Black Cloud City in the shortest time possible. He didn’t aim to completely dominate Black Cloud—that wasn’t realistic.

His core objective was to bury the special array disk he carried beneath Black Cloud’s key Moon Tower.

This was a crucial step in the unfolding of his grand design.

A great undertaking, with the entire Federation as his chessboard and its cities as his pawns.

And yet, for some reason, the young man who had just passed... gave him an inexplicable sense of unease.

He hadn’t felt this way in a very, very long time—not since he had achieved Great Success in condensing the Emperor Blood from his evil fog.

His once-diluted Emperor Blood was now condensed to its absolute limit.

But not all Emperor Blood was the same; it existed in different tiers.

Ranked by concentration, an ordinary Emperor Blood Fog Person needed only a single, mercury-like drop to firmly suppress a common Fog Person.

Beyond that, it could be subdivided into five stages based on the proportion of Emperor Blood in one’s body. The old emperor had given these stages distinct names.

They were: Morning Dew, Water Flask, Primal Brook, Celestial River, and finally, Fog Emperor.

To this day, only the old emperor had ever reached the Fog Emperor tier. Everyone else, no matter how hard they tried or how much they devoured and condensed, could only reach Celestial River.

Watching the Xinshuai depart with his orders, the Association Leader looked up at the enormous white wall.

"Let’s go. We’ll see for ourselves what last resort Xie Chang’an left behind."

*

*

*

Outside Black Cloud City, high above the docks, a steady stream of Moth Cars flew past Lin Hui, entering and leaving the urban center.

He adjusted his altitude, entering the exclusive air corridor reserved for the nobility.

This was an altitude forbidden to Moth Cars. Any found entering or leaving this lane would be immediately apprehended by Black Cloud’s enforcers, the Black Army.

From this height, Lin Hui had a clear view of the dockworkers bustling below, loading and unloading cargo from the ships.

’Since when did Black Cloud have a group like this?’ He had recognized the man leading them—the same one who had disguised himself as Zhang Yao. But with Xia Si on the run, he had no time to deal with them.

But having no time now didn’t mean he would ignore them completely. After all, the Clearwind Dao Academy and the adjacent residential areas, including the Lin Mansion, were where his Disciples and family lived.

An idea struck him, and he quickly sent a telepathic message to Wind Chime.

Soon, within the Clearwind Dao Academy, the Fog Person Pang Jiu suddenly opened his eyes. A flash of blue light emanated from the vertical pupil between his brows.

"As you command. I will take responsibility for the security of the surrounding area."

He rose and spoke with reverence.

Publicly, he was a crippled Fog Person, a test subject sent by the three City Lords to experiment with the Dharma Seal. But in reality, Lin Hui had won him over three years ago. He had pledged his loyalty to the Clearwind Dao and had even been bestowed with a Dharma Seal.

This was the real reason he had been allowed to remain and cultivate within the grounds of the Clearwind Dao Academy.

He was an insurance policy.

A trump card, held in reserve for a critical moment. After all...

Just before he left, Lin Hui had also bestowed the final Qingyuan Body upon Pang Jiu.

In other words, aside from Lin Hui himself, Pang Jiu was perhaps the Clearwind Dao’s true hidden powerhouse.

After all, his terrifying immortality as a Fog Person already gave him a massive advantage.

And when that was combined with an Evil Soldier and a Dharma Seal... even Lin Hui had never tested just how much power could be unleashed.

’I still don’t have enough powerful subordinates...’ Lin Hui sighed. He mulled over some methods he had been considering for years and decided it was time to try them out.

With those arrangements made, he increased his speed and shot off in the direction Xia Si had fled.

*

*

*

「Above the Jade Sea.」

"Damn it!" a furious Su Yaping bellowed, sending a woman in blue flying with a slash of his sword.

"Do you have any idea what you’ve just done!?" He had been on the verge of capturing Xia Si and bringing her back. But then, three blasts of energy had shot in from the side, also attempting to seize her.

Xia Si had responded with a hidden burst of speed, causing both his group and the three newcomers to miss their mark.

Worse, because of the angles, two of the powers had collided, triggering a massive explosion that further accelerated Xia Si’s escape.

Watching Xia Si disappear into the distance, now impossible to catch, Su Yaping’s composure finally shattered.

The Infinite power of the Wind Calamity surged madly into his body. His long blue hair began to glow with a fluorescent light, and he started to radiate a storm of glowing blue particles.

"You ruined my mission! All of you, DIE!"

He gripped his sword with both hands. Behind him, a colossal, grayish-blue tornado erupted from the sea, morphing into a roaring dragon several hundred meters in diameter. It lunged toward the three guest elders from the Bright Heart Association.

The attack was broad enough to engulf all three of them.

This was no ordinary tornado. It was saturated with a massive amount of freshly infused Wind Disaster Energy, and its Energy Level was so high that its intensity surpassed even Purgatory and Extreme Cold.

Before the draconic form even drew near, the surrounding air, the sea below, and the clouds above were all rapidly tinged with an eerie blue.

Everything began to rapidly disintegrate, dissolving into shimmering blue particles that scattered into the surroundings.

Even the Protective Void Power and True Power shielding their bodies began to fluctuate violently.

The faces of the three men changed drastically; they hadn’t encountered such a difficult opponent while pursuing Xia Si earlier.

Xia Si’s Power of Ashes was strong, but not so strong that it could destabilize their True Power and Void Power before it even made contact.

"This man’s Realm and divine techniques are actually inferior to ours! It’s purely that his power is too strong! Use the same thing we were going to use on Xia Si!" the white-haired, white-bearded man among the three guest elders sent a rapid telepathic message.

"Right!" the other two agreed.

In the next instant, a thick, viscous black liquid seeped out from behind all three of them.

The black ooze rapidly fused into a single mass, transforming into a giant black octopus that swung its tentacles at the approaching dragon.

But in the next moment, another massive, dragon-shaped tornado of the same scale materialized behind the giant black octopus and slammed into its back.

It was Master Yunxia!

BOOM! BOOM!

Two deafening blasts erupted.

In the blink of an eye, the black octopus disintegrated along with the two draconic forms, breaking down into a chaotic shower of scattered light particles.

Before the three guest elders could even catch their breath, two more giant tornadoes formed in an instant and lunged at them once again.

"Go!" The three guest elders spat blood. They finally realized how dire the situation was. No wonder their opponents’ power had forced even Xia Si to flee. Their strength was so intense it was as if they weren’t expending any energy at all.

Even though they were Fog People and could self-destruct an infinite number of times, their objective was never to fight these two to the death.

SPLAT!

The two tornadoes instantly engulfed the three men, reducing them to a mist of blood.

But a moment later, three clouds of blood mist burst free from the tornadoes and shot off into the distance, fleeing at extreme speed.

Master Yunxia started to give chase but was stopped by Su Yaping.

"Don’t bother," he said. "Capturing Xia Si is the priority!"

"Fog People! Those three were actually Fog People!" Master Yunxia’s voice was trembling with excitement.

She never imagined this day would come—a day when she could, with her own power, openly and directly repel Fog People!

Even if they weren’t City Lord-level Fog People, they were still far beyond the reach of a mere Blood Ancestor.

This incredible leap in power was something she had only obtained after following the Daoist Master and joining the Clearwind Dao.

At this moment, she was so excited that her hands were trembling.

It wasn’t just her. Upon discovering the three were Fog People, Su Yaping was just as thrilled.

Defeating Fog Person masters in a direct confrontation meant they themselves had taken their first step into that tier of power!

It meant... they were forging a new path, just like their Daoist Master—an unprecedented path no one had ever walked before!

"Alright, don’t make such a fuss." Lin Hui’s form instantly appeared above the two of them.

"You two head back and guard the academy. I’ll go capture Xia Si myself."

At his words, both Su Yaping and Master Yunxia looked ashamed.

They had been given a mission, but not only had they failed, they had also forced Lin Hui to step in personally.

"It’s fine. The mission’s failure was an accident," Lin Hui said casually. "As for those three, you can have someone investigate their origins."

"Yes, sir."

"Great changes may be coming to Black Cloud. When you get back to the city, gather everyone near the academy and wait for my word." With those final instructions, Lin Hui’s figure vanished from the spot, pursuing the direction Xia Si had gone.

Meanwhile, Xia Si was flying at full speed over the Jade Sea, accelerating frantically into the distance like a golden meteor.

Everything blurred past her at high speed.

’Faster!’

’Faster still!’

She could clearly sense a calm, unwavering gaze fixed upon her back.

Fear.

It was an emotion that not even the endless ashes had ever made her feel, but now, it rose from the depths of her heart once more.

"As the avatar of the ashes, you should not feel fear."

In the next instant, a blurry phantom flickered and solidified directly in front of her.

Lin Hui turned to face her. He wasn’t even holding a sword; a gentle breeze simply swirled around him as he watched her in silence.

"I... am afraid..." Xia Si wanted to argue, but found she couldn’t force the words out.

She could feel her own lips... trembling!

"Come. Come back with me," Lin Hui said, holding out his hand, palm open.

"No!" Xia Si jerked back, changed direction, and shot away at full speed.

But in the next instant, her vision blurred, and Lin Hui’s figure once again appeared directly in front of her, hand outstretched just as before.

"No! No! No! NO!" She frantically changed directions.

But no matter which way she turned, the figure in white was always there, blocking her path.

"Child, you shouldn’t hate me," Lin Hui urged. "It was I who rescued you from the chaos of your amnesia."

"NO! I SAID NO!" Xia Si’s face twisted into a snarl, and she stopped trying to flee.

She gripped her sword with both hands as a terrifying torrent of golden energy erupted around her.

"Even if it is you..."

"Even if it is YOU!"

"I’m no longer the weak person I used to be!"

She let out a furious roar. Her mutated Gale Swordsmanship combined with the golden Power of Ashes that had been continuously infused into her body, and in this moment, it all completely materialized.

"WIND!"

Using all her strength, ignoring the searing pain tearing through her body, holding nothing back, she cast aside her fear and unleashed her sword upon Lin Hui.