At the extre northern edge of the Federation, standing on the deck of a warship carved from massive white crystals, the Mingxin Society Master was silent. He gazed into the distance at a pitch-black, hollow sphere suspended in the sky, unmoving for a long while.
"Uncle..." Fourth Princess Song Feishi stepped out from behind him, concern laced through her voice. "Let's go eat sothing. You've been standing here for five days."
"The deep core is expanding and growing increasingly unstable," the Society Master said, turning around. "More of them are transforming into void cores. The Super-Adapters cultivated by the Federation simply cannot keep pace with their multiplication."
"What did the Assembly Speaker say?" Song Feishi paused before asking.
"He offered his tacit consent," the Society Master replied quietly. "By not moving to stop it, he has permitted the three of us to finally walk our separate paths. Who is right and who is wrong—no one can say."
"The future..." Song Feishi sighed softly. "It looks truly bleak."
"It is fine. I will lead our people and forge a path to survival," he said calmly. Turning back, he resud his vigil over the massive void core suspended in midair. "In a world like this, there is no hope left to lose anyway."
Behind him, Song Feishi's expression tightened. She lowered her head, quietly gripping the hem of her skirt.
For so reason, her thoughts drifted to the Clear Wind Dao Master, Lin Hui.
If it were that man... faced with all this, what choice would he make?
…
Eight years later...
Black Cloud.
Lin Hui strolled through the woods bordering Erald Valley. The surroundings were deserted, leaving him entirely alone. Like a hiker unwinding in the countryside, he walked in silence, sensing the turbulent, surging power churning deep beneath the earth.
It is ti...
Suddenly, he stopped and looked up at the churning, grayish-white Mist overhead.
He retrieved a dicinal pill and swallowed it.
Half a minute later, the Blood Seal interface at the bottom of his vision refreshed.
[Polar Domain Territory evolution complete. Activate?]
Yes.
[Please select the category to be suppressed: 1. Constitution, 2. Movent Speed, 3. Cultivation Power, 4. Five Senses.}
Evaluating the four options, Lin Hui hesitated. Rather than selecting imdiately, he activated his Wind Chi and sent a ssage to the mbers of the Clear Wind Dao.
I have gained new insight into my Dao. Starting today, a grand array will be deployed across Erald Valley to suppress the cultivation of all outsiders. Only mbers of our sect will remain unaffected.
After sending the notification, he confird his choice without waiting for replies.
With a single thought, the suppression of the Polar Domain Territory took effect.
Thrum.
In an instant, an invisible ripple erupted from beneath his feet and swept outward in all directions.
Every martial artist and Called One within Erald Valley and its outskirts felt the wave wash over them. Anyone with a cultivation base instantly felt more than half of their internal strength vanish.
Chaos broke out across the town. Gasps of alarm rang through the streets. So scrambled to flee, while others dropped cross-legged where they stood, convinced they had suffered a sudden internal injury. A few even swallowed general-purpose antidotes, certain that an invisible poison had struck them.
anwhile, the disciples of the Clear Wind Dao within the valley caught on quickly—they had just received the Wind Chi notification. Array deploynts of this kind weren't unheard of in major urban districts; City Lords often secured their core zones in a similar fashion. But the array their Dao Master had just activated was uniquely potent, striking specifically at the cultivation of outsiders.
Accustod to their Dao Master's periodic eccentricities and miraculous feats, they took the sudden shift in stride.
Notices were posted without delay, publicly attributing the phenonon to the Dao Master's new array. Under Wang Hongshi's direction, disciples fanned out to pacify the panicked crowds throughout the town.
Lin Hui paid no mind to his disciples' peacekeeping; that fell under standard, prearranged protocols. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back and gazed quietly at the sky.
A pale green streak of light shot toward him, halted abruptly, and descended to reveal a figure.
It was none other than Xie Chang'an, the Great City Lord of Black Cloud.
"To blanket such a massive area—you never cease to impress, Ah Hui!" Xie Chang'an marveled. He too had felt the suppression wash over him. But his cultivation was so imnse that an effect of this caliber was entirely lost on him.
"It is rely a precaution. You flatter , Brother Xie," Lin Hui smiled.
"The array is so seamless that even I couldn't detect a trace of its foundation. Remarkable!" Xie Chang'an said in approval.
Of course, he couldn't detect an array foundation—because this was no array at all.
Lin Hui simply kept his smile and said nothing.
"Alright, enough pleasantries. News just reached : half a year ago, Snow Leaf City in the north was targeted by the Mingxin Society and completely fell to the Sea Cry. The thirty million souls living there were subrged overnight, every one of them thoroughly corrupted into Sea Cry entities..." Xie Chang'an's smile faded, his expression turning grave.
"Sea Cry entities?"
Thirty million. The figure made Lin Hui's heart skip a beat. What was the Mingxin Society Master plotting? To court universal condemnation and intentionally corrupt so many lives...?
"As a polluting force, the Sea Cry is relatively mild. Even so, it strips away a person's sanity, mutating them into Night Mist monsters. The drawbacks are steep—lifespans are halved, cognitive faculties plumt, and they beco exceedingly bloodthirsty. The advantage is that they can barely maintain a veneer of normalcy for half the day, and their physical adaptability skyrockets. Their resistance to other corrupting forces increases drastically," Xie Chang'an explained.
"So this is the Mingxin Society's gambit. Rather than waiting to be gradually eroded by the Corruption, they actively chose a milder, controllable pollution and initiated the process on their own terms..." Lin Hui mused. "And if the Sea Cry's power is fully unleashed—what then?"
"It will drown the entire world," Xie Chang'an said softly. "This power originates from an infinite realm composed entirely of seawater. Not long ago, I explored that world with my divine sense. The supre Sea Cry power within can transmute all energy and matter into seawater. An utterly assimilative force—the more seawater it generates, the stronger the Sea Cry becos. Now that the Mingxin Society has corrupted so many entities all at once, they must have released a catastrophic flood of pollution, assimilating a vast ocean of water. I fear the Society's power has swelled to terrifying new heights, far surpassing what it was eight years ago."
"..." Lin Hui fell silent.
When he first encountered the Mingxin Society Master, he had sensed the man was neither impulsive nor reckless. Now it was evident that a massive sche had long been in motion.
"Following deliberations in the Federation Assembly, the Speaker has decided to personally lead an expedition. He will join forces with neighboring City Lords to suppress the Mingxin Society. I plan to accompany them and offer what assistance I can. Black Cloud will likely be relying heavily on your protection while I am away," Xie Chang'an said.
"Understood," Lin Hui nodded.
"This expedition will take a month at the absolute minimum—and perhaps up to a year. I will do my utmost to investigate conditions there and gather detailed, firsthand intelligence... to confirm whether the Mingxin Society's thod... is truly effective," Xie Chang'an's voice trailed off.
"Has it truly deteriorated this far?" Lin Hui frowned.
"In truth, it has been dire for a long ti. It is only that Super-Adapters were dispatched constantly to plug the gaps. Now their numbers are rapidly dwindling." Xie Chang'an did not elaborate. He turned, raised a hand in parting, and vanished into the sky with a single leap.
Watching him go, Lin Hui's resolve to establish an impenetrable rear base only deepened.
On to the next step: laying a proper grand array. One that amplifies the strength of our own people while suppressing the enemy—layering a second wave of debilitating effects on top.
Several arrays he had earmarked over the past few years cycled through his mind. These would serve as the foundational templates for evolution.
Taking to the air, Lin Hui departed the woods and returned swiftly to the Clear Wind Dao Academy. In the courtyard, he found Lin Xiaoliu and Tao Changsheng deep in a ga of chess.
Setting aside his anxieties, he let his usual placid smile settle back into place and strolled over to join them. He had no intention of burdening his companions with these matters. Knowing about such sweeping, catastrophic trends would only breed panic without offering any tangible solutions.
"Master."
"Third Brother."
Both youths rose and bowed in greeting.
"No need for all that formality—we're family here. Keep playing. I'm just watching," Lin Hui said with a smile.
The two sat back down and resud their ga.
Half an hour later, the match concluded. Lin Xiaoliu rose from his crushing defeat with an expression of utter helplessness.
"Care for a round, Third Brother?"
"No, you two carry on." Lin Hui noticed a small black silk ribbon pinned to Lin Xiaoliu's right shoulder. "What's this?"
"Third Brother, how long has it been since you last visited the martial academy? The Dean passed away from illness five days ago. The whole academy is still in mourning," Lin Xiaoliu said, surprised.
"Is that so?" Lin Hui's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Right. Though they officially say it was illness, a lot of students whisper that he may have... succumbed to the Corruption," Lin Xiaoliu said under his breath.
"The Corruption—are those rumors circulating in the academy now as well?" Lin Hui asked.
"Basically expected at this point. A few people fall to the Corruption every year, and replacents co in—students and faculty alike," Tao Changsheng added.
"Third Brother, why do people suffer from the Corruption in the first place?" Lin Xiaoliu asked quietly.
"Erosion. The Mist erosion. If one cannot isolate the Mist in the dayti Mist Zones, prolonged exposure will inevitably cause problems—and the Night Mist is far more virulent still," Lin Hui explained. "Beyond that, nearing the end of one's lifespan or sustaining grievous injuries can trigger the onset of the Corruption. It is a threshold no cultivator in this world can avoid. The more powerful one becos, the fiercer the Corruptive erosion they face. Everyone is forced, in ti, to devise ways to counter it and endure."
Both youths fell quiet, contemplative.
"Let's not dwell on this. You'll be graduating soon—where do you plan to go?" Lin Hui asked, his tone lightening.
In this world, the pursuit of strength demands facing increasingly severe Corruptive erosion. So exploit ordinary people to bear the burden on their behalf; others weaponize equivalent forms of pollution to fight fire with fire; still others abandon cultivation entirely, choosing to live out their days as ordinary people.
"That's just how this world works. The Corruption forces every powerful person to build massive communities—and forces the weak to shelter in their shadow," Lin Xiaoliu muttered. "So, regardless of everything, I want to beco soone capable of shaping my own fate. At least to so degree."
"Sa," Tao Changsheng said with a nod.
"Now that both of you have reached the zenith of Internal Force and achieved High-Tier awakening in your Divine Arts, a few paths are open to you," Lin Hui said. "The first option is the Rain Palace. It's stable, the benefits are generous, and competition within the Black Cloud branch is relatively low."
"No chance. The Rain Palace is far too dull—it's no place for soone who wants to beco a true expert!" Lin Xiaoliu declared, ambition plain on his face.
"The second option is the Hundred Seas rchant Alliance. A few mariti training voyages will accelerate your growth faster than almost anything else—it offers the most intense practical combat experience available. Sailing across the realms will also broaden your horizons enormously, which will prove invaluable when you begin comprehending the higher martial arts."
"Why can't we just stay in the Dao Academy?" Lin Xiaoliu asked tentatively.
"Because without the crucible of true life-and-death combat, you will never be able to step onto a higher martial path..." Lin Hui sighed.
Martial arts were born of slaughter. Without wading through blood, one could never truly comprehend and master them.
"Are there any other options?" Lin Xiaoliu asked.
"One final option." Lin Hui's smile slowly faded. "Beco an ordinary person, settle down in Erald Valley, and live out a peaceful life."
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