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165 - A World in Slumber
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 14:10:47 +0000 UTCQin Yun’s palms were pressed against the thin film surrounding the manor so hard that he could feel the strain throughout his bones. He gritted his teeth and almost crushed his skull upon the barrier, but he refused to relent as a dark grey fog still poured into his makeshift shelter despite his best efforts.
His newfound qi was revolving at breakneck speed within his body, nourishing his flesh and giving it superhuman strength. Once his flesh became saturated with the qi streaming out of his lotus, obscure characters appeared on his skin, shining a deep gold.
These characters gave him immense strength, much more than his body could handle. He could feel his bones creak, like they were on the verge of snapping, only to be held back by his dense muscle structure. Despite it all, the barrier stood firm against his attempts to infiltrate.
"Just a little more," Qin Yun said through clenched jaws, willing himself to push further, only to stumble slightly forward.
The barrier suddenly gave way and allowed his palms an inch in, but this was enough to prompt a smile on his lips. However, his joy was short-lived, for an intense pain assaulted him, one he couldn't thwart by cutting off his nerves. It seemed to rise from the depths of his soul, a fierce heat burning him alive.
In fact, the pain wasn’t simply imaginary.
The flame was real, burning colourlessly upon his flesh, yet his skin showed no signs of burns, only the invisible flame dancing on his palms. The only proof of its existence was the light distorted as it passed through, creating something akin to a mirage.
The pain was worse than anything he had ever experienced but also soothing. The further he dove the limbs into the barrier, Qin Yun could see grey particles being extracted from his flesh before shattering into non-existence. Slowly, Corruption was being purged out of his flesh and even his soul.
As Qin Yun battled his instincts to run away—the fear of death striking at his core, much more pronounced than he ever felt before, visceral even—Qin Yun couldn't help but stare in wonder at this miraculous achievement that was this formation. It could not only drive back Corruption for what seemed like an eternity but even expunge every trace of it from his very being.
The way to keep his soul from crumbling to Corruption was always close to him, yet he couldn’t help but have doubts, for the moment of truth was upon him.
Just as a massive wave of dark fog assaulted his makeshift shelter, prompting it to crumble as the tides rolled in, Qin Yun was already halfway through. Once the purge had begun, the process was swift and merciless, allowing him entry in less than a single breath. But Qin Yun's concern wasn't the encroaching corrupted winds nor the purging flames assaulting his soul, but the lotus where his cultivation dwelled, where Corruption had already melted within, becoming one with the tribulation qi.
Was the barrier also to reject its existence, Qin Yun would undoubtedly die, for this was much different than the first time he forced his way in. This time, he had achieved his foundation by building upon the corruption and becoming one with it. This wasn't just some obscure characters etched upon the seed but full-blown leaves containing a part of its essence. A blooming lotus was closely related to one’s soul, making Qin Yun and Corruption closely related.
Fortunately, the worst didn't come to pass, for when the cleansing flames approached his qi centre, the tribulation barrier that once protected the seed but had faded since the advent of his crystal heart suddenly reappeared, only for a moment as the flames scanned his core.
The flames clashed only once with the barrier, but nothing happened. There was no big explosion of power or heightened sense of pain. In fact, the flames could be likened to the wind blowing through the void, never even noticing that something was nestled within the very fabric of space, far from its reach.
As for the rest of his body, Qin Yun wasn't that lucky. The flames burned everything else, rendering the massive amounts of this foreign invader to dust, sublimating into a dense fog, spewing out from his every pore before simply disappearing.
Everything had been cleansed in less than a moment, but no sentient being could bear the strain of this process, not even Qin Yun. He lost consciousness, but not before experiencing every minute amount of excruciating pain in great detail, almost as if to dissuade him from attempting the same again. However, Qin Yun was never one to listen to threats.
Qin Yun laid head first into the ground, mouth filled with dust, yet his breath was steady, albeit slightly weak. He was asleep, his mind shut down to recuperate as his soul quickly mended itself from the burns and corrosion it had received. Fortunately, his injuries were minor, allowing his lotus to automatically repair what was damaged.
His body was now free of Corruption, which meant he had no way to cultivate further. Without actively absorbing the Corruption and transforming it into usable qi through his crystal heart, Qin Yun could only remain in his current realm until he returned to the Western Domain and began absorbing the world's qi just as any other cultivator would.
However, Qin Yun's current path was much more arduous than any other. Reaching the third level of the Foundation Building realm would take decades if one relied only on the impure qi streaming out of the Well of Souls, which had been contaminated during its travel through the earth veins to the Western Outer Region.
While Qin Yun was healing his wounds and fatigue, the formation kept the corruption at bay. It was still striking against the barrier, but this time, it was not in the form of giant tentacles flailing around. The creature had discarded its humanoid form, preferring to shift to a legion of smaller creatures, namely crows.
They were numerous enough to blot out the dark sky into a shade of grey, while their incessant caws produced massive tremors that lifted even more grey particles from the ground, transforming them into even more birds.
However, the barrier remained strong, not flickering even a bit despite this sonic assault. It even managed to dampen the sound passing through it, allowing Qin Yun's eardrum to remain intact and not burst under strain.
This stalemate remained for many days, for the barrier could only keep Corruption out, not having any offensive capabilities. From time to time, a few crows would swoop too low, colliding with the barrier, and were reduced to a mix of grey particles, but also dust. The former were reintegrated into the flock of birds, becoming new creatures, while the latter passed harmlessly through the barrier before falling on top of the manor, creating a thin film over it.
Days more passed, maybe even months. Qin Yun had no way to know, for he had yet to regain consciousness. Outside, a storm was brewing. The atmosphere was filled with grey dust, and countless crows filled the sky, but they were also perched on many trees that had retaken the land.
The barren landscape Qin Yun had created in his struggles against the corrupted chimera was no more. Flora had retaken everything, becoming even more lush than before, almost as if the land was beginning to awaken. No matter how much time passed, it showed no indication of ever becoming dormant again.
Unsurprisingly, the barrier still held strong after all this time, pushing back the invading tides, not letting a single trace of Corruption fill the manor. The colourless flames also thoroughly purged the corruption that assaulted Qin Yun's soul yet left it weakened. He slept for a long time, trying to repair the damage, only to awaken much later.
He rose and frowned at the sight. He couldn't see much farther than a few meters before the dim light those corrupted plants created was lost within the dense labyrinth of flora. He knew that taking a single step out of the barrier at this moment would only result in his demise, for nothing but Corruption could survive beyond.
“Well... that’s it for this plan, I guess,” Qin Yun muttered as he shook his head, driving away the dizziness.
While he could not use the cultivation method he had previously used now that Corruption was awakening after so long, he didn't feel discouraged, for this had always been a short-term solution. This method may have granted him an explosive increase in strength, but it also came with some downsides.
Qin Yun's cultivation goal had always been to maximize the gains at each threshold, forgoing cultivation speed. Now that speed was off the table, he only needed to return to his roots, carefully advancing one step at a time without taking any shortcuts.
Fortunately, his little experiment didn’t leave any lasting impact he couldn’t recover from. His lotus was stable, locked in a careful balance between the three different natures of this new form of power. However, such a sharp rise in cultivation left the vessel much weaker than it should have been. Trying to exert the full scope of his power could have disastrous consequences, even more so now that his soul remained relatively weakened.
"I guess the urgency of this situation made me rush into things," Qin Yun sighed as he watched the storm brewing outside. "I better take this chance to investigate what else this building offers. I can't help but wonder where this barrier gets all its energy from."
Indeed, the formation surrounding the manor was a mystery, for usually, such formations were linked to the earth veins, slowly sapping away at the very essence of the world. Still, the energy extracted was a drop in a bucket for the world, barely worth noticing, yet this world was dead. Thanks to his earth nature spiritual roots finally blooming, Qin Yun could feel the world under his feet, digging deep within the crust like a sonar, yet all he sensed was death and decay.
The earth veins shattered long ago, cutting them off from the Well of Souls. Qin Yun could easily understand why, for if Corruption were to ever reach it, the world would be doomed. Nothing could save them anymore as the system known as the Heavenly Dao would lose its source of power.
If one of the many leaves forming the world lotus could be likened to a limb, then the earth veins were simply arteries, transporting qi to nourish the land just as blood flowed through any organism. Corruption could be likened to an illness assaulting the flesh. Once the limb became too far gone to recover, the only reasonable course of action was amputation.
Yet, this also had some unexpected effects. Without the steady flow of qi for the Corruption to consume, it, too, became dormant, awaiting something else for it to transform. It slumbered until Qin Yun arrived here, only for it to awaken to his presence. Fortunately, Qin Yun's small presence alone wasn't enough to fully awaken an entire world, and it would eventually return to slumber unless something unexpected happened.
With a goal in mind, Qin Yun reentered the manor, returning to the first library where he had fallen. He had already explored all the other rooms, which were merely abandoned laboratories, and only this one remained.
It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. By pulsing his qi through his feet, he sent a wave through the building. By carefully feeling the reverberations, he noticed an empty space deep below, hidden straight down from the hole he had made into the roof.
Qin Yun was surprised he could use his qi within the barrier's confines, as it possessed some of the Corruption's properties. He expected his qi to be assaulted by the colourless flame just as it did once before, yet it seemed the act of fusing Corruption with the tribulation qi had been enough to fool the formation—
"—or maybe this was on purpose?" he muttered.
He couldn't help but freeze, eyes slightly narrowed, yet only did so briefly before seeking out the passage he had discovered. Underneath a broken-down bookcase was a latch carefully hidden into the floor, almost imperceptible to anyone unfamiliar with the design of this place. Had Qin Yun possessed any spiritual roots other than an earthen one, he doubted he could have ever found this place.
He carefully pressed the slight indent, only for the floor to give out from under him, revealing a spiral staircase leading deep into the darkness. After carefully looking for traps and finding none, Qin Yun began his journey downward.
