Chapter Seven: Decay

Inside the room, the curtains swayed gently with the breeze. Lu Chun, clad in nothing but a thin layer of gauze, reclined lazily by the bed. His skin, as smooth and pale as jade, shimmered in and out of view amidst the dim candlelight, creating an aura of hazy, ethereal beauty.

He held his palm up toward the moon; the moonlight filtering through his fingers illuminated the expression on his face. He squinted slightly, a smile playing on his lips: "Things are becoming more and more interesting."

There was no need for deep contemplation; the mist shrouding the mystery had already dissipated.

The Douling Empire was a nation that refused to progress. Or rather, the Heaven Dou Empire from which it had split was itself like a stumbling old man—ossified in thought and incapable of adaptation. If not for certain special reasons, it would not have survived to this day.

How could the power-holders managing such a decaying nation be anything but self-serving? The only reason they would gather together was that their interests had been compromised.

Yet, they were already the ones reaping the benefits. Who, then, could possibly threaten their interests?

That, of course, would be the greatest beneficiary of the nation—the one sitting in the highest position: the Emperor!

The Emperor had infringed upon their interests, making them feel that their personal freedom was under threat. Thus, they had to unite in resistance, perhaps even waiting for the right moment to take decisive action.

He looked out the window at the sky. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The residents of the ancient city were enjoying beautiful dreams, unaware that above the high heavens, an invisible vortex of clouds was forming.

Lu Chun, who should have been an outsider, had voluntarily stepped into this vortex. It remained to be seen whether he would be swallowed by it or would shatter it from within.

Suddenly, sounds echoed from outside the room, pulling Lu Chun from his wandering thoughts. No sooner had he turned his head than the grand door was kicked open with a bang, and the noble Duke Heral crawled in.

The moment he saw him, Lu Chun’s vision went dark, and his mind blanked.

The middle-aged Duke wore a shackle around his neck, a long iron chain dragging across the floor, clanking with every movement of his crawl.

Heral crawled to the side of the bed, gazing at Lu Chun with sincerity and infatuation. "Master, please, command Heral as you wish..."

"..."

An indescribable sense of revulsion surged within him. Lu Chun’s expression became incredibly strange; he admitted he had underestimated the peculiar hobbies of these corrupt nobles.

He never expected that this Duke would harbor such an unspeakable penchant!

Glancing at the candle slowly burning on the table, it was no wonder that while the main hall used soul-guide lamps, this room used candlelight—everything had been pre-arranged.

Looking at Heral, who was displaying such a submissive posture, Lu Chun remained silent for a long moment. He picked up the half-melted candle and said to him, "Come here."

Heral obediently crawled to Lu Chun’s feet, his eyes fixed intently on those bare, delicate white feet, his face filled with an indescribable intensity.

"Look into my eyes."

Heral, full of anticipation, looked up and met Lu Chun’s dark green pupils. He saw his own reflection, and finally, nothing remained but the image of those beautiful eyes mirrored in his mind.

Heral’s eyes gradually turned vacant, his expression dull. He knelt on the floor, motionless, as if spellbound.

However, a moment later, his expression turned ferocious. The color in his eyes flickered, and he hissed at Lu Chun: "You little thief! How dare you scheme against me!"

"I am scheming against you? Didn't you bring this upon yourself?" Lu Chun replied.

Seeing Heral struggle out of his trance did not surprise Lu Chun. Even if he were a wastrel propped up by drugs, he was still a genuine Soul Emperor. Furthermore, with his depraved lifestyle, his mental fortitude was beyond that of ordinary people.

Lu Chun kicked his legs and smiled archly: "Do you really want me to step on you?"

"You certainly have a vivid imagination!"

Crimson eyes split open across his skin, and Lu Chun appeared before Heral in his truest form.

Under the influence of his power, brilliant flowers bloomed in the room in the blink of an eye, and an intoxicating fragrance permeated the air. Heral’s violent struggle began to slow until he collapsed completely to the floor, neither alive nor dead.

Lu Chun had not expected it to be this easy. Or rather, his success relied entirely on Heral’s carelessness; the Duke believed no one would dare assassinate a titled Duke in the capital.

Moreover, because of his own peculiar interests, he had dismissed the powerful soul masters protecting him in the shadows. Otherwise, as a Duke, he would have had at least one Soul Saint ensuring his safety.

One could say that Heral’s current fate was entirely of his own making.

The anomaly in the room faded. A simple seed appeared in Lu Chun’s hand. Catalyzed by his power, the seed sprouted rapidly, its roots stretching out with vitality.

He placed it on Heral’s head, and it immediately tore through the flesh, taking root. Heral’s expression twisted in agony; one could see his scalp becoming visibly congested as veins and nerves wriggled beneath the skin.

Long after things had returned to calm, Heral stirred and woke. When he opened his eyes and saw Lu Chun, he froze.

Lu Chun asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Master's dog!"

Heral shouted without hesitation, his face filled with fanaticism and excitement, his lower body twitching as if he truly had a tail wagging behind him.

Upon hearing this, Lu Chun fell silent. Should he say the effect was unexpectedly good?

Glancing at the disgusting sight of the man, Lu Chun said coldly, "Get three meters away. Do not look at me. Tell me everything about your secret meeting today."

"Yes!"

Heral rolled three meters away, prostrating himself on the ground, his eyes darting toward Lu Chun’s feet while he recounted the details of the secret meeting without reservation.

What he said was much as Lu Chun had surmised: they were indeed conspiring to rebel against the current Douling Emperor, simply because the Emperor had gone mad.

"Xue Yinyi, that old undead, has truly lost his mind. Raising evil soul masters and refining longevity blood pills is one thing—everyone does that—but he actually laid his hands on us nobles. How dare he?!"

Heral cursed, his face flushed with rage: "That is my territory, my property! I am a Duke personally enfeoffed by the late Emperor!"

"He saw that the army's powerhouses were better than rogue soul masters, so he collaborated with the barbarians of Star Dou, spending money to hire them to stage attacks and kidnap people, then spending more money to buy them back. In the end, the army officers were the ones held accountable and dismissed, and he took all the credit. Does he not know this is treason?"

Every word was an attack and condemnation of the Douling Emperor, devoid of falsehood; these were Heral’s genuine feelings.

As mentioned before, due to special reasons, the Douling Empire perfectly inherited the foundation of the Heaven Dou Empire. Although they made changes, promoting a system of commanderies and counties alongside the feudal system, which expanded the Emperor’s power, it could not change the fact that the enfeoffed nobles held power equal to, or even exceeding, the imperial throne.

The current actions of the Douling Emperor were no different from a knife cutting into the nobles' own flesh; the intense pain forced them to rise in revolt.

Yet, from beginning to end, Heral expressed no concern about the evil soul masters killing people to refine pills. When Lu Chun asked why, he merely said dismissively, "A bunch of peasants. A whole group dies in the winter, and another group is born the next year. You could work them to death and still not collect much tax, so why bother caring?"

"It is their birthright to become the nutrients that nourish us."

Lu Chun said nothing. His understanding of the extent of this nation’s corruption was refreshed once more.

It stank to high heaven, rotting to the point of suppuration.

This nation needed to be integrated; this nation needed a rebirth.

And so, he said, "Go, do one thing for me."