Chapter 389 - 313: The Supreme’s Demise, The Secret
Li Xing slipped over the city wall without alerting anyone.
Upon entering the city, he was met with the thick stench of blood and medicinal herbs.
He walked along the streets, passing by people, but not a single person saw him.
With his True Form Tier aura concealed to the absolute limit, the people nearby couldn’t even see his shadow.
He extended his Starlight Perception across the entire city and continued forward, trying to catch that True Form aura.
’Huh? It’s not here. Is he not in the city... or does he have a sophisticated concealment Secret Technique?’
Li Xing passed through East City, through streets crowded with the wounded, through silent crowds of people.
His Spiritual Power remained extended, searching meticulously.
He couldn’t leave with peace of mind until he got to the bottom of this.
At the celebration a month ago, the envoy sent by the Sunrise Venerable had sat in the guest of honor’s section, all smiles and earnest words.
The congratulatory envoy had said that the Venerable had been in seclusion for many years but was extremely gratified to hear that the Starlight Holy Land had produced a True Form Venerable, and had specially prepared a generous gift to offer his congratulations.
He also said the Venerable hoped to meet with Li Xing to discuss important matters concerning the Human Race.
But a month passed with no reply.
The message Li Xing sent was like a stone sinking into the sea.
Now, he was here.
His Spiritual Power swept over the City Lord’s Mansion. It was empty.
It swept over several luxurious manors, finding only servants and the wounded.
Even the commoners’ district did not escape Li Xing’s probe, and he found nothing there either.
Li Xing’s brow furrowed slightly. ’Not in the city?’
Next, he flew toward the outer city, the satellite towns, the suburbs... his search area continuously expanding.
Finally, in a remote corner fifty li outside the city, he caught a trace of a True Form aura.
’Found it. But this is... what’s going on?’
That True Form aura was incredibly faint, like a candle flickering in the wind.
If not for his newly enhanced Starlight Perception, it would have been difficult to find.
Li Xing’s figure flashed, and he appeared in the sky above the area.
This was a residential area in the outskirts, one with very few residents.
The houses were low and dilapidated, the alleyways narrow and muddy.
The signs of battle here were even more severe; several alleys were blocked by collapsed houses.
There were giant claw marks on the walls and uncleaned black blood on the ground.
He landed silently, turned into an alley, and stopped deep within it.
Before him was a stone house, very crude.
The door was old, the windows were nailed shut with wooden planks, and the stones at the corner of the wall had weathered and crumbled.
The yard was piled with miscellaneous junk: a broken water vat, a pile of rotting firewood, and a few bundles of dry hay.
That aura was coming from inside this stone house.
’A True Form Venerable... living in a place like this?’
Li Xing’s gaze darkened. He had a rough idea of what was happening as he gently pushed open the courtyard gate.
The gate’s hinges let out a CREAK.
He walked in, crossed the cluttered yard, and stood before the stone house’s door.
The door was ajar. A rotten smell drifted from the crack, mixed with the foul stench of pus.
’The aura of Abyss contamination.’
Li Xing sighed inwardly and pushed the stone door open.
It was dark inside. The windows were nailed shut with planks, and only a few slivers of light seeped in through the cracks in the door and walls.
Dust motes danced in the shafts of light, illuminating the room’s furnishings.
A wooden plank bed, a broken table, a chair with a missing leg.
A pile of junk was stacked in the corner, and on the floor were a few earthenware jars, their mouths covered in cobwebs.
A person lay on the bed, their small, thin form barely outlined beneath a blanket.
The blanket on them should have been gray, but now it was dyed a dark purple by seeping pus, which had hardened into stiff patches.
His exposed face, neck, and hands were all completely wrapped in bandages.
A dark purple fluid oozed from beneath the bandages, trickling down the contours of his skin and soaking the mattress beneath him.
His face was so gaunt it was just skin stretched over bone.
His cheekbones protruded sharply, his eye sockets were sunken, and his lips were chapped, with dark brown scabs sealing the cracks.
His hair was completely white, plastered sparsely to his scalp like withered grass in late autumn.
But his eyes were open, his murky eyeballs staring straight at the ceiling.
Hearing the door, he slowly turned his eyes.
Very slowly, as if it took all the strength he had left.
When his gaze fell upon Li Xing, something flickered in those murky eyes.
His lips strained to move, and a hoarse voice squeezed from his throat, like a leaking, broken bellows.
"You... won?"
Li Xing walked to the bedside. He didn’t answer, instead looking down at the man’s face.
He had seen this face before.
Twenty years ago, at a Human Race Alliance conference, this face had sat at the head seat, presiding over the meeting, gazing down upon all.
Ten years ago, the last time they met, his face had shown some weariness, but his eyes were still sharp.
Now, this face was nothing but skin and bone.
The old man stared at him, and a glimmer of moisture slowly welled up in his murky eyes.
"I... I felt it..."
His voice was intermittent; he had to gasp for a long time after every few words.
"The gray clouds... have scattered..."
He extended a hand from under the blanket. Its skin was wrinkled into a thin film wrapped around his knuckles.
Li Xing took that hand. The fingers were ice-cold, utterly devoid of warmth.
Holding it felt like grasping a bundle of dry twigs—so light and fragile it seemed it would shatter with the slightest pressure.
The moment Li Xing grasped his hand, the old man’s entire body relaxed.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
A trace of a bitter smile bloomed on his cracked lips.
"Ten years ago... I went... to the north."
He began to tell his story, his speech halting.
His voice was very soft, sometimes cutting off abruptly, forcing him to gasp for a long while before continuing.
Ten years ago, he left Xuri City alone to seek out the Corrupt Monarch.
"I wanted... to risk it all..."
"Even if I couldn’t kill it... I had to wound it grievously... to buy more Time for the Human Race..."
He succeeded, and yet... he still lost.
"It wasn’t that strong... thirteen Rules... I didn’t even take them seriously..."
"But... that purple light..."