Chapter 557: Chapter 16: Desert of Decay

When the final deep brown fragment, carrying the desolation of the earth and the weathering of rocks, merged into Lynch’s sea of consciousness, a certain invisible, sturdy barrier was finally completely shattered!

Buzz——!

A torrent of rules, far more immense, pure, and fundamental than ever before, exploded in his spiritual world! No longer scattered fragments, but a more complete and profound tapestry unfurled slowly before his eyes.

He “saw” the deeper veins of the decay rule—

It is not just destruction and termination but a forced “state transition,” a path where matter and energy move from order to chaos, from existence to void. This rule was engraved into his soul like a brand, altering his perception of the surrounding world dramatically.

In Lynch’s current vision, the vitality that seemed abundant in Spring Garden was flowing with countless dense gray threads, representing decay and disintegration at its base.

He could even faintly perceive the space itself, the space law maintaining the cage of millions of square kilometers, at its core entwined with strands belonging to the “decay” rule power. It was these that constituted the indestructible labyrinth walls. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵

[Decaying Domain Lv1]

“So this is the knowledge of domain level?” Lynch stroked his chin, intrigued.

A sense of control emerged, though still faint, yet no longer ignorant like a novice.

With a slight change in his thoughts, the power of decay swirling at his fingertips was no longer simply green or dark but presented a more restrained, profound gray-white hue, containing a rule destructive force more than ten times mightier than before!

At the same time.

Rumble!

A thunderous sound suddenly echoed from the sky.

A pure, concentrated gigantic beam, as if piercing through heaven and earth, unexpectedly fell from the false sky of Spring Garden! It tore the twisted lights, ignoring the distance of space, precisely illuminating the center of a peculiar basin composed of countless giant crystal clusters, not far from Lynch!

That beam was not an energy attack but more like guidance, an affirmation. The area enveloped by the light beam, those twisted crystals, flamboyant flowers, even the agitated life energy particles in the air, instantly fell into a strange stagnation, as if pressed by a pause button, even the light stopped flickering.

“Hmm?”

Lynch’s gaze locked onto the falling point of the beam in a flash. Without the slightest hesitation, his figure became a gray shadow, crossing the distance in a few flickers, appearing at the center of the crystal basin under the beam.

At the core of the beam, space twisted, folded, and reorganized violently.

A teleportation gate was constructing visibly fast!

It was not a conventional magic portal, its edges woven from countless fine chains of runes that were continuously decaying and reborn, while the door frame itself resembled withered giant tree roots, gnarled and intertwined, exuding an ancient and decaying aura.

The scene inside was not a stable passage but a slowly rotating, abyss-like gray-green vortex, occasionally flashing fragments of spatial scenes and distorted life light shadows, hinting at the aura leading to unknown lands.

Strong spatial fluctuations mixed with pure decay rule power emanated from the portal.

Lynch could distinctly feel this was the passage out of Spring Garden! The spatial labyrinth walls that had bound him for months melted away like snow the moment the teleportation gate appeared. Every fragment he absorbed ultimately converged into this key to unlock the cage.

Lynch stood before the teleportation gate, feeling the aura emerging from inside resonating subtly with his newly acquired domain power.

He glanced back at this twisted garden that had imprisoned him for months yet also transformed him. Those eerie plants, lurking monsters, flowing fluorescent rivers… now all appeared under a clearer filter representing “eventual decay” in his eyes.

“Decaying Domain Lv1…” he murmured, eyes brimming with interest. “This is just the beginning. What’s the next stop?”

Without a hint of regret, he stepped forth, his figure merging into the gray-green, ever-rotating vortex.

The teleportation gate, upon his entrance, had its chains of runes rapidly decay and disintegrate, the entire door frame quickly withered, weathered, eventually dissipating alongside the beam into the false sky of Spring Garden, as if it had never appeared.

Seemingly a small step across, upon reappearance, Lynch was already in a strange land, here is…

A desert.

As far as the eye could see, an endless sea of sand extending to the horizon, merging with the equally gray-toned sky.

The sand here was not the usual golden or brown but an unsettling gray-white, like the ashes of a burnt-out fire, carrying an icy texture deep into the bones. The sand grains were extremely fine, yet lifeless, offering no soft feeling but instead a sensation akin to stepping on solidified ash, heavy and cumbersome.

The air dry enough to deplete the last hint of moisture from the lungs, yet without a gust of wind. Absolute silence enveloped this world, no insect chirps, no wind whispers, deathly silent enough to hear one’s blood flow.

No cacti, no dry grass, no sign of any life, only rolling dunes like solidified giant waves, outlining monotonous and despairing lines.

The sky was low, sallow, devoid of the sun, just an oppressive, uniform light source, shrouding the entire desert in a bleak, warmth-less light. This light could not dispel the coldness, instead adding a touch of eerie and sinister.

The heat here did not come from sunlight but from the desert itself—

A cold, inward-collapsing “heat.”

The sand grains seemed to emit a weak radiation slowly, not scalding, but a bizarre energy capable of extracting life force, accelerating material decay. Just standing here, Lynch could feel a faint dry rubbing sensation on his skin, like being scratched by an invisible sandpaper, while his magic power operation felt slightly more sluggish than usual.

“Such a… complete dead domain.” Lynch observed.

Just then, the map carrying the Trial Road information, close to his body, suddenly heated up vigorously, simultaneously emitting an unstable energy fluctuation!

Lynch immediately took it out. The former ancient leather map surface was now flashing with uncertain micro-light, as if currents were chaotic inside.

The cursor representing his position remained stable at the center, but vast surrounding areas were no longer blank or blurred contours. Instead, several place names clearly emerged, outlined with dark red, like dried blood stains:

[Desert of Decay]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.