157 - The True Shape of the World

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The corridor seemed to stretch onto eternity, yet Qin Yun knew this was just an illusion from the reflected light against the polished stone. He couldn't see far in front of him as the light seemed to fade into darkness, but with each step, it became slightly brighter, allowing him to take just another. That was until he found an opening in the wall, a door leading to an adjacent room.

“Anyone in there?” Qin Yun asked, knocking on the door frame, yet he knew not to expect a response.

With no trace of dust all around, Qin Yun knew there wasn't any life here, not even tiny bugs. The world was so quiet that he could feel the bounce of his own voice reverberate throughout this structure, yet he went silent; there was the quiet shrill of the barrier enveloping this place.

If the last room could be likened to a library, this one was more like a laboratory. Qin Yun couldn't quite tell what was being researched here, yet it seemed to be closely linked to biology.

Along the wall were many glass tubes large enough to contain small infants. Most were empty, not even containing a liquid, while others were broken. Shards of glass were scattered on the floor, and judging by the pattern, they hadn't been touched since they broke.

Signs of a fight? Qin Yun thought as he picked up one of those shards. No... the rest of the room is too clean for this. Whatever was in that thing broke free long after whoever lived here moved on from this place. Still, why did they leave so much here? Did they believe they were ever coming back?

Qin Yun had many questions, yet the foremost one was already in his hand. This wasn't glass. It wasn't even some sort of man-made material. In fact, it felt almost alive. While he couldn't feel any energy coursing through it, he could still feel something resembling a heartbeat.

Just to confirm, Qin Yun picked up another piece of this transparent material, and it beat with the same rhythm—the exact same frequency. Yet, when he went to check over one of those contraptions that had yet to be broken, he couldn't feel anything similar, and the material seemed extremely close to glass, eerily so.

Whatever was in those large test tubes changed them somehow... Despite being long gone, the change remains. This reminds me of something... Were they researching...

Qin Yun couldn't help but frown, and just to make sure, he placed those glass shards into the secure stasis of his storage to examine later while he reviewed the rest of the room. Like the library, many books were scattered around, yet unlike the previous ones, these weren't bound in leather. They were much cruder, almost as if they were currently being written while the others were finished products.

Qin Yun chose not to risk opening them, for they might contain vital information. He couldn't, in good conscience, watch those priceless tomes crumble to dust just to satiate his current curiosity. He would need to spend time uncovering a way to open them safely. He had some ideas, yet currently didn't possess the means to do so.

He rummaged through the rest of the room yet didn't uncover anything else of substance, so he returned to the corridor. Along the way, he found many similar rooms containing even larger empty vats. Many showed signs of use yet had been cleaned thoroughly, so much so that Qin Yun didn't see the slightest trace of bacteria.

In fact, as soon as he entered one of those rooms, he felt something pass through his skin, some sort of barrier, yet it didn't forbid him entry in any way; he didn't feel restricted at all—except for the weird feeling he had within those rooms.

He looked closely at his palm, squinting to enhance his vision to its maximum, only to be stunned by what he saw. The bacteria that usually covered his skin were dead to the last, and even their corpses were destroyed soon after.

As he breathed, he could see microorganisms ride along his breath, thriving in the humidity, only to be slain and disintegrated the moment they escaped his mouth.

Some sort of sterile field?

Qin Yun couldn't help but be stunned, for this type of attention to detail was uncommon for cultivators. It wasn't that they were incapable of it, but more so that they didn't need to. To them, illnesses spread by viruses and bacteria were usually non-factors, as they couldn't interfere in the discipline they were most interested in, mostly alchemy, artifact refining, and runesmithing.

They were very rarely interested in biology, even more so for mortals, as qi was the ultimate panacea, allowing cultivators to live much longer lives, free from most of mortals' common woes. But not this one.

Setting up this kind of sterile field—the kind that would last this long—was done with purpose. They couldn't allow any foreign pathogens to skew their results.

There's obviously no qi around. What energy source did they use to make these fields last this long?

Qin Yun's questions only increased. The Heavenly Dao obviously sent him here to uncover this place's mysteries, yet he couldn't see how this would help them battle the Corruption. If this was as he thought, and this place was researching the Corruption somehow, they had already failed. If not, Corruption wouldn't have overwhelmed this land, prompting everyone to leave hurridly, yet something remained on Qin Yun's mind.

I fell from the Western Regions onto a lower leaf, no doubt. Let's say we forget that the fall should have killed me. Why are there no signs of Corruption? Shouldn't it be everywhere? Unless something here is keeping it at bay.

With many doubts in mind, but before coming to any conclusion, Qin Yun resumed his search. There were many more rooms, all filled with the same kind of medical instruments one would find in a rudimentary hospital.

They couldn't compare to the facilities Qin Yun experienced throughout the many worlds he travelled through, but they were much more advanced than what was currently available in this world, except for one thing. All these instruments felt handmade, one of a kind.

Qin Yun picked up a small knife with a very sharp edge, most likely a scalpel. He pressed the edge onto a nearby stone table, only for the stone to be cut in two. The cut was clean—almost as clean as Qin Yun could make it with his sword intent.

He was bewildered, unable to comprehend how such a simple instrument could have such cutting power. There was no energy swirling within the blade, no intent to reinforce it, no runes visible on its surface, and no surrounding qi to enhance it. There was only the blade itself, made of ordinary steel.

Could it be the forging method?

For the first time, Qin Yun looked closer and saw the miniature hammer marks left on the metal. Even with his sight, he could only barely see them. No machinery could achieve such perfection, yet this seemed to be done by hand.

Intrigued, Qin Yun put the knife in storage, intending to research it later, for he knew not how it came into existence. Despite his vast knowledge of artifact forging, this technique resembled none he was aware of.

He once again returned to the corridor, only to be faced with a large double door at its end. Just like the walls of this abode, the doors were made of wood surrounded by stone. The wood was nothing special, crude even. They weren't made of the wood of a spiritual tree nor sourced from the stone of an immortal mountain. Once again, there was no qi to be found.

Qin Yun entertained the fact that the qi might have dissipated with the exodus of the Heavenly Dao, yet this wouldn’t have changed these materials’ natures. They would have simply lost their powers until qi returned. No... these were made of ordinary materials one could find everywhere, just as everything in this manor was.

The doors themselves were beautifully crafted, yet nothing too extravagant. The image depicted a large lotus with over forty petals over a platform formed of ten large leaves. Surprisingly, all ten leaves were beyond saving. Some were burnt, others were corroded, and the rest were crumbling.

The many petals weren't much better. Some were already gone, leaving only the tiny imprint of their bases behind, while others were riddled with holes, having lost all their vitality. Only four remained somewhat fine, the four closest to the core, yet even those four were in the midst of crumbling.

And yet, despite their different state, they all had something in common. They were all grey. All leaves and petals were completely grey, except for those four petals and the core of this lotus, which had only turned halfway.

Qin Yun frowned, feeling the carving on this door was much more than it seemed. It almost felt alive, which was impossible as this was merely the image of a lotus carved into an ordinary wooden door. However, this image perfectly represented the current world in which Qin Yun found himself.

Of those four still retaining colours, one was lush green near the middle yet swiftly transitioned to the colour of sand and, towards the end, to a dark grey. The one to the south was much of the same, except that the sand turned to a jungle that stretched on to the end, turning from green to grey.

To the north, the leaf was pure white in its entirety, except for the slightest bit of colour remaining at the core. And for the last one at the East, it was blue—a deep blue without any other colours. There weren't even any traces of grey anywhere on that petal.

Is this in real-time? That can’t be... Well, at least the East doesn’t seem to have fallen yet.

However, Qin Yun couldn't help but frown, for when looking closer into the deep blue, images appeared in his mind—images of waves rising and falling to an unsteady cadence. They were majestic yet monstrous, possessing might unequalled by men. Yet, what frightened Qin Yun most of all was what lay hidden, deep beneath the surface.

The grey was there, biding its time, hidden from the world. The endless ocean was a thriving world hidden from the land-dwellers, yet Qin Yun could see Corruption's hold on it was much worse than it appeared. The ocean floor had already lost most of its colours.

Fortunately, although massive, the ocean was just a part of the Eastern Domain. There were countless island nations scattered across the blue, even to the edge where massive waterfalls drained themselves off of it.

Surprisingly, only the few dead petals situated under the Eastern Domain retained the slightest bit of their vitality. They were by no means thriving, yet Qin Yun could still see some faint colours still resisting against the grey.

Intrigued, Qin Yun's finger brushed against the leaf made of sand. He felt the harsh sensation of the burning sand on his skin for just a moment. The feeling was vivid, precisely what it should have been, as if a memory was triggered in his mind. Still, it lasted for one moment before vanishing back into the ether, and the lotus carved into the wood became inert once again, as if all of this was a mere illusion.

Still, what happened next was no illusion.

The wood began to creak as it detached itself from the stone. Mere moments later, the doors slowly opened, blinding Qin Yun as he was assaulted by a harsh light from beyond. As he didn't feel any threat to his life, Qin Yun merely waited, blocking the light with his sleeve. Only when the doors were fully opened, and he grew accustomed to the light, did Qin Yun finally look at what lay beyond, and the sight couldn't help but stun him.

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