Body of Decay

His brother sat by the koi fishpond, with three of the Li family guards lying around him, lifeless.

Li Zian was taken aback, and he began to sweat. His heart skipped a beat. Li Shen had his back turned to him, but he felt a terrifying pressure emanating from his body.

"Brother… What's happened?" He asked.

Li Shen didn't respond, but Li Zian didn't dare to get any closer.

He watched his older brother with fear, and then made a decision. He forced himself to step forwards, his legs shaking violently from the overwhelming force of oppression.

He stepped over the body of one of the Li family guards and looked down at his face.

The guard was probably a young man, although it was hard to tell after what had happened to him, with wiry brown hair. His eyes were set deep in his face like an old man, and his skin was wrinkled.

He made no noise and didn't breathe. He was completely still. A dead body.

Li Zian had seen many terrible sights, but never had he been so close to a dead body. It freaked him out.

And the person who possibly caused this person's death was none other than his brother.

Li Zian and Li Shen shared a typical brotherly relationship. They bickered, sometimes they got along, and he looked up to him as a role model of sorts to guide him through this strange world of cultivation. Even if he was a different person in his past life, that didn't matter- this boy in front of him was still his brother.

Hastily, he stepped over the corpse and advanced towards his brother. The other corpses were just like the first one- dried and wrinkled.

Finally he reached his brother, and moved over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

His brother didn't move, so Li Zian walked around to face him.

Li Shen was in a state of cultivation, unaware of his surroundings and in deep concentration.

The aura of oppression was immense, and Li Zian felt that he might collapse at any moment. He barely had the strength to yell out.

"Mother!"

Suddenly his mother, Luo Mei, appeared by the koi fishpond, and stared bug-eyed at the sight that laid before her.

"How are the Li family guards dead? They're all at the Golden Core Realm… And this aura of oppression. Don't tell me…"

She cast her gaze upon her eldest son, Li Shen, who sat cultivating.

"Li Zian, get back!" She yelled, waving her hand.

A strong force struck Li Zian, and he was tossed away from his brother.

Suddenly the oppressive aura exploded, and the grass around Li Shen began to wither away and decay. The corpses began to shake, their skin decaying rapidly until they became piles of bones and stringy, gross flesh.

The glowing koi fish swam to the furthest end of the pond to keep away from the powerful aura. The water that the aura touched became green and muddy.

"Mother, what's going on with Li Shen?" He asked his mother who suddenly appeared beside him.

"This is the power of decay… Your brother is very special, he possesses the unique physique 'Body of Decay'. Don't get too close, I can deal with this."

Li Zian suddenly found himself standing at the front of the villa, several dozen metres away from his mother and his brother. He had no idea how it was done, but didn't dare to ask such questions in the current situation.

Luo Mei calmed her breathing and lifted both of her arms into the air.

"Heavenly Bell, toll to cleanse the world," she spoke calmly.

Her words carried great weight, and shivers were sent down Li Zian's spine from the phrase she said.

Above her, high in the sky, appeared a massive golden bell bursting with immense power.

It felt like heaven and earth had met, as the overwhelming power suppressed everything.

Li Zian fell to his knees from the mere presence of the heavenly bell, but despite the pain he felt he watched eagerly.

"This is mother's true power!"

Luo Mei spread her arms wide and controlled the power of the heavenly bell.

It tolled once, and every living being for thousands of miles could hear the soft ringing noise it made.

It soothed the soul, but also contained terrifying amounts of killing intent. Only one word could be used to describe the heavenly bell: terrifying.

As the bell tolled, waves of golden qi burst out from it and spiralled up into the sky above the bell itself.

The threads of qi intertwined, weaving together to create the shape of a massive beast.

A golden dragon, with a body hundreds of metres long, made up of golden qi with bright red eyes.

Its body was scaled like that of a snake, and it released a terrifying aura that suppressed the power of decay from Li Shen.

"I'm sorry, Shen'er. When you wake up, everything will be fine," she spoke softly.

She pointed her finger at Li Shen, and the golden dragon roared. It soared down from the sky, descending from high above.

It crashed down upon Li Shen, and bright light blinded Li Zian for several moments.

His ears began to ring, and he heard a low rumbling.

Finally he could see and discovered Li Shen lying on the ground unharmed. The golden bell and dragon were gone, and his mother was walking over to the eight-year-old boy to pick him up.

'That… Was amazing.'

Li Zixin suddenly soared over the massive stone brick wall, and landed next to Luo Mei, obviously distressed. "What happened?" He asked, and his heart sank when he saw his unconscious son.

"The Body of Decay awakened again," she explained.

"What?!" He yelled. At first it sounded like he was shocked and afraid, but behind his words was vast worry for his son.

"I've suppressed it for another five years with the Heavenly Bell, but this physique is just too powerful. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to suppress it next time," she said, frowning and looking down at her sleeping son.

"The fact that you managed to continue suppressing it this far is a great achievement. Nobody would dare to try and suppress the Body of Decay, but here you are, achieving the impossible."

"Hah, stop it."

They seemed to flirt for a while, which was hard for Li Zian to watch, and eventually his mother took Li Shen to his room where he rested.

Li Zian stood by his older brother's bedside, wondering what exactly that power was.

'Mother mentioned that it's a physique. The library doesn't have any books about this topic, so I can't investigate it for now. I'm just glad he's safe.'

He thought back to those three guards.

'Poor guards. They probably tried to help Li Shen but ended up getting caught by the power of decay.'

Li Zian stared at his brother.

He had been in this world for three years and had already thought he'd seen terrifying power.

His father split the sky, his grandfather seemed to teleport, and his mother could summon dragons.

All these techniques were flashy and useful, but they couldn't compare to the Body of Decay. This power was deeply terrifying.

'The person who possesses the Body of Decay will most definitely experience an awful future filled with bloodshed, death and regret. I just hope my brother doesn't lead such a life.'

He turned to leave, with another goal.

To protect his brother and let him live a happy life.