Rotting was not a rejection of life. On the contrary, of all the Blood Cities, it was the closest to hope. Once all negative emotions and despair rotted away, something new would emerge. Rotting was the first step into a cycle, a process of release and rebirth.
The truly terrifying ability of Rotting Blood City was not decay, but an endless cycle of evolution. Whether in the deep world or the real world, nothing remained unchanged forever. Everything would end, and everything would have a new beginning—including Fate.
The Thirteen Blood Cities represented thirteen different rules, as well as thirteen poisons capable of threatening Fate. Rotting was one of them.
All the memories the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal shared with Gao Ming concerned Rotting Blood City. That Blood City also had two rulers: one represented decay, and the other rebirth. Decay took root in the deep world, while rebirth would travel to every mortal world.
Rotting Blood City had once been the place in the deep world most like the human world. But through Fate's many schemes, the city lord representing rebirth became the common enemy of the deep world and was dismembered into countless pieces. In the end, only a heart that could not be obliterated remained. As long as flesh and blood still grew in the world, that heart would return in all manner of forms, beating endlessly like a flame.
After repeated attempts to destroy the heart failed, those Blood City Lords imprisoned it in Hanhai Dead City, intending to decide what to do with it later.
Gao Ming gently touched the beating heart, his gaze softening a little. The heart representing rebirth had met someone who had died countless times. From that moment on, Gao Ming's destiny had begun to change, slipping free of Fate's control.
"The rules