The Soul-Calling Bell is merely a tool; do not place unreasonable expectations upon it.
This was the counsel Professor Ye had once given.
A tool only gains meaning when wielded by someone. Likewise, its worth lies largely not in the tool itself, but in the person who uses it...
The Soul-Calling Bell was undeniably a rare blessed creation. With a bit more effort, an upgrade in quality, or a complete set of accompanying implements, it could easily be hailed as a piece of Celestial Craft.
It was fair to say that any disciple of Embers or Aether would yearn to possess it at any cost.
Yet the reason it held such irresistible allure for the paths of Embers and Aether was precisely because... the followers of other Sovereign Virtues had no need to go through such trouble.
After all, whether its creation was formidable or frail depended not only on the quantity of remnant spirits fueling it, but ultimately on the attainments of the user.
Amid limited spiritus and materials, how could one pinch pennies and strip away every shred of waste, transforming that meager parcel of spiritus into an instrument of absolute destruction?
How could one maximize the translation of a craftsman's theoretical mastery into raw combat power?
The exact same bell in Professor Ye's hands versus Ji Jue's differed as vastly as heaven and earth.
If one merely relied on fanciful imagination to cobble together a giant black-skinned lizard and pointed at it claiming it was Godzilla, the final result would be nothing more than an empty shell.
Without an enemy even needing to lift a finger, a stray gust of wind might blow it to pieces at the slightest touch.
Its underlying principles dictated a multitude of constraints: one had to possess a sufficient rank to endure the strain, enough remnant spirits to feed the consumption, a genuine grasp of theoretical principles, personal insight and perception, and the ability to keep it firmly under control without suffering a backlash.
When it came to this, Ji Jue had plenty of understanding—and heaps of experience.
Ever since becoming a Celestial Chosen, who was the strongest being and form he had ever witnessed, comprehended, and truly understood... other than Sage Quicksilver, who had once severed the Tower of Tianyuan and overthrown time itself in a single stroke?
This was the true essence of Non-Offensive, as well as the legacy of Non-Offensive.
This was the core of Embers, and the Sage of Embers!
First, he had the principles and boundless experience imparted unconditionally by the Prophet; next, he had witnessed and perceived that majestic form with his own eyes; and later, under the intervention of the Edge of Revolution, he had experienced it firsthand within himself...
Ji Jue could thump his chest and declare that in the entire world, nobody understood Quicksilver better than him!
Nobody!
Yet even so, what followed was still far too bizarre...
To Ji Jue, the entire process of creation was astonishingly, unimaginably smooth!
The instant the thought of 'recreating Quicksilver' surfaced in his mind, Non-Offensive whirred into motion as if by second nature, directly taking over the operation of the Soul-Calling Bell.
Intricate marks materialized across his hands, spreading into the bell. Then, accompanied by the final chime, a streak of blazing firelight manifested from amid the infinite remnant spirits.
From within the Non-Offensive matrix, all traces and records left behind by the Celestial-Human circulated on their own, projecting outward to form the blueprint.
This was the most precious legacy Quicksilver had left to her successor.
Unifying blessings in the form of a Celestial Chosen, she had achieved transcendence, laying down the origin from the distant past and manifesting in the mortal realm as the stature of a Celestial-Human—the Sage's Gestalt!
The imagery of ten thousand wings, ten thousand eyes, and ten thousand hands was merely the most apt summary of this power when projected into reality.
It was like a finished design blueprint already drawn to perfection.
The moment this guiding manifestation took shape, the spiritus transmuted from countless remnant spirits converged spontaneously. Its essence solidified, theoretical principles locked into place, tissues fused, and wings unfurled...
Finally, the true visage was revealed!
Heeding the call of the successor, this power and aspiration inherited through Non-Offensive manifested once more within the Chrono Ruin.
As for backlash...?
What a joke!
As a Creation of Non-Offensive inheriting most of Quicksilver's former traces, even if it were an imitation, its revulsion toward Vile Folly far exceeded any desire to turn on its wielder.
That hatred would never fall upon him!
What was more, at this moment, whether it was the spite and bitter rancor left by the remnant spirits or the indistinct instinct of this phantom shade, not a single speck of hostility was aimed at him.
In fact...
—It gave its all to aid him!
In a mere instant, it ripped apart the infection and barriers of the abomination, once more seizing absolute control!
Even without a Genesis Theory, without a Domain, without the countless blessings long fused into the soul, and lacking sufficient spiritus—pale in comparison to the original form by not even one ten-thousandth...
Even if it was less than a ten-thousandth, it was more than enough to crush the abomination of the Evil Transmutation Cult into dust!
At this moment, the phantom of the Sage set into motion high in the sky, unfurling its ten thousand hands.
Fluid Alchemy, long refined into pure instinct, cascaded across everything alongside violent fluctuations of spiritus. Then, upon the Sage's silhouette that bloomed as gorgeously as a lotus, a single finger lifted and slowly pointed toward the empty void.
Spiritus circuits erupted like a roaring waterfall, enshrouding the heavens and blanketing the earth. Stretching forth like chains toward the enraged bone wheel, they bound and constricted it layer upon layer.
The celestial phenomena shifted, as if the sun rose and set, the moon waxed and waned; the crust of the earth trembled, evoking churning seas and surging rivers.
Heaven and earth seemed on the verge of being remade beneath that hand.
Yet from the shifting transmutations of all things, an indistinct, translucent, formless sword was drawn from the void—unseen by the eyes, unheard by the ears, invisible to mere mortal flesh.
Yet gazing upward now, every sentient entity could distinctly feel it: encircled by the ten thousand hands at the very heart of the Sage's projection, a sword unequivocally existed!
Severing unrighteous conquest—this was Non-Offensive;
Erasing distinctions of rank—this was Universal Concord;
Denying a predetermined fate—this was Rejection of Fate;
Establishing a realm of mutual benefit without harm—this was Universal Love;
Reforging everything in this mortal world—this was the Will of Heaven...
Amid the circulation of boundless essences, they converged upon the unseen blade.
A faint sigh seemed to echo from an epoch long past.
Then, ten thousand hands grasped the sword.
The edge that could sweep the world was unleashed!
The bone wheel shuddered violently. Upon the mound of flesh, that emerald-green eye widened abruptly, light swirling within as colors shifted by the thousands.
Endless perverse views, grotesque fantasies, fallacies, and ravings churned and erupted from the light, forming a colossal mirror in the void. As it reflected the entire Chrono Ruin, it splintered into countless phantoms and possibilities.
Everything warped; within an instant, thousandfold transformations took place. The world turned barren and desolate, only to erupt into bustling clamor, swinging from pale decay to dizzying chaos. Wilderness, mountains, cities, paradise, or hell—countless possibilities sprang from the mirror's reflection, barring the path before the Sage's silhouette.
Yet cries of shattering and wailing rang out incessantly.
Beneath the cleaving and thrusting of the formless edge, layers of bizarre illusions and permutations shattered completely. The blade advanced with crushing momentum, annihilating every twisted thought and perverse heresy!
The abomination's offshoot, spawned from the shadow of Ascension, seemed to roar in fury. It denounced the false empty husk before it, mocking, slandering, and outright denying its reality!
Yet the husk cared nothing for it.
A projection originating from a Sage possessed no reason, owned no self, and retained less than a tenth of its original instincts. The only reason it had not disintegrated the moment it manifested was Ji Jue's summons.
Obeying the resonance born of Non-Offensive, executing the plea of the successor, it once more fulfilled the duty of a Sage...
Abomination, die!!!
The formless sword shifted in a flash, multiplying as though one blade became ten thousand. Sweeping through the ten thousand hands, it locked down the heavens, the earth, and the Chrono Ruin, launching a ferocious assault straight against the parasitic abomination.
Meanwhile, atop the rapidly spinning bone wheel, that solitary eye glared wide in fury. Amid the endless shifts of light, souls seemed to continuously birth and perish, expounding perverse doctrines and delirium, repeatedly dying the Chrono Ruin anew in resistance against the correction brought by the Sage's projection.
The clash and changes were far too exalted and lightning-fast, shifting at every breath.
So much so that Ji Jue couldn't comprehend a single bit of it.
The carry he had summoned was playing at a level far too elite, blowing past the limits of a newbie's comprehension.
Not that it mattered.
—While the Pokémon were slugging it out, how could the trainers just sit around with their hands in their pockets?!
Ji Jue took a deep breath.
Down below in midair beneath the bone wheel, Lian Cheng's vision suddenly went black.
Helplessly, he flew backward!
Only when his sluggish vision finally conveyed the image of a massive backhand slowly expanding in his field of view did he hear the words echoing through the air.
"Drop dead!"
*Bam!*
Like spotting a basketball stuck on the rim, Ji Jue leaped up with an explosive slam dunk, smashing Lian Cheng into the dirt. Yet before Lian Cheng could even bounce back into the air and hit the ground again, an ear-splitting sonic boom erupted out of nowhere.
Like a ghost,
Ji Jue appeared right before his eyes once more.
Inches away.
Struggling in vain in midair, Lian Cheng's eyes bulged. He instinctively tried to shield his face, only to witness movements slowed dozens of times under the blessings of the Ascension path.
Raise hand, lead with the elbow, smash downward.
With a bizarre *thud*, Lian Cheng's eyeballs popped straight from their sockets. His entire body snapped in half at the waist, crashing into the dirt once more.
Amid the agonizing pain of shattering bones, he bounced up again.
He watched helplessly as Ji Jue snapped a high roundhouse kick, slamming a heel hard into his chin. Pure physical might shattered the invisible psychic defenses of his consciousness, unloading entirely into his jaw, reducing the bone to mush.
His neck came within an inch of snapping clean off from the kick!
Fast! Far too fast!
Faster than the damn White Stag!
At the same time, he was absurdly hard, like iron and stone—no, that solidity and stability vastly outstripped iron and stone...
Seriously? Had his own brain fried? What the hell was this?!
How the fuck are you pulling this off?!
Countless questions flooded Lian Cheng's mind, yet they all boiled down to the same bewilderment. He couldn't fathom it, couldn't wrap his head around it; it was even more absurd than the abomination's gifts and corruption.
Yet what was truly terrifying wasn't this impossible speed, strength, or hardness, but those two hands... and the spiritus shockwaves that erupted with every single blow landed on his body!
It was as if they bypassed physical barriers entirely, pummeling his soul and already-corrupted matrix directly. Even his blessings struggled to function stably, falling apart amid the spreading spiritus ripples and impacts, leaving him entirely unable to fight back.
Had the Sovereign Lord's grace not remained tethered to him, he would have been utterly blown apart, body and mind, by that sudden flurry of strikes!
Lian Cheng shrieked. Phantasmal light flickered in his eyes as he activated Overlimit Sight—the very same blessing equipment Ji Jue was currently using. Its acceleration frequency and multiplier vastly exceeded Ji Jue's, aiming to wait out the assault and turn the tables with superior speed. Only then did he realize... he was still the one getting pummeled!
For the Ascension path, as long as Overlimit Sight was accelerating perception, any fight could be turned into a carefully calculated, turn-based contest. But even in a turn-based game, what was anyone supposed to do against a shameless character who took dozens of turns in a single round, with every punch dealing armor pierce and critical hits, and basic attacks having cleave built in?!
Treating him like a wooden training dummy, Ji Jue executed an entire routine of Lu Feng's secret military boxing on Lian Cheng in a matter of seconds. He wasn't even short of breath, looking thoroughly refreshed.
Yet amid the snapping and mending of bones and the non-stop agony, Lian Cheng's eyes finally caught sight of the truth...
The focal point wasn't Ji Jue at all.
It was the translucent palm that had been resting on Ji Jue's shoulder the entire time!
Beneath that hand, spiritus circuits gushed like a waterfall, blanketing Ji Jue from head to toe, etched into his skin, flesh, bones, and organs...
Buff! Buff! Buff!
It felt like finally realizing something after suffering through several agonizing rounds, clicking open the boss's status screen, and finding row after row of buff icons overflowing the edge of the monitor.
Darkness fell before Lian Cheng's eyes again and again.
How is anyone supposed to fight this?!
Never mind that this dogshit matchmaking system never gets fixed, but do these bastards of the Sovereign Virtues not even bother to develop an anti-cheat system?!
After all these years, Lian Cheng—who had turned to the Evil Transmutation Cult out of hatred and bitterness toward the radiant powers—once more tasted that familiar humiliation and powerlessness.
He had searched across the whole world, found a glorious future, found the grace of the Sovereign Lord, and felt as though he had reclaimed his dignity. Yet the only thing he hadn't found was where the report button was...
In his raging eyes, trails of bloody tears streamed down:
*He's been hacking the entire time!*
*Spinning like a bot from start to finish! Not even bothering to hide it, never turning it off for a second!*
High in the sky, even while busy beating the living daylights out of the Sovereign Lord's medium, the Sage's remnant phantom didn't forget to reach out a single hand to rest on Ji Jue's shoulder, continuously pouring on enhancements.
Or rather: conversely, it was manipulating Ji Jue's Non-Offensive matrix to operate directly upon his body, applying the material properties adjustments that the Embers path specialized in.
With precision exceeding Ji Jue's absolute limits, it fortified his vital points and bolstered his resilience and strength, while working in tandem with Deus Ex Machina... turning Ji Jue's physical body into a machine!
Right now, Ji Jue was draped in countless Sovereign Virtue totems, with two Desolate Ruins emblems even inscribed onto his heels to strengthen his flesh.
Now, he broke through the air once more.
That mocking grin enlarged rapidly before Lian Cheng's eyes, practically in his face.
Casually swatting away Lian Cheng's attempt to parry, Ji Jue slipped past a soul shockwave that had been charging for ages, planting his feet firmly into the ground like iron spikes. Then... came the chain punches stolen straight from Professor Ye's punitive spiritus offense and defense classes!
Thunderous impacts boomed without pause!
If Professor Ye were present, she would probably shield her eyes in disgust—loose posture, sluggish transitions, all form and no substance; practically none of the movements were textbook.
Yet no matter how offensive she might find it, she couldn't deny that every single move and punch Ji Jue threw conformed perfectly to the simplest, most refined mechanics of kinetics. There was not a shred of waste, maximizing every ounce of force poured into his opponent.
Just like a machine calculating under intelligent guidance, outputting maximum work through the most direct, streamlined method!
And compared to the physical pain, the final straw that truly broke the camel's back was the pitying whisper drifting through the wind: "Looks like your Sovereign Lord doesn't love you that much after all..."
Otherwise, why wouldn't He sub in and play the match for you, like the carry I brought along?
Lian Cheng roared in berserk fury, the corners of his eyes tearing open once, twice, three times, four times. Yet no matter how they tore, it was nothing more than impotent rage.
After all, compared to lies and deceit, the truth was always the sharpest dagger that pierced through one's defenses.
The aloof, icy goddess one desperately pursued might ignore them, and they would swallow it with a smile. But seeing the pure girl riding on the back of a punk's modified scooter, wrapping her arms around his waist and smiling sweetly back—that was the true critical strike to a simp...
*Damn you, why?!*
*Why does the carry you summoned put in the work and sweat, beating down Vile Folly the moment you say the word?*
Yet he himself had plotted meticulously for so long, sacrificed everything, sold his blood, his sweat, and his descendants, only for the Sovereign Lord to not spare him even a sliver of protection right now.
What was worse, as the anchor for the Sovereign Lord's descent, not only was he suffering a vicious beating from Ji Jue, but his soul also had to endure the shockwaves rippling from the Sage projection's fierce assault, sharing the damage.
Dodging and retreating in utter disarray, Lian Cheng's face was practically awash in bloody tears.
He screamed, shrieked, and howled.
"Die for me!!!"
Ignoring the crushing pressure exerted by the Sovereign Lord and the catastrophic risk of his soul shattering, he mobilized every ounce of power he possessed.
Under the forceful compulsion of his mind, his shattered hands reached out again, locking onto Ji Jue's shoulders in a death grip. Lian Cheng shoved his face close, a torrential surge of spiritus blazing into blinding light as it erupted from his eyes!
"Witness the true Sovereign, and become one with us!"
Lian Cheng laughed maniacally. The staggering torrent of perverse views, malice, fallacies, and delirium circulating through the high-tier abomination surged into Ji Jue's soul through this flood of spiritus.
Yet in that instant, he finally caught the smirk playing at the corner of Ji Jue's lips.
It looked almost like... relief.
A faint sigh drifted on the wind.
"Finally... took the bait, huh..."
Beneath the infusion of the foul abomination torrent, Ji Jue—who should have been instantly corrupted without any resistance—slowly tilted his head up and bared his teeth at the inches-away Lian Cheng.
The smile was bright and pleasant, yet in Lian Cheng's eyes, it was as terrifying as a demon's.
Facing the contamination of a high-tier abomination, Ji Jue showed neither resistance nor fear; instead, he was delightedly inhaling it like a tempest!
*Become one with you, huh?*
*Sure thing!*
*Oh, but there's one thing I forgot to mention.*
*Everything up until now didn't really count as hacking. But now... sorry, I forgot to turn it off!*
In that instant, the matrix enshrouding his soul and body contracted soundlessly, unlocking its restraints and allowing the infection of the Disease of Immortality and Lian Cheng's encroaching corruption to run rampant.
And right before Ji Jue's eyes, a long-unseen pop-up window materialized: [Internal spiritus aberration detected. Extract?]
[YES]!
The moment Ji Jue selected it without hesitation, the wailing finally erupted.
Not only from Lian Cheng right in front of him, but even the spinning bone wheel and the evil eye high in the firmament let out a piercing, high-pitched shriek of agony...
As if a tempest had formed, a bottomless black hole abruptly opened within Ji Jue's soul, ruthlessly siphoning away every aberration and taint. In an instant, it devoured the encroaching infection of Vile Folly clean.
Yet it remained ravenous, tracing the stream back to its source...
Surging upstream!
Following the connection and soul that Lian Cheng had willingly opened, it crashed into Lian Cheng's body and soul, gorging itself like a gluttonous beast. What was more, it climbed straight up the tether connecting soul and spiritus...
Reaching its greedy little hands toward the high-tier abomination exalted above!
"Aaaaargh!!!!"
Lian Cheng convulsed violently, his entire frame spasming. He instinctively tried to let go, but it was already too late. His arms were seized by Ji Jue instead, who grabbed him by the shoulders and forcibly yanked his head upright.
A torrent formed of endless wicked light spewed uncontrollably from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, pouring entirely into Ji Jue's gaze as if plunging into a bottomless abyss.
He was drained dry in a flash, unable to squeeze out another drop of spiritus. Yet it still wasn't over.
That horrifying suction had already traveled along the resonance between him and the Sovereign Lord, spreading toward the bone wheel and the evil eye in the sky.
Even if he wanted to stop, it was too late.
He was powerless to sever the resonance and connection with the Sovereign Lord.
It was like a foolish kid who had taken a wrong step, clinging onto the black-stockinged thigh of a wealthy older woman thinking he had hit an endless jackpot of riches, only to realize it was far too late when she pulled out whips, candles, steel wool, and tacks... To survive, all he could do was dial up his hometown and trick more of his buddies into jumping into the bottomless pit, buying himself just a little more time to drag out his wretched existence.
The instant he realized this, Lian Cheng's expression twisted through shock, terror, anguish, and rage. Then, without a second thought, he cranked the link and resonance between himself and the Sovereign Lord to maximum capacity!
*Hang in there, Sovereign Lord! I'm counting on You!*
*Snap out of it! Come on! Don't let us lose points!*
*Kill him!*
Chapter 170