The Dagger Revealed

Zero startup frames, not a single hint of windup. A raw confession straight from the chest, deafening and shocking, leaving nowhere to hide and no way to guard against it. And so, beneath Kanemoto's increasingly subtle gaze, an awkward silence abruptly descended. "..." Ji Jue's smile twitched. "An accident. A total accident, Grandmaster." The skull translated: "Great. Satisfied now? Are we all sufficiently embarrassed?" "Heh." Kanemoto merely offered a faint smile. The skull laughed as well, though the meaning behind it seemed entirely different. "At times, it really is a good thing," he said. "Very well. You've already begun to learn how to exploit an artisan's curiosity." "Aside from that, there's another matter I'm quite curious about." Ji Jue sighed softly, finally letting the dagger show from the scroll, making no further attempt to conceal his intent. "Why did you go to the trouble of mobilizing so grandly to come to Quancheng, Grandmaster? Mingling with that crowd, and even stealing time from your busy schedule to torment a nobody like me for so long—what is it you're truly after?" "If that were all, why go to such great lengths?" Kanemoto gave a scornful laugh, holding up the skull in his palm. "It is nothing more than another step toward exhausting the path of Embers and Stagnant Rot. What is so remarkable about that?" In the stillness, the skull remained silent. Its spiritus circuits showed not the slightest trace of activation, nor any sign of defense or concealment. He did not deign to lie or dissemble. Ji Jue fell silent as well. After a long while, he let out a soundless sigh. "Must it go that far?" "Why shouldn't it?" Kanemoto sneered mockingly. "Whether one stands in the Society or the Profound, regardless of the distinction between Embers and Stagnant Rot... from the fire-stealing thieves of antiquity to the alchemists, and now to modern artisans, they are merely changes in name. Could there be any real difference? No. Look across those who serve Sovereign Virtue or Vile Folly—anyone who has ever achieved anything was, without exception, a lunatic, an idiot, and a scourge who placed their own ambitions, foolish fixations, and pipe dreams above reality itself." "The world was created by precisely such people, Ji Jue," Kanemoto said definitively. "One day, should you have the fortune to stand in a position like this, you might be even more insane than they are. If you cannot learn it, cannot bear it, cannot stomach it, then cast aside your illusions as early as possible and go back to being an ordinary person. At least for you, that could still be called 'happiness.'" Ji Jue offered no reply. Kanemoto also turned his head slightly, as though listening to something. After a long moment, he let out a strange sneer and said to someone unseen, "Then bear the consequences yourselves." The transmission cut off. Kanemoto raised his chin slightly, his gaze piercing through the workshop to gaze into the distance. "The time has just about come." He tossed the skull back into Ji Jue's arms and waved a hand. "I might as well show you what this so-called Sovereign Virtue and Vile Folly have turned this world into." In that instant, an invisible barrier was wiped away. And then, an unprecedented, thunderous roar erupted from the distance. Surging one after another, rolling in like an ocean tide, the tremors shook the entire workshop. Dust drifted down in rustling flurries, settling upon Ji Jue's streaked hair. He lifted his eyes, looking toward the immense floor-to-ceiling window slowly rising from the wall, and toward the sky outside where ferocious beams of light crisscrossed. Pallid brilliance clashed with murky iridescent hues, setting off countless ripples and fragments of light that cascaded toward the earth. Specks of light, feather-light as snow, touched the ground and silently collapsed. Yet immediately following, vast waves expanded and rampaged, utterly 'decomposing' everything in their wake. No sound. No turmoil. Only soundless collapse and dissipation. "Do you see that? That is the chronowedge of a Celestial-Human. Tao Cheng has accepted the assimilation of Tianyuan for so many years; his humanity has eroded and his days are numbered, but before he returns entirely to Tianyuan, he can still drag a few down with him. Once he made up his mind, he alone was enough to suppress and batter Lu Changsheng and those old dogs from Wulou Temple." The boundless pure white seemed nearly infinite, filling the firmament, pressing countless murky iridescent lights into the center and advancing inward inch by inch. The skies over Quancheng were cleft in two, layers of color overlapping and interlocking like jagged teeth, bewildering and incomprehensible to the eye. All that could be felt were the shockwaves where the Law of Tianyuan collided with the aura of high-tier abominations. The shockwaves alone were enough to make all of Quancheng shudder to its bedrock. Before the newly opened window, Kanemoto stood with folded arms, casually pointing from time to time. "To the north, that surging white mist should be the Lou clan's Domain: Five Pavilions and Twelve Cities. Grounded in Ascension and governing the blessings of Mirror and Entropy, its composition puts it among the very top tier of the Lou clan's Celestial Chosen throughout history. It's likely that woman currently heading the family, isn't it? Hmm, she's heading this way—probably coming for me and you. Those stubborn fools of the Ascension lineage always settle debts and repay kindness, but alas, she's too far." Kanemoto sighed contemptuously, paying it no mind. His eyes drifted to the bizarre layer of clouds to the west. "The Yu clan's Matrix: Frost's Descent. It does carry a bit of winter's bleak slaughter, but unfortunately, each generation is worse than the last—all form and no substance. Mmh, the one to the left is rather more worth watching: the Tong family's Domain: Letters of Past and Future. All things divided into black and white, written, altered, and directed at will. Now that one received the true teachings. If I recall, his name is Tong Ting? Using an opponent's momentum against them while keeping his own head down, sitting firmly in the referee's chair—spitting image of his old man." Ji Jue followed where he pointed. In that domain where all color had drained away, leaving only black and white, no earth-shattering upheavals were visible. It was placid and unruffled, like a painted backdrop. Yet it quietly eroded and expanded its territory, allowing trespassing vile creatures and calamity beasts to rampage and destroy. But the deeper they penetrated, the more they destroyed, the stranger their colors and forms became—until finally, having no strength left to struggle, they melted into the inkscape, becoming nothing more than a corner of a broad-stroke landscape. Even more striking were clusters of blood-and-fire hues, sweeping in unimpeded like meteors, crisscrossing and crashing violently in every direction. "The Federal Military Department's hounds. They look imposing, but they're all mass-produced stock. Fine for putting on a show, but in a real pinch, they aren't worth a sneer." Kanemoto didn't even bother to look twice, shifting his gaze further out. Along Quancheng's main thoroughfare ran a winding trail of blood, where a figure strode leisurely forward amidst the siege of numerous corrupted abominations. Gender was indistinguishable, seemingly enveloped in countless phantoms, blurring any clear view. Wherever that figure passed, corpses were left strewn about. Bending casually to pick up weapons from the dead, wielding and discarding them with practiced ease to wreak destruction—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, taking whatever came to hand without discrimination—they used their own power to forcefully suppress any resistance from the alchemical creations, handling them with brutal mastery. Yet in terms of how rapidly those alchemical creations were worn down and destroyed... Ji Jue, as an artisan, felt his eyelids twitching wildly. "Another one hiding their face," Kanemoto said, shaking his head. "Who is that?" Ji Jue asked, curious. "The Director of the Yacheng Security Bureau, Lyu Yingyue." Kanemoto turned his gaze toward the end of the street, where several monks cast like iron and bronze stood like giants. "Over there are the bald donkeys of Wulou Temple. I doubt they'll last much longer." It was hard to tell which side he was referring to, but Ji Jue had a feeling that bunch of monks was doomed, their faces practically stamped with death. And on another front, layers of illusory radiance churned, the air thick with countless images that rose and shifted like a tide, seeping into reality and subverting the boundary between illusion and truth. One mutilated figure after another crawled out from the shadows behind a slender young woman, seeming unending. "The maniacs from the Tianxin Society are actually playing for keeps this time," Kanemoto noted placidly. "Domain: Other-Transforming Autonomy." "What about the Dragon Sacrifice Society?" Ji Jue asked, curious. "Who knows?" Kanemoto couldn't care less. "Fence-sitters like them are probably calculating how to sell themselves to the highest bidder right about now. They can't be relied upon." "And you?" Ji Jue asked. Allies charging on the front lines while our unit stands still as a mountain? "Not yet. But soon." Kanemoto stood with hands folded, merely watching in silence as heaven and earth overturned beyond the window. After far too long spent probing one another, the Security Bureau had finally launched its assault with brazen fury. Under Lord Tao's suppression, the clandestine corruption and infiltration that the Evil Transmutation Cult had built up over so many years erupted incessantly, yet failed to break free. The auras of high-tier abominations stood like pillars supporting this city, but now those pillars trembled violently, webbed with cracks. To grapple against so many high-tier abominations as a single man, and still have strength to spare to mount a furious offensive against Lu Changsheng—even appearing leisurely, holding reserves in hand. That majestic, vast aura filled everything like a blazing sun, searing the darkness of Quancheng and bearing the full brunt of the pressure from the Evil Transmutation Cult. The shifting brilliance and pure white across the vault of the sky alone left Ji Jue's soul shaking. "Is this a Celestial-Human?" he murmured softly. "More than that," Kanemoto said, shaking his head. "To be assimilated by Sovereign Virtue to this degree and still preserve his humanity is no small feat. What you are seeing is him turning Sovereign Virtue's assimilation against itself, borrowing the divine essence of Tianyuan to wield this power. Positioned as a fulcrum within it, levering several times his own weight, there is actually very little he himself needs to do." "And the price?" Ji Jue pressed. "Isn't the price right before your eyes?" Kanemoto lifted a finger, reaching out across the empty air as if plunging into the firmament. When he drew it back, an undying flame hissed and crackled upon the tip of his finger. He snuffed it out, yet it rekindled instantly, spreading with stubborn persistence. Finally, Kanemoto flicked his hand, severing the finger. Before it even touched the floor, it disintegrated into dust. "Humanity is like a lamp. Even with the might of a Celestial-Human, how long can such light continue to burn?" Kanemoto lowered his gaze. "He has already stepped onto a dead-end road. He cares nothing for consequences, and he will never stop again." He stared blankly at the sky-filling brilliance, shaking his head in regret. "What a pity." "Why put on an act, Grandmaster?" Ji Jue could not hold back a cold sneer. "Isn't this all thanks to you people?" "Is that not precisely why it is admirable and lamentable?" Kanemoto replied impassively. "Facing a foe this worthy of respect, one ought to use every means necessary, spare no cost, disregard all consequences, and fight him with everything one has." In that moment, upon the sky above, the eerie iridescent light that had been throttled inch by inch and compressed step by step by blazing white radiance suddenly churned violently, shaking without further delay. From the endless gloom, a savage might surged skyward. Swallowing whole all the corrupted aura across Quancheng to swell its own power, it slammed headlong into the Law of Tianyuan. At the very moment when Lord Tao was at his most majestic and powerful, infinitely close to Tianyuan itself... it launched a challenge against all odds! Too reckless, too foolish. Yet how could all things in this world be measured purely by gain and loss? Lu Changsheng laughed loudly. His hoarse, shrill voice rang between heaven and earth, echoing without pause. "After waiting so long, today I finally have the honor of fighting a bout against Lord Tao!" With a heroic opponent like Tao Cheng right before his eyes, if he cowered, avoided battle, and stalled for time, how would he differ from a rat? Lord Tao gave no answer; the blazing light merely flared fiercer. And so, stars swayed and the vault of heaven shuddered. The rainbow shattered, only to surge back in reckless defiance again and again. Countless splinters of light scattered and fell to the earth, splashing into bewitching halos of color. Amidst that grand conflict in the sky, the slaughter upon the earth grew feverish. Too fast, too chaotic. Impossible even to take in all at once... All one could perceive was the sudden burst of crimson the moment heads parted from shoulders and corpses shattered, smeared like indelible paint across ruined roads and rubble. Impossible to ignore. So much so that everywhere the eye fell, there was only crimson. If he had not been captured, would he be down there right now? How were Tong the Vegetable and the others doing? Ji Jue tried hard to think, yet his thoughts were a tangled mess, his mind entirely blank. Plumes of thick smoke billowed and flames spread. After so long, Quancheng seemed to have been ignited once more, as if plucked from a nightmare. Death washed across the city like a tide, accompanied by the nonstop sound of rupturing stone and steel. Traces and spatters of crimson diffused and overlapped, resembling four fault lines extending straight toward the center, seeking to cut through, dissect, and finally... Utterly dismember this corrupted city! From beginning to end, Kanemoto watched indifferently, never moving an inch. He looked on with cold detachment as the Security Bureau swept in, smashing through every defense in crushing ruin, until at last he seemed to hear a voice from afar. "Fine. The heat could use a bit more time, but it won't hurt." He said, "We can begin." In that instant, fissures appeared across the massive workshop as it suddenly expanded! Before Ji Jue's eyes, a dizzying array of changes unfolded: halls contracted, corridors lengthened, and structures swelled. Within the entire workshop suspended between reality and void, spiritus furnaces that had long finished preheating shuddered with a roar, sending torrents of vast spiritus coursing through, saturating everything. Alarms wailed as an invisible force expanded, pinning everyone down in their respective positions and forbidding any departure. It was like a colossal machine roared to life in an instant, every component operating in lockstep. The domed ceiling split open, and ten million spiritus circuits snaked outward. Blooming like a lotus flower. Meanwhile, the entire workshop transformed into a colossal pillar, rising joint by joint, casting a pitch-black shadow over the earth. And on the workshop's topmost level, beside Kanemoto, Ji Jue once again saw the riddled realm membrane—the ruins sealed away within the Border Realm. And at the very center of the ruins, the steel wreckage bound by countless black chains. An engine blackened by corruption's erosion pounded like a heart, turning over and stirring up a tempest. It was calling out. It was weeping. It was waiting. Toward him... In that instant, Ji Jue almost forgot to breathe.