Like and Dislike

In that instant, as if all sounds fell silent and time froze, the entire world seemed to grind to a halt within a dazed illusion—beneath the fragment of a blade that manifested from An Ning's fingertips. Rather than calling it a blade, it was more like an apparition. Crystalline and translucent, it seemed to rest upon An Ning's fingertips, yet no matter how hard one strained to look, its shape remained indistinct—dreamlike and illusory, hovering between being and non-being. Though named "Bitter Day," it bathed the entire world in such magnificent splendor, filling all creation with vibrant, brilliant color! There was no longer any need for that thread of Flying Light. At this moment, myriad phenomena embraced the light and burst forth! Whether it was the Bashe with its endless vitality, the Wolf Sin hiding within the husk, or Yue Chen blessed by the Desolate Ruins, they all felt a bone-deep chill amidst that omnipresent luminescence. Bitter Day left her hand. In a flash, it vanished, as if it had never existed in this world at all. Then, in that frozen, stagnant world, every sight crumbled into pieces. Crisp sounds like shattering jade rang out, overlapping in an endless chorus, converging into a tidal wave. Countless raindrops suspended in midair shot forth, colliding, churning, ripples exploding and spreading. Wherever the tens of thousands of ripples swept, everything was ground into dust, and innumerable water droplets bloomed with bewitching splendor like flower buds. Then, from the sudden rush of gale-force winds, the giant serpent's nine heads were snuffed out like candles in the wind, severed clean at the base and reduced to ash. Amidst the boiling, evaporating blood, half a mangled torso fell. The Wolf Sin gasped violently, leaning behind Yue Chen, its bloody sheen dimming. At this moment, the metallic gleam and rock-like hue coating Yue Chen's body had thoroughly dulled. Crisscrossing fissures spread across his chest, revealing a heart like crystalline stone, beating in furious thumps. Pounding! Immediately following that, it rapidly restored itself— The vast majority of Bitter Day's lethal force had been absorbed by the Bashe. Having long since abandoned humanity and merged with matter, the Desolate Ruins had not suffered a fatal blow; clinging to that single breath, it quickly recovered. Even the dying Bashe began to sprout anew under the irrigation of the endless rain of blood. As for Ji Jue and his companion... they had already vanished without a trace. "They ran." Re-forming within the bloody shadow, the Wolf Sin sighed softly. "We got bluffed." Yue Chen, the Wolf Sin, and the Bashe—no matter which one the attack was directed against, it wouldn't have altered the outcome. What was clearly an execution strike had been diffused into an area of effect, buying breathing room for them to slip away. Only... "Beneath the Calamity of Blood Rain, Kunwu is completely sealed off. Where can they run?" The Wolf Sin let out a raspy laugh, thoroughly delighted. "Never in my life did I imagine I'd get the chance to hunt down a hunter." Amidst the endless bloody waters, the Bashe regenerated once more, hissing in fury. Its mountain-like form wriggled and surged forth, catching the lingering scent on the wind! They couldn't get away! Meanwhile, amidst the chaotic mountains beneath the blood rain, Little Niuma—having reclaimed its components and reverted to vehicle form—was covered in cracks. Its steel limbs catapulted and bounded repeatedly. Inside the drafty, leaking cabin, Ji Jue was racing against time to administer first aid to An Ning. Thanks to the constitution of a Celestial Chosen and the inhuman vitality of the Regeneration tier, she had managed to hold on this long even with a ruptured heart. Amidst the violent shaking, Ji Jue threaded the needle with one hand, stitching flesh and blood at blistering speed. His other metallic arm, mutated and out of control, hung limply, swaying with the lurch of the carriage. Corruption alchemy extracted the wolf venom; Fluid Alchemy purified An Ning's blood; and then, through material property interference, he forcibly sutured the ruptured heart, roughly and swiftly piecing it back into its original shape to close the tears. "Call this first aid...?" An Ning was actually amused. "You're clearly just repairing a car!" Ji Jue glanced at her coldly, not pausing his movements. "Why didn't you run?" "Hmm?" An Ning looked puzzled. "Once you realized you were poisoned, you should've retreated immediately, shouldn't you?" Ji Jue asked coldly. "The winner is the hunter. If you know you're about to die and still don't run, an idiot delivering themselves on a silver platter only lives to be a disgrace... Isn't that what you said?" "Huh? Did I say that?" An Ning blinked blankly. Catching his gloomy expression, she suddenly grinned triumphantly. "Did I fool you? We're even now!" "..." Ji Jue didn't want to speak, too exasperated to acknowledge her. Pressing an injection gun to her neck, he injected medicine. Flowing quicksilver sank deep into her internal organs, repairing wounds and closing fractures. An Ning whimpered, trying to hold back her tears. "Brother Ji Jue, I'm hurt." "Mm," Ji Jue replied coldly. "Brother Ji Jue, it hurts so much." So Ji Jue raised his quicksilver prosthetic and tossed a blister pack of painkillers to her. "Take them yourself." "Those don't work!" An Ning's eyes misted over with tears as she tugged at his clothes. "If I don't get a kiss, I'll never get better!" Ji Jue said indifferently, "Then wait for death." At once, An Ning grew even more aggrieved, unable to hold back her tears any longer. "So heartless! When I like you so much!" Ji Jue finally looked up, staring at her expressionlessly. "An Ning, do you really like me?" He asked in a low voice, unable to suppress his anger. "Or rather, do you even understand what 'liking' someone feels like? Or is what you call liking just wishful possessiveness at work?" What you like—is it really Ji Jue, or a toy named Ji Jue? If someone else has something, then you must have it too. If you don't, you snatch it and make it yours. Like a cat that claims whatever pretty thing catches its eye. When the whim strikes, you play with it and fiddle with it. The rest of the time, you leave it aside, and even when you've forgotten about it, you won't let anyone else touch it. "I'm nobody's accessory, An Ning. I've never been your possession." Ji Jue told her word by word, "I don't like you." "..." In the brief silence, An Ning seemed stunned, her lips trembling slightly. She stared blankly. "How hateful, Brother Ji Jue... You make me sound like some bratty child..." Ji Jue didn't answer. His expression remained unchanged, completely unruffled. That expression, unmoved by anything... "I really hate you," An Ning said. "Mm." "I hate you to death!" An Ning raised her voice. "Mm." Ji Jue nodded. Drawing the blade, he plunged it into her sutured, shattered heart, all the way to the hilt. The slender bone blade vanished bizarrely. Yet that heart miraculously began to beat once again. Subconsciously, An Ning tried to struggle to her feet, but had no strength left. She could only watch helplessly as Ji Jue stood up and lifted her in his arms. Little Niuma's vehicle chassis collapsed and shifted once more, shedding numerous cumbersome parts to transform into battered armor. Just like that, Ji Jue placed her into the cockpit. Finally, he reached out, ruffled her hair as if in consolation, and told her: "It's fine if I die. You don't die." Snap! The cockpit hatch sealed shut. The armor reached out, hoisted Ji Jue onto its shoulder, and sprinted into the distance once more. Almost there. He calculated the distance and knew. Almost there! BOOM! At that moment, above Kunwu, in the pitch-black sky beyond the blood rain, earth-shaking thunder abruptly pealed. A colossal hand materialized from the starlight, blotting out the heavens and locking onto Ji Jue's position beneath the blood rain from afar... Without hesitation, it pressed down violently! Yet right after, it came to a screeching halt. It stopped dead in midair. Amidst the yellow sands of Longyuan outside Kunwu, the old man clutching the Celestial Craft staff whipped his head around to look behind him. At two figures that had appeared behind him at some unknown moment. Gender, features, age, height, build—two middle-aged men who looked as though stamped from the exact same mold, wearing identical curiosity and identical smiles. They were poking their heads out, snooping around. "How strange, old fossil," the man on the left asked. "Why'd you stop pressing down?" The man on the right asked, "Don't you like it?" The old man's expression shifted, his pupils contracting for an instant as he abruptly fell back, on full guard. "The Dual Fingers of the Wild Gathering... An Neng and An De?" "Please address people by their full names," the man on the left said, raising a hand to add, "An De Guang Sha Qian Wan Jian!" The man on the right puffed out his chest, held his head high, and introduced himself: "An Neng Cui Mei Zhe Yao Shi Quan Gui!" "..." For a split second, the old man's face twitched. He desperately wanted to curse. What a bunch of fucking lunatics! Was that old bastard of the House of An so terrified of someone taking his kids' names that it caused trouble? Every single name was longer and more unhinged than the last! "You people from the House of An truly are like haunting ghosts..." "Can't be helped," An De sighed. "When a kid goes out, uncles always have to keep an eye out so she doesn't get harmed." An Neng nodded. "Though it doesn't matter. We're not close to her anyway. Go ahead and do what you want." "Yeah, exactly." An De nodded too, looking like it was only natural. "Once she's dead, we'll avenge her." "Lyu Yingyue can barely save herself right now, and you're still jumping into stagnant water?" The old man's expression darkened further. The two remained nonchalant. An De said, "We take money to do a job, nothing shameful about it." An Neng also nodded. "We're just taking cash to help deal with anyone trying to meddle with the competition and flip the table. If you don't make a move, naturally we won't make a move either." "..." The old man fell silent for a moment, then said, "If your employer dies, the mission obviously can't be considered complete. Why don't we go our separate ways? You take your family's brat, and I only kill the craftsman." He paused, then warned, "Get it straight: if you leave her alone, the candidate Hunting Finger of your generation is going to die!" "Indeed." "Yeah, what a shame." An De and An Neng exchanged a glance, shrugged helplessly, and sighed loudly. "Family is family after all; we ought to love and care for each other. As uncles, we're elders, seeing this with our own eyes and feeling anxious in our hearts. Too bad anxiety doesn't help." "Her wolf—we're not allowed to snatch it." "Mhm, but if she dies, then naturally we're not snatching it from her!" "Right, exactly!" An De heartily agreed. Yet An Neng frowned, looking over. "Still, brothers or not, accounts must be kept clear. Who gets the wolf?" The two looked at each other and immediately broke into broad grins. "Then by the old rules—finders keepers!" Those two identical faces took turns speaking, tossing lines back and forth. Before blows had even been traded, the old man was already getting dizzy. His blood pressure surged uncontrollably. Motherfucking White Stag! Every single person in the House of An was sick in the head! Fucking deranged! From start to finish, not a shred of familial love existed in those two morons' brains. The seed of their next generation was on the brink of death, and they couldn't care less—all they were obsessed with was that wolf! More important than familial affection was the respect between hunters. Hunting Fingers were incompatible. At this moment, outside the wilderness, hunters waited—waiting for another hunter to return, or heading out to the hunting ground themselves. The raised dust would eventually settle. Victory and defeat grew steadily clear amidst the blood rain. "How strange... Not running anymore?" Aboard the galloping Bashe, the Wolf Sin's expression shifted slightly as it peered toward the rift valley amidst the distant mountains, where a battered suit of armor bathed quietly in the blood rain. And Ji Jue, sitting on a folding stool in the middle of the rain of blood. Expressionless, his head lowered as he tended to his wounds, methodical and smooth like servicing a machine. Quietly waiting. When he looked up and caught sight of the furious, hissing Bashe in the distance, he lifted his chin. "A good deal slower than I expected." Such contemptuous disdain—as though he were the one perched at the very pinnacle, with an arrogance and indifference taken for granted, mocking every challenge. Was it a reckless bluff, or the serene confidence of one who already held victory in his grasp? It was truly impossible to tell. Yet that unvarnished, icy gaze inexplicably made the Wolf Sin's hairs stand on end, stirring an instinctive dread. An aura of favor, even purer than its own, circulated amidst the corruption of the blood rain, coiling around Ji Jue. In the fleeting, eerie flash of lightning, the shadow behind him was illuminated. The shadow wavered and writhed—ravenous, grotesque, like a wolf! Another wolf?! No, he hadn't even undergone sin conversion, nor was he even a subordinate of the White Stag... This was clearly a fucking craftsman, yet now he seemed to be the beloved darling of all Great Sins in the mortal realm. A divine marrow of Great Sins—enough to drive countless sin-worshipers mad with jealousy—manifested from that wisp of spiritus whose essence had been unleashed. Then, unreservedly, it absorbed the taint within the blood rain to strengthen itself. When thunder crashed across the darkness once more, the fleeting glare of stark white light illuminated the spiritus circuits layered beneath his feet in breathtaking complexity. Quicksilver flowed, gleaming with metallic luster, rooting itself in the corruption taint like a living thing, growing on its own and radiating in all directions. Within them, emblems of Great Sins surfaced one after another, so distinct and exalted that it was as if they were projected into the mortal realm directly from beneath the Vortex! Compared to these, the holy emblems and totems circulated by the Evil Transmutation Cult were nothing more than non-burnable trash! And now, the essences of numerous Great Sins were gradually appearing, outlined beneath Ji Jue's feet. Once more, engraved into the mortal realm. "Counting the time, it should be about ready." Beneath the blood rain, Ji Jue murmured softly. Cocking his head, he glanced at the suspicious, wary Bashe, Wolf Sin, and Yue Chen in the distance, thoroughly bewildered. "I'm waiting on my cooldowns. What are you waiting for?" He raised his left hand. A crisp chime rang out from his palm. It echoed with crystal clarity through the sky of blood rain and wailing. —The Soul-Calling Bell!