No sound could be heard by mortal ears; no ripples could be discerned by mortal eyes.
Only an earth-shattering roar surfaced from consciousness, akin to the clatter of gongs and drums, as a raging tide of blood erupted out of nowhere within the soul's perception, surging from the ground to swallow everything!
"You son of a—"
Having just torn through the cabin and shot into the sky, the Colonel felt as if a bomb had detonated right against his face—no, right inside his very skull!
Before he could even finish cursing, his vision went black, and he plummeted once more.
Too much. Far too much.
He had already been stuffed to the brim!
He could hardly swallow another bite...
Bitter hatred, despair, torment, suffering, jealousy, desire, hunger, madness—though the wilderness was desolate and possessed nothing, the venom within the human heart was like weeds and chives, endless in growth, inexhaustible in cutting, an infinite harvest!
To a thrifty, family-minded craftsman like Ji Jue who cherished remolding people, it was practically a fertile treasure trove!
In just a few short months, while the eight workshops in the underground plant churned out infinite creations day and night, they had also provided Ji Jue with an unbroken stream of poisonous hearts and malicious thoughts.
The intent to kill, despair, envy, and hatred emanating from that spiritus had been gathered drop by drop by Ji Jue. After repeated purifications and meticulous distillation, it had all been channeled into the Poison Heart ring for catalysis.
He wasn't sure if he had squeezed them too hard, but the beasts of burden currently turning their lives around on the assembly line were now completely drained dry.
Every day they moved like walking corpses, expressions vacant, eyes glassy, working numbly, even chanting along with the broadcast in their dreams: 'I am guilty,' 'I have harmed the world,' 'I let down my parents,' 'I failed all living beings'...
It could be considered an unconventional completion of reform, with delightful progress! A bit more polishing, and they would be ready to reintegrate into society!
By now, the gemstone on Ji Jue's ring, originally crimson, had at some point turned into a multicolored pitch-black, capturing the essence of both Weiyang and the Abyssal Void!
Validated and blessed by Great Sins, it had long since become an unadulterated corrupted creation.
What a pity that the foundation of corruption alchemy couldn't be exposed. Otherwise, based on the technology alone, turning it into a paper would have earned him yet another Golden Ribbon!
Still, it didn't matter. Master Ji was indifferent to fame and fortune, broad-minded and forgiving. Naturally, he didn't care about mere vanity, nor did he care about... well, someone cursing him.
And so, Ji Jue reached out and pointed once more!
Midair, before he even had time to land, the Colonel shuddered again—a mighty deluge of a raging blood sea and ten thousand howling souls erupted once more!
Boom!!!
Malicious thoughts and venomous intent surged like a tide, blasting outward.
The sound of shattering echoed incessantly. Inside the cabin, the Celestial Chosen who had just struggled to their feet had no time to look up before warmly welcoming the Great Sin. Battered by the torrential influx, blood seeped from all their facial orifices on the spot, and their souls fractured.
That was merely the aftershock.
Under the precise aim and guidance of the Hand of Isis, seventy percent of the impact was absorbed entirely by the Colonel.
It was as though a Heart Pivot Celestial Chosen had detonated in his face. Guided by the quicksilver, the dirty-bomb edition of the spiritus shockwave—blended with Great Sin pollution and all kinds of potent ingredients—surged back and forth, swelling repeatedly.
After months of pondering, Ji Jue had long since upgraded his method of application, tailoring a silky-smooth combo specifically designed around the structure of the Poison Heart ring!
Across such a vast distance, violent waves of spiritus could still be felt constantly detonating, eerily converging, and then erupting once more.
Before the spreading ripples could disperse, they were absorbed by the quicksilver scattered in all directions. Under the confinement of Solid Alchemy, they reconverged, circulated, and followed thousands of quicksilver threads back into the Poison Heart ring. After being integrated anew, they spewed forth once more!
Though much was lost and it could hardly be sustained for long, an eruption that originally could only last once now surged back and forth like the tides. In mere moments, visible fractures rapidly appeared across the ring's band. Overloaded with spiritus and suffering material wear, it was already strained to its limits.
Still, it didn't matter. As long as the core blessing remained intact, Fluid Alchemy could be used to repair and maintain it at any time.
A little wear and tear wasn't worth mentioning.
"..."
Isis, who had been silently providing support throughout, could hardly bear it any longer. "I must say, this move of yours is rather disgusting."
A full cycle of eruption and reclamation was practically like vomiting in someone's face, catching the vomit to eat it back down, and then throwing it up all over again... Especially when Ji Jue got into the zone and started improvising, using Non-Offensive to guide and manipulate that contaminated spiritus while mixing in shocks from the Dissociation Art. The sheer wickedness had reached unprecedented heights!
"What's disgusting about it? Look how happily he's howling!"
After splashing filth in someone's face and giving it a vigorous stir, Ji Jue felt thoroughly refreshed. Looking back at the Colonel, who had crashed onto the cabin structure and was twitching uncontrollably, his head had already grown 'twice as big.'
Well, it truly was twice as big—perhaps even two and a half times. In just a few seconds, by the time Ji Jue had completely exhausted the accumulation within the Poison Heart ring, the man had literally turned into a bobblehead.
Viscous threads of blood seeped from his nose and mouth, mixed with drool.
His mouth was twisted, his eyes were crooked, and his cranial pressure was off the charts.
Across his face, swollen to a bruised purplish hue, black veins bulged to their absolute limit, as if the slightest poke would cause it to burst like a balloon.
Yet, astonishingly, he wasn't dead!
After taking several direct waves of impact from the Poison Heart ring, his blessings were dim and unstable, and his soul and matrix were on the verge of complete collapse, yet his ferocity remained unabated.
The balloon-like, swollen head struggled to lift, glaring fixedly at Ji Jue in the distance.
His eyeballs, bulging almost entirely out of their sockets, were filled with bloodshot veins and murderous intent.
Growing ever more frantic!
Ji Jue couldn't help but frown... Swarm bastards really were hard to kill!
Desolate Ruins was hard to kill because their armor was too thick, but these bastards just regenerated too fast! Furthermore, their tricks for sustaining battle through battle and using opponents and allies alike as blood bags were too numerous to count.
Strike while the enemy is down. Ji Jue wasn't kind enough to grant a magical girl time to transform. With a flick of his finger, a colossal roar erupted from Prosperity.
A translucent, corrupted bullet tore through the air!
Yet even having lost consciousness, the Colonel instinctively squirmed his body, dodging by a hair's breadth each time. Even when he couldn't dodge, he would raise a limb, sacrificing flesh to block the bullet.
It was as if he were using cheats...
Goddamn Anticipate the Enemy!
Can you Swarm bastards not play the game without these few blessings?!
Amidst his wretched twitching and dodging, the Colonel's right arm and left leg were blown apart by bullets. Yet the instinctive, sleep-talk-like murmur never ceased, his lips struggling to open and close.
"With... with my... pain... I... offer..." That dying body, no different from a walking corpse, whispered hollowly: "Offer unto... the Lord... the Lord of... Scars!"
Boom!!!
Bloodlight erupted, bursting with immense power and spreading outward, instantly swallowing him whole.
Within the flame-like crimson glow, curved horns grew from his skull, sparks spitting from his mouth, and overlapping black scales rolled out from his flesh.
Regeneration form, revealed!
The Colonel, who had been on his last breath just moments before, was fully restored and revived!
Sensing the bizarre aura circulating within that bloodlight and demonic physique, Ji Jue's brows furrowed.
Trouble. This one had sworn fealty to a big brother...
Legacy Burnt Offering!
In the way of warfare, there were only sacrifices and arms.
This essence was the same whether for Swarm or Frenzied Slaughter, Virtues or Great Sins—sacrifice had always been one with struggle. Without sacrifice and cost, there could be no results or victory!
This was the legacy and essence unique to the path of Swarm, and it was also what made high-tier Swarm Celestial Chosen the most troublesome: the Swarm was one, undivided, able to summon backup anytime, anywhere!
Through secretive legacies and secret rites, a Swarm Celestial Chosen could commune with the spirituality and power left behind by predecessors within the Virtues, thereby anchoring a specific 'sacrificial lord.'
Put simply, it was recognizing a big brother, acknowledging a godfather.
*Drifting half my life without meeting an enlightened lord, if my lord does not forsake me, I wish to take you as my foster father... Henceforth, your son shall follow you, braving fire and boiling water without hesitation...*
Once the sacrificial lord was anchored, through sacrifice and offering, the Celestial-Human legacy returning to the Virtues would descend once more with blessings and power through resonance!
The art of blood sacrifice had originated from this.
In the eyes of these bastards, practically anything could be sacrificed: from clipped fingernails and grime scraped from their feet, to beloved relatives and sworn brothers, even the lives and souls of their enemies...
As for the cost and effect, it depended entirely on how ruthless the chosen big brother was with his demands, and how generous he was with his rewards.
Take Old Tom, who had once served as a Swarm favored one. His abilities were naturally and highly attuned to the Legacy Burnt Offering. Carrying his ancestors around with him, they would beat people up on demand as long as he paid, and if he fell short, they'd even offer a discount... A true 'birth-father-tier escort' and 'biological-son-tier treatment.'
Though the man himself was somewhat underwhelming, the gold standard of his capabilities was beyond question!
If word of this got out, countless Swarm members would be green with envy.
Ji Jue had no idea where the 'Lord of Scars' the Colonel spoke of had come from as a bargain foster father. Given the chaotic situation and tangled legacies among the Thousand Islands over the centuries, with endless slaughter and countless dead, who knew which dead Swarm Celestial-Human it was? It might even be a Great Sin of Frenzied Slaughter; otherwise, how could this bastard have such high resistance to corruption?!
Of the Twelve Virtues, only you goddamn Swarm are so hopelessly entangled with the Great Sins that the two can barely be told apart.
Now, even without thinking, Ji Jue could tell that the figure was no benevolent patron: having sacrificed all his wounds and scars, the fully restored Colonel's aura visibly plummeted by a massive margin. He was on the verge of falling out of the Regeneration tier, barely able to maintain his Regeneration form!
Under the insight of the Mirror of Contained Forms, every change was laid bare—he had lost one of his blessings!
He had dropped a level out of thin air?!
The sacrificial lord had accepted the offering and, at the same time, handed down a trial.
Unless he exterminated the enemy before him and offered their spirit, soul, and life to wipe away the disgrace, there was no possibility of the blessing being returned!
The moment he realized the price, the Colonel flew into a rage once more. Having fought life-and-death battles across the Thousand Islands for so many years, when had he ever suffered such devastating injuries, or paid such an enormous price?
To recoup his losses, there was no retreat whatsoever.
At this moment, only one thing remained: kill or be killed!
Chapter 410