The magnificent spear was like a pillar of heaven. Piercing the firmament, it stirred up layer upon layer of violent storms as it plunged toward the land and the ocean. Ripples visible to the naked eye spread from the peak of glowing-red crystal, wave after wave.
Its seemingly slow descent was merely an illusion born of comparison to its staggering scale. The instant one noticed it, it was already right before their eyes!
"Wen Wen!!!"
The three-headed serpent let out an enraged hiss. Six scarlet eyes lifted, staring fixatedly at the heaven-falling spear, piercing screeches continuously ringing between heaven and earth.
Revision after revision, rejection after rejection, alternation between illusion and reality time and time again—
Completely useless!
No matter how it denied and resisted its opponent's existence, every art of Ascension, Heart Pivot, or even Aether applied to it failed to negate this pure matter.
Matter was existence; the convergence of all matter in the world was the Desolate Ruins.
Within the purest matter lay the purest eternity.
There was no need for dreams and bubbles, nor any room for flukes or yearning. No hope, and no despair. The existence and demise of matter was the manifestation of eternity itself.
It never shifted according to the observer's preferences!
The clash between Ascension and the Desolate Ruins had already been decided before it even began!
Back at the Raw Stone tier, Wen Wen had already been a Desolate Ruins Heaven's Choice who touched the true marrow of the Dragon. When she completely unlocked the Lock and embraced this essence eroded by the Vortex, the eternal power of Minerva finally manifested through her hands.
At this moment, pure matter descended from the heavens, mercilessly puncturing all bubbles and shattering every dream, completely unshakeable as the power of the Huangliang Relic continuously eroded it!
BOOM!!!!
Amidst an earth-shattering roar, the glowing-red crystal spear bridged the distance between sky and earth, driving straight through the center of that Blood Eye hovering between illusion and reality, and through the ferocious three-headed serpent below, pinning them both dead to the earth.
Immediately afterward, countless crystals sprouted from the desolate island like a dazzling spectacle accumulated over hundreds of millions of years in a karst cavern. Crisscrossing, colossal crystals transformed into a forest, enveloping all of Punabantu within.
"Long time no see, trash."
Having descended from the heavens alongside the heaven-pillar spear, Wen Wen stepped atop the giant serpent's head, casting her eyes down in greeting. "After all these years, it's time to settle this once and for all."
"You think you've won? In your dreams!" the great serpent roared. "Delusional fool!"
The serpent writhed, raising all three heads high in defiance of the heavenly pillar spear's shackles. But immediately after, thunder rumbled in the distance, and the Hunting Finger's Flying Light came whistling forth!
An iron hammer, a giant battleaxe.
Empowered by the pinnacle of projectile arts, the fleeting Flying Light revealed a breathtaking, soul-stirring beauty—spring light fades swiftly, good days are all too brief.
Bitter Day.
The serpent shrieked in agony. One head exploded with a bang, while another was severed at the root; no matter how flesh and blood squirmed, it could not regenerate.
And right above the reared central head, the Dragonfire Spear stabbed down once more, holding nothing back in full force. In an instant,
it pierced the skull. Dragonfire billowed outward, absolute destruction surging and spouting from the flames, blanketing everything.
A lethal strike!
The sound of cracking rang out. The entire world seemed to rapidly collapse and crumble. As death spread, the three-headed serpent shrieked, and from within its shattered body, a deformed face emerged from the squirming flesh. Filled with resentment, it glared fixatedly at everyone present.
"Sink into the bubbles of paradise and struggle in your death throes to your hearts' content!"
The maimed snake head engulfed in raging flames lifted and opened its mouth, revealing an orb covered in cracks, and bit down violently!
*Crack—* The Huangliang Relic shattered completely!
An unstoppable illusory dream shot forth like a waterfall, surging and spreading. In an instant, it enveloped the entire sea, swallowing all.
Yet in that very moment, a tall, slender silhouette appeared before the expanding torrent.
Holding the Dragonfire Spear reversed in both hands, she thrust it violently down into the earth—
In an instant, an eternal wall rejecting all illusions and phantasms rose from the ground. Like a reef, it cleaved the tide of illusions down the middle, wedging open a narrow sliver of space.
Amidst the sound of shattering crystals, Wen Wen gritted her teeth and gave one final cry:
"Ji Jue!!!"
"Copy that."
Ji Jue hesitated no longer. He reached out toward the teetering tower ahead and clenched his fist tight—lock-on complete, spiritus channeling, Entropy-series energy-binding formula unfolding—
Amidst the screeching grind of steel, the Prosperity beneath his feet split open down the middle. Countless mechanisms rose from the darkness,
until finally, a colossal cannon barrel extended out from Ji Jue's workshop.
Emptying all spiritus reserves within the workshop and consuming countless materials to accomplish the final excitation and triggering, the entire hull flared glowing red in an instant, like the raging spread of hellfire.
Blazing light far exceeding a fusion bomb erupted from within!
Completed by combining the Fluid Alchemy of the Sage Quicksilver with the Engineering Alchemy inherited from the Ye clan—Masterwork: Tears of Isis!
Fire—!!!
For a moment, the entire world turned pure white. All things dimmed, stripped of color. Within the torrential surge of that vast, blazing light, everything shattered one after another like bubbles.
Only pure radiance surged forward, swallowing everything,
completely submerging that stunned face,
evaporating it to ash.
High in the heavens, an indifferent cold snort seemed to sound. Then, a rift abruptly appeared as boundless power surged,
but immediately after, that cold snort turned into an agonized roar.
A chuckling voice rang out, so familiar,
as if it had been waiting for a long time.
Suddenly, behind the barrier of thick clouds, some colossal entities seemed to collide, and then endless blood showered down like a tempest.
And in that very instant, the tower, the great serpent, the Blood Eye, the Huangliang Relic, and even Wen Sheng dissolved entirely within the blazing light,
evaporating into nothingness.
When the last wisp of blazing light faded, between the dead silent heaven and earth remained only the ravaged island and scorched earth everywhere.
As the sailors scrambled ashore, looking around and touching the sand, stones, and soil beneath their feet, they could no longer hold back their tears, shouting with elation:
"Warm lands! Warm lands!! Warm lands!!!"
Those Northern Realm men had tears in their eyes as they embraced one another, cheering and shouting with jubilant ecstasy, full of clamor.
But Ji Jue could no longer care about that.
Stepping across broken reefs, he walked toward the incinerated tower, searching hurriedly until he finally saw that lonely figure.
Like a bubble, in the very next moment, she seemed about to vanish.
Running away yet again.
When she turned her head and saw Ji Jue chasing after her, she seemed caught off guard, but soon, she seemed to understand something.
Once again, she smiled.
So dazzling.
"I somehow feel like I owe you once again, Ji Jue."
Wen Wen tilted her head and asked, "Got any booze?"
"Of course."
Ji Jue nodded firmly and laughed. "As long as you don't run off again, there's more than enough wine!"
And so, they drank until they dropped.
Cup after cup, the hearty drinking feast lasted into the next day. When Ji Jue opened his eyes again, he found that he was still holding her hand.
Waking from her sleep, Wen Wen opened her eyes. Seeing his dazed expression, she laughed and took the initiative to clasp his hand. "What, still afraid I'll run off?"
"Yeah..."
Ji Jue sighed softly, avoiding her gaze. "If you run away, where would I even look for you?"
Yet her hand lifted once more, compelling him to turn his head back and look at her. As she smiled, radiant sparks danced in her eyes.
"Then I won't leave,"
she said. "Let's go back together."
"Okay."
Looking into those eyes, Ji Jue slipped involuntarily into a daze,
forgetting where he was.
"Wake up."
Someone shook his shoulder. "Wake up, Ji Jue."
"Huh?"
Ji Jue woke as if from a dream. Snapping out of his stupor, he saw the familiar figure beside him.
"What's wrong?" Wen Wen asked in confusion. "Didn't sleep well last night?"
"No, just a little sleepy," Ji Jue answered with a smile. He looked at the reflection in the full-length mirror: the pure white gauze gown trailed on the floor, its studded crystals refracting a dazzling shimmer, so ethereal.
Yet it paled before her eyes.
As if flustered by his gaze, Wen Wen grew a bit self-conscious, her cheeks blushing slightly as she averted her eyes. "Does this dress suit me? I've never worn one before..."
"It suits you. It suits you wonderfully,"
Ji Jue replied firmly. Admiring her shy demeanor, he murmured in disbelief, "It feels just like a dream."
"Is it a sweet dream?"
"Yeah. Just like a sweet dream."
Ji Jue reached out and held her slender waist, admiring the intimate reflection of the two of them in the mirror. "Perhaps right here and now, I really am inside a dream."
At that, Wen Wen smiled again. Hugging him, she leaned close. Her soft lips, despite having no adornment or cosmetics, carried a translucent glimmer, her breath gentle.
Feeling that fullness that had never once existed in his dreams, Ji Jue froze where he stood. After a long silence, he gave a self-deprecating laugh. "If only this weren't a dream."
*Had I truly harbored such greedy desires in my heart all along?*
He cupped Wen Wen's chin and leaned in without hesitation, savoring that dreamlike sweetness.
*Snap!*
The sound of shattering rang out.
With a burst and shockwave of spiritus, Ji Jue's vision abruptly went dark, but everything from just now dissipated in an instant like bubbles.
He opened his eyes once more.
He saw the demonic domain right before him. Punabantu was still shrouded in phantasms and mist, completely unchanged.
Nothing had even begun.
*Had I already fallen into it from the very start?*
Ji Jue sighed in realization.
Yet the moment he woke from the dream, the serpent's hiss and roar echoed from the deepest part of the desolate island,
sounding almost incredulous.
"Decent plot, but a shame you crammed in too many cliches and butchered the characterization," Ji Jue remarked regretfully. "Still needs work."
BOOM!!!
Amidst piercing shrieks, spiritus fluctuations erupted, violently jolting awake one consciousness after another immersed in dreams. At the same time, the fusion bomb descended from the sky,
violently delivering blazing light and ruin.
Amidst raging air currents, battle reignited.
Soon, as the Tears of Isis fired once more, the tower snapped at the waist again, burning to ash. And beneath the giant quicksilver halo now dominating the vault of heaven, countless sharp blades hung suspended, plunging downward like a tempest to pin the giant serpent to the earth.
Until the very last moment, the serpent's remaining single eye still stared at him in disbelief.
"How could this be—you—"
*Slash!*
The blade cleaved down, severing it in two. Blood gushed forth like a waterfall, surging wildly.
Right behind Ji Jue, cheers erupted once again. Smiling faces brimmed with joy and delight, dancing with hands and feet to celebrate the future that was about to take root on this warm land.
Yet amidst the rejoicing, Ji Jue slipped into a daze once more.
*How is that possible?*
*Yeah, how could it be?*
*Everything went so smoothly. Every development unfolded entirely within my expectations. Even the mastermind behind the scenes was heavily wounded by that old dog Tianlu and fled.*
*Clean, crisp, completely natural. The Huangliang Relic was secured without a hitch—from now on, it was his!*
*But...*
*When has my luck ever been this good?!*
*Where's Sister Wen?*
*Where did Wen Wen go?*
He raised his hand. The Non-Offensive matrix circulated and extended, pressing against his forehead as he began scanning his brain lobes, memories, and soul inch by inch,
carefully recalling every detail to verify the reality before his eyes.
*Come to think of it—how was I able to lock onto this location? Ah, right, that's it. Spiritus. I left a spiritus beacon on them.*
*What did I use again?*
*A bullet.*
Subconsciously, he drew the pistol at his waist that had accompanied him for so many years. Every single scratch on it was so familiar—
The first Masterwork he had ever crafted.
Combined with Engineering Alchemy, it could consume his soul to fire spiritus bullets capable of independent thought and adaptation.
And Puri—purification of what again? Purification, right, the Purification and Animation of Fluid Alchemy.
And Engineering Alchemy played an indispensable role; after pouring so much effort into the Entropy branch, he finally produced a fusion bomb infinitely close to the original's effect.
*Wait, did I really conduct so much research in the Entropy branch? Although the scenes in my memory feel so vivid, the impressions are beginning to blur.*
*Wait, Engineering Alchemy?*
*Engineering?*
*Why would a concept that only appeared in the modern era be contained within the Ye clan's thousand-year legacy? Did similar seeds already sprout back in the era of the Eternal Empire?*
*No, there's more...*
*What else is there?*
Ji Jue racked his brain, subconsciously rubbing his left wrist, only for his movement to stiffen again.
His hand grasped empty air.
He looked down at his wrist, feeling an empty void there.
Like... he had lost something?
Just what was it?
Soon, those trivial doubts found their answers amidst memory and reasoning. Reconciling past and present, everything pieced together seamlessly.
Besides, ever since entering this place, his consciousness had never shown any sign of wavering or loss of control.
*Just scaring myself.*
Ji Jue laughed self-deprecatingly and shook his head with a sigh. *No wonder Heart Pivot has such a terrible reputation. Cross paths with it once, and you feel disgusted for years. Better not let me catch you in the future!*
Just like that, he walked toward the joyful crowd.
After being busy for so long, in this rare moment of triumph, one ought to unwind. As for other matters—leave them for tomorrow!
And so, laughing heartily, he raised a glass and joined the feast,
relishing the present.
Yet why did he feel so uneasy?
Uneasy.
"Wake up, Ji Jue."
Someone seemed to whisper in his ear, repeating his name. "Wake up!"
Ji Jue opened his eyes from a nightmare.
Outside the window, heavy rain poured down incessantly, drumming against the glass.
He was drenched in sweat.
"Isis, what time is it?"
"Four o'clock, Master. You rested for three hours," the workshop spirit replied. "You have not had proper rest for two consecutive months. It is recommended that you at least catch up on your sleep."
"Sleep? I'll sleep when I'm dead—for as long as I want."
Ji Jue climbed up and rubbed his face, feeling rough stubble. His hair was a tangled mess; the man in the mirror looked like a beggar, his eyes bloodshot.
Yet he didn't care at all, resuming his research.
"Master, news has arrived from the Association—Masterwork Mithra, which you crafted half a year ago, set a brand-new record at the Tianshu auction today.
Mr. Gustav notifies you that you have been included in the latest Grandmaster evaluation roster—"
"Shut up."
Ji Jue waved his hand impatiently.
*People actually bought that piece of trash? Are they insane? When it comes down to it, if something so mediocre can be rated as a Masterwork, the Association's eyes must be blind.*
*Grandmaster evaluation?*
*Me?*
*Has Gustav lost his mind?!*
Ji Jue looked down at the messy manuscripts on the desk, and then at the records and ancient texts filling the bookshelves behind him. He only felt his chest tighten into an involuntary spasm.
Unable to breathe.
The unease of the past sprouted within his chest, gradually morphing into terror.
It was like... running in place.
The humiliation of being slowly left behind by everyone, the wandering despair of lagging behind, the fury of stagnation—how long had it been since he learned something new?!
It had already been so long. Why were there still no new theories emerging? Why wasn't his teacher teaching him new theories anymore?
Why couldn't he snatch new secret teachings?
Why—could he not move forward!
At most, he was merely repeating past theories over and over. Just because he ran in place with a bit more grace, he was actually treated as a master?
Was that it?
Not enough! Not nearly fucking enough!!!
Had his talent truly run dry?
It couldn't be just this!
There had to be a path ahead, but where was that path...?
Who took it away?
BOOM!!!
Ji Jue clutched his forehead, feeling a deafening auditory hallucination. In the sky above, thunder rumbled incessantly.
In the prolonged, dead silence, he opened his eyes once more.
Having made up his mind,
he said, "Isis, prepare the work area."
"Understood,"
Isis's voice rang out. "Preparing... preparation complete, Master. The crucible has finished preheating; you may begin alchemy at any time."
"I don't need a crucible, nor do I need alchemy."
Ji Jue walked to the dissection table. After taking over all controls, he finally drew the Mercy bone blade, aimed it at his own head, and plunged it in decisively!
*Since I can't figure it out, then let's tear it completely apart and see!*
Blood flowed, spurting from the wound, then halting in place. Under the control of the Non-Offensive hand, his cranium was opened with ease.
Ji Jue stared at the brain lobes reflected in the mirror. His fingers swept across inch by inch, analyzing meticulously. Finding no trace of abnormality, he went deeper still—the bone blade cleaved decisively.
Beginning slicing.
Soon, the brain tissue screening was finished and reassembled. Controlling the mechanical arm, Ji Jue sliced open his chest, exposing bones and the beating heart within.
Heart examination complete, functions normal; beginning screening of other internal organs.
Just like that, from head to toe.
Immediately after, his soul manifested. A sharp quicksilver blade gleamed with faint light, dissecting the matrix, stripping away the blessings, and meticulously inspecting every strand of spiritus.
The lengthy examination went on for who knew how long,
until even the agony went numb.
Finally, a conclusion was reached.
Thinking normal, consciousness normal, perception normal, no misalignment, no distortion. Flesh, brain, blessings, matrix, soul—
all normal.
Everything was like absolute truth, without a single flaw.
*Perhaps I'm just jumping at shadows?*
*Could it be that you're the only normal one? Didn't that old fossil Tianlu monitor the whole process? Surely even he wouldn't misjudge?*
*Perhaps he's just too tired, his nerves strung too taut, needing a bit of time to rest, needing to unwind with friends. Drink some booze, sleep a while, spend a few days watching variety shows with that lazy senior.*
*Perhaps he really does have a problem.*
*Or perhaps—there remains only one single possibility.*
"The one with the problem isn't me at all."
Ji Jue raised his head, looking out the window at everything engulfed by the storm, and delivered his definitive conclusion:
"—From the very beginning, this world has been fake!"
*Crack!*
A faint sound of shattering seemed to ring out.
In a daze, at the deepest depths of his soul, a faint, bubble-like emblem silently surfaced for a fleeting instant, then vanished without a trace.
He still slept within this self-spun cocoon—beyond the bubble lay yet another bubble; beyond the dream lay yet another dream.
At this moment, Punabantu.
Within the mutated demonic realm, there was no fleet, no dragon skeletons, no outsiders whatsoever.
There were only endless mists surging like the tide.
Rotting corpses drifted and bobbed in the sea, rising and falling, singing as they swayed toward the barren island in an endless stream. The souls and consciousnesses of countless dream-loss syndrome sufferers drifted over, answering the call.
From those dead souls, magnificent butterflies unfurled their wings, rising and dancing, fluttering over the desolate island and reefs.
On the desolate island, at the center of the ruined city, that tower was no longer recognizable. Twisted branches resembling skeletal remains extended from it, turning it into a withered, hideous colossal tree.
Countless roots spread out from the desolate island, winding around the converging corpses, greedily siphoning souls and dreams without end.
A colossal black serpent coiled upon the giant tree, its flesh squirming silently, gradually merging into one with the tree.
The Relic of Huangliang had long since awakened.
The Paradise of Myriad Phenomena of days past had manifested once more in the mortal realm, greedily and ravenously gathering every dream and delusion, reconstructing anew.
And beneath the tree roots, within one crystal-clear, bubble-like dream after another, who knew how many oblivious souls were submerged, unable to free themselves.
In this endless, prolonged night, the boundless dream had already begun!
High in the heavens, Wen Zheng quietly looked down upon all of this, still smiling.
What a splendid view.
Chapter 495