Awakening and Realization

Lucid dreaming. Almost everyone has experienced it at some point, haven't they? The moment you find yourself inside a dream, an abrupt realization of your situation dawns on you—and in that fleeting gap between dreaming and waking, you indulge in the precious thrill of Creative Mode. Whether altering celestial phenomena, soaring free of gravity, bringing about cataclysmic ruin, or even indulging in things far more unspeakable, everything becomes effortless—even if a missing critical file easily causes the dream to glitch, either startling you awake or freezing the world in place... The essence of so-called Awakening was precisely this kind of power. Unlike the mundane world, this was a realm where the Primacy of Mind held absolute sway! Admittedly, this Realm of Huangliang was formed from the convergence of countless illusions and dreams, but since that was the case, a portion of it inevitably belonged to oneself! Only, unlike the frail, easily derailed interference of an ordinary lucid dream, the determination and willpower it demanded were vastly more extreme and exacting. One needed a resolve unyielding enough to rival all the collective desires swirling within this grand illusion; a conviction steadfast enough not to waver even a fraction against the established logic of this phantom realm; and an obstinate, immutable sense of self that would never be swayed by outside influences! Only then could one's will overpower all other consciousnesses, using one's own dream to erode the dream of Huangliang—wielding it as both foundation and tool to forcefully wrench and distort this dream-woven world! Without question, everything unfolding in Ji Jue's hands right now was proof of Awakening! And yet... The Hand? "Non-Offensive?" Watching from the side, the old man murmured softly, a faint gleam stirring in his clouded eyes. No, it wasn't just Non-Offensive's barehanded refinement—it carried traces of Fluid Alchemy too? Hm, and Ye Xian's signature spiritus refinement... Had he already mastered even that? In the heat of the moment, aside from these glaring traits, he couldn't distinguish the other nuances—because countless other crafts had long since been seamlessly blended and mastered! Through day after day of relentless grinding and refinement, they had become instincts etched into the depths of his soul, naturally and effortlessly eroding reality along with his state of Awakening! Unlike the others, few people alive understood the terrifying nature of this power better than Bao Dachai, one of the world's few surviving Mohists. It offered neither destructive force nor defensive resilience, nor did it ever need to pursue such trivialities. 'Ten fingers on two hands, reshaping all myriad phenomena.' In other words, the moment the myriad phenomena of the world fell into those palms and between those fingers, they were destined to become raw materials, ripe for recreation! Like right now... *Snap!* When the monster that Lu Ting had transformed into lunged directly toward Ji Jue's palms, the material had effectively jumped onto the workbench of its own accord, seasoned itself, and thrown itself into the crucible. "Let's see what your limit is," Ji Jue whispered his farewell. The five fingers of his spiritus hand slowly contracted. In a split second, a howling roar tore through the air accompanied by violent convulsions. Tangible crimson flames erupted from the monster's snout, mouth, and flesh! A relentless chorus of shattering and collapsing resonated. Blood turned to fire, the carcass became a crucible, and in this act of spontaneous creation—braising the beast in its own juices—the crisp chimes of multiplying steel rang out from the flames. The massive monster warped at a speed visible to the naked eye... Under the stunned gazes of the survivors, an insurmountable angel, an aberrant monstrosity, was kneaded and reshaped like modeling clay, shifting its form without restraint... Amid the chaotic crowd, the uninjured attacker froze, terror instantly gripping his spine. No, he couldn't hesitate any longer. Flesh tore open violently. Or rather, he sloughed off his human outer shell, revealing his true nature. Unlike a second-rate product like Lu Ting, who had merely been implanted with a Seed of Ascension in the Realm of Ultimate Bliss, he was an angel modified from infancy, bathed in the radiant glow of divine grace! His massive frame ballooned abruptly. A grotesque form perched upon a wheel was covered in eyes and wings. As the wheel spun, violent shockwaves rippled outward, sending gravity churning into turbulence. Instantly, an earth-shattering explosion erupted once more, crushing countless survivors to pulp. Right beside him, another comrade transformed, turning into a towering golden tree dozens, if not hundreds, of meters tall. Piercing the heavens and the earth, it slammed against the invisible ceiling above. Countless boughs and branches spread wide. The wheel-shaped angel roared at the top of its lungs. Fierce light surfaced in its myriad eyes before bursting forth! It locked straight onto Ji Jue, who was engrossed in his forging. Unfortunately, it collided head-on with Wen Wen, who was fuming with pent-up rage and had nowhere to vent... A figure tore through the air in an instant. She was right in front of it. Countless pupils contracted in terror, each reflecting her attractive face, the smile born of incandescent fury, and the clenched fist rocketing toward it! "One after another, you bastards really think I'm invisible?!" *Boom!* In a flash, the wheel angel was blasted backward. Its building-sized frame was hurled into the air against its will, and a gaping hole was punched straight through its bulk, flanked by exaggerated fractures spiderwebbing outward. Countless rays of blazing light cascaded over her like a torrential downpour, yet bounced off just as easily. Aside from a few fresh holes in her clothes, she was completely unscathed! What in the world... was that monster of a woman?! Before it could process its shock, the distant figure was right in its face once more! Innumerable eyes shrank in horror as it shrieked at the top of its lungs, begging for assistance. Ten thousand rays of golden light cascaded from the heavens. The specialized angel that had turned into the giant golden tree lashed out, surging forward with a deluge of razor-sharp branches and roots like an incoming tide. At the same time, Ji Jue's voice rang out. "Sister Wen, use this." "It packs more punch," he said. From his hands, a grotesque creation shrouded in bloodlight cleaved through the air. Accelerated by steel and empowered by the Non-Offensive hand, it whistled through the sky like a thunderbolt, flying with unerring precision. It landed right in Wen Wen's backward-stretched hand without her even needing to look. A perfect fit. Immediately after— The sound of bursting bubbles echoed. A straight beam of metallic gleam surged forth through the void, piercing clean ahead. A piercing shriek rang out from Wen Wen's grasp—an unending wail carried on an eerie cadence, resembling a holy hymn. A spear. A great spear over several meters long appeared in Wen Wen's hands. The blood-red shaft was adorned with golden radiance and totems, forged from a grotesque yet majestic amalgamation of angel bone and angel halo. The spearhead, tempered from soul and consciousness, seemed to slice through the void with the barest swing, carving a pitch-black wake across the dreamscape. One glance was all it took to know that this was an extraordinary divine weapon! The only fly in the ointment was... Instead of a red tassel adorning the socket beneath the spearhead, there was a contorted, howling face screaming and writhing in endless agony. Faintly, one could still discern Lu Ting's features. Wen Wen's eyelid twitched once, then twice. She couldn't resist asking, "Has anyone ever told you that your taste and aesthetics are absolute garbage?" "Completely normal. I studied engineering," Ji Jue replied with an unbothered smile. Accompanying his words, a shattering roar finally resounded from the giant golden tree. Innumerable branches and roots disintegrated, severed clean at the waist... A mere casual swing of the spear had cleaved through every defense like a hot knife through wax, while the jet of spiritus bursting from it sheared the angel's trunk in two. Blood erupted from the severed trunk like a waterfall. Then, like strips of red silk, it was caught and hauled in by Ji Jue for immediate recycling—these were high-grade materials of types he had never seen before; how could he not study them first? Watching this made Wen Wen seethe with exasperation—what kind of goddamn time was this to be fussing over his damn alchemy! Then, she realized... Why hadn't the enemy made a single peep for so long? She took a look. Oh, it seemed... kind of dead. Wait, *dead?!* The moment she registered the reality, Wen Wen froze. What followed was a thrill of excitement she hadn't felt in an eternity. The giant tree angel cut in half was collapsing rapidly. Its severed remnants writhed in futile struggle, unable to mend themselves. Instead, at a rate visible to the eye, it was... dissolving?! In the dead silence, Wen Wen looked down at the grotesque spear in her hand, then looked up at the surviving wheel angel. She couldn't help grinning with pure delight. The wheel trembled in a daze, instinctively trying to chant hymns, yet powerless to quell the panic and confusion flooding its core. It screeched shrilly, calling for help again and again. *Boom!* The building-sized wheel was launched into the air once more. Its eyes burst one by one beneath the brutal slashes of the spearhead, its massive body shattering at visible speed. It was an outright slaughter unfolding right before everyone's eyes. And finally, when the spearhead thrust forward, about to deliver absolute annihilation, it halted abruptly. All because of a voice calling from behind. "Don't be in a rush to vent, Sister Wen," Ji Jue reminded her. "Keep it alive!" Wen Wen froze mid-motion, her face falling as she clicked her tongue. It wasn't annoyance at being stopped, but sheer helplessness in the face of this bastard's incorrigible nature. As for venting her anger—heh, no matter how furious she was, handing this thing over alive to his hands would be more than enough vengeance... If one truly wanted to show mercy, giving it a quick death would be far kinder! Now that her senses returned, she looked across the devastated settlement. Her buoyant mood plummeted, giving way to a heavy sigh. After such chaos, not even one in ten survivors remained. Wen Wen gritted her teeth in fury, gripping the spear shaft until it cracked and groaned, paying no heed to the face's agonizing screams. *You goddamn bastard, you truly deserve to die!* "Oho, truly ingenious." Amidst the devastation, Bao Dachai crouched by the melting golden tree, marveling and clicking his tongue as he watched the wreckage reduce to ashes. He reached out, casually dabbed a bit onto his finger, and popped it into his mouth without the slightest hesitation. His eyes lit up. What exquisite spiritus catalysis! So that was it... The rumors said something had killed an angel—could it have been 'poison' all along? The bullet had merely been the delivery vehicle. Taking intense agony, resentment, or other emotions as a foundation, infusing them into spiritus for catalysis, and then—like a blow to the head or a sudden enlightenment—injecting that resultant state straight into the angel's consciousness. What it brought was not mere injury, but 'realization.' And what was that realization? Mm, such pure residue of nothingness... Without a doubt, it was [Death].