Well Done!

Even within an association teeming with talent as thick as hemp, this master had been notorious for his sheer unorthodoxy. How to put it? He had never seemed to touch banned research or forbidden fruits, yet with his ingenious boundary-skating and wildly controversial side-stepping, he had vastly expanded the workload of the Association's review board—even driving the continuous refinement of the Association's internal codes and regulations... Every single thing he made seemed off, yet if anyone tried to pinpoint exactly what was wrong, they couldn't find the words. It was like a seductive vixen clad in scant scraps of cloth, brazenly flaunting herself right under the censor's nose... They wanted nothing more than to put an end to him, yet they had neither pretext nor opportunity... He pushed the envelope so often that he became a thorn in the side of the Absolute Sentence squad. They watched him like hawks, waiting for him to stir up a mess so they could build an ironclad case and lock him away for good. Yet he never gave the Absolute Sentence squad the chance. Before they could, he issued a public statement and resigned from the Association altogether. He was completely expunged from the Ring of Taiyi, his title of master was revoked, and he vanished without a trace. Over the years, some claimed he had fallen into the Profound; others said he had suffered the Association's Absolute Sentence and was locked in a dungeon; still others claimed he had joined Nirvana... In short, a master—and one specializing in Heart Pivot, Mirror, and Aether—god only knew what kind of chaos such a person could stir up in the Divine Kingdom. Several previous thefts of sacred relics had been linked to him, but the man was as slippery as an eel, leaving no trace behind. Multiple ambushes had come up empty, leaving even the Saints spun around in circles. "And now, this man is clearly mixed up with Ji Jue!" Guangwen pointed at the old codger's face in the photograph and said solemnly, "Think about it, everyone. Just Fluid Alchemy and Tale Alchemy alone, plus whatever miscellaneous forbidden research the two of them hold in their hands—heaven only knows what monstrosity they could produce! "The corrupted sacred seals are nothing more than testing the waters. "Not to mention the addition of Eld... *cough*, a certain lady who barged into the Dream of Huangliang. Now they have brains, technology, and muscle—not lacking a single one of the three. Going forward, things will only become more troublesome... "Besides, did you really think this poison was simple?" He pointed toward the display case. "It's only been a few minutes. Why don't you take a look?" Dead silence. Amid the dead silence, countless squirming hyphae inside the cabinet had reshaped themselves at some point into a grotesque figure. It looked like an image generated by low-grade AI—passable at first glance, but profoundly wrong the longer one looked: far too many fingers, an unspeakably bizarre anatomy, sexual characteristics shifting incessantly between male and female, and an ever-shifting face. At that moment, he—no, it—pressed against the thick glass, peering out at the figures in the hall with curious eyes, its face shifting continuously amid the writhing fungal threads. One could vaguely discern the features of everyone present, morphing constantly until finally, when several faces were pieced together, they formed an eerie harmony. It looked like a person. A newly created human. Absurd though it sounded, when such a scene appeared before their eyes, everyone could feel a faint chill seeping from that utterly emotionless face and those hollow pupils. "What on earth is this?" The Pope's expression grew increasingly grim. "There is neither life nor death within the Divine Kingdom. How could it mutate to such an extent...?" "Precisely because there is neither life nor death within the Divine Kingdom, it can mutate to this degree. It is a weapon tailored specifically for us." Guangwen gave a cold laugh. "This poison is essentially a self-replicating parasitic spirit. It is the result of breeding and purifying through generation after generation, combining Chaosheng's specialty of spiritus refinement with Tale Alchemy. "Its individual units are exceedingly minute, almost identical to bacteria. The moment it contacts spiritus, it multiplies exponentially. And because things possessing spirituality cannot truly die in the Dream of Huangliang, it only escalates. "Within a few hours, all of the victim's consciousness and emotion are entirely devoured by it, leaving behind an empty shell. At the same time, the mass-replicating spirit poison sustains the host's consciousness in reverse. Because it has absorbed so much emotion and awareness, the host might not even realize they are infected. "Yet the moment they encounter another living being, the infected individual—now turned into a hive—will violently burst. These fungal threads will drift outward like pollen, initiating a new wave of infection. "If used on a large scale, it is entirely foreseeable that unless Tiancheng produces a targeted countermeasure, within a month, not a single believer will be left in this world to provide faith..." Before anyone could react, Guangwen struck with another heavy blow: "Furthermore, according to observations from the Celestial Eye Hall, the Rabbit Hole has been activated more than eight times in recent days. Each time, a vast quantity of materiel was hauled outside. Care to guess whether they're moving instant noodles or festival dolls?" "..." Dead silence. In the prolonged silence, the Pope spoke, his voice solemn: "Things having reached this stage, we must never allow the heretics' schemes to succeed. We must ascertain their movements and where those goods have been sent... I will allocate the power of the Holy Lord to assist. The Celestial Eye Hall must trace the residue immediately and lock onto the interstice's coordinates. This time, we must not let that demon from the heavens escape!" "The Pope speaks with utter wisdom!" The Garrison Saint nodded, stating solemnly, "If necessary, we should not hesitate to mobilize every legion... In any case, the Holy Advent Day draws near. We must never allow this band of heretics to linger in the Holy Land!" Once the words left his mouth, not a single person responded. The Garrison Saint froze, looking around at the others, only to find them staring back at him as if... they had seen a ghost. It was as if an idiot had suddenly experienced an epiphany and uttered an absolute truth. "W-what? Did I say something wrong?" Soon, in the brief hush, the Garrison Saint went rigid where he stood, as though he had finally grasped where his inadvertent words led. "Impossible... That is absolutely impossible..." He trembled in terror and incandescent fury, completely refusing to believe his own deduction! In the silence, no one dared to speak. Only Wen Su let out a sneer, clapping her hands in hearty admiration. As expected of an artisan! Utterly devoid of sanity! Holy Advent Day. The most important and magnificent festival in the paradise of the Divine Kingdom. Every three hundred and sixty-five days, they celebrated the Holy God's descent and the benevolent, wondrous achievement of creating the Divine Kingdom. Every parish would be swept into a sea of joy. At the same time, hordes of believers would gather beneath Tiancheng to receive grace. When the hour came, the gates of the Realm of Ultimate Bliss would manifest above the earth, ushering every devout follower into the heavenly realm to partake in boundless ecstasy... Imagine: what if, in the liveliest corners of every parish, beneath Tiancheng, right before the gates of the Realm of Ultimate Bliss... a bomb suddenly detonated? From heaven to hell, just how long would it take?! *Boom!!!* In that instant, the vault above Tiancheng turned pitch-black. Boundless thunder erupted alongside the Pope's wrath. His hunched, aged frame slowly straightened, his eyes blazing with fierce light. "From this moment forth, mobilize every force of the Order, no matter the cost! "—Investigate, kill, and burn this band of heretics to ashes!" And so, high in the heavens, from the sacred city perched above the paradise of the Divine Kingdom, the resonant tolling of bells rang out once more, echoing across the land and touching everything. Countless angels descended upon the mortal realm through the wide-open celestial gates, arriving at every sanctuary to oversee and direct, bringing unprecedentedly draconian orders. Annihilate the heretics within three days! Regardless of consequence, regardless of cost! Thus, the world transformed overnight. It was as if paradise had turned into a machine roaring into operation. Believers were reduced to screws and cogs in a colossal apparatus, driven to exhaustion, while Hierophants and high-ranking officials toiled day and night, searching for any shred of a clue, daring not show the slightest slack. High above, curtains of light cascaded down without pretense, sweeping across the earth, ferreting out every gap in the dream and every dark, hidden refuge, plowing through wilderness and cities inch by inch. In a matter of hours, more than four resistance camps were unearthed. Hundreds of Order members implicated were bound to stakes and burned, subjected to grueling torture and repeated interrogation—their souls even hollowed out entirely in search of clues. Until a storehouse hidden beneath the grand cathedral of the Western Parish was excavated... When the archbishop saw the angels hauling out massive vat after massive vat, he foresaw his pathetic fate, wailed, and fainted dead away. Then came a second, and a third... Bombs disguised as holy icons, viruses masquerading as holy water, delivery mechanisms concealed inside the water supply... Everything Ji Jue had painstakingly arranged was being uprooted before their eyes, leaving not a single tile behind. Even the underground organizations were thoroughly wiped out. Amid screams and wails, the thundering tread of footsteps beyond the secret passage drew near. A gaunt man braced his back against the door with all his might, yet he could barely withstand the horrific impact of that strength... "Run, Mr. Yu, run!" He cast one final look at his disheveled friend and offered a faint smile: "Things have come to this; I don't blame you. It's just a pity... such a pity..." *Thwack!* A spear pierced straight through the door and impaled his body, followed by a second, a third, a fourth... Cruelly wielding their strength, the angels hoisted him into the air and tore him to shreds! His shattered head fell from the air, still screaming toward him: "Run—!!!" Yu Shu gritted his teeth, hesitated on the verge of speaking, and took a step back, then another. He bolted, scrambling on all fours. At last, his fingers brushed the edge of the Rabbit Hole. He wrenched it open... Yet the moment the connection was forged, a delighted laugh seemed to drift from the void, brimming with joy. "Finally found you!" *Snap!* As Yu Shu scrambled out of the Rabbit Hole on hands and knees, he heard the sound of collapse behind him—unceasing, swelling into a deafening roar. The narrow burrow was disintegrating and collapsing rapidly. The sprite that traversed the dream shrieked mournfully before dissipating into nothing. The last thing to tumble out was a dirt-streaked, delicate hairpin—the true form of the Rabbit Hole. Utterly ruined! Immediately following it came a roar that shook heaven and earth! The entire dream's interstice violently shuddered. The sky rippled, and countless fissures spread across it. High in the shattered firmament, towering figures as colossal as mountain ranges emerged. They raised their weapons and brought them crashing down. It stirred a cataclysmic tempest. Higher still, the Gates of Heaven swung wide, and legions of angels surged forth like a tidal wave, sweeping across the expanse in a furious charge. Yu Shu froze on the spot. "I... I..." When he finally realized what he had done, the color drained from his face. Clutching his hair, he could barely breathe, letting out an anguished wail. He had ruined it. He had ruined everything! Yet at that moment, amid the earth-shattering din, laughter rang out—clear and joyous. Ji Jue! Standing in the center of the vacant encampment where he had long been waiting, Ji Jue reached out, pulled Yu Shu to his feet, and clapped him heavily on the shoulder, not withholding his praise in the least. "Ah Shu, well done!"