The Destination

Wen Sheng remained silent, his face grim, uttering not a single word. He merely clicked the pocket watch within his soul again and again, accelerating the cycles and reloading once more. Even as victory grew ever more distant and the remaining future promised to be bleak and dismal, he still did not hesitate in the slightest. He would never surrender. His soul at this moment was forged from pure obsession. Crossing life and death was child's play to him, so why would he yield to a mere downturn in fortune! Even now, he had no thought of giving up—not a trace of slackening or carelessness. Once, twice, again and yet again! If the cycles were already meaningless, then let this emptiness stretch into eternity! Even if the entire phantasm turned into a cage, wasn't there still someone trapped here to endure the torment alongside him? It didn't matter if he couldn't win. An infinite dream. Since he had been born here, what harm was there in dying here? "Then struggle to your heart's content, Ji Jue." Across that stern, cold face, not a shred of vitality remained. Within that startling emptiness lay only unshakable fixation and resolve. "I can wear you down, and wear you down again, until the end of time." *Snap!* All phenomena rebooted; the cycle refreshed! The despairing torment was boundless, continuing forever! "No, it won't take forever." Ji Jue's soft sigh echoed, as if having crossed infinite torment to finally glimpse the destination on the horizon. "Turns out, dealing with you only takes one hundred and ninety-four—no, one hundred and ninety cycles is enough." One hundred and ninety cycles and repetitions. What the soul within the phantasm perceived and experienced felt like tens of millions of years, yet what it repeated were barren, monotonous fantasies. And at the end of each fantasy, after being destroyed by the erosion of the Lord of the Flies, it turned into an identical wasteland. One hundred and ninety arduous treks and desperate dashes, only to end up running in circles. Like soaking in a mire, rotting away time after time. What seemed like infinite variations was merely the rising and falling of flies and mosquitoes; what multiplied within the decay was only more decay, and what was born within the desolation was only more desolation. Meaningless, worthless, impossible, joyless, devoid of future, past, or present. Seemingly all-encompassing, yet utterly void. Amidst the repeated struggles between Ascension and the Desolate Ruins, the Vortex and the Abyssal Void had silently overlapped! All phenomena sank into oblivion. In this eternal, relentless corruption, all that remained were wounds and ruins as far as the eye could see. What endless cycling brought was endless Catalysis. Behind Ascension lay descent; the flip side of Purification was impurity. Futile Transmutation degraded into the mundane, and failed Integration left only chaos. The crafting of Stagnant Rot had long since been completed—right in Ji Jue's hands, with Wen Sheng's full cooperation and assistance! Without anyone noticing when it had begun, the dead ash drifting beneath the iridescent light had permeated everything. No matter how many times the cycle reset, it could no longer be purged. With each cycle, the gloom within the dead ash grew thicker. Until, amidst the escalating deterioration, nothing remained but the purest pitch-black. This was the limit that Stagnant Rot could reach within this phantasm, the ultimate end it could achieve. And precisely because of that absolute darkness, that originally insignificant sliver of silver brilliance stood out so clearly! Like a candle guttering in the wind. A faint, ghostly flicker of silver flame burned in silence. It was so tiny, yet its mere existence seemed to make the darkness boil, stirring everything stagnant and rotten into a wild churn! It made the entire phantasm tremble! Even the great skeletal serpent coiled around the whole dream felt a chill run through its bones. The moment he noticed it, Wen Sheng restarted once again without a second thought! Yet restarting was useless. The instant the silver glow sprouted, it was as if it had taken root in the earth, impossible to erase! No, it was more accurate to say that as long as Stagnant Rot endured, this faint flame would never be extinguished! The tiny ember buried deep within Ji Jue's soul was now rooted in the hollow wasteland and worthless decay, burning silently and spreading outward... Until the surging momentum could no longer be contained, until the boundless darkness and corruption could no longer imprison the firelight. From the deepest rot and stagnation, the blazing flame that revolutionized all things rekindled once more! Ji Jue could no longer restrain himself and burst into laughter. In that instant, a chilling, tempestuous light arose from the rotting phantasm. Everywhere the eye could see, flames ignited within all darkness. Amidst the infinite silver brilliance, another radiant streak soared into the firmament, effortlessly breaching the blockade of Limbo and the Realm of Ultimate Bliss. In response to Ji Jue's summons, it flew straight into his hand. Or perhaps... Chasing the culprit who had created the Stagnant Rot and spread the chaos, it slashed and thrust without mercy, without a single shred of hesitation! Piercing the soul, incinerating consciousness. Utterly unforgiving! The instant this power was forged and summoned forth, it struck first at Ji Jue himself! Wen Sheng, already unnerved, froze in stupefaction, unable to comprehend this absurd move. Courting destruction, spinning a cocoon to entrap oneself—it was nothing less than that! Yet Ji Jue didn't seem to care at all? He merely reached out with composure, drawing the blazing sword from his soul. Even as his soul gradually burned within the tempestuous flames, he paid it no heed. "Edge of Revolution, long time no see!" He caressed the blade that hovered between existence and nonexistence, letting out an emotional sigh. "Lend me this sharpness once more!" Revolution, forged within the soap-bubble illusions, remained mute. That cold spirituality penetrated every single corner without exception. After setting the Lord of the Flies ablaze, it thoroughly eradicated all corruptive pollution, just like a brutally violent surgery—cutting off the hand if the hand hurt, lopping off the head if the head ached! Yet miraculously, the core of the soul remained completely unscathed! It was like a foul-tempered older brother. The moment you kicked open his bedroom door, he stormed out barefoot without a word, slapped your face a few times with his slippers, and then snatched off his brass-buckled leather belt to whip you like a spinning top. Only after venting his rage would he hitch up his trousers, spit on the ground, and pad out in his slippers to clean up the mess you had made... *All over this petty crap?* *You useless piece of work. I'm only bailing you out for one night, tops!* "Don't be mad. You freeloaded off me last time, and I'm freeloading off you this time. Helping each other out—isn't that what brotherhood is all about?" Ji Jue chuckled, but the dancing flame showed no courtesy. It even flared with greater intensity, inflicting sharper agony to urge him to hurry the hell up and finish it! "Well, looks like we can skip the catching-up part." Ji Jue shrugged and smiled at Wen Sheng, stating plainly, "Don't be scared. Half a minute. Before I'm burned to death completely, you still have thirty seconds. "So do your best!" As long as you endure this half minute, you win! In other words— Kill you within half a minute! Smash your phantasm to pieces, butcher your Holy God, and scatter your ashes and spiritus to the winds! Caught in a momentary daze before anger or terror could even register, Wen Sheng's pupils contracted involuntarily. Amidst the infinitely expanding silver light, the Edge of Revolution was already hurtling toward him! *Snap!* Under the shockwave of a single sword strike, the teetering Realm of Ultimate Bliss and Limbo shattered into pieces. All soap bubbles and illusions roiled within the raging flames. Boundless silver brilliance ran rampant, blanketing everything and burning away the old once again. What arose from the countless shattered bubbles were the sparks scattered by the kindling of Revolution. What drifted down upon the vast, white expanse of earth were the ashes left behind after corruption was burned to cinders. No sound of shattering could be heard—only the final wail of infinite illusions turning to ash in the fire. Divine power dissolved without a trace, and faith returned to nothingness. In Ji Jue's grip, the sword swept across. The extending blaze reached the very limits of fantasy and illusion in an instant, and then cleanly sheared everything in two. Thereby dividing the gap between heaven and earth. Immediately after, it hacked down! From sky to earth, the burning sword mark tore apart the great serpent's skeleton wound around the phantasm. Countless moths fluttered in vain within the flames, crumbling into nothingness without the slightest power to resist. No roar, no wails. The so-called Holy God simply dissolved into smoke! Amidst the destruction blanketing the entire phantasm, the fractured soul was finally ejected from the Huangliang Relic. Trembling, it instinctively tried to retreat. Yet the burning demon was already right in front of him! "Looks like it won't even take half a minute—" Ji Jue looked down upon him, letting out one final sigh: "—I overestimated you!" *Snap!* Wen Sheng subconsciously and frantically clicked the pocket watch deep within his soul, again and again. Yet phantasmal images continually surfaced, only to repeatedly disperse within the incineration of the flames. In the end, it collapsed completely, utterly useless. All in vain! "Don't you dare!" Wen Sheng roared. Even now, that obsession had not shifted or yielded in the slightest; he had not surrendered even an inch. Even as despair and fire engulfed him. In that final instant, he exhausted all his spiritus and determination to thrust toward the opponent before him once more, no matter how futile it was. At the same time, willing to stake his soul, he forcibly triggered the pearllike relic in his hand. But this time, it was not to initiate change, but to completely destroy everything! Whether it was the Holy God or his own Celestial-Human Foundation, whether it was the silver radiance in Ji Jue's hand or the dragon Wen Wen had become, he would completely vaporize and erase the entire phantasm! Utterly destroy everything! Once the phantasm was gone, the radiance born from it in Ji Jue's grasp would collapse on its own. This was his final chance! The moment they clashed, the sound of fracturing rang out from Wen Sheng's hand! Thus, Huangliang was destroyed, and the phantasm vaporized. Everything was supposed to be annihilated, yet what had been envisioned never came to pass. The entire world did not change in the slightest! Only his final remnant spirit was pierced through by the silver radiance in Ji Jue's hand. There would be no more changes, and no more restarts or cycles. The dust had settled; the victor was decided! He looked down blankly at his hand. The shattered pearl had crumbled into countless grains of sand, slipping through the gaps between his fingers and falling into the spreading fire. Yet it coalesced and reformed once more. Completely undamaged. "Why?" Wen Sheng could not understand. His broken face twisted almost beyond recognition. Ignoring the burning, he grabbed Ji Jue by the collar, roaring in accusation: "What the fuck did you do?!" Ji Jue remained cold and silent. He didn't deign to reply. He had no interest in trying to understand his opponent's final madness, and even less pity to offer any dying comforts. He simply raised the sword in his hand once more. Yet in that instant, a regretful voice sounded. At once, all phenomena halted, and the phantasm froze. Everything on the brink of collapse, the permeating flames, and even the Edge of Revolution born from bubbles and falsehood in Ji Jue's hand—all froze! Only a gentle sigh echoed through the shattered phantasm. "He didn't do anything—" In the void, the reformed pearl shifted slightly, rolling toward the space behind them. *Clack, clack, clack...* Until finally, it bumped against a patch of invisible darkness! Before Ji Jue's stunned gaze, that tiny patch of darkness slowly squirmed, rolling over to reveal a pair of amber eyes. A fluffy tail flicked, neatly sweeping up the relic that had turned back into a pearl, and then comfortably stretched out. A black cat from parts unknown lifted a hind leg, scratched its chin twice, and then bowed its head to lick the soft pad of its paw. Lazy and nonchalant. It was clearly so out of place amidst all this absurdity, yet the moment it appeared, it seemed to supply the final puzzle piece, restoring wholeness to everything. Quite naturally, it had become the center of the entire phantasm. Facing Wen Sheng's demands and roars, the black cat merely yawned lazily and slowly delivered the final verdict: "Because you broke the rules. It's as simple as that." That was the only answer. *** Outside the phantasm, Punabantu. When the phantasm collapsed and everything on the verge of ruin completely dispersed, countless motes of spiritus scattered in all directions. Yet the entire world abruptly fell silent. Frozen in place. Only a crisp sound echoed from the ends of the earth. As if an invisible gate were slowly swinging wide. And so, between the sea and the sky, radiant phantasmal light flowed forth. When violent delights reached their violent ends, this parade of wild revelry finally arrived at its destined finish line. The great undertaking once forged by the King of Chaos, the brief glimpse of the Dream of Huangliang, the Realm of Huaxu upon the earth... The Paradise of Myriad Phenomena arrived at long last!