A Pity

Wild winds and driving rain, flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder. The waves raged like dancing mountain ranges. Between the darkened heaven and earth, bolts of lightning hung suspended from the sky like sprawling trees. Amidst this vast, magnificent ruin, the Prosperity rose and fell upon crests of waves, its steel groaning in agony. At times hurled skyward by the surging billows, at other times plunging into deep troughs, almost wholly swallowed by the sea. Countless sheets of driving rain veiled the divide between sea and sky. The tranquil night beneath a boundless, clear sky was gone without a trace, leaving only the cruel, ruthless spectacle of a living hell. "What incredible luck," Ji Jue marveled from the bottom of his heart. "Running into something the moment I arrive—is this a Mid-Continent specialty?" You're minding your own business walking down the street, having done nothing at all, when a gang leaps out and sprays you with gunfire without a word... Everyone lived in a chaotic mess and died for no rhyme or reason; it was all about 'life and death are decreed by fate, riches and honor come from heaven.' How wonderful. After spending so long in peaceful Haizhou, this came as quite a pleasant surprise—just minding your own business on the road, and ingredients jump straight into the pot? Was this the colorful variety of travel? Ji Jue was already starting to love this feeling! Alarm sirens rose and fell in rapid succession. On the sonar projection, red dot after red dot swiftly surfaced from the waters surrounding the Prosperity, multiplying and spreading at a rate visible to the naked eye. Hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands? There wasn't even time to count... In the blink of an eye, the entire screen was flooded with a crimson tide formed by the converging red dots. Boom! Thunder cracked across the expanse, lightning flashing to briefly pierce the dark sea, illuminating the grotesque, writhing silhouettes swimming beneath the surface. They were like... some hybrid of fish and insect. Compound eyes bulged from their heads, and upon massive bodies covered in fish scales, limbs extended outward like tentacles, while their mouths were sharp mouthparts formed of chitin. The largest among them were absurdly huge, nearly the size of a minivan... Combining the ugliness of arthropods with the eerie horror of marine life. It was spine-chilling. What was even more terrifying was that countless larvae in the sea were still swelling rapidly, growing and metamorphosing into hideous behemoths. *Crunch, crunch, crunch...* In the seawater, a chilling, granular rustling murmured ceaselessly. That was the sound of growth. This was the Sea Locust Calamity that struck dread into every fisherman's heart. Calamity beasts bred within the ocean, individually nothing to fear, but once they appeared, their numbers became virtually endless—a living nightmare! The most frightening aspect was that these things ate everything! When entering an outbreak phase, metal, rubber, plastic, flesh and blood... swimming fish in the sea, microorganisms—everything was on their menu. Moreover, once swallowed, it was thoroughly absorbed and converted; in just a few minutes, they could develop from egg to maturity. Rather than living creatures, they were more like a natural disaster. Once they devoured an entire sea area, they would begin madly mating, laying eggs, and swiftly dying. Drifting with the currents or sinking into oceanic abysses, they dispersed in all directions. Once the population reached a certain threshold, they would enter another outbreak phase, hatching swiftly, growing rapidly, and sweeping through everything once more. If not for many sea fish devouring them as food while they were in the egg stage, they would long have grown beyond all control. As far as the eye could see in the sea, layered dark shadows converged endlessly. Wherever the lightning illuminated, there was not a sliver of empty space. Yet such an exaggerated scale was merely a minor outbreak... Why did it happen to collide head-on with him of all people? "I see... pheromones?" Amidst the shrill grating sound akin to metal grinding on steel, Ji Jue pondered to himself and gradually understood. In all likelihood, someone had planted bait aboard his ship to incite a frenzy among the Sea Locusts. Vortex. The metamorphosis of the Vortex path could be immense or microscopic. When immense, its wings were like clouds hanging from the sky; when microscopic, it concealed form and substance, spreading silently within bacteria and cells. Which meant he had already been targeted back during his resupply in the Seven Cities? They didn't even need to come close. A single barnacle attaching itself from the sea would suffice to deliver secretions that incited a Sea Locust riot... At this moment, the ship's paint was rapidly peeling away, and the armor on the hull was denting and shedding under the relentless gnawing of the Sea Locusts. The instant plates broke loose, even more larvae pounced upon them, devouring them entirely. Between sea and sky, the already reeling Prosperity was struggling to hold out under the chewing. Yet aside from the Sea Locusts? Ji Jue waited in puzzlement, glancing around, yet sensed no other presence. Were they still lying in wait, watching? Or... He cast his gaze down, staring at the countless red dots on the sonar system: among the innumerable Sea Locusts, were there one or two outliers hiding within? None of it mattered. It had been so long since he had engaged in a serious fight. For a moment, he actually felt a twinge of anticipation. "I really hope Isis won't get mad when she finds out." Leaning back in his chair, he murmured a sigh and tapped a finger against the armrest... A roar erupted from the Prosperity. Plates of heavy armor swiftly broke away from the hull. Immediately following, beneath the peeling paint and plating, scarlet veins resembling pulses silently surfaced within the gray-black metal, quietly throbbing. In an instant, pitch-black spiritus surged through the spiritus circuits spread throughout the vessel. Under the dominion of Non-Offensive, three-phase alchemy rotated. Fluid Alchemy, elevating matter through spiritus; Solid Alchemy, stabilizing spiritus through matter; Gas Alchemy, plundering matter through spiritus. Under the reinforcement of Earth-Bearing and Sea-Embracing, the massive hull was cloaked in blood-red light. Its reinforcement tier rose step by step. In an instant, the freighter that had appeared utterly ordinary stripped away its dust and disguise, turning into premier material. Then immediately following— —Deus Ex Machina! Boon Chain: Beckoning—bestowing a soul upon all mechanical creations; wherever the hands of Non-Offensive touched, activation began! Boon Chain: Metamorphosis—forcibly raising the material tier of all alchemical creations by one rank! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Beneath the crackling lightning and booming thunder, amidst the siege of countless Sea Locusts, sparks erupted across the entire Prosperity. In the blink of an eye, it transformed, breaching the boundary between mortal construct and miracle. It became an outright monster! Along both sides of the hull, scarlet eyes opened one after another. Immediately after, a fissure split open in midair at the bow, revealing a gaping maw. From a lone leaf tossed among crashing waves, it transformed into a mechanical leviathan of steel, swimming exhilarated amidst earth-shattering billows, like a fish in water. The moment the colossal maw gaped open, it was like a whale drinking in the sea: a horrific vortex manifested from the darkness, devouring everything! Whether seawater, waves, or the endless giant Sea Locusts in the ocean, all were sucked steadily into its belly under the Prosperity's whale-like gulps. Inside the unrecognizable hold, as seawater rushed through, crisscrossing impeller blades whirled furiously. Countless Sea Locusts didn't even have time to open their mouths before the wildly spinning blades ground them to mush with a vicious roar, their spiritus and flesh alike thoroughly absorbed by the corrupted Earth-Bearing and Sea-Embracing, converting them into part of the Prosperity. The thoroughly sifted seawater gushed out from the massive nozzles at the stern, acting like thrusters that accelerated the Prosperity's speed! At this moment, in the pitch-black sea, the countless Sea Locusts were reduced in an instant to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Amidst the Prosperity's ravenous roars, the true monster revealed its face! Devour! Devour! Devour! Devour! Devour! The more it consumed, the denser the blood-red light and darkness wreathing the hull became, until it was cloaked in scarlet blood-flames, its ferocious might running rampant! The innate poisons within the Sea Locusts' bodies and the contamination in their spiritus seemed not to exist at all—no, they were like cumin on roast meat or scallions in rich broth, only adding to the flavor! The moment they sensed the presence of this terrifying predator, the countless Sea Locusts actually began to recoil, as if in fear. But alas, it was too late. The Prosperity had acquired a taste for marrow! Where could they run? The colossal maw opened once more, inhaling and swallowing in ravenous gulps—suck, suck, suck, suck, suck! In the shadows, someone had begun to sweat. In sheer panic. Never had he imagined that a killing move which had proved invincible in the past would now be hard-countered by his opponent. What was supposed to at least leave the target scrambling to defend himself had now left him scrambling instead. "Are you done yet?!" The hidden assailant grit his teeth, holding on by a thread as he urged, "Hurry the fuck up!" "Almost, almost, any second!" A strained voice sounded through their soul link. "Just a moment more, hold the line!" "I have to actually be able to hold it!" The assailant was already using every ounce of strength he had: "Hurry the fuck up already!!!" "I said, almost! Stop badgering me!!!" The voice on the other end grew hoarse and frenzied, as if enduring horrific agony and torment, teetering on madness: "Shut the hell up! When I tell you to hold, you hold! If you can't, I'll slaughter you and use you to consecrate the banner all the same!" With that, the assailant went silent. Swallowing all his curses and fury back down, he catalyzed the transformation once more—the endless Sea Locusts abruptly fell into chaos, beginning to cannibalize one another like lunatics. After devouring their own kind, an iron sheen surfaced over the bodies of the newly forged Sea Locusts, their shell hardness soaring rapidly. More importantly... *Sssss!* A grating screech suddenly emerged from the impeller blades inside the Prosperity's belly. Amidst a foul, pungent stench, the boiling seawater showed a faint gleam of scarlet. Acid corrosion! With the bursting of countless Sea Locusts, the pH of the seawater surrounding the Prosperity shifted rapidly, transforming in an instant into strong acid capable of corroding all metal! The sea of strong acid constantly scorched the steel, and right before dying, each Sea Locust would swell rapidly and detonate. Even if one could leave only a tiny blemish, multiplied by their terrifying numbers, it was enough to make the rampaging steel monster hesitate and tie its hands. "So there really is a Vortex practitioner?" Ji Jue sighed in surprise—not astonished that someone was truly attacking him, but amazed that the opponent's patience was this abysmal. "Showing your hand already?" If you had met every change with constancy and dragged this out with me, you might have lasted quite a while. But to take the initiative to change before an artisan... There was an order to change. In an evenly matched confrontation, the one who changed first might gain a slight advantage, but it also proved they had been backed into a corner where they had no choice but to change. Besides, was this an even match? No matter how much you change, could you ever out-change an artisan ensconced within his workshop?! "Go back and train some more." At that instant, Ji Jue flicked his blade. Amidst the thunder, lightning, and roar of crashing waves, a faint hum from who-knew-where rippled into everyone's ears. It made their hair stand on end! Immediately after, all sound died. A visible wave of silver rippled outward from the Prosperity. The boiling surges abruptly congealed, pacified, as if frozen, along with the countless Sea Locusts upon the sea surface. In a flash, the wind fell calm, and the waves were stilled! With the rush and spread of quicksilver, the churning sea turned smooth as a mirror in a breath, in absolute parity and equilibrium, reflecting the flashes of lightning across the vault of heaven. Like a circular obsidian mirror. It reflected the pitch-black sky, the crackling lightning, and even a magnificent colossal tree rising toward the heavens, countless lush branches extending outward from the hull, spreading in every direction. Yet in the dead silence, between sea and sky, all was empty. There was no trace of a giant tree. No, that was no surface reflection... It was the horrific sight beneath the waves! The quicksilver waterfall cascading from the hull surged, extended, and expanded at lightning speed, hardening into grotesque, twisted trunks and boughs. Sharp quicksilver boughs spread outward one after another, stabbing into the bodies of the surrounding Sea Locusts. In an instant, they siphoned away all life and soul, using them as fuel to branch out once more. One divided into two, two into four, four into eight... an exponential explosion. After dozens of extensions, they were as fine as spider silk yet sharp as needles. Piercing effortlessly through the carapaces of the Sea Locusts, they feasted with wild abandon! Across the brilliant silver-white, scarlet veins pulsed like heartbeats. Impervious to acid corrosion, like straws they sucked dry every Sea Locust that had choked the waters, leaving behind nothing but empty milk cartons that only lacked the slurping sound at the bottom. In the bilge, amidst layers of spiritus circuits, blood-red light cascaded from Pan Ying like a waterfall, hungrily gulped down by Little Niuma crouched beside it, refusing nothing! With a violent lash of its draconified armor tail, it swatted aside a cable that had crept gingerly toward the feast. Turning its head, it bared its teeth and hissed! Utterly ignoring the Prosperity's hungry whimpers. *What kind of trash thinks it can sit at the table with me?* *Do you even understand how to absorb a blood sacrifice?!* *It has to be me!* The Prosperity's cables could only curl up aside, timidly sipping at the meager scraps that dribbled from Little Niuma's jaws. Meanwhile, from within ruptured Sea Locusts, shriek after shriek rang out in succession. A massive quantity of flesh-like tissue burst from the parasitized locusts, desperately fleeing the shadow-like quicksilver branches chasing them. As the flesh converged, a terrified face surfaced, screaming hoarsely: "Siebert, save me, save me!!!" "Fuck, useless trash!" Siebert cursed hoarsely. As the Sea Locusts swiftly withered away, behind the disaster swarm, beneath layers of locust cover, a blood-red light finally surfaced within Ji Jue's observation. It was a Swarm practitioner completely shrouded in blood-flames. His spiritus fluctuations were violently turbulent, erupting again and again like a volcano, climbing toward a supreme peak. It was as if they were soaring without limit! From the moment the Sea Locusts appeared until now, in just a few short minutes, the spiritus fluctuations inside that titan-like body, swollen to its absolute limit, had multiplied dozens of times over! Stats that were already terrifying were still climbing at a visible rate... Climbing to a point where even he could scarcely endure it. Blue-purple veins bulged across his flushed, purplish-iron face, his features contorted like a demon. What a pity he had not yet reached the limit, but it was already enough! Coated in viscous blood-flame, an exaggerated grin spread across that sinewy face as the flesh squeezed and squirmed. The killing intent and ferocity climbing alongside his endless power detonated at this very moment! In an instant, the Regeneration-tier Swarm Celestial Chosen tore through the air! No spiritus fluctuations, no miraculous techniques—it was as if he had merely... taken a step? And so, heaven and earth shook. The sea surface frozen under material property interference shattered in an instant. With a single stride, he turned into a crimson meteor, smashing straight toward the Prosperity! Facing an artillery shell whistling toward his skull, he did not even deign to dodge. Instead, he charged head-on—and smashed it! Effortlessly ramming the alloy armor-piercing shell into mush. As if able to sense Ji Jue's exact location, Siebert charged straight forward, ignoring the barrage of artillery fire. Tanking every attack with his face, he came through with barely a speck of dust on his clothes. Colliding head-on into the heavily reinforced hull of the Prosperity, he nearly sent the giant whale flying, leaving a visible crater in the thick hull. Regeneration tier? What the fuck, this is Regeneration tier? Ji Jue was momentarily stunned—leaving aside Old Tom who was perpetually unpredictable, these raw stats had already far surpassed Pacquiao, who had delivered goods to Xinquan back in the day! Outrageous! Had the game version updated, turning Pacquiao, the terror of the eastern Endless Sea, into a stepping stone? Surely this wasn't like a shonen manga where someone got power-crept just for debuting early? No, Heritage Burnt Offering! The moment he sensed the unnatural aura of blood-flames on his foe's body, Ji Jue realized what was going on. God only knew what kind of creature his patron was! No fancy trading injuries for injuries, just plain, unadorned stats, stats, and more stats—nothing but fucking stats! Strength, defense, agility, all maxed out, and atop the already absurd baseline of the Swarm, they were still climbing at a visible rate! So the Vortex user earlier had just been a distraction to buy this guy time? Siebert was stunned as well. He had never expected that even after boosting his stats to such an absurd degree, the hull plating he thought he would tear through like wet paper had actually withstood his tackle! Immediately, without second thought, he stopped thinking altogether. Killing intent and fanaticism seized his mind once more. A fist swung out! Boom!!! The hull shuddered violently, again and again! Amidst hysterical laughter, he threw countless punches in an instant. Covered by the Battle-Tempered Edge blessing, his veteran iron fists had become all-conquering divine weapons. In the blink of an eye, he tore open a gaping hole in the hull. Immediately after, he rampaged through the compartments, ignoring bulkheads, lunging straight toward Ji Jue as a continuous series of detonations compressed into a single split second. In an instant, twelve bulkheads and the spiritus barriers along the path were breached and pierced layer by layer amidst erupting blood-flames! In merely a blur of motion, that ferocious, berserk face was right in front of him. Without a shred of hesitation, ignoring any incoming attack. Decisive and unyielding. A punch crashed down toward Ji Jue's skull! A tempest erupted, thunder booming. Ji Jue, expressionless, raised his palm. BOOM!!! The entire ship shook violently once more, and with it, the entire sea seemed to roil. Waves surged out of thin air, spreading, as terrifying force exploded within the spray. Iron gleams rippled, coating Ji Jue's body—Dragon Mountain armor. —Immovable as a Mountain! The punch, enough to shatter Ji Jue to powder, was channeled into the entire sea and distributed across it, leaving only a sharp screech of metal fatigue. "Seven million, four hundred and ten thousand," a soft sigh sounded from beneath the armor. "No, now it's eleven million, seven hundred and seventy thousand." "What kind of gibberish are you muttering!" Siebert's eyes were bloodshot. Without thinking, he threw another punch, not understanding a word. Yet this time, his fist struck empty air. Dragon Mountain vanished into thin air. And reappeared... behind him. Immediately following, Pan Ying thrust forth, piercing through his body and blasting open a fist-sized bloody hole. "It doesn't matter if you don't understand," Ji Jue's eerie voice echoed. "But you had better pray that scrapping your body can recoup this much money. Otherwise..." Boom!!! Ignoring the blade piercing his chest, Siebert spun around violently, tearing open his own wound as he swung his fist again, slamming into the Dragon Mountain armor with mounting madness. Yet within those blood-filled eyes, a glimmer of horror emerged. For some reason, an inexplicable terror... Something was wrong! His cackling expression froze for an imperceptible instant. When the artisan's elusive blood-blade thrust forward once more, he actually... dodged! His heart, instincts, subconscious—all shrieked alarm bells. Because his Heritage Burnt Offering had been interfered with! Having grown accustomed to crushing enemies effortlessly and ignoring all wounds, when he swung his fist again, he discovered that his power had plummeted by a massive margin?! His connection with his patron was wavering! Even the wound on his chest refused to heal. Wisps of crimson lingered like bacteria within the injury, faintly spreading. It was the presence of another patron! That blade carried the heritage of other patrons! And not just one! Siebert began to break into a cold sweat. Where the fuck did this Legion Sacred Relic come from? The scar could not close; the erosion clung like maggots in the marrow. Even the blade itself made him feel a prickling dread on his back. After taking a single cut, his exponentially skyrocketing stats plummeted out of thin air. To climb back to his prior level would take another three seconds. Yet within his body's limited threshold of endurance, losing those three seconds would slash his peak stats by more than half! Before he could engage his meager brain cells, that broken blade rippling with lustrous crimson thrust forward once again! The flame of light was light and ethereal, dreamlike and illusory. Yet it was savage enough to make one's skin crawl! There were no more thunderous crashes, only an unbearable, grating screech. Crossing his arms before him, the blade clashed and scraped against skin hardened to its utmost limit, slicing through the outer blood-flames like a hot knife through wax, colliding against defenses pushed to the absolute extreme. It didn't even break the skin. Now, the smile on his face was completely gone. *Mom, he's hacking!* The resonance between Siebert and his patron plummeted yet again. Incomprehensible—*even failing to break defense counts as a hit?!* After questioning reality and shivering in terror came sheer panic! Even if his stats were still terrifying, losing his stacking efficiency meant he could only react passively. Trapped within an artisan's workshop, if you couldn't crush the artisan in one fell swoop, the artisan would turn around and dismantle you in a hundred different ways... Now drenched in sweat, he listened for sounds in the surroundings, unable to contain his rage any longer. —After he had drawn all the artisan's firepower, shouldn't the Vortex Celestial Chosen, having won a breather, come coordinate with him to tear down the workshop? Instead, he had left him stuck deep in the mire, unable to pull himself out... Siebert roared at the top of his lungs, "Purusha, you useless trash, what the fuck are you dawdling for?!" Purusha gave no reply. Only wails and sobs. Outside the Prosperity, amidst the gale and driving rain, the Vortex Celestial Chosen named Purusha had finally managed to reassemble all his dispersed tissues. Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, his expression contorted violently. Wrong, wrong, all wrong. His vitality was recovering at a terrifying rate, true to the characteristics of the Vortex path—in just a few seconds, near-death became full health. But... but why was it still rising? His severed tissues were rapidly regenerating, yet upon completion, why were fish scales surfacing over his flesh? When he finally looked down at his own body, he realized that nestled among the countless bits of his minced flesh, something extra seemed to be there?! And when he finally perceived what that extra thing was, unprecedented despair and terror completely swallowed his soul. It was over! All over! A shred of essence extracted from the "fish scales" had silently integrated into his body alongside the regrowing flesh. Like bamboo shoots sprouting after rain, it swiftly germinated, grew, and spread, then turned from guest to master, pervasively invading his body. In turn, it rapidly transformed and corrupted his flesh and life... The greater this alien vitality grew, the more heart-wrenching his shrieks became. In his terror, he futilely gouged out chunks of his own flesh, yet his maimed limbs regenerated at blinding speed. More fish scales sprouted from the mutated flesh, followed by grotesque fish heads stacking layer upon layer into a spine-chilling monstrosity. In the end, amidst the proliferation of countless fish heads, the face belonging to Purusha was squeezed and distorted into a tiny crevice. He didn't even have time to shed a final tear. *Clack!* The rushing quicksilver swallowed him whole, sealed tight by Solid Alchemy. Recovery complete. Not a sound remained. "Looks like your teammate has already departed ahead of you?" From beneath Dragon Mountain's iron visor came a mocking voice. Ji Jue gazed at his dogged assault, his blade weaving and slashing as he asked in a leisurely, conversational tone, "So here's the question: why aren't you running? Can't get away? Surely not. What's the point of clinging on so desperately? No, maybe there is a point—are you drawing my attention? "Let me take a guess—" Flashing in an instant, Ji Jue looked down, gazing upon that vainly ferocious, hollow expression. The metallic face grinned like a beast, full of anticipation: "—could it be that there's one more teammate among you?" In sudden stupefaction, Siebert's pupils contracted to pinpricks. Immediately after, he erupted completely, throwing himself at Ji Jue without regard for his life, as if courting death. Amidst the raging storm, blood-flames surged like a tide. An all-out blow with nothing held back! Head-on collision! Shockwaves rippled, a deafening crash echoing. As Pan Ying pierced through, Ji Jue pressed his other hand against Siebert's face—Jingzhen! Boom! A muffled crack detonated inside Siebert's skull. His brain pulverized; half his face and half his skull shattered to pieces, brain matter spraying from mouth and nose. Yet the resolute expression upon that ruin grew all the more steadfast. Ignoring the devastation wrought by Pan Ying, he clamped one hand around the wrist of the Dragon Mountain armor, while his other hand clenched tight once more, drinking down every ounce of blood-flame. Staking his life, all his power gathered into a single strike akin to a self-detonation. He threw it! And at that very moment, in the empty air behind Ji Jue, a ripple surfaced. By the time the ripple was sensed, everything was already over. —Pierce! The White Stag practitioner who had silently infiltrated the Prosperity ever since the battle began sprang forth! After charging for who knew how long, the sharpest, darkest edge—at the very moment Ji Jue had no attention to spare—pierced from behind through the Dragon Mountain armor and Ji Jue's chest, tearing into his soul! *We won!* Siebert couldn't help but grin. The strike carrying all his might smashed forward with crushing ruin, seeking to obliterate the foe before him into utter dust. Yet in that instant, he caught sight of... a trace of pity in Ji Jue's expression? A pity. Ji Jue sighed with regret. Waited all this time for nothing—it wasn't even a wolf.