Run!

“Holy shit—” Ji Jue never imagined in his wildest dreams that the first words out of his mouth upon stepping into the Border Realm would be such blunt Federation elegance. Yet there was no helping being blunt; he had nearly had the raw Yacheng dialect scared right out of him. Anyone whose vision blurred only to find themselves suspended in midair, plummeting downward at breakneck speed, probably wouldn't have been in a much better frame of mind. He was falling! In the span of a lightning flash, all he saw was heaven and earth tumbling like clothes in a dryer; the dilapidated, ruined city was flipping rapidly, right before his eyes, magnifying at terrifying speed. “BEEP—!!!” In midair, Little Niuma wriggled its chassis and let out a shrill screech, but aside from screaming along with Ji Jue, it had no other function. An absolute masterclass in being useless yet hungry. Fortunately, in every team, there was always someone who could carry. Right on Little Niuma's rear seat, An Ran didn't panic in the slightest amidst the spinning and falling. In the momentary stall of the tumble, he glanced down at the rapidly expanding street below. Then, a dull thud. *Bang!* Without any visible buildup or telegraphing, his entire body ejected from the seat like an artillery shell, hurtling toward the ruined building below. In an instant, he landed! As if he possessed no downward kinetic energy or impact momentum whatsoever, the moment his feet touched down, he was already firmly anchored, without even kicking up a speck of dust. From beginning to end, the slender cord in his hand remained taut, attached at the other end to Ji Jue and Little Niuma, who were still plummeting. A sudden surge of strength—yank! A force far exceeding Ji Jue's imagination abruptly erupted from that slender frame. The explosive power of the White Stag's path manifested in an instant of crisis, forcibly altering the trajectory of their fall. He jerked them back toward his position, skimming past jagged rebar and fractured floor slabs as they descended downward— And their speed slowed, dropping lower and lower. The downward momentum was dissipated by the tether. Once the cord had played out enough, An Ran clenched his fist, arrested their fall, and hauled back. Ji Jue together with Little Niuma—a combined weight of four to five hundred jin—actually began ascending smoothly and steadily, pulled right up onto the rooftop. The moment they landed, before Ji Jue even had time to scramble to his feet— Little Niuma rushed forward, whipping its tongue out and licking madly with eager beeps, practically broadcasting: *I knew you wouldn't leave me behind! This Ji Ji is just useless!* Ji Jue's eyes went wide, his teeth grinding in sheer irritation. *Call the cops! Someone arrest this bootlicker!* Only after surviving the brush with death did he finally have time to take in their surroundings—and only then did he realize he had said "holy shit" far too early. Luckily, there were other profanities available. “Fucking hell...” Ji Jue was struck entirely dumb. A howling gale swept in, ripping apart clouds that looked like ragged cotton wadding to reveal an ash-gray sky, though it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night. The blazing sun looked like a round, empty void, shedding a dim, dreary luminescence. Meanwhile, the bright moon resembled a maelstrom, endlessly swallowing flickering flecks of light, voracious and never sated. Stars that had lost their orbits wandered recklessly across the vault of heaven, colliding with one another and spraying pinpricks of starlight that stung the eyes. The world seemed on the verge of destruction, yet frozen in the final second before the end. And what truly made Ji Jue's hair stand on end was what lay at the horizon's edge, at the boundary of the earth—a distant scene flickering and vague like a mirage. A colossal tower standing right in the center of the earth, holding up the vault of the sky. Even across an immense distance—no, across endless aeons of time—the magnificent, solemn silhouette of that gigantic tower remained etched across the sky. As though it would endure forever. Yet the great tower was shattered, snapped clean through at its waist— And so the earth had split, the heavens had collapsed, and boundless cataclysms had surged out in all directions. This was the final lingering shadow left behind just as the world stood on the brink of annihilation. Etched into the firmament of this Border Realm in a single instant, an eternal specter casting an inextinguishable gloom over all who entered from outside. Ji Jue rubbed his eyes, and rubbed them again. Only when the dark clouds once more veiled the sky did he finally snap out of that horrifying vision, struggling to draw breath. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to turn right back around and go home, grab the scruff of whichever bastard had authored the reconnaissance report, and demand: *This fucking place is supposed to be a Border Realm that can only accommodate ranks below Metamorphosis?* *Are you fucking kidding me?!* Yet there was no way back; he had already been swallowed whole by this realm. “Bro Sphere, what do you think?” Ji Jue instinctively reached into his tunic, but his fingers recoiled in sharp, stinging pain, as if touching a red-hot branding iron. Not "as if"—it really was! Inside his inner pocket, the previously dormant puzzle ball was radiating terrifying heat, scalding like a block of red-hot iron. Inside the puzzle ball, intricate mechanisms spun and churned in frenzy, only to suddenly seize with the sound of snapping gears, crashing completely! Before falling dead silent, it left behind only a final warning: [Be careful... something is wrong...] Something is wrong? Ji Jue was nearly provoked to laughter. He just wanted to point at the sky, the earth, and the ruined city in front of him and ask: *What about this place ever looked right to you?* *Big brother, can you get your act together?!* *Can you say something useful, please?* “Brother Ji Jue, watch out!!!” An Ran's voice rang out abruptly. The instant he heard it, Ji Jue's vision blurred. The slender chain-cord shot out from An Ran's sleeve once again, wrapping around his waist and violently yanking him backward. Unable to resist in the least, Ji Jue went flying through the air. In stunned bewilderment, he looked back, only to see the cracked floor slab he had been standing on burst apart with a deafening roar. Emerging from the structure beneath the fissure was a gargantuan pair of mouthparts large enough to chew up and swallow ten of him whole! A gaping maw like an industrial meat grinder extended from the shattered building, followed by the cracking, shattering roar of collapsing masonry. A body the length and girth of a train car surged out from within the tower's frame. It looked like a living creature, yet also like cold iron and stone. Beneath insectoid carapace and rotting flesh, there was an indistinct sheen of steel, almost mechanical—yet when Ji Jue instinctively tried to resonate with it using his ability, the sensation felt ethereal and slippery, impossible to lock on to, as if hovering between existence and dissolution. And the instant the ring of crimson compound eyes encircling the gigantic mouthparts snapped toward Ji Jue, a connection seemed to violently forge—flooding into his mind came a deranged screeching potent enough to tear consciousness apart. Like the agony and wails of ten thousand souls. Those voices overlapped, far louder than thunder. Exploding within his skull! His vision went black. “What the fuck!” He fell toward the ground, but before he could hit, Little Niuma was already burning rubber right on the spot, shooting forward like an arrow. With an exquisitely practiced leap, it caught him squarely on its back. Without needing any command, it crushed the piles of gravel and bricks by the corner of the wall, jumped into the air, tugged An Ran's tether, and soared right off the ruined building, plunging toward another collapsed rooftop. Run for your lives! *Boom!* Behind them, the massive centipede-like monster dove headfirst toward their previous perch, drilling straight through the structure. The teetering ruin finally met its explosive demise, collapsing inward. Dust billowed, and debris scattered in all directions. A bizarre roar like rushing tides sounded from within the crumbling building. Then, like a bursting waterfall, hideous birds roosting in the dark shadows erupted outward, swarming into the sky. As if catching the scent of fresh meat, they swooped toward them! And the first one they targeted was An Ran, dangling behind! At this moment, An Ran gripped the chain, being hauled through midair by the speeding motorcycle, yet his body showed no sign of falling whatsoever! Lao Zhang had once explained to Ji Jue that among the techniques of spiritus manipulation passed down by followers of the White Stag, there was an ultimate feat of freely conducting and controlling force, rendering oneself weightless to leap dozens of meters at a bound. When combined with specific Sovereign Virtue blessings, it could produce even more exaggerated effects: one would not sink even when falling into water, instead skimming across the waves and floating effortlessly through torrents, or conversely, multiplying one's own weight to take root on the spot. And right now, what Ji Jue witnessed exceeded even the rumors—empowered by his blessing, An Ran's already slight weight had been negated entirely by the White Stag's spiritus techniques, making him light as a feather. Like a kite soaring freely through the air! Even though he was currently pursued and encircled by several monstrous birds, caught in heavy siege, An Ran simply waved a hand to signal Ji Jue not to worry. With another flick of his hand, a piercing shriek that rattled the eardrums burst from his fingertips. Like a clap of thunder. Faintly, a white streak took flight from his fingertips, darting forward like lightning. It curved gracefully through midair, light and effortless, slashing across— And returned once more into his hand. Only now did Ji Jue see clearly that it was a thin piece of iron, rubbed red-hot by air friction and warped slightly out of shape! Barely two fingers wide and a finger long, no thicker than a razor blade. Immediately afterward, gruesome bursts of blood exploded in midair. The diving monstrosities abruptly lost all momentum, spraying splashes of dark green or crimson as severed limbs detached from their torsos and plummeted toward the ground. Not a single one was spared! Only now, amidst the gale of blood washing over them, did Ji Jue catch sight of the smile on An Ran's face. So innocent, brimming with pure joy. Perhaps this was his true self. Unlike other families, the House of An had exceptionally rigid rules. They were vehemently averse to Autonomous Awakening—which others might view as a path more suited to the individual—and instead brought all generations of their clan through a Higher Calling directed toward the White Stag via specific rituals. Whether direct bloodline, collateral branch, or adopted orphans, all underwent the unified ritual at six years old. Yet the conditions were brutally exacting; over the years, those who could pass were few and far between. Children who failed were relegated to the outer courtyard. If no one in three generations passed the ritual selection, the branch would be wiped from the family registry entirely. Having ties to the House of An without talent was never a good thing. And through that Higher Calling, the ability they awakened was singularly consistent—plain, sturdy, and unadorned: Projection! To put it bluntly: throwing things from one's hands. It was just that compared to ordinary mortals, they threw farther, faster, and harder. So hard that even Celestial Chosen of similar types were left far in the dust! Such was the terror of heritage. A technique so simple, refined and honed across generations of clan members, had expanded and deepened its application to an extent beyond the imagination of ordinary people. In the House of An, this discipline was codified as the *Ritual of Pitch-Pot*. Like the pastime played by ancient nobles and royalty during drinking banquets, it sounded tender and refined, completely cloaking the gore and death it wrought when its edges were truly bared. Now, as An Ran swung with the wind, each flick of his fingers burst another plume of blood in midair, accompanied by endless shrieks and wails. Yet that rich reek of blood seemed to drive the gargantuan monster lurking in the ruins even more frenzied. Giving chase, it opened its jaws repeatedly, snapping up the falling carcasses before they even hit the ground. The more it ate, the more ravenous it grew. Rings of bizarre compound eyes were already fixed on the "chef" dangling in midair... relentless in its pursuit! *You bastard, you're really hooked on this one bite, aren't you?!* Ji Jue was completely numb. He twisted the throttle to maximum, not hesitating to drain every scrap of his spiritus to pump it into Little Niuma's frame. The engine roared in frantic shuddering, both exhaust pipes spitting rocket-like plumes of cyan flame. Their speed skyrocketed once again! And so, nimbly bounding and leaping across fractured buildings, scrambling over collapsed ruins and brick, as if trapped in some godforsaken video game cutscene with zero QTEs where every damn second required full manual control—they fled for their lives!