Amidst the lingering coils of blood-light, chimes reminiscent of mournful bells echoed through the rumbling roars and shrieks. The thoroughly warped Priest-King let out a shrill, desolate howl as if laughing madly, tears of blood raining down upon the earth.
The moment the eye of the Wolf Sin looked down from above, the final essence was on the verge of descending!
The third wolf had already opened its eyes within the husk of the White King.
It stood ready to feast upon this final sacrifice!
Yet high in the heavens, a brilliant gleam like a bursting star plummeted from above.
After a long, enduring wait, the White Stag Celestial-Human lying in wait erupted.
Holding nothing back, throwing caution to the wind.
To slay the wolf.
Flying Light and Sun Reflecting erupted once more, screaming as they intertwined. Like vanguards, they cut a straight path with crushing ruin through countless churning waves, sweeping away every final obstacle before him.
Like a comet striking the moon.
The Celestial-Human who had staked his life had turned into formlessness. Only a straight, keen bolt of radiance streaked forward, piercing right through the head of the Wolf of Hanging Bells and Bones!
For a fleeting moment, those turbid, manic eyes seemed illuminated.
A glimmer of lucidity surfaced within them.
And so he closed his eyes, waiting in weary surrender.
This was good too.
It was good this way...
Yet beneath that blistering radiance that concentrated all the world's sharpness, the Priest-King's features unexpectedly blurred in ripples, shifting into another, dazed face... filled with disbelief.
A fake again!
No, the real and false were inverted—from the very beginning, every precaution had already been laid... The chuckled laughter of the Wolf of the Heart echoed through the void, effortlessly shifting the boundary between truth and illusion, substitution having long been made with a prepared sacrifice.
The Heart Pivot lineage's [Scapegoat]!
Now, the goat died in the wolf's stead.
Before the sacrifice could even wail, it detonated with a boom.
And only now did Tianyuan's supposedly pervasive suppression arrive, tardy and sluggish...
Amid the raging gales came a mocking wolf howl. Up in the sky, two pairs of eyes like the sun and moon abruptly glared down, fixating relentlessly on the final sacrifice.
Brimming with joy and anticipation.
Once the third wolf was born, the final predation would begin!
In the distance, the current bearer of Flying Light looked grim, his gaze dark. He cast a calm glance at the trembling overseer beside him, speaking not another word.
What was left to say?
Even if they seemingly fought side by side, everyone understood that from the start, they were never on the same side!
Rather, the Empire and Federation shared the exact same goal as the two wolves from the very beginning...
To catalyze the third wolf—the Wolf of the Forest!
The only difference was that the Mountain Wolf and the Wolf of the Heart sought to complete the Wolf Sin while feasting on the flesh and blood of their kin to elevate themselves.
Tianyuan's purpose, meanwhile, was to snatch food from the wolf's jaws, eradicate any future trouble from the White Nation once and for all, slay the third wolf, stomp on the White Stag, and clip the wings of the Wilderness Market...
No matter whose hand slew the wolf, the Wolf of the Forest had to be born!
Now, blood-light coalesced like an altar; the sacrifice was on the verge of being set.
Awaiting the final slaughter!
Amidst the dense, viscous blood-light, the features warped into wolf form lifted one last time, staring into the empty sky... The sky, seemingly so lofty and free, had perhaps been an illusion from the start.
The true sky was not like this. It was pairs of cold, star-like eyes staring down; it was puppet strings bound tightly around oneself; it was a cruel hunting ground meant to milk dry and consume every last bit of one's worth.
"How laughable..."
The White King sighed wearily, having no strength left to struggle.
The dead end had reached its end.
He closed his eyes to accept his final fate.
Yet the boundless blood-light... abruptly ceased!
Beneath the gaze of the Wolf Sin's eye, it froze in place. Immediately following that, a shattering roar rang through heaven and earth.
The Kingdom of the Woods fell apart into ruin!
Within the rolling, boundless darkness, the burning colossal tree blazed with light once more, like a blazing sun piercing through everything!
It caused the eye of the Wolf Sin to contract instantly as if stung.
Deep within that fierce glare, a wisp of black flame rose silently. From afar blew a wind bearing ashes and sparks, ascending into the heavens.
Carrying with it a faint sigh, long overdue.
"As expected, you clowns never disappoint when it comes to making a disgrace of yourselves..."
In the instant of dead silence that followed, countless people widened their eyes and looked back in shuddering dread—behind them, below, into the hellish flames where a pitch darkness was gradually expanding.
Wait, that voice—
Fan Yun nearly choked.
His bloodshot eyes glared fixedly into the deepest reaches of the flames, at the figure walking out step by step.
A seven-horned crown rested upon his head, and draped over his shoulders was a blood-colored robe woven from countless thorns. Shrouded in pitch-black fire, he gripped in his hand the sword of wolf blood woven from boundless crimson.
He stood in place, waiting quietly.
He looked toward the Priest-King in the sky.
He still had a choice!
As long as he turned back!
As long as he could still turn back, as long as...
Ji Jue raised his hand and proclaimed decisively:
"—Come! I grant you release!"
"Ha... Hahaha, hahahaha..."
Entangled in blood-light, the Priest-King widened his eyes in astonishment, unable to hold back his laughter.
Perhaps he recalled the sole shred of pity and compassion that had accompanied him through the long dream; perhaps he remembered the aid that had bought him time and shared the burden, even if only a tiny fraction.
Or perhaps it was simply heartfelt joy.
At the very, very end, there was actually someone who could see him off on his journey...
Who was he? What did he want to do? What ultimate motive did he possess?
It didn't matter!
None of it mattered anymore!
It was just one worthless life—take it!
The Wolf of Hanging Bells and Bones howled wildly. With a violent shudder, it lunged downward toward the remnants below, toward the sword in his hand.
Without hesitation!
"Stop him!!!"
Fan Yun's eyes turned blood-red, his beard and hair bristling. The moment he realized the newcomer's identity, rage overwhelmed him, and he unleashed his full strength!
Not just Fan Yun, not just the Federation, not even just Tianyuan.
At this moment, everyone threw caution aside and struck together!
Just by that person appearing before their eyes, a chilling dread and unease of complete collapse washed over them. Just imagining what consequences would follow if the third wolf fell into Lu Changsheng's hands made them shrink from thinking any further!
It was as though, in a single breath, he had become the enemy of the entire world...
The sky pressed down abruptly with crushing weight.
The void trembled faintly, then suddenly stopped, as if something were about to emerge.
Yet far, far away in the darkness, someone sighed silently, holding down an impatient junior. "Don't rush. What's your hurry? An emperor can't be in a rush... Wait a bit longer! Hey, trust me, trust me!"
...
"Tsk!"
At the forward base, atop his half-dead old horse, the drowsy Master of Soldiers finally raised his eyes. Slowly, he tightened his grip on the spear in his hand, yet in that same instant, his movement came to an abrupt halt.
A moment of bewilderment, dazed confusion, as if stunned by disbelief.
Then, on his sleepy face, the corner of his mouth twitched, as though the most absurd and bizarre event in the entire world had just unfolded before his eyes.
He could hardly hold back a chuckle.
There was no need for him to act; under that endless barrage of attacks, the Kingdom of the Woods' last lingering aura fell completely apart, scattering in all directions...
And right then, amidst the infinite blazing light, Ji Jue laughed silently and slowly raised the sword of wolf blood in his hand.
Activate sacrifice!
With all the offerings and death currently in his grasp, with all the Wolf Blood Oaths he held, with that part of himself that was a wolf—offered as a sacrifice!
Overestimating his own strength, courting death, bringing about his own doom...
Calling upon Supreme Goodness!
"With this quarry—"
Ji Jue smiled, closing his eyes.
"—offered to the White Stag!"
In that instant, high in the pitch-black sky, the wolf's blood eye suddenly dilated, widening, as a ray of pure white light erupted from its deepest center!
Tearing heaven and earth asunder!
Just as boundless plains unfurled abruptly from Shangri-La, in the cycle of life and death between beasts and prey, hunter and wolf, a pair of eyes—both compassionate and cruel—opened behind Ji Jue.
With himself as the cause, himself as the origin, himself as the sacrifice, himself as the vessel.
At this very moment, he completely subverted the secret rite of wolf creation, abruptly redirecting this ritual of the hunt toward the Great Tapestry that truly ought to rule over all.
It was like a call meant for beneath the Vortex had been hung up and replaced with a completely new number. A line that should have received no reply was answered in a split second!
Thus, Supreme Goodness descended in majesty!
Colossal antlers seemed to prop up the heavens, and six legs trod upon the earth, restoring stability to the world once more. From behind Ji Jue, the towering, majestic, lofty, and aloof phantom of the White Stag manifested!
Summoned by such a bountiful quarry, the White Stag manifested its visage!
In the Empire's base, Doledonville shot to his feet, crushing the armrest beneath his hand. Shocked and beside himself with fury, he roared:
"Kill him, immediately!!!"
The blazing light cascading from the heavens abruptly erupted.
The Swarm Celestial-Humans of the Empire spared no cost, sacrificing two-thirds of their lifespans and every offering accumulated across their lives to their Sacrificial Lord.
Endless dead-gray ash gathered out of thin air before Ji Jue, tearing open a rift. From within that rift, a withered hand like that of a desiccated corpse reached out toward Ji Jue, who was mere inches away.
Boundless wails coiled around its five fingers, locking down every direction, detonating in an instant!
Immediately after... the hand was severed clean at the wrist!
A flash of Flying Light!
Like spring light fleeting away, the heart committed to flowing waters, never to return.
Bitter Day!
"Fuck, I don't give a damn if you're Lu Changsheng or not—well done! You did damn well! Haha, hahahaha!!!"
An Ding laughed wildly and pointed his finger, abandoning all restraint.
Up in the heavens, from within the void of darkness, speckles of starlight suddenly burst forth. Countless pots, bowls, pans, ladles, sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battleaxes, hooks, pitchforks, cupboards, tables, chairs, bones gnawed by dogs, completely broken desk lamps, and garbage bags too lazy to take outside plummeted like a torrential downpour, blotting out the sky and crashing down!
The Federation base, the Empire base, the Four Divisions and Six Sects, every vile fiend and Celestial-Human present—
Without distinction, every last one was engulfed!
Even faster than him was the shout from the master of Dongjiao:
"—Hit!"
The Sun-Reflecting Arrow erupted completely. This time, transcending all limits, ten suns emerged together!
The light of ten suns burst forth from the sky above the Kingdom of the Woods... no, the Kingdom of the White Stag! Empowered by the descent of Supreme Goodness, its power surged, surged, and surged again!
Tianyuan, who had originally hoped for the third wolf's arrival, now struck with merciless intent to slay the Priest-King, while the followers of the White Stag, who had previously sought to kill the Priest-King at all costs, suddenly transformed and stood as a shield in front of the White King.
Meanwhile, the Mountain Wolf and the Wolf of the Heart, who had longed for the third wolf's completion, went completely berserk...
Amidst Ji Jue's mocking laughter, the situation that had only just flipped on its head was overturned once more, throwing heaven and earth into total upheaval!!!
Chapter 648