Even Usurpers of Nations Shall Be Slain!

"Wha—" The Abyssal Lord's pupils shrank instinctively as he tried to recoil. Too late. By the time his senses caught up, a murmur like an auditory hallucination whispered in his ear. A palm emerging from his reflection was already pressed flat against his face. Then, it drove forward! Spectral fingers, incorporeal as a phantom, phased clean through his flesh, bone, and brain, slowly closing until they seized his very soul in an iron grip. Effortless. Inevitable. He had opened his doors to the robber himself, snatching the bitter fruit to his side and willingly offering his own soul into that grasp. "What... what in the world... are... you..." The Abyssal Lord froze, suffocating. His pupils contracted sharply, reflecting the face smiling with silent malevolence beneath the black flames as it drew closer inch by inch. He didn't even have time to finish speaking. Unable to hold it back any longer, he shrieked in agony. The oceanic abyss trembled! In that instant, a violent convulsion unlike anything caused by Jingzhen erupted from deep within his soul. Black flames surged forth like a tidal wave, accompanied by the nonstop sound of splintering and shattering. Whether it was his impregnable defenses or the prohibitions woven from the Tyrant's Law, every last one dissolved! It was like ink dropped onto an unfurling scroll; no matter how diluted, nothing could halt the rapid spread of the pitch-black stain. Whatever color it touched was swiftly reduced to a mottled, blurred blemish. Amidst irreversible corruption, it met utter ruin. Amidst chaotic assimilation, it turned to nothingness! Power, status, control, dominion... under the ravages of that palm, everything in the mortal realm seemed to lose all meaning, rendered as petty as dust. Even the Authority that anchored the Tyrant's very soul showed signs of melting under the erosion of the dark. "Get away! All of you, get away from me!" At this moment, the Abyssal Lord could no longer afford to spare a thought for what little assets he had left. He screamed hysterically, "Protect me! Protect your sovereign!" Yet no matter how he bellowed, the edicts that had once obeyed him like his own limbs offered no response. Across his crumbling dominion, the surviving scale-transformed had turned into walking torches. Thrashing and wailing by instinct, they were ignited by the flames pouring from their own souls, dancing in terror. In the end, they dissolved into an insignificant speck within the darkness, merging completely into pure void, never to be seen again. Edicts collapsed, dominions crumbled, subordinates were annihilated, and Authority shattered... Even the shadow of the Tower rapidly dimmed! "Mercy! Spare my life!" Without hesitation, he prostrated himself on the ground. Stripped of everything, the shivering Tyrant seemed to have finally awoken from a sweet dream that had never belonged to him. Bowing his head and knocking it against the floor, snot and tears streaming down his face, he pleaded, "Wait! I'm useful! I'm still useful! I'm willing to be Your Eminence's loyal hound, ready to lay down my life without hesitation!" As though terrified that Ji Jue wouldn't believe him, he lifted his Authority without a second thought—that prince's seal on the verge of splintering—and raised it high with both hands, offering it up: "I was forced into this! Someone made me do it! I... I have people in the Federation! And the Empire, in the Empire too! Right, I still have a fortune, I have two treasure vaults! I... I'll definitely—" "Shh—" A finger rose, gently pressing against his lips to bring the pointless clamor to an abrupt halt. Immediately after, the burning flames ceased. The crumbling dominion was halted on the very brink of the precipice by the narrowest of margins. He had stayed his hand. Having narrowly escaped death, the Abyssal Lord lay prostrate on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. At the thought of his impending misery, grief overwhelmed him, and tears once more streamed down his face. Yet he soon realized that Ji Jue hadn't taken the Authority he offered. In fact, he hadn't even spared it a glance. Before joy or confusion could set in, he saw Ji Jue's face. From start to finish, it bore no expression at all, only quiet calm. Just like someone looking down from the heights of heaven. "Continue," he said. The Abyssal Lord froze, his eyes widening in bewilderment. He couldn't believe his ears. "Isn't there still one more?" Those pitch-black eyes gazed down, reflecting his pale face, and told him, "My patience is limited. Don't make me wait too long." —*Continue!* "Sp-spare..." Shivering in a cold sweat, the Abyssal Lord opened his mouth to beg for mercy. Yet pinned under that gaze, he felt as if his very soul had been torn away. His mind went utterly blank, frozen like a wooden chicken. Captured and swallowed by the abyss's gravitational pull. Falling against his will, struggling in vain. Guided solely by instinct, he obeyed the command and extended his hand once more... Usurpation! When his senses returned, his hand seemed to have closed around something again. The instant he made contact, what he felt was an agony more terrifying than anything he had ever known! —Chixiao! A treacherous minister overstepping his bounds to grasp at the princely throne; a tyrant brazenly seizing the reins of state. That dormant blade, which had never belonged to him, erupted with unprecedented fury. A resonant clang of righteous wrath echoed between sea and sky! The moment Chixiao was touched, the Heavenly Decree raged. An unbearable weight of Tianyuan manifested out of thin air, descending upon the Tyrant's dominion and making the deep oceanic abyss mourn and tremble. *Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!* The Abyssal Lord screamed. The body that had barely managed to climb to its feet slammed back into the ground, driven almost into the bedrock like a wedge, unable to move so much as a finger. Far more terrifying was the crushing weight bearing down upon his soul. Chixiao, which had felt as light as a feather in Ji Jue's hands, weighed heavier than Mount Tai when cast upon the Tyrant! Since he dared reach for the supreme sovereignty, then let him savor it to the fullest! The so-called weight of Tianyuan! Bathed in that slender, seemingly insignificant light, the roar of collapse echoed. Across the shadow tower he manifested, fissure after fissure spread frantically, beginning to cave in at a rate visible to the naked eye! Furthermore... Countless shattered shadows, hauled by an invisible gravitational pull, swept into a vortex and ascended toward the sky, drifting bit by bit toward that high-hanging radiance of Chixiao! Just as a black hole devoured light. That faint gleam of light was, in turn, devouring the entire dominion! The Tyrant's soul, Authority, power, and even his Law of Aberration—everything, drawn by Chixiao, scrambled to break free from his control and embrace a more legitimate sovereign! This was the cruelest internecine strife within the path of Tianyuan—within the exact same system, the superior held absolute suppression over the subordinate, commanding the power of life and death! In fact, it could hardly even be called seizing. Authority stemmed from above! Grace stemmed from above! Life and death were likewise wielded in the hands of the superior! Everything happening now was merely the superior taking back what had originally belonged to him from the hands of a traitorous rebel! To the outside observer, it looked as though Chixiao was flaying and devouring the Tyrant alive! Pleading for mercy was useless; negotiations could buy no time. Rather than keeping an ambitious, treacherous wretch underfoot to drag his feet, why not reclaim that power and bestow it upon a more loyal hound? The moment he grasped this reality, the Abyssal Lord let out a shrill scream, raving with mad curses, roaring hysterically, and thrashing in struggle. Time and again he climbed from the ground, only to be hammered back into the dust by the weight of Chixiao. His venomous eyes could no longer endure the horrifying pressure, bursting into pulp within their sockets. Yet his hatred burned all the more ferociously. "I'll take you down with me!" With the Abyssal Lord's screech, his dominion shook, and his Authority shattered, detonating outward like an ignited powder keg. Self-destruction! Unfortunately, it was futile. From the moment he dared use his Authority to counter-coerce Chixiao and usurp Tianyuan, he had irrevocably forfeited any chance of mutual destruction. Sensing this futile resistance, the light of Chixiao merely shifted ever so slightly, effortlessly suppressing that ripple of defiance. In that moment, the blinded Tyrant finally perceived it... A solemn silhouette surpassing all mortal phenomena seemed to rise behind Ji Jue. Formless and imageless, yet encompassing a multitude of wonders, as if commanding all things and governing the world. Majestic Tianyuan manifested here! Under Chixiao's glow, Ji Jue's body cast a pitch-black shadow over the ruins. Like a living thing, the shadow expanded rapidly, stretching forward without end, blanketing the dominion and swallowing everything. It was as if the ancient pillar that had once penetrated the entire mundane world and governed all Supreme Goodness had reappeared here—even the straight fissure along its length was unmistakably distinct. The Tower! Tianyuan and the Tower coexisted in this place! Supreme Goodness and Great Sin blended within Ji Jue, harmonizing as one. Under the illumination of Chixiao's light, majestic imperial palaces seemed to abruptly rise from the empty void, their myriad wonders materializing from the phantasm. Twenty-four Heavenly Gates opened in succession. The insignias of the Swordsmith Hanxiang and the Imperial Sovereign's Hand flanking either side regulated yin and yang and balanced the eight directions. Countless scenes and figures from Xinquan, the Mid-Continent, and Luo Island surfaced continuously, pouring into the spectacle and causing Chixiao's weight to skyrocket once more! In an instant, after devouring half of the Tyrant's dominion, it seemed finally satisfied, pausing for the briefest fraction of a moment. Immediately after, within the shadow of the Tower, the Veil unfurled out of thin air... The silhouette of the vile fiend avatar flashed and vanished. Before Ji Jue could even react, he saw his own mandala, along with countless Spirits of Creation, tumble inside and merge into Chixiao! The steel city of Punabantu and the magnificent spectacles forged by Deus Ex Machina were reflected one by one, bringing the entirety of the Lord of the Flies beneath the same order and the same command! He could feel the presence of countless Spirits of Creation throughout the entire system of the Lord of the Flies; their survival and destruction seemed to hang entirely upon his single thought! Yet not one of the Spirits of Creation resisted in the slightest. On the contrary, they were overwhelmed with joy, clamoring to assimilate into the edict Ji Jue had established. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, they sang and danced without pause. *Bright shines Chixiao, glorious gleams the Lord of the Flies; all my creations, meow meow meow meow!* Tianyuan and the Tower, humans and creations—two groups that had once been separated like water and oil—were completely unified under the integration of Chixiao. When the final trace of weight dispersed from Ji Jue, the lightless depths of the sea and the oceanic abyss were thoroughly illuminated by that fiery radiance flowing like clouds and mist. Amidst this dreamlike spectacle, even the dilapidated, ruined surroundings became pleasing to the eye, as though a soaring tower ten thousand fathoms tall were about to rise from the earth. Under the illumination of this brilliance, gathered from boundless kindling, anything and everything became possible. The light of Chixiao was no mere candlelight. When the boundless desires of humanity gathered into a vast sea, even the heart of heaven would swerve; when the countless principles of humanity stacked like mountain ranges, even the laws of heaven would tremble! Herein lay the shift between humanity and heaven!