A Sunny, Cheerful Boy

"What?!" When Ji Jue's voice rang out, both inside and outside the Border Realm fell into silence once again. Not only did the figure stepping forward from the Profound freeze in bewilderment, but the Association was also caught in stunned disbelief. Jiang Tongguang, who had been on the verge of raising his glass to celebrate from the sidelines, stood frozen where he was. He looked up at Ji Jue's back, utterly baffled. *Wait, bro.* *Are you asking for a free refill? This isn't some milk tea shop running a promo where the second cup is half off...* *What are you trying to gain?* Yet the moment he looked at that silhouette and recalled the ruthless conduct and brutal methods the fellow had always displayed, it suddenly felt somewhat normal after all. Why ask so many questions? What was there to mutter about? When the Profound was right before you, how could you not kill them? Besides, who said a person was only allowed to fight one match? "I think it works," Jiang Tongguang said, nodding in deep admiration. "I say it doesn't!" Gustav's voice sounded beside his ear, stern and deep. "Jiang Tongguang, what are you doing? Young people don't understand the gravity of the situation, so don't you go humoring his nonsense! Do you have to wait until something goes wrong before you regret it?!" "Why have you become so conservative, Old Gu?" Jiang Tongguang shrugged with a sigh. "Call it conservative or pedantic—it doesn't matter. If Ji Jue has any complaints, let him come take it up with me," Gustav retorted flatly. "The struggle between Embers and Stagnant Rot isn't a gamble, and the Association is no place to treat the rising generation as expendables!" Jiang Tongguang nodded. "What does the Grandmaster say?" "I'll speak to the Grandmaster—" "Isn't it fine?" In the midst of their exchange, a third voice sounded, making Gustav's words catch in his throat. "Strength and victory must always be put to the test." He added, "No harm in trying." Tianlu! Gustav's voice turned hoarse, taking on a hint of pleading and entreaty. "Is the grand Ring of Taiyi going to pin victory on a young man who has been an artisan for less than two years? Please reconsider..." Tianlu did not answer. He lowered his gaze toward Ji Jue. A calm voice sounded. "Can you still win?" "I can!" Ji Jue replied decisively, without the slightest hesitation. "Good. Then keep going—until you're tired of winning!" Tianlu laughed, looking toward the projection of Elder Zhen with open derision. "It'll let the Profound see just how vast the gap is between themselves and true Ember material. And what so-called victory, defeat, life, and death really look like!" In that instant, the silent Elder Zhen waved his hand and handed down an order, granting approval for the Association to continue the battle. The somber light within the Shadow of the Profound erupted into furious boiling. "Courting death!" The towering figure who had halted halfway raised his head, his face livid. In the grand duel between Embers and Stagnant Rot—a place where both sides fought with everything they had and stopped at no means—a brat from the Association was strutting around before the Profound? After fluking a win against a piece of trash like Gongjiao, he dared to put on airs... He truly did not know what was good for him! *Rumble!* The towering workshop within the Shadow of the Profound trembled and opened. Amidst the exploding flare of light, a magnificent scepter rose from the Crucible, plummeting from the sky straight into his hand. Crimson flowed across the searing, glowing-red scepter with a hissing sizzle, unsealing early the trump card prepared for an old rival. Bloodfire and black flames intertwined, whipping up a raging tide. Countless skeletons and monstrous visages faintly emerged from within. A sound of fracturing groans rang out. It was the metal armrest of a chair, mauled to pulp beneath ten roughly clenched fingers. "Bastard..." Yellowbeard, who had kept his eyes closed to rest, snapped them open, his face ashen. The flamberge before his knees howled in furious rage, spraying out countless sparks as he struggled to contain himself. A traitor who had betrayed North Wind, a scoundrel who had stolen their secret arts—did he actually have the gall to show himself before his eyes?! The supervising grand artisan of the North Wind Workshop before Yellowbeard, who at the critical moment of the expedition had coerced the North Wind heritage and defected to the Profound, nearly causing the Association to purge the North Wind Workshop and almost wiping out the Dragon Bone Fleet! His fellow disciple and senior... —Iron Valve Darsae! "So you people are still around, after all." At that moment, Darsae cast a detached glance toward the enraged Yellowbeard, letting out a disdainful sneer as he stepped through the gates of the Border Realm onto the battlefield. He stared coldly at Ji Jue in the distance, brimming with savagery and hatred. "Truly Ye Xian's student—just like her, blind to life and death!" "Shh, keep it down." Ji Jue raised a finger and waved it dismissively. "You're just another loser bested by my teacher. There are far too many like you; it's not novel in the slightest... "Don't you people from the Profound have any fresher personas? Why not just rename yourselves the Ye Xian Victims' Club? How about that?" "Presumptuous!" Darsae's face turned livid, his hair and beard bristling with fury. "Even if we speak of challenges, did she ever have the qualifications to challenge me back then? Now she's vanished without a trace for all these years, not even daring to show her face today. What kind of thing does she think she is?!" For a brief moment, the smile on Ji Jue's face froze. Meanwhile, the corners of Tianlu's mouth curled up silently, as though the lost smile had transferred over to him. *Oh my, this is about to get interesting!* "That's fine," Ji Jue said with a sincere nod. "Such a precious and rare experience—I can provide it for you instead. "When you go back and hear others crying about how they lost to Ye Xian, you won't have to envy them anymore. When the time comes, you can hold your head high and tell them, 'I'm different from you all. I didn't lose to Ye Xian; I only lost to her student'... well, assuming you can still make it back, that is." Scrutinizing Darsae's ferocious countenance, Ji Jue's smile grew increasingly genial, offering thoughtful comfort. "Don't worry, there's no need to fear losing too terribly. I'm not like my teacher, and my temper isn't that bad. I don't like making enemies all over the world." In that instant, Ji Jue tilted his head up and offered a final, brilliant smile. So sunny. Just as everyone knew him to be—warm, gentle, and kind. Always forbearing for the public good, never even quarreling with others. As for those who bore a grudge against him... Usually, their entire bloodline was wiped out by the end of the day! The instant the smile was swallowed by bloodfire, Ji Jue vanished. Only a raging tide of blood and flames came howling forward, turning into a storm that engulfed everything! After all that chatter from start to finish, Pan Ying had finally finished charging. Ten stacked layers of the Blood Wrist's Heritage Burnt Offering had at last pushed this body of steel to its limit. One thousand and twenty-four times! Having reached the peak of the Regeneration form, continuously reinforced and maintained by Ji Jue, the value underwent yet another qualitative change under the empowerment of All Things Self-Transform, surging to the very edge and limit of control. The world seemed cloaked in fire. All things fractured, fissures splitting open. Upon the vermilion blade, the sigil of the Blood Wrist blazed with light. The tide of bloodflame condensed into a single thread, bursting forth from the edge. Guided by Ji Jue's drawn-out advance, it rampaged across the earth, carving out a straight, deep canyon. A sweeping stroke cleaved across the field, seemingly splitting the entire Border Realm in two. When the descending slash fell from above, the void of the firmament was painted crimson, as though raining blood. *Teacher was young once, after all, and bound to make oversights... What was the point of leaving so many survivors?* *Once you've plucked the heritage, extracted the secret arts, and shattered their creations, keeping the people alive serves no purpose. Living is just torture for them anyway. Wouldn't it have been kinder to send them on their way and end it once and for all? How could there be so many annoyances today?* *Alas, out of respect for one's elders, a student really shouldn't bring such things up.* *One can only take it as a cautionary tale.* *And then...* *RUTHLESS EXTERMINATION!* *Boom!* For a fleeting moment, Darsae's expression was bathed in bloody light. In that brief instant of shock, he seemed unable to react, but immediately afterward... came a disdainful sneer. The earth shook violently. From the fractured canyon, an enormous hand suddenly rose and unfurled. Upon fingers as massive as buildings, distinct skeletal ridges ran like fingerprints. Boundless death converged into a colossal hand, blocking Pan Ying's path. The instant of their clash was point-blank. An ear-piercing screech of friction erupted. The giant hand stalled; Pan Ying remained unscathed. It had actually blocked it! A fissure from the recoil split across Ji Jue's body before rapidly sealing shut, only for him to see another palm crashing down from the firmament. Earth and sky seemed endowed with life, brimming with malicious savagery as they launched a violent assault on Ji Jue! Hundreds upon thousands of palms pressed down in continuous succession, like a torrential downpour rising from the ground and falling from the sky. Through the gaps where countless hands intersected, a streak of bloodlight rode freely like a shooting star, weaving and maneuvering between the cracks, shifting with effortless agility between heaven and earth to easily evade the siege. And when the colossal hands formed from dust and clouds completely dispersed, a faint, blurry phantom emerged behind Darsae. Like a giant clad entirely in scales, it held command over heaven and earth. The hero from Northern Realm mythology who had slain the burning dragon, bathed in dragon's blood, and consumed the dragon's remains to be reborn... The legendary Masterwork crafted from the remains of a dragon, the heritage passed down through generations of the North Wind Workshop, the supreme pinnacle of the Seed of Heroes. The Ring of Siegfried! "Bastard! How dare you defile the relic of the sages, the spirit of a hero!" Yellowbeard roared in absolute fury, nearly crushing the grip of his flamberge. "Darsae, do you have no shame left as an artisan?!" No one answered. Across the Border Realm, Darsae was not even aware, nor did he care in the slightest. Now, the Masterwork forged from dragon bone was his to wield, reborn and transformed within his grasp. "Sow the seeds once more, Siegfried! Return again and forge heroes!" He raised the scepter swirling with crimson in his hand. Within the dark crystal at its head, wisps of wandering golden light expanded rapidly. At last, it was complete. Artisans never did anything meaningless. While Ji Jue had been stalling to charge his attack, Darsae had likewise endured the humiliation, silently driving the awakening of the Masterwork. Now that the power of the King of Heroes was manifested in his hands, all words were rendered moot. Even the duel and the war were already over... All that remained was life or death! The instant he reached out and scattered countless iron filings, burly figures wrapped in bloodfire surged from the soil. The scenes of countless heroes recorded by North Wind were reenacted through his hands. Even greater than before! The moment he held the scepter high, a magnificent shadow like a tyrant rose from the ground, taking under its command every hero catalyzed by Siegfried. The flames of Frenzied Slaughter and the shadow of the Tower merged into one within the smelting of Stagnant Rot, no longer distinguishable from each other. At this moment, he was the King of Heroes, the mortal incarnation and reenactment of Siegfried, a true Lord of Dominion. And right beneath his feet, countless steel heroes manifested from the void, growing at rapid speed. Boundless fine iron filings swelled and expanded, crawling out from the mud in an endless tide under Siegfried's blessing. It was as if the dead were reviving once more. The heroes of the Northern Realm of old crawled from their graves, drawing their swords anew with furious savagery. At the very front, lightning crackled, flames surged, and the screech of grinding steel rang harsh and shrill... Hymir, Farbauti, Surtr, Hrungnir, Bestla, Mimir—the culmination of the countless transformations within the Seed of Heroes! In an instant, dozens of distinct Regeneration forms were achieved under Siegfried's superior grace! After only a fleeting pause, the towering Farbauti, several meters tall, materialized from the flashing lightning, bringing a battleaxe down toward Ji Jue's head! Without hesitation, Ji Jue struck. Under Pan Ying, Farbauti was sliced in two, yet the dissipating lightning reconverged before his eyes, reforming into the giant to swing again! *Boom!* Ji Jue crashed toward the earth. Immediately afterward, amidst the fracturing ground, a massive army of heroes broke through the soil once more, hurling themselves into a fearless assault against him. When Ji Jue reached out and slammed his hand against Hymir's face, he felt the shock of Jingzhen prove entirely useless; the interior of this body was completely hollow. Even if it crumbled to pieces in Ji Jue's hands right now, in the next instant, it would burst from the earth behind him once more, undying and imperishable! The Dissociation Art was useless because they were not true bodies at all—merely single-use expendables! As long as the Ring of Siegfried remained in Darsae's possession, these expendables could be spawned without limit. So long as he had enough spiritus, the fallen heroes under his banner were infinite! "Dissociation Art? Petty parlor tricks, hardly worth mentioning!" After being compared to it countless times and mocked for the same reason, Darsae could no longer hold back and burst into loud laughter. "Before true power, does it amount to anything at all?!" In that instant, right before Ji Jue, the roaring giant Hrungnir came to a screeching halt. Suddenly, it ceased to respond. It froze stiff on the spot. Because Ji Jue's outstretched palm was pressed against the giant's face. Immediately after, a disdainful sigh sounded through the countless roars and battle cries: "To deal with you, do I even need the Dissociation Art?" Perhaps your Masterwork was incredible, and you had endless spiritus and Seeds of Heroes to spare, making this look nothing like a fair fight. But it didn't matter. I can understand you. Because... —Deus Ex Machina!