Boon and Sharing

In Huinao's hand, a pea-sized flame flickered, shedding a faint remnant glow. That feeble light illuminated only the space immediately around him, yet it silently swallowed whole every incoming attack. A defense forged specifically against the destruction of the Entropy branch, blending the transmutations of Ascension and the Abyssal Depths, a masterwork of presence and void from Mirror and Rainbow—the Light-Swallowing Chalice! "See? I'm in no hurry." Huinao lifted his head, his genial face brimming with smiles, immovable as a mountain. "Right now, victory appears to be on my side. You would do well to handle things properly, rather than—" Boom! The instant the surging crimson storm chopped him to pieces, Huinao's body burst like sludge, dissolving and sinking back into the mire. And at the opposite end of the mire, a hazy figure wriggled, slowly rising as he sighed wistfully: "If I were you, I would worry about myself rather than my opponent. After all, your situation has already grown far too dire." "..." Amid the entanglement of boundless mud, crimson light slashed out, cleaving right through the gathering mire again and again, yet it was like sinking into a quagmire, impossible to break free from. Wispy threads reached out from the muck, faint and flickering, constantly drifting about to entwine themselves around Ji Jue. Gravity shifted incessantly, dragging him toward deeper depths. Beneath the erosion of curses, Ji Jue remained expressionless. Pan Ying wailed as he slashed out with ruthless force. Before long, he felt it: Pan Ying's crimson radiance dimmed by a negligible sliver, then another, and another... as if restrained, gradually prevented from exerting its full might. A sighing voice echoed from afar. "Though the Ye clan's orthodox Nine Forms plunged beneath the Vortex and became nigh impossible to trace, when Old Patriarch Ye Zhun sought aid from the Profound back then, he took out quite a few fine treasures!" Huinao looked down at the archaic scabbard covered in cracks in his hand, sighing with emotion. "You see, fate is always so bizarre. Something the Profound originally prepared for Ye Xian is being used on her student instead. "Taking the fall for your master—I suppose this fulfills your filial piety." A creation once fashioned by the Ye clan's main branch specifically to suppress their own subordinate artisans was now quietly shining. As spiritus was poured into it, it suppressed the power of the Nine Forms, gradually weakening them. Ji Jue did not speak, nor did he pause for even an instant. Grip firm on Pan Ying, he maintained a relentless assault, pressing forward step by step. Yet Huinao seemed to have made up his mind never to engage. He merely skirted around and fled, constantly shifting his position through the mire. Even with thorough preparations, he refused to clash directly with Ji Jue. Even when danger pressed in and he had to scramble and crawl to evade, he made no counterattack whatsoever. Words kept pouring from him—caring inquiries, wistful sighs—sounding heartfelt and utterly sincere, yet growing ever more irritating, downright nauseating. Until, wrapped and ensnared by numerous curses, that steel body was completely engulfed, and the smile on Huinao's face grew increasingly mocking. Yet immediately after, the roar of a pumping heart abruptly erupted. From within that colorful, chaotic darkness, bursts of purplish-black lightning surged forth. Zhanlu went berserk, incinerating every encroaching curse. Even as it burned and liquefied itself, the curses that had just been utterly annihilated resurfaced rapidly without rhyme or reason, spreading once more. "It is useless, Mr. Ji. Undying resentment brings unending curses. It seems my disciple truly hated you to the marrow of his bones." Huinao shook his head, speaking slowly: "Nor can one blame him. In truth, I don't blame you either. "If there is any blame, lay it upon the sectarian prejudice and pedantic divide between Embers and Stagnant Rot. To think what drives us to fight to the death here is such a ridiculous thing—don't you agree?" At that moment, Ji Jue finally lifted his head and looked at him. As if moved, he slowly parted his lips, making Huinao's smile all the more gleeful. The fortress had softened. Along the thousand-li dike, the first fissure had appeared. From the very beginning until now, he had finally elicited a response from Ji Jue. It did not matter whether it was rebuttal, disdain, or a furious interrogation. The more words spoken, the faster the crack would spread, and the sooner collapse would arrive. Yet before Huinao's smile could fully blossom, it froze at the corners of his mouth. All he heard was Ji Jue's question: "—Just what are you hiding?" A split-second of dead silence. Huinao looked bewildered. After a brief stunned pause, he gave a slight shrug: "I truly don't understand what you mean. Haven't I been open and aboveboard enough? Or do you believe I am still keeping secrets from you?" "Yet you're getting anxious." Ji Jue scrutinized his face. "From the start until now, you've been talking incessantly, constantly baiting me to attack you, almost as if... you're terrified I won't pay attention to you." "Naturally, that is because of my vile nature," Huinao replied offhandedly. "Or could it be that you think even this is an attempt to cover something up? No matter, those are all your own assump—" "Lies," Ji Jue sighed, offering his critique. "You're trying too hard. If you didn't want me to notice right now, you should have raised a different topic or targeted another weakness of mine—for instance, continuing to insult my teacher. But you didn't... I see now. You're purely playing for time. It doesn't even matter whether I notice or not. "To you, even what you're saying now is merely groundwork and a diversion. "Perhaps with a bit of misdirection mixed in..." He pondered for a moment, then declared resolutely, "You want my attention fixed on you at all times so that I overlook what's truly important!" It was groundless, grasping at shadows, even a completely arbitrary deduction. Yet Ji Jue treated it decisively as the absolute truth. If asked what proof he had, there was only one thing: "If it were me, that's what I would do." He said, "And so, I did." Boom! The instant Huinao's attention was fully focused on Ji Jue, a familiar, furious roar reverberated through the Border Realm. The Dragon Mountain giant plummeted from the heavens! The steel creation, once light as a goose feather, had now turned into a mountain, plunging into the writhing mire, its entire frame bursting with explosive, scorching light! That was the light and flame Zhanlu had absorbed from the explosion earlier, the violent heat welling up within the Thunder Pool on the verge of erupting—like a sun rising slowly from the mire, whipping up a tempest that swept across all quarters. Amid the vaporization and splatter of countless tons of muck, in the deepest reaches of the dark, the solemn silhouette of an altar-like structure faintly emerged! And when Dragon Mountain drew its sword of light and heat to cleave downward, Huinao's figure finally rose from the mire, blocking the way ahead, and raised his hand. The phantom of an impregnable fortress rose from the ground, barring all attacks. He still appeared unruffled, calm and genial, offering only a seemingly helpless sigh as he effortlessly suppressed a trivial flare of anger. "This is why I despise pretentious artisans like you!" Every single one of them was more despicable and shameless than the last, more disgraceful behind closed doors, yet on the surface, each put on a more high-minded front than the other! How long had it been? A minute? Two minutes? Not even three minutes! The arrangement he had taken painstaking effort to conceal had already been exposed completely. And what it relied on was not some extraordinary intuition, astounding intellect, or rigorous logic. It was purely and simply measuring others by one's own yardstick—nothing more. Fortunately, his preparations were thorough enough... otherwise, he really might have capsized before this brat! As the altar's design and intricate esoteric rites behind him were laid bare, the hourglass set in the center had already drained in silence. Then, the hourglass flipped! In total silence, it was as if a clap of thunder went off. Outside the Border Realm, Jiang Tongguang surged to his feet in fury, his eyes nearly tearing at the corners. And within the Border Realm, the presence of Embers vanished without a trace. All that remained was boundless emerald fire gushing forth across the heavens, and the eye that opened within the emerald flames. Here, the Great Sin descended! This was a rite and sacrifice that could only be employed within the Border Realm, and only at this precise moment—offering up numerous sacrifices, severing all Supreme Goodness, and at the same time, presenting all creations within the Border Realm as offerings before the Great Sin for its royal viewing... This could not even be considered an attack, nor was it a vicious curse; for every artisan of Stagnant Rot, it was an opportunity hard to obtain no matter how many materials or how much wealth one spent. This was a blessing—a blessing and transformation pointing straight toward Stagnant Rot. Offering up countless precious materials, it implored the Great Sin to bestow its quintessence and empower the caster, allowing an artisan to unleash a level of craftsmanship far surpassing the past and achieve an alchemy beyond all limits. This was not even restricted to oneself! Likewise, it made no distinction between friend or foe... Which meant that Ji Jue, as a participant, was included as well. In fact, because of the nine Stagnant Rot artisans he had previously slain, the boon bestowed upon him was even greater than Huinao's! Boom! The steel body suddenly froze, as though an invisible weight had settled upon its spine, making every step an ordeal. Spasms, convulsions. From this moment forth, unstoppable corruption had begun! "The Great Sin's favor, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity and boon—I shall share it with you." Huinao smiled, gazing down at his opponent: "Mr. Ji, how does it feel?" The psychological warfare, the suppression of numerous creations, the pervasive curses, Motu's detonation, and even the opponents Huinao had personally sent onto the field one after another before this... none of it had ever been the point. They were nothing more than a smokescreen. Now that every condition had been met, coalescing into a chain of destruction that descended upon Ji Jue, Huinao's true goal was finally revealed. From the very beginning, he had wanted far more than just victory! He wanted to use this to take a step further, to seize back everything lost because of Ji Jue! In this duel between Embers and Stagnant Rot, right under the noses of the Association and the Grandmasters, he would make the artisan they championed fall into the Profound and undergo total corruption!