At this moment, the sacrificial altar emerged, and the secret ritual began to churn.
Emerald fires surged like a tide. A giant eye opened wide, and the boons of Stagnant Rot descended in an unbroken stream.
In a fleeting instant of dead silence, Ji Jue seemed frozen, standing blankly on the spot.
Almost petrified, struggling to breathe.
Huinao offered only a sneer dripping with mockery. With utter derision, he watched him… quietly waiting for him to sink hopelessly into the mire, unable to extricate himself.
It could only be said that human nature sometimes savored this sort of jarring contrast.
When people had too much free time, lived in excessive comfort, and had bellies full of food, they loved nothing more than seeing a virtuous girl fall into vice or a courtesan turn over a new leaf. Countless masterpieces had been born from this exact trope.
A scene that was beloved as entertaining fiction, however, was like a nightmare in reality—even more terrifying than death itself.
Now, Ji Jue finally understood why this fellow had been bestowed such a name by Stagnant Rot.
He truly was disgusting to the extreme.
Killing someone wasn't enough; he had to destroy their spirit too. Win or lose, being smeared by this muck was like yellow mud falling into a tattered crotch—it looked like shit no matter how you explained it. It was just like an apocalyptic war between good and evil where the holy maiden who turned the tide suddenly started giggling like a wanton vixen right before everyone's eyes.
An artisan corrupted, throwing himself into the Profound—how melodious that sounded!
If Ji Jue lost, Huinao wouldn't even need to kill him. The Profound would keep him forever, putting him on display as a trophy and a specimen to relentlessly humiliate the Association and Embers. Even if he died, he could be stuffed and mounted as a taxidermy specimen, hung outside the great gates of the Profound.
Yet even if Ji Jue won, so what?
Once entangled for too long, he was destined to be stained by Stagnant Rot, enduring endless torment from that day onward. One could well imagine how, through round after round of Association audits, under countless suspicious glances and questions, he would one day take a wrong step and abandon all restraint in despair…
Ji Jue’s body seemed to tremble, barely able to support itself.
Shivering.
He couldn't take it anymore; he was on the verge of breaking.
Referring, of course, to his acting…
He was still too young, after all. Unlike that old dog up above who fished with effortless composure, Ji Jue already felt completely spent after putting on this act for so long, barely able to hold back his laughter.
Leaving aside the curses that were devoured one after another like snacks by the vile fiend's reflection, let's just talk about this Stagnant Rot contamination. No, brother, did you misunderstand something?
Did you cut your product with flour or what?
How is it completely different in quality from what I ate in Kanemoto’s cram school? It's like tossing two grains of salt into a giant cauldron of water and giving it a stir—there's no flavor at all!
It was simply too bland.
It couldn't be helped; the Grandmaster’s goods had been far too pure!
The sheer caliber of the Formula of Illumination was once again verified through Huinao’s elaborate sacrifice. If Huinao hadn't brought it out, Ji Jue almost wouldn't have noticed it.
*Hm? Are you in yet? It's fine, you did very well, truly splendid. Don't be discouraged, you tried your hardest.*
Still, as a warrior of justice, what was he supposed to do next?
"—Wishful thinking!"
After a prolonged bout of contemplation, Ji Jue finally snapped back to reality. Blending three parts fury, three parts disdain, three parts contempt, and ninety-one parts sheer determination, he bellowed in outrage.
Within the mire, amidst the entanglement of Stagnant Rot's essence, Ji Jue decisively raised his hand, drew out one Chunjun after another, and plunged them backhanded into his forehead, his viscera, and his heart.
Spiritus pierced through him, in turn chaining his own soul. The Three Phases circulated, solidifying the corrupted portions of his body, forcibly locking the progress in place and restraining reification!
*I, Ji Jue, am an upright, indomitable man standing between heaven and earth! In life, I belong to the Association; in death, I am a ghost of Embers! Even if my bones are ground to dust, I will never keep company with you Profound scum!*
Under the piercing blades, the silver radiance of his steel frame rippled once more, cleaving through the mire. Step by step, he strode toward the sneering Huinao and drew his sword!
Let it be offered here and now!
The final dance performed by himself, an artisan, for Embers!
With a flick of his fingers, purple lightning and black flame shot forth like a tempest, entirely negated by the Light-Swallowing Chalice held aloft in Huinao's hand. Beneath Huinao's feet, the hue of marble silently spread, and the precipitous citadel in the void grew increasingly solid, immovable as a mountain.
Now that Huinao no longer concealed his intention, the entire struggle had devolved into a pure war of attrition, a contest of their respective foundations and reserves.
He didn't need to do anything; he only had to stall for time.
Time was on his side!
Everything had unfolded just as he imagined—better than imagined, in fact. Hadn't the sole purpose of continually provoking and baiting Ji Jue into attacking him been for this?
The boons of Stagnant Rot continued to descend without pause. What was a precious boon to the Profound was a corrosive poison to Embers, capable of thoroughly warping both body and soul.
The more Ji Jue intervened with alchemy now, the more abundant the bestowed gifts would become. He was courting his own death!
Long before stepping onto the field, Huinao had drawn upon his authority to requisition a vast quantity of creations from within the Profound. To counter the destruction of the Dissociation Art, he had chosen to win through sheer numbers. It didn't matter if Ji Jue destroyed ten, a hundred, or a thousand items; the moldy stockpiles in the Profound's storehouses were too vast to count.
No matter how much was invested, it was well worth it. He didn't even need to win.
He only needed to hold on—hold on until Ji Jue could bear it no longer and underwent complete corruption!
Dragon Mountain trampled forward. A rust-mottled iron fist smashed against the projection of the precipice, causing the Border Realm to violently shudder. Yet atop the altar, Huinao, presiding over the secret ritual, remained motionless.
"If you ask me, there's no need to drag this out, Mr. Ji."
A voice filled with pity sounded, babbling incessantly: "A talent of fine jade, rare in this world—why draw a prison around yourself and stay confined within the Association?
"Does the Profound not offer boundless paths forward just the same?"
"Sure, I can join the Profound,"
Ji Jue’s voice sounded without a hint of wavering: "As long as you ask a Grandmaster to kill you to vent my anger. I imagine the Profound can figure out that multiple-choice question, right?"
"No problem!"
Huinao said decisively, without hesitation: "As long as you are willing to surrender all resistance, Mr. Ji, and receive the essence of Stagnant Rot, what harm is there in killing a piece of trash like me?"
In that instant, both faces hidden within the shadows showed identical expressions of contempt and mockery.
Pure, wishful thinking.
Both sides knew this intimately. Just as Huinao knew that even if Ji Jue joined the Profound, he would never let Huinao live.
He would never give Ji Jue a chance to walk out of the Border Realm alive.
The finer the jade, the more imperative it was to crush it utterly.
Even if the Profound could gain another Grandmaster ten or a hundred years from now, if the price was his own life, it was absolutely unacceptable!
A living Ji Jue would only bring endless trouble. Only a dead, corrupted Ji Jue could truly serve as a stepping stone for his own advancement.
Even if Ji Jue were to drop all resistance right now and embrace corruption, Huinao, who currently controlled the secret ritual, would add fuel to the fire, forcibly pumping him until his reification spiraled out of control, reducing him to an aberrant creation.
*This youth is terrifying to such an extent; he cannot be left alive!*
Though both sides maintained a tacit understanding, haggling and trading barbs, their hands never stopped attacking, and their vigilance never wavered for a moment.
In fact, it only escalated!
Boom!
A storm of blood and fire erupted once more. A four-edged, rotating blade of light and heat surged from Dragon Mountain's hand, cleaving down decisively. Under the impact of Jingzhen, shattering sounds echoed incessantly.
At Huinao's feet, defensive creations continually fractured, yet from his briefcase, even more creations emerged without pause. He threw money around like water, squandering fortunes without a single care for cost-efficiency just to weather the assault.
Whenever a critical moment arrived, the scabbard in his hand would give a subtle tremor, maximizing its interference with the circulation of the Nine Forms and suppressing Ji Jue's performance.
The Light-Swallowing Chalice erased all light and heat, turning scorching red as it hissed in his grip.
Right before his eyes, Ji Jue's movements suddenly hitched for a fraction of a second.
Countless threads of essence circulated and seeped, converging upon Ji Jue's body—his hands, his chest, his face—about to penetrate to his very marrow.
Ji Jue came to a dead halt.
A futile struggle, like waiting for the final straw to break the camel's back.
*No! I can't laugh yet! Hold it in, I have to hold it in!*
Huinao fiercely suppressed the urge to curl the corners of his mouth. Widening his eyes, he saw the hourglass behind him abruptly flip. Having consumed a colossal amount of materials, the ritual advanced into a brand-new phase.
Instantly, the boons skyrocketed!
Boom!
Ji Jue raised his hand and aimed it directly at his own face without the slightest hesitation.
Jingzhen!
The metal face shattered completely, countless components sloughing off to reveal the warped, mangled intricate structure beneath. Cracks spiderwebbed across the metal skull, nearly smashed to pieces by his own strike.
Immediately after came his chest, then both hands.
Without hesitation, he stripped away every reified part, replaced them, and repaired himself to wholeness once more. Chunjun pierced through him, shackling soul and flesh anew, freezing them completely.
Once again, he was fully restored!
Those blood-red eyes turned toward Huinao once more, causing Huinao's expression to twitch violently.
Utterly insane!
Even if the Regeneration form could be repaired at will, that didn't mean there was no pain. Moreover, because the Regeneration form overlapped and transmuted with both flesh and soul, the soul suffered grievous injury as well, piercing the heart with agony.
Even if fully repaired, he was still whittling away at himself. It was like taking a knife to excise an entire abscess from one's own body; every stroke was a vicious cut into his own life to cleanly remove the aberrant, mutated parts.
"Come on, let's keep going."
Ji Jue laughed aloud. Enveloped in purple lightning and black flame, his mechanical face burned glowing red, ferocious as a fiend, as he took giant strides forward.
Beneath layers of defenses, Huinao's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
*Courting death!*
It was like drinking poison to quench a thirst. Once reification began, it could not be halted. Even if parts were purged and replaced, as long as the ritual remained, the backlash would grow increasingly violent, impossible to sever.
He could see that within Ji Jue's soul, the boon from Stagnant Rot had already taken deep root!
Just a little more!
Just a tiny bit more!
Only the last fraction remained…
*Wait, why is that last fraction still not done?!*
In a flash of confusion, Huinao heard a resounding roar of destruction. Cracks finally appeared across the projection of the precipice.
The violently mutated Dragon Mountain giant had almost entirely degenerated into the likeness of a beast. Its dragon blood hungrily devoured everything, even swallowing the mire and the dissociated fragments into its belly.
Countless iron plates converged. Atop its aberrant visage, two savage, recurved horns slowly sprouted, pointing forward. A mere stomp unleashed a violent tide of gravity.
Another violent ramming impact sent the entire altar trembling, swaying precariously for a second.
Even more uncontrollable was the sudden darkening of Huinao's face.
Dragon Mountain was merely a superficial manifestation, unworthy of fear—nothing more than a raging beast. The truly dangerous, pivotal factor was Ji Jue! Ji Jue, who commanded it all!
Upon Dragon Mountain's back, amidst the winding coils of emerald flame and the erosion of corruption, that metallic face stared unblinkingly at him with a savage grin.
The silver radiance in his eyes flared endlessly, burning like fire.
Scorching, wild.
Though bearing a burden of ten thousand jin, he showed not the slightest hesitation, sprinting decisively along a dead end without looking back!
He didn't want victory, nor did he want to survive.
All he wanted was to tear the opponent before him into ten thousand pieces!
Huinao remained motionlessly composed, yet his fingers spasmed involuntarily. He felt a chill at the back of his neck—it was cold sweat.
Time!
Without him realizing it, time was no longer on his side.
It had been too long, far too long—so long that he began to wonder if what was in front of him was an illusion. Why was Ji Jue still standing upright?!
First came the final dance, then the dance within the final dance, followed by the dance within the dance within the dance!
Just when he finally thought it was about to end, he flipped the bottle cap only to find: congratulations, you won a prize, and the prize is another damn dance!
*Stop fucking dancing, big bro!*
Had he not been forcibly restraining himself to keep up appearances, his fury would have been painted across his face long ago in desperate urgency.
He was on the verge of collapsing!
The same boon of Stagnant Rot, the same erosion of essence, the same crushing weight… How could he, an artisan of the Profound, be the first to break?!
Once the secret ritual began, it made no distinction between friend and foe. However much Ji Jue bore, Huinao received no less, whether he wanted it or not!
Signs of melting had already surfaced in his palms, threatening to dissolve into sludge and blend entirely into his own Encircled Realm. If this continued and Ji Jue didn't fall, he would turn into an aberrant creation first.
Could he stop? Was he able to stop? Did he dare to stop?!
It was like speeding in a car with the pedal floored to the metal. When the passenger shut his eyes in total nonchalance, it was the driver with his foot on the gas who started sweating.
Under boundless pressure, Ji Jue could still fight his way to his face. Once released from this pressure, before Huinao could even catch his breath, he would have to confront an opponent stripped of all restraint!
*Why the fuck are you like this?!*
The beast of Dragon Mountain roared, opening its maw.
The light and heat of Zhanlu gushed forth!
In Huinao's hand, the radiance of the Light-Swallowing Chalice trembled intermittently. His eyes widened as his five dissolving fingers flowed sluggishly, wrapping around the archaic scabbard to trigger its effect once more—
Suppress Zhanlu!
Yet at this very moment, he heard a mournful wail from his own hand.
The scabbard shattered!
And all Ji Jue had done was give the Mirror of Contained Forms a slight tremor, nothing more!
Regrettably, it was not that the scabbard was ineffective, nor was it that Ye Zhun had handed over a counterfeit back then. Rather, from the very beginning, Ji Jue had never fallen within the category targeted by the scabbard!
In the lineage of the Nine Forms, the divide between the inner and outer circles was as vast as heaven and earth. You brought a tool designed to suppress collateral branches and outside bloodlines to command the contemporary head artisan and direct orthodox inheritor?
Did you make a fucking mistake?!
Huinao was dumbfounded. Before terror could register, he instinctively held up the Light-Swallowing Chalice, only to see that the boundless light and heat had vanished… All the blazing light had been fully converted into pure kinetic energy.
*Shock comes—crack, crack!*
Boom!
The fractures across the precipice phantom spread and widened once more. Before Huinao could react, the beast of Dragon Mountain slammed forward violently, like a toppling mountain, utterly crushing the final line of defense.
The mire erupted, sludge boiling and billowing outward to engulf everything.
Huinao's body abruptly vanished from where he stood, not even hesitating to abandon the altar as he instinctively fled into the distance… Yet when he realized there was nowhere to run, what met his eyes was a ferocious visage rising at the end of the darkness.
Dragon Mountain bared its teeth.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Atop the giant beast, Ji Jue smiled, looking down at his leisure with immense curiosity: "Now, tell me: who is the one courting their own death?"
Huinao's expression twitched. He forced a strained smile and tried to speak.
Boom!
Blood and gore splattered as his body was seized by Dragon Mountain's claw, clenched ruthlessly, and then slammed down backhanded.
Amidst heaven-shaking tremors, fissures ruptured across the altar.
With a flick of Ji Jue's fingers, swords of spiritus rained down from the heavens, pinning him dead to the altar, impaling him straight onto the sacrificial locus.
"Wait—"
By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.
Mastery of the ritual had been transferred in an instant, forcibly wrested from his grasp. Now, the person stomping the gas pedal had become the passenger!
The hourglass shuddered and flipped once more!
Corruption surged violently!
The giant eye descended inch by inch, closer than ever before. Under the gaze of Stagnant Rot, boundless emerald fire and nether light surged, converging entirely upon Huinao.
*Wait for what? I'm in a hurry!*
*Hurry the fuck up!*
Ji Jue mercilessly drove the secret ritual, gazing down with cold indifference. If he loved corruption so much, he might as well be corrupted to the very end!
It would save him from wasting grain and being an eyesore any longer!
A shrill, agonizing shriek erupted, resounding throughout the Border Realm.
Right before everyone's eyes, the altar blew apart with a roar. Boundless darkness boiled, billowing outward to swallow all in sight.
And when the smoke and dust finally dispersed, the manifestation of the Great Sin and the emerald fires were gone without a trace. In the dead silence, there remained only Ji Jue standing coldly, along with the squirming mass of sludge adorned with countless bones beneath his feet.
One face after another belonging to Huinao wailed at the top of their lungs, weeping tears of blood.
Lingering instincts still struggled relentlessly, attempting to flee, but where could they run?
Beneath Jingzhen, it evaporated completely.
Dead!
The victor was decided.
Even battered and bruised, even entangled in reification, the one standing in the Border Realm at this moment was still Ji Jue!
The Profound boiled. Amidst a colossal rumble, an enormous figure forced its way out of the darkness in towering rage, stepping toward the Border Realm.
Yet before the Border Realm, the illusory image of a clock tower faintly materialized. Coiled atop the clock tower, an old dragon that seemed to be drowsing opened its eyes and looked toward him.
Full of curiosity.
Having just sent so many fellows to their deaths, now that they had lost and grown frantic, they wanted to bully a kid?
If you can't afford to lose, don't play!
The duel hadn't even begun yet!
Clock Tower asked curiously, "What is this, Bai'e? Is the Profound trying to break the rules?"
The sin-bearing demon within the shadows fell silent. He gave a cold laugh and glanced toward Ji Jue: "I merely wonder if the Association's great talent, having grown so arrogant, still dares to continue."
Ji Jue turned his head and gave him a blank look. Then, right in front of him, he drew out a cane that looked vaguely familiar, looking eager to give it a try.
A… cane?
Wait!
In a flash of shock, the shadowy figure jerked violently and instinctively took a step back, casting a wary glance toward Tianlu in the distance.
Yet immediately after, he saw the cane in Ji Jue's hand dissolve inch by inch, turning back into viscous quicksilver.
It was nothing more than an empty prop!
And just as realization dawned on him, he finally heard a cold laugh.
Right by his ear.
"Heh…"
Right before his eyes, Ji Jue walked out of the Border Realm step by step, dragging behind him several unrecognizable corpses bound by cords of quicksilver.
Just like that, calm and composed, he brushed past him shoulder to shoulder.
He even glanced back at him with a faint, mocking smile: "One after another, putting on airs… Truly, there's nothing of substance in the Profound."
At this moment, no one answered.
Only a colossal sound of shattering echoed between sea and sky. The towering Pillar of Submersion trembled violently as countless fragments rained down like a tempest.
Submersion was destabilized; the Sea of Bitterness boiled.
After countless accumulations and transmutations, as if finally unable to bear the burden under the relentless attrition of a single artisan, a deep fissure ruptured right down its center.
Like a sword strike, utterly devastating!
Tianlu silently bared his teeth, glancing across the way: "Elder Zhen, how does it feel?"
"He is Ye Xian's student after all… Fierce and sharp, possessing terrifying mettle, surpassing even his teacher."
Elder Zhen remained calm, neither belittling nor showing any contempt, praising him as if from the bottom of his heart: "For the Association to possess such a talent is truly rare and precious."
"Bullshit again."
Tianlu chuckled and shook his head. "Whether he is fierce and terrifying is one thing, but it's certainly not because he is Ye Xian's student."
Ye Xian and Ji Jue.
Teacher and student, sharing the same coldness and cruelty, the same arrogance and self-centeredness.
Yet their natures were completely different.
No matter how similar they appeared on the surface, their origins were polar opposites.
One appeared harsh, but was an out-and-out idealist who could not tolerate a single speck of dirt. The other appeared easygoing, but was an unscrupulous pragmatist who cared nothing for consequences.
Ye Xian looked down on the Profound and looked down on the Association; it was mere indifference.
Ji Jue simply didn't care.
Whether it was the Profound or the Association, it didn't matter to him.
He had joined the Association merely because it happened to lie upon the path he had chosen.
And he had traveled thousands of miles to fight the Profound not out of factional loyalty, but purely because… he viewed them as stumbling blocks and contaminants.
He could not tolerate their presence before his eyes; he could not bear having such people share the same world as him.
Nothing more!
"Didn't you want to see the strong, Elder Zhen? The fine talent you wanted to see is right before your eyes. Too bad he has nothing to do with your Stagnant Rot garbage."
Tianlu threw his head back and declared decisively: "You are destined to be enemies!"
Elder Zhen lowered his gaze, unshaken. He merely watched that receding figure, finally giving a soft chuckle: "That sounds wonderful."
"Next," he said.
Thus, the struggle continued; the slaughter carried on.
It never paused.
Yet compared to the feats Ji Jue had achieved, everything that followed inevitably grew dull.
The day passed in a flash. Even after victory and defeat were decided several times, hardly anyone inquired or spoke of them.
Whether Association or Profound, the material world or the Vortex, the gazes of all onlookers and witnesses were drawn to the exact same person.
Unremarkable when he left, the center of all eyes upon his return.
Before Tianshu, Gustav, who had been waiting for a long time alongside three directors, pinned the Master badge onto the returned Ji Jue before everyone present,
Proclaiming it to the entire material world!
An artisan who was once relatively obscure had now transformed into a sought-after Master within the Association. He had even shattered Ye Xian's past record, leaping above countless fellow artisans with less than two years of practice to become a focal point that could no longer be ignored.
No one questioned this; not a single voice of opposition was raised. Beyond shock and envy, no other emotion could even surface.
The duel of Embers and Stagnant Rot, the war between the Association and the Profound—on this first day, which was originally meant to be a preliminary qualifier and warmup, Ji Jue had single-handedly swept ten opponents in a row, slamming an unprecedented, terrifying record right into everyone's faces.
Anyone with a brain understood the sheer weight of this feat.
Never had there been such a blunt and clear demonstration, nor had there ever been such a rigorous trial and struggle. Across ten matches, creations, skill, heritage, matrix, endurance, execution, and every aspect of himself had been executed with utter perfection!
A genuine Chosen of Embers, a peerless talent unseen in decades or even centuries, a powerhouse truly capable of swaying the entire situation had been forged this very day!
"All things self-transform, all things self-become…"
Before the crucible in the deepest reaches of the Profound, amidst churning emerald flames, Elder Zhen tossed the materials in his hand into the fire, sighing with emotion: "Tempering the ordinary mediocrities of the Profound to forge the masterworks of Embers… This sword must have been hidden for a very long time, hasn't it?"
He said, "Tianlu's methods truly are formidable."
"Are you furious?"
A distant shadow outside the workshop sneered, "I thought Elder Zhen was immovable as a mountain. Looking at you now, your breadth of mind doesn't seem quite as lofty as the rumors say."
"I am no omniscient, unfathomable monster. Before the true creations of the mortal world, I am ultimately just a mortal.
"A temporary gain or loss may not affect the grand scheme, but how could it not leave one vexed?"
Elder Zhen turned back, looking toward the guest he had invited, and suddenly asked, "I heard that previously, you also dealt with that young man?"
"Yes."
"What do you think of him?"
"Didn't you test him long ago? Why bother putting on this act?"
Kanemoto glanced at him and said slowly, "Though he is indeed a piece of fine jade, you had best extinguish that thought of yours as soon as possible."
"Why?" Elder Zhen asked.
Kanemoto reached out, hooking a finger to draw forth a dagger that had been nurtured in the furnace for a long time. Gazing down at it, he gave his wrist a subtle jerk. Instantly, cracks appeared across the dagger.
Meandering fissures cut across the face in its reflection.
"There are many fine talents in this world, many splendid jades, yet each is entirely different from the next.
"Some are medicine, some are poison, and some lie right between the two, making it impossible to tell them apart while leaving one itching with curiosity… Precisely because of this, conceited people willingly open their mouths, not hesitating to sacrifice themselves to take a taste."
With a flick of his hand, Kanemoto tossed the dagger back into the furnace, letting out a meaningful sigh: "Once it's swallowed and they realize something is wrong, it's already too late for regrets.
"Why bring trouble upon yourself?"
"…I don't see it that way."
Reflected in the emerald fire, a certain luster surfaced in Elder Zhen's pupils as he smiled soundlessly: "Whether poison or medicine, what does it matter?"
Medicine lay in its purity; poison lay in its virulence.
Where was the difficulty in distinguishing them?
The moment you began to wonder what it was in your hand, you should have understood in your heart—if it were truly a bitter yet beneficial medicine, what was there to hesitate about?
It was nothing more than regret and wishful thinking at work.
However, when a trace of virulent poison was mixed into fine medicine, it ceased to be pure. Since he had devoted himself to Embers, why was he hopelessly entangled with Stagnant Rot? Why did he possess such astonishing affinity and adaptability?
Perhaps, from the very beginning, Ji Jue hadn't cared about the difference between the two.
Yet so what?
This instinctive arrogance had long since sealed the final outcome.
Whether he cared or not was beside the point. Just as with Kanemoto's status as a Profound Grandmaster, even without being corrupted, how could it affect him in the slightest?
From the very instant Ji Jue ceased to care, he had already succumbed to demonic obsession.
In the silent gloom, Elder Zhen spoke no more, gazing at the flames within the furnace with deep anticipation.
No need to rush; only the final touch of heat remained.
Just a little more.
After waiting for so long, what was a few more mornings and evenings?
Wait a little longer.
Before long, when Ji Jue realized that what he sought was merely a flower in a mirror, the moon in water, an illusion of vanity, he would understand where the true path lay…
At this moment, when Ji Jue opened his eyes once more and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling before him, a genuine question surfaced in his mind.
Never mind where I came from or where I'm going.
First, just tell me: where the fuck am I?!
Chapter 805