Just before the Sword of Beginning and End shattered, in that split second of delay, the body of Unfinished Work had already been completely submerged under an immense flood of crystal beads.
Numerous artisans besieged it regardless of cost. The sounds of creations degrading and shattering echoed endlessly, yet in this squandering that verged on ruin, every creation was treated as a disposable consumable—not cared for, and even less pitied!
Even abandoning their tools, relying on their bare hands, on claws and fangs, casting aside the wisdom artisans took pride in, they butchered and tangled like wild beasts.
What was ultimately thrust into the face of the middle-aged shadow was a dagger an artisan had ground on the spot from their own bone...
An unfinished work destroyed the Unfinished Work; the jagged remnant of sharp edge became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
The maddened, rotting dachshund pounced, dozens of heads opening wide jaws to ravenously tear apart and devour that shadow entirely, cutting off the last vestige of Degradation's influence.
When the last old man woke from the fleeting drunken reverie, what met his eyes was a world-enveloping crimson storm.
The Heritage Burnt Offering, having leapt exponentially, had finished its warmup. A super-high-speed charge and slash at five hundred and fourteen times normal speed swept straight at his face—only to vanish without a trace beneath the heavy suppression of the Hall of Bone Gathering.
—*Here, sever all external things!*
Pan Ying, which had been chiming and howling, suddenly fell into dead silence without any response. With all external objects stripped away, Ji Jue plunged into unprecedented weakness.
Now, wasn't all he had left Chunjun, Zhanlu, and Chixiao, thoroughly fused with his Regeneration form?
Oh my, now how am I supposed to...
...deal with this?!
*Boom!*
The barrier abruptly conjured in the void before the old man's shadow shattered into pieces.
Wrapped in purple lightning and black flames, that mechanical metal face laughed wildly in silence, closing in inch by inch, five fingers splayed as they pressed toward his face.
In that spark of flint and steel, devoid of any fear or panic, the old man's shadow seemed to twitch, convulsing and blurring. Immediately after, what surfaced upon that face was actually the appearance of a middle-aged man!
Old age, prime, and youth—Beigong's three shadows echoed one another, two sides of the same coin; if one survived, all survived. Naturally, they could swap at will!
In this split second where only one of the three pillars remained, the judgment was made and analysis concluded: stall for time, preserve itself, and ensure the rebirth of the other two pillars.
At the same time, tailored to the opponent before it, the Hall of Bone Gathering swapped out for Unfinished Work!
Unfinished Work raised its head to face the opponent right in front of it. Pitch-black pupils mirrored Ji Jue's reflection, unleashing with everything it had—Degradation!
Immediately after, that face full of compassion, seemingly looking down upon vile vermin, disintegrated under the savage clutch of metallic fingers!
Jingzhen!
After pouring everything into shattering the outer defense, Zhanlu's purple lightning and black flames surged out, pouring inside and erupting violently from within, reducing the dumbfounded Unfinished Work once again to ash!
Until the very end, those pitch-black eyes stared fixatedly at Ji Jue, wide open, as if incapable of understanding why its Degradation hadn't worked.
All it saw at the end was the Non-Offensive matrix upon his ten fingers.
"Surprised? Caught you off guard, didn't I?"
From the start until now, enduring and holding back until the final moment, Ji Jue had at last mobilized Non-Offensive's second blessing chain—Metamorphosis: recast oneself as a creation, forcibly raising its quality by an entire tier!
A temporary boost in quality, when countering Degradation accelerated ten thousand times, was at most enough to offset it for a fleeting instant. But that instant was enough for Ji Jue to seal the outcome.
Now, in the abrupt dead silence, all three pillars were destroyed!
The workshop shuddered, shaking violently as if in death throes. Countless spiritus circuits lit up, converging out of thin air. In an instant, the three annihilated shadows began their reconstruction.
In less than a minute, everything could return to how it was.
Unfortunately, there would be no second chance.
Beneath the destruction wrought by the Association, the final seal and security measure had also completely turned to ash.
All that remained was the door standing tall before everyone at the end of their vision.
That was the core of the entire workshop, the crucial hub and heart.
—*The dwelling of Beigong!*
Silence.
Silence came abruptly; not a single person could make a sound.
All that was left was exhausted panting, and even uncontrollable doubt and bewilderment.
Having endured so many tribulations and paid so many sacrifices, they had finally made it here. Yet when they stood before this door, they couldn't help but feel shaken and terrified.
Some even wanted to turn and flee.
It was merely a door. It had no seals, no reinforcement, not even a lock, yet it could not be seen through, heard through, or fathomed.
As if everything behind the door was nothingness.
Only the prickling instinct on their backs sent wave after wave of needle-sharp pain, making everyone subconsciously shy away from the thought of pushing that door fully open.
Instinct betrayed them, consciousness betrayed them, and even body and soul chose betrayal. Even the thought of drawing near could not arise.
They felt all their thoughts surging like a tide, dragging at them, tangling endlessly, chattering incessantly in their ears.
*Don't open it! You're forbidden to open it! You cannot open it!*
*If you open it...*
*...everything is finished!*
*Crack!*
The step Ji Jue forced himself to take hung suspended in midair, rigid as if wrestling against himself, ankles and knees screeching as billows of thick smoke rose.
Yet he could hardly take a step forward.
Until a palm rested lightly on his shoulder.
"Leave it to me."
Jiang Tongguang looked back, smiling faintly at them. "Thank you for your hard work, everyone. You have completed your mission and duties. For what remains, there is no need to force yourselves. I promise that no one in the Association will hold anyone accountable for this."
He said, "Just leave what's left to me."
Ji Jue opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
He remained where he was, unmoving. Nor did a single person choose to leave at such a time.
They only watched as Jiang Tongguang held an object wrapped in black cloth tightly in his hand, walking step by step toward the door.
Without the slightest hesitation.
Shattering sounds constantly rang out, as if he were fighting an invisible enemy. Crack after crack surfaced beneath his scorched robe, dripping with fresh blood.
It left behind a blood-soaked crimson path, inching forward with great difficulty, snaking ahead.
The farther forward he went, the more stooped that emaciated silhouette became, like a stalk of wheat about to be snapped by gale-force winds, stretching out a hand with all his might.
Until, at last, he touched that iron door that seemed the incarnation of despair.
*Creak—*
A soft sound.
There was no solidity of mountain crags or sheer precipices, nor any lethal poison of malicious contrivance. It was merely like a door left ajar finally receiving a touch.
Gently, it opened.
*Boom!!!*
Heaven and earth spun; all things were thrown into turmoil.
It was impossible to tell whether what shook and shuddered was the workshop, or the Pillar of Perdition rooted deeply upon it!
Not just inside the ruined workshop; at this very moment, the entire Profound swayed and roiled amidst that boiling tide of chaos.
Perdition was shaken once more!
Shockwave after shockwave from the Embers.
"...Next!"
Within the Border Realm between sea and sky, it had completely turned into purgatory.
The high-hung Clock Tower rang out with a tremendous roar. A figure resembling a withered skeleton and charred corpse walked out from the raging flames, step by step, lifting his head once more to glare with disdain at the many figures spying and watching from within the Profound.
The tenth!
The tenth Tormented Demon dispatched by the Profound had died at his hands.
Rivals he had once contended with, friends he had once associated with, even irreconcilable sworn enemies—now there was no difference among them. They died in the exact same manner: torn to countless pieces, bones pulverized to ash!
Right before him, that glaring eyesore of a Pillar of Perdition shook and cracked again. Deep fissures had long been etched into its foundation, teetering on the verge of collapse.
With only a third of its original height remaining, it simply could not hold any longer!
Between sea and sky, the toll of the bell roared like a dragon's cry, like a wild howling, reverberating incessantly without end.
Yet above the vault of heaven, all was silent.
"So that's how it is..."
As though finally discerning something, the drowsy Elder Zhen raised his eyes. "To think that beyond Lilin, this was actually a two-pronged assault. Is Beigong a target as well?"
In a moment of contemplation, he realized, seeing through everything taking place behind the scenes. "This isn't your style... I understand now. To think that a conservative like Gustav could muster such bold resolve. He even used the venerable Tianlu of this era as a decoy."
"Doesn't phrasing it like that make it even more pathetic?"
Tianlu glanced at him with a disdainful chuckle. "The one who caught you slipping wasn't me, the one who made up his mind wasn't me, the one who decided to stake everything wasn't me, and the one truly standing against your Profound right now isn't just me either. As a Grandmaster leading the Profound, you didn't even lose to Tianlu—you were bested by the Director-General of the Association."
He paused, warmly suggesting, "If you truly can't afford to lose, how about the two of us have a genuine fight with real weapons? I have time whenever."
"Let's pass. The time hasn't come."
Elder Zhen still shook his head, unmoved. "No rush."
"Well, I'm sick of it."
Tianlu's smile vanished, leaving only coldness.
His knuckles tapped against the cane resting across his knees, rap after rap, like flicking a sword blade, thirsty and impatient. "Lu Changsheng was like this, and you are like this. Snakes and rats accustomed to hiding crawl out into the light of day, overestimating themselves to vie for supremacy, yet never shedding that ugly habit of sneaking around with heads tucked and tails exposed. It's truly an eyesore... Enough with the underhanded tricks!"
His gaze locked onto Elder Zhen's aged face as he stated word for word, "Since the dice have already been rolled and bets placed, it's about time to lift the cup!"
In that instant, a crisp sound rang out between sea and sky, echoing ceaselessly.
Coming from afar.
Coming from... beneath the vortex.
In the deepest reaches of the Profound, inside the workshop core sealed layer upon layer, right in front of everyone, beneath Jiang Tongguang's hand, that pitch-black door quietly shattered, turning to flying ash.
Never to be seen again.
Nor was there fear or bewilderment anymore; every trace of anomaly vanished without a trace, as if everything from just a moment ago had never existed.
That was merely a door.
Its effect was like that of any door: to completely seal off everything behind it, preventing all prying eyes—whether it was the insight of aether or the foresight of Ascension—turning the domain behind the door into an outright black box.
Beyond that, there was nothing else.
It would even crumble at a single touch, just as it had now!
Yet now, that black box that was utterly impossible to open had been opened by Jiang Tongguang, and long-absent faint light illuminated the darkness behind the door.
Countless ashes from the shattered door drifted, dancing softly, settling into the thick layer of dust.
Amidst the dead silence, there was no sound.
Only in the center of the workshop, before the extinguished crucible, an emaciated figure leaned back in a chair as if having waited for an eternity, utter silence clinging to him.
Upon the withered face lingered traces of former ferocity and despair, silently roaring to the heavens in a hopeless cry of anguish.
Forever frozen in that moment from who knows how many years ago.
—*It was a desiccated corpse, weathered for who knows how many years!*
Aside from that, there was nothing else.
A sharp clatter sounded as the creation Jiang Tongguang held in a death grip dropped to the ground with a clang, kicking up a puff of dust.
His eyes went wide, forgetting to breathe.
This was the secret buried beneath the vortex and concealed within the Profound by the Elder Zhen of the past for all these years.
Beigong was dead!
Chapter 815