One Step

The Saintly Fool Instrument fractured and pulverized; Beigong was dead at last... Good riddance! In life, this revered grandmaster had never been a respectable figure. Alive, he wrought endless sin; dead, he refused to stop stirring up trouble. Passersby could spit on his grave in commemoration before moving on. Those with diabetes were kindly requested to stay well clear, lest he taste even a scrap of sweetness. Unfortunately, hoping someone like that would die cleanly was wishful thinking—especially when a master shit-stirrer was lingering right beside him, making the fallout nearly impossible to contain. Long before the Saintly Fool Instrument approached total fracture, Elder Zhen had already pulled back his hand and, worse, intensified the reactions within the vessel. Pouring oil on the fire. The ruin of the four seas, the divine essence of Stagnant Rot, the creations of Beigong, and even the projection of the apocalypse... Everything within the now-unrealizable Saintly Fool Instrument erupted all at once, violently expanding. A wild surge soared into the sky. A black spot detonated across the physical world, surging outwards in all directions. Just like Elder Zhen's lifelong style: always a plan, always preparation; even if the situation degraded to the absolute worst, there was always a contingency. He abandoned the failed Saintly Fool Instrument without hesitation, turning everything on the verge of collapse into a bomb, which now gushed forth in the transmutation between Great Sin and Supreme Virtue, tearing through everything in a rampaging sweep. Yet even before that happened, Tianlu had already decisively reached out, anticipating it all! What a joke. Who didn't know what kind of scoundrel he was? As if he'd ever accept defeat like an honest gambler! When the Saintly Fool Instrument could no longer be realized, destroying it instead became Elder Zhen's optimal choice. Using this as a distraction, the Profound could calmly respond and perhaps even blow open a fresh breach. And Tianlu couldn't possibly leave it alone. If left unchecked, it would blast a colossal geyser straight through the physical world down into the depths beneath the Vortex—erupting like a volcano and shaking the very bedrock of reality. Harsh grinding and buzzing erupted in waves. Beneath Tianlu's gaze, the detonation abruptly ground to a halt, moving so agonizingly slowly as if time had been decelerated ten million-fold. Simultaneously, between sea and sky, a pale thread danced and flickered, rising from the Plowsmith's hand. It darted forward, stretching without limit, spanning a thousand li in the blink of an eye. Head met tail, weaving and interlocking. Masterwork: Boundary! That single slender thread looped and demarcated the space like an impregnable fortress pass, partitioning inner and outer domains completely. It erected a brand-new levee and line of defense, averting the nightmare scenario of contamination engulfing the entire realm. At the center of the detonation, Tianlu slowly tightened his fist, his grip contracting inch by inch. Piercing shrieks erupted anew, and the gushing deluge froze midair, even beginning to recede slowly as though time itself were turning backward. Successive detonations tore through the wreckage of the Saintly Fool Instrument. As if prepared for this all along, with contingencies upon contingencies, the self-destruct mechanism embedded within from the very beginning triggered with a deafening roar. Across Tianlu's five fingers, a crack surfaced. His expression grew solemn, but soon relaxed, as if that terrifying pressure had been diverted and shared. Another hand reached out from the shadow of Tianshu, lifting more than half the burden from his shoulders and bringing the situation fully back under control. The Carrion Eater! "Much obliged, old lady." "Just lending a hand. How could it compare to what you've done?" The old woman's voice rang out. "Handling this was no small feat. Well done." "Merely taking things one step at a time, futile damage control," Tianlu sighed with regret. "What a pity." To the very end, he hadn't managed to hook his prize. Elder Zhen remained turtle-shelled away. From start to finish, he had never shown his face, offering Tianlu no opening to strike, leaving not the slightest flaw. Even at the very, very end... Up until the moment the Saintly Fool Instrument collapsed, Elder Zhen had possessed countless opportunities to reclaim the initiative from Tianlu's grasp, yet he hadn't budged an inch. He had watched Eschatology burn down to ash with his own eyes, and even facing Tianlu—who was without Natural Enemy and in an unprecedentedly weakened state—he harbored no intention of making a move. Whether he was truly overwhelmed or merely putting on an act, he remained indifferent. Forget hesitation; he hadn't even entertained the thought or taken the gamble. Looking on with folded hands, watching the fire from across the river. He simply wouldn't take the bait! "A soft landing is already enough. Why demand more?" To this, the Carrion Eater remained placid. "His ease lies in having nothing to fear; he shakes the greater game and forces everyone else to tread with dread. Your disadvantage, on the other hand, stems from being constrained—trapped in a cage where you cannot act as you please. "The more one does, the more mistakes one makes. To make no errors, one either does nothing, or expends a hundredfold, a thousandfold more blood and effort. "Human greed knows no bounds. You and your teacher are cut from the same cloth." "..." In the brief silence, Tianlu chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Back when I was a student, I couldn't wait to kick the old fogey out of my way and take over so I could finally get things done. "Yet once I sat my own ass in that old fogey's chair, I found myself second-guessing every move, looking ahead and behind, unable to accomplish a damn thing in the end." He cast his eyes downward upon the chaos between sea and sky and sighed softly. "How ridiculous." "And what is so ridiculous about that?" The old woman pressed him without letting up, catching him off guard for a second before a sigh sounded from behind him. "Stop speaking so gloomily in front of an old woman," the Carrion Eater said slowly. "You just think too much. When the time comes to make a cut, make it cleanly. Why overcomplicate things?" Amid his fleeting bewilderment, her figure had already bypassed Tianlu, stepping forward. She only gave him a soft smile. "In this lifetime, a person has to do something. Late is never too late—and just how late could 'too late' be?" The moment she manifested, the world suddenly stalled. Silver-white hair caught the skylight; her smile deepened the wrinkles etched by time. In that instant of dead silence, she replaced Tianlu, taking over everything and pulling the eruption on the verge of disaster back into her grasp. It was not blocking or suppression, but combing and guiding. Impartially, she unraveled the tangled knot of Supreme Virtue and Great Sin. Showing no favor, exerting no bias, neither pampering nor crushing, she embraced everything with serene normalcy. Opening her arms to embrace all. Above her head, the stars emerged from the firmament, turning and tracing dazzling celestial orbits across the earth, bearing witness to everything, like the enduring glory of Heaven's Mandate and the lofty heights of destiny. Mutual Transmutation of Virtue and Vice, reignited here and now! Even greater than before! Even the completely shattered Principle of the Griefsmith was drawn into the scope of transmutation... Eradicating future threats to the greatest extent while bolstering the Embers and anchoring reality! Yet such a massive transmutation, such a crushing burden—borne by a single person, by one mortal frame alone... what grievous consequences, what horrifying price would she have to pay?! "It doesn't have to be this way! I still have a way!" Tianlu's hand twitched for an instant. He rose, wanting to stop her. "Leave it to me, old lady! I can resolve this!" "And that is precisely your problem, Tianlu. The greatest flaw of your lineage—always that conceited, overweening arrogance, placing yourselves above everyone else." The Carrion Eater glanced back and asked, "Why must it always be you who finds a way?" Why couldn't others have a way? Why couldn't you hope for others to act? Could it be that in this vast world, only you are permitted to make a difference? At this moment, Tianlu's hand was only a hair's breadth from her, yet beneath that gaze, that sliver seemed like an insurmountable chasm. Would you have me do nothing at all? He fell silent, frozen in place. He could only watch as the Carrion Eater gently lifted the final remnant of weight from his hands. She turned, walking toward the erupting ruin. One step, and then another. Guiding the stars, turning the earth, stoking the fire of the Crucible, restarting the work of cosmogony! The final transmutation belonging solely to Grandmaster Carrion Eater had begun! The only thing left standing before her was a phantom of the past. Elder Zhen. The decrepit artisan's shadow sighed soundlessly. "Long time no see, Teacher," he said. "You've aged so much." "Yes, as have we all," the Carrion Eater nodded with regret. "You've grown old too. To see you fall this far leaves a teacher like me truly helpless." "Feeding on carrion to bring forth the new—what is wrong with that?" Elder Zhen retorted. "Isn't that the very truth you taught me?" "Indeed. All these years, I worried whether I had failed to teach you properly. But seeing you again today, I actually feel a sense of relief." The old woman smiled faintly, almost self-satisfied. "You learned well. It seems I taught you very well indeed." "..." Elder Zhen's pupils shifted slightly, unable to comprehend. "Even now, you still hope I can accomplish something?" "What teacher wouldn't hope for their student to make a difference?" The Carrion Eater looked at him as if looking at a student lost in a dead-end tunnel. "Yet is it the carrion you seek, or the new? "What you are best at is enduring, and what you love most is waiting—to the point where insatiable greed dragged you down here... "Just how long must you endure? How much longer will you wait?" How much must one endure before an outcome is deemed foolproof? How certain must a victory be to count as within one's grasp? Not enough, not yet, I can wait a little longer, observe a little more... just a bit more, another bit, a little more... Until, without realizing it, one stagnates in waiting and gets lost in hesitation. Had he possessed the audacity to burn his boats and stake it all on one throw, how could a single misstep have cost him the entire board? Yet without that very resilience and patience, he would have been reduced to ashes long ago, leaving not a bone behind. The so-called Elder Zhen was made by this, and broken by this. Precisely because he saw everything too clearly, he refused to acknowledge it. Precisely because he understood everything too well, he clung obstinately to his course... Perhaps the moment he pegged all judgment purely on success or failure, all of this had already been set in stone. "All these years, I've actually been thinking: everyone always talks about weeding through the old to bring forth the new, but chasing after something with no end in sight, walking until your legs give out and you can walk no further—what then?" "The cruelty of the Embers lies in discarding the old for the new. Isn't that precisely why Stagnant Rot came to be?" The Carrion Eater stepped forward once more, crossing past the phantom beside her. Walking through the ruin, she reached out, planting gleam after gleam of light. Within those countless lights, faint rays surged, some coalescing, some extinguishing, some rising into the sky, some snuffed out in the darkness. "Everyone exhausts their heart's blood, enduring a lifetime of torment just to make a breakthrough. Yet in the end, what is new will also become old. Nothing in this world stays unchanging; we are all merely wisps within the tide of change, embers drifting from the crucible." Too many—such people and such outcomes were already far too many. One after another, an endless procession. Some grew weary and halted in their tracks; some slipped and plummeted into the abyss; others poured their entire lives into charging forward with bold songs, unstoppable, only to find no finish line when the end drew near. Lamentable, sigh-worthy, regrettable, pitiable. "Yet none of that matters... "I did not set foot upon this path to chase after those things, and I have never once regretted it." In the deepest reaches of darkness, she smiled and sighed happily: "I only feel... how wonderful it is to be able to take one more step." She had seen new scenery again; she had tasted a fresh experience once more. She had admired landscapes no one had ever witnessed, and monopolized such resplendent creation all to herself. So wonderful. Just a moment ago she had reprimanded her student for stubbornly feeding on rot and grasping for perfection, yet now, wasn't she, the teacher, the greediest of all? Not only had she seized this rare opportunity to fulfill the covetous desire of this old bag of bones, she had even earned herself a grand reputation, as if she had become some moral paragon, an incarnation of the divine. She had spent a lifetime feigning nonchalance, yet in the end, she couldn't help feeling a secret thrill of pride over donning such a magnificent crown and robe. Right before dying of old age, to have such a pleasant surprise. Thank you, everyone, for helping me fulfill this. And thank you, world, for allowing me to accomplish something. "Lastly, for all of you—no, for myself—let me take one more step forward!" She smiled brilliantly, looking up at the sky in farewell. The road that the artisan named the Carrion Eater could walk had reached its very end. From now on, she would leave everything to them. A crisp sound rang out between her hands. Crack— Crystals multiplied and grew. Innumerable interwoven streams of light replaced the Pillar of Perdition, flooding the sky once more and reflecting across the vast ocean, illuminating all creation with vivid brilliance. The Principle of the Griefsmith was thoroughly reversed here! Held aloft by her hands, Ascension began once more... Just like endless embers reigniting, rising from the earth and casting a faint glow as they ascended toward the restless, turning stars. Bridges rose from the earth to receive the radiance descending from the heavens. They merged and collided, sending tangible ripples washing outward. Like a wind blowing toward all four quarters. A wave of shimmering light crossed the barrier of the Boundary, effortlessly traveling into the distance of the physical world before fading from sight. Immediately after, another surged, continuous and endless. An invisible hand caressed every inch of the physical world, gliding over mountains and seas, crossing storms and turbulence, embracing everything with gentle lightness. It washed the dust from the old and caused all things under heaven and earth to glow with light. Showing no favor to high peaks, showing no coldness to deep ditches, all things were equally endowed with brand-new value within that wisp of shimmering light. It did not even distinguish between Embers and Stagnant Rot, blending this gift into the very essence of alchemy and placing it into the hands of every living soul. Just like a piece of candy slipped into every student's hand at a graduation ceremony. Transmutations seemed slightly smoother; arduous training felt a touch lighter. There was no instant leap in power, no earth-shaking upheaval, but rather subtle shifts omnipresent across the world—quietly transforming, moistening things in silence. From this day forth, the creation of this world was granted one measure more! This was the final transmutation she offered to the world. When the ruin dispersed, darkness left no trace. And the figure standing above the vast sea was nowhere to be seen. Only at the very, very end did she seem to turn her head back, casting a smiling glance at them, and then stepped forward... In the wind blowing from afar, there seemed to carry laughter of farewell, laden with delight and blessings. From now on, keep moving forward. The farther, the better. Leave everything I have made in the past. There is no need to look back. Grandmaster Carrion Eater returned to Supreme Virtue. Amid the collapse, the shadow of the Profound gradually faded. Elder Zhen extended his hand, catching that wisp of lingering light drifting down toward him from the sky. In silence, he clenched his fist. For all these years, he had prided himself on stopping at nothing and casting all scruples aside, willing to draw his blade against his former teacher for the sake of his chosen path. Yet she had never once regarded him as an enemy. She had even left behind one final gift for this treacherous student. "You should get lost," Tianlu looked down, expressionless, and told him. "This is the last shred of dignity your teacher has left you." "Since the victor is decided, Lord Tianlu may speak whatever insults or ugly words he pleases. Why bother with dignity?" Elder Zhen countered impassively. "On the contrary, I would like to ask: sacrificing so much merely for a single victory... even if you endure today, just how much longer can you linger on tomorrow? "When that day comes, how many others will be left like her to patch up the seams and sacrifice themselves to clear one more step forward for you? "In a world whitewashed with lies and sacrifices, what future is there left to speak of?" Tianlu remained cold and silent, but his gaze no longer concealed its chill and malice. Countless artisans looked up, their eyes bloodshot with uncontrollable fury. Boom!!! In that instant, a fissure manifested anew across the shattered sea and sky. Behind the fractured lingering scars of the apocalypse, fiery radiance returning from beneath the Vortex erupted forth, rocketing into the heavens. "...A dried skeleton in a tomb! An old dog guarding a corpse!" A burning figure of flame pried open the rift and stepped out stride by stride, lifting his eyes to glare at Elder Zhen's shameless display. "Ruin yielded nothing, creation bore no fruit. Aside from putting on airs, what else do you have to disgrace yourself with? What shameless gall gives you the right to stand here and babble on?" In Ji Jue's grasp, the blade of Natural Enemy blazed with incandescent residual brilliance. Torrential, searing light pierced through the teetering shadow of the Profound, dispelling all haze and contamination. At last, it pointed straight at that hypocritical face as a hoarse voice echoed across heaven and earth: "—How the physical world fares, how the future unfolds, since when does a contemptible wretch like you have any say in it?!" Elder Zhen was indifferent, looking down with lowered eyes. Unmoved, as if feeling nothing more than a passing breeze. He merely looked at the blade pointed at his face, at the chess piece that had leapt off the board. Truly, just as Kanemoto had said: this razor-sharp edge, no longer masked in the slightest, had already transcended the boundary between poison and medicine. It defied definition and distinction, and could no longer be treated lightly. What a pity. Yet this was good too. Very good. After so many years of fighting while retreating, struggling only to fail, now that such an opponent stood before his eyes, he actually began to look forward to the future. Within the boiling shadow of the Profound, he cast one last glance toward Tianlu. As if bidding farewell. The darkness contracted, converged, and vanished into jade flames and eerie fire, never to be seen again. Leaving behind only a vast ocean returned to silence, churning with restless waves, scarred and desolate. In the empty sky after the endless stars had dispersed, a final, lingering wisp of shimmering light drifted down slowly, fluttering on the air. Like dancing fireflies, it illuminated his eyes. "...Even I get one?" Ji Jue was stunned, caught momentarily at a total loss. Yet as he reached out cautiously to receive it, he seemed to hear that warm laughter in his ear once more, as pleasant and cheerful as ever. Just as a teacher remembers every single student. How could this last wisp of light ever forget you? In the days to come, do your best!