What surged toward him was boundless brilliance.
It was as though he had suddenly stepped upon a fractured bridge, standing before an abyss.
Past and future flanked the present on either side, then plummeted into the same darkness.
The instant dazzling spiritus radiance welled from the scepter, Ji Jue's consciousness was engulfed by a torrential flood of phenomena.
Like falling toward the true essence of all things. Like ascending toward the heart of heaven and earth.
Soul and perception unfurled from his physical form, blanketing all, covering everything, turning the entire Border Realm into his very body.
As the Prophet unraveled the final seal, the enduring Deus Ex Machina at last achieved complete fruition, thoroughly enveloping the workshop and making Ji Jue the true master of it all.
The true sovereign of the Border Realm.
Yet he felt neither joy nor delight. All he heard were endless wails and cries.
From the past, from the present.
Amid the mirrored ruins, within the shadow of the fractured Tower of Tianyuan, he watched that weeping, bleeding silhouette stride toward the abyss time and time again. And when he looked back, he saw the futile, struggling cycles of life and death among the countless creations across the earth.
The same agony and despair rested on his left and his right, like two pans of a scale, yet they tangled together in the same place, turning in an endless hell, never to cease.
He needed to make a choice.
Yet why did he have to choose?
Why must he seek out which side weighed heavier among these agonies?
He wanted to question the Prophet: what right did he have to offer pity? Was his true nature—the selfishness he kept hidden—really any nobler than Quicksilver's?
Why believe that he wouldn't create a hell of his own?
Yet hell lay right before his eyes.
A crimson ocean surged, boundless sorrow and hatred rising like a tide to swallow him whole.
His soul fell from the void, or perhaps rose, plunging into darkness. And within the dark, he heard once more the rhythmic clatter of a train against iron tracks, steady and seemingly eternal.
So familiar.
Ji Jue stood frozen before the familiar compartment door, listening to the playful voices within.
He went rigid where he stood.
Voices seemed to talk and laugh.
A mother, leaving behind her past and former life, had set off on a journey with her child, heading for their hometown in hopes of starting anew beneath the seaside sun.
During the dull voyage, she shared ancient fairy tales with the child.
Princes and princesses, dragons and bandits, witches and fairies, kings and knights...
Such a vibrant, splendid world brought light to the child's disheartened eyes. Even the empty wilderness outside the window began to gleam. The setting sun was magnificent; the world was gentle.
So wondrous it felt like a dream.
One he could not bear to shatter.
Ji Jue listened in silence to the ripples welling from those distant memories for a long, long time, until no sound remained behind the door.
Dust peeled from the compartment door. Silently, it faded, fractured, and collapsed.
Behind it, amid the twisted, shattered carriage, unquenched flames rose and spread from the wreckage, leaving only billowing smoke. That familiar silhouette seemed visible through the haze, yet her song was so far away.
As though separated by a boundless gulf.
No matter how desperately Ji Jue ran, she remained out of reach.
Running again and again, failing time and time again, no matter how futile and reckless the effort.
Until he was utterly exhausted, lost amid the ruins of fire and smoke, yet still lingering obstinately, refusing to leave.
He let the inextinguishable flames ignite his body and soul. An ocean of agony and despair swallowed everything whole. Amid the overwhelming torrents of blaze and rain of fire, he plummeted toward endless darkness, into an even deeper abyss.
Yet he still stared stubbornly toward where the song had come from.
Refusing to give up.
Until a tender little hand caught his wrist.
"Got you."
A soft voice sounded, light and cheerful.
The darkness and the fall ceased abruptly. A gentle breeze blew across the town square, and distant chimes echoed endlessly.
Ji Jue looked around in a daze.
He seemed to have awakened from his nightmare, yet he longed so desperately to return to that torment.
If only he could draw a little closer, if only he could look into her eyes once more, if only he could tell her... *I miss you so much.* He would pay any price!
Even if it meant creating a hell...
Yet hell was right before him.
Born from endless regrets and memories, its name was "Unreachable."
"You look so sad, big brother."
On the stone steps of the plaza, the girl waiting alone turned her head to look at him. She reached out, generously offering the bouquet in her hands. "Here, I'll share with you."
Dew still clung to the pure white blossoms, dripping onto Ji Jue's hand.
So gentle.
She stood amidst everything perched on the brink of destruction, like a phantom forgotten by time, gazing at the reshaping and ruin of it all, enduring through countless cycles.
She looked at Ji Jue before her.
Reaching out, she gently wiped the soot from his face, solemn and careful.
"So you were still here," Ji Jue murmured softly.
"Of course," the girl replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Otherwise, if it were empty, she would be so lonely."
Amid those phantoms of the past, bygone days gleamed through time, clustering around her, scattering, and re-emerging, as if without end.
She lingered in those shattered moments, obstinately wandering, unwilling to depart.
"Aren't you lonely?"
"Maybe." The girl shook her head nonchalantly, looking out across everything before them, toward those spans of time as wide as the heavens. "At least I can still miss her, just like she misses me."
Day and night, without ceasing.
Even if time and death separated them...
As long as this longing remained, parting no longer seemed so frightening, and neither did death. Even falling into the abyss, even wandering to the ends of the earth, there would be no loneliness or fear.
What crossed four hundred years was more than just regret and pain.
No matter how empty that darkness might be, they could still engrave themselves into the abyss and shine.
Just like the stars.
"So make your decision, big brother."
She reached out at last, embracing the youth before her with weightless grace. "Some pain has already gone on too long. It shouldn't continue, and there shouldn't be any more tragedies.
"The time to say goodbye has come."
With that, she lifted the pendant resting against her chest and placed it around Ji Jue's neck.
Inside the open pendant was only a worn, tattered photograph showing a family leaning close together, smiling with pure happiness. Even if mottled and faded, even across vast spans of time.
"The story of the past is over; please let it stay in the past. There's no need for more tragedies, nor is there any need for a new hell."
Amid the fading past, the girl smiled, bidding her final farewell. "You don't need to hesitate for someone else's story anymore. Please keep moving forward, toward the future that belongs to you.
"No matter what that future and outcome may be... I believe the person you miss misses you just the same."
Ji Jue stood frozen in place.
From the blurring memories of old, a melody seemed to rise once more amid the distant rumble of the train.
So gentle.
And so familiar.
When Ji Jue suddenly looked back, everything before him dissolved like a phantom. The girl and the town vanished without a trace, and the flames and ruins drifted away.
Only her song still lingered in his soul.
So clear.
As though she had been beside him all along, never having left.
In that instant, Ji Jue finally opened his eyes and returned to the mortal world, gazing at the Border Realm before him—the cracked earth, the surging sea of blood, the agony, despair, and hell.
"What an unrealistic dream..."
Though only a fleeting moment had passed, it felt like a lifetime ago.
As the distant dream came to an end, the resonance of the workshop and the tremors of the Border Realm flooded Ji Jue's soul once more, taking in everything that transpired, as if striving to engrave every shift into his spirit.
Yet this time, Ji Jue no longer felt lost or hesitant.
He looked up toward the firmament, toward the remains of the Sage chained and shackled, still singing in desperate obsession.
And when he looked back, he saw the collapse and ruin of the Border Realm. Across countless cycles, the wails and laments of shattered souls streamed from the sea.
Persist, or let go.
Both were tragedies; both were hells.
Yet he could at least choose whether hell would continue...
Perhaps creating a hell might allow him to see them again, but they should never have to fall into a hell like this.
Therefore, he had to choose—
"Leave it to me."
He murmured softly, offering his promise to all. Reaching out, he gripped the scepter presented by the Prophet.
Hesitating no longer, he spared no spiritus, pouring it all into this resonance and connection, merging once again with everything here.
—Deus Ex Machina!
Without resistance, without hesitation, the moment Ji Jue's consciousness entered, the workshop filling the Border Realm seemed to welcome its new master, shuddering in joyous song.
Boundless spiritus circuits, shifting fluid alchemy, countless runes and sigils, and blessings of Sovereign Virtue as vast as an ocean of stars. This workshop, forged by an ancient Sage using every ounce of her life and power—an unequivocal Celestial Craft—welcomed its new master!
Upon his right wrist, the long-dormant watch suddenly burst with dazzling radiance, blazing like a scorching sun to illuminate everything.
Guided by the watch, the Non-Offensive matrices across Ji Jue's hands grew anew as if granted life, engulfing his entire body in an instant.
Inwardly, they covered his soul; outwardly, they took command of everything.
Countless invisible hands manifested from the void, looking down from above, blanketing all creation and taking control of all phenomena.
And deep beneath the ninefold earth, at the very bottom of the vast workshop, in the darkness sealed away for over four hundred years, a clear, crisp chime suddenly rang out, as though answering a long-awaited call.
Through a dazed vision, Ji Jue saw it: within the seal constructed with the entire workshop as its foundation lay a rusted blade resting in the dust...
Amid trembling and clanging, the shattered, broken sword rose. From its notched edge, a fleck of bloodstained rust finally peeled away.
Beneath the shedding dust, a brilliant edge appeared, radiant enough to make the entire Border Realm shudder and freeze all creation in its tracks.
In a single instant, it pierced through everything.
Boundless, searing light surged from the seal, streaming toward the heavens, toward the core, and fell straight into the Prophet's hands.
Like a bottomless chasm, it crazily drained spiritus from the workshop, as if intending to devour and incinerate all existence.
The Prophet's body cracked and dissolved in an instant.
Nearly evaporating entirely.
Yet through the soul-tearing agony, a smile appeared upon that weary face.
"All things... must have an end," she murmured softly, cradling that sunlike brilliance in both hands. "Otherwise, nothing new can be born...
"Thank you for your trouble. This unrealistic dream has lasted too long.
"Now, the dream has ended."
She said, "And everything should come to a close."
When the blazing light dissipated after swallowing boundless spiritus, the outline of that sharp edge manifested once more, transforming into a crown woven of thorns.
And so, it was placed upon Ji Jue's head.
Like a coronation.
Boundless majesty manifested, blanketing heaven and earth, mirroring all changes and warding off every prying eye.
"Holy crap..."
In a corner beneath the core, White Owl poked her head out to gaze into the distance, as if struck by lightning. She even instinctively took off her mask and rubbed her eyes frantically, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Is that... Revolution?!"
A Sovereign Virtue Implement dormant for so many years had actually been awakened?!
Are you fucking kidding me?!
"Hey! Old fogey? Old fogey! Say something!"
She urged in bewilderment, yet the map in her hands only showed spreading fissures, unable to maintain its form beneath that vast, tyrannical pressure.
There was no reply.
The moment the Sovereign Virtue Implement that had once severed the Tower of Tianyuan appeared within the Border Realm, all creations of Embers froze amid mournful cries, stripped of their autonomy.
Even all blessings of Sovereign Virtue sank into silence, no longer radiating light.
For the world's sole torch now burned high upon the firmament.
Enveloping all.
Even Ji Jue's consciousness and thoughts ground to a halt, unable to continue. A vast will took hold of his body through that crown, granting him boundless might before turning into a violent torrent that shoved him forward.
No longer under his control.
When he looked up, he saw the sigil of Sovereign Virtue against the eternally dim sky.
Stars burned within flames; the celestial furnace overturned; all transformations and essences converged, cascading toward the mortal realm into a boundless ray of cindered light...
*This world shall change; all of the past shall turn to dust.*
A proclamation like a cosmic decree echoed from within his soul, guiding him to receive that streak of flame falling toward the mortal world, letting this boundless essence crash into his spirit, exploding with a roar and shattering his last coherent thought.
A flood of visions rushed over him, and countless transformations manifested within his soul.
Allowing no retreat, permitting no evasion.
It brutally branded the myriad transformations of mortal creation into Ji Jue's eyes and perception, virtually forcing him to experience the true essence of Sovereign Virtue.
All that is newly born will turn into the old; only change never ceases.
Thus, the fire is not in the hearth; the hearth holds only embers.
—Such was the divine essence of Embers!
In that instant, the flame named Ji Jue ignited within the Furnace of Revolution—so tiny, like a candle flickering in the wind, yet driven by Revolution, it expanded into a sun that enveloped everything.
So dazzling it could not be looked upon directly!
Every new creation of the past, every soul dedicated to the fire, reappeared at this moment, turning into fuel. Amid endless burning, they converged, standing beside Ji Jue, piercing through all things.
"Sage Quicksilver, today your creation is judged as a craft of ruin, an archaic construct."
Voices—high and low, clear and hoarse—overlapped, issuing from Ji Jue's mouth. Carrying the true essence of Sovereign Virtue, they delivered judgment upon the mortal world:
"As of today, you are judged as Vice!"
An earth-shattering roar of shattering sounded between heaven and earth.
For in Ji Jue's hand, a streak of dazzling light appeared, rising to divide heaven and earth down the center, like a plumb line at the core of all things, measuring and reflecting all creation.
Amid the countless chains, the rain of blood stopped, and the sorrowful song broke off.
Like an unseen gale howling forth, it enveloped everything, peeling away every inhuman construct and mutated creation, severing countless hands.
At the same time, it drew back the veil covering all.
Revealing the bizarre shadow behind the Sage's ruined form, so distant it seemed separated by eternity...
Distorting the world and reality, turning into a colossal vortex, twisting truth and order, manifesting a construct that gathered every mutation in this world.
Within that colossal dark vortex that seemed to blanket everything, capable of swallowing all Sovereign Virtues, a hazy outline loomed, as if looking down.
Gazing at its prey, and at the existence daring to stand in its path.
With just a glance, Ji Jue felt as if his soul would shatter into pieces. Yet before that could happen, the blazing light of Revolution incinerated all corrosion, cutting off every connection.
Allowing Ji Jue to finally glimpse its true form and shape.
Like a colossal furnace eternally burning with flames of agony, pouring forth countless bizarre mega-structures, creating fresh mutations at every single moment...
Shrouded in boundless crimson flames, the furnace resembled a hideous eye, looking down cold and detached upon all.
Across these long years, it had contemptuously borne witness to all despair and pain, waiting for the continuation of the cycles and tragedies, anticipating the final outcome.
Waiting for the Sage, burdened with boundless curses, to plunge into its flames and hearth, to be reforged and reborn as an abomination of Vice!
In the darkness unreached by the Twelve Virtues, the vortex endured forever within the darkness of the mortal world. Corresponding to the creations of Embers, this was the shadow to which all crafts of ruin in the world pointed.
—The Nine Vices: Stagnant Decay Hearth!
The brilliance of Revolution rose from Ji Jue's hand, and all connections hidden behind the cycle were laid bare behind the veil.
Those myriad entangled threads had long since wrapped around the Sage's obsession and soul, yet across these vast spans of time, the workshop had blocked, shackled, and ensnared them, refusing to let her fall into the abyss of that vortex.
Now, the time for the end had arrived.
The endless cycle collapsed, and the long dream shattered amid dazzling dawn.
The world itself grew ethereal.
Compared to the torch forged of the world's brilliance, it was like a soap bubble, trembling and cracking amid rising light, quietly meeting its silent collapse and demise.
The day of renewal had arrived.
All that was old must perish like dust!
When the song and wailing ceased abruptly, when the ancient melody reached its end, when hell was burned to nothingness by suffering... a pure, clear brilliance rose from Ji Jue's hand.
Sever!
Chapter 93