After that creature completely shattered, nothing remained but a floor strewn with black-ash debris, drifting slowly under the fissure's glow.
Because this battle had taken place within a psychic domain, the clash itself had been brief, and the flow of time there was slightly faster than in the outside world. Thus, to the onlookers outside, after a sudden burst of flashing light lasting only a few breaths, the creature across from them had simply collapsed—so fast that none of them had even had time to react.
Watching his close friend's body suddenly disintegrate, Vegadov fell momentarily into a daze. As a martial artist, he immediately deduced what had happened.
He felt an impulse to go over and look, but Chen Chuan had instructed him beforehand: if any trouble arose, his duty was to protect the others and refrain from interfering up front as much as possible. So he forced himself to stand rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.
Chen Chuan tilted the blade in his hand and walked slowly toward the drift of black smoke and ash. As his boots stepped onto the debris, crunching sounds snapped beneath his feet, sending even more gray smoke wafting outward.
Yet within that smoke, the faint outline of a face took shape. Rising into the air above, it seemed to glare at him before suddenly darting downward, plunging toward the back of his head.
Chen Chuan kept walking forward, seemingly unaware.
Yet at that very moment, the phantom silhouette of a giant hand materialized behind him, seizing the smoke in a firm grip. As if it possessed physical mass, the thing violently thrashed and squirmed.
Standing behind him, Vegadov saw it with total clarity: the instant the spirit visage grabbed the thing, its entire form snapped into focus.
Outwardly, it resembled a tangled clump of weeds studded with numerous granular objects. A closer look revealed that they were tiny heads—both human and of various beasts—each bearing a different expression.
Sensing the aura emanating from it, Vegadov had a vague inkling of what it was: the lingering spirits of past sacrificers and sacrificial offerings.
Before he could look any closer, a brilliant arc of saber light flashed through the air.
A faint hiss drifted through the air. That clump of weed-like mist instantly turned from ephemeral to solid, scattering across the floor into a cascade of fine, dense pellets that clattered crisply against the ground.
With that single swing of his saber, Chen Chuan felt something get absorbed into the Xuejun Saber. It was digested and utterly consumed in an instant, not causing the saber to fall into dormancy at all. He lightly caressed the blade's spine, drew the distant scabbard to his hand, and sheathed the weapon.
Vegadov looked at the tiny, pearl-like granules littering the floor, every one of them half-translucent and glittering, the other half stained with pitch-black, inky smoke. He could not help looking up and asking, "Mr. Chen, this is...?"
Chen Chuan said, "In the past, this was likely a nature spirit of the First Folk. Later, it became contaminated by certain evil entities from the world across, which turned it into this state. Many nature spirits that were abandoned by worshippers or forgotten entirely might meet such a fate. I suspect a turnover in religion and political power back then triggered a shift in nature spirit worship—a very common occurrence throughout the First Folk's past regimes."
He looked at Vegadov again. "Mr. Vegadov, you must understand: your companion ceased being himself the moment he stayed behind back then."
"Yes, I understand. I do," Vegadov sighed. "In truth, I understood even back then. I was only holding onto a faint wisp of hope. I truly feel so sorry toward him."
Chen Chuan said, "If you had been the one asked to stay behind and cover the retreat back then, Mr. Vegadov, would you have?"
Without hesitation, Vegadov replied, "Of course I would have!"
Chen Chuan nodded. "You were both working toward a shared goal, so you have nothing to feel guilty about. If the roles were reversed and your companion came to do the exact same thing today, how would you feel?"
Vegadov pondered for a moment. "I would feel gratified... and relieved."
Chen Chuan said, "It seems you had your answer all along. You completed what he wanted to achieve. If you still can't let it go, then accomplish even more, carrying your friend's share forward as well."
Vegadov nodded solemnly. After thinking for a while, he looked up at Chen Chuan and said with sincere gratitude, "Thank you, Mr. Chen. You're entirely right. I know what I must do now."
Even as they spoke, a beam of colorful light drifted out from a corner. The person managing the ritual there gasped softly and stepped back a few paces.
Chen Chuan glanced toward the corner and saw that the portion of the ritual handled by that specialist had concluded smoothly. This seemed to serve as a starting signal; over the next few minutes, colorful mists of light arose one after another across the area as each person completed their designated stage of the ritual.
Watching this spread of radiant light, the specialists unconsciously backed toward the center.
The patching and restoration of the ritual were now complete; only the final step remained: activating the ritual.
All of them looked instinctively toward Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan said, "Since you have carried it this far, you should see it through from start to finish. Go ahead and complete it yourselves."
The specialists exchanged glances, expressions of pleasant surprise washing over their faces. After a brief discussion, they collectively chose a young man.
Stepping forward in accordance with the established procedure, he first conducted a meticulous check. Once certain there were no issues anywhere, he placed the ritual implement onto the designated ritual node, then swiftly backed away.
Yet nothing seemed to happen.
Just as bewilderment and confusion began to set in, someone suddenly pointed ahead and shouted, "Look!"
Everyone turned to look across the cavern. The light from the fissure rippled and began to shrink. It contracted faster and faster until, after only a few breaths, it snapped shut with a jolt. At the very final instant, it flashed so intensely that it nearly blinded them.
When they opened their eyes to look again, nothing remained.
Vegadov looked around, then turned to Chen Chuan and asked tentatively, "Mr. Chen, is it... taken care of?"
Chen Chuan nodded. "It is over."
The moment those words fell, the young people present erupted into loud cheers.
Vegadov let out a long breath, looking around with a swell of mixed emotions. To think that a matter that had entangled them for years was finally resolved today, and the knot in his heart seemed to have dissolved alongside the fissure.
These members of the Purist Faction were relatively thorough. They carefully inspected the area once more, and only after confirming there were truly no lingering problems did they exit.
The matter was not entirely over; they would later need to dispatch personnel here to seal the location off completely. But it wouldn't matter much if they didn't personally take part in that.
By the time the group emerged, it was already afternoon.
On the way back to camp, everyone was exhilarated. This time, they hadn't just been bystanders; they had genuinely participated in extinguishing a fissure. That sense of involvement and achievement was beyond words, as though their self-worth had been realized in a single stroke. At this moment, they even felt an urge to immediately track down a few more fissures to resolve.
More than that, their repair work had utilized the ritual techniques of the First Folk, granting them insights and experience. If they encountered something similar next time, they would know how to handle it.
Naturally, this was only a superficial grasp. Each person had only been responsible for one small piece; even if pieced together, they could hardly reconstruct the most crucial connective threads on their own without Chen Chuan explaining them. Not to mention that certain rituals required specific mutated plants to function, making them largely irreplaceable.
This was not Chen Chuan jealously hoarding knowledge. These techniques belonged to others in the first place; sharing surface-level aspects was fine, but if the true core were leaked and someone used it against the Throat of the Star Spirit, it would spell disaster.
After returning to camp, everyone shared dinner together once again. This time the atmosphere was relaxed, and the camp had prepared an even richer spread of ingredients, with no repeats from the previous feast.
Once the banquet concluded, Vegadov invited Chen Chuan into the reception parlor and said sincerely, "Mr. Chen, this matter went so smoothly thanks to you. We've prepared some gifts for you—please, you must accept them."
Chen Chuan glanced at the case pushed toward him, as well as an accompanying gift inventory. Looking it over, he was somewhat surprised by one of the items listed. He nodded and said, "Then thank you, Mr. Vegadov. I accept."
Seeing that Chen Chuan was willing to accept, Vegadov became overjoyed. He waved a hand to have another serving of rare fine dew brought over. Once the attendant filled their glasses, the two exchanged a toast.
Chen Chuan took a sip and set his glass down. "In the past, whenever your side discovered these fissures, did you always handle them yourselves?"
"Yes!"
Vegadov said, "We could only handle them ourselves. If the Federation government found out about this place, the local Center City would immediately come in and take control. But their next move wouldn't be to find a way to eliminate the fissure; they would merely resell or lease it to various laboratories and corporations, pocketing usage fees in the process. And some of those labs and corporations are outright front organizations for evil cults, so in the end, fissures often fall right into the hands of those cult organizations."
He shook his head. "Too many such things happened in the past, so whenever we discover one now, we prefer to seal it away ourselves."
Chen Chuan nodded. The Federation had vast territory and a sparse population, with many regions completely uninhabited. The government itself already occupied sprawling swaths of unsettled Confluences that remained undeveloped, leaving them utterly incapable of managing other fissures.
Yet behind every fissure lay tremendous resources. If the government couldn't exploit them itself, handing them over to subordinates or private parties was only natural. Anyone seeking to exploit a fissure had to take responsibility for defending against the threats from outside, saving the government a massive expense while allowing them to reap kickbacks and fees.
Of course, the Purist Faction's objective was not necessarily to destroy every single fissure. Rather, they feared that improper exploitation would lure entities from the world across into this realm—something they could never tolerate. Thus, friction had always existed between them and those cult organizations.
Chen Chuan asked, "Have you ever worked with the international investigation team?"
Vegadov replied, "We've cooperated before. But many of our members are Federation citizens after all; they don't really want an international organization interfering too much in domestic affairs, preferring to solve things themselves. Besides, in terms of both strength and capability, we consider ourselves superior to them."
Chen Chuan nodded slightly. It was understandable. Even in Great Shun, the arrival of the international investigation team had provoked displeasure among many people.
After all, this was no longer the era of the Grand Alliance; the Grand Alliance's former glory had long since faded.
Chapter 1214