Chapter 235.2: Dream of Ashes Part 2

Countless phantoms and visions, including the shattered heavens, the fractured earth, the turning stars, and the infinite workings of creation itself, emerged from the flames and flooded Ji Jue’s sight before forcing themselves into his soul. The world turned before him, revealing its true form.

Finally, Ji Jue saw what lay at the end of the flames. It was the source from which all things had come.

An emerald eye slowly opened, gazing toward this place and Ji Jue. It knew neither sorrow nor joy, neither shock nor fear. It was lofty beyond reach and utterly indifferent, looking down upon all the turmoil of the mortal world—the endless cycle of war and peace, the interweaving of conflict and cooperation—and bearing witness as every futile cycle repeated itself once more.

What had been would be again. What had been done would be done again. There was nothing new beneath the sun. All the changes of creation were merely another turn in the cycle of strife and slaughter.

Drawn by the esoterism’s call, the Great Abomination of the mortal world, the Putrefied Furnace Core, cast its gaze down upon him!

An uncontrollable scream of agony burst from within the flames. Ji Jue had been set alight. Ash rose, then fell. It drifted into Jian Yuan’s palm, fragile beyond measure. Without the slightest change in expression, he ground it into nothingness as he gazed coldly into the furnace.

“All mortal things have their limits. Few can bear the Divine Mandate. Let me see whether material like you is truly worthy of receiving the craft of the Divine Mandate.”

Crack!

The illusory sound filled Ji Jue’s ears. Perhaps it was the sound of his soul shattering, or perhaps the world itself was falling apart.

Ji Jue felt as if he were plummeting into a bottomless abyss. All he could hear was the wind howling past him. His reason told him that he was still standing where he had been, bathed in brilliant light, yet he could not feel the slightest warmth. His soul told him that he was falling toward an abyss with no end in sight, yet he was too powerless to struggle against it.

He could barely even think. A force far greater and more violent than his own had flooded his consciousness and seized control of it, like a storm of rain rising from the earth into the sky.

Within his memories, countless theories emerged like living creatures. They slipped beyond his control and changed, overlapped, converged, and transformed on their own.

All the theories of Aberrant Alchemy that Jian Yuan had forcibly imprinted into his memory over the past few days, along with every technique and procedure he had taught him without reservation, now seemed to come alive. They extended on their own, connecting and linking with one another as though they had truly been granted life.

A word surfaced inexplicably in Ji Jue’s mind. Elevation!

Turning stone into gold, granting spirit matter to lifeless objects, bestowing miracles upon the mundane, and making ordinary things shed their former shapes—this was the first step of alchemy.

Then came Transformation. Every technique and theory intertwined and overlapped, colliding and catalyzing one another. Flashes of inspiration appeared in quick succession, each as brilliant as the insight of a genius, developing and spreading of their own accord.

Immediately after that came Purification. The various scattered theories and wild speculations that had continued to proliferate suddenly began to resonate. They intersected and refined one another, stripping away the redundancies, correcting flawed assumptions, and eliminating every weakness.

And finally came Integration. When each self-emerging flash of insight, burst of inspiration, and strand of theory linked together, a vast path forward unfolded within Ji Jue’s consciousness. The path encompassed twelve emblems of the Great Abominations, three categories encompassing sixteen corruption techniques, thirty-one spirit matter constructs, and the transformations and underlying principles of seventy-seven instruments of slaughter.

It presented these profound and perilous concepts with remarkable clarity and insight. In plain, direct terms, it showed him the way forward while meticulously laying out every obstacle and difficulty he might encounter. All he had to do was follow the path step by step. The wonders of aberration were within easy reach, and the deepest mysteries of mutation were his for the taking! A road leading straight to the heavens now stretched before him!

“Go forward,” someone whispered in his ear. “All you have to do is go forward.”

But Ji Jue remained where he was, unwilling to even raise his head and look. He struggled to turn back, yet he couldn’t move. When he came to his senses, he discovered that a sea of blood had swallowed him whole. Wails turned into tides, drowning out everything else.

A malformed world revolved before him. Twisted stars moved across the heavens, illuminating cracks in the night sky and the shattered earth below.

It was as though he had become a god and was now looking down from above the heavens. Everything shifted and cycled at speeds quadrillions upon quadrillions of times faster than normal, only to inevitably return to the same hopeless cycle. It flourished, then perished. It revived, then declined.

The splendor faded, leaving devastation in its wake. Revolutions meant to usher in a new age produced only ruins. Grand aspirations became scourges upon the world. Beautiful dreams shattered, leaving nothing but emptiness.

The infinite phenomena of the mortal world flooded into Ji Jue’s consciousness like a powerful tide. He had no time to remember or reflect on them. He could only witness everything in a daze until, at last, understanding slowly dawned on him.

Bitter hatred rose from blood through Elevation, while resentment was purified through tears via Purification. Once all love and beautiful dreams had been burned away in the flames, only despair and emptiness remained, waiting to undergo Transformation.

Then all the disorder and ruin of the world were brought together through Integration, becoming a vast sea of chaos. The world was destroyed and reborn, again and again. At the end of the Path of Reformation, nothing remained but this futile, grotesque cycle. In the end, everything converged into one.

When Ji Jue lowered his head, he saw that his hands had turned pitch-black, steeped in despair and curses. Thick blood dripped from his fingertips, flowing endlessly without ever running dry.

Every evil and abomination had been born from this heart. Every suffering had been wrought by these hands. All the wickedness of the mortal world had been carried out by these ten fingers. This was the sin of Pacifier!

As realization dawned on him, Ji Jue once again heard the mournful cries that had echoed countless times in four hundred years of recurring cycles. Pacifier raged and seethed, struggling in vain, but it eventually fell silent once more amid the illusory gleam of tears.

An indifferent voice came from far away. “The world is made by human hands, Ji Jue. Hell is no different. But where is your hell?”

Everything was starting to become clear.

Ji Jue gazed at the burning crimson sky once more. Beneath his feet lay a pitch-black earth while ash rained across the mortal world. From the distant wind came phantom-like cries of anguish and despair.

It was all so familiar.

Within the flames, the souls of the dead laughed and danced. They slashed, slaughtered, and trampled one another, inflicting endless torment. Fire flared from the farthest reaches of hell, illuminating Ji Jue’s eyes and flooding every corner of his consciousness and soul.

“Isn’t this what made you who you are, Ji Jue?” the voice asked mockingly. “But if this world is hell, then what does that make you?”

Hell laughed beside his ear, whispering encouragement and telling him, You have been in hell from the very beginning! So, do not remain silent. Do not endure and stand still any longer. Give in to hatred. Let yourself burn. Destroy everything.

For one fleeting moment, Ji Jue desperately wanted to throw himself into it and embrace this seemingly inevitable Divine Mandate. Yet, for reasons he could not explain, he hesitated and found himself looking back.

There was nothing behind him but an empty void, and yet, from somewhere far away, a song drifted toward him. It was faint, but neither the wailing nor the cries of anguish could drown it out. It continued with quiet persistence, as though it would echo for all eternity. Like a star rising at the end of the night, it shone with radiant light.

She was watching him.

Ji Jue understood. He raised a hand, wiped away his tears, and offered her a bright smile. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

In the next moment he was back on his feet. Turning his back on the so-called truths of hell and the world, he ran toward the void with long, determined strides, never hesitating again.

It didn’t matter if his efforts were futile or meaningless. It didn’t matter how lofty the road to the heavens behind him was, or how many times this cycle repeated itself. The place he wanted to reach wasn’t here!

The heavens roared, enraged. Boundless emerald flames rushed forward, seeking to block his path. Just then, the dazzling stars lit up once more. They revolved and converged until, at last, the Divine Furnace overturned. Countless streams of fire poured down like a waterfall, cascading into the mortal world. The two forces collided and annihilated each other before vanishing without a trace.

Amid the chaotic tide, a streak of silver swept across like a blade, severing everything in its path. That was when Ji Jue opened his eyes.

The last glimmers of light inside the furnace faded as everything came to an abrupt end. In the deathly silence, ash drifted down like snow and settled across Ji Jue’s shoulders. His hand remained suspended in the air, reaching for nothing. It felt as though he had come so close to taking that hand once more, yet when the illusion of the dream faded, nothing remained in his palm.

“What a wonderful dream. It’s been far too long.” Ji Jue let out a soft, dazed sigh. Lowering his eyes, he gazed at the faint trace of ash left in his palm and turned around. “Thank you, Jian Yuan. Now, how should I repay you?”

He was smiling, yet there was no warmth behind the gesture. His eyes held nothing but boundless darkness and were as deep as an abyss.

Jian Yuan smiled with genuine satisfaction. “Congratulations, Ji Jue! You have mastered the first lesson in controlling corruption and ruling over mutation, that is, hatred and malice. No, perhaps I should say that you no longer need to conceal your true nature.”

He patted his rebellious apprentice on the shoulder and told him, “We’ll continue tomorrow.”