Chapter 240.2: Love, Death, Machines, and Man Part 2

Ji Jue shook his head and, in a solemn voice, told Jian Yuan, “When an avalanche comes crashing down and a flood bursts its banks, among those millions upon millions of snowflakes, perhaps one or two innocent ones will still find their way to you. From that endless torrent, do you really think not a single drop of vengeance will fall upon you?”

Just like now.

A violent explosion occurred beneath Jian Yuan’s feet as a blazing light shot into the sky.

By comparison, the silver radiance emerging in Ji Jue’s eyes seemed so faint. There was only the faintest wisp of it, yet as it flowed, it sliced through every restraint Jian Yuan had placed upon him like a hot knife through wax, tearing through with overwhelming ease. It was utterly unstoppable!

Ji Jue completely exhausted the last trace of the Edge of Revolution that had remained within him and regained his freedom. No longer hesitating, he lunged forward!

He’d kept reassuring himself that the situation had not yet reached its worst and that perhaps things were not as dire as they seemed. He had to be patient, hold steady, and wait for an opportunity.

But he could no longer wait. “Fuck it, I’m taking you down with me!”

At some point, the skull left lying at Jian Yuan’s feet had started screaming furiously, completing its final translation. Within its sealed cranium, the interconnected spirit matter structure concealed beneath the Knowing Hearts blessing collapsed like a row of dominoes, triggering an irreversible chain reaction.

Over the past several days, Ji Jue had funneled every bit of heat and flame he stole from the furnace into phlogiston explosives, purified to their limit by Pacifier. Now, it was time for them to detonate.

Unfortunately, that did absolutely nothing. When the explosion occurred and flames bloomed, they froze in place. Jian Yuan merely raised a hand and pointed downward, and the explosion was brought to a halt. All he had to do was unleash the Ruins blessing known as Static Zone!

But that was enough to buy Ji Jue some time. The moment he broke free, the wheelchair beneath him roared to life. Its hand-built motor spun furiously as its mechanisms engaged. Mercury surged and shifted beneath the steel tubing, and from the armrests, seat, and even the wheels, aberrant blades tore free of the mercury seals and slashed outward. Like a storm of steel, they engulfed Jian Yuan from every direction, intent on slicing him apart.

Unfortunately, it was still useless. Anyone from the Ember Path had an almost absolute advantage over those below their realm. To a Master Craftsman like Jian Yuan, none of Ji Jue’s tricks could escape his notice, especially not something he had seen developing right beneath his nose and merely pretended not to know about. Even Ji Jue’s sudden attack had fallen within his expectations. The only thing he hadn’t expected was for Ji Jue’s counterattack to be this weak!

Ji Jue hadn’t found a better opportunity to attack. He hadn’t even possessed the patience to wait until Jian Yuan exposed an opening. Charging forward so recklessly and pointlessly couldn’t possibly achieve anything.

Besides, such paltry tricks were nothing to Jian Yuan.

Boom!

With a mere flick of his finger, the blades, along with the entire wheelchair, shattered and collapsed into dust. Jian Yuan unleashed Force Strike, an Origin attack!

At last, Ji Jue revealed his trump card. From behind the wheelchair’s remains, a faint, gray glow lit up Ji Jue’s eyes. Even Jian Yuan, battered and bruised, shuddered at the sight of it.

It was none other than the Heart-Poison Arrow, the treasure Ji Jue had taken from Master Zhou Zhong. The moment it appeared, it dissolved into countless motes of light, which swiftly converged into a single beam. As it locked onto its target, its power flared to full force.

No, something was wrong. Jian Yuan had not allowed even the slightest trace of spirit matter to leak outside his body. Without that as a medium to lock onto, how could the arrow possibly affect him?

In a split second, Jian Yuan caught sight of the skull’s remains from the corner of his eye. The sudden realization made him want to laugh. So that was it? Had Ji Jue begun preparing for this day all the way back when he created that ridiculous contraption and tempted Jian Yuan into testing it?

So Ji Jue did have a few tricks up his sleeve. But, it still wasn’t enough!

Jian Yuan didn’t even bother invoking a blessing, much less defending himself. He raised his head indifferently and allowed the Heart-Poison Arrow to invade his body, flooding his soul with endless resentment, anguish, and even mutation.

It didn’t harm him in the slightest. Immediately, his battered and battle-scarred soul devoured it completely. Even the vaunted Heart-Poison was nothing to him.

Shkkk!

A blade cut through flesh. Jian Yuan’s sneer froze on his face.

Slowly, he looked down, only to see the tip of a blade protruding slightly from his chest. It had pierced straight through him, and the aberration toxin he had so ardently taught Ji Jue to forge was now spreading through his flesh. It was... a fragment of the skull that had been chipped away during the explosion. When the primary structure collapsed, it revealed another blessing of the Swarm hidden within!

Warforged Edge?

Where had that come from? When had it been placed there?

What surfaced in Jian Yuan’s mind was that utterly useless backscratcher. Ji Jue had deliberately made the backscratcher a failure while hiding the incomplete blessing inside the skull!

That fist-sized creation had actually contained two separate blessings. By using concealed explosives, Ji Jue had completely deceived Jian Yuan’s scrutiny of its structure. There was another hidden chamber beneath the first, hiding away an entirely different transformation. The moment the fragments scattered, a third invisible spirit matter hand caught one of the blade-like shards and clenched it tightly before mercilessly driving it into Jian Yuan’s heart from behind.

The blade, originally no more than a cun long, drained his blood in an instant and used it to multiply. Hundreds of crimson blades sprang from his body and extended outward, slicing him to pieces.

Unfortunately, not even this harmed Jian Yuan in the slightest.

Boom!

Ji Jue was hurled backward. His newly healed legs shattered, and his ribs broke beneath the crushing pressure and pierced his organs, sending waves of pain through his body. His hands, however, remained completely unharmed. Jian Yuan had mockingly left him the means to fight back.

The old man’s dismembered body reassembled itself in midair. Even someone in the Rebirth Realm possessed nearly inexhaustible vitality. Why had Ji Jue underestimated him so badly? Or had Ji Jue known the outcome from the beginning? Had he understood that he could never defeat Jian Yuan, yet still launched this desperate attack simply to cast a few drops of that flood and a few flakes of that avalanche upon him?

“I truly underestimated you.” With a wave of his hand, Jian Yuan effortlessly crushed the spirit matter hand and seized the remaining blade. He examined it closely, and when he glanced at Ji Jue’s battered state, he couldn’t resist offering a few words of sarcastic “admiration.” “I never knew that the Ember Path had such a self-sacrificing hero of justice, a fearless warrior who refused to bow to authority. What should I call you?”

Jian Yuan sneered; Ji Jue offered him no reply. He seemed to have drifted into a daze. For some reason, he remembered the patients with the Undying Disease in the Time Ruin not long ago. Their weeping, their cries, and their voiceless anguish had echoed through the rain and darkness, no different from those of the people before him now.

They had sounded so familiar, just like him all those years ago. The earth had burned, and ash had fallen like rain. Flames had blazed through the desolate world, carrying hell and even greater suffering with them, before flowing into a sea of tears and disappearing forever.

But what did that make him? Among so many people who had suffered, there was no reason Ji Jue had to be the exception. Among so many innocent people who had died, there was no reason he alone had to be spared.

From beginning to end, he had simply been lucky and fortunate enough to be loved by the best person in the world. By... her.

So, there was no need to give him some special title, nor to sum him up with an impressive-sounding name. That was precisely why he felt such regret and shame.

I’m sorry, Mr. Qian.

Ji Jue sighed, blaming himself. “I’m really not a very good doctor after all.”

A bone blade emerged from the flesh of his hand and settled into his grasp. The last trace of mercy vanished from the translucent edge of the Mercy Bone Blade, leaving behind only a ruthless edge.

He pointed it at Jian Yuan’s face. Before the old man could react, he abruptly turned the blade around and stabbed his own heart, twisting it.

As the Mentor of the Depths stared at him in astonishment, Ji Jue smiled calmly. “Call me whatever you like, Jian Yuan. Anything will do.”

He possessed no boundless love, nor was he particularly merciful. He was hypocritical, indecisive, cold, and detached. All he had was a heart full of resentment and fury, along with a few petty tricks unworthy of mention. He could never become a champion of justice, a compassionate healer, or an indomitable warrior.

Ji Jue raised his eyes contemptuously to meet Jian Yuan’s gaze. “I’m your enemy, Jian Yuan. That’s all there is to it!”

Then, he pulled the bone blade from his chest. From the wound, a seemingly endless torrent of crimson erupted, swirling through the air before scattering everywhere. Among the countless flying droplets, one landed upon Jian Yuan’s face.

A single drop from the debt of blood had fallen. It was so small and insignificant, yet it was enough to decide the course of the battle, like a snowflake falling amid an avalanche, or a splash of muddy water flung up by a raging flood.

As blood poured from Ji Jue’s wound, the Mercy Blade wailed. His presence weakened as his life slipped away beyond all hope of recovery, and death arrived to honor its appointment.

With it came a change Jian Yuan had never imagined. Something had activated.

The moment Jian Yuan sensed something amiss, he extended a hand and summoned all his power without holding back. Any lingering appreciation he had for Ji Jue’s talent vanished as he sought to crush him into dust.

Just then, heaven and earth shook, and steel clattered. A towering tide of spirit matter rushed toward him, transforming into an immense torrent that crashed into him, pushing him back bit by bit.

The engine was transforming!

Jian Yuan stared in disbelief at Ji Jue. Or rather, at the engine behind him. A crimson droplet slowly slid down its surface before evaporating in the searing heat. The engine, bound beneath countless chains, suddenly quivered and spewed smoke and flame as it roared in fury, as though, after a long slumber, it had heard a call that it had been waiting for two hundred years.

And so, the departed spirit opened its eyes once more. All the chains shattered beneath the engine’s backlash, and the key Jian Yuan had created was ejected, twisting into a shapeless mass. The central core containing the full power of the entire artificial Skyrail launched a violent counterattack against its own controller, as if it had been granted life and a soul!

Ji Jue had unleashed Deus Ex Machina!

“All this time, I’ve been relying on this and that, relying on everyone else... I completely forgot I still had one killer move up my sleeve.” Leaning against the engine, Ji Jue flashed a mocking smile, of course, aimed at himself. As his life ebbed away, a familiar notification appeared before his eyes once more.

[Life-threatening danger detected. Standard emergency survival protocol activated. While the protocol remains in effect, the Chosen One’s ability will undergo a one-level qualitative transformation. The qualitative transformation is complete!]

With the protocol amplifying its power, Deus Ex Machina rose from the Resonance Realm to the Metamorphosis Realm.

The scene that had once unfolded at Mercy Hospital repeated itself. Only this time, the targets of his ability were no longer electric scooters worth a few hundred or a thousand Fedra apiece. Instead, it acted upon the immense machine standing right beside him and granted life to the engine!

The engine, now running with unrestrained fury, showed no resistance whatsoever to his ability. Quite the opposite; as though it had been eagerly waiting for this moment for untold years, it willingly opened every internal spirit matter sequence and authentication protocol. All Ji Jue needed to do was remove the key. He didn’t have to do anything else.

Countless spirit matter structures overlapped in an instant, completing their authentication and locking into place. The moment the process finished, a vast, majestic shriek soared into the heavens. Its clear, far-reaching echo resembled the whistle of a train preparing to depart, announcing its awakening to everyone.

Under the transformed power of Deus Ex Machina, the ecstatic engine spirit devoured every trace of spirit matter within the artificial Skyrail, driving itself into overload.

The corruption that had seeped into every component and part was drawn out under Skyrail’s control. Steel rang without end as sheets of metal and wreckage shot in every direction through the burning ruins, merging with the engine to restore what it lacked. It looked as if time was going backward.

And in answer to the whistle’s call, doorways opened in thin air. Every reserve in Skyrail’s warehouses was emptied. As President howled excitedly, steel frameworks, drive shafts, pipes, cables, instruments, and countless other components poured in like a flood, raining down in a great torrent.

The colossal beast that had once died roared back to life. Before their very eyes, its organs and limbs regenerated, and flesh grew over it once more as the enormous machine rose from the ruins.

Before the clouds of billowing smoke, Ji Jue calmly sat down on the steps, curiously examining the wound in his chest. Reaching inside, he prodded at his shattered heart and studied it closely, only to grow increasingly puzzled. Where was the Great Abomination? Where was Supreme Benevolence?

He could no longer hold back his laughter. There was nothing in his chest but blood. What room was there for arrogance or emptiness?

Then he reached beneath his heart and pulled out the bloodstained watch. Right before Jian Yuan’s eyes, he fastened it around his wrist. “There’s no need for you to concern yourself, Master Craftsman. Whatever this blood is going to contain, I’ll choose for myself!”

There’s no need to wait for another day, nor is there any need to wait for some terrible future threat to emerge, Jian Yuan. The enemy you longed for is standing before you now!