Chapter 00173: The Deceiver
# The Deceiver
Chapter 173
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 173: The Deceiver
From the initial rage to panic, from stubborn resistance to sudden compliance, all the changes happened in less than a second.
Liancheng's speed was so fast that even the Lord in the sky above couldn't react in time.
And then... the suffering began!
From the moment of his descent, nothing had gone smoothly.
He was born prematurely, and the moment he opened his eyes, he saw his subordinates' base being blown to pieces.
Just as he was about to erupt in fury, a small fry appeared, waving some strange object that pinned him to the ground and beat him mercilessly before he could even resist.
And then, the betrayal came!
In that instant, the bone wheel in the sky trembled violently, emitting a piercing, mournful cry, as if it were shouting in rage and terror.
No one could understand what it was saying, but it was clear that it was cursing—very, very profanely.
From within its underdeveloped body, a massive, greedy mouth seemed to appear, sucking fiercely at something more vital than blood or soul essence.
In just a few moments, even the sinister light in its eyes began to flicker, unable to sustain itself.
But its opponent showed no mercy.
In an instant, the projection of the Sage erupted in fury.
Countless invisible swords slashed and swept across the bone wheel, shattering it like rotten wood.
Sparks flew as if from a blacksmith's forge, and gaping wounds appeared on the bone wheel.
Then, amidst the storm of destruction, the countless invisible swords converged, piercing through the core of the bone wheel.
Inevitable collapse and destruction began.
At the center of the bone wheel, the sinister eye embedded in the tumor blinked wearily, as if a tear of blood slowly rolled down.
It was tired.
It had had enough.
Just destroy it already!
The schemes of the Time Ruins are too much.
I want to return to the vortex!
With one last glance, the sinister eye glared fiercely at the two small insects below—damn cultists, stealing my blessings, draining my divine essence, and beating me senseless!
If I ever see you again, you're dead!
Then, as if unable to bear the humiliation any longer, it suddenly expanded.
All the remaining sinister light burst forth, and the collapsing bone wheel began to grow and expand endlessly, catalyzing madly until it reached its limit.
Under the relentless assault, it finally exploded!
An endless storm erupted, instantly engulfing everything.
The earth shook, and the heavens trembled.
The entire Time Ruins seemed on the verge of collapse.
But then, countless invisible hands reached out, grasping the chaos.
They tightly held the spreading destruction, locking it within a cage woven by countless hands.
Spiritual circuits flickered within the storm, and wings withered, eyes closed, turning into fine shards of light that rose into the sky and scattered in all directions.
The terrifying flash, like a star exploding, dissipated under the cover of countless hands.
Finally, the last wing of the Sage's projection spread, and its remaining eye turned to gaze at the earth below.
It seemed to look at the young man who was staring up at it.
Then, its eye curved slightly, as if smiling.
Silently, it departed.
Only a faint trace of spiritual light fell before Ji Jue, landing in his hand like a firefly before vanishing without a trace.
Ji Jue instinctively clenched his fist, looking up at the empty sky, but the majestic figure was nowhere to be seen.
He wanted to say something, but no words came out.
In the end, he could only sigh in regret.
And then, he heard it.
A sharp, mocking laugh came from behind.
"Heh, hehehe... haha... HAHAHAHA..."
From the ruins of the hospital building, a hand slowly emerged from beneath the broken bricks, bloodied and bone-exposed, gripping a steel bar tightly.
Like a demon, Liancheng crawled out of the writhing pool of blood, laughing maniacally, hysterically.
Despite being grievously wounded, on the brink of death, his eyes shone with an unnatural light.
A sinister, ferocious aura rose from him, growing more and more violent.
In fact, he had turned disaster into fortune!
At the moment the superior abomination self-destructed, he seized the last opportunity to bite back.
Not only did he survive the explosion, but he also usurped much of the essence of the fallen abomination...
And he went even further!
Beneath his broken body, his soul underwent endless transformations, manifesting a new form.
Black eyes opened on both sides of his face, glowing with sinister light, malice surging like a tide.
Not only that...
Now, staggering forward, he crawled toward the massive tumor that had fallen to the ground, ignoring the countless wailing faces.
He reached into the crack left by the vanished sinister eye and pulled out something.
A twisted, grotesque black spine, sharp as a blade, appeared in his hand!
Within that darkness, colors seemed to swirl—five hues, seven shades.
Just looking at it made him almost dance with joy!
Yes! Yes! This is it!
"The Marrow of Sinful Folly..."
He murmured in ecstasy, caressing and embracing it, wishing he could merge with it.
Ascension and damnation always coexist.
That seemingly glorious path of ascension has lured countless fools who overestimate themselves, yet none have ever reached the end.
Even if one exhausts all their strength to climb, sacrificing everything for a chance to leap through the dragon gate, in the end, they only fall endlessly, losing everything.
It's like a joke, spending a lifetime going in circles, struggling futilely between rising and falling.
When you look in the mirror, you no longer see the confident, ambitious person you once were.
You're already unrecognizable.
If the person you once were has already perished in the endless struggle... then what is this reflection that remains?
One must imagine Sisyphus happy, even if he never finds success.
When all hope is exhausted, and despair arrives, the dreams and desires chased for a lifetime become a curse that crushes the soul and reason.
The paradise in the heavens never existed—it was all a lie.
After nine days and nights of falling, all climbers find only a void more tormenting than any suffering.
This emptiness, where even despair cannot exist, is the ultimate destination for all sentient beings!
This is the great calamity of the mortal world, corresponding to the ascent of virtue.
—The Ninth Calamity: Abyssal Despair!
Now, the shadow of Abyssal Despair manifested on the bone in Liancheng's hand!
When the superior abomination died in the womb, this blessing and essence of Abyssal Despair completed its final transformation within the stillborn fetus.
The endless cycle of despair and a sliver of hope, repeatedly nearing death but never reaching the end, exhausting all means but seeing no possibility...
From the infinite souls' longing for death and hope, this supreme marrow of calamity was born!
Longing for death, longing for destruction, longing for the annihilation of self and soul.
Liancheng laughed maniacally, singing with joy.
With this divine marrow in hand, one day, he too would transform into a subordinate of Abyssal Despair, becoming a true superior abomination!
"See? I won! Haha, HAHAHA!!!"
Liancheng kissed the bone in his hand, laughing hoarsely in ecstasy: "I won! It's me! Now, if I say you die, you die!"
He stared fiercely at Ji Jue, who had no strength left to resist, and declared: "No one can save you!"
"Really?"
Ji Jue nodded indifferently, then suddenly asked: "Have you forgotten something?"
Liancheng was stunned, then looked around warily, but saw no one.
Enraged, he shouted: "Stop playing tricks!"
Ji Jue lowered his eyes and sighed: "Even now, you still don't understand the core contradiction between the Time Ruins and the real world."
"Deceiver..."
At that moment, a sobbing voice came from behind Liancheng.
Liancheng froze, then slowly turned around.
From the shattered, withered tumor on the ground, among the writhing limbs and organs, a hollow, aged face emerged, its eyes filled with bloody tears, staring at him.
"Deceiver."
"Deceiver..."
A second face murmured wearily from within the flesh.
Then, a third mouth shouted in grief and anger: "Deceiver!!!"
Countless faces rose and fell within the flesh, countless mouths opening like cracks, wailing: "Deceiver! Deceiver! Deceiver!"
They shouted, they wept, condemning the one who should have resolved all this...
Pleading for release.
Crimson tears fell from their faces, drop by drop, onto the ground, flowing forward.
Reflecting a blurry figure.
Deceiver.
In that instant, a rain of bloody tears fell from the sky.
The Time Ruins wailed, cried, roared.
Thunder echoed in the empty heavens.
Outside the ruins, Tong Hua's vision darkened.
She staggered back, unable to stand, collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath.
The past stories, fragments, and chaotic records surged forth once more.
Like a flood, they swallowed everything.
Reflected in the Ether Eye.
Amidst the unstoppable weeping.
"I'm in so much pain, doctor."
On the stretcher, a dying patient reached out, trying to grasp the hand before him, pleading: "Please, save me... save me... Has help not arrived yet?"
No one answered.
"Why? Why haven't I died yet!" A mutated patient struggled violently, pulling at the chains, screaming: "Didn't you say it would be soon? Say something! Say something!"
No one spoke.
"Save me, doctor, I don't want to live anymore..."
A disfigured old man clawed at his flesh, tears streaming down his face: "Please, kill me, kill me!"
No one complied.
"Deceiver!" The patient who saw through everything roared.
"Deceiver!!" The utterly despairing patient wept.
"Deceiver!!!" The insane mutant howled.
"Just a little more time, even just a little."
The disheveled doctor grasped their hands, pleading again and again: "Just hold on a little longer..."
He said: "Just... a little longer..."
No one believed him anymore.
No salvation, no release, no death.
Only hell.
Hell was here, in the weeping, in the despair.
The world had fallen into endless darkness.
No more rescue, no more hope.
In the ruined makeshift hospital, the last doctor turned his head numbly, hearing the sound of the railing collapsing.
He was pushed down by the frenzied patients, bitten, devoured...
He struggled to keep his eyes open, trying to see the sky gradually swallowed by darkness.
But he could see nothing.
He didn't resist.
He didn't cry.
In the end, he just smiled wearily, helplessly.
So, I really was a deceiver.
"I'm sorry, I lied to you," he murmured softly, comforting the despairing for the last time: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
God, if there really is a god in this world...
Please save them.
Even just one... even just one...
In the last moment before being overwhelmed by the monsters, the doctor reached out to the empty sky, making one final plea.
But no one answered.
And so, amidst the biting and tearing, he was torn apart, leaving not even a trace of his bones.
Only a tiny spark of thought remained.
Ten years, twenty years, thirty years, forty years, fifty years...
This thought never extinguished.
Even through fire and flood, even in this lonely darkness, it wandered eternally.
Slowly, it began to sprout, to grow once more.
Until one day, the spirit born from that spark opened its eyes and looked upon the world of wailing and despair.
Ah, ah, why? Why...
There are still patients, still suffering, such great sources of pain in the world...
And so, they, they, and They reached out.
Everyone, don't be afraid!
Doctors can save patients...
Doctors will save patients.
This time, the doctors will definitely save the patients!
And so, they struggled to their feet, stumbling forward, step by step, moving their bodies, walking, walking, walking, toward the source of the weeping.
Only the rain of tears stained their white coats red.
In that moment, the shadow behind Liancheng reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Finally, I've found you..."
The broken doctor told him: "You're sick."
"Get away!"
Liancheng recoiled in shock, waving his hand to swat away the nonexistent hand, but he felt nothing but the illusion before him.
"What is this?!"
Heartbeat, blood flow, life, spiritual essence, even... the soul!
Why did it have nothing?!
The doctor stumbled forward, murmuring hoarsely: "The patients are sick, they want to die, but I can't help them... You're sick too, but you want to harm even more..."
He said: "You're very sick..."
"Don't be afraid, I'll save you," another face rose from the darkness, bathed in the rain, bloody tears sliding down its cheeks, telling him: "We will save you."
They said, "We will definitely save you!"
No need to panic anymore, no need to suffer.
Just close your eyes and wait with hope.
The doctors opened their tear-filled eyes, looking at Liancheng, one after another reaching out to the patient in need of salvation—this time, the doctors would definitely send the suffering patient to eternal peace!
Liancheng screamed.
A bloody hole appeared where his right eye had been.
The dean opened his mouth and swallowed the stolen right eye, thus curing the eye that emitted sinister visions.
Then, the vice-dean reached out, opened his mouth, and cured the left eye that bred malice and hatred.
The head of the ENT department erased the mouth that lied and caused pain, the surgeon healed the hands that poisoned and tormented patients, the orthopedic doctor corrected the spine that supported the flesh of sin...
Liancheng struggled madly, unleashing aimless soul attacks, trying to spread corruption, but it was useless.
He collapsed to the ground, writhing like a maggot, struggling endlessly.
But the doctors stayed by his side, relentlessly devouring the corruption and pollution, never giving up on the patient before them...
They removed the brain that conceived falsehoods and evil thoughts.
Finally, Director Qian swallowed the heart that held no remorse or understanding!
The patient was cured.
The patient finally died.
Countless doctors' shadows gathered around the patient's remains, overlapping, celebrating the arrival of health, singing of the arrival of a beautiful world.
But tears streamed down their faces uncontrollably.
"Deceiver!"
The patients on the tumor who could not die wailed, accusing again and again: "Deceiver! Deceiver! Deceiver!!!"
The doctor's figure flickered.
"Deceiver!!!"
The doctor lowered his head.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
The doctor caressed the faces on the tumor, kneeling wearily, "I couldn't... save you..."
"Deceiver!!!"
The aura of mutation wrapped around him, and the doctor murmured repeatedly, but under the relentless erosion and pollution, even his words were becoming hard to maintain.
And behind him, Ji Jue silently approached, bending down.
He picked up the black bone, sharp as a blade.
He gripped it tightly.
The Non-Aggression Matrix flowed over his hands, silently catalyzing, refining, forging, integrating the evil marrow within... aiming it at the doctor's defenseless back.
There was only one chance.
The core contradiction of the Time Ruins was right before him, the shadow had solidified into reality...
If he could just plunge this into the doctor's body, shatter the last resistance, and completely erase its existence, then it would all be over!
But as Ji Jue raised his hand, he finally saw the face that slowly turned to look at him.
And his tears.
The bone poised to strike halted in mid-air.
He hesitated for a moment.
But then, he heard a sharp scream.
"What are you doing!!!"
His hand was gripped tightly, held in an iron grasp.
The doctor looked up at him, glaring fiercely, demanding: "Is this... is this how we taught you?!"
Ji Jue had no time to react.
He was pulled forward.
When he came to his senses, he saw... the hands pulling his arm, driving the bone into the doctor's chest, piercing through!
There was no blood, no scream, only a sound like a bubble popping.
Like the fading echo of a beautiful dream.
On that blurry face, Director Qian's features gradually appeared, and he scolded the stunned junior: "As a doctor, how can you hesitate when facing harm and disease?!"
Ah, please vote for me.
(End of Chapter)