Chapter 00203: Victory and Defeat
# Victory and Defeat
Chapter 203
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 203: Victory and Defeat
The moon was dark, the wind was high, and clouds stretched for thousands of miles.
The flames roared like a festive bonfire, and the air was filled with the scent of white phosphorus and ashes, akin to the blooming of flowers.
On this beautiful night, Jiang Xuan suddenly felt a sense of relaxation and joy, as if it were the New Year.
Despite the fact that there were enough enemies nearby to kill him ten times over, his mood was inexplicably light, and his body felt incredibly agile.
It was like a scene from a game, where a cheerful young man looked down at his cards: "Hmm, the Ancient Blade, wine, iron chains, and a kill card..."
Unable to hold back, he threw his head back and sang.
"——Let's get it on!!!"
Jiang Xuan grinned, unable to suppress his wild laughter.
The heavy machine gun in his hands spun rapidly, unleashing a terrifying beam of light that could pierce through the entire battlefield in an instant.
Ratatatatatatatatat——
Mercury flowed like a torrent, shooting out from the rapidly heating rotating barrel at a rate of thirteen hundred rounds per minute.
The scattered droplets formed a line, and that line of silver light quickly expanded into a flowing surface.
The silver light swept out like a scythe.
A piercing scream erupted from the mouth of a lizard-like Chosen One.
The thick scales, which could withstand close-range shotgun blasts, cracked and deformed under the impact of the silver light in less than a second.
Flesh and blood flew everywhere, rising into the sky along with the blood.
The massive arm, as thick as a tree trunk, was instantly stripped of flesh, revealing bare bone.
Even the bone shattered under the relentless barrage.
In agony, the vortex Chosen One let out a deafening roar and spewed flames.
But Jiang Xuan stepped forward with his left foot, and an iron wall rose from the ground, blocking the raging flames and diverting the fire.
But what was even more deadly was that there was a firing port left in the middle of the wall!
Directly facing the mouth spewing flames, the torrent of silver light instantly pierced through, causing the flames to tremble violently and turn bloody.
In just a few seconds, under the relentless barrage, the giant lizard's flame breath was completely silenced.
Even if it hadn't been, it wouldn't have mattered.
The entire mouth, including the jaw and upper body, had been turned into mush by the machine gun fire.
If it weren't for the vortex Chosen One's renowned vitality, it would have been cut in half.
Under the onslaught of Jiang Xuan's firepower, not only did the enemies flee in terror, but even his teammates had to crouch down, fearing that a slight tremor of his hand might send them to their deaths.
When the lizard finally managed to stop and tried to escape, it found its feet rooted to the ground.
At some point, a pool of mercury had risen from the soil, wrapping around its limbs and quickly solidifying into a crystal-like, eerie glow.
Hardening·Metal Essence!
The blessing originally meant for defense had now become a shackle of despair under the flow of mercury.
No matter how desperately it struggled, even tearing off its own limbs, it couldn't break free.
The ever-changing mercury clung to its body like sticky taffy, even burrowing into its flesh, wrapping around its bones, and extending countless threads into the ground, entangling everything around it.
In just a few seconds, most of the mutated lizard's body was encased in mercury, like an insect trapped in amber, powerless to escape.
"Save me! Save me!!!" it cried out in terror, looking up for help, only to see its teammates fleeing even faster.
Above, the vast blood wind and shadows clashed with the burning star phenomenon, not even sparing a glance downward.
Finally, even the blazing light in the sky was overshadowed by darkness.
In the brief silence, the lizard stiffly turned its head and saw the steel giant standing before it, grinning silently.
The red-hot machine gun in its hand was raised, casting a heavy shadow on the lizard's face under the glow of the flames.
The mutated face twitched involuntarily, and a tear formed in its remaining eye.
"I... I surrender..."
Jiang Xuan simply smiled and raised a finger.
He shook it.
Shh, don't speak—
In that instant, ignoring the lizard's desperate struggles, the red-hot barrel was brutally shoved into its mouth, and the spinning began again, accompanied by uncontrollable laughter.
—Feel it with your heart!
Then, in the final, agonizing scream, the muffled gunshots grew louder amidst the spray of blood, and the relentless firepower erupted once more from the shattered flesh.
The storm had begun anew.
And now, Jiang Xuan felt like the embodiment of that storm!
He was death, he was destruction, he was the goddamn god of firepower!
He could go wherever the hell he wanted!
In the midst of his uncontrollable laughter, he swung the heavy machine gun and ran through the ruins, as free as a dog chasing a rabbit.
Thanks to his transformed superhuman mass and arm strength, he perfectly withstood the terrifying recoil, unleashing a torrent of fire from his waist amidst the deafening roar.
One after another, ammo belts were mindlessly fed into the gun, no longer needing Ji Jue's help to reload.
He had mastered it on his own!
Never before had he felt such exhilaration.
For the first time in his life, he clearly felt the joy of shooting things to pieces!
Or rather, the joy of money.
This heavy machine gun had been pieced together from parts he'd scrounged from Laila, avoiding the exorbitant markup.
But even with the markup, the cost of the gun was nothing compared to a single box of ammo.
Without the trio of Non-Aggression, Masterful Hands, and Fluid Alchemy to mass-produce mercury-enhanced bullets, each alchemical bullet, designed for armor-piercing and destructive power, cost four thousand yuan apiece—and that was only if bought in bulk.
A single ammo belt held two hundred and fifty bullets, totaling one million yuan.
In terms of labor, it would take any apprentice two months of non-stop work in a workshop to produce that much, after which they'd never want to see another bullet-shaped object in their life...
As for craftsmen, no self-respecting craftsman would waste their time on such repetitive work.
Even the military, with all its resources, would rather increase the explosive yield than equip its frontline soldiers with such extravagant gear.
A million yuan a minute? What kind of imperial joke is that? With that kind of money, why not just buy a cruise missile and blow the enemy to smithereens? Or at least buy a few cups and ship some local sheep to the Central Plains base for a feast!
But none of that mattered to Jiang Xuan.
The military had its considerations, and craftsmen had theirs, but as the user, all he had to do was pick up the machine gun and blast everything that moved to pieces!
Once he got the hang of it, Jiang Xuan, standing atop the shattered remains of the giant lizard, rained fire across the entire battlefield.
Thanks to the absurd durability of the ruins, he ignored all the bullets and attacks coming from afar, freely unleashing his firepower and thunderous roars.
Slaughter!
Kill kill kill kill kill kill!
Unfortunately, good times never last.
It felt like only a short while before the delightful, continuous roar of the gun suddenly stopped, replaced by a hollow clicking sound.
Jiang Xuan reached behind him but found nothing.
Empty.
His smile froze on his face.
Bullets? Where are the bullets? Out of ammo!
When he finally turned around, he saw empty boxes at his feet, broken ammo belts... and Lou Feng crouching under the iron wall.
The dreamlike good times were over.
All the bullets were spent.
Holding the red-hot machine gun, he sighed regretfully, feeling a deep sense of loss—once you've experienced such fullness, you can never go back.
As he came to his senses, he started calculating his account balance, wondering how he'd manage to get reimbursed.
He wasn't sure if Ji Jue could even issue an invoice...
But then, his hair stood on end as he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Why the hell was Lou Feng the only one here?!
"Where's Ji Jue?!" he asked in panic.
Lou Feng sighed, looking utterly defeated, and pointed ahead...
Amidst the ruins, behind the siblings Ji Liu and Ji Xue, who were fiercely battling and taking advantage of the chaos to finish off the wounded, was a figure crawling on the ground, sneaking around and looking left and right.
Seizing the opportunity, he reached out his sinful little hands toward the still-warm corpses.
With a Disintegration spell in his left hand, he shattered the matrices and absorbed all the Essence of Goodness.
Vortex, Mirror, Ascension, Horde, Ruins, White Deer, White Deer...
Another White Deer? You cultists really need to diversify!
A jumble of insights flashed through his mind, accompanied by various corrupting influences, but before the corruption could spread, it was swiftly purged by the furious Non-Aggression.
Meanwhile, his right hand expertly extracted the scattered spiritual essence, using Solid Alchemy to seal it in mercury, while also looting alchemical artifacts and any items bearing the aura of blessings.
Under the enhancement of Masterful Hands, his careful movements left behind countless afterimages, achieving astonishing efficiency.
Gotta do it while it's hot!
Ji Jue kept his eyes and ears open, keenly searching for any corpse that had just started to cool.
For those nearby, he rushed over and stripped them bare.
For those further away, he used mercury tentacles to drag them over and then stripped them bare.
Despite the chaos of the battlefield, there was an oddly festive atmosphere.
It's like New Year's!
In just this short time, Ji Jue had managed to fill 20% of his third-tier progress bar on his wristband by disintegrating matrices.
With a bit more effort, he might even max it out.
But even as he felt excited, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.
Watching so many materials vanish before his eyes, unable to be preserved due to the unstable environment.
If only Ball Brother were here, he could have soared to new heights, possibly never lacking materials for practice until his rebirth tier.
As he oscillated between joy and pain, his allies were having a rough time.
Ji Liu, struggling in the midst of a desperate siege, staggered back and couldn't help but feel exasperated when he saw Ji Jue still crouched on the ground, frantically looting.
"Can you at least move back a bit? Stop messing around!"
Just as Ji Jue looked up, from a blind spot not far away, a corpse that had been burnt to a crisp and shattered suddenly sprang to life, its eyes gleaming with malice as it lunged at him!
It had been lying there, enduring the pain of burning, motionless, waiting for this moment.
Now, it struck like a thunderbolt!
As the saying goes, to catch the thief, first catch the king.
But Tong Shan was holding his own against two opponents, so catching the king was out of the question.
However, if they could capture a craftsman, there was still a chance.
At the very least, they could use him as a bargaining chip to escape...
Unfortunately, the moment it leapt up, it was like a fish slapped onto a cutting board in the market—it flailed for a moment, then fell back to the ground, lifeless.
The warrior rose, the warrior fell.
All in one smooth motion.
From a fake corpse to a real one.
Only now, on its back, there was a gruesome, gaping hole.
Blood and fragments of internal organs slowly oozed out.
Amidst the bloodstains, a spiritual hand materialized out of thin air.
After piercing the body, it used Disintegration to crush the matrix and extract the remaining Essence of Goodness before vanishing.
On the twisted, mud-and-blood-covered face, the eyes were wide open, filled with confusion even in death.
It had no idea what had just happened.
How had it been exposed?
Only Ji Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow as he touched the back of his head.
Hidden in his hair was a miniature infrared camera, still faithfully doing its job, along with several other cameras on his back and chest, providing a 360-degree, dead-angle-free view of his surroundings.
Surprised? I've got eyes everywhere!
As Professor Ye once said, when exploring ruins, rift realms, or ancient tombs, you need eyes even on the back of your head.
Ji Jue wasn't a vortex Chosen One and didn't have the related blessings, so he couldn't grow extra eyes naturally.
But that was fine.
These days, everything seemed expensive except for cameras, which were getting cheaper by the year.
He hadn't even used up all the accessories that came with his drone.
However, as he hurriedly looted the corpse, his movements suddenly paused.
The smile vanished, replaced by a grim expression.
"This is bad..."
He looked up at the sky.
Above, the crimson and dark shadows were constantly shifting, with thunder and storms spreading out.
Under the high-speed attacks and defenses of the rebirth tier, even with his Transcendent Vision blessing, Ji Jue found it hard to discern the exact situation.
But there was no doubt that at the center of the storm was Tong Shan!
Psychic energy surged like a tide.
He was holding his own against the combined assault of Yan Chong and Ling Zhi, two opponents of the same tier.
Not only was he not at a disadvantage, but he seemed to be gaining the upper hand?!
What the hell kind of Ten Thousand Domains is this?!
Ji Jue's face twitched in amazement: Is this what a high-level player looks like?
Psychokinesis, one of the most common ability types, is also hailed as the most versatile.
It covers offense, defense, movement, and control, but that also means it might be a jack of all trades, master of none.
Ten Thousand Domains, the most common matrix in the Tianyuan system, is beloved by many Tianyuan Chosen Ones for its versatility and compatibility.
Having no weaknesses also means... it might not have any standout strengths either.
After all, even with the same psychokinesis, there are many different operational styles, leading to branches like vector interference, fulcrum manipulation, mental extension, and force field control.
And in terms of what they control, some prefer tangible objects like metal and liquids, others intangible ones like gases and energy.
Some excel at manipulating massive objects, crushing their enemies, while others prefer fine control over dust and dew, subtle and silent...
And according to Tong Shan, he was proficient in all of these!
From precise manipulation to large-scale suppression, from controlling tangible objects to mastering intangible ones, not to mention various control methods, he had mastered them all, leaving no blind spots in his use of psychokinesis!
It wasn't that specialized matrices were hard to find, but that the Ten Thousand Domains matrix, with its all-around adaptability and no particular bias, was the perfect path for him!
Now, under the Burning Star phenomenon, the swirling flames in the chaotic gravity currents formed an eye of the storm, surrounding Tong Shan.
He skillfully used the enemy's strength against them, deflecting the blades that leapt from the shadows.
Unscathed!
Yan Chong's expression grew darker.
His broken sword howled with hunger, but it hadn't even touched a corner of Tong Shan's clothes.
This guy had planned from the start to drag things out...
"What's wrong, you two? In over your heads?"
The Burning Star banner waved, and Tong Shan's calm voice carried over: "I suggest you hurry up, or your lackeys will all be dead soon."
"Damn you, little bastard..."
Yan Chong's crimson eyes burned with literal flames, his entire body like a mutated monster wrapped in blood and fire, with eyes opening angrily on his forehead and cheeks.
He opened his mouth and roared.
But no sound came out.
Only a faint crimson ripple, accompanied by countless cracking sounds, as the dead bodies on the ground rapidly decayed and turned to dust, their spiritual essence dissipating.
And the spine of his broken sword grew unnaturally, absorbing the death and despair of his subordinates, catalyzing into a bizarre greatsword dozens of meters long.
Before the blade, the storm in the sky suddenly ceased, and all the psychic turbulence disintegrated.
The blessing of [Blood and Fire Together] burned the remnants of spirits without limit, turning them into his own power.
Under the observation of [Strike First], all of Tong Shan's dodging directions and trajectories were completely locked down.
Then, a streak of blood light broke through all barriers, charging forward!
In that brief moment, the trump card he'd been hiding since the start of the battle was revealed.
Countless blessings linked together, forming the superior effect of [Oath of Blood and Strife], which allowed no room for evasion or retreat.
Even space seemed to warp, so no matter where Tong Shan tried to dodge, he would only end up closer to Yan Chong!
No escape, no avoidance.
Tong Shan's face was as calm as water.
The spear-like tip of the banner thrust forward, wrapped in the explosive force of a volcanic eruption, clashing head-on with the broken sword.
A piercing shatter echoed across the sky.
In this close-quarters struggle, Yan Chong's savage grin grew even more ferocious, not caring that his body was being shredded by the psychic storm, his bones exposed.
This strike wasn't aimed at Tong Shan.
It was aimed at the banner in his hand, which snapped in the middle!
Instantly, the Burning Star banner shattered into countless pieces of silk, and with its destruction, the Burning Star phenomenon enveloping the battlefield silently collapsed.
Like a sandcastle, it crumbled into nothingness.
And without the suppression and deflection of the gravity currents, behind Tong Shan, in the cold shadows, a blurred figure quietly condensed, closing in, right at his back.
Seizing the critical moment created by Yan Chong.
The shadowy blade of destruction thrust forward—
Victory was decided!
At that moment, Ji Jue, watching from the ground, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They had won.
(End of Chapter)