Chapter 00022: From Hell to Heaven! (Thanks to the Alliance Leader, Mo Yunyi)
# From Hell to Heaven! (Thanks to the Alliance Leader, Mo Yunyi)
Chapter 22
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 22: From Hell to Heaven! (Thanks to the Alliance Leader, Mo Yunyi)
Before his eyes, everything was bathed in a crystal-clear, beautiful light.
The setting sun of dusk shattered into countless dazzling warm yellows and oranges within the prism-like crystals.
Shades of indigo flowed out, quietly winding like emeralds, azure morphed into waves, and deep violet danced with gentle ripples.
Even breathing felt forgotten.
The world twisted and reshaped itself, transforming into an incomparably stunning scene before him—cold yet brilliant, beautiful yet cruel.
Within this indescribable beauty lay the raw ancient and solemn, devoid of any warmth.
This was no longer a realm for mortals!
"Circle Realm?!"
Lawrence gasped, unable to contain his shock.
The Security Bureau of Cliff City actually had a second selected one reaching the heavenly boundary?! And it was the temporary leader of the North Mountain group, who had been coldly shoved aside by the Bureau?
Had he truly underestimated her?
No, this feeling...
In an instant, thoughts flashed through Lawrence's mind, leading him to a realization.
"A dyed world, turning into a barrier and deadlock. This kind of matrix… is you!"
He stared wide-eyed at the indifferent face before him, once lovely but now devoid of color, her calm eyes betraying no emotion.
Only a faint, almost illusory smile at the corners of her mouth remained, as if crafted by an unmatched hand, imparting the essence of fleeting joys and sorrows.
She seemed like a deity within a sanctuary, looking down arrogantly upon the suffering, desire, and joys of the human realm, unmoved by them in the slightest.
"——[Minerva]!"
"How nostalgic," Wenwen sighed, lifting her hand.
"It’s been a long time since someone dared to call me that in front of me…"
Boom!
In that fleeting moment, without any forewarning, Wenwen's figure was already right before him!
Her right hand clenched into a fist and struck with force.
Like a crystalline illusion enveloping it, that hand appeared as if sculpted from solid crystal.
With just one punch, the vast Circle Realm trembled, erupting with a deafening roar.
The sound of shattering echoed endlessly.
In the blink of an eye, Lawrence's hands, tendrils, and even the bones in his upper body shattered completely, flesh exploding everywhere.
As the fierce wind howled, crimson blood and fragmented flesh continuously fell away from his shattered frame, flying off like a vibrant flag.
Yet, on his broken countenance, a smile emerged instead.
Such mockery.
"Ha ha, ha ha ha! Could even the celestial beings not rid you of me? The Federation actually let you live? Your bounty is far greater than mine!"
Countless writhing worms, like threads of blood, rapidly reborn from his skeletal remains, weaving into a sinister and odd visage—Lawrence’s true form.
Even struck down in an instant, the followers of the [Vortex] were known for their vibrant life force and terrifying regenerative abilities.
Countless methods existed for survival.
Even if ground to dust, for an Chosen like Lawrence, who had reached the rebirth stage for years, as long as the parasites remained, reconstructing his body was a mere flick of the fingers!
More importantly, even Lawrence himself found it hard to believe…
Wenwen had weakened!
If the woman before him had made him feel a chill before the Circle Realm unfolded, afterward, her threat rapidly plummeted to merely a bothersome level.
“How ridiculous, Minerva. The so-called butcher of the Rift, the mad dog… has she softened to this extent?”
He couldn’t believe it, doubting if this was some trick or conspiracy. “You went to such lengths just to preserve those expendables’ lives?”
At this moment, within Minerva’s Circle Realm, all life, every unconscious mortal within the Charity Hospital, and every innocent caught within were frozen in crystalline confinement, isolating them from the Vortex Parasite's invasions and effects—even the comatose could not escape…
Time seemed to stand still.
Every condition was forcibly fixed at the moment the crystal enveloped them.
Was the stillness of the [Desolate Ruins] path really exaggerated to such an extent? Even for Minerva, it was far too extravagant!
Wenwen moved forward.
In response, a punch capable of collapsing entire buildings was thrown at him!
Pure substance, pure power, thunder erupted from her five fingers, driving forward like a hammer, creating a massive hole in Lawrence's reborn physical form!
“Against you, this is enough!”
The Vortex represented life.
The Desolate Ruins represented unchanging matter.
The crystalline ability combined with the top-tier matrix of the path of Desolate Ruins—Minerva.
What it forged was an unstoppable force in direct confrontation, even a terrifying defense surpassing others of the same realm!
Any sane person wouldn’t dare challenge those human fortresses, that could easily become fully metallic and ramping up their offense and defense!
Unfortunately, that was only a relative statement...
Once an immense cliff unreachable, now it was merely a thick and solid wall; though still troublesome, it no longer held the majestic presence that coexisted with the world or the terrifying pressure.
Weak, far too weak.
Even if the power retained its original height, the mind had become pathetically feeble!
“The most unnecessary thing in the path of Desolate Ruins is the human heart!”
Crack!
In that instant, a crisp sound of rupture rang out.
On the crystalline surface, cracks appeared.
Thick blood slowly seeped from her abdominal wound, drop by drop, hitting the ground with a sizzle, blooming into sharp yet cold crystalline flowers.
“I’m curious—”
Lawrence raised a reborn limb among the writhing tendrils, the blades hidden within the dead angles finally extended from his flesh and blood.
Darkness shrouded the strange blades, their patterns flickering in the crystalline light before disappearing into the shadows, challenging to glimpse their form.
With a long and satisfied lick, the altered blood touched his tongue, relishing its heat and sting.
Lawrence grinned, “Which is stronger, the so-called ‘Heavenly Craft: Dark Crimson’ that claims to break through iron walls, or Minerva's defense?”
The shrill howls abruptly ceased.
From within the closed fingers’ grip,
under the shattered crystalline spark, blood seeped out, but the blood swiftly morphed into a crystalline form even stronger than steel, sprawling, fusing, constraining.
“A broken piece of iron?”
Wenwen questioned, “Is this your reliance?”
Her other fist lifted.
Clenching tightly.
What followed was a tidal wave capable of shaking the entire hospital, the crystals proliferating from the ground surged forth, spreading like a tide.
Just one punch stirred the hurricane.
Scarlet blood sprayed, fragmented flesh splattered, Lawrence, struck directly by that punch, turned into a broken skeleton, yet within the hollow sockets of the bones, fierce flames of hatred still surged.
Filled with triumph and pleasure.
He blocked it!
“Ha ha, ha ha ha ha!”
Before Minerva's punch, he extended his palm, now little more than half a skeletal remnant.
Yet, upon that bone, fresh flesh and tissue burgeoned rapidly.
Completely different from the once frail mortal form.
That structure surpassed anything earthly; even more solemnly, a trickle of sweet crimson surged within.
Brilliant and dazzling, like a pure red light!
Just one drop, once integrated into his body, quickly reconstructed a shell capable of directly contending with Minerva!
“I’ve succeeded! I’ve succeeded!”
Lawrence laughed boisterously, with tendrils unfurling from his back, stretching out like arms, reaching for the fallen branches of great trees above, gripping, connecting, drawing forth!
Greedily drawing forth this miraculous essence, the splendid outcome wrung from the countless deaths and sufferings!
“Above all things, those who attain the pinnacle are dragons.”
He reverently recited ancient poems from the dragon rituals, lost in this wondrous transformation: “Destruction and calamity are its breath, pain and despair are its blood!”
Now, dragon blood from hell was here, the transformation had begun.
He would evolve, he would ascend.
He would be reborn from the dragon blood!
Amidst the wild laughter, Lawrence sensed the transformation of the Vortex faltering strangely for a moment, but quickly returning to normal, as if an illusion.
Only amidst the countless roots of the giant tree were the tips of Ji Jue's tail slightly twitching within slumber, almost imperceptibly.
Like spasms in a nightmare.
Futile struggles.
It felt as if he had suddenly fallen into the deep sea, gasping for breath.
Sinking into an unprecedented chill and suffocation, Ji Jue plummeted into an endless nightmare, drifting along deeper.
Before him lay only scarlet; within his ears echoed mournful wails.
As if thousands were crying out, sorrowful screams, futile howls, struggling, until, exhausted, they finally released their grasp, falling into the abyss, never to return.
What remained were only bones and tears.
Those tears merged into an ocean, rising high, drowning everything within the tide of grief.
“Why do you want to kill me, why?!”
In a daze, it seemed someone tugged at his collar, straining to question, “I’m just a worker, I’ve only been here a few months! I’m innocent!”
But before Ji Jue could respond, that phantom seemed to dissipate once more, replaced by a weary, bedraggled man covered in ash, repeatedly smashing at the door in front of him, “Where’s the money? Where’s my money? Boss, didn’t you say you’d pay me today?!”
The iron door remained sturdy, no one answering.
“They’re all liars, you all lied to me!”
The desperate man cried out, hoisting a hammer, “I’ll fight you!”
He smashed open the door, and a gunshot rang out.
Everything abruptly halted, the illusion vanishing.
Yet Ji Jue heard the familiar beeping sound, the scent of disinfectant wafting at his nostrils.
He turned in confusion to see a grimy hospital room, and on the bed lay a gaunt woman, her hair completely gone, revealing a wrinkled scalp.
“Eat something, eat some more.”
The man at her side lifted a bowl of rice, unshaven and smiling ingratiatingly, “You have chemotherapy this afternoon; eat to keep your strength up.”
But she did not eat.
She could barely lift her hand.
“Listen to me, let’s give up on treatment, shall we go home?”
In the long silence, she whispered, “This illness costs too much.”
The man stiffened, his hand holding the bowl hovering in the air, but slowly, his back hunched as if crushed by an invisible weight.
He lowered his head.
“Mm.”
That was the last sound before tears fell.
Then came the downpour, in a blurred world filled only with wails, the woman on the ground rolled over, holding onto the thighs of a child, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded, “Please stop! Don’t take it anymore! Just think of your mother and don’t touch this thing; it will ruin your life!”
Thud!
A club came crashing down, drowning out the sound of the pouring rain.
The world spun.
In another closed room, howls and groans echoed from the bed; a naked woman, covered in blood, was dragged by her hair and slammed against the wall, silently enduring slap after slap, punch after punch.
At the mercy of a tattooed man, brutally violated until he had his fill, pulling down his belt, lifting her face from the ground, “You little tramp, does it feel good?”
Cowering in fear, that familiar face twisted painfully, struggling to squeeze out a smile, “Brother Yang, you’re so fierce, I like it so much.”
Although blood streamed from the corner of her eye, her smile was still so sweet.
As if joyful.
Please, please, don’t hit me anymore.
Up until the end, such words never had the courage to be spoken.
Ji Jue shut his eyes, unwilling to look any longer.
Yet the cacophony of sounds never ceased to reach his ears, until finally, they all transformed into hoarse and muddled voices, like a prayer.
“Buddha, great mercy, please save this child, save her… The disciple is burdened with severe karma, doomed to endure the eight sufferings, yet she is still young; she hasn’t even been to school…”
Before the statue, an old man wept bitterly, kneeling as he bowed repeatedly, his hoarse prayers echoing.
Time and again he repeated, never daring to stop.
Other than prayer, he had no other means left.
But the divine made no response.
Only the choked, hoarse prayers gradually faded into silence.
Enough!
Stop already, I beg you.
Leave me be!
Ji Jue covered his ears, yet it was useless.
More sounds, more images, those memories, scenes, and nightmares continuously flooded into his consciousness and mind.
He wanted to scream and cry, yet amidst the countless wails, he could not make a sound.
He continued to fall into deeper despair.
Until at last, silence reigned.
Finally ended.
For a moment, he thought this, until flames erupted from the ruins and wreckage, spreading and illuminating the contours of hell.
On the charred earth, flames flickered.
The winds carrying sulfur and ash swept through, clearing the sky of obstructive black smoke, revealing a burning red night sky.
Stars twisted and curled, like melting glass, dripping a dim light.
Thus, illuminating a world in decline.
The visage of calamity that swept through.
Nightmares resurfaced.
Sounds of shattering, echoes of collapse, the grating noise of twisted steel, and a distant, ethereal melody from the flames—a soft yet fragmented song.
Ten years ago, during the Tide of Flame disaster.
Ji Jue finally understood; he had arrived at the deepest place of hell.
His own place.
On the broken, cracked land, the iron tracks had turned red and melted, unmoored carriages rolling over on the scorched earth, scattering bones, eventually falling into ashes.
Flames spread between shattered seats, thick smoke billowing.
Among the shards and scorched earth, people still wailed, struggling to crawl from the flames, but ultimately, they were extinguished in the ruins.
“... The sun sets, nighttime arrives.”
Inside a shattered carriage, someone softly sang a lullaby, her gentle voice echoing amidst the flames and thick smoke: “Close your eyes quickly, and may sweet dreams embrace you.”
Ji Jue stood frozen, staring at the half-open shattered door ahead, but dared not push it open.
He wanted to turn and flee, yet found nowhere to go.
“Stars twinkle, the moon rises.”
The song softly continued: “Look at the afterglow of the sunset; I will accompany you, waiting for you to wake up, going nowhere… waiting for you to wake up, may sweet dreams accompany you…”
Crack!
The shattered door fell from the raging flames, and the gruesome scene inside the carriage reflected in Ji Jue's eyes.
It seemed like hell.
But within hell, someone sang, bathing in flames.
She knelt on the ground, cradling the unconscious child, placing the only gas mask on his face.
Wrapping him in a fire blanket, with her embrace, she sealed every gap.
And so, she smiled.
So blissful.
Thus, amidst the scorching flames, she sang, gradually losing her breath.
Only her hoarse voice echoed in the child’s dreams, time and again, accompanying him as if to extend into eternity.
As if she had never left.
Ji Jue staggered forward, allowing the flames to burn him.
Walking towards the end of his dream.
This was the final conclusion left behind by that great disaster.
What cursed ones, what chosen ones, what miracles of life… Ji Jue simply didn’t understand what those people were babbling on about, and they were all wrong.
“The one who should have survived back then wasn’t me, was it, mother?”
Ji Jue gazed at her form, softly asking, “I was the lucky one who wasn’t originally on the survivors' list.”
Ten years ago, on that train that could never reach its destination, a child named Ji Jue should have perished in the disaster, returning to dust.
Yet someone traded him out from hell.
With herself.
Ji Jue slowly extended his hand, wanting to touch her cheek, but his fingers halted in mid-air, daring not to advance further.
Fearful she might turn into a fragile bubble, vanishing without a trace.
Only tears began to fall uncontrollably.
“I miss you so much, mom.”
He whispered softly, “Really, I miss you.”
In the silence, no one replied, yet the sounds of flames burning suddenly vanished.
Only the song.
The melody echoed in hell repeatedly, gradually becoming clear, like the tide, gently rising, unwavering.
From the end of the song, a loud whistle suddenly rang out again!!!
The darkness was pierced, the scorched earth vanished, flames disappeared into the howl of wind, nightmares were torn apart, easily ground into fragments.
In response to his call, the dream that had accompanied him for ten years rose from the depths of despair.
Devouring everything!
Just like that, time reversed.
The gentle glow of the sunset spilled in through the window; with the sound of the train pounding the tracks, Ji Jue woke up from the nightmare, gazing blankly at everything familiar.
As if he had returned once more to before the disaster struck, still onboard that roaring train, embraced by those tender memories.
“You look so sad, Ji Jue.”
Someone gently stroked his cheek, her eyes warm and gentle.
Ji Jue looked at her, hesitating several times to speak, finally lowering his head, evading her gaze, “I just… feel a bit tired.”
“Well then, just rest well. It’s alright to sleep a bit longer.” She ruffled Ji Jue’s hair, “If something is too hard, you have to learn to let go properly.”
“Mom, can you hug me?” Ji Jue softly pleaded.
“Of course.”
Without hesitation, she opened her arms and embraced the child she hadn’t seen in ten years.
Though she was so thin and frail, being held felt so reassuring, as if there was nothing to fear.
The whole world couldn’t harm him.
Ji Jue shut his eyes, melting his tensed body.
Just like that, listening to her hum, feeling her warmth and breath.
The beautiful dream felt so long, as if it had no end.
Until he opened his eyes again, gripping the ticking watch on his wrist.
“Are you leaving?” she asked.
“Mm.”
Ji Jue looked at her, “There are some things I must do, though it’s hard... But don’t worry, I will figure it out, just like before, nothing can stop me.”
“Goodbye, mom.”
He took a deep breath, finally bidding farewell: “I may… never be able to come back.”
Light laughter rang out, like watching a child worry over trivial matters, as if it was such a simple thing.
“Then just continue to move forward, don’t look back.”
With a smile, she cupped the boy’s face, “I will always watch over you, no matter where you go. I will miss you, just as you miss me.”
And thus, for the last time, embraced him.
Leaving a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Just like that, watching Ji Jue turn to leave.
Ji Jue took a few steps forward, unable to help but want to turn back once more, but he didn’t dare until he heard her voice behind him.
“Ji Jue!”
Under the glow of the sunset, she called his name, waving, “You can do it!”
“Mm.”
Ji Jue nodded vigorously, wiping away his tears, turning and pushing open the large door at the end of the carriage.
Saying farewell to everything of the past.
The train seemed to drift away, disappearing, just like that distant dream.
Ji Jue plunged once more into the bloody deep sea, cold, suffocating, painful, yet so familiar.
This time, he no longer feared or felt terrified.
Thus, lifting his head, gazing at the numerous lowly echoes of pain and despair.
“Hey! Can you hear me?”
Ji Jue took a deep breath, roaring with all his might: “I’m right here!”
In that instant, the scarlet ocean erupted into a frenzy, churning as if boiling.
Countless waves of blood-red fury surged towards him, ready to shred apart the alien presence that did not belong here.
“Come with me.”
Ji Jue extended his hand, inviting those lost obsessions: “I’ll help you take revenge.”
In an instant, the crimson stilled, as if freezing.
Mournful wails and cries abruptly ceased.
It was as if countless eyes turned to gaze upon the young man from a dying world, observing him, stirring amongst one another, clashing, unleashing a torrent of chaos never seen before.
Ultimately, they transformed into blood-soaked hands.
Grasping his hand!
A pact was forged.
In that moment, an ocean of unfathomable agony and despair split open before him!
The torrent surged, engulfing Ji Jue.
Countless torments lifted him, rising toward the mortal realm, toward that world not meant for them.
In that moment, Ji Jue opened his eyes.
Across the eerie giant tree, he gazed at the blood-red sky, the collapsed and shattered hospital, the countless towering crystalline pillars, and the writhing flesh scattered everywhere.
The monstrous figures thrashed their tendrils, laughing manically, gradually inflating.
Before his eyes, the world seemed to transform into hell.
But he did not fear hell.
He had already climbed out from hell, bestowed with the most precious treasure in this world.
He wanted to live well; he wanted to achieve something.
From that day forth, every day of Ji Jue’s life felt like heaven!
And now…
The time for retribution had come!
He extended his hand…
Mid-fight, Lawrence’s expression suddenly froze, once again feeling the severance of the dragon blood supply!
Ending the chapter here, combining it all into one.
Please give me a ticket at the start of the month!