Chapter 00245: Sweet Dreams and Illusory Light
# Sweet Dreams and Illusory Light
Chapter 245
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 245: Sweet Dreams and Illusory Light
The trigger was pulled, and the bullet shot forth.
Like a sudden thunderclap, a streak of crimson appeared abruptly in the sky.
With the spreading roar, countless scarlet hues seeped through the straight, lingering light, expanding outward to both sides.
It was as if a sharp blade had torn open a wound in the void.
Endless resentment ignited and burned fiercely in that instant.
Blood rained down like a torrential storm.
The moment the bullet flew out, the huge pistol fulfilled its mission.
With the disappearance of the massive hand, it turned to ash.
And that burning, hellish scarlet light surged forward, extending straight ahead.
In an instant, it tore through the countless rolling streams of rainbow light, the sound of cracking nonstop.
The bullet, as clear and brittle as glazed glass, spiraled through the air.
Time seemed to slow countless times over, inching forward, carving out one spreading crack after another from the invisible barrier it passed through.
The great incarnation of Sin supporting the heavens looked on coldly.
Finally, it raised a massive hand.
It blocked the bullet’s path.
Effortlessly repelling the endless resentment from within.
Yet, in that very moment, within Quancheng, the originally dim and brilliant flowing light suddenly surged upward, bursting forth with turmoil and violent eruption!
—That was the lingering wedge of the present world, formed from the remnants of Lord Tao’s body!
As if the benevolent, broad-minded old man from days past had reached out once again.
The remnant power, so weak compared to that of the great Sin, only shifted slightly, casually unobtrusive, yet like forcing the unsubstantial into the substantial, cutting off a vital vein at the crucial moment.
This caused the spiritual energy supply of the great Sin to fluctuate violently at once.
Lu Changsheng’s third eye opened wide.
Shock.
After the roar, the blockade crumbled apart, the cracks spread.
On the huge palm blocking the bullet, a blood hole appeared, penetrating through.
Broken bones and flesh were so clear; blood poured down like rain.
After the wound formed, a deep bullet scar appeared on the stunned face.
Endless resentment, hatred, and bitterness spread from the cracks like rising flames, burning fiercely.
It was as if, beyond the three eyes, there was yet another eye!
Boom!!!
Amidst the deafening roar shaking heaven and earth, behind him, the workshop that had once towered like a heavenly pillar suddenly trembled.
Then, accompanied by the repeated cracking sounds enveloping Quancheng, countless veins sustaining it snapped with a thunderous sound.
Darkness dissipated, revealing the tragic sight atop the workshop.
Countless spiritual energy circuits appeared out of the void and dissipated.
Flecks of supreme essence and profound divine marrow, like blood, rose from within the workshop, flowing out, and melted away, gone without trace.
Jian Yuan stepped back a step.
Before him, Ye Xian remained indifferent.
Her blood-stained face was covered with cracks.
Her right hand was severed at the root.
At her feet, broken shards of swords and blades piled almost like a mountain.
All of it Jian Yuan’s handiwork.
At last, Jian Yuan bowed his head, looking at his own chest.
The great hole pierced through, and the soul, nearing its limit, strained under the burden.
He sighed quietly.
The ember’s dictionary held no place for mercy, righteousness, or virtue.
Quite the opposite.
It was all about kicking the blind, cursing the mute, and striking the cripple’s good leg.
Widows’ doors are easy to kick, barren graves easier to dig.
While Ji Jue, leaning on the Heavenly Track, frantically performed mechanical divine descents, ruthlessly stabbing Lu Changsheng—the weightlifting champion—in the back, Ye Xian seized the opportunity without hesitation.
Outside, there was the invasion and struggles of the Association; close to home, Ye Xian’s sudden intrusion and assault.
To maintain the stability of Quancheng and the artificial Heavenly Track, much mental effort had to be devoted for support...
Under this dual internal and external pressure, Jian Yuan became unusually weak.
Finally, one careless move...
At the moment the gun fired, without any warning, the Mo Xie sword tightly clutched in Ye Xian’s right hand suddenly shattered explosively.
Jade and stone destroyed together!
Even Jian Yuan had not expected that grasping such a matrix sacred relic which had reached the boundary of human-divine realm, Ye Xian would just break it like that, just smash it like that.
Using such a heavenly artifact capable of being passed down for generations as a one-time consumable, directly on Jian Yuan’s workshop.
Having destroyed many others’ works with dissolution techniques, Ye Xian naturally had much experience, even treating the dissolution of her own works as another form of destruction.
Even Jian Yuan did not anticipate...
In the deathly silence, the profound artisan sighed regretfully and shook his head.
“What a pity.”
“It’s just a tool. If broken, rebuild it.”
Ye Xian was indifferent, expressionless as she threw down the sword hilt. “Cut off when must cut off, abandon when must abandon—that’s the experience I learned breaking through the door. The artisan fought with that guy for so long, why is he so hesitant now?”
Jian Yuan said nothing.
After a long moment, he waved his hand, causing a pile of debris to fly out from the shattered workshop walls and fall to the ground.
Among them, two mercury pieces stood out, one hard as iron, the other supple as silk.
“Return those to him.”
He said, “This cursed stuff just clutters the place.”
Ye Xian was puzzled: “Is the artisan leaving now?”
“What else? To the peak of a mountain is easy to fail near the top. Lu Changsheng can’t hold on; should I stay here to be his shield?”
Jian Yuan was cold: “Losing a round on some brat. Then losing another round on his teacher. Just one day, already lost enough face.”
Ye Xian shook her head coldly, “If the artisan could let go of the whole, abandon some parts, today wouldn’t be so humiliating, right?”
As she had said at the start...
Sometimes, there must be choices.
Trying to have it all might end in vain, with arguably nothing gained.
To have everything, to be all-knowing and all-powerful, is but a dream.
In the past, Jian Yuan became so obsessed with ‘all’ that he went mad and fell into corruption, even willing to sacrifice himself.
Now, because of the same obsession with ‘all’, he won’t let go, and it causes him to lose this round to Ye Xian.
In some way, even without suffering calamity, Jian Yuan’s arrogance alone condemns him to corruption.
At the same time, besides maintaining the artificial Heavenly Track and the Quancheng’s profound veins, resisting the Association’s counterattacks and erosion, he also had to divide his mental strength to fight Ye Xian’s invasion.
Each of these alone would exhaust a common craftsman’s energy, yet before the collapse, Jian Yuan managed to control none of them disadvantageously and even skillfully subdued the fierce attacks of the younger generation.
Until Lu Changsheng was trapped beneath the weight of the present world, the Security Bureau launched a full counterattack, and then this unlucky Ji Jue added another hundred thousand straws on the camel’s back...
Using the Heavenly Track, he launched a mechanical divine descent DDoS assault, infiltrating everywhere and adding massive pressure.
So much that when one fails, all fail; when one falls, all fall.
How did it come to this?
Upon hearing this, Jian Yuan couldn’t help but sneer with contempt: “True to being that guy’s student, your words are exactly like that lofty teacher’s. I’ve lived seeking completeness, rising and falling till now, but how do you know I can’t be complete? If I retreated at difficulty, how would I be any different from that guy?!”
“Who knows?” Ye Xian shook her head indifferently. “The artisan clings to the name of orthodoxy. Go argue with him. I’m a rebel who founded my own path, even got expunged from the roster. Please don’t drag me into these things anymore, alright?”
“Only now, you’re most like that guy.”
Jian Yuan shook his head, mocking with a sigh, not sure whether he was mocking Ye Xian, her teacher, or himself.
But when he raised his head, his gaze fell on that lonely glimmer hanging high in the illusionary light.
Suddenly, he asked:
“What’s his name?”
“Ji Jue.”
Ye Xian answered, “My student, Ji Jue.”
Jian Yuan nodded in understanding, then glanced back at his opponent, and couldn’t help but smile.
For orthodoxy, he had fought that guy for a lifetime.
Yet ironically, that guy’s favorite student broke out and discarded it like trash.
The teacher who despised the profound path of corruption had taught a student who wavered between the supreme good and great Sin.
And others, clearly chasing death and destruction, yet immersed in the brilliant dream of supreme good...
Yet he, a profound artisan, actually felt pity because of it.
Fate is always so strange.
No, perhaps that’s exactly what it means to be a craftsman.
Even when forsaking morals and conscience, one cannot let go of the stubbornness of the heart, to the very end.
“Craftsman...”
He sighed softly and waved his hand.
A tide of shadows rose, engulfing him and the workshop, silently dissipating, never to be seen again.
From the gradually thinning Sin-fueled rain, Ye Xian lifted her head, staring at the fractured, turbulent Quancheng, as if sinking into everything lost in hell.
Eventually, her gaze turned upward to the twinkling star-like light high in the sky.
Rather than joyful or proud about having won a hand from the profound artisan, she shook her head and sighed quietly.
Having such a student is a curse across eight generations.
Maybe I should find a chance to expel him?
That’d save me trouble if he causes some unimaginable disaster in the future, dragging me, the innocent teacher, into it...
Above the heavens, the huge wound silently closed.
Radiance spread vastly and wildly.
After losing the projection of the vortex, the weight of the present world surged again.
Cracks burst from the great Sin’s flesh and veins.
“There’s little left to do now.”
The phantom of an old monk appeared before Lu Changsheng.
He lifted the fishbowl in his hands; the fish inside lazily flicked its tail.
The old monk said, “It asks you, why cling on stubbornly?”
“This is the war and challenge I started. How can I end it halfway?”
The incarnation of great Sin smiled indifferently, looking at decades of labor collapsing before his eyes, then suddenly calmed: “If I were to now throw down my helmet and flee, wouldn’t Tianyuan mock me? If I die without honor someday, how can I face Lord Tao?”
“Unrepentant to the end, Lu Changsheng.”
The old monk sighed softly.
“Isn’t this me?”
Unfazed, Lu Changsheng raised his head, looking beyond the night towards the heavens, where streaks of fierce light surged.
He grinned, “Jian Yuan has gone, you all may leave. No need to be concerned.”
He said, “I have the next round!”
At that moment, within Quancheng, all surviving sanctuaries rang out a sharp, unified chime.
Countless blessings and divine marrow from higher Sin circulated and poured into Lu Changsheng’s body.
He waved casually, allowing his subordinates to scatter without concern.
Only raising his hand to glance through the cracks between his fingers towards the bright light hanging in the sky.
Ji Jue.
Yet, so far away, nothing was visible aside from a face.
But that look of his...
Indeed unmistakable!
Even if by chance they met again someday in the vast crowd, it would be impossible to confuse him.
“Poisonous hatred and blood feud, purely so, truly rare and precious.”
One could feel the many great Sin’s breath and nature shifting and flowing amidst the still aching wounds — corruption, madness, abyssal void, tower and wolf...
When did the profound way gain such a seed?
When the present world and the profound are again disturbed in times to come, peace will be hard to find.
One didn’t want there to be another terrible threat besides Tianyuan today.
Truly joyous!
Truly pitiful...
“I’ve lost my chance.”
He drew back his gaze and sighed regretfully, “And so have you.”
At that instant, Lu Changsheng finally loosened his grip.
Allowing the weight of the present world, gifted by Lord Tao, to fall from his hand.
Vast heavenly light poured down like rain.
Deep within Quancheng, the decree of Tianyuan spread like a tide.
Radiance crisscrossed as, in an instant, it stripped away all remnants of the Demonic Cult and severed every trace of great Sin.
Thus, the victory and defeat were decided!
Yet as this heavy shackle slipped free, the aura of great Sin rose, expanding broadly.
As he slowly stood, the infinite rainbow light gathered once again, enveloping all.
Though gravely wounded, that cruel, savage aura seemed stronger than ever before!
“Tianyuan’s greatness, the weight of the present world... Lord Tao’s lesson, I have learned well!”
He reached out, touching the crack on his chest where the Tianyuan wound pierced the great Sin’s body, but did not wipe it away.
Looking back up to the heavens, he said, “Thank you all for waiting so long. Which one will come show me their strength?”
No one answered.
Cold gazes fell from the sky, watching with indifferent disdain.
The Luo family, the Tong family, the Jiang family, the Yu family, even the Ji family from the central city, and the Li family from Wild State... more than ten Heavenly Beings appeared, murder gleaming in their eyes.
As the Sin-fueled corruption in Quancheng failed, the stakes were laid bare, with Tianyuan taking it all.
The great Sin factions in the Federation suffered a crushing defeat, scattering into chaos.
Those who had bet heavily or watched eagerly all left empty-handed, leaving in bitter disappointment.
Like fate’s cycle, Lu Changsheng had concealed his pawns for decades, preparing for this day—a key piece capable of deciding the future of the present world.
Had he succeeded all at once, the myriad Sin would have flocked to him, making him the whirlwind’s voice of the present world.
But now, in a single day, he lost everything: no help, no luck.
But one thing hadn’t changed...
As long as he lived, as long as he had breath, he would remain a calamity upon the present world!
The time for reckoning had come.
In an instant, thunder roared and rainbow light surged forth.
Amidst wild laughter, the sins of the mortal world changed again, swiftly ascending the sky, recklessly charging headlong into the trap long prepared for them!
Seeking death on their own accord!
In a flash, after the dark clouds dispersed, the chaotic night sky was alive with shifting five-colored light.
Fierce winds howled, bright beams collided.
The soul-spirit surged wildly, spreading in all directions.
Within the mad laughter, the burning, strange rainbow light clashed left and right, colliding with razor sharp intent.
Blood poured like torrential rain, but hadn’t even touched ground before it was entirely evaporated.
In moments, countless barrier seals and temporal wedges enveloped the scene.
The rainbow light billowed but was shattered piece by piece and brutally slain.
Finally, among the blazing stars, a pair of vast, magnificent eyes slowly opened.
Looking down.
Just a gaze seemed to halt the stars, freeze everything, transform all into dust and ants, unable to dare defy the supreme power before them.
This was the pinnacle of the Tianyuan Way, the manifestation of supreme good from the mortal world—
The so-called “Heavenly Overseer”!
Then, the ultimate punishment descended.
Rainbow light froze, suspended.
Then, hoarse laughter abruptly stopped.
In the dead silence, the great Sin body disintegrated, its soul perished, completely erased from the world...
Never to be seen again.
In the stillness, the eyes of the Heavenly Overseer swept past the dust of the world, paused for a moment atop the Heavenly Track, then indifferently drifted away, finally closing and vanishing.
The many Heavenly Beings scattered and left.
All abnormal phenomena vanished as if nothing had happened.
It was hard to imagine that a moment before, here stood an arrogant foolish Sin, daring to stir the mortal world, a schemer trying to break free from the chessboard to control fate...
“With such great power, why wait till now?”
Ji Jue stood by a broken window, staring into the empty night sky, head raised to ask, “The mortal world is a chess game—should it be played so simply?!”
No one answered.
As if the dust’s puzzled words were too small to be heard.
Or perhaps fate was too lofty, disdainful to reply.
Ji Jue closed his eyes.
When everything met its end, when life-and-death struggles ceased.
Quancheng once again sank into silence.
Salvation or downfall came and left.
The ruins were still ruins.
Only the last cries faded into the distant wind.
On shattered streets, among collapsed bricks, monsters wandered their old homes, but had nowhere to go.
Yet now, none of it seemed to matter.
From the sharp scraping sounds, they moved, step by step, emerging from the shadows.
Their grim faces still wet with blood, their claws entangled with corpses.
At this moment, they lifted their heads and gazed at the sky, at the flickering, dreamlike glimmer.
Beneath the soothing, lofty night curtain, scattered starlight twinkled, converging to form a vast river flowing toward an unknown distance.
Looking down on the mortal world, the light sprinkled gentle, clear radiance.
Thread by thread, gathering together.
Like soft caresses.
Illuminating those faces filled with madness and pain.
Those scarlet eyes seemed stabbed by the tender light, retreating in fright, shrinking back yet reluctant to leave.
Only black tears slowly slid down, falling into the dust.
There was light.
Endless resentment burned away in the long darkness.
When the endless nightmare finally ends, the departed souls stare dumbfounded at the stars, full of fear yet entranced.
Even if the sun is unseen.
In the stillness, broken sounds rang out again.
When the miracle’s gift ended, winding cracks appeared from rusted steel.
The broken bodies gradually collapsed, falling to the earth.
At the final moment, the monsters raised their heads and howled loudly towards the lonely figure above the sky.
When tears ran dry, cries ceased.
When the end came, why did this sound seem like laughter?
Ji Jue was silent.
As the countdown on the screen ended, he once more stretched out his hand toward the quiet world.
The Heavenly Track’s power moved gently.
One by one, street lights flared on again, illuminating cobwebs, dust, and ruin.
The soft light stretched over broken streets, wandering through empty alleys, lighting up silent malls and shattered buildings.
Dusty plastic mannequins stood proudly in display windows, showing dust-covered skirts.
In office cubicles, faded, dull documents fluttered slightly in the breeze.
Beneath the night veil, neon lights surged like a tide.
From the glow, everything seemed restored to its original shape: vast buildings standing tall, greenery lush, distant winds blowing moist and cool.
As if bustling voices filled the streets again, unseen crowds passing by, horn sounds spreading, cars speeding on broad roads.
The rain of suffering and despair had ended.
At the end of a dream, brilliance remained as before.
Ji Jue wiped away the moist traces at his eyes’ corner, looking at all he had created.
Then, like them, he softly laughed.
“So beautiful, this world.”
(The End of this Chapter)