Chapter 00091: Darkness
# Darkness
Chapter 91
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 91: Darkness
Damn it…
Silan fixed his gaze tightly on Ji Jue’s face, feeling a familiar chill creeping over him…
This damn brat was serious.
No need for Lou Feng to remind him; just from the moment they stepped inside, he had felt fully the power bestowed by mercury's legacy.
As a wandering knight and a stray dog mercenary, everyone was here to earn some extra coin.
Even if they were licking blood off the blade, they had to know whose blood it was.
Some blood was simply off-limits, and getting even a drop could be lethal.
He wasn’t some nameless killer taking orders in a shady marketplace.
To provoke a future Master Ember with his real name was no small matter.
Even if Silan was tough-headed, he still had to consider the others in his team.
After all, they were all just working men, and as long as they could earn their pay, who would want to pour their heart out for their boss?
He had fought hard, made efforts, and left evidence behind.
It wasn’t that his buddies hadn’t tried; it was that the opponent was just too fierce.
There were no achievements to boast of, but at least he had managed to protect his boss's life, in the literal sense.
Even then, they suffered heavy losses…
Who wouldn’t shed a tear seeing that? And on top of it, pay out some hefty compensation?
Besides, wasn’t the gain supposed to be shared with the boss? What did it have to do with him?
Silan sighed and turned back for another look.
He pursed his lips.
Another two boxes were tossed over.
One was filled with broken alchemical creations, remnants left by mercury.
The other contained individual containers that glowed faintly, resembling amber, like faint candlelight in the wind.
Those were blessings found in the mercury sanctuary.
After four hundred years without care, they had regressed to their most basic forms, yet were still worth a fortune to the craftsmen of the Ember lineage.
“The goods are right here,” Silan slowly eased his blade, staring at Ji Jue. “The price only goes up this once, brother, you better think it through.”
Ji Jue silently watched him, not a word escaping his lips.
Suddenly, the rifle butt swung up and smashed into Lou Feng’s skull, knocking him out cold.
Then, he lowered the gun and, in front of everyone, rummaged through Lou Feng’s belongings.
Glasses, buttons, rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces…
Everything that sparkled with a spiritual essence was stripped from him and tossed into the cart behind him.
Finally, the light of mercury gathered, wrapping around Lou Feng like bindings and ropes.
“Now, let’s exchange the hostages,” Ji Jue openly pulled out the plastic explosives from his pocket, squeezing them in his hand, causing Silan’s eyelids to twitch.
But he ultimately said nothing, cutting the spear that pierced Xiao An in half, lifting the silent youth in his hands, and slowly walked toward Ji Jue.
They were inches away from each other.
The two exchanged silent glances, and for a moment, it seemed Silan wanted to say something, but in the end, he just smiled self-deprecatingly, silently placing Xiao An into the cart.
He extended his hand toward Ji Jue.
Thus, he received the barely breathing Lou Feng and took a few slow steps back, turning to walk towards his subordinates.
All along, the subordinates had been waiting for Silan’s orders.
Yet in the end, Silan said nothing, did not signal for an ambush or issue any commands.
He watched the cart fade into the darkness.
“Clean up the bodies, let’s withdraw,” he raised his finger, glancing at the ring’s surface which still bore the dark omen: “This isn’t a good place. Who knows what kind of evil might show up next…”
He sighed and took one last look at the end of the hall, where the central transformation awaited.
Never again would he take jobs that dug into graves.
What a misfortune!
“Brother Ji Jue?”
In the narrow, crumbling corridor, Xiao An raised his hand obediently, letting Ji Jue bandage his wounds. “Sorry for being a burden.”
“You being a burden? What am I, a weight of a thousand pounds?”
Ji Jue rolled his eyes, wanting to smack the back of his head, but seeing his pitiful expression held him back. “But really, why were you so stubborn? Why risk your life for a few hundred bucks? Can’t you just run if you can’t win?”
“It’s different,” Xiao An shook his head. “Bailu and Ember are not the same.”
It should be said that he had originally come to the Rift just for this.
To seek blessings and progress further, a Chosen One had to align with those who followed the Supreme Way.
Unlike the Ember lineage's creation and innovation, the path of Bailu represented ferocity, primitivism, freedom, and struggle.
Stripping away all conventional decency, abandoning the hypocritical order, returning to the essence of life, and choosing one’s own path and life freely.
What he practiced was the path of wildness; he respected the laws of survival of the fittest.
The strong control everything, the strong dominate all, and the weak must bow in submission, endure oppression, or rise to rebel—either die or win.
When used for righteousness, this power becomes a dagger aimed at oppressors; when turned to wickedness, it transforms into a tool for trampling and subjugating the weaker.
Only, for followers of the Bailu path, there was really no distinction between good and evil.
Right and wrong, kindness, and evil were all meaningless concepts; morals were but a hypocritical discourse.
Instead, it was precisely because the strong existed that kindness held significance, and evil instilled terror.
For the weak, right or wrong was just a joke.
Thus, absurd organizations like the Wild Collection arose; even within they struggled endlessly, difficult to unify, yet chaotic and thriving.
The simplest way to obtain Bailu blessings was just one—overcome the strong with the weak.
Challenge a stronger opponent, stake your life and everything, prove the disparity between them, and climb higher with bloody hunts and deaths as your steps.
Of course, it was even better if you could kill a Chosen One of the Tianyuan lineage.
Bailu particularly cherished the deaths of Tianyuan followers, just like how the Chosen Ones of Tianyuan wielded their power to strike down Bailu's followers.
“It’s a pity, just a bit short,” Xiao An sighed regretfully. “Miscalculated one step, if only I were a bit stronger, I might have won.”
“If you really wanted to win, you shouldn’t have aimed at Lou Feng with that sword back then, right?” Ji Jue suddenly asked, causing Xiao An to fall silent.
If it was for seeking blessings, then that crucial strike at the time shouldn’t have been directed at Lou Feng.
Facing the Homecoming Knights alone, breaking through defenses and encirclement, if that life-risking strike had aimed at Silan… would he really have been able to block it?
He had risked his life merely to draw fire for Ji Jue, earning the most precious moment.
Without Xiao An, even if Ji Jue made his way close to Lou Feng using the workshop’s operation, it wouldn’t be as straightforward to secure a victory with a tool like the Ghost Worker Ball.
“Didn’t you ever think about what would happen if I didn’t react in time?”
Ji Jue sighed. “Such matters should be discussed with me first, right? Don’t just charge in recklessly; what if you ended up missing a limb? How am I supposed to explain that to Sister Wen?”
Xiao An pondered for a moment and replied earnestly, “I believe Brother Ji Jue would surely seize the opportunity.”
Smack!
In the end, Ji Jue couldn’t hold back and gave him a light hit on the back of his head.
“Turn around.”
Ji Jue said, “You have to apply medicine on the wound on your back too.”
“Oh.”
Xiao An obediently turned around, revealing the scars on his back.
Apart from the life-threatening penetrating wound on his abdomen, numerous cuts marked his arms, neck, face, and legs.
Fortunately, Ji Jue had not forgotten the first aid training he took and still remembered the anatomy and surgery he learned recently.
At least he was capable of emergency treatment.
Moreover, using the technique of spiritual essence to bind the torn muscles, sealing the bleeding points without even needing stitches…
The effect of the potions Xiao An carried was shockingly good.
After the treatment, aside from needing some time for the abdominal wound, the other areas had nearly healed.
However, when treating the wound on his leg, Ji Jue was startled by the state of his right leg… a nail, as thick as his thumb, had pierced directly through his knee.
It was an alchemical creation, filled with the aura of curses.
The dark glow flowed, restricting the healing of the wound while simultaneously destroying the regenerating flesh, merging with his very bones.
What left Ji Jue feeling the creeps was the malice it emanated—based on his reading and sensing, the long nail could be removed, but the moment it was destroyed, the remover would be left with an indelible mark of spiritual essence.
It was a warning.
Should anyone dare to pull that nail out for him, it would mean declaring war against the An family.
“... Isn’t that a bit too extreme, even for familial laws?” Ji Jue frowned, reaching out to read and analyze the spiritual essence circuits on it, but Xiao An stopped him.
“Don’t worry, Brother Ji Jue. This is my sister’s good intention.”
Xiao An smiled slightly. “As long as my sister's nail is in place, no one else in the family can intervene in this matter. If the punishment nail is removed by someone else, I would no longer be considered part of the family.”
“…”
Ji Jue fell silent, unsure how to respond to such an odd family tradition.
But since Xiao An opposed it, he had no right to act on his own accord.
In that brief silence, he could nonetheless feel the tremors from the workshop growing more intense.
It was as if seated atop a volcano about to erupt.
This ever-shifting core was continuously extracting spiritual essence, birthing some unprecedented and terrifying change… within the realm of the Ghost Worker Ball, countless intricate circuits were growing fiercely like a monstrous tree.
As if it intended to fill everything, to spread everywhere.
Once again, it threatened to envelop the entire Rift.
And in that moment, he heard an unprecedentedly wretched scream.
It was like a terrifying wail from hell!
Coming from the very epicenter of that sealed darkness…
With a resounding rumble, the layers of locked doors suddenly shattered.
What erupted from within was a torrent of spiritual bodies that had nearly dissolved, unable to maintain their own shape or outline.
The Shepherd of the Dragon Festival, formless!
Yet, the formerly invincible Chosen One, following the path of dragon transformation, had now completely lost rationality, reduced to such a wretched state.
Screams, moans, howls, curses.
But none of it mattered.
It writhed and struggled, weeping bitterly, continuously casting out large amounts of vengeful spirits, attempting to break free from the terrifying darkness behind it, which clung like a leech.
The darkness was silent, as still as hell itself.
Now, the gates of hell were wide open.
After the sun shines, one always feels drained and incredibly sleepy, struggling to stay awake, even needing to sleep for over ten hours a day yet still not feeling enough... it’s hard to endure.
(End of Chapter)