Chapter 00096: A Glance Back
# A Glance Back
Chapter 96
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 96: A Glance Back
There was no deafening roar that shook the heavens and earth, nor was there any quaking that threatened to tear the ground apart.
Everything felt so silent.
It was as if a damp breeze had come from the distant seashore, making the branches sway, while dust danced under the sunlight, rising and then falling again, and the wet marks of rain gradually emerged on the surface.
Everything seemed to naturally welcome change.
Or perhaps, the possibility of change had vanished forever.
The earth, sky, ruins, the scarlet sea of spiritual essence, and the trapped remnants of sages above the heavens all lost their color under the shimmering light.
After everything was stripped of color, only a pale emptiness remained.
Under the sharp edge of the sword, burning wings turned to nothingness, countless outstretched hands were gradually erased, and falling tears along with hollow eyes began to blur.
The first to collapse was the terrified shadow from the distant whirlpool.
When all the threads of connection were severed in an instant, the whirlpool's projection could no longer be maintained, unable even to intervene in the happenings of this realm.
The flame of the stagnant core dissipated at a visible speed, dimming until it resembled a flickering candle flame in the wind, extinguished.
It would no longer be seen.
Then, the remnants of sages crumbled from the silence.
Like a sandcastle washed away by ocean tides, countless pale ashes rose, filling the heavens before slowly falling down like a rain that would end it all.
Through it all, Ji Jue watched with his own eyes.
Yet everything felt so distant, unfathomable, like a realm of existence too high for even his imagination to reach, despite all of it manifesting through his own flesh and the transformations of non-attack.
But the most important was not about himself.
He made a choice, called out, lowered his gaze shrouded in change, inherited a boundless power, and executed this end belonging to the sages.
He created all of this himself.
Yet he was merely a strand within this infinite change, a part of the vast system that constituted everything, a mere glimmer revealed by the edge of transformation.
He was a component, a part, an executioner on the edge.
This flow of blazing light connecting the heavens and the earth was but a manifestation of his outward projection, a sword whose mere flash of a blade grounded the rusting sword — it was merely a key.
From the resonance of mechanical descent, he could feel the magnificent rhythm hidden behind it all.
Like a furnace manifesting through the present world.
What moved within the void was the flame ignited by the boundless souls of the departed and the fervor of endless innovation! Every artisan's creation became an offering to him, and each flame from the chosen ones in the embers would honor him.
This was the fire of embers.
At the moment he perceived this essence, his consciousness was devoured by boundless flame, as if merging into the ocean formed by infinite changes.
It felt as though he had transcended reality.
When the cycle lasting four hundred years shattered and everything on earth was erased, what ignited in the end was the creation theory left behind by the sages, called "The First Cause."
A soft melody reverberated from the hollow world.
An infinite recursion began.
Or perhaps, it was a return to the embers… In a brief moment of lingering, the past sage of mercury returned all of himself to the current world!
The world before him transformed into an overwhelming flow of light — above the fractured sky, numerous stars leaped, extravagantly revealing their radiance, tracing long arcs that intertwined, forming a complex and solemn totem.
And at the heart of the night, a torrent of flame gathered, sketching a door akin to the sun, the eternal gate loomed over the stars, revealing everything.
Thus, Ji Jue beheld the infinite changes on earth, the grand undulations of mountains and rivers, the wandering of storms and rains.
In those fractured moments, he saw the pouring rain arise from the extended desert, bursting forth a new green from the yellow sand.
A colossal being large enough to obscure the heavens mourned from the clouds, pouring down crimson rain that fell to the earth, decaying and transforming into mountains.
Nomadic settlements chased after the grass and water, vanishing from sight.
The ruins were covered in endless yellow sand.
He kept watching.
A small village migrated, depending on the river for trade, gradually transforming into a towering fortress, experiencing war, peace, and turmoil, only to eventually decline, battered by winds and rains, leaving behind crumbling walls covered in moss.
It was as if an archaeologist trekked through the wilderness, digging down to seek ancient artifacts, shouting in joy as they passed by Ji Jue — he observed.
Until the earth shook and mountains collapsed, towns turned to ruins, the bell tolling, the Tian Yuan Tower broke from the heights, the mortal world quaked, everything turned to ash, the sages who had nowhere to return lost everything, and silent wails echoed, the songs had ceased.
Ji Jue still watched, witnessing the onset of every tragedy and pain, helplessly swept back to the shattered past by the currents of time.
Until, a familiar cry rang out once more.
From the thin rain, a startled girl looked to the empty side beside her, unable to find her mother’s trace, tears falling as she called out, gazing after the figure receding down the street.
Yet, she did not look back.
Thus, step by step, she moved into the darkness with no visible end.
From then on, she wandered between ruins and cycles, never to return.
Until, in the distant fractured time, a shout of effort was heard.
In that moment, someone, unaware of their limits, attempted to reach out and grasp her clothing, but four hundred years apart, only the pull induced by the blade of change could persist, and at best, it stirred only a negligible breeze.
The departing figure merely waved a hand before vanishing without a trace.
Crack!
A ripple so fine it was difficult to perceive shattered, a same mark of non-attack flickered, as if the invisible and visible hands had brushed against each other for an instant.
It was as if crossing over four hundred years of retention and calling.
"Look back!!!"
Finally, she saw the shadowy boy behind the ripple, a soul on the verge of being ignited, and in his hand, a matrix resembling her own!
"Just take one more look at her!" Ji Jue desperately pulled at the flow of change, looking up and throwing down what he held, shouting toward that fading moment, "Even if just for a glance..."
In an instant, it disappeared.
Only the sound of falling echoed, striking the ground before her.
That familiar pendant, weathered by time, as she opened it, the faded photo gradually lost its outline amid the mist of rain, becoming unrecognizable.
Swiftly, it turned to nothingness, never to be seen again.
She stood there in a daze.
From her shock and confusion, she turned to look behind her.
The scattered rain screens, the cloud-covered night sky, the tranquil town, the shadow of the clock tower, the empty plaza, and on the steps, that phantom who never belonged here.
The girl waiting in the broken time.
Her smile.
In that instant, the lost past and the shattered future briefly overlapped, relying on the old pendant, four hundred years of time seemed to finally stretch into a thread, and in the endless longing and cycles, they met once more.
Even if they remained deep in separation, out of reach.
Mercury finally halted, instinctively wanting to reach out.
But in a fleeting moment of confusion, it felt as if all was understood.
Gazing at the girl’s eyes and smile, he too smiled, filled with such joy and gentleness.
In the thin, misty rain, beads fell from her cheeks, mingling with tears.
Thus, gazing at the girl in time, he looked again, unable to resist reaching out to touch her cheek, even from such a distance.
Until the faint light of the future entirely dwindled.
The world dimmed once more.
She stood frozen, rigid, for a long while, gazing at everything before her, greedily wanting to memorize it all, eventually pulling back her gaze.
She turned to leave, disappearing into the rain.
In the distance, amidst the darkness of the night, the towering spire still loomed.
Only a faint torch flickered, moving further away.
Like a solitary boat of destiny.
As history had destined, nothing had changed.
In four hundred years, there was only a single backward glance.
Yet in that moment, Ji Jue beheld… at the end of his sight, within the chaotic dark abyss, a brilliant light suddenly surged forth!
Like a star, rising against the torrent, bursting with boundless heat and light.
Illuminating all darkness!
As the ascension of changes ultimately began to fall.
When he regained his senses, Ji Jue had already descended from the heavens, plummeting toward the pale and hollow earth.
Within the fractured realm, only desolation remained, yet before the manifestation of the star-lit furnace above the heavens faded, a stream of light fell.
It descended into his very soul.
Glorious transformations materialized from the stream of light, enveloping the mechanical descent.
Inheriting the great power of transformation, it shattered the stale cycles, cutting off the wrongful changes of sages, erasing all that stemmed from it.
The insignia of the highest virtue and embers emerged, bestowing upon the chosen one he favored, his very first blessing.
Yet Ji Jue had no time to examine it momentarily.
When he landed on the broken core of the workshop, he saw the shattered figure collapsed at the fracture point, a creation already on the verge of death from the burning light of transformation.
The prophet.
At this moment, she still stubbornly lifted her head to look at him.
Even as she already felt the collapse of the fractured realm and the ruin of the workshop, she still longed to hear from Ji Jue a certain answer.
“It’s all over, isn’t it?”
“The dream and the cycle are over, prophet.” Ji Jue crouched down to tell her, “You are free.”
“Yes, we are free…”
The prophet leaned against the broken wall, looking back at the cracks on the ground, sighing softly and murmuring, “But freedom is truly terrifying… I hated this world so much, yet in the end, I found it strangely endearing.”
“Do you regret it?” Ji Jue asked.
“Perhaps, but there are far too many regrets already, it all doesn’t matter anymore.”
The prophet smiled wryly, the final self-mockery: “Thank you, Mr. Ji Jue, I have finally completed my mission as a tool.”
“And what about as a prophet?” Ji Jue asked, “Is there any wish you would like to entrust? I will do my best to help.”
“Ha, there might be quite a lot…”
The prophet's lips moved but no words came forth, just a smile, saying her last goodbye: “Thank you for your kindness and compassion. As a creation, I cannot repay you; as a prophet, I can only offer you my useless gratitude. If blessings truly mean something, I sincerely hope that when your journey reaches its destination, your wishes may also be fulfilled.”
Ji Jue chuckled: “What journey are you talking about? I feel like I’m still standing still, haven’t even started.”
“It will come, one day it will…”
She smiled, assured of that.
Yet the light remaining in her pupils gradually dimmed, and the last essence dispersed, disappearing without a trace within her shattered hollow shell.
The overwhelmed tool welcomed its eternal slumber.
(End of Chapter)