Above the vault of sky, the Heavenly Pillar was rebuilt and then collapsed again, over and over.

Towns upon the earth cycled between destruction and peace, and figures on the streets alternated between whole and broken. Life and destruction replayed incessantly, until even time and the past itself seemed so void.

Ji Jue walked among these remaining records, surveying those fragmented bygone days, unreachable dreams of wild millets.

Seemingly within arm's reach, but untouchable all the same.

A lifetime's pursuit, ending in nothingness.

Which was crueller to Mercury, this scene or the ruins of the past?

From the bell's tolling in the Holy Hall, his footsteps halted in the square, no longer wanting to look. He felt he might already know where Non-attack was.

The sound of the bell roared and echoed.

From within that towering bell tower...

Ji Jue silently looked up, gazing in trance at the dial on the bell tower, even beyond the hands to that mottled, age-old stained glass window.

Mercury's old workshop.

For all those long four hundred years before, she stood there, day after day gazing, waiting and softly singing alone. What kind of scene was she hoping for?

Guests in formal attire, smiling, arriving from all directions, petals falling, white pigeons taking flight. A laughing bride and groom arm in arm, stepping to the sound of bells, advancing towards the hall that would witness their wedding.

Hoping that from then on, a new life would begin.

Yet naively ignorant, they marched towards an inevitable death.

One time, and then another.

As the 'prime culprit,' did Mercury's heart bleed in the face of such scenes?

From a fleeting daze, he suddenly remembered the words from Ji he had recalled,

In the old workshop, that weary man gazed at his most cherished companion and finally asked:

"Do you regret it?"

But there would be no answer again, nor the courage for anyone to respond.

"Time is short, Ji Jue," the Prophet inquired. "What are you still waiting for?"

"I don't know."

Ji Jue shook his head, staring at the world in front of him that kept collapsing and rejuvenating, yet his gaze fell on the steps of the Holy Hall.

Among the countless flickering illusions in passage, there was that one lonely and tiny figure.

An error in the endless cycles of time.

A girl who hugged her knees sat on the steps, staring blankly at the dome of heaven, still waiting for the person who would never return from afar.

Tears fell silently.

"What are you doing here?" Ji Jue bent down to sit by her side, examined her profile, and told her, "Don't wander off; grandma is waiting for you to come home."

She didn't speak.

Only lowered her head, raised her hand to wipe away tears, after a long while.

"Mama isn't coming back, right?" the girl asked softly.

Ji Jue was silent, subconsciously lifting his head to look at the sky she had been gazing at.

Four hundred years before or after, the skies of Central Earth and North Land, of the small towns and Cliff City, seemed no different at all, just as empty.

"I don't know."

Ji Jue sighed lightly, giving a straightforward answer: "She surely must want to come back.

Just like when you're missing her, she's also missing you. Always thinking, always missing... but she can't find the way home, lost and directionless."

"How do you know?"

The little girl glared at him, struggling to hold back tears, choking up: "Mama doesn't want me anymore! She's probably forgotten me already..."

"Of course, I know."

Ji Jue's response was firm as he assured her: "All good mamas are the same. I dream of her, every night. Because when she's thinking of me, I'm also thinking of her. When you shed tears, it makes her even more upset."

He extended his hand, pointed at the girl's cheek; tears passed through his fingertips, leaving behind a faint ripple, untouchable. Clearly so close, yet so far out of reach.

Until the tears slowly stopped, the girl stubbornly raised her hand, wiping it over and over until, finally, through her red eyes she looked at him: "Will I ever see her again?"

"I don't know."

Ji Jue slowly shook his head, confronted with that pair of eyes similar to his own. He couldn't tell a lie, nor deceive himself.

"Maybe I'll never see her again."

He turned to ask, "Will you still think of her?"

"Uh-huh."

In silence, the despondent girl nodded, and so Ji Jue began to smile, "What a good child."

He slowly got up, hearing a voice from behind.

"What about you?" the girl looked at him, "Will you think too?"

"Of course."

Ji Jue nodded, answering without hesitation: "Just like you."

Within the blurry crowd, that tiny figure too seemed to smile. Like that, she waved to him and gradually, she vanished from sight.

Leaving only Ji Jue standing on the empty square, finally turning back against the sound of the bells, walking toward the towering bell tower, and pushing open that dust-sealed door.

No one to hinder him, nor the expected difficulties.

Only the falling dust, a winding staircase ascending, and the ajar door.

It seemed everything still remained as it was four hundred years ago.

Inside the old workshop, everything was quietly basking in the sunlight, witnessing the cycles of destruction and reconstruction, but the figure that seemed to stand there forever had already disappeared.

Mercury was not here.

Within the entire Crack Realm, whether underground or above ground, past or present, the only character missing was Mercury.

But now, as Ji Jue stood in that same position again, what he saw was the landscape that was exactly the same as what she had once seen.

Rebirth and Destruction, the collapse and rebuilding of the Holy Hall, the cycle woven from existence and death.

Under the reflection of the collapsing Heavenly Pillar, everything was predestined.

The world was a battlefield for the Superiors, history a tapestry woven from the past. The life and death of mortals were not worth mentioning; no one cared for the joys and sorrows of the Dust.

Everything would eventually return to nothingness.

Perhaps this is Heavenly Destiny.

If, all of this could be reclaimed once more, even just a bit, even if what was gained was insignificant compared to what was lost...

Ji Jue reached out his hand, toward the world before him.

Just like Mercury had once done.

"If the situations of the past and present were to repeat..."

Ji Jue solemnly asked, "Would you still answer the same wish, Non-attack?"

In that instant, the glow that lit up came from the flash emerging on the watch.

Like a silent call, after four hundred years, the power left behind by the great ancient ones reemerged from within the Crack Realm, and displayed its brilliance once again to the unreachable past.

And so, in the olden days, unprecedented turmoil emerged.

Just like thunderclaps after four hundred years.

Resounding through everything!

Causing the relentless cycle of time to come to an abrupt halt!

The firmament, the earth, the void, endless Spiritual Circuits emerged, enveloping everything, spreading all over. Like the complex threads from a loom, they intertwined with each other, sketching the outline of the mortal world, evolving all that exists.

Life, death, strife, peace, order, chaos, stars, the earth, mountains, rivers, oceans...

There was nothing it didn't cover, permeating everything.

But in that instant, Ji Jue's perspective seemed to detach from himself, rising upward, toward the firmament and even higher beyond the firmament, as if transcending above all phenomena and Heavenly Destiny.

And so, at the end of the complex tapestry woven by countless threads, he finally saw the origin and the end, the Invisible Hand that controls everything!

And now, the Invisible Hand had already grasped his arms.

Like a branding iron, it brought unprecedented agony and searing pain, making Ji Jue unable to hold back any longer, crying out.

In that instant, boundless Superior transformations appeared before his eyes, unprecedented transformation of spiritual essence burst forth from his soul.

As if a deep voice echoed by his ear, turning into roaring thunder and celestial edicts deeply etched into his soul, no longer allowing any deviation or waiver.

Telling him:

"All prosperities are created by this hand."

"All that exists in the world is formed by these ten fingers."

"To eradicate the root of disaster, to extinguish the seeds that cause turmoil and oppression, ensuring this world remains tranquil and steady, free from the scourge of cruel strife—"

"—This is the Non-attack Creation!"

Boom!!!

Within the illusionary thunderclaps that seemed to open the firmament and the earth, the olden days trembled, unable to sustain, as endless Spiritual Circuits spread from the void, coiling around Ji Jue's body, soul, and arms, burning like a brand, engraving the inescapable law into his bones and soul.

Ji Jue's eyes blazed with intense light!

When all the strange phenomena dissolved into smoke, when the dreams of ancient days crumbled away, Ji Jue finally awoke from the endless torment and ordeal.

He staggered down from the bell tower.

Thus, smiling, he opened his arms to his companions who had been waiting for so long, revealing the intricate patterns that stretched from the tips of his fingers to his elbows.

Like spreading flames, like the intersecting warp and weft, encompassing all creations.

"This is, 'Matrix・Non-attack'!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of thunderous sounds continued to come from afar, not just from within the dream, but more so from outside the olden times. Everything was shaking rapidly.

The core was changing.

That inexplicable vibration and feeling of weightlessness even made Ji Jue feel as though the core was rising from the ground, moving upward...

And then, in the next instant, they were ejected from the dispersed olden times.

Returning to reality.

But the well they once entered had disappeared, replaced by a grand hall that was rapidly cracking apart, and the severe dizziness and feeling of weightlessness.

Ji Jue placed his hand on the ground, repeating the familiar technique, feeling the great rhythm coming from the workshop.

Like a volcanic eruption.

The Melting Furnace was in furious operation, spiritual essence rushing, merging into the workshop, causing the core to expand and grow at a visible speed, even going so far as to devour the external Crack Realm.

The core was rising!

The earth fractured and collapsed; countless buildings turned to ruins, while the creations within fell and were deeply buried amidst the collapse...

Everything seemed to be rapidly destroying in an earth-shattering change.

But this was not the end, but rather the beginning of another cruel cycle...

"The restart is about to begin," the Prophet sighed softly.

And then, he heard a howling from the distance.

A sharp crimson arrow abruptly halted midair, held in Little An's hand, grasped by the youth, unable to advance an inch. The silent youth turned around, his eyes revealing a sharp light.

At the end of the hall, those figures covered in dust and dirt.

The leader, with an almost crazed angry face, stared at the group returning with their burdens, pupils gradually turning crimson.

"Ji Jue—"

Lou Feng roared.

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