The opponent, who had been waiting for a long time, pulled out the remote control that had been ready in his pocket...

Next, you could start praying that it was just an ordinary novelty.

The most beautiful thing about people is that you can always embrace hope.

So, it could be, and it should be.

It better be!!!

But at that moment, it was as if an illusion, a weary sigh could be heard next to Ji Jue's ear.

Then, what followed was a terrifying roar that shattered the heavens and devastated the Earth, a vibration that swept over Spring City, unavoidable even in this broken workshop.

Within the flickering lights, countless specks of dust sprinkled down endlessly.

And in the manufacturing room, that unfinished device suddenly lit up with countless Spiritual Circuits, as if struggling to respond to something, but soon, under the pressure, it disintegrated completely and fell silent.

Right after that, everyone saw.

It had become light.

Within the sounds of fracturing, the dark clouds that had shrouded Spring City for decades silently dissipated, revealing stars missing from this world for so long.

It was as if some invisible power had dug through the rotten soil, reaching the depths below, directly causing the buried graves to reappear into the world, but the world was so gruesome.

Above the sky, spread with fissures, the stars' light was so precarious. Countless strange flowing lights spun within, transforming into a torrential downpour.

Massive torrents of polluted rain poured down, saturating everything.

Rolling white mist spread out in all directions but seemed to be restrained by some invisible force, an ear-piercing sound echoed through the heavens, hindering its expansion.

Countless eerie figures howled excitedly through the streets of Spring City, running amok.

Darkness boiled unceasingly.

Spring City was rising, step by step, laden with decades of accumulated rancor and resentment...slowly but confidently breaking through the blockades and stepping into the present world.

And the huge stone in Ji Jue's heart had finally sunk into the eighteenth basement level.

When people are speechless, they really do laugh inexplicably.

But they couldn't laugh out loud.

"...Think on the bright side, at least we don't have to find our way out anymore, right?"

No one responded.

In the dead silence, only the trembling fearful voices in the bloodbath remained.

"No, not me,"

Duden writhed, struggled, and cried out in terror, "Spare me, spare me, I don't know anything, I'm innocent! I really...I, I..."

Tong Shan didn't even want to speak, just stretched out his hand, but the wrist he lifted was grasped by Ji Jue.

As if, believing what he had said.

Curiously asking:

"Really?"

For a moment, Duden was ecstatically wanting to nod, but found that he couldn't move; he wanted to sweet-talk or disguise, but couldn't make a sound.

Before those eyes gradually ignited by some Flame Light, he could no longer speak.

"Are you innocent?"

Ji Jue asked softly, stepping forward.

Duden trembled, opened his mouth, but his throat seemed to have betrayed him, unable to tell lies.

The path of Embers was originally cruel, with words as shallow as good and evil not nearly sufficient to evaluate a craftsman. Not to mention those devoted to Evil, needless to say anything about morals and boundaries that didn't exist.

He mastered dozens of crafts, but which one wasn't steeped in betrayal and death? He created hundreds of artifacts, but how many of them carried hope, not tainted with vicious schemes?

Melting live bodies to enhance Spiritual Wisdom, sacrificing infants for extraction of material properties, stripping souls for Purification...among the myriad evils of the mortal world, was his own share too insignificant to be forgiven and overlooked?

Ji Jue stepped forward and asked again, "Do you follow the Path of Superior, upholding the principle of Transformation?"

That calm voice, almost eerily calm, emanated from the shattered workshop. It rang with the clarity of iron and stone and pierced the soul like a sharp blade, resounding ceaselessly.

It drained the color from his face, bit by bit.

Within the Matrix, the traces of Mutated Pollution could no longer be concealed, revealing themselves in full, rising like thick black smoke.

It had already... penetrated deep into the soul and bone marrow!

At that moment, Ji Jue finally broke free from his shackles. Thus, since entering the workshop, the anger and intent to kill that had risen within the non-attack's Spirituality could no longer be restrained, filling his consciousness.

Awakening alongside was a faint flame in the deeper reaches of Ji Jue's soul, so minute it was almost imperceptible.

So familiar.

Yet utterly different from the Flame Light seen in nightmares.

It was like an imprint and scar that could never be erased once touched, or perhaps, a blessing and expectation flowing from a moment of merging within the realms of Gao Yuan.

A trivial mark.

But the moment it was awakened, it expanded like wildfire, encompassing uncontrollably the soul, consciousness, and everything else. Like this, it propelled him forward, urging him to ask.

To execute this designated mission and duty.

From the brilliant Flame Light within his soul, his pupils gradually revealed dazzling pure white.

Like burning Mercury.

From thence he overlooked.

"Lastly—"

Ji Jue lowered his eyes, "Do you have any other defense to make?"

No one responded.

Only the cracking sound emerged from within Duden's shell.

His expression twitched, convulsed, unable to escape Ji Jue's gaze or articulate any lies.

From that chilling gaze, countless traces of Mutation agitated violently, as if trying to flee the incompetent shell, yet they could not break free from the vaguely binding Flame Light.

What seemed like a simple question to others felt to Duden like being thrown into the Melting Furnace, cruelly melted down without any resistance.

Like Hell.

"I... I..."

Duden's expression was distorted, twitching, his eyes bulging and veined, he desperately opened his mouth, with strength from who knows where, screaming with all his might, "I did nothing wrong! What do you know, people like you, what do you know!! I was just, I was clearly just..."

Trying to reach a higher place!

I was just trying to...

The screaming and wailing, abruptly ceased.

A hand, covered in elaborate silver insignias, was placed upon his face, cutting off all thoughts, words, and resistance.

"Embracing Zhi Fu, abandoning Transformation, crafting disaster, wielding chaos."

Ji Jue regretfully sighed, "What you have become, bereft of any hope for revival, your path ahead, only harboring the roots of cruel nothingness..."

Therefore—

—I judge you as Evil.

Delicate and fluctuating Spiritual Fluctuations spread from between the fingers, instantly enveloping the body, reaching everywhere.

Soul, blessing, Matrix... wherever it passed, everything disintegrated in a terrifying tremor akin to the Dissociation Technique!

Leaving no trace behind.

This is, indeed, the only end for your kind pursuing evil!

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