"Good morning, everyone."

Under the eternal night sky, at the highest point of Spring City, atop a skyscraper overflowing with massive amounts of Mutated Spirit, someone pushed the door open.

With the usual smile and polite greeting:

"How was your rest yesterday?"

The small fish in the tank swam quietly; the withered old monk sat cross-legged in the corner, silent; the girl, lost in the night scene, looked down with a half-smile; the old craftsman in grey closed his eyes to rest, oblivious to the world; only the middle-aged man standing before the huge window, overlooking the surging Flame Light, looked over and furrowed his brows.

"Hmm?"

Lu Changsheng smiled puzzlingly and entered boldly, sitting on his own chair, "It seems everyone is not in a good mood."

The old monk of Wulou Temple raised his head, lips moving, revealing endless scriptures weaving through his teeth, stitching into the flesh like fine threads, his voice muddled:

"When the Three Realms are as a house on fire, who can be lucky enough to sleep peacefully for even one night?"

"I, for one, didn't sleep at all."

The 'girl' tutor of the Heavenly Heart Society, with a schadenfreude grin said, "After all, it's rare to see such an abundant spectacle, a small Hai Province making such a commotion. Don't you think so, Master Jian Yuan?"

Jian Yuan remained motionless, couldn't be bothered with her.

To anyone who would even look at the Heavenly Heart Society's fire-starting freaks, it counted as a loss.

Only Adrian, the leader of the Dragon Sacrifice Ceremony, with a frown, looked at Lu Changsheng: "The situation has deteriorated to this extent, and you still manage to smile."

"Deteriorated?"

Lu Changsheng was puzzled, "Where?"

The girl tutor burst into laughter, leaning back and forth, while Adrian's face grew even darker.

He was one hundred percent certain, Lu Changsheng was feigning ignorance.

Merely hours ago, the upheaval and turmoil caused by the arrival and departure of the Great Calamity was enough to keep everyone busy to the point of distraction. The breach almost caused an entire district of Spring City to fall from the present world, and even now, it's held up by the Fetus Remnants of Wulou Temple.

Not to mention the opportunity for the Security Bureau's counterattack and suppression.

Tao Cheng, the seasoned Heavenly Origin Celestial from Tian Yuan, spotted the tiniest clues and comprehended the whole picture. The slightest traces in the Heavenly Eye allowed him to deduce the situation with great accuracy.

Acting decisively, he struck back, adding two more iron hoops on top of the blockade of Spring City, suppressing all changes within and cutting off internal and external access.

The hasty rise became a weakness, for beneath the present world, they could rely on the connections between the realms to move about, enter and exit at will. Now, they were caught like turtles in a jar, trapped and distressed in the city.

Shouldn't someone stand up and take responsibility for the current state of affairs?

For a moment, everyone's gaze turned to Lu Changsheng.

Until the man leaning on the chair sighed helplessly, "I understand, Mr. Adrian, your attachment to victory and your desire for outcome, but really, there's no need to be so anxious."

"Sometimes, it's best not to aim too high; eat one bite at a time, walk one step at a time."

Lu Changsheng said calmly, "Besides, haven't you all already gotten what you wanted? With my Evil Cult backing you up, don't any of you have the courage for a desperate struggle?"

"What's the point?" Adrian retorted.

The monk from Wulou Temple finally lifted his eyes; underneath his eye sockets was an infinite surge of darkness. His lips parted, and from beneath the scripture-stitched threads, a voice emerged:

"When all is done, why not leave early?"

"Why seek meaning, and why leave?"

Lu Changsheng was amused, spreading his hands, "What do you all think we're doing right now?"

Adrian responded indifferently:

"—Paving our way to death."

Gambling, everyone knows how to do it.

But with someone like Lu Changsheng, who goes all in on every hand, who would dare bet their fortune and life to gamble with him?

Even if they had received guarantees, made contracts, or received compensation...

The current standoff and balance between the two sides were too fragile, existing only on the tacit understanding between Lu Changsheng and Tao Cheng, and the situation could escalate at any moment.

Once control was lost, it could very well become a fuse for some major disaster.

The consequences were unpredictable.

Now, nearly all eyes from the present world were being drawn here, with who knows how many people silently watching from behind the scenes, ready to take action at any moment, not to mention those scheming to fish in troubled waters or loot amidst the chaos.

Lu Changsheng was already playing with fire, but when it came time for self-immolation, would he also drag them into the pit?

"Do you know?"

Lu Changsheng sighed lightly, "I admire Nirvana, even though I've never had the chance to meet the Great Commander—yet when even villains and reprobates like you think everything in the world is so mundane, there are still those who dare to stand up and say, 'To hell with the world.'"

"I respect Mo, for when the decision of the world was placed in their hands, they made a choice, even without a way to measure the future."

Lu Changsheng spoke confidently, "Not to mention the earlier instances, like the first rebel who drew a Dagger to strike at the gods, the Kings who established new rules in the Chaos Era that followed, or the first Emperor of the eternal era and the End-of-the-World King.

In my opinion, a true hero is one who, fully aware of the evil consequences that his action may bring, still makes an unilateral decision and bears all the consequences.

Even if the misdeeds committed bring endless disasters..."

Lu Changsheng slowly stood up, looking around at everyone with curiosity as he posed the question, "But do you think they cared about the consequences when they acted?"

There are no perfect outcomes in this world.

Sometimes, one must choose between lesser evils.

When the blood of the gods ran dry, Superior emerged from that blood, the pillars of the world underwent succession, and the old beings automatically spiraled into Destruction.

The Kings declared their sovereignty, seized control of Superior, forged the world of mankind, yet willfully rewrote the origins and doomsdays of the world, decreeing the past and the future. In their attacks and slaughters, the world's visage was twisted beyond recognition, forging the causes of Mutated misfortune.

The Emperor established the Empire, restructuring everything, yet used Tian Yuan to control all, forcibly suppressing all evil causes, casting a shadow of Mutation in the present world.

The arbitrary actions of the End-of-the-World King led to worldwide rebellion; Mo Zhe lit the first fire. After the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar, it plunged into the shadows, throwing everything into disarray. And the disaster burned like Flame Light in the present world for ninety years, resulting in poisons and hidden dangers that persist for the next four hundred years.

The harms left behind and the accomplishments achieved are entangled with each other—who can separate them?

Who could have predicted that the sword that severed the Heavenly Origin Tower would, in severing the ages of eternity, truly strangle at birth the two Great Calamities?

There are twelve Superiors, but only nine corresponding Great Calamities.

Not among them are Tian Yuan, White Deer, and Ruins.

The emergence of Ruins signifies everything in this world. It is omnipresent, encompasses all, and is also destined to be inseparable.

To some extent, the Vortex that contains the nine Great Calamities beneath the present world could be considered the shadow of Ruins; the endless natural disasters of this world are the misfortunes of Ruins.

Once Ruins also fully mutate, it signifies the complete arrival of the present world's doomsday.

After restraining the remaining Superiors for a thousand years, Tian Yuan—destined to birth the strongest Calamity—split completely with the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar, resulting in the eternal wound and breaking into the many fragments we see today, the two largest being the Federation and the Empire.

When the edge of transformation struck down, Zhi Fu was completed, yet Tian Yuan could no longer Aggregation.

But at the same time, it caused the borders between rules and chaos to become completely blurred.

Tian Yuan and White Deer, a pair of entwined Superiors, suffer together—White Deer's wasteland will no longer be whole, leading to impurities between them, each containing elements of the other.

The fetus of Tian Yuan's Calamity died in the womb; the carcass of White Deer's Calamity lay across the wasteland.

The shadow of the high tower sank beneath the Vortex, never to rise again, those who maintain the rules fear becoming alienated by the rules themselves, gradually becoming unrecognizable. And the wolves of the wasteland were eaten by the white deer of the forest; Hunter and wild beast hunted each other, engaging in endless strife.

The world continues to this day, favored by their contributions, yet scarred by their deeds.

When a monument is erected, it is destined to acquire countless scars.

Since all this began, everything seems to be cycling and repeating, sometimes ascending, sometimes descending, precariously teetering on the cliff's edge.

Rocking and swaying toward a shadowy future.

Just like now.

"I understand that what you all are worried about is a horrific defeat from which there is no recovery. But there's one thing you've got wrong..." Lu Changsheng turned his head, his back to the deep, dark world, and told them, "Our standards of victory and defeat are different from the Security Bureau's."

"For the high and mighty, the very appearance of snakes, worms, mice, and ants—the filth of the gutter—on the street means they've already lost.

But for us, if we scurry away with what's called victory right now, how are we any different from the actual snakes, worms, mice, and ants?"

"You worry about consequences, but consequences are inevitable!"

"Much like the confrontation and war we currently have with the enemy."

"If there were no me, no you, no Evil Cult, this day would still come. Even now, you all can withdraw at any time, just as I promised."

Lu Changsheng grinned, not hiding his mockery, "But once I'm buried in Spring City, where will you find another me?"

In the long silence that followed, little fish blew bubbles, the girl sneered coldly, Jian Yuan remained indifferent, and Adrian was silent.

Out of the darkness in the old monk's eyes suddenly surged a flickering light.

"Lu Changsheng—"

His lips parted, the sutra threads snapped, and wriggling blood spread from the tear, bringing a voice of decay and hoarseness, "What is it that you seek?"

"Do you even need to ask? It's right before your eyes, at this very moment!"

Lu Changsheng spread his arms, showing the world behind him where darkness and radiance clashed fiercely, laughing loudly, "From the very moment the horn was sounded, we declared to this world—"

If the existence of Superior is an ancient cause, then the birth of the Great Calamity is the inevitable consequence behind this magnificence.

If mankind must commit evil to survive, then evil becomes justice. If man must pursue wickedness to ascend, then the pursuit of wickedness becomes the righteous path!

"One day, I will turn evil into justice!"

That lone figure, overlooking everything, declared softly to the enemies:

"When that day comes, in this world—whose shall be the wicked?"

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