Tick-tock—

The hands on the clock face, at some unknown moment, silently overlap as time flows.

Six thirty and thirty seconds!

At this moment, the hour, minute, and second hands align perfectly at the position marked [6], and a brilliant golden glow appears above the number.

At only ten percent completion of Chun Jun, at this moment, with Chun Jun's fragmentation, it begins to surge!

Twenty percent, thirty, forty, fifty...

It's like a rocket taking off.

But Ji Jue has no time to estimate anything else.

Snap!

The second crack once again appears with the sound of a bubble breaking.

It is like a journey towards extinction and torment.

In the daze of pain and fatigue, Ji Jue has forgotten who he is, where he is, and what he is doing.

Consciousness, thoughts, soul, empty and vast.

The only action is to follow this ever-surging and frenzied instinct, raising the Invisible Hammer once more, as if lifting one's own soul, striking down!

Collapse!!!

Like a phantom, a soundless reverberation suddenly spreads, breaking through the workshop, echoing in Xinquan and the wilderness, resounding in everyone's ears.

Like the sound of chains loosening, iron shackles shattering.

In the instant the hammer strikes down, amidst the dark tremor before his eyes, Ji Jue sees countless fleeting images appear.

[Memories]

At this moment, the person named Ji Jue, from the moment of birth, everything seen, thought, learned, known, felt, rises from the soul!

The third crack appears on Chun Jun, completely breaking perfection.

They spread and diffuse on the pure and flawless sword body, yet it seems so natural, like a dragon and snake moving on paper, endlessly intertwining.

In the primal and wild ancient era, the primordial people, no different from beasts, perhaps painted the first hunting scene in caves with such bloodshed.

The Ether Path comes into being through this!

And when the first fire ignites from the long night, illuminating the bewildered eyes, the desire for Ascension becomes unstoppable.

Sacrifices and Shamans burn tortoise shells with flame, using these oldest cracks as carriers, recording moments of fortune and past, Ascension and ether overlap and intertwine again in the Regeneration of Embers.

Sprouting from the past, weaving through the present, vanishing into the future.

Just like every story.

At this moment, along with the collision and grinding of soul and blade, cracks wind their way from Chun Jun's spine.

The story named Ji Jue reflects within.

With the Swordsmith's spirit, create Cun Jun's Spirit.

Then, with the Swordsmith's name, bear Chun Jun's name!

——This is the true creation of Heavenly Craft·Cun Jun!

Under the collision of the Soul Hammer, countless fissures expand from the sword spine, Chun Jun suddenly trembles violently, like a song of joy or a lament of sorrow.

The clanging sound spreads with the fissures, then, sword body covered in countless cracks, completely shatters, turning into innumerable fragments.

Chun Jun is destroyed!

But immediately after... when the material shackles completely break, purity reemerges from the void.

When Ji Jue's palm rises again, a fleeting light of a bubble appears before him.

Almost real, nearly illusory.

Yet, it's like a mirror, reflecting his withered and weary face, and his bright eyes, so clearly.

As if, another self.

"Hello, Chun Jun!"

Ji Jue can't help but smile, lowering his gaze to the Invisible Sword in his hands.

The illusion light swirls, rising and falling silently, responding to his call.

"..."

In the silence, Isis can no longer suppress the confusion: "I do not see Chun Jun, sir."

"Yes, but this is Chun Jun."

Ji Jue casually answers: "By naming the sword, the object and self become one, therefore, sharing the same source, returning to one body. Once Chun Jun can appear in others' observation, it has already degenerated to a lower level, only to fall into external narratives.

The true Chun Jun, can be seen by no one, nor touched, except the Swordsmith himself..."

It is precisely to complete this profound relationship, as intimate as being one with the swordsmith himself, that the Swordsmith's spirit, name, and hand are required to personally create it.

What is accomplished is not Chun Jun, but the Swordsmith himself!

Isis remains silent, only feeling that perhaps her Creator cannot accept failure, leading to a mental breakdown, as this kind of thing has happened more than once.

More importantly...

"If a sword is invisible, intangible, and nonexistent, how can it be used to cut others?"

"Precisely because of this, it is not meant to cut others—"

Ji Jue continues to smile, reverently holding the final glimmer of illusion light, welcoming an epiphany in unprecedented joy and delight.

"—but, to cut oneself."

At that moment, between his empty ten fingers, the illusion light swirls, inverts.

Aim at Ji Jue's own chest.

Thrust down!

Boom!!!!

Silently and all-encompassing, outside the dead silent workshop, at this moment, a thunderous explosion bursts suddenly.

"What..."

Drenched in the downpour, returning from outside the town, Slan suddenly becomes alert, reins in his horse, lifts his head stiffly, in the sound of warhorses neighing and blades unsheathed, everyone belatedly realizes, staring upward in a daze.

Looking towards the sky.

The dawn light of the predawn morning disappears.

The blazing sun is nowhere.

Not only Xinquan, but also the wilderness, even far in Cliff City, Tide City...

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