Chapter 210.1: Ashes of Elevation Part 1

The outpost was in chaos, and darkness surged in unstoppable waves. Spring City’s manifestation spread in every direction, but it seemingly slammed into an invisible dam and came to an abrupt halt.

Under the gaze of Heaven’s Eye, every impact and ripple came to a standstill. The Laws of Origin took effect and imposed a rule—no aberrant creature belonging to Spring City could leave its boundaries.

But not even a Celestial Being could fully contain the pollution and torrent that had accumulated over such an immense span of time. Countless cracks appeared around the borders as the absolute decree teetered on the verge of collapse, unable to withstand the pressure of reality.

Heaven’s Eye watched as the flawless decree adjusted itself and accepted imperfection. It compromised with reality, yielding in one area to strengthen the whole.

A passage opened within the containment barrier, like the floodgate of a dam, facing directly toward the outpost. At once, countless waves of contamination, beasts of doom, evil creatures, and remnant spirits burst through like a landslide, rampaging toward the outpost until they crashed into its defenses.

Gunfire, blazing light, and screams filled the air without pause. Airships rose into the sky as flashbangs rained down, scattering streaks of light like falling tears. The fortress met the oncoming flood head-on, and even the shockwaves from their collision were enough to make the earth shake violently.

Underground, outside the emergency command center, a corridor was washed in pale light, its lamps flickering from the violent tremors. Dust sifted down from above, settling among the streaks of gray in Lü Yingyue’s hair.

The aging director hurried through the chaotic, crowded corridor, firing off questions. “What’s the situation at the front line?”

“Still within manageable limits, but resource consumption continues to rise.”

“How is Mr. Tao?”

“He just woke up and is on his way.”

“What about the other directors?”

“They’re coming. They’re still on the road.”

Lü Yingyue nodded and took the file in her hands. “Is this really the route to the emergency command center?”

The staff member walking beside her froze, unable to answer. Their expression twitched with shock, as though they were trying to force a smile, but they couldn’t say a word.

At Lü Yingyue’s touch, the lifelike illusion rippled like the surface of a lake.

Lü Yingyue smiled. “Hmm? It took at least two Transcendence Realm experts to create an illusion like this. And that signature feels familiar... So the Celestial Heart Society is involved? Wulou Temple too? When did these two start working together? Lu Changsheng must be quite the smooth talker.”

No one answered. In the deathly silence, a crack spread from the ripples beneath her fingertips. A myriad of fractures branched across the glass before they sliced into her finger. Or perhaps that, too, was only an illusion.

But what was real, and what was not? Even the soul could no longer tell.

“Well now. It really has been a long time since anyone looked down on me this much.” Lü Yingyue licked the blood from her fingertip. On her aging face, a faint, mocking smile appeared. “Before we begin, do any of you have any last words?”

The silence was absolute. No one dared to even breathe, let alone speak or shout.

Countless phantoms overlapped. Even death came without a sound, drowning everything before it.

***

The heavens trembled and the earth shook.

Amid the thunderous noise, flickering firelight shone through the window and illuminated the quiet corridor, while dust drifted from the ceiling. The people rushing about in confusion seemed to have forgotten this place entirely, or perhaps they could no longer find it.

Only a thin figure stood by the window, calmly watching the chaos unfold while softly humming an ancient tune. After a long while, he finally looked away and continued down the corridor, pushing open the door that had been left slightly ajar.

The office behind the door was the same as ever, but without the windows opened for ventilation, the old-people smell[1] inside had grown even stronger than usual.

The secretary stepped inside and turned on the light, illuminating the old man sitting across the desk with drool trickling from his mouth. He sat blankly in the chair, lost and dazed, his mind clearly elsewhere.

The secretary smiled faintly and raised a hand to adjust his glasses. “Mr. Tao, are you well?”

“I am.”

The old man’s reply was slurred as he looked up. That face was so familiar, yet it now seemed strangely unfamiliar, just like everyone he had seen after waking up.

He could never quite remember. “Sorry. I’ve forgotten your name again. Who are you?”

“I’m your secretary.” The man sat down across from him and pointed to his name badge and armband, repeating the same answer for the hundredth time. Then, for the first time since he took on this job, he introduced himself properly with a gentle smile. “My surname is Lu. I’m Lu Changsheng. You can just call me Changsheng.”

Boom!ℴℴ𝘮

A dazzling pillar of blazing light shot up into the night sky through the window, soaring toward the heavens. It took a long time for the thunderous roar and storm to come rolling in.

***

Beneath that same blazing light, flames were snuffed out and ruthlessly erased. The thick smoke dispersed, leaving no trace within the storm.

Finally, the flesh tower collapsed to pieces. A foul stench and a wash of crimson rolled outward, spilling across the scorching earth and forming savage patterns. Every trace of corruption and aberration vanished.

Stripped away with cold, merciless precision, the entire ruined construction site was purified in an instant. All she had to do was reach out and gently touch the ground. Just like that, a Dissociation Technique beyond anything Ji Jue could have imagined was unleashed!

Material properties repelled one another like matching poles of a magnetic field, forcibly insulating everything on this land from corruption and pollution. Then, all of it was stripped away.

Even within the same Dissociation Technique, there were differences in mastery, and the gap could be as vast as the distance between heaven and earth. Because of the differences between Pacifier and Mo Ye, Ye Xian had only been able to teach Ji Jue the basic principles and concepts, leaving him to develop the technique in his rough, instinctive way.

What appeared in her hands now was a technique that had reached the peak of perfection, one that belonged to her alone. Whether it was a blessing from the Supreme Benevolences or contamination from the Foolish Abominations, or whether it existed as spirit matter or physical matter, every trace was washed away by the unstoppable wave.

It separated, destroyed, broke down, and purified everything, restoring it to its original state, including the Celestial Being before her.

In less than a minute, the entire scene had changed beyond recognition. Hundreds, even thousands of enormous pillars engraved with intricate spirit matter circuits rose from the ground, stretching from the earth into the sky before snapping in half. Sinister, otherworldly light pierced through the boundary membrane and swept across the battlefield, incinerating everything in its path. It tore deep trenches into the earth and left behind waves of scorched, acrid fumes.

Frost and ice crystals tangled, collided, shattered, and melted. Layers of snow fell slowly, only to turn into rain in the burning wind.

Rainwater fell across the giant figure that had risen from the earth, streaming down its shattered face like tears. Its ruined limbs crumbled into ash and sank back into the mud.

At the center of the site, the ground had caved in out of nowhere, sinking dozens of meters downward. Translucent blades crisscrossed through the air like the bars of a cage, piercing the wounded aberrant creature and pinning him firmly in place. Around the blades loomed enormous shadows that had taken on physical form, encircling him and looking down from above.

There was a six-winged, one-legged black swan that towered like an iron wall; a gray rhinoceros that flickered in and out of sight, its vast body stretching endlessly; and a unicorn formed from pure radiance, wavering between reality and illusion. Above them was a colossal whale with an inexhaustible supply of spirit matter, providing power to the many creations of disaster.

The whale’s phantom blanketed the entire site. Though its full form had yet to appear, it felt as though it had already swallowed everything in its belly.

1. "Old people smell" is a real thing. This refers to the distinct musk that is associated with older adults. ☜