Chapter 687: Finale (2)

No matter who won or lost...

Many entities among the Deities found it hard to understand.

To them, this was a duel to the death. Whoever won would become the master of this world for the next ten thousand years—and likely far more than that, a number stretching close to eternity.

Who knew when a new Firmament capable of killing the current one would ever appear?

And who could guarantee when another existence like Yan Jing would ever emerge?

Therefore, there should have been only one way this duel could play out: fighting to win at all costs.

But now, the Old Man said that winning or losing did not matter.

They found this impossible to believe.

Yet as those two streaks of light expanded across the sky, dancing and crossing paths high above like two shooting stars, they wove a net that covered the world, using the night sky as their canvas. More and more entities began to feel exactly what the Old Man had described.

Neither of them left themselves any room for defense as they clashed.

Perhaps Yan Jing appeared much more relaxed, but... being relaxed did not mean he was defending.

On the contrary, his offense was simply more frenzied and violent.

If the Firmament Envoy on the left was a series of continuously flashing lines of light, Yan Jing was a violent storm that kept accelerating.

There was absolutely no pause.

In the instant the Firmament Envoy slashed its blade, the spear in Yan Jing's hands had already thrust out dozens of times. Streaks of explosive black light instantly riddled the sky behind the Firmament Envoy with holes.

Neither used any other methods. The pure ringing of clashing metal constantly echoed in the air. At first, it was quite pleasant to the ear, but it rapidly grew faster and faster.

Once the frequency increased, the sound of their collisions became incredibly piercing.

Finally, the shrill noise pierced through the clouds and fell into the ears of the Deities, causing many to clutch their heads in agony.

That high-frequency sound was like the roar of a demon. A hallucination of the twilight of a dying era appeared before the Deities' eyes.

It was going to end...

They seemed to hear a sigh, proving that the Old Man's analysis had been correct.

Neither of them cared about winning or losing.

But...

Why?

This was the deepest doubt in everyone's hearts.

Why had the two of them reached such a stage?

Disregarding life and death, only wanting it to end.

High above in the sky, what Yan Jing and the origin of the Firmament were seeing right now was a completely different scene.

In their eyes, there was no such thing as colliding, separating, and colliding again.

In their line of sight, it was as if the other party had never moved.

They were just calmly looking at each other. It was only the light of the blade and the trails of the spear in their hands that crashed together, constantly intersecting before ultimately shattering into fragments.

"You are very strange."

Finally, the origin of the Firmament spoke first.

Compared to the very beginning, His tone lacked some of its heaviness and oppressive might, carrying a bit more mortal warmth.

"You are quite strange as well."

Facing the words from across him, Yan Jing just smiled and spoke softly.

"...Where am I strange?" the Firmament's origin asked.

"You speak first," Yan Jing said softly.

"..."

The Firmament's origin had not wanted to speak like this, but He had no choice.

Because the offensive from Yan Jing's hands was too fierce, and it was still speeding up.

If He did not speak now, He was going to be beaten to death.

"...You have a death wish upon you."

The Firmament's origin said slowly, "Someone like you shouldn't have a will to die."

"You are a heavenly prodigy. Even in the outside world, you would absolutely be a rare genius. I am already considered a genius, but you are clearly on an even higher level than me."

"Not to mention you haven't even seen the great world outside yet. From your perspective, winning against me means you will become the master of this world. You should be the last person thinking about death."

"But you do."

Yan Jing smiled and shook his head.

"I'm just a little tired."

"I've met the River. I know the outside world is even larger. If I defeat you, there will be someone else. If I defeat them, there will be others even stronger. So what is the point of me defeating you?"

"But being tired doesn't mean I don't want to win."

Yan Jing's tone shifted.

"I want to win very much, and I must win."

"Defeating me is useless. I am not the Firmament." Even at this stage, the Firmament was still trying to feign ignorance.

But Yan Jing shook his head.

"I don't care whether you are or not."

"I will win."

"Come."

Yan Jing spoke, as if those words finally voiced what he truly wanted to say in his heart. His shackles shattered, and his weird energy violently surged. Discarding his old shell, the pitch-black spear in his hand pierced the vast sky like a massive pillar holding up the heavens. It completely pulverized the blade light in his opponent's hands and slammed straight into the chest of the Firmament's origin.

Crack—

In a daze, everyone seemed to hear the sound of something shattering.

In a deeper daze, they seemed to see cracks opening up in the Firmament above their heads.

The sky... had simply split open.

This sky, under which the Deities had lived for tens of thousands of years, was now shattering piece by piece, turning into a spiderweb of cracks.

"Come!!!"

Feeling the intense pain radiating from His chest, the Firmament's origin drew in a sharp breath. The light of the blade in His hands instantly grew faster as well.

Countless streaks of blade light wove into a blooming flower in the air, completely shredding everything in front of Him.

The essence of weird energy, the logic of Pathways, the Dao of exploration.

Everything fractured.

Even the spear in Yan Jing's hands seemed to gradually grow sluggish.

His originally smooth movements were severed in this moment.

This bought Him a final window of time to unleash His methods.

A single beam of blade light suddenly bloomed from the tip of the blade. Like a spray of foam rising from a white river, it emerged from the countless intersecting shadows and light, falling gently toward Yan Jing's neck.

Yan Jing looked at that small patch of "white."

He did not know what it was, but his instincts sensed the danger.

The space that streak of color passed through looked like paper wiped clean by an eraser—its edges curling up white, entirely stripped of its contents.

And its speed was far faster than he had imagined.

In an instant, it descended right in front of Yan Jing.

Hum—

Right before the final moment, Yan Jing reached out his hand.

He gently tapped his finger against that blade light.

In a flash, the blade light crumbled and disintegrated.

But the spear light did not stop!!!

The pillar of light completely swallowed the Firmament Envoy.

Specks of ash drifted up. The Firmament Envoy's body crumbled apart, like joss paper burned to ash, slowly swept up into the sky by the wind.

In the final moment before dissipating, his eyes stared fixedly at the fingertip Yan Jing had just extended.

Then, a smile slowly surfaced at the corner of his mouth.

As if he had seen something interesting.

Dust to dust, earth to earth. With the fading of the Firmament Envoy's figure, everything returned to peace. All creation was silent; heaven and earth were barren.

A long exhale of breath.

It was unknown which of the Deities let out that long breath.

It became the first sound between heaven and earth. Only then did the rest of the Deities dare to slowly exhale.

At this moment, they were all rejoicing—rejoicing that Yan Jing had not directly attacked them just now, but had only used his blood to bind them.

"You all seem quite happy."

Yan Jing lowered his gaze, looking at the Deities.

"But this is just the beginning."

"Since you are standing on my side, I hope you will fight for me wholeheartedly."

"..."

Panic flickered in the Deities' eyes. It seemed there were words caught in their chests that they did not dare speak.

"Are there any problems?"

Yan Jing looked at the Deity of [Aging] who had previously pointed out his will to die.

"If you have an issue, you may speak it."

The Old Man trembled all over.

He had not expected Yan Jing to actually hear his words during that intense clash.

Finally, he gave a bitter smile.

"I drank your blood. Whatever you ask me to do, I naturally wouldn't dare object, but..."

[Aging]'s words made the hearts of the Deities leap into their throats, sweating silently for him.

At a time like this, even though all the Deities felt the same way, they couldn't actually say it out loud.

The man in front of them only needed to lift a finger to turn them to ash. Their lives and deaths hung on a mere thought.

In truth, the Old Man felt anxious as well, but He was the Deity of [Aging]. Perhaps because He had lived for so long, or perhaps because He felt hope was slim either way, His courage was greater than before.

"But I don't understand. What is the point of having us take a side?"

The Old Man smiled bitterly.

"If it is a battle between you and that one, we will not be of any help at all."

"Even if we all stand on your side right now, there's no way for us to sway the outcome. We'd struggle to even distract Him."

"..."

The corners of Yan Jing's mouth lifted slightly. Just as he was about to speak...

Suddenly, a voice rang out high in the sky:

"His calculation is very simple. If you manage to distract me for even half a second, it will be considered your contribution."

The moment this voice spoke, the Deities shuddered.

The massive figures all raised their heads simultaneously, looking at the entity in the sky whose physical size was roughly the same as Yan Jing's.

His upper body wore an antique silver-white divination shirt, and his lower body wore long white trousers. The fabric flowed like silk, the stitching upon the satin incredibly fine and harboring hidden textures.

His exact facial features couldn't be seen clearly, as if veiled by a hazy mist, but one could faintly sense that the face beneath it definitely wouldn't be ugly.

In his hand, he carried a white lantern.

It was the size of a pomelo, exquisite and translucent, gleaming like jade.

The lantern was unlit.

Before everyone could realize what was happening, a cluster of flames suddenly ignited inside the lantern. In the next second, the surrounding sky instantly plunged into darkness.

Boundless darkness spread, shrouding everything.

This familiar scene made the deeply buried memories of the Deities surge back into their minds.

Fear grew wildly, and the Deities' pupils trembled. Fortunately, the light soon returned.

With lingering trepidation, the Deities looked around in panic.

They found that no entity had perished.

The face within the mist wore a faint, ambiguous smile, as if He had merely been playing a joke on the Deities.

That was until the sound of dripping liquid echoed in the Deities' hearts.

The Deities looked toward the source of the sound.

Dark gold blood, like a trickling stream, meandered across the lines of Yan Jing's palm before slowly dripping from his fingertips.

Yan Jing was injured!!

He, who had just slain the strongest Firmament Envoy, was injured in the very first exchange.

Furthermore, this was different from when the Firmament Envoy had appeared earlier.

At that time, the Firmament Envoy had launched a sneak attack, and had ended up injured himself!!

But now, the Firmament appeared completely unharmed.

Although it was a subtle difference, it was enough to explain certain things.

This sight finally reminded the Deities of exactly what kind of position the entity high in the sky held.

The strongest Firmament Envoy was nothing more than a pawn serving under the opposition. If Yan Jing occupied the position of a king, it was only natural that he would have to battle a king to determine the victor.

The Deities raised their heads, gazing at that entity.

He gave off a completely different feeling from Yan Jing.

When they looked at Yan Jing, they would hallucinate mountains of corpses and seas of blood behind him. They saw the ebbing and flowing River of Time, a seed rising from the soil, immortal souls, and a figure covered in scars yet struggling forward. Black waves of wind crashed against his body, blowing back his cloak and forcing him to hunch over and raise a hand to shield his eyes—but it couldn't stop him from marching forward.

But when they looked at the figure in the sky, they only saw boundless divine light and a throne. The will of heaven and earth was His will.

These were two completely different kings.

In a duel between kings, even Deities had to step aside.

"Who is willing to stand on my side?" the Firmament spoke.

"..."

The numerous figures did not move.

It wasn't that they didn't want to; it was that they couldn't.

They had drunk Yan Jing's blood and could not do anything outside of Yan Jing's will.

But...

Looking at the hesitating Deities, the Firmament reached out and gently brushed His hand over the lantern.

In the next instant, the Deities felt a kind of fire ignite in their hearts. The blood they had just drunk gradually evaporated under the searing heat of that flame, while the flame itself slowly extinguished as the blood suppressed it.

Ultimately, the two canceled each other out.

The Deities' shackles were undone just like that.

"Choose," the Firmament said softly, bringing this tug-of-war of allegiances directly to its final chapter.

There was no other option. Now, if they still did not move, only death awaited them.

In almost a split second, the many figures scattered wildly like phantom winds, rushing to stand behind the two figures.

By the time the figures came to a halt, the situation on the battlefield was clear.

A very distinct dividing line.

Those standing behind Yan Jing were almost entirely the older generation Deities of the Inner World.

Meanwhile, standing behind that figure were not only the new generation of humans and Inner World Deities, but also the Sources of Mutation who had previously relinquished their Divine Thrones. They too had returned in droves.

Looking at the numbers...

It was a ratio of 2 to 8.

Yan Jing had 2.

This was a logical outcome.

The Firmament had existed for ten thousand years.

Whereas Yan Jing was merely a newly risen star who had suddenly shot to prominence.

Furthermore, in their very first exchange, Yan Jing had immediately fallen to a disadvantage.

Coupled with the methods the Firmament had just displayed—commanding heaven and earth and casually undoing Yan Jing's shackles—the fact that Yan Jing still retained a 2 was already an unexpected result.

Among those standing behind him, apart from the dozen or so attached to his own Divine Throne, the rest were entities who could no longer endure the Firmament's tyrannical rule.

"Heh..."

The corners of the Firmament's mouth curved up.

In His eyes...

This didn't just represent some boring shift in allegiances; it meant He had already won more than half the battle.

These foolish "Deities" naturally couldn't see the deeper meaning here.

If their eyes could see further, they wouldn't have paraded themselves around as Deities for hundreds of years.

"Surrender."

He spoke softly, "I will let you be reborn in a new way, and I will take you to a greater world."

If His previous feelings toward Yan Jing were fueled by anger—

Anger that a boy from some backwater had provoked Him time and time again.

And even wanted His life.

Now, as He looked at Yan Jing, His gaze faintly held a burning heat and yearning.

He wanted him.

To merge with him and become one.

Within the method Yan Jing had just used to shatter His origin, He saw the possibility of advancing a step further Himself.

He had stayed here for so many years specifically because He didn't want to call His Clan for help and lower His standing within the Clan, right?

Was it not simply to fathom the powers of this world?

And now, since He had already sent out a signal for help to the Clan...

He could only cut His losses.

In Yan Jing, He saw hope.

"Come."

The Firmament said softly, "Let me show you what the power of a true Deity is."

Yan Jing thrust out the spear in his hands. The light of its blade gleamed like the dawn's early light as it blasted toward the Firmament opposite him.

But the Firmament merely brushed the lantern in His hand.

White candlelight flared.

An identical spear light emerged from within the lantern, thrusting back at Yan Jing in the exact same manner.

Faster, and far more violent!

The two clashed. The Fear Thorn in Yan Jing's hands clearly fell into a disadvantage. It gradually shattered, turning into fragments.

Hum—

Yan Jing gently raised his hand. On the back of his hand, a scar slowly surfaced, oozing bright red blood.

Enormous scissors materialized behind the Firmament.

They snapped shut fiercely.

The Firmament raised a hand, directly blocking the blades of the scissors.

Immediately after, He threw a punch, unleashing a titanic force!

Bang!!!

Yan Jing's figure rapidly turned ethereal, attempting to dodge this heaven-destroying punch. To do so, he directly utilized time manipulation, returning to a few seconds prior.

But that punch was also flashing rapidly, as if it were faster than time itself, slamming directly into Yan Jing's back.

Yan Jing could only spin around and take the punch head-on!!!

The two forces collided.

Yan Jing coughed up a heavy mouthful of fresh blood.

"Cough..."

It seemed this was his first time losing in a pure contest of strength. Ever since he obtained the Power of Heracles, he had never fallen into a disadvantage in physical power.

Watching this scene, the Deities were deeply shaken.

Yan Jing, who had just completely suppressed the Firmament Envoy, now looked entirely outmatched against the Firmament Himself.

Many of the Deities standing behind the Firmament were secretly rejoicing, feeling that they had made the right choice.

In the next instant, a Compass emerged behind Yan Jing.

Immediately after, he unleashed the Fear Thorn once again.

Opposite him, the Firmament merely raised His hand to unleash the exact same Fear Thorn.

But this time, the outcome was different.

Yan Jing no longer fell into a disadvantage.

Instead, they were evenly matched, both turning into black dust that scattered across the world.

Under the influence of Universal: Fear, the ability the Firmament unleashed was reduced by one tier.

This brought the two of them to the same level.

He has to win!

The Deities on Yan Jing's side felt their spirits lift. They understood Yan Jing's methods; Universal was merely one of them. If the Firmament was only on par with Yan Jing after he used Universal...

Then once Yan Jing entered his Fear Stance, the Firmament's defeat was almost guaranteed.

But... Yan Jing's expression did not grow any lighter.

On the contrary, it became even more solemn.

He watched as the Firmament opposite him smiled slightly.

The candle flame inside the lantern grew brighter, swaying gently.

A Compass.

Slowly emerged behind Him, its needle spinning.