Chapter 120: Corruption
“Holy shit? Lightning?”
Standing in the shade outside the residential complex, Ji Jue felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. He instinctively looked up toward the neighborhood in the distance, where a massive surge of spirit matter wreaked havoc like a storm.
What he sensed was a familiar presence, yet all gentleness and patience were gone, replaced by overwhelming savagery. A spring breeze had transformed into a blizzard of harsh winter, and warm sunlight had mutated into frenzied molten lava.
Mr. Zhang?!
“Isn’t this a bit too outrageous?” Ji Jue muttered.
“Of course it is. Mr. Zhang was one of the first veterans around when Cliff City’s Security Bureau was founded,” Tong Hua said excitedly, eyebrows dancing as she ate her ice cream. “After all these years, hardly anyone even knows about it anymore. He retired ages ago and only keeps his name on the roster. Even the bureau directors have changed several times in the meantime. Back then, he helped my grandpa a lot too. Anyway, whenever something happens, listening to Mr. Zhang is never wrong.”
Ji Jue nodded. “True enough.”
As the saying went, “When there is an elder in the family, it’s like having a treasure at home.” Having weathered countless storms and upheavals, no matter how great the difficulty, Ji Jue had nothing to fear, especially with An Ran and a hidden powerhouse of this level around. A mere gang of outsiders who had come to Cliff City looking to make money would be easy to crush.
But just as he lowered his head to sip his lemonade, he heard the distant screams and thunderous crashes. Walls shattered and collapsed. From the debris, a blood-soaked figure staggered out. He was limping and hunched over, his body twitching uncontrollably, but he still dragged a heavy longsword riddled with chips and cracks. Blood, dust, and grime slowly dripped from its blade.
The sight was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
“Heh... heheheh... too many voices... too many voices...” Herbert lifted his mangled face, twitching frantically. His eyes, once blood-red, had shrunk to tiny pinpoints as he stared at the ruined world before him.
From that sea of crimson, it seemed as though countless faces were surfacing, screaming in agony. Those who had already passed away, whether they were comrades or enemies, were clinging to him. Broken hands reached out to stroke his face, tug at his clothes, and call his name.
But they were all dead. So how could he possibly meet them again?
At last, realization dawned on him. “Ah... so that’s how it is... So this is hell?”
He felt no fear. Instead, he was deeply moved. Even the suffering and torment no longer seemed important. His eyes nearly brimmed with tears. So after a lifetime of agony and endless struggle, what awaited him was not emptiness or despair, but a place like this?
Wonderful. This is truly wonderful! So the war is still continuing?
A horn sounded in the distance. Was someone calling for him?
Herbert burst into laughter. Once again, he raised his blade and screamed. He spread his arms wide toward this cruel yet beautiful world, wanting to embrace it all.
Bang!
A shrill howl pierced the air. His head, tilted upward, jerked violently to the side, as though struck by a massive hammer.
A bullet?
Herbert turned around, gazing deeper into hell at the demon that was grinning savagely while challenging him. Unable to hold back any longer, he let out an exhilarated cheer.
The moment Ji Jue saw that grinning madman turn his head toward him, he couldn’t stop himself from swearing. “Fuck me...”
The guy clearly hadn’t even been scratched, but Ji Jue was starting to crack a little. Why did he keep running into opponents who could tank bullets head-on?!
He had planned to drag Tong Hua farther away and observe carefully before acting. But upon seeing that blood-flame-wreathed Chosen One of the Swarm Path had completely descended into madness, while a few clueless brats nearby still hadn’t managed to escape, he decided to fire a shot and see what happened. Just like that, the aggro got pulled onto him.
The moment those scarlet eyes locked onto him, Ji Jue unconsciously tightened the pistol in his left hand. A faint gleam radiated from the ring on his finger as Transcendent Vision activated. If a fight was happening, then he might as well stack every buff first.
But the lunatic in the distance had seemingly vanished without a trace.
All that remained was a streak of blood-red flame hurtling straight toward them, shrieking through the air like a meteor. It whipped up a storm in its wake, smashed apart the cars blocking its path, and amidst hysterical laughter, charged directly at them!
The buff stack went up twofold, then fourfold, then eightfold, then sixteenfold! In mere moments, the ring had already turned scorching hot and glowed red beneath the flood of spirit matter Ji Jue poured into it. He was grateful that when forging it he had chosen the most stable design possible, the one with the greatest durability, the highest tolerance for spirit matter, and the best ability to push the blessing’s effects to their absolute limit.
Otherwise, if it had still been the shoddy piece of junk from before, it would’ve started collapsing and destroying itself the moment it hit eightfold amplification. But now, even with Ji Jue enduring a headache so intense he probably wouldn’t sleep tonight, pushing the power of his blessed equipment to its absolute limit, the enemy was still impossible to track clearly due to his insane speed. The opponent was way too fast, so fast that Ji Jue had absolutely no time to react.
In that fleeting moment, all he managed to do was wave his hand. The emblem of Pacifier appeared, and layers of mercury seeped out from the lining of his coat, piercing through the water pouch and converging around his arm. Countless silver strands entwined, and under material interference, their toughness and strength were pushed to the limit, transforming into a mercury tether that shot outward and wrapped around the front of Horsey.
Then, as Horsey accelerated, Ji Jue threw away the pistol in his other hand and lunged toward Tong Hua, who was still dumbfounded, grabbing her by the collar. In that same second, material interference reinforced the collar, making sure it wouldn’t tear apart.
A deafening roar, almost like an engine exploding, burst from Horsey’s motor. Under the command of Deus Ex Machina and flooded with spirit matter, it suddenly erupted with a terrifying force strong enough to rip Ji Jue’s arm clean off!
Boom!!!!
The storm howled, and the impact thundered.
At the exact moment the enemy’s strike landed, Ji Jue and Tong Hua barely escaped the blast radius, missing it by a hair’s breadth. At the very spot where they had been standing moments before, a gigantic banyan tree so thick it would take three people to encircle it was snapped clean in half at the waist!
Dust and ashes billowed everywhere, yet they still couldn’t obscure that savage figure. Within Ji Jue’s perception, slowed to the absolute limit, he could even see how the pupils that locked onto him twitched and shifted within that convulsing face. From beginning to end, those eyes had been fixed on him!
Then, Transcendent Vision finally shut down, and what followed immediately after was an explosion of agony.
Ow ow ow ow!
In an instant, Ji Jue’s right arm went numb, twitching uncontrollably and losing all strength. Not because of the enemy’s attack, but because of the violent strain of that sudden pull. His muscles had been severely torn, and cracks had appeared in his bones.
Just from a single evasive maneuver, he was already nearly crippled?! Ji Jue stared. So this was the power of the Swarm? This was the real Swarm when they didn’t need to protect employers, didn’t care about money, and were truly fighting for their lives?!
Sweat poured down his back.
Soon after, he saw Herbert stabilize himself, abruptly spin around, and hurl the chipped and battered blade in his hand straight at him while laughing maniacally. Like an artillery shell, it screamed through the air, spinning as it tore with a shockwave toward them!
Ji Jue didn’t even have time to steer Horsey away. At this speed, trying to change direction would probably flip the vehicle over instantly.
At this critical moment, Tong Hua, still gathering her bearings, suddenly broke free from Ji Jue’s grip and raised one hand beneath his arm, fingers spread wide as she shielded him. The alchemical construct around her wrist shone with radiant light.
Boom!
An invisible barrier flashed into existence for a brief second. The blade slammed deep into empty space itself, and Ji Jue could even see cracks spreading across the barrier. It blocked the attack!
“It’s corruption, corruption!” Tong Hua raised her other hand to shield his face, blocking the enemy’s line of sight. Her Aether Eye had already locked onto the attacker, instantly perceiving the darkness surging from the shattered remnants of his soul. “That guy’s undergoing corruption!”
This was the most tragic fate a Chosen One could suffer: not death, but something far more horrifying. As more and more blessings pressed down upon the soul, their dwindling humanity became unable to bear the power granted by Supreme Benevolence.
When blessings began conflicting with one another, if the matrix had flaws in its original design, or if it had been contaminated by Foolish Abominations and aberrations, blessings spiraled out of control, humanity dissipated, and the soul collapsed.
At that point, the soul and consciousness of the Chosen One, once favored by Supreme Benevolence, would be drawn toward and infected by the abyssal depths said to lie beneath reality, rapidly transforming them into something inhuman.
This process was not always instantaneous. Sometimes it took years of torment and suffering. From the first appearance of abnormalities to the moment things became irreversible and total collapse set in, countless people chose to end their own lives, lest they completely transform into aberrations.
When a Chosen One of the Ascension Path lost control, their mind would fracture irreversibly. Their sense of self would plunge into madness. Those of the White Deer Path would be seized by beastly instinct and greed, gradually becoming addicted to the fragrance of flesh, and even descending into cannibalism. The grotesque illness known as Bloodlust Syndrome was born from the catastrophic corruption of the Priest-King from the Central Lands, leaving behind endless calamity.
As for the Ember Path, the one Ji Jue belonged to, the hallmark of corruption was something every craftsman dreaded hearing about—materialization. The out-of-control blessings and Ember’s ash would fuse soul and flesh together, gradually transforming the unstable Chosen One into some bizarre alchemical object.
The hallmark of corruption for the Swarm was the simplest of all. Gradually, they would become lost to uncontrollable slaughter, cursed by every living being they had ever killed in their life, unable to free themselves. In the end, they would lose all sense of self and become killing machines driven purely by instinct.
Just like this guy!
As the chilling dread settled around Ji Jue, he pressed his left hand against his right arm, quickly activating Pacifier to forcefully repair and treat it. His eyes shifted back to the pursuing Chosen One, sensing the aura and number of blessings emanating from him.
One, two, three, four, five, six. He’s at the sixth level!
He was already at the peak of the Transformation Realm, and was only one step away from the Rebirth Realm. His entire body was nearly devoid of weak points. Cutting off his head might not even stop him from moving for a few more seconds.
This is bad. A dungeon monster has broken out and is slaughtering the people of the city!
“Heh... heheheh!” With a deranged laugh, Herbert reached down, picked up the longsword that had fallen to the ground, and charged straight at them.
The enemy is right there! The war is right there! Victory is within my reach!
Another chance to correct his mistake had appeared before him. He had to win, he absolutely had to win. As long as he won this time, he would never have to fear being abandoned again or worry about becoming a stray dog. He could still go back to that familiar camp!
But he could no longer remember where the camp was. The place he knew, the friends he remembered, the people he had met, they had all vanished into burning flames.
The howl of a vagrant beast echoed, resembling a dying wail of grief.
His speed increased once more. With blood and fire raging through him, he charged once more at his opponents!
In response, Ji Jue finally pulled out a lever-action rifle from the cargo bed. The moment he ducked his head, a mercury bullet had already shot out.
Bang!
Herbert let out a furious roar. The longsword in his hand swept casually through the air, yet somehow reacted in advance, lying in wait like a hunter, and sliced the bullet apart mid-air.
Who knew what kind of Swarm blessing this was.
Ji Jue didn’t dare slow down. His reloading motion blurred into afterimages as he emptied all five preloaded rounds in just a second.
Every single one of his bullets was blocked. One was even caught between teeth, crushed, and swallowed whole along with the exploding mercury inside!
The moment Ji Jue paused as he was reloading, the Chosen One narrowed the distance to under a hundred meters. Tong Hua could see that twisted face clearly. Her soul nearly left her body as she abandoned all stubbornness and pride, screaming in terror, “Hurry up, Ji Jue, that monster’s catching up!”
Then you jump down and let him eat you! Sacrifice yourself to cover my retreat!
Ji Jue was on the verge of tears too, no calmer than she was. At this point, there was only one last option left, his final trump card.
Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, “An Ran, save me!!!!!”
Bang!!!
Herbert was sent flying backward, as if he had crashed into an invisible wall. A piece of iron, which came from God-knew-where, had been deeply driven into his skull. Brain matter even oozed out through the crack.
Only then did the sound of the iron shooting through the air reach them.
On a high vantage point not far away, atop a signal tower, a figure slowly materialized, smiling as he waved at them. “Okay, Mr. Ji.”
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