Bloodline as the Lock, Godheads Born Together

Xiao and Jing reached for the Divine Duty Core floating in midair at the same time.

The stinging pain in their fingertips had yet to fully fade. It was the psychic trauma left behind by their altered memories.

Those forcibly implanted scenes and venomous words clung to their bones like a disease. Even knowing they were false did not erase the scar they had left behind.

Just as their fingertips were about to touch the Divine Duty Core, both of them stopped in unspoken accord, their movements stiffening for an instant.

They looked at each other, their faces bearing equally complex, indescribable emotions.

There was guilt, lingering fear, and a trace of unfamiliarity neither had even noticed.

Though Ji Xing had forcibly "welded" their tainted bond back together with Bloodline Resonance, the cracks remained.

"What are you hesitating for?"

Ji Xing's voice came from nearby, devoid of emotion yet like a scalpel precisely cutting through their fragile facade.

"Are you afraid of its power? Or are you afraid of yourselves?"

Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed, but he said nothing.

Jing gently bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes.

"The God of Oblivion's power is built upon 'Erasure.' It erases memories, erases cognition, and ultimately erases existence." Ji Xing continued her analysis. "But you defeated him not because your wills were especially steadfast, but because your very existence was a fatal loophole in his laws."

"Your bloodline cannot be 'forgotten,' because it is an immutable physical fact, not a piece of memory data that can be altered."

"And now, that loophole is right in front of you."

Ji Xing raised a hand and pointed at the gray Divine Duty Core.

"What you need to do is not fuse with it, but 'crack' it. Use your bloodline as the key to unlock this lock called 'Oblivion,' then claim what lies within as your own."

Xiao drew a deep breath, raised his head, and looked at Jing again.

This time, he did not look at his sister's face. Instead, he felt the resonance Ji Xing had created, one that came from the deepest depths of their bloodline.

It was still there—warm and real, like an invisible thread connecting their heartbeats.

He hesitated no longer. He thrust out his hand and grabbed one half of the Divine Duty Core.

Jing moved almost in sync with him, her other hand tightly gripping the other side of the core.

Bzzzz—!

The Divine Duty Core shuddered violently.

The gray Divine Essence transformed into countless frenzied tentacles that crawled up their arms, attempting to tear through their mental defenses.

The two concepts of Echoes and Remains carried the God of Oblivion's final resentment before death, madly assailing their consciousness.

Countless false illusions surged forth once more.

This time, it was no longer a scene of brother and sister turning against each other, but something even more vicious.

Xiao "saw" himself die on the battlefield while Jing laughed joyfully at the victory banquet.

Jing "heard" Xiao complaining to Qin Chuan behind her back, saying she was worthless baggage and should be abandoned by the team.

These illusions were more realistic than before, more devastating.

But neither Xiao nor Jing let go.

They clenched their teeth and allowed the mental toxins to run rampant through their minds. Their sole conviction was to hold tightly to the Divine Duty Core in their hands and feel the pulse from the other's palm, beating in the same rhythm as their own.

Their blood coursed at the same speed.

Their hearts beat with the same rhythm.

This resonance formed an invisible barrier, firmly blocking all false information trying to tear them apart.

"Cracking initiated." The data streams in Ji Xing's pupils reached their peak speed. "Bloodline homology verification passed. Beginning reverse analysis of the law of 'Oblivion.'"

Countless fine cracks began to spread across the gray Divine Duty Core.

The law runes representing Echoes and Remains began to collapse and reform beneath the cleansing force of the siblings' shared bloodline.

The opposite of oblivion was not remembrance, but existence itself.

And the two most fundamental manifestations of existence were space and time.

Xiao's body suddenly shook.

For the first time, his world took on a fragmented, slow-motion quality.

He saw De Ba De idly picking at his nails, each motion split into over a hundred separate frames in Xiao's eyes.

He saw En En Shixiong's hand gripping his sword, every minute tremor of his muscles clearly visible.

Even the collapse of the divine kingdom became slow and orderly.

The law of Echoes was forcibly twisted and analyzed by his bloodline, eventually transforming into an entirely new concept.

It was no longer the aftershock of sound, but the trajectory of speed.

Every movement was an accumulation of "Echoes."

The farther he moved and the faster he went, the more terrifying the power he could unleash in his next attack.

Divine Duty: Flash Shadow.

On the other side, Jing's experience was completely different.

Her eyes were closed, yet she could "see" the structure of the entire space.

The broken colonnades and falling rubble were no longer chaotic objects, but spatial coordinates that could each be defined.

She felt that with a single thought, she could instantly replace herself at coordinate A with herself at coordinate B.

And what remained at coordinate A would no longer be nothingness, but a spatial illusion transformed from the law of Remains, possessing a brief physical form and deceptive properties.

Divine Duty: Mirror Flower Water Moon.

Boom!

The Divine Duty Core shattered completely, transforming into two torrents of incomparably pure Divine Essence that surged into the siblings' bodies.

Around Xiao, the air let out an overburdened wail. Visible currents of crimson energy whirled rapidly around him, as though they could tear apart space at any moment.

Beneath Jing's feet, rings of silver spatial ripples spread outward. Her figure began flickering erratically between reality and illusion.

They had become gods.

At the same moment, using the same Divine Duty Core as their source, they condensed mutually sustaining Godheads unique to the two of them.

"How does it feel?" De Ba De leaned closer, his face full of curiosity.

Xiao slowly opened his eyes, a flash of blood-red light passing through their depths.

He did not answer. His body dipped slightly.

The next second.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Everyone only saw a blur as a crimson shadow raced through the ruins of the divine kingdom, which was on the verge of complete collapse, at a speed beyond the limits of visual perception, making one frantic return run.

He weaved around every falling Stone Pillar and passed through every disintegrating skeleton. His path left pale red afterimages in the air, like a giant net woven from speed.

Just two seconds later, he returned to where he had started, as if he had never moved.

He extended one finger and pointed through the air at a massive boulder in the distance, as large as a truck.

There was no sound, no shockwave.

The boulder, along with the space around it, instantly became a stream of the most primitive particles and was completely annihilated.

Everyone sucked in a breath.

In that instant, the Kinetic Energy Xiao had accumulated had reached a horrifying magnitude.

"Not... not bad, I guess." Xiao scratched his head and flashed a slightly roguish grin, and the oppressive aura brought by his ascension vanished without a trace.

He looked at Jing. The distance that had been between them was gone from his eyes, leaving only the purest concern and joy.

Jing gave him a gentle smile.

Her figure suddenly blurred where she stood, then split into two, then four.

Four identical Jings appeared in different positions at once. Every one of them had a real aura, and every one seemed to be the true body!