Supreme Goodness, the King's Advent (Thanks to Mingding Blower and Crow Sister's Solo Supporter for the Alliance Leader)

The once abundant and surging Dragon Blood transformation had now come to a complete standstill.

A gap of less than a heartbeat was enough to reduce him to dust and bone!

BOOM!

As Minerva's iron fist descended once again, the storm of destruction blew away all flesh and even suppressed the incomplete Dragon Blood, smashing his head into total ruin.

It embedded itself into his chest from top to bottom.

Lawrence roared, his exposed, skeletal arms manifesting intricate scales that forcibly blocked Wen Wen's fist. On his shattered wings, eyes opened, looking toward the location of the Giant Tree.

There, he saw Ji Jue awakening amidst the entangling roots, and the middle finger he was smilingly raising.

"Surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you?"

He greeted him softly: "I said I knew you, and so many enthusiastic people just sent me back!"

With that, Ji Jue opened his mouth and bit down hard on the roots close at hand.

The Giant Tree shuddered violently, and countless tentacle-like branches wriggled, appearing to wither.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lawrence's voice trembled, filled with disbelief and a terror even greater than Minerva's attack: "Stop, stop it!"

Vortex Implantation Technique!

The progress of his Vortex Implantation Technique had actually stalled?!

No, it wasn't just stalled... an unprecedented void had appeared within, greedily sucking up the fruits of labor that should have belonged to him, plundering the Dragon Blood that was meant to flow into his own heart!

What was going on? What happened? How did he manage this?

"STOP!!!"

Lawrence roared.

Ji Jue turned a deaf ear, spreading his arms wide.

His wide-open eyes were already filled with scarlet; the Aberrant Spirit Essence of pain and despair flooded his body, fueling hunger and madness. As the recipient of the Vortex Implantation Technique, he was actually embracing the erosion of Blood Thirst Syndrome, and even, in turn, driven by the countless Aberrant Spirit Essence, seizing the initiative and constantly usurping Lawrence's control!

Screw your Calamity Artifact, screw your good material and fine jade, screw everything!

Living in this world, you have to eat; if there's rice, you eat rice; if there's shit, you eat shit. To hell with whatever Aberrant Spirit Essence—I'm just going to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!

Thus, he gulped down the Dragon Blood as if swallowing molten lava. The pain and despair seemed to drift away, and he didn't care in the slightest.

Lawrence bellowed, wanting to rush forward. Flesh grew and extended like thorns, trying to interrupt him, but a Giant Pillar of crystal rose from the ground, blocking Ji Jue behind it.

Now, the roles of attacker and defender had reversed.

Amidst the roaring and screaming, Lawrence's body swelled further, frantic and desperate, launching attacks with no regard for himself, no longer possessing his former ease and playfulness.

It was as if someone inside his body was using a straw to suck out his life and blood.

Now, the host and the recipient were connected through the Vortex Implantation Technique.

Inseparable.

Once Ji Jue began to shake his control, the one-way pump began to struggle, pulling and tugging as they fought over the refined Dragon Blood extracted by the Vortex Implantation Technique.

The difference was that the suction on Ji Jue's side was growing stronger and stronger!

Amidst the erosion and transformation of the Dragon Blood, Ji Jue roared. The pupils in his eyes gradually elongated, becoming beast-like, and scales faintly emerged on his limbs before falling off, as if he were undergoing a genetic mutation.

"Stop, Ji Jue!"

Wen Wen looked back and shouted: "You aren't a Chosen One yet! If you keep absorbing, you will suffer total Sin Corruption! Stop!"

But Ji Jue no longer cared.

He even accelerated.

Within his body, the pain and resentment left behind by countless people surged like a tidal wave, pushing him to launch his revenge against the culprit before his eyes!

Trample! Defeat! Tear apart! Brutalize!

And finally, hack into ten thousand pieces!

"Can't you see I'm busy? What's the rush?!" Ji Jue gritted his teeth, suppressing the violent impulses in his soul, and lifted his head to look at the hollow night sky.

And beyond the dim stars, those vague outlines, those colossal creatures looking down from above.

They were watching him.

"So you're the Chosen Ones? You've been watching for so many years, what are you waiting for?"

Ji Jue beckoned, roaring at them: "Come on, choose, choose, choose—everyone just loves to choose!"

"--Who told me to pick one?!"

Amidst the roaring sound, Minerva's expression shifted. Even under the suppression of the Matrix, where her emotional fluctuations had been reduced to the lowest point, like iron and stone, she was still astonished and bewildered.

She even felt the urge to look back and pry open Ji Jue's skull to see what kind of nonsense he was spouting.

Are you supposed to just choose a Chosen One? Did he think he was at a supermarket buying cabbage, where you just pick one if you want? Even if he was a self-awakened individual with talent and potential, it was impossible to just crook a finger and...

In that instant, she froze in place.

Because the sky had broken.

It was not just above the hospital, not just within the Realm of Encirclement here, and in fact, not just the North Mountain District.

From the ripples of the disturbance to the verdant mountains, across the vast expanse of Yacheng and within a thousand miles, every star vanished and disappeared, as if they had exited the stage the moment the curtain was raised.

Replacing them were vast, brilliant radiances, barely visible to the naked eye of an ordinary person.

Solemn and cold silhouettes emerged from within, as if they were the vast forms of all phenomena gathered together, the Supreme Authority manifested from all the changes and events of the Mortal World!

There were formless things encompassing all phenomena, towering and stern city gates, crowns woven from bone and blood, deer heads with giant antlers hung with the corpses of wolves, vortices woven from countless lives, faces with shifting expressions of sorrow and joy, sun wheels weeping blood, and complex, changing flames and electric light...

"Ascension, Celestial Origin, The Horde, White Deer, Vortex, Heart Pivot, Eternal Gate, Entropy, Embers, Waste Ruins..."

Twelve Supreme Goodnesses, nine of them had descended!

In that fleeting glimpse, Wen Wen almost froze in place, doubting her own eyes.

The omens of destiny had appeared so abruptly, as if the stars were bestowing their blessings. The Supreme Tapestries, which countless Chosen Ones pursued their entire lives yet rarely received favor from, were now filling the night sky, occupying every inch of space!

They flooded the night, expanding rapidly, squeezing and excluding one another. Gone was their former cold elegance and nobility; instead, they were like customers at a supermarket sale, waving money to snatch up goods, fighting over the only treasure, scrambling to bestow their own blessings... Shut up, and take my money!

In the blink of an eye, all collisions and struggles vanished.

It was as if the winner had already been decided!

The other glorious visions faded away, and what filled the night sky were stars that seemed to be burning, erupting with dazzling light, as if the entire firmament had turned into a massive melting furnace.

When the dazzling stars burned out and the glorious furnace tilted, the flickering afterglow flowed out from within, turning into a waterfall of light that descended and completely swallowed Ji Jue.

It was as if it had fallen into his soul, igniting his very self.

Such a manifestation...

--Supreme Goodness · [Embers]!

Amidst unprecedented pain and fulfillment, the talent within Ji Jue's soul, previously vague and dim, now bathed in the afterglow of the stars, welcomed its final transformation.

The emblem formed in the void, orange-red light flowing continuously, with complex patterns appearing, as if gears and levers were overlapping, the silhouette of some complex mechanism... even Ji Jue could not distinguish it clearly.

[Chosen Ceremony, complete!]

[Registration of identity change initiated, Chosen One Ji Jue, login complete.]

[Spiritual Substance Reserve, access granted, error, error, error... Please proceed to the Central Station as soon as possible to complete your official employee registration!]

Dozens of pop-up windows jumped out on his wristwatch, dazzling and chaotic.

But those messy things did not matter anymore.

From the burning of the Fire of Embers, Ji Jue grinned, raised his head, and looked at the stunned Lawrence.

"Hello there."

He nodded politely. "I have many friends who asked me to convey their greetings to you... but, after thinking about it, it would be more convenient for them to tell you themselves."

"Are you ready?"

Ji Jue raised his hand and asked his final question—receive this pain and despair that you yourself have created!

In that instant, scarlet spiritual substance like a waterfall erupted from Ji Jue's body!

Within the deathly silent Realm of Encirclement, the sound of tides suddenly rose! Countless wails and lamentations echoed from every gap, every corner.

Steel grated and engines roared; amidst the rubble of the ruins, silent machinery suddenly began to operate again. From the collapsed parking sheds, the piles of broken trams and motorcycles, to the cars still intact in the parking lot, and even the mobile phones dropped on the floor and the powered-off computers inside the hospital building...

Every extinguished screen lit up again, revealing a scarlet hue like blood and tears, vibrating violently amidst the frantic operation of their motors.

The remnants of those who had passed, their resentment and pain, were now rising again within Ji Jue's soul, falling into countless machines, and waking up once more!

But it was not enough!

It was far from enough!

Even if he exhausted all his spiritual substance in an instant, it would still fail to express even a fraction of that massive scale.

From the pain of the burning, Ji Jue raised his hand, grabbed a sharp crystal shard, and stabbed it into his own neck!

Blood surged and sprayed out!

The wristwatch, filled with a massive amount of Aberrant Spirit Essence, suddenly shook, and a familiar pop-up appeared.

[Employee Ji Jue detected in life-threatening danger, error, error, error, error!]

[Standard Emergency Survival Protocol initiated—during the protocol's effective period, the Chosen One's ability will undergo a one-tier upward transformation—Dual Transformation complete!]

On the wristwatch, the numbers for the Spiritual Substance Reserve began to jump frantically, hitting rock bottom in an instant, but then rapidly climbing and refilling due to the massive supply of external spiritual substance.

In the intense operation, it felt as if the movement itself had been burned red, like scorching steel, hissing and crackling.

But at this moment, the ear-piercing sound of countless pieces of steel resonated throughout the Realm of Encirclement.

The earth shook.

Because a sea of machinery emerged from the ruins and came rushing out!