520: Chapter 520 Self-Destruction

He clenched his fist.

This fist of nothingness, outlined by blood-colored obsession and gray, residual Soul, emitted a teeth-gritting "clucking" sound the moment his five fingers closed—

It was not the friction of joints, but the Foundation of existence grinding and crushing against itself; it was the determination to burn everything away, condensing into the final blade!

Lord Jixing watched his movements, and deep within his pitch-black eyes, a trace of an extremely subtle ripple spread—

This was a variable outside of his calculations, a bright red, glaring glitch that had abruptly appeared on the pre-written script of the endgame.

"Abandoning the sword?" His voice remained steady, yet it carried a cold hint of inquiry. "Sword Lord Lu, are you intending to use your fist to meet my fist?"

Responding to him was the first step taken by Lu Changzhi.

His sole landed.

Silent and soundless.

But where his foot landed, the ruins of the Inheritance Plaza, which had already been razed by the energy storm, suddenly sank down by several feet!

It was not due to the pressure of force—but rather "existence" itself being extracted and sacrificed!

The dim, gray-white light patterns on his body, which were on the verge of extinguishing, suddenly exploded the moment this step was taken!

Like a lit powder keg, billions of gray-white Sword Qi, as fine as hair and as crazed as demonic snakes, erupted from his transparent shell!

The light flames licked the Void Realm, emitting a "hissing" sound that seemed to burn the Soul!

He was indeed burning.

But what was burning was not his remaining Divine Soul, not his lingering Dao Origin, and not even those fragmented memories—

It was every cornerstone that constituted the existence known as "Lu Changzhi"!

The mortal body refined eons ago! The residual Soul that struggled to return from the end of Reincarnation!

The consciousness engraved with all the Legacy and glory of The Sword Lineage! Even that last bit of tenderness and attachment buried deep in his heart that had supported him until now...

Everything, absolutely everything, was torn apart by his own hands and thrown into that furnace of destruction ignited by endless killing intent and blood-colored obsession!

In exchange for this final moment—one that transcended limits, transcended Law, and transcended the very definition of "existence"—a moment of brilliance!

"Madman!" Lord Zangxing's voice came from behind, sharp and carrying a hint of being touched by a fear stemming from the instincts of the Soul. "He is burning away his own existence! Even the marks of Reincarnation are being scorched!"

"No." Lord Jixing stared at that increasingly dazzling and dangerous gray-white flame, his pitch-black pupils slightly contracting. "He is—"

Before he could finish his sentence.

Lu Changzhi's figure vanished.

No—not vanished; it was extreme speed tearing through visual retention!

The next instant, that fist, burning with flames interwoven with gray-white and blood-red, had already appeared before Lord Jixing's face!

There was no sword hum, no screech of Sword Qi tearing through the air, no circulation of profound Dao Laws.

There was only the most primitive, most brutal, and most resolute—punch!

Wherever the fist passed, the Void Realm was plowed into a pitch-black chasm that could not heal for a long time—that was the trace of "existence" being briefly erased!

Lord Jixing raised his arm to block, his movements still composed—dark golden divine radiance flowed over his arm, congealing into a tangible barrier of Law!

Fist and arm collided violently!

"Boom—rumble!!!"

This time, the sound returned!

This was the deafening sound of two worlds colliding, of two essences of existence annihilating each other!

The gray-white Sword Qi and the dark golden divine radiance exploded simultaneously, turning into ripples of destructive Chaos that swept outwards—flattening and annihilating all ruins, debris, and even the chaotic energy turbulence within a thousand zhang!

Under this irresistible impact, Lord Jixing's figure retreated one step.

Just one step. His boot sole left spiderweb-like cracks in the Void Realm.

He steadied his figure and lifted his pitch-black eyes—for the first time, a trace of genuine surprise was reflected in those pupils that had been as still as an ancient well.

It was not for this power, but for the essence of this power—

What was burning within this gray-white Sword Qi was everything that made Lu Changzhi, Lu Changzhi.

Every dimming of the flames represented a part of his existence being permanently erased.

This madman was using everything he had to smash into him.

And Lu Changzhi did not give him any time to think or adjust.

Before the aftershocks of the first punch had dissipated, the second had already arrived! Then the third, the fourth, the fifth...

Fist shadows were like a rainstorm, like raging waves, like a collapsing galaxy—ceaselessly smashing towards Lord Jixing!

Each punch was heavier, faster, and more... insane than the last!

Gray-white Sword Qi wrapped around the fist, and every collision emitted a hiss that made the Soul tremble!

Lord Jixing was retreating.

One step, two steps, three steps...

His blocks remained precise and powerful; the dark golden Law barrier was as solid as a fortress—time and again blocking Lu Changzhi's suicidal attacks.

But he was indeed retreating. It was not due to a lack of power, but—

Lu Changzhi's state at this moment was like the remnant of a star whose core had been ignited and was about to explode.

Touching him, attacking him, or even just blocking him—would result in being tainted by that gray-white Sword Qi that was burning "existence"!

This Sword Qi did not burn the physical body or the Divine Soul, but the deeper "concepts" and "Karma"!

Lord Jixing could easily blast apart Lu Changzhi's broken body with a single punch—but the backlash of that punch, the power of "burning existence" attached to Lu Changzhi's fist, would surely follow the lines of Karma and cause inestimable, essential-level damage to himself!

This was an unequal, yet extremely dangerous battle!

Punch after punch connected, light splashing everywhere!

In the Void Realm, there was no blood—only splashing liquid light!

Gray-white liquid light belonging to Lu Changzhi's burning Origin! Dark golden liquid light belonging to Lord Jixing's divine blood!

Occasionally, there were also dark red light particles originating from the residual erosion of the dao-burying halberd... They exploded in the collision, then fell like teardrops, rapidly dimming and dissipating the moment they left their host—as if they had never existed!

Lu Changzhi's vision had long since become a blur.

In his blood-red field of vision, only that dark golden halo occupying everything remained—

This was Lord Jixing, the murderer who killed his Revered Master, the source of his eternal hatred, and the only goal for which he had crawled back to the mortal world from the boundless purgatory.

Within reach.

Fist—smash it!

Smash that dark golden light shield, even if only for a moment!

Scorch that high and mighty god, even if only his skin!

Use his own existence, which was about to completely dissipate, to leave a scratch on that perfect Law barrier—a scratch that belonged to "Lu Changzhi," a dirty, shameful, yet proof of existence!

"Boom!"

"Boom-rumble!"

"Crack—!"

The dark golden Law barrier shattered time and again, only to instantly heal under Lord Jixing's vast power—then immediately be smashed and cracked again by the burning fist!

Lord Jixing's footsteps were steady, but every retreat struck a silent thunderclap across this dead-silent battlefield.

To him, being forced back by a residual Soul that should have been completely annihilated, using such a self-destructive method—was a blasphemy unseen for eons!

"Sword Lord Lu!!"

From the side came Lord Zangxing's irrepressible, sharp shout!

Dark red light, like a vicious dragon pouncing from a poisonous miasma, carrying a sinister aura that corroded the Divine Soul and Dao Origin, struck directly at Lu Changzhi's back!

The unease in Lord Zangxing's heart had climbed to its peak—this madman's counterattack was too sinister, too reckless!

He could not wait any longer; he had to strangle him immediately!

The dark red phantom of the dao-burying halberd condensed into substance, tearing through the Void Realm—piercing straight at the undefended vital point on Lu Changzhi's back!

Lu Changzhi did not turn back.

He did not even make any gesture to dodge or defend. Everything he had, his entire being, was poured into the fist before him—smashing towards Lord Jixing!

In the nick of time—

"Clang—!!!!!"

A sound of metal clashing, clear to the extreme and sorrowful to the extreme, exploded in the Void Realm!

An ice-blue figure, with a resolute posture, stood across behind Lu Changzhi!

It was the Ancestral Sword Spirit!

Its spiritual body, already distorted and deformed from forcibly condensing into a solid form, was now burning to its limit.

Its final spirituality surged out, condensing in front of its chest into an ice-blue giant shield that flowed with ancient sword patterns but was covered in cracks!

The phantom of the dao-burying halberd stabbed fiercely into the face of the shield!

Time seemed to be stretched out.

The ice-blue radiance on the shield flickered frantically—countless fine cracks, centered on the point of contact, instantly spread like a spiderweb across the entire surface of the shield!

The next instant, with a soft "puchi" sound—the phantom of the dao-burying halberd pierced through the giant shield, and also pierced through the chest of the Ancestral Sword Spirit!

The dark red destructive energy and the ice-blue Origin of the sword spirit violently clashed and annihilated each other, turning into mixed liquid light that surged out from the bowl-sized puncture wound on the Ancestral Sword Spirit's back!

But—this shield, which had condensed the final existence of the Ancestral Sword Spirit, had ultimately... blocked this strike.

Even if only for an instant.

This instant, for Lu Changzhi, was long enough.

His fist, smashing towards Lord Jixing, faltered slightly due to that sorrowful cry behind him—then immediately erupted with an even more tragic, even more reckless light!

Gray-white Sword Qi and blood-colored obsession twisted into one, violently crashing into Lord Jixing's blocking arm!

"Chila—!"

This time, a clear rift was torn open in the dark golden Law barrier—the escaping Sword Qi, like a red-hot branding iron, grazed past Lord Jixing's side profile!

Lord Jixing's movements froze for an instant.

He slowly raised his other hand and touched his cheek.

His fingertips were stained with a smear of dark golden blood.

He lowered his head, looking at the trace on his fingertips that symbolized his supreme divine body being broken and the flowing of his Origin divine blood—deep within his pitch-black eyes, that last trace of surprise and inquiry completely vanished.

Replacing it was a slowly rising, cold, and seemingly Universe-heat-death-inducing—anger.

It was not rage—but the kind of absolute-zero, chilling anger originating from the level of Laws, felt when a god's robes were dirtied by an ant, when perfection was tainted by dust!

His gaze passed over Lu Changzhi's burning back and fell behind him—on that figure that was, from the puncture wound, bit by bit solidifying, crystallizing, and turning into an ice-blue transparent sculpture.

"Ancestral Sword Spirit."

Lord Jixing's voice rang out, no longer a flat statement—but carrying a deep, chilling coldness like a judgment, every word causing the surrounding temperature to plummet!

"You were originally an undying sword spirit, existing for eons. If you had been content to lie dormant within that broken sword, rotting away with dead wood—this seat might have allowed you to linger on until the end of the era."

"Why... did you insist on coming out, seeking this suffering of total annihilation of form and spirit?"

In the Void Realm, the Ancestral Sword Spirit's figure had almost completely solidified.

The dark red power of the dao-burying halberd and the ice-blue Origin of the sword spirit violently opposed each other within it, eventually forming an eerie balance—freezing it from the inside out into a crystal-clear, yet crack-filled ice sculpture.

It knelt in the Void Realm, maintaining the posture of arms spread wide, using its body as a shield.

Its head was slightly raised—those spiritual eyes that had once witnessed the glory of the Dao of the sword and also witnessed the withering of the lineage, were now slowly losing their luster, yet they still stubbornly looked towards Lu Changzhi's back.

Its ice-blue lips moved slightly, and the sound it emitted was as thin as a gossamer thread—yet it miraculously penetrated the roar of the energy storm, clearly drifting out:

"Sword... Revered Master..."

In the voice, there was no longer the usual clanging and solemnity—only endless tenderness and a completely relieved calmness.

"I... am incompetent..."

"Unable... to accompany you... to fight... to the end..."

With every word uttered, cracks spread further across its ice-sculpture-like body—ice-blue light dust fell rustlingly.

"But..."

Its final gaze swept past Lu Changzhi, looking into the depths of the endless Void Realm—as if it had seen some magnificent figure, long since dissipated in the river of time, traversing with sword in hand.

The corners of its mouth curved upward, ever so slightly, in an almost invisible arc.

"To be able... to block... this halberd... for you..."

"I... have no regrets..."