82: Lord of Humanity! Ten thousand years of tenderness turned into firewood, and the furnace of humanity forged the scythe of God-killing!

World of Joy · Central Square

On the battlefield, the confrontation between the gods continued.

Xi Xi, a contradictory complex formed by the fusion of extreme "joy" and "anger".

Was clashing fiercely with a clone of Su Ke Ke, the God of Calamity.

Every one of her attacks was filled with strange duality.

Sometimes, it was golden light rain, symbolizing "joy," fluttering across the sky.

Every drop of light rain contained monstrous wrath capable of melting gold and iron.

Other times, it was an "angry" roar that tore through the firmament, and wherever the sound wave reached.

It forcibly activated the "Happiness Field."

Causing all surrounding matter.

To self-disintegrate from being unable to bear this extreme happiness.

However, facing such a storm, Su Ke Ke remained at ease.

She was like an elegant dancer, strolling leisurely through the storm of destruction.

Xi Xi's anger was transformed into a gentle spring breeze by her light touch.

Xi Xi's joy was turned into harmless bubbles with a casual flick of her hand.

"Not enough."

Su Ke Ke's voice was cold and flat, devoid of any emotion.

"Your anger has no foundation, your joy is superficial. You are just a cobbled-together defective product, unable to even control yourself, so how can you contend with a true 'God'?"

Xi Xi was provoked to near madness by these words, and her offensive grew even more ferocious.

But she was still unable to break through that seemingly thin, cicada-wing-like.

Yet, in reality, indestructible barrier of laws.

The rest of the Joint Squad.

Could only watch helplessly from the sidelines.

Their strength had long been exhausted, and even standing was incredibly difficult now.

They watched Gu Yanci return.

A flicker of hope had just ignited in their hearts.

Only to be extinguished by his distraught appearance.

He just stood there quietly.

Like a soulless statue, completely unresponsive to the outside world.

The two lines of dried tears, and his terrifyingly hollow eyes.

Silently spoke of the despair he had just experienced.

Ye Liuli wanted to step forward but was stopped by Cang Xuan.

"Don't go."

Cang Xuan's voice was hoarse, his eyes filled with solemnity.

"His state... is very wrong. His soul seems to have been hollowed out, leaving only a bottomless abyss."

At this moment, Gu Yanci truly felt nothing.

In his world, there was no Xi Xi's roar, no Su Ke Ke's arrogance, no teammates' worries.

Only an eternal, dead silent winter.

That beautiful dream that lasted for ten thousand years.

That shattered home.

That last blessing of "Be happy!"... All of this transformed into a boundless sea of sorrow, completely drowning his soul.

He felt no pain, because he himself had become the embodiment of pain.

He felt no despair, because his existence had become an aggregate of despair.

It was within this dead silent, even light could not escape, abyss of the soul.

Something that had been dormant for a long time began to slowly turn.

— Humanity Furnace.

This furnace of unknown rank, serving as the core of his "Humanity God Lord."

Was fundamentally different from the golden core and primordial spirit of ordinary cultivators.

It did not refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nor did it absorb the essence of the sun and moon.

Its only fuel was "humanity" itself.

It was the seven emotions and six desires, the joys and sorrows of separation, the rise and fall of civilizations, the elegies of eras.

Before this, although this furnace was powerful, it was always "incomplete."

Because it lacked the most crucial, and most extreme, two types of fuel.

One was the purest "joy."

The other was the deepest "sorrow."

And now, Su Ke Ke had personally completed all of this for him.

She used a perfect illusion to let him taste ten thousand years of extreme "joy."

And then used a "betrayal" personally directed by her, to make him fall into eternal "sorrow."

Those ten thousand years of happiness and tenderness, those ten thousand years of mutual support, every single minute and second of that incredibly real love... All of it transformed into the purest, highest-grade "fuelwood."

And was completely thrown into that cold furnace!

The illusion was fake, but the love was real.

The pain was fake, but the loss was real!

When the most extreme "joy," and the most extreme "sorrow."

Met and collided in his heart.

They did not cancel each other out.

Instead, a miraculous reaction occurred!

When Gu Yanci's soul encountered this unprecedented force.

A sorrow capable of completely shattering any ninth-tier existence.

The predecessor of the "Humanity Furnace."

The authority known as the "scythe of the eternal elegy."

Was activated once again!

[Authority ③ · Lamenting Concerto: All the suffering you have experienced will become the power source of this Scythe. The deeper your sorrow, the stronger its power, with no upper limit!]

Boom—!!!

An invisible roar.

Exploded from the deepest part of Gu Yanci's soul!

That cold "Humanity Furnace."

At this moment.

Transformed into a primordial black hole that devoured all things!

It no longer passively bore emotions.

But began to actively, greedily, madly.

Devour the boundless sea of sorrow.

Within Gu Yanci's heart!

Those ten thousand years of love and the loss of an instant.

The pain of personally severing his own destination.

The despair of watching his family perish in blessings.

That terrifying negative emotion, capable of crushing all heavens and transcending all paths.

At this moment, it was no longer a poison that destroyed him.

But became the most perfect tonic for the sublimation of his power!

"Om..."

A low hum, unlike any sound in reality.

Spread out centered on Gu Yanci.

The laws of the entire "World of Joy."

Before this aura.

Let out a wail of unbearable strain.

The clear sky, originally forcibly maintained by the "Happiness Field."

Unexpectedly began to snow gray flakes without warning.

That was not the condensation of water vapor.

But even space itself.

Was weeping for this extreme sorrow!

"The world is weeping?!"

Ye Liuli was the first to notice something was wrong.

As the Shadow Empress.

She was most sensitive to the flow of laws.

She was horrified to discover.

The surrounding laws.

No longer revolved around Su Ke Ke.

But like subjects encountering their monarch.

Uncontrollably, reverently.

One could even say fawningly.

Bent and bowed towards Gu Yanci's direction!

From Gu Yanci's body.

She felt an emotional law far more ancient, more domineering, and purer than Su Ke Ke's!

That was not mere "sorrow."

But "humanity" itself, governing "joys and sorrows of separation, love and hate!"

"I... I can't see anymore..."

Ling Xi, beside her.

This goddess who commanded the stars and peered into fate.

Was covering her eyes, letting out painful moans.

Just now, out of concern.

She instinctively wanted to peek into Gu Yanci's future.

But what she saw was no longer an abyss.

But a terrifying scroll capable of shattering her Dao heart!

On the scroll.

A gray god, whose face was indistinct and whose eyes streamed with bloody tears, stood indifferently atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

In his hand.

He held a massive scythe blacker than the night sky.

And beneath his feet, countless divine corpses were piled up like mountains!

This was no longer "fate," this was "the end"!

It was an undeniable, absolutely inevitable causality!

"This aura..."

Ye Qiong and Cang Xuan exchanged glances.

Both saw undisguised horror in each other's eyes.

They felt a bone-deep tremor.

That was not killing intent.

Because in Gu Yanci's heart at this moment.

There was no killing intent, only emptiness.

It was a higher-dimensional "rank" suppression.

As if they, these mortals struggling for survival.

Were looking up at a God of Calamity about to awaken from slumber.

Who would soon bring an end to the entire era!

Gu Yanci was undergoing an unprecedented transformation.

His "Humanity Chapter" was being completed.

He once took "guarding" as his Dao, guarding the "humans" who cried and laughed, who had flesh and blood.

But he had never truly understood the entirety of "humanity" as he did now.

He once thought that "joy" was the goal, and "sorrow" was the process.

It was not until he personally experienced the "sorrow" born from the most extreme "joy" that he finally understood.

Joy and sorrow were originally one.

Light and darkness were never separable.

A world with only laughter.

And a hell with only weeping.

Had no essential difference.

They were both broken, law-deficient products.

Before experiencing the illusion.

He only knew to guard "truth," but did not know that true feelings could also be born from "falsehood."

He only knew to fight "pain," but did not know that the extreme of "happiness" was also a cage.

And complete humanity.

Was to embrace all these imperfections.

To guard this, albeit imperfect, "humanity"!

With this realization.

His soul, which was almost shattered by the broken illusion.

Not only did not dissipate.

But under the frantic refining of the "Humanity Furnace."

Reassembled and sublimated in an incredible way!

His power was surging at an unprecedented speed!

That ten thousand years of sorrow became his firmest foundation.

That eternal loss became his sharpest claws!

That power.

It embraced light and accepted darkness.

It glorified truth and understood falsehood.

It fought for happiness and fed on sorrow!

A massive.

Scythe phantom composed of pure sorrow and the concept of death.

Began to slowly emerge behind him.

Every hum of the scythe as it cut through the sky.

Was accompanied by the final joyful laughter of his family in the illusion.

The black mist swirling around the scythe.

Was countless faces silently weeping.

Those were the faces of all his family in the illusion.

This blade of vengeance, about to be born.

Was actually forged from the gentlest memories in the world!

On the battlefield, all these changes.

Naturally could not escape Su Ke Ke's notice.

She stopped her playful skirmish with Xi Xi for the first time.

The god-like indifference and composure on her face showed a few cracks.

She could clearly feel.

Her control over this world.

Was being eroded and covered by an external, even more domineering power!

Her carefully designed "Laws of Joy."

Before this man.

Were like a child's scribble.

Being re-painted by a supreme artistic master.

With deeper, heavier strokes!

The "Happiness Cage" she created.

Not only failed to imprison him.

But instead became the perfect incubator for his metamorphosis!

He was taking her power.

Along with the pain she personally bestowed.

Devouring and digesting it all, turning it into his own nourishment!

This man.

Had become a monster that fed on "the malice of gods."

And drew strength from "his own sorrow"!

Clearly.

With Gu Yanci's current power.

He could already rival, and even surpass, the rank of this clone of Su Ke Ke!

...In the Sea of Concepts.

Gu Jianghan, who had been watching the play with great interest.

Finally showed a truly satisfied smile.

He saw a perfect causal loop.

He saw how the "cause" Su Ke Ke planted bore a "fruit" that she herself could not bear.

"Beautiful."

He praised softly, his eyes shimmering with admiration.

"Using the most extreme happiness as bait to create the most extreme sorrow; then using this most extreme sorrow as fuel to ignite the furnace of revenge, forging the blade of god-slaying..."

"Su Ke Ke, oh Su Ke Ke, you truly... bestowed upon him a 'gift' that no one else could give."

What he admired was never power itself.

But behind this power.

The exquisite, artistic beauty of causality.

Filled with irony and a sense of destiny.

Gu Jianghan clenched his fist, and deep within his own concept.

The dormant "setting collection" slowly opened... At this moment, Gu Yanci in the center of the battlefield finally moved.

He slowly raised his head.

Light rekindled in his hollow eyes.

That was not the light of hope, nor the light of life.

But a dead silent, burning gray flame of vengeance.

His gaze.

Passed through the fiercely battling Xi Xi, through his shocked teammates, through the laws of the entire world.

Precisely, coldly, landed on Su Ke Ke.

He did not speak.

He just slowly raised his right hand.

As he moved.

That phantom of the scythe of the eternal elegy, floating behind him.

Composed of ten thousand years of sorrow and bone-deep heartbreak.

Began to slowly materialize from his palm.

At a visible speed.