Chapter Thirty-Seven: Illusions and Reality

——!

The young man's body was struck, soaring high into the air.

Gongsun Ce had made an excessively reckless decision.

According to the battle plan devised before the fight began, his intention had been to use words to provoke the enemy and make him lose composure, then maintain as much distance as possible and use the ammunition in his gauntlets to wear down the enemy's stamina.

Indeed, though he hadn’t touched the components in the factory, he already possessed ammunition... Yet now, all preparations had come to naught.

The superhuman, his soul scorched by wrath, had lost all calm. Battle plans, prior arrangements—such things were cast aside. Now he wanted only one thing: to smash his fist into his enemy’s face!

“Ugh!”

Naturally, Xu Junyi was not about to stand still and let himself be hit. As his nose was struck crooked by the reckless punch, he paid a price for the attack as well. Gongsun Ce's abdomen was met with a direct knee from his opponent; the overwhelming force damaged his internal organs, and the youth could not help but cough up blood.

“Foolish...!”

Scarlet blood sprayed toward the man's head. Xu Junyi retreated sideways, trying to evade this filthy trick... But he failed to avoid the tainted blood before his eyes, instead drawing closer, for he was restrained at that moment. Gongsun Ce’s gauntlet gripped his right fist tightly; as the youth fell backward, Xu Junyi’s body was pulled forward with him!

“Ah—! Damn you, let go of me!”

Caught off guard by this unexpected turn, the middle-aged man's face was splashed with dirty blood, the crimson liquid flowing from the corner of his eye and obscuring half his vision.

Supported by his gauntlet, the gray-haired youth, though grievously wounded, had not yet collapsed. He gasped raggedly, battered and disheveled, and spoke: “Take back your words. I won’t allow you to insult those who fought the evil dragon... I won’t allow you to insult the heroes who protected everyone’s lives!”

“You are truly ignorant, truly unaware of anything!”

A fist crashed into his abdomen.

“If no one stopped the gods, then no one would ever truly die!”

Another fist struck his chest.

“It is you ignorant fools who blocked the arrival of the new world, causing my family to perish—ah!!”

A fist hammered into his face, and then the furious youth bit down hard on his wrist.

Biting—an attack never seen in formal combat, not only crude in form but also fraught with disproportionate risk and reward. Unless one bit the throat or other vital parts, ordinary human teeth could inflict only minor wounds, a mere painful scrape... Even street thugs rarely resorted to biting!

Yet the youth did just that, sinking his teeth into the wrist and drawing a howl of pain from his foe. Xu Junyi shook off his right fist, flexed his left wrist, and dragged his enemy into midair.

“Get out—!”

But Gongsun Ce, closing his eyes tightly, countered with a headbutt! His forehead crashed into Xu Junyi’s nose, shattering most of the glasses in the violent collision, shards of glass stabbing into both their faces like knives.

The middle-aged man roared with rage: “Thug tactics!”

“Even thugs know more about honor and integrity than you, a former imperial official...” Gongsun Ce lifted his head and slammed it forward again, “...know what faith and shame mean!”

With the second collision, his glasses shattered completely. Blood poured from the middle-aged man’s nose, and Gongsun Ce’s own face must have become filthy and battered. Another punch struck his chest, forcing the youth to spit out more blood along with a knocked-out tooth.

“Huff... huff...” The youth gasped painfully, “Your family is already dead... Even if you summon the evil dragon again, your family will never return...!”

“...Shut up.”

His vision grew blurred.

He could hear the man's voice and discern his opponent's body, but could not see his facial expression.

It was truly an excessively reckless action, an utterly unwise attack.

If his elder brother were here, he would surely scold him; Miss Alice or Miss Qin would rebuke such a futile method of fighting.

But everyone has something they cannot yield.

Why was he fighting here, what had driven him all this way? Was it not to prevent tragedy from repeating itself, that he now stood here?

So he persisted, saying: “The dragon is not a god! If someone dies ten seconds ago, there’s still a way to bring them back; ten hours ago, there’s still hope for a miracle; but for a life lost ten years ago, there is no possibility of redemption!”

Even though speaking now felt like stabbing a blade into his chest, he shouted at the man regardless.

“Not even a World Creator could do it, not even the greatest in the world could achieve it!!”

Xu Junyi screamed, forming a hand blade and chopping at his right arm.

“Damn it, I’ll make you shut up!!”

His forearm bent in the middle, the human body twisting comically like clay; it was obvious the bone was broken, and another blow would surely tear the arm apart.

At this point, pain became something to be ignored. When humans focus intently, they instinctively disregard other sensations: like chess players ignoring the mosquitoes buzzing over the board, or scholars immersed in books disregarding nearby noise. For him now, consumed by rage, pain was suppressed by emotion. How long could he maintain this state? Would he collapse in half a minute when the pain returned, or perish in a second from exhaustion?

He must not think about it. Gongsun Ce reminded himself that those who consider defeat before victory are doomed to lose in battle. The decision had been made, the fight begun; now was not the time for regret or reflection—what mattered was how to win.

“Let go of me!!!”

The hand blade descended again; if it connected, his forearm would surely break in two. Miraculously, sensation remained in his palm; Gongsun Ce released his gauntlet and aimed at the blurred figure before him: “Tear gas.”

The gauntlet launched its built-in tear gas, and the youth used the recoil to dodge the hand blade.

Yet even with half his vision obscured, the man was not caught by the surprise attack. The silver-white projectile was blown aside by a fist’s wind before it could detonate, leaving only a faint irritating white smoke behind.

“Why can’t you understand... why must you ignorant fools presumptuously block me!”

Xu Junyi strode out from the white smoke, his tall frame looming. The youth, without the aid of glasses, could not discern his expression, only sense his madness from the beast-like roar in his words.

“What I will summon is the Glazed Dragon, whose power brings everything! It is the true selfless and benevolent savior, recreating all things anew! I will meet my departed family again, and you can reclaim what you have lost. In the world of Konghua, all will find happiness!”

What was he saying?

He had never heard of the dragon phenomenon bringing happiness, even in the City of the Skies.

That must be knowledge he had gained from the dragon.

It was the man's understanding of the dragon, his spiritual pillar, propelling him forward to this day.

Within the fleeting duel, neither could lie; what he spoke was undoubtedly true.

—It was the truth this man believed without doubt.

But.

The gray-haired youth, his enemy, was also a survivor of the dragon phenomenon.

He too held memories of the dragon's truth.

Gongsun Ce had seen it himself—absolute reality.

“I don’t know what you gained from the Disaster of the Skies,” the youth said, supporting himself on the ground with his gauntlet, swaying as he rose unsteadily.

“But I must tell you, three years ago, the greatest loss of life in the Kingdom was caused by the disaster you pray for—the Glazed Calamity!”

The man’s movements halted.

“Wha...”

The youth dug painfully into his memories.

He crossed the gray mist of dreams, traversed the haze formed after human flesh had melted away, and arrived at the final movement of the Kingdom’s collapse.

Amid the dissipating gray fog appeared a golden behemoth with three heads and ten wings.

From beneath its body stretched crystalline branches, clear as glass.

And, wrapped in crystal, fused with earth, stone, and wood, transformed into terrifying yet beautiful statues...

Perished life.

“All dead! Either turned into mindless statues, or shattered beneath falling buildings and crystal. Everyone assimilated by the glass died! I’m describing what I saw with my own eyes, a pain that bursts from within, unrelated to physical injury—a torment of the spirit. The moment you’re consumed by the Glazed Calamity, humanity loses its life forever! We couldn’t save a single person... not one could be brought back!!!”

Xu Junyi stood in a daze.

“Impossible... you deceitful brat, you’re bluffing me...”

It was as if he had stepped off the edge of a thousand-foot cliff, a feeling of weightlessness, his soul plunging into an endless abyss, descending forever with no bottom in sight.

What was this feeling? For ten years he had followed the god within his heart, never experiencing such emotion—what could it be? Fear?

Impossible! The Glazed Dragon was a truly loving and magnificent deity, the reality he witnessed ten years ago. Its power would render humanity eternal, free of pain and sorrow. In its world, all could obtain everything they desired.

Why should he, Xu Junyi, be afraid? How could he believe the boy’s lies—

“Have you forgotten, Xu Junyi? The fleeting duel is your world—I can’t lie here!”

He remembered now.

This was not the real world, but his own manifested domain, a fair arena...

Where no lies were permitted.

“Impossible. Impossible... You’re hallucinating, you’re dreaming, damn it!”

It had to be so. There was no other possibility. The goal he had striven for, the god he had labored to reach, could not possibly be false...!

“Absolutely impossible!!”

Not even a proper technique, not even a skill—a desperate man swung his fist, hoping to shatter his opponent’s daylight dream with a single blow.

The superhuman raised his right fist, the crimson gauntlet aimed squarely at his body.

“Sand shot.”

In the next instant, in the arena where guns and ammunition did not exist, the middle-aged man's abdomen was pierced by a jet-black projectile.