Zhou Bai stood with his arms crossed, looking down at Jue Ji with an indifferent expression, “Jue Ji, don’t get confused about something. It’s me who decides who wins and who dies between us, and it has nothing to do with you.”

Boom! The next moment, a sword light shot up into the sky, turning into a red and white column of light rolling towards Zhou Bai.

Facing this attack from Jue Ji, Zhou Bai’s expression remained indifferent. His right leg, wrapped in a massive force of the Primordial Spirit, kicked out casually, leaving behind a trail of afterimages as sparks were scraped from the air.

Zhou Bai’s right foot collided fiercely with the pillar of light, and after a thunderous crash, the pillar crumbled and recoiled, blowing Jue Ji away.

In the next instant, his figure, accompanied by rolling flames, sprinted and cleaved through the air, catching up with Jue Ji, who had been sent flying.

“Heavenly Slash?”

Jue Ji tumbled through the air, and even though he hadn’t regained his balance, he still managed to draw his sword and slash during his somersaults, bringing down a sky-full of sword light toward Zhou Bai.

“In that last sword strike of yours, I didn’t see any courage to fight against the heavens or the earth. All I saw was full of grievances and full of resentment.”

Just as Zhou Bai said, he fought only with his right leg, kicking up a storm and creating a myriad of leg shadows.

The speed and ferocity of his kicks were so intense that it seemed like thousands of leg shadows engulfed both the sword light and Jue Ji’s body, hitting him on the head, face, neck, chest, stomach, hands, and feet all at once.

Jue Ji’s body, its sword light flickering, was directly kicked away. Zhou Bai moved instantly and followed up again, colliding sword light with leg shadows. Jue Ji was sent flying out again with a bang, tumbling and crashing onto the arena with a series of explosions. The sword light on his body began to extinguish over a wide area.

Watching Jue Ji being kicked around by Zhou Bai on the Nine Heavens Bronze Arena like a ball, Zheng Wentian suddenly felt a sinking feeling: ‘I used to be beaten up like this by Zhou Bai. Luckily I became his ally later…’

On the arena, Jue Ji struggled to his feet, sword light and leg shadows intertwining once more.

Bang! Jue Ji felt a pain in his chest, and his body was sent flying backward, his sword light completely extinguished. Two swords, one white and one red, withdrew from their sword light state and turned into physical forms, shooting towards Zhou Bai like two bolts of lightning.

Zhou Bai kicked out, sweeping up a gale that swirled around the bodies of the two flying swords, pinning the swords to the ground with his foot.

The Absolute Silence Sword and the Heavenly Abyss Falling Star Sword were thus pinned to the ground by Zhou Bai, struggling and writhing like two giant dragons, yet unable to break free from Zhou Bai’s right leg.

Jue Ji looked at Zhou Bai in front of him, realizing that from beginning to end, he had never truly threatened his opponent.

The overwhelming power emanating from Zhou Bai felt like an infinitely tall and distant wall, firmly barring his way and slowly extinguishing the hope in his heart.

“Am I going to lose?”

“Am I going to die?”

Jue Ji felt his body’s condition getting worse and worse, while Zhou Bai, on the other side, seemed as if he had just taken a casual stroll, showing no signs of wear.

At this moment, Jue Ji understood that with his strength, it was simply impossible to defeat Zhou Bai. Even throwing himself into the fight with all his might and abandoning the fear of death was of no use.

‘Although I am unwilling… There is an absolute gap in strength between me and Zhou Bai, a gap that can’t be bridged by spirit or will.’

‘And to make matters worse, even the Heavenly Punishment Sword Marks have no effect on him… Is this really the will of heaven?’

Standing there, Jue Ji stopped attacking. He looked at Zhou Bai in front of him and said with a resigned face, “I’ve lost, go ahead and kill me.”

As he spoke these words, a tinge of regret suddenly flashed in Jue Ji’s eyes, not regretting his own impending death, but the death of Ye Bingqiu, regretting not having worn the Heaven Overarching Seal.

‘I had decided not to use that aberrant weapon… and to let the battle determine the outcome.’

‘But I really don’t want her to die…’

***

“I knowingly do this, even though I’ll regret it, and I still regret it after it’s done. When did I become like this?”

Jue Ji’s mind suddenly recalled the time when he was still a Sword Spirit: “It must have been after I became human…”

…

“What’s your name?” the little girl asked curiously, cradling the white flying sword in her hands.

The white flying sword vibrated slightly, emitting a male voice: “I am the Sword Spirit of the Absolute Silence Sword. From today onward, you are the new master of the Absolute Silence Sword.”

The little girl exclaimed in surprise, “Are you inside? What do you look like? Can you come out?”

“I am the Sword Spirit. I only know how to fight.”

“Fighting is so boring,” the little girl said. “Let me teach you something else, okay? Shall we play games together?”

…

On the high platform, Xiang Tiandi closed his eyes: “A useless one, doesn’t he have the Pantheon Seal with him?”

Zi Yang True Monarch shook his head: “He didn’t bring it. It seems he never considered using the Pantheon Seal. He intends to fight Zhou Bai with all his might, either he will kill Zhou Bai, or Zhou Bai will kill him.”

Xiang Tiandi said, “He actually dreams of defeating Zhou Bai with his own strength? This fool, has he given up on what he holds most dear just like that?”

His eyes opened, showing a hint of gloom: “Zi Yang, as soon as the Daluo Heaven debate concludes, prepare to take action. Zhou Bai must die today.”

Zi Yang nodded but hesitated before saying, “But what about the Celestial Venerable…”

Xiang Tiandi said, “Don’t worry, everything will be blocked by His Majesty. After all, it is the gods who have the final say in Heaven, not the immortals.”

…

Zhou Bai looked at Jue Ji: “You didn’t mention parting ways through life and death yesterday, so why have you suddenly changed your mind?”

Jue Ji looked at him, transmitting his voice: “Be careful of the gods of Heaven, they never gave up on killing you, in their hands… they likely still control other pure-blood humans.”

At these words, Zhou Bai was shocked: “Other pure-blood humans? The gods have other pure-blood humans in their custody? Then why…”

A flurry of thoughts echoed in his mind, this news being too explosive and completely beyond Zhou Bai’s expectations.

Just as Zhou Bai was lost in myriad thoughts, black sword scars began to crack open on Jue Ji’s body.

Zhou Bai was slightly taken aback, then quickly realized, Jue Ji had taken his own life.

Zhou Bai looked at him, puzzled: “Why? There’s always hope as long as you’re alive.”

“But I can’t see any hope in my eyes,” Jue Ji’s gaze was full of pain: “When a life is left with only regret, death becomes a release. Now, even if in the future you slay demons and exorcise devils, even if humans dominate the world, even if the gods and immortals grovel at human feet… this world holds no hope for me, for I have made a choice that will haunt me with regret and pain for a lifetime.”

The next moment, under Zhou Bai’s incomprehensible gaze, countless dark Heavenly Punishment sword scars completely engulfed Jue Ji. He was swept into the void, then disappeared along with the sword scars.

The Daluo Heaven debate concluded, the victor was decided.

There were 21 minutes and 33 seconds left until the Heavenly Demon’s all-out attack.

Li Xiuzhu looked at the outcome displayed in the projection and stood up: “Let’s go, it’s our turn now.”