Chapter 256: The Lonely Balancer Appears on the Battlefield

Hongjun stared fixedly at Ji.

His eyes were filled with a determination to seize control.

In his view, no loser could refuse any of the conditions he had thrown out.

Having regained new life and grasped the Great Dao, he could slaughter as he pleased.

This is a blessing!

This is he, as a Dao Ancestor, bestowing supreme glory upon a lackey!

However, Ji's reaction completely exceeded his expectations.

Those hollow eyes did not stir a single ripple.

Submit?

Authority?

Ji merely looked coldly at this self-righteous embodiment of 'order' before him.

Ridiculous.

How ridiculous.

Not long ago, his Master, that great primordial demon god, had been imprisoned by the so-called 'order' for endless ages.

And he himself had been struck by Sun Wukong's irrational 'variable', shattering his Dao Heart.

Now, this old thing representing the 'Fixed Number' again wants to turn him into a new watchdog.

On what grounds?

Ji slowly raised the Blade of Terminus in his hand.

The blade was thin as a cicada's wing, yet it reflected no light, as if it could devour everything.

Hongjun's brow furrowed even deeper.

"What about your choice?"

His voice already carried a hint of impatience and warning.

The answer to him was not words.

But action!

Ji gripped the short blade in his hand, without the slightest hesitation, and lightly slashed at the void before him.

"Screech—"

A faint tearing sound, almost inaudible, rang out.

The indestructible spatial barrier of the Zi Xiao Gong, before this pitch-black short blade, was as fragile as a sheet of paper.

A pitch-black crack appeared silently.

The other end of the crack was not chaotic void turbulence, but a clearly distinct strange land.

One side was the brand-new chaos brimming with infinite possibilities and vibrant vitality, that being Sun Wukong's 'Equal Heaven' path.

The other side was the old Three Realms suffused with the aura of decay and decline, that being Hongjun's feeble 'Heavenly Dao' order.

Here, indeed, is the frontline where the two great camps and two great Daos clash!

"You dare!"

"Hóngjūn Dàozǔ flew into a rage!"

He never expected that the first move of this dog, whom he had snatched from the brink of death, would actually defy his will!

A mighty Heavenly Dao pressure, like a hundred million divine mountains, came crashing down heavily upon Ji's body!

He wanted to make this clueless thing understand who was the master!

However.

Ji's figure merely trembled slightly.

He didn't even turn his head to glance at Hongjun.

He simply stepped forward, and with one step, entered that pitch-black crack.

In the next instant, his figure vanished within the Zi Xiao Gong.

Only that spatial crack, slowly healing, remained—and…

One Hóngjūn Dàozǔ, trembling with rage and his face livid!

"Trash!"

"Even my pawn dares to bite back!"

"Do you think you can escape from my palm!"

The furious roar echoed in the Deathly Silence of the Zi Xiao Gong.

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's Dao robe stirred without wind, and killing intent flashed in his eyes!

He paid the price of burning his Primordial Source to revive Ji.

He would never allow this pawn to lose control!

……

At the junction of new and old chaos.

Here, is where the clash of laws is most intense.

The 'variable' of the Equal Heaven Path, like a surging tide, continually eroded and wore down the 'Fixed Number' dike of the old Heavenly Dao.

Meanwhile, the order of the old Heavenly Dao turned into countless rotten chains, stubbornly resisting, striving to maintain the last semblance of dignity.

Right in the center of this silent battlefield.

Space suddenly split open a black mouth.

A pallid figure slowly walked out from within.

It was indeed Ji, who wielded the Blade of End.

His appearance was so abrupt.

Like a drop of pitch‑black ink suddenly falling into a cup of crystal‑clear water.

In an instant, everything froze.

Inside Zi Xiao Gong, the Hóngjūn Dàozǔ, who was about to act, froze.

His divine thought locked tightly onto Ji, his eyes filled with fury and incomprehension.

What the hell is this bastard doing over there?

At the end of the Reincarnation Path, within that endless darkness of karmic flame.

A massive Buddha radiating a strange golden light slowly opened its eyes, full of greed and malice.

Tathagata.

He watched with keen interest the suddenly appearing pale figure.

"Oh? That old Hongjun, still has this trick up his sleeve?"

"Interesting, truly interesting."

"Let me see what this dog, pulled back again, intends to do."

And farther away, beyond the waste‑case processing field filled with "failure" universal debris.

Sun Wukong, who had just taken up his master's No Regret path, was stirred by that lazy yet playful voice into boundless battle fervor.

Just as he was about to speak, to respond to that unknown colossal presence.

He also saw.

He saw the arch‑enemy Ji, who should have been dead to the bone.

He saw him standing at the edge of his newly forged Chaos Realm border.

Sun Wukong's eyebrows shot up sharply.

"That dead man's face... how is it alive again?"

For a moment.

Throughout the Chaos Realm, all supreme beings focused their gaze on that solitary pale figure.

Hongjun, Tathagata, Sun Wukong.

Even the unknown entity from the other side of the Star Sea that had just spoken, teasingly calling Sun Wukong "wildflower".

Everyone's eyes were filled with confusion.

This failure who should have been utterly erased.

This puppet forcibly revived by Hongjun.

What does he intend to do?

Is he declaring war on Sun Wukong's Equal Heaven on behalf of Hongjun's Order?

Or does he intend to defect mid‑battle and join the Variable camp?

Under the stare of all eyes.

Ji slowly lifted his head.

His hollow eyes swept over the vibrant new Chaos, then glanced at the lifeless old Three Realms.

There was no expression on his face.

His voice rang across the entire Chaos Realm.

The voice, devoid of any emotion, was as cold as ancient black ice.

"From today onward."

"I will become the Balancer of this place."

Balancer?

Upon hearing those three words, Hongjun's pupils snapped shut!

A hint of amusement flickered in Sun Wukong's eyes.

And the Tathagata at the end of the Reincarnation Path let out a low, amused laugh, as if enjoying the spectacle.

Ji's voice, without pause, continued to echo across the battlefield.

Each word was like an absolute‑zero ice spear, piercing the sea of consciousness of every being.

"I do not act for Order."

Those words were addressed to Hongjun.

Inside Zi Xiao Gong, Hongjun's complexion darkened to the extreme in an instant!

"Nor for Equal Heaven."

Those words were spoken to Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong hefted the Golden Cudgel, his mouth curving wider.

"Interesting."

Ji's hollow gaze seemed to pierce endless spacetime, finally fixing on a certain direction.

It was the direction from which Sun Wukong had just sensed the lazy voice.

He raised the Blade of End in his hand.

The tip pointed far toward the unknown Star Sea.

He proclaimed the sole purpose of his existence.

"I exist only for..."

"to protect the final peace."

Peace?

What peace?

It is the peace of all things returning to Deathly Silence!

He both wants to obliterate Hongjun's corrupt 'Fixed Number' and to sever Sun Wukong's clamorous 'Variable'!

He wants to let this heaven and earth return to the most primordial, nothing-at-all, absolute…… silence!

The moment his words fell.

Silence, moved.

He viciously swung the Blade of Terminus in his hand toward the direction from which that languid voice came, across the endless distant distance!

A pitch-black blade light that cannot be described in words instantly slashed forth!

That blade light neither tore space nor stirred the law.

It merely existed.

Its very appearance itself represents a kind of 'End'.

Wherever the blade light passed, everything silently 'disappeared'.

Not destruction, but…… being erased!

Silence's icy-cold to the extreme will, accompanied by this blade, echoed through the Star Sea!

"You..."

"Too noisy."