According to the records of the Interastral Peace Corporation, in the last six hundred years, they have observed at least one hundred and twenty-two worlds descend into chaos for unknown reasons, ultimately being crushed by the Antimatter Legion.
Initially, the investigators sent by the Corporation were inclined to believe these were isolated incidents. However, all post-disaster assessment reports attributed the demise of these worlds to a single cause: the shattering of the "spirit"—internal conflicts within belief systems, the collapse of spiritual pillars, the breakdown of trust within a civilization, and the complete abandonment of hope.
The Divination Commission of the Jade Gate Xianzhou believes that a certain unseen Lord Ravager lurks behind this series of operations.
— Catalog of Great Foes, Annihilation Scroll: The Lord Ravagers
However, Phantylia's level of destruction did not display the power it should have.
This was Dan Shu's assessment after facing Phantylia, even now as this Lord Ravager sat before her, wearing the skin of a Xianzhou native.
After her life and faith had both crumbled, Dan Shu found Phantylia's "aesthetic of destruction" to be, unexpectedly, quite boring.
"Lord Ravager, we agreed that the Stellaron's eruption would awaken the Ambrosial Arbor. This entire process hasn't happened. Tell me, how should I continue your plan now? Should I just wait here idly?"
Dan Shu's words were laced with a passive-aggressive tone.
This made Phantylia quite uncomfortable. If she had the power to take on the Luofu Xianzhou directly, she would have done so long ago. Why would she need to be here, scheming and cooperating with Dan Shu?
"The Stellaron has a will of its own. It needs to find someone who can adapt to its destructive power. You, on the other hand... it's only been a short time, yet you've completely changed your style and even embarked on the Path of Destruction?"
At this point, any thought Phantylia had of watching a good show had vanished.
The Dan Shu before her was completely different from the one she had dealt with in the past.
Dan Shu didn't answer her question. Instead, she asked, "Lord Ravager, do you think destruction is creation? Or is it destruction?"
It was as if Dan Shu's wisdom had been unlocked. She smiled, stroking the strings of the guqin in her hands. "If you can't answer that question, I'll put it another way. Do you think the shattering of human hope is, for humanity, the death of old prejudices? Or an affirmation of a new direction for the world?"
The Lord Ravager Phantylia felt her dignity had been challenged. Someone was actually trying to lecture her on the aesthetics of destruction.
"General Knowledge Manual for Exorcising Heliobi."
"Heliobi are rare, formless beings, energy lifeforms without a fixed body, who enjoy seizing the flesh of intelligent beings to manipulate. According to the Catalog of Great Foes, the nature of your actions is not much higher than that of a Heliobus. Whether it's trying to lure me into using the 'Violet-Clouded Vermilion Palace' to turn the entire Xianzhou Mara-Struck, or trying to use the power of the Stellaron to entice me into following the revival of the Ambrosial Arbor."
"And you, in your actions, are particularly fond of spiritual annihilation. This is also the point that Heliobi find most unacceptable. Weak Heliobi are most unable to accept merging with beings with a strong sense of self, so what they fear most is precisely the death of the spirit."
"For a mere Heliobus to become a Lord Ravager is something I did not expect."
Dan Shu hit Phantylia's bullseye right on the mark.
If, at the beginning, Dan Shu was only forty percent confident in her guess, the now stagnant atmosphere added weight to the remaining sixty percent.
"Hahahaha... hahaha..."
"Interesting, interesting!"
"I never thought... I had assumed you were just a pawn to be used."
"I never thought your Path would undergo such a dramatic change."
"It truly surprises me—ah!"
Phantylia's face suddenly contorted with rage. Having been exposed, she lunged forward and grabbed Dan Shu by the neck.
She lifted Dan Shu from her seat as if she were a small chick.
"Once I've possessed you, all your little schemes will be useless!"
Dan Shu did not flinch, did not evade, merely smiled and 'looked' at Phantylia with her lifeless eyes.
As if she already knew her future fate.
Those eyes had long seen her own inevitable end.
This dismissive attitude further provoked the Lord Ravager's ferocity, making her want to kill Dan Shu on the spot.
As Dan Shu had said, Heliobi feared those with a strong will.
But what confused Phantylia even more was that she could no longer sense any emotion from Dan Shu.
The most significant ability of a Heliobus was to sense emotions. But the hollow, transcendent spirit that Dan Shu displayed was completely at odds with the Path of Destruction she had embarked upon.
As long as one was human, one must have emotions. It was impossible for a state without any emotion to exist.
But Dan Shu's current state was already beyond Phantylia's control, and the desire to kill her grew even stronger.
Phantylia had a strong understanding of beings like Dan Shu. Before that, she had to know how Dan Shu had come to display such a mentality.
With this thought, Phantylia released her grip on Dan Shu's neck.
"Cough, cough, haha..."
Dan Shu coughed twice, quickly catching her breath, and couldn't help but laugh mockingly. "You really are a Heliobus. I was still a little hesitant. Even after changing into a human body, you still can't find peace for your soul. Even after becoming a Lord Ravager, you've just found a more powerful master."
Dan Shu dropped all honorifics, seeming to know Phantylia's changes better than Phantylia herself.
Neither the crisis of the Stellaron's eruption nor the invasion of the Lord Ravager was of any concern to Dan Shu.
Because what Dan Shu wanted to do now was even crazier than what the Lord Ravager had imagined.
"You found a master, followed someone else's banner, and thought you had become a being with a firm will that could not be easily defeated by life."
"Truly the style of a Heliobus..." Dan Shu took a breath and looked at the Lord Ravager with a blank expression. "The Stellaron? Hand it over to me."
Phantylia never expected this woman to be so bold as to try and turn the tables on her.
"You don't dare to kill me. You have no idea what trump cards I might have left. And you won't possess me. I don't care about your possession. In fact..."
Dan Shu's overly calm and deathly still heart made Phantylia uneasy.
What did this woman mean?
First, she exposed her identity, then openly mocked her, and even resorted to threatening her for the Stellaron.
'Does she have some incredible leverage?'
But in Phantylia's senses, Dan Shu did not display any power greater than her own.
As an Emanator, the level of Imaginary Energy Phantylia wielded was far higher than Dan Shu's at this moment.
Even though Dan Shu had become a Pathstrider, nothing had changed.
Dan Shu had no leverage. She just knew that Phantylia was, in essence, the same as her.
Dan Shu had chosen to compromise and bow her head to Noldrei to keep her secrets from being exposed.
Therefore, Phantylia would naturally choose to compromise and bow her head to Dan Shu because of her secret.
Dan Shu wore the same smile as always. "Of course, you can choose to possess me. Want to give it a try? Perhaps after you possess me, you'll roughly know what I'm thinking? And you can even act on the Luofu Xianzhou in my identity."
Phantylia felt that someone must have enlightened this woman, Dan Shu.
In the beginning, Dan Shu was clearly not this clever. She had even managed to find clues of her past identity as a Heliobus from the traces of her past actions.
For an energy being that specialized in seizing the bodies of intelligent life, Dan Shu's exposure almost shattered Phantylia's long-held confidence.
And Dan Shu's fearless transformation also left Phantylia a little confused.
She knew about the spread of the Pure Land Sect within the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
But even the ideological reform within the Disciples could never have produced Dan Shu's current state. Unless something else she didn't know about had happened.
And what Noldrei had secretly taught Dan Shu was not the Pure Land theory at all, but that new dialectic of life.