The orange Fire Sea covering the entire city quickly became wan, then completely vanished. I also retracted my orange-red Fire Sea.

After the two Fire Seas that shrouded the sky and ground disappeared, the city's environment was no longer so dazzlingly bright; instead, it turned unbelievably dark, like a room where the lights were suddenly turned off. For a moment, I thought it was just my eyes not yet adjusting to the space without the intense light source, then I looked up at the sky.

The sky was pitch black. It took me two seconds to sluggishly realize that it was actually late at night now. Previously, the sky was filled with Xuanming's flames, so I wasn't even aware that it was night.

I landed on the ground; as soon as my foot touched the ground, I staggered, involuntarily stumbled forward a couple of steps, and almost fell. Even my mind wasn't particularly clear, my thoughts felt as heavy as a sponge soaked with mud, and the scenes I perceived were flickering between light and dark, as if my thought process could break at any moment.

True Spirit being injured to this extent is unprecedented. If I take another attack from Xuanming, even if it's just a half attack, I feel like my life would collapse like a pile of blocks losing its balance.

I regulated myself with deep breaths, then lifted my head to look forward. In the distance, Xuanming was still trying to stand up, but couldn't succeed, and quickly fell to the ground again.

He was so severely wounded that the term 'injured' doesn't even suffice to describe his condition, nor does 'a final flare-up before death.' We are both specialized in destruction as Impermanence; when one side takes a full-force strike while heavily injured, there's really no need for further explanation at this point. In fact, he's already dead.

Precisely speaking, he is "in the process of dying."

"Death" isn't ordinarily a concept that applies in the present tense. It's like pressing a button; once it's off, it's off—there's generally no intermediate state of "being turned off." However, the soul presence of an Impermanence is so vast that even when it suddenly loses all structure and collapses, the process of losing shape proceeds slowly when viewed on a macro scale.

Even after a human dies, the corpse retains warmth for a period. After a bonfire is out, the ashes still retain a slight hot glow. Xuanming is now in this strange intermediate state; he seems capable of thinking and moving yet is already a corpse in the process of dying.

He seemed to want to try one last time to resurrect like a phoenix from the ashes, but he lacked the ability of an Undying Body. Or rather, all Impermanence could fully simulate a high-level Undying Body ability by wielding the power of abstract conceptual domains, but at the same time, the intense murderous intent of an Impermanence is enough to restrain most Undying Body abilities.

And Xuanming doesn't have particular expertise in that aspect like Ming Zhuo and Huang Quan, so his current attempts can only be described as futile. It was like endlessly trying to ignite an empty lighter, only managing to spur a few tiny electric sparks before giving up. I walked up to him, and it seemed he finally accepted reality and stopped trying.

He raised his head, glanced at me, then said, "You have won."

"Is there any parting words or something you wish me to do?" I asked, "As long as it doesn't go against my principles and within my means, I can fulfill it for you."

As I spoke, I gathered high-density Flame Magic Power in my palm, preparing to deliver the final blow.

After all, the person in front of me is Xuanming; even when in such a dire state, I could not afford to drop my guard. The prepared attack was also to guard against a sudden counterattack when he was near death.

It's an unbelievable feeling. Even after fighting to this extent, our relationship demanded a life-and-death outcome, yet I'm on guard against his last counterattack, and I never once hated Xuanming. Although there were many ideological incompatibilities, even conflicts at some fundamental level, I felt that if we met in different circumstances, we could become good friends... I had that sort of feeling.

"I hope you'll defeat Meng Zhang and the Seal Master hidden behind the scenes. But even without my specific request, if you continue along your path, you will inevitably clash with them in due time," Xuanming looked at me, "As for hoping you'd risk your life for human civilization, I don't think you possess that noble spirit, so there's no need to push you.

"Rather, I still believe that in essence, you and the Seal Master behind the scenes are of the same kind. Entrusting the mission of safeguarding civilization to someone like you might only lead civilization into perilous dead ends, perhaps even deriving enjoyment from it.

"However..."

As he spoke, his tone shifted, raising his hand with a small orange flame igniting at his fingertip.

I immediately went on high alert, but soon intuitively judged that Xuanming's action bore no hostility. Pointing toward me, the flame slowly floated over as if afraid I'd misunderstand. Finally, the flame touched my chest, sinking in like a pebble tossed into a lake.

A massive amount of information exploded in my mind.

"This is..." I couldn't help but utter in surprise.

Inside this unremarkable flame was contained Xuanming's countless firsthand insights into power, as well as the information on all the Divine Seal Fragment locations he had hidden!

After doing this action, Xuanming's aura dropped significantly.

"Is it necessary to be so surprised? Passing the flame is what I understand as the essence of the flame. At the verge of death, it is natural to pass on the important experiences and secrets accumulated as much as possible." Xuanming said weakly.

"...But didn't you think I was a troublemaker who feared peace? Why here..." I said, unable to comprehend, "Do you wish for me to wield the divine seal in the future? Or do you think I'll destroy it like you wanted after getting the divine seal?"

"Don't misunderstand. If there were others to choose from, you wouldn't even be on my candidate list." Xuanming said, "Besides, if I don't tell you where I've hidden those Divine Seal Fragments, those fragments will inevitably fall into others' hands due to the pull of Karma Power, like the culprit who created this world...that's something I don't want to see."

"Rather than that, it's better to let you get the divine seal. Although you have no vision for a future ideal society, becoming the Seal Master might not be a bad thing."

He paused slightly and continued: "Besides...maybe you're not as evil as you imagine."

"What did you say?" I was stunned for a moment.

"To protect the ones you care about, you stood up, risking your life to defeat me...I felt this will more deeply than anyone else, so I'll tentatively trust this side of you and place some hope in you." Xuanming looked at me.

His aura fell to the bottom, about to completely disappear.

"Finally...let me tell you some information." He said tiredly, "Though it's just a vague speculation based on some clues I got from Yama, listen and take it as a reference."

Clues obtained from Evangelist Master Yan Mo? Should be what Xuanming investigated through the Evangelical Institute while searching for Little Bowl in the Post-mortem World...though I wanted to ask more about this, time was running out, so I focused on the most important part and said just one word: "Okay."

Xuanming nodded and then said, "There should be two divine seals."

"—Two?" I exclaimed in surprise.

"These two divine seals were originally one but were divided into two by some accident, becoming the two now. In a sense, they can be seen as two massive Divine Seal Fragments." Xuanming said seriously, "One represents the real world we live in, which I call the 'Present World Divine Seal', and the other represents Doomsday, which I call the 'Doomsday Divine Seal'.

"The Present World Divine Seal is very likely in the hands of the Seal Master now, while the Doomsday Divine Seal belongs to the Master of Divine Seal that we've all had contact with.

"Remember what we discussed before? The divine seal is in a contradictory state of being both intact and fragmented. In fact, the intact one is what I call the Present World Divine Seal, and the fragmented one is the Doomsday Divine Seal. The Divine Seal Fragments we've collected all come from the Doomsday Divine Seal.

"Both divine seals have the transcendent power to change the world, but you must remember, if you want to save the world, you must combine them into one to restore the truly complete divine seal."

Will he actually entrust the responsibility of saving the world to me? Truly misplaced trust. He should understand this point, could there be a deeper meaning I can't comprehend? I didn't waste energy on refuting and questioning. Instead, I nodded again and said, "Alright...I've remembered."

Xuanming's expression relaxed, and then as if overcome by drowsiness, his eyelids began to droop.

He first struggled to glance at the sky covered by the City Barrier, then looked at the ruins and wreckage flattened by our intense battle, showing a regretful expression.

Seeing this, I summoned and manipulated light to create numerous illusions around us. Countless modern buildings of various sizes sprang up, phantom figures traversed streets, and the scenery of a civilized society seemed to return temporarily.

I was quite unskilled at this; many details were unsatisfactorily done. It's not just because it's my first time, but also because I'm severely injured right now, having trouble seeing things clearly, let alone doing this.

However, Xuanming seemed unable to see clearly now either. He struggled to open his eyes wide, looking at the things that had already been lost on this land, reflected by the colorful scenery in his eyes.

His lips moved, as if saying something silently. Then, he slowly closed his eyes and became motionless.