Zhang Shan gritted his teeth, gripping the black sword before him tightly, his entire body drenched in sweat.
“Little… glasses…” Zhang Shan forced the words out between clenched teeth. “Run!”
At that moment, Little Glasses finally snapped out of his daze and stumbled backward several steps.
Even Zhang Shan himself didn’t fully grasp the situation. Chu Tianqiu had merely uttered a single sentence and completely shattered his *Tian Xing Jian*. Now, he was barely holding onto the massive sword with sheer brute force, feeling as though his arms were about to be torn off.
His tightly clenched hands were splitting open under the sword’s overwhelming force, blood practically spurting from his fingertips.
“Dang it…!”
He strained with all his might, pulling back against the sword, his entire body leaning backward. But the sword itself was already incredibly heavy, and now, some inexplicable force was driving it forward unstoppably. Even with Zhang Shan’s innate superhuman strength, without the protection of *Tian Xing Jian*, his body was severely injured, and his strength had drastically diminished.
His feet were rooted to the rubberized floor like tree roots, and over time, they left deep gouges in the surface.
“Chu Tianqiu… enough…” Zhang Shan growled through gritted teeth. “Enough… I get it now…”
“Zhang Shan, why take it this far?” Chu Tianqiu smiled faintly from the side. “All I want are your eyes.”
A look of unwillingness flashed across Zhang Shan’s face. “Stop this black sword… I already know what you’re capable of…”
Chu Tianqiu turned his head slightly toward Han Yimo and said softly, “Han Yimo, cease the use of *Immortal Arts*.”
The moment the words left his lips, the *Seven Black Sword* in Zhang Shan’s hands dissolved into a shower of starlight.
Zhang Shan suddenly lost all resistance and fell backward uncontrollably. Old Lü, anticipating this, dove forward and used his own hefty body to cushion Zhang Shan’s fall, preventing him from hitting his head.
As the dust settled, Han Yimo and Dr. Zhao stood dumbfounded, while Zhang Shan lay atop Old Lü, gasping for breath.
Little Glasses stepped forward to check on Zhang Shan and found that not only were his palms completely split open, but even the skin on his forearms had been torn in large patches.
“Zhang Shan… are you okay?” Little Glasses asked.
Zhang Shan lay there, panting heavily for a while before finally speaking. “This is really baffling… that starlight thing… wasn’t that the tattooed guy’s signature move?”
“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly. “I almost forgot—you’ve seen Qiao Jiajin’s tricks before.”
“You…” Zhang Shan lifted his head to glare at Chu Tianqiu. “How did you manage to use someone else’s *Echo* for yourself?”
“That’s thanks to *Tian She*,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “If not for the note he left me… I’d never have unraveled this secret. Who would’ve thought that the most turbid and foul-looking part of a corpse—the eyeballs—would be what I needed to swallow? It’s a shame I used to just dig them out and sell them to the *Zodiacs* for food.”
“What…?” Zhang Shan’s brow furrowed slowly.
“What a bizarre situation…” Chu Tianqiu’s lips curled into a grin, traces of blood still clinging to them. “Did they know about my condition from the start…? Is that why they made eyeballs the currency? Or…”
Zhang Shan, feeling somewhat recovered, slowly rose to his feet and asked, “Chu Tianqiu… the food in *Paradise’s Edge*—was it all bought with the eyes of our fallen comrades…?”
“What else?” Chu Tianqiu countered. “Why do you think I always had you bring their bodies back?”
“This…”
“Are you really so benevolent that you find this unacceptable?” Chu Tianqiu’s voice darkened.
“There’s nothing unacceptable about it,” Zhang Shan said. “If I were in your shoes… I might’ve done the same. Using organs from the dead to barter for food… isn’t some unthinkable sin here. After all, I’m human. But if you asked me to kill someone just to take their eyes, I couldn’t do it—because I’m human.”
“Precisely why you’re the deputy leader of *Paradise’s Edge*.” Chu Tianqiu slowly extended his hand toward Zhang Shan. “Zhang Shan, give me your eyes. I’ll put them to good use.”
Zhang Shan, after a pause, reached out his own hand and asked solemnly, “Chu Tianqiu, if I give you my eyes, can you promise to keep Old Lü and Little Glasses safe?”
Chu Tianqiu nodded. “Zhang Shan, if you willingly surrender your eyes, you’ll become my most trusted right hand. Not only will I ensure their safety, but I’ll also lift *Shatter All Laws* and heal your wounds.”
“Deal.”
Zhang Shan raised three fingers and, without hesitation, plunged them into his own eye socket. With a muffled grunt, a fresh, bloodied eyeball was plucked free.
A dizzying wave of pain erupted from his empty socket, but he didn’t hesitate—his fingers moved toward his other eye.
Within seconds, Zhang Shan’s rugged face was left with two gaping, bloody holes, a horrifying sight.
“Take them.” Zhang Shan held out the offering, his voice hoarse. “If you keep your word, I’ll serve you from now on.”
Chu Tianqiu accepted the crimson orbs with a smile. “Of course.”
Closing his eyes briefly, he released the mysterious force that had been suppressing Zhang Shan. Instantly, all of Zhang Shan’s wounds began healing at an unnatural speed.
Little Glasses and Old Lü watched in shock as Zhang Shan’s sunken eye sockets swelled anew, yellowish-white matter swirling like a vortex inside. In mere seconds, his eyes reformed, leaving only streaks of blood down his cheeks.
“Truly worthy of *Tian Xing Jian*,” Chu Tianqiu remarked. “I’ll cherish these two opportunities.”
Zhang Shan slowly stood, examining his regenerating hands before asking, “So… what exactly *is* your ability?”
“Like Chen Junnan, I’m a bit ashamed to say.” Chu Tianqiu chuckled. “Zhang Shan, do you believe there’s a power in this world… whose only function is preserving memories and nothing else?”
Zhang Shan mulled over the question, wiping blood from his face. “No.”
“At first, I thought my ability was limited to just that.” Chu Tianqiu smiled bitterly. “But my position made it all the more humiliating. Here I am, a leader of a faction, yet cursed with the most useless *Echo* in all of *Terminus*. How laughable, right? Fortunately, I quickly learned how to control *Echoes* and convinced everyone that I could only *Echo* by *witnessing the end*.”
“So you’ve been lying since then…”
“No, I didn’t lie.” Chu Tianqiu’s expression turned earnest. “As long as I witness *Terminus*, I can activate my *Echo*.”
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