For a moment, sharp gasps sounded without pause.
Yet in this stifling subterranean space, nowhere cool could be found, and what everyone sucked into their lungs was nothing but stinging, scorching air...
With just a momentary brush, a filament of quicksilver so fine it was barely visible to the naked eye cleanly severed Lou Feng's hair.
"Severing a hair blown across its edge" was nothing compared to this.
Although most present could easily achieve the same effect, doing so with such stealth was completely impossible. What was more, what had just emerged from the furnace was far more than a single thread.
No one expected that after squatting beside the furnace for an entire night, Ji Jue would whip up such an absurd little gadget for a locked-room slaughter.
In an instant, the glances directed toward Lou Feng grew even more admiring—who knew that you Embers artisans, who usually looked so gentle, refined, and respectable, were actually packing handfuls of lethal tricks in your pockets!
What other stunt packed with peerless wisdom do you have to show off?!
Under these absurdly unrealistic expectations, Lou Feng's eyelid twitched violently. His gaze flicked past the cleanly sheared ends of his bangs as he glared daggers at Ji Jue.
That bastard had definitely done that on purpose!
Ji Jue offered an innocent smile, pretending not to know what had happened.
After brief practice, his handling grew increasingly deft. Liquid quicksilver shifted and flowed between his parting and closing fingers like pulled dough. With every closure and stretch, the quicksilver filaments doubled in quantity while growing ever finer.
By the end, suspended between his hands was what seemed to be a web of shimmering silver radiance.
As the countless strands drooped and pooled onto the ground, luster rippled along the filaments like water, swaying and captivating, exquisitely graceful.
"Done."
Ji Jue brought his index finger and thumb together, gently pinching and sliding along a strand, feeling its silk-like texture and thickness to gauge its diameter.
After extensive precision processing, the blessing of Masterwork Nature had grown to the point where a single pinch could yield detailed data through touch alone—no less accurate than professional equipment down to three decimal places.
0.012 millimeters, close to one si.
If he deliberately tried to control it, he could go even lower. While still maintaining manipulation and control, he could probably push it down to around 0.3 si, but that was meaningless; there was no need to go that low.
Ji Jue closed his hands. The tens of thousands of shimmering quicksilver strands melded together again, or rather interwove. Gliding smoothly between his crossing fingers, they entangled without friction, instantly transforming into a silvery woven scarf.
When he raised his hand and shook it out, it expanded endlessly. Using barely over twenty grams, it draped over the entire shelter.
No matter how hard Ji Jue pulled, sliced, or stabbed it, stretching and deforming it, it showed no sign of tearing or shattering.
All this power stemmed from the blessing infused within.
Among the blessings of the Desolate Ruins, it was the virtual antithesis of Metallic Quality—Form of Utmost Resilience!
If Metallic Quality served to harden and increase rigidity, Form of Utmost Resilience did the exact opposite, softening the subject material to its limit to grant unimaginable tensile toughness and ductility.
Combined, the excessive brittleness of Metallic Quality was compensated for. When facing impact, the cushioned resilience yielded a qualitative leap in structural stability.
Hard and soft combined.
The strength of quicksilver creations received a massive surge, and their versatility broadened even further. With Form of Utmost Resilience, Ji Jue was finally freed from the shortcoming of being unable to replicate cable-like materials in quicksilver.
To draw an analogy to the human body: if Metallic Quality were the skeleton that propped up the frame, then Form of Utmost Resilience was undoubtedly the muscle, fully capable of handling kinetic transmission.
Combining and applying them properly would yield boundless utility!
"Deft Craft certainly lives up to its name!"
Ji Jue exclaimed in admiration. "To maintain precision in such chaos and meticulously peel away such an intact blessing—thanks a bunch, Young Master Lou!"
This had been stripped off a Desolate Ruins Celestial Chosen in an emergency by Lou Feng during their earlier raid on the Evil Transmutation Cult's branch. Rare opportunities like this didn't come often; while Metallic Quality was fairly common for Desolate Ruins, a Celestial Chosen possessing such an uncommon blessing as Form of Utmost Resilience in their early stages was exceedingly rare.
For this, Ji Jue had willingly given up most of the materials in the workshop that he had no use for as manufacturing fees.
They had been acquired for free anyway, so it was no loss.
Still, Deft Craft was absurdly useful...
What kind of genius invented a matrix like Deft Craft, anyway?
At this moment, noticing Ji Jue's eager and impassioned gaze, Lou Feng scoffed. "I'd be better off if you stopped eyeing me so much!"
Did he really think Lou Feng didn't know what this bastard was thinking?
You're angling for my fucking matrix again, aren't you!
"Aiya, how could I?"
Ji Jue shook his head and sighed. "Listen to you—am I that kind of person?"
"Don't you know whether you are in your own damn heart?" Lou Feng was almost laughed out of anger. "If your dog eyes glanced at my matrix a couple fewer times, maybe I'd have believed you!"
They were both fucking Embers; who didn't know what the other was plotting?
"If you're truly grateful, stop being coy."
Lou Feng looked down, gazing at the quicksilver creation shifting continually in Ji Jue's hands, hardening and softening at will. "A single Metallic Quality blessing was one thing; at best, it could only count as a half-finished product.
"But the Form of Utmost Resilience blessing—how did you pack it in?"
As a material, it wasn't as if Lou Feng hadn't seen or used quicksilver. It was widely applicable, commonly seen as an additive to neutralize reactions or used to filter and precipitate impurities.
Yet the reason so few people used it as a primary carrier for blessings was its intrinsic deficiency—even if quicksilver was purified and transmuted, it remained difficult for it to bear blessings like ordinary metals. Limited by its liquid nature, it struggled to even host a few slightly complex spiritus circuits.
A single Metallic Quality blessing Lou Feng could still understand through guesswork—Fluid Alchemy possessed particular strengths when processing such materials, and moreover, enhancing the essence could forcefully elevate material properties and patch deficiencies.
By enhancing the spiritus aspect, Ji Jue had indirectly raised the carrying capacity of quicksilver!
Yet even so, a ceiling still existed. Once enhanced, further enhancements would only become harder, more troublesome, and more absurd.
If no limit existed, why would anyone study modern alchemy? Wouldn't everyone just bow down to quicksilver and become disciples of Fluid Alchemy? How could it have fallen to the point of extinction, becoming a lost art?
Or was Non-Offensive really that insane?
One had to realize that achieving stable coexistence between multiple blessings was, even for artisans, an engineering challenge that demanded careful deliberation, extreme caution, and walking on thin ice.
Let alone blessings of the same origin that manifested opposing properties, coexisting within a carrier as volatile as quicksilver while running stably.
How was this any different from using a microwave's motherboard to run AAA games—and running two at once?!
To this, Ji Jue merely offered a mysterious smile. "Do you really want to know?"
Lou Feng rolled his eyes. "If it's confidential, I won't pry. But if you actually intend to share, I can pay—"
"No need to pay."
Ji Jue couldn't care less about keeping the trick behind the magic secret. "It's very simple. Because I didn't solve it at all. Forget solving it—I didn't even try to."
With that, his hands parted.
Instantly, the quicksilver beneath his feet split down the center into two halves: one as rigid as steel, the other as pliable as water, clear and distinct as night and day, leaving Lou Feng frozen on the spot.
"Did you forget that quicksilver is liquid?" Ji Jue chuckled. "Which means there's no need to make it so complicated. Couldn't I just mix two batches of quicksilver together and call it a day?"
How did a half-finished product accommodate two complete blessings?
Very simple: if one half-finished product couldn't handle it, use two. Then mix the two together, patch them up, and use it as a finished product.
Wasn't it the exact same result!
What more could anyone ask for?
For a moment, stuck in a daze, Lou Feng nearly lost his mind.
What the fuck is this?!
As a formally trained artisan apprentice, whenever Lou Feng encountered a problem, he looked for theoretical solutions and traced principles. Never had he imagined encountering such a wild method from Ji Jue.
This was so damn crude—crude to the point of being painful to look at—yet genuinely effective and practical.
At the end of the day, it was an emergency enhancement.
Driven by extreme cost-effectiveness, solving the problem with the stingiest method and the least effort—too much water, add more flour; too much flour, add more water. Why overcomplicate it? Want to know if a high-voltage cable is live? Just touch it and find out!
If Ji Jue were to say, Young Master Lou had been spoiled by a life of privilege!
Always wanting everything to be flawless.
If he had spent a couple more years repairing cars for people, he would have learned every crooked trick in the book: if the A or B pillars snapped, grab pliers to bend them straight, weld them together, and keep driving. As long as the car started, that was enough. As for what the chassis and suspension looked like down there, don't look down—it wouldn't be good for your heart.
Just tell me: does it drive or not?!
Whining this much? Don't want to pay? See that dark-skinned behemoth picking his toes on the recliner? Think carefully before you speak...
If you brought up cutting-edge high theory, Ji Jue might feel out of his depth.
But when it came to making do to the absolute limit within one's means, he understood that better than anyone!
"...Wait, no!"
Young Master Lou was knowledgeable, after all. Once he recovered from the initial shock, he instantly caught the crux of the matter. "To integrate and run multiple distinct blessed creations simultaneously and keep them this stable—what technique is this? The Parallel Knot of the White Dynasty Workshop? The Empire's Dual Flow Confluence? No, neither—is this the style of the Thousand Islands?"
He bent down, touching it a couple of times, and grasped the general picture. "When did you stea—cough, learn Nanyun's Converging Streams Form?"
"Hm? Is that what it's called?" Ji Jue asked in surprise. "I had no idea."
Lou Feng's eye twitched furiously as he glared. Is this bastard flexing on me? But right then, he heard Ji Jue's voice:
"Want to learn? I can teach you."
"..."
For a moment, Lou Feng froze.
Yet Ji Jue wasn't stingy at all. Rolling up his sleeves, he used his two half-finished products to explain the bridging, series connection, and integration between different spiritus circuits, along with the construction methods and key precautions.
To tell the truth, this was also part of the loot scavenged from Du Deng's workshop. Before leaving, adhering to the principle of never wasting anything, Ji Jue had used Disassembly on all the large equipment they couldn't haul away!
Not a scrap was left behind.
That included the furnace Du Deng had saved up who-knew-how-much money to barely construct and painstakingly tune countless times—laying bare every trick in his repertoire.
Although the quintessence had been thoroughly nauseating and his craftsmanship painfully amateurish, Ji Jue had still picked up many messy, unsystematic techniques, among which Converging Streams Form was the most complete.
Furthermore, Ji Jue felt that if Du Deng had continued delving into it, he might well have used it to integrate all his scattered, disorganized techniques, forging what could be considered an orthodox path.
The old man Kanemoto hadn't deceived him; he had pointed out the path without withholding anything. Too bad Du Deng was mud that couldn't stick to a wall.
No wonder Stagnant Rot had looked down on him.
After their exchange, Young Master Lou took off with pages filled with notes to puzzle over them on his own, occasionally asking a question. Before long, he had thoroughly digested the theory, leaving Ji Jue genuinely impressed.
Uh-oh. The speed and efficiency of Young Master Lou once he gets into the grind is pretty terrifying.
A sudden prickle of urgency flared up.
Unable to sleep, Ji Jue conjured a quicksilver recliner, propped himself up, and began scratching away to continue drafting his half-finished paper, occasionally testing things out on the spot with Young Master Lou's furnace and Non-Offensive.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
Amid the quiet rustling, a crisp sound suddenly rang out.
Accompanied by rhythmic knocking, an opening slowly surfaced in the wall, yet no figure could be seen. Two seconds later, Tong Shan's silhouette abruptly reappeared.
Still dressed in the same heavy gear he had worn when leaving, he removed his respirator and blew out the vigorously burning candle in the candlestick he held. The moment the flame went out, the figure that had been imperceptible to cognition and detection appeared before everyone.
Looking closely, the half-spent candle remaining on the candlestick was unmistakably shaped like half a finger.
With a finger bone as the wick and flesh and fat as the wax.
Watching this, Ji Jue was practically dripping with jealousy.
The Tong family was filthy rich after all—having pockets full of these consumable blessed creations.
—Hand of Delusion.
Just as its shape suggested, it was a candle made from a human finger. Despite being a consumable, it was fused with a blessing of the Mirror path: Sight and Hearing Bewilderment.
Kindled with the flame of spiritus, once lit, no wind could extinguish it. As long as the bearer stayed within the candlelight, they could not be detected; vision, sound, and even the disturbances they caused would be completely masked.
While burning, the blessing of Sight and Hearing Bewilderment would activate, forcibly distorting all relevant perception in an effect known as Delusion. The more times and higher frequency Delusion occurred, the faster it burned away.
If viewed only by Ji Jue's naked eyes, it might last half an hour. But if a Celestial-Human of the Aether path so much as caught it with a peripheral glance, this thing would instantly burst, exposing the user.
Tong Shan had been out for so long; he had surely burned through more than one.
On that habitually wooden face, a rare trace of gloom and worry surfaced.
"The situation is terrible," he said bluntly. "The Evil Transmutation Cult is already in direct combat with the Security Bureau. Both sides are still probing each other, but fierce fighting has already broken out in many places.
"Unlike their usual scattered state in the past, the cooperation among those factions this time is surprisingly tight.
"All the corruption accumulated over so long in Quancheng has been stirred up. They're guarding every layer like an iron fortress. I took a risk and advanced a bit further, nearly got spotted, and had to take a long detour back.
"If we keep hiding like this, our discovery is likely only a matter of time..."
Instantly, everyone's expressions turned grave.
Especially when Tong Shan unfolded the Aether record tome he carried. On the automatically recorded map, while a large swath remained cloaked in darkness, every scouted area was covered in overlapping patches of crimson—massive residual corruption pollution and ritual blockades. Danger markers were packed as densely as rain, filling every empty space.
It was practically a field of landmines!
And their current location was already far beyond the perimeter of the outpost—or rather, they were sitting right under the Evil Transmutation Cult's backside!
Looking around, everyone felt the absurd sensation of where the hell did you drag us to?
Was this still Haizhou?!
"Things might not be that bad."
After a brief contemplation, Xu Guan finished reading the records and cleared his throat twice to bolster morale. "The enemy is in the open while we're in the dark; there's still room to maneuver.
"No matter how tight their blockade is, it's primarily facing outward. Internally, it might not be nearly as strong.
"Look, no matter how closely they cooperate, they can't possibly be of one mind at the end of the day. If we could disguise ourselves as part of them, maybe we could slip out quietly without causing a disturbance? As long as we don't head toward the outpost, we can circle around and head back once we're out."
Once he spoke, a flicker of thought showed in everyone's eyes amid the silence, but they all instinctively looked up at Tong Shan.
This was when the prestige of a captain and the trust between squad members showed.
At such a critical juncture of life and death, everyone instinctively placed their trust in him.
Tong Shan gave a slight nod, noncommittal. "Let's have a squad meeting. Everyone voice their opinion. Speak for yourself—be responsible for yourself and responsible for the team.
"Who goes first?"
Everyone hesitated.
On the outer periphery, Ji Jue, who sat listening on a quicksilver high stool, couldn't help but look up at him. His fingers resting on his knee tapped rhythmically twice.
Thinking.
Tong Shan hadn't stated his position first? Makes sense. Regardless, his prestige was enough to sway the decisions of most people in the team. If he truly wanted to gather opinions, he would naturally wait for others to speak first.
Yet... gathering opinions?
Was that truly necessary?
If the plan was to retreat, he could have just made the call directly. Once the direction was decided, the remaining details could simply be adjusted and refined. Why bother with all this?
Or could it be...
Ji Jue understood. For an instant, his gaze locked with Tong Shan's. The two looked at each other, saying nothing, their eyes parting as quickly as they met.
Both understood.
At this moment, the first to stand up was Lou Feng.
"Sorry..."
His expression twitched as he clutched that still-unbroken spiritus crystal in his hand. "My... my aunt hasn't been found yet. I... I'm staying."
With that, he condensed another crystal from his palm, locking and securing it with spiritus. "There's a letter in here. Captain Tong, just hand it to my teacher.
"Everyone has saved me more than once along the way. This is my own stubborn decision, having nothing to do with anyone else."
Tong Shan took the spiritus crystal, saying nothing.
"I... don't really know, both sound dangerous," Jiang Xuan scratched his chin. "Since Xu Guan has an idea, why not try it? Worst case, we die. Take down one and break even, take down two and it's a win, take down three and we're turning a profit."
"Hey, aren't I the Swarm member here?"
Ji Liu chuckled, and after pondering for a long while, he sighed. "Xiaoxue and I follow orders. It's up to you to decide, Captain Tong."
"I haven't even spoken yet, how do you get to speak for me?" Ji Xue glared in annoyance.
Ji Liu glanced at her and shrugged. "Then speak—"
"..."
Ji Xue huffed and stammered for a while, growing even more annoyed, and shot her brother a fierce glare. "Same here!"
Xu Guan's expression was complicated. After so many years of friendship, no matter how slow he was, he understood Tong Shan's meaning by now.
"Have you really thought this through?" he asked solemnly.
"Haven't thought it through. Total confusion, a tangled mess, zero certainty, no clarity," Tong Shan answered bluntly. "Such is the situation; I won't force anyone.
"As your superior, I must consider my subordinates' opinions.
"This time, let me make things crystal clear."
Folding his arms, Tong Shan looked around at everyone. "Given the situation, the future is uncertain. Hesitating means waiting for death. Either we gamble on the odds and escape.
"Or we stay behind and become a thorn in the Evil Transmutation Cult's side!"
"Agreed!"
Ji Liu raised his hand without a second thought.
Ji Xue was a beat slower, which immediately pissed her off again, and she kicked her brother hard. "Same here!"
"Ah? That's what it was?" Jiang Xuan suddenly realized, grinning. "Should've said so earlier. Even if we go back, won't we just get dispatched back to the front line anyway? Looking at it that way, there's no point."
"..."
Xu Guan hesitated for a long while before sighing. "I have no objections."
In the quiet, while Lou Feng was still caught in stunned delight, Tong Shan's gaze finally landed on Ji Jue.
"Everyone's made up their mind," Ji Jue said, puzzled. "Why ask me?"
"You and Mr. Lou are different from them," Tong Shan sighed. "You aren't members of the Security Bureau, and you've never taken a single cent from Tianyuan... You were dragged into this pit by me. I know just as well as you what a shithole Yacheng is, so there's even less reason to summon you to step up for the 'greater good.'
"Artisans have no obligation to risk their lives in the first place." He hesitated, then offered an assurance: "If you don't agree, I'll prioritize retreat."
"...You said it yourself: I'm not part of the Security Bureau, and I have no reason to risk my neck for this mess," Ji Jue sighed.
Tong Shan remained silent.
"Still, I suppose I count as more than half a Yacheng local, don't I?"
Ji Jue felt increasingly resigned, offering a self-deprecating smile. "I've gotten pretty used to living here. If possible, living here another decade or so wouldn't bother me.
"At a time like this, I can't just stand by with folded arms and run off with all my belongings."
The malice of natural disasters was something he had already experienced firsthand.
The horror of man-made catastrophe was perhaps even worse.
Once Quancheng blew, more than half of Haizhou would likely be swept into the corruption, degenerating into a demonic realm like this.
For so many years, Quancheng had sunk into darkness. Even now, hiding deep underground, he could still hear the faint wails and lamentations echoing endlessly from the depths of the earth like hallucinations.
Too much blood and tears.
The so-called death, the so-called despair...
Just how many such hells had to be created before it was enough?
To what sickening extent did it have to go before they would stop?
He didn't have to be friends with the Security Bureau.
But between him and the Evil Transmutation Cult, they had long been enemies!
From the very moment those bastards sent the drifting Chrono Ruin to Yacheng... the death of a single Lian Cheng was far from enough!
Even if he couldn't be a good doctor, he could at least be a good artisan.
There were always brainless fools who liked to spout that "trash is just treasure in the wrong place." But some trash was just trash, irredeemable to the bone. If there was even the slightest speck of value to be found...
Then what he could do was take the fine jade and precious timber that had been misplaced, and return them to where they truly belonged!
In the dead silence, Ji Jue reached out, flicking the edge of the bone blade, listening to its faint chime. Amid the resonant, lingering hum, he raised his head, looking at Tong Vegetable's solemn face.
Suddenly, he offered a smile of Mercy:
"—At this point, can I ask for extra pay?"
Chapter 213