Summit Rendezvous?

Ji Jue suddenly felt that something was not quite right. It wasn't intuition or anything vague, but a stark, palpable perception—the world seemed far more real! It was like wearing five-diopter glasses while watching a 1080p screen and thinking everything was crystal clear, only to suddenly be granted 20/10 vision in front of a massive 4K display—and realizing the previous resolution and frame rate had been abominably low! Had the simulation upgraded? Did they swap in a new graphics card? At a critical juncture like this? Why? It was like taking an exam and suddenly seeing someone appear at the classroom door to whisper something with a grave expression to the proctor. You had no idea who this person was or what they said, but the atmosphere instantly changed. You knew some unknown change was underway, yet you remained completely in the dark. It was a deeply unsettling feeling. Perhaps he was just being paranoid and overthinking, but for an examinee at the mercy of the examiners, having some preparation—even if only mental—was far better than being caught flat-footed. [13] After yet another round of eliminations, only thirteen remained of the original thirty-two. Either they had been taken down by an opponent's mutual annihilation, or they had dragged their opponent down with one of their own... Looking at the records, the scenarios were diverse, to say the least. And in circumstances like these, Young Master Lou had actually managed to turtle his way through! Although he hadn't managed to best his opponents, by strictly playing for survival points, he had climbed to ninth place. After experiencing the life-and-death brutality between candidates, he had funneled every last scrap of resources into constructing his workshop. Within the workshop's perimeter, the Lou clan's spiritus shaping was reinforced to an extreme degree, to the point of recasting the entire facility around it. Defense maxed out, boasting three hundred and sixty degrees of zero blind spots. No opponent was getting a single point off him. The price, however, was that he couldn't score many points either, scraping by on minimal participation rewards, which severely hampered his development pace. Yet based on Ji Jue's impression of the short-tempered Old Lou, the guy might look gentle and refined on the surface, but he was deep and calculating to a fault. He was probably quietly cooking up something huge. He couldn't let his guard down. Mm, time to think about how to counter him... Or rather, how to survive when everyone was countering him. At this stage, his overall level was still lacking. In fact, compared to the other participants, he was the one with the most glaring weaknesses; he had merely succeeded in masking his shortcomings with a barrage of outrageous plays. No amount of rationalization could change reality. —His study time had simply been too brief! All told, it had only been four months. Yet coincidentally, every legacy he studied was the late-blooming kind that only hit its stride in the mid-to-late stages. He had completed the basics of modern alchemy, but his subsequent research direction remained undecided and called for deeper study. As for the legacy of the Treatise on Xiang Swords, he had barely unlocked the prerequisite skills—the first stroke hadn't even been inked. Corruption alchemy, being a radical dead-end shortcut of a sinister art, naturally couldn't be used here. Apart from Dissociation Art, all he could rely on were Fluid Alchemy and the Solid Alchemy reverse-engineered from it. Yet without Non-Offensive, their versatility and convenience were both significantly diminished. If possible, he would have loved to keep a killer trump card like Kunjinkao stashed away, saving it for the final moment to give his opponents a nasty surprise. Unfortunately, his bag of tricks was running thin. Every trick he used was one fewer left. Now that it had been revealed as a deterrent, it would have no element of surprise. And the Assault Niuma series was still too flimsy, vulnerable to being targeted and countered. After all, power armor was ultimately just cost-effective individual infantry equipment, not an omnipotent panacea. Even on a frontline battlefield, it needed fire support and satellite strikes. Reaching his current level was already Ji Jue's limit. Beyond that lay far more badass strategic-class armors, some of which were matrix relics in their own right, like the Four Symbols series or Tianlong. But those weren't things an off-the-books cog registered under a front military-industrial firm like Ji Jue could covet. Even entertaining the thought was a crime. Right now, he was caught in an awkward limbo where nothing quite matched up. His foundations were solid, but not solid enough to have maxed out so many late-game skills. Fortunately, the rat race within Embers was ruthlessly brutal. Competition among peers was so fierce that it had practically become second nature, leading everyone to take it for granted that others were just like themselves. Not a single soul suspected that the real reason this dog Ji Jue relied so heavily on power armor was because, aside from this hybrid trick of engineering and alchemy, there was barely anything else unlocked on his skill tree! In that case, if he wanted to maintain his lead... He had no choice but to bring out the heavy stuff and pull off some truly ruthless stunts! "...It's all this exam's fault," Ji Jue sighed wistfully. "It's stripped away whatever humanity a poor kid had left." The moment he made up his mind, he shoved every last bit of his remaining 1,416 points without hesitation into an all-in bet... Then, he turned back to look at his workshop. After enduring hardship for so long, it was high time for a renovation. After all, he couldn't let down the name of the Sage's legacy, could he? Ji Jue rolled up his sleeves. "Time to clock in!" * Time trickled by. The torrential downpour seemed endless, while endless black mist rolled like a tide, swirling and dancing over the sea and island. Even after the long night passed, not a ray of light could be seen. Time in the darkness became excruciating. Even Ji Jue dared not step outside without thorough preparations and protections. Spurred on by round after round of black rain, Luye Island had entered a state where aberrations roamed everywhere and eldritch abominations were a dime a dozen. According to Ji Jue's observations, even the surrounding ocean had completely degraded into a demonic domain. Several probe devices launched in succession could barely travel a few kilometers. They were either ruined by contamination or swallowed whole by gargantuan behemoths lurking in the pitch-black waters... From within the clouds, whenever lightning flashed and thunder roared, grotesque and sinister shadows could be seen slithering past. This deathly silent world had turned wholly into a chaotic playground for abominations. Countless monsters grew, hunted, died, and spawned even stronger and more bizarre horrors in rapid succession. The ecology humans took for granted had utterly collapsed, recombining into an endless, nightmare loop that bred ever more terrifying consequences and unending cycles. Like a stagnant mire of dead water. Insects devoured one another, drawing nourishment from deeper mire, withering into death, only to become another link in the chain of decay. Occasionally, sitting atop a decommissioned launch silo and gazing into the distance, Ji Jue could feel that magnificent yet shadowy horror acutely. Perhaps this was the so-called Realm of Stagnant Rot. Endowed with equal parts boundless creation and mystery; even within the abyss lay a vast and promising future. All at once, he almost seemed to understand Kanemoto's past ambition and arrogance: If such transformations exist in the world, why should I not be permitted to know them? Except... "...Who gives a damn about knowing such utter garbage?" To create a hell merely for the sake of understanding it ultimately yielded nothing but hell itself. Even with Kanemoto's arrogance, remaining detached to this day without being bound by Stagnant Rot, how was he any different from a creation of Stagnant Rot itself? Even if he had never plunged into the Vortex or pledged fealty to a Great Calamity, from the instant that arrogant desire for omniscience arose and could no longer be quelled, he had already strayed into madness, becoming a genuine Baleful Furnace of Stagnant Rot. Perhaps he had known it in his heart long ago, but he simply didn't care. In truth, neither did Ji Jue. Perhaps Kanemoto was right. Perhaps the existence of Stagnant Rot had its own reason. Perhaps this world truly held some indescribable wisdom and wondrous creation. None of that had anything to do with him. In the silence, he slowly reached out his hand toward the distance. Through the gaps between his splayed fingers, he gazed at that vast, cruel, darkened world. If one day all of this were set ablaze... Such flames would surely be magnificent. * The torrential rain raged on. Shrouded under the same storm clouds and deluge, the simulated time sped past, no matter how excruciating it felt. Soon, the countdown reached its end once more. Only this time, it sent chills down everyone's spines. Even a fool could sense that something was wrong. As time ticked away, the previously pale countdown gradually turned blood-red. No words were needed, nor any warning. The aloof, towering silence alone was enough to make everyone break into cold sweats, daring not slacken for an instant as they threw everything they had into the contest. God knew what had happened. Thinking outside the box, maybe the Profound had invaded and turned the exam into a death game where losing meant dying? Even if that possibility was smaller than the Association suddenly having a fit of charity and waiving their exorbitant annual dues, who could say for sure?! In any case, no matter what, win first and ask questions later! Only, this time, when the countdown ran out, what chimed was no longer a crisp bell. Instead, it was a thunderous, soul-shaking bell toll. The resounding chime rang out from nowhere across every simulated world, right by the ears of all participants, causing them to widen their eyes in shock and glance around. One silhouette after another slowly emerged from mirror-like projections. As if suddenly dropped into some online video chat room, the thirteen surviving participants looked at each other in utter bewilderment. For the first time, they were so close and clear. Before Ji Jue could react, he caught a sharp glare directed at him from the crowd... Though everyone instinctively looked toward him, and all their gazes were equally sharp and wary, there was one among them that was sharper than the rest, harboring a faint undercurrent of resentment. Mm, it's Old Lou! "Hey, is this what they call meeting at the summit?" Ji Jue grinned and waved cheerfully at Lou Feng. Unfortunately, Lou Feng had zero smiles to offer. Noticing that everyone's eyes had shifted toward him because of Ji Jue, his expression darkened, his lips moving. Although no sound came through, Ji Jue guessed he was showering him with choice blessings. I'll just take it as an early New Year's greeting! Ji Jue withdrew his gaze. And then, an earth-shattering roar erupted... As those scenes shattered, the world before Ji Jue's eyes fell apart in an instant. Amidst the rumbling of shaking earth and trembling mountains, rain surged and spewed forth as the world seemed to twist and transform. The earth collided, rocks ground together, and the island quaked violently, agitating the sea until it seemed to boil. Numerous grotesque silhouettes faintly surfaced beneath the waves, yet none could cross the invisible barrier. Square halls resembling temples rose from the mountains, forming sanctuaries; amidst flickering, illusory rainbow light, indistinct buildings faded in and out of the mist, difficult to discern; within the weave of countless dazzling lights, crystalline towers formed of spiritus towered between heaven and earth; deep, cavernous grottos emerged from the surging mud... In the end, the familiar, open island seemed to turn overwhelmingly crowded in a heartbeat. In a flash, all thirteen workshops had gathered upon Luye Island, arranged in an equidistant concentric circle. In the brief, dead silence, no one spoke another word. Only silence remained. What more needed to be said? The final elimination match had begun. Roll up your sleeves and get to it! Now! Right away! This very second! —Let the river of blood flow!