At this moment, as the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands unfolded before everyone, each palm reached into the void, appearing to grasp all creation, control everything, and tower above all else.
Everyone felt it clearly—beneath those seemingly sincere, heartfelt words lay arrogant contempt, open scorn, and an aloof disdain looking down upon them all!
Just like that, an invitation to war was issued to every single rival.
Before anyone could even react—
A tempest erupted!
The quicksilver vortex of the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands abruptly expanded. Countless palms reached out in all directions, brandishing as if clutching invisible things.
A tangible tornado tore upward from the ground, draping over the frame of the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands like a mournful shroud of white.
Then, in the most literal sense, it moved like lightning!
It surged forward in a straight line!
Brazenly advancing against the furious onslaught from all the workshops, it broke into the broken concentric circles. The scarlet greatsword in its hand swept out, tearing free from the tug of the Kunwu Lock, scooping upward, and lifting high.
Without the slightest warning, it drove this full-strength strike deep into the earth!
In an instant, the land convulsed and the crust overturned. Boundless soil and rock were hurled into the sky by explosive force.
From deep beneath the earth came a sharp shriek resembling a scream of agony!
Faintly expanding spiritus circuits surfaced from the fissures, only to rapidly disintegrate.
Inside the Five Flowers and Five Leaves workshop, the craftsman’s face turned deathly pale.
Right in front of him, the massive Earth Axis Armillary ground to a sudden halt amid the turmoil churned up by that sword strike. Deformed components ground against one another, sparks spraying wildly. After gathering momentum for so long, before it could once more stimulate the ley lines to summon magma and earthquakes, the opponent had already caught wind of its movements...
Rocked by the sword’s recoil, the Earth Axis Armillary suffered a backlash from the collapsing ley lines, crashing and throwing the entire workshop's operations into sluggish disarray, leaving it incapable of responding.
It had entered its most vulnerable moment.
What filled the craftsman with even greater despair was that he could harbor no hope of lucky reprieve!
With Ji Jue's keen insight, there was no way he would let such a critical opening pass.
All it took was a concentrated assault to literally rip the entire workshop out by its roots.
Severed from the ley lines, his workshop possessed no power to resist and would be completely at his mercy.
Yet in the next breath, the craftsman was stunned.
Amid the earth-shaking roar, Ji Jue had merely struck out with a casual slash. After delivering a heavy blow to the outer perimeter defenses, he turned without warning and lunged toward the Phantasm Realm Workshop, whose presence was nearly impossible to pin down amid the mist!
The bell chimed in vain.
The chains that Clock Tower Workshop had set up around the Five Flowers and Five Leaves workshop finally manifested, but they caught only empty air, failing entirely to snag the speeding Ji Jue.
They had missed!
[Stop him! Quick!]
At that split second, inside Dragon Heart Workshop, an unbelievable voice sounded in Lin Ke's ear. Borne upon flowing spiritus, Andrei's message from Clock Tower Workshop emerged in his mind: [I will pay you two thousand units of spiritus to form an alliance right now. I guarantee your workshop's integrity. Unless we are the only two left, I will not cause you the slightest harm.]
?!
Lin Ke froze, unable to comprehend.
There was too little time.
Between Ji Jue's speed, Andrei's sudden message, and the rapidly shifting situation, confusion rushed in with no time to sort through it.
What on earth was Andrei doing?
Tricking him into taking the blow?
Why?
Were two thousand units of spiritus worth unleashing the Lock of Knots first and revealing his trump card?
Too much had changed in that fleeting instant.
In the span of a spark, he couldn't even form a clear decision.
Then he saw it—having broken through the bindings and seals of illusions and rainbow light, that massive Construct of Ten Thousand Hands paid no heed to Phantasm Realm's resistance. Abruptly, it swerved once again...
It took several rounds of shifting between reality and illusion head-on, yet claimed no kill!
Much thunder, but little rain.
It had merely traced a huge, futile circle, bypassing the Clock Tower Workshop that posed the greatest threat to itself, before slamming a sword strike onto the teetering Nine Seals Workshop.
In an instant, the spiritus tree was severed at the trunk.
And before everyone's dumbfounded gazes, the crack-riddled Construct of Ten Thousand Hands suddenly expanded. Ignoring the entangling bites of the Hundred-Eyed Giant, it reached out and seized... Lou Feng's crystal spire!
With a sudden burst of force, it pulled!
The crystalline monolith, originally rooted so deep that it should have been immovable, was simply yanked out of the ground by Ji Jue?!
It shouldn't have been this easy, but earlier, the ley lines had been channeled and gathered by the Earth Axis Armillary, only to be impaled by Ji Jue's sword...
Now, all of Luye Island was violently quivering in an earthquake. Lou Feng hadn't even had the chance to stabilize his workshop.
But why?!
What was the point?
For a moment, everyone stared in disbelief.
Wait, weren't they friends?!
No, even if they were just fair-weather friends, in a situation like this, shouldn't they be allies watching each other's backs and offering mutual support?
Pulling out a sword out of nowhere to sacrifice an ally to the heavens?!
Inside Dragon Heart Workshop, Lin Ke's hands were still clutching countless interwoven knots, too late to react.
[What a pity—]
Andrei's message surfaced tardily through the spiritus transmission.
It was hard to imagine what could make that stony freak express such regret. At the same time, while utterly baffled, Lin Ke grew increasingly annoyed: What the hell are you on about? If you can't speak like a normal human, then keep your mouth shut!
The stone remained indifferent, offering only: [Soon, you will understand what you missed.]
In an instant, gripped by the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands, the crystal spire was torn from the earth and hoisted into midair.
"Ji Jue, you fucking..."
Amid the heaven-and-earth-shaking tumult, Lou Feng nearly slammed into his own ceiling.
Clinging desperately to a handle, he panted heavily.
"Things have come to this, Old Lou, and you're still not considering surrendering?"
Across the thick crystalline wall, a teasing voice sounded: "Who knows? For the sake of our old friendship, maybe I could carry you across the finish line!"
"Ha, go ahead if you've got the guts!"
Lou Feng laughed out of sheer fury. "Kill me! Make it quick!"
Who was he trying to fool? Did this dog really think Lou Feng didn't know him?!
He understood Ji Jue all too well.
As the saying went, the one who understood you best was often your enemy, followed by your rival in the same trade.
Lou Feng happened to be both!
For a long time, treating Ji Jue as his imaginary rival, he had poured in an unimaginable amount of effort—tailoring techniques to counter him, dissecting his train of thought, and digging deep for intelligence.
With the influence of the Lou clan, the information they could dig up was staggering.
His battle records since making a name for himself, his experiences, even every record since birth—the hospital where he was born in Shuzhou, the household registration transfers, his history of schooling and part-time jobs in Yacheng...
Toward him, Lou Feng felt jealousy, confusion, and admiration in equal measure.
By now, he could pat his chest and say: no one understood Ji Jue better than him—no one!
He even suspected that Ji Jue was the one chosen by the Celestial Conscription in Yacheng not long ago; he simply lacked evidence and couldn't be bothered to expose it.
In his analysis of Ji Jue, beyond his astonishing drive and self-control, one thing was undeniable: the guy was an absolute pragmatist!
As long as it worked, as long as it took effect, that was all that mattered.
If it wasn't necessary, he wouldn't spend a single cent's worth of effort on decorations or embellishments.
If he wanted to win, he would use every unscrupulous means at his disposal, pulling out all the stops with deceit and trickery. If victory was already guaranteed, he wouldn't even waste his breath talking; he would simply steamroll through.
With a scoundrel like this, one couldn't listen to his words—not a single word could be trusted. One had to watch his actions; not a single feint could be overlooked!
Which meant...
Whenever this bastard started putting on an act, it meant he was covering up something of vital importance!
Especially right now!
Going through all this trouble just to pin him down?
"Clown!"
Lou Feng sneered and demanded sharply, "How much spiritus do you have left in reserve? How long can you keep moving? Can you even keep up with the consumption?!"
Once one was not deceived and drawn in by Ji Jue's smoke screen, and not intimidated by his bluster, it was easy to see what his series of swift, fierce attacks and provocations were meant to conceal...
Anyone could figure it out with half a brain: the larger a construct was, the more absurd its spiritus demand, just like how bigger and heavier vehicles consumed terrifying amounts of fuel.
A Sage's legacy and a workshop of quicksilver were indeed magnificent, formidable, and mighty.
But at what cost?!
Even if you sucked all those aberrations dry, how long could that consumption last? Even if you completely drained two workshops, just how high could your spiritus utilization and conversion rates really be?!
"I'd expect nothing less from you."
Ji Jue sighed softly, making no attempt to hide it. "Yeah, counting down the time, I can probably last about twenty more seconds."
After twenty seconds, without any need for other workshops to attack, the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands would collapse under its own weight...
And that was merely the cost of maintaining basic operation.
If he made any moves, the duration would be even shorter.
With every second that ticked by, Ji Jue's defeat drew one step closer.
He was about to run out of juice!
However, it didn't matter...
"Don't I still have you!"
Even leaving aside his accomplishments as a craftsman, Ji Jue had experienced the marvel of the Lou clan's heritage countless times.
Spiritus shaping was the direct manipulation and utilization of the soul and energy. Lou Feng could shape an entire workshop out of spiritus, and by that same token, he could operate in reverse... converting the crystals strewn across the battlefield back into spiritus!
Rounding it out, how was this Lou Feng's workshop? This was clearly that giant spiritus generator Ji Jue had lost back home!
And it was an all-purpose power bank that would allow him to squander and consume to his heart's content without ever worrying about running dry!
At this moment, the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands gripped both ends of the crystal spire, making a gesture as if about to snap it, much like throttling Lou Feng by the throat. Ji Jue's tone was thoroughly earnest: "We've known each other for so many years. You wouldn't just leave a friend to die, would you?"
"Ha!"
Lou Feng scoffed coldly, "Why the hell should I?!"
"You have a choice," Ji Jue said. "Either get eliminated right now and we both go down together, or give your brother a hand, and I guarantee you second place!"
"Who gave you the illusion that I'd let you call the shots?!"
Lou Feng smiled coldly and shook his head without hesitation. "Do it, Ji Jue! I'm dropping out of the exam! Even if I jump from here today—"
Before he could finish, the hundred-thousand-ton straw that broke the camel's back descended from above.
It was merely a soft whisper.
Free of malice, free of threat.
It simply laid out a fact in plain, direct words.
In that split second before the spiritus consumption countdown hit zero, Ji Jue sighed softly and told him:
"—Your aunt's phone number really wasn't hard to find."
Boom!
The crystal spire shuddered violently. Boundless spiritus surged forth, following the circuits and interfaces already opened by the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands, pouring into the deepest depths of the vortex.
The Crucible quivered, and flames leaped skyward!
As if attaching a brand-new limb, Ji Jue's spiritus reserves surged, swelled, and exploded exponentially!
In the span of a single snap of the fingers, it was almost completely topped off, yet immediately plunged again under voracious consumption.
It was practically a bottomless pit!
After repeating this three times, the Construct of Ten Thousand Hands abruptly collapsed, and vast amounts of quicksilver reconstructed from the dissolution, as if undergoing a reborn metamorphosis.
When countless arms once more extended from that bizarre vortex, scarlet crystalline blades had already manifested between each set of five fingers.
Now, with a casual sweep, innumerable pale fractures appeared in the void, spreading and branching...
In an instant, an untold number of blades slashed and swept, stirring up a tempest that completely swallowed the Hundred-Eyed Giant.
Then, the Hundred-Eyed Giant dissolved into a rain of blood that poured down, dyeing the earth crimson.
Not a trace of bone remained!
Between sea and sky, ten thousand hands and ten thousand swords flared.
Just like the solemn, terrifying scarlet wheel of light blazing behind a divine Buddha!
Chapter 287