Crucible Blood, Unquenched Fuel, Heaven-Endowed Spirit.
During Metamorphosis, Non-Offensive pointed toward only these three blessings. They progressed step by step, intertwining and indispensable to one another.
Now that Crucible Blood was complete, Ji Jue needed to consider taking the next step and preparing early.
Though all three relied on the experience and creation of the Embers path, their specific facets, leanings, and requirements were distinct.
Crucible Blood centered on mastery of craft and dedication to creation—both vital to crossing the threshold. Unquenched Fuel demanded quantity, scale, and, above all, the impact wrought by one's work. Heaven-Endowed Spirit, meanwhile, hinged on quintessential quality and crowning achievement.
With Haian Auto Works under his control, Ji Jue could use this very channel to ramp up the volume of his creations, thereby exerting broader change and influence through his work.
Besides, a craftsman's pockets always had holes.
Money, materials, blessings, techniques, spiritus—there was never enough.
Entering the factory as an "intern" carried risks, but the benefits were equally enticing.
To those behemoths, such a massive project might just be scraps slipping through their fingers, but to Ji Jue, even a single lick would leave him dripping with grease.
"Ye Xian and I have known each other for so many years. Though it's mostly been bad blood—hardly making us sisters or bosom friends—we can at least advance and retreat together. There's no need for you to be so tense and solemn."
Lyu Yingyue smiled candidly. "Relax a bit. Whatever terms you have, feel free to lay them out."
Naturally, Ji Jue wouldn't stand on ceremony.
This was what he had come for.
"What about funding?"
Tossing such a massive factory to him after it had sat idle for so many years meant vermin damage, rot, and rust had taken a toll. Most likely, only an empty shell remained, probably coated in mold.
Embers was about creation, not conjuring things out of thin air. Even if Tianlu himself came, without money, he wouldn't be able to get production rolling.
"There's a dedicated fund, prepared well in advance."
Lyu Yingyue replied without hesitation, "Someone will liaise with you shortly. Just tell them whatever you need. The budget has a ceiling, but it's more than enough to resume production and let you squander money on decades of wine and revelry."
To get things done, start throwing money around. Money wasn't omnipotent, but more money always smoothed the way.
She wasn't so stingy as to pinch pennies on an affair like this.
Besides, it wasn't coming out of her own pocket.
Ji Jue's heart relaxed halfway. He continued, "And City Hall?"
Reviving Haian touched on countless angles and couldn't bypass the administrative bureaucracy. Forget production—taxes, commerce, environmental protection, construction—any of those steps could choke the project in its crib. An outsider could spend a lifetime running errands and never finish navigating the red tape.
Lyu Yingyue was even less worried about this. She merely said, "The Governor is an open-minded man. When it comes to the relevant matters, he will give you his full backing."
*Then could someone please make Xu Chaoxian drop dead?*
Ji Jue instinctively wanted to make a modest suggestion, but considering Xu Chaoxian was currently half an allied unit, he had to let it go for now.
*Never mind, no rush. He can die after this is done.*
"What about resources?" Ji Jue asked next.
Building cars couldn't be done behind closed doors. Materials and equipment across all facets required suppliers. Surely he wasn't expected to handcraft everything using Non-Offensive?
How many donkey years would that take?
Lyu Yingyue's smile grew increasingly mysterious, carrying a veiled meaning. "Whatever Yacheng has is yours for the taking. What it doesn't have, you can negotiate for—plenty of people will foot the bill. As for the process and details, I don't think anyone will care."
With things spelled out so plainly, surely a bright young man knew what to do.
Ji Jue's heart finally settled into his chest.
Except, beyond that...
"Due to some personal research, I also need quite a bit of spiritus fuel," Ji Jue said. "Preferably Leviathan-class. The more, the better."
Phlogiston fuel could be bought just stepping out the door, but the moment anything touched the high-end sphere, it became outrageously expensive, with insurmountable barriers to entry.
Not to mention fuel capable of powering the Doomsday Express; at minimum, it required the spiritus fuel equipped on Leviathan-class aerospace warships.
Taking on an endeavor fraught with infinite risk required having an escape route planned first.
With someone footing the bill for once, how could Ji Jue pass up the chance to resolve his most troublesome, resource-draining, and heavily restricted problem?
Once the Doomsday Express got moving, who could hold him back without a space-anchoring anchor from the Star Core Association?
Ji Jue's demands weren't particularly high.
He didn't drive the train often anyway; enough to cover ten or twenty years of fuel consumption would do.
This seemed to catch Lyu Yingyue off guard.
After pondering for a moment, she got up to make a call and returned shortly.
"It's settled. It will be delivered to your home tonight. But I'm afraid it won't be too much—after all, the Haizhou Military District's monthly quota and consumption are constantly monitored by the Energy Bureau. For now, I can only give you six tons."
"Six tons will do." Ji Jue suppressed the urge for the corners of his mouth to curl upward.
Six tons? At a critical moment, six tons of fuel was enough for him to flee from the Federation all the way to the Mid-Continent! Even a Celestial-Human probably couldn't catch him!
"I know what else you want to ask, so I'll tell you all at once." Lyu Yingyue smiled calmly. "The Third Department's materials repository is fully open to you. Whatever catches your eye, take it as you please. However, our stock of blessings isn't large, so just don't empty it out on me."
Ji Jue nodded. "In that case, I have no further questions."
"No more questions?"
Lyu Yingyue's brows arched slightly, surprised by Ji Jue's appetite.
Not because he asked for too much, but because he asked for so little.
Funding and City Hall support were the barest essentials; anyone taking the job would make sure of those first. And the Third Department's materials and blessings were already part of the pre-planned compensation for him.
The truly critical and precious items certainly wouldn't be kept in a materials storehouse; all Ji Jue would get was material backing from the Third Department.
Beyond that, while spiritus fuel had high restrictions and strict vetting, it wasn't much trouble for Lyu Yingyue.
For Ji Jue to let things go so lightly was hardly characteristic of an Embers craftsman.
"Opportunities like this are rare. Sure you won't reconsider?"
Lyu Yingyue reminded him again, for old friend's sake.
A youngster's appetite could afford to be a bit bigger. The uncles and aunties had plenty of money in their pockets; well-behaved kids were well-liked, but they also suffered grievances, whereas demanding brats often walked away with more.
Ask for the moon, settle on earth.
There was no shame in a craftsman talking about money.
"Beyond this, if there's anything else needed, I'll let my teacher ask on my behalf."
Ji Jue smiled candidly, paying no heed to the implication in Lyu Yingyue's words.
He said, "If my teacher needs me to do it, then I'll do it. If she thinks this is best, then so be it."
This was Ji Jue's own choice.
After clearly understanding the risks and rewards, he had chosen to take this assignment from his teacher's hands, grasping both the opportunity and the hardship.
From beginning to end, he had always had a choice. He could easily have turned and walked away, or refused the arrangement.
As his teacher, Ye Xian had never treated him as a tool or an expendable asset as a matter of course.
Clearly, a single order would have sufficed.
She hadn't even brought up training in the Treatise on Xiang Swords, and had instead entrusted the Mirror of Contained Forms to him beforehand, ensuring that whichever choice he made—to stay or to leave—his future and freedom remained in his own hands.
With his teacher taking such pains for him, what reason did he, as her student, have to hesitate?
Why leave the opportunity to some other backup candidate?
His slacker senior sister could just keep on being a freeloader. It was best if she continued basking on the couch, idling her time away with potato chips and cola, waiting for Factory Director Ji to return later and tell her of his glorious deeds, or let her admire the chief craftsman's latest papers and achievements.
The time to take charge had arrived.
As a craftsman, he ought to step forward without hesitation!
"That settles it," he said resolutely.
In the brief silence, Lyu Yingyue looked at his composed expression. After a long moment, she sighed softly, "You really are a good student, Ji Jue."
"That's because I have a good teacher," Ji Jue smiled, brimming with pride.
Just like that, after brief pleasantries, he stood to take his leave and departed.
The door clicked shut.
In the quiet room, Lyu Yingyue looked back out the window toward the city and the shimmering waters beyond.
The afternoon sun poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, a sharp line carving light from darkness.
She leaned back in the chair between bright light and shadow, silent. The warm smile that everyone was accustomed to seeing seemed to dissolve in the divide between light and dark, giving way to a complex, inscrutable emotion.
After a long while, she let out a faint sigh.
*Ye Xian... why is that woman's luck always so damn good?*
***
Once he decided to take action, he wasted no time.
Three months sounded like a long time, but for an auto plant, it was absurdly brief—not even long enough to clear a single payment cycle.
Otherwise, if mechanical engineering alone could solve it, there would have been no need to rely on alchemy.
After meeting with Lyu Yingyue and the head of finance, Ji Jue set off without delay toward his upcoming workplace: Haian Auto Works.
Driving out of the city, he hadn't gone far before he spotted an unkempt, stubbly middle-aged man waiting by the roadside in the wastelands, waving with overflowing enthusiasm.
"Mr. Ji, right?"
The middle-aged man immediately offered a cigarette and a light, beaming with joy. "I just got word and have been waiting right here. You're heading over to check out the plant? Follow me, just follow me. Keep going a little further and we're there—yes, left turn up ahead."
Guided by the greeter, Little Niuma navigated the bend and drove through a grove of trees until the factory buildings in the distance grew clear.
Ji Jue couldn't help puffing out his chest, lifting his head, and smiling, admiring the kingdom that was soon to be his.
*His Excellency, Acting Factory Director Ji Jue, has arrived at his loyal Haian Auto Works!*
And then, he froze on the spot...
In the prolonged silence, he stared at the scene outside the window. After a long pause, he turned to the greeter in the passenger seat. "Where's the auto plant?"
"This is it right here."
The middle-aged man pointed ahead, radiant with cheer.
Cracked, fissured ground; collapsed perimeter walls; debt-collection graffiti sprayed in red paint that, like the production slogans and safety warnings, had grown mottled and faded in the elements—relics of days gone by.
Beside a cracked three-story building, the dilapidated main gate of the workshop was encrusted in rust. A breeze blew past, rattling the swaying chains with a hollow clatter.
A scrawny, mangy yellow dog slipped deftly through a gap beneath the gate, trotted to the corner of the workshop wall, and lifted its hind leg.
A trickling shower nourished the wild weeds sprouting from the cracks.
Not a pedestrian in sight.
Inside the facility, a strip of greenery colonized by a nearby peasant had been tilled into farmland. An old, sun-blackened farmer in a straw hat raised a ladle to splash down a scoop of manure, helping the scallions and leeks grow all the more lush and vigorous.
A scene teeming with vitality, where all things competed to thrive, leaped right before his eyes.
It made Ji Jue's vision darken, darken, and darken again.
*Fuck... I asked for too little!*
Chapter 318