"The waters run deep in the Desert Sea Rally. Even though it's an official event, accidents are inevitable in every running. Even with a full live broadcast, there are far too many places the cameras simply can't reach."
Over the phone, Tong Shengnian spoke frankly. "Don't overestimate those people's bottom line, and there's no need for you to wade into those waters yourself. If you're worried about walking back what you said in public, I can arrange things. There's no need to stand on ceremony at a time like this."
"Actually, taking part in the Desert Sea Rally was decided from the very beginning. It wasn't an impulse decision on a whim."
Ji Jue politely declined. "Thank you for the kind intentions, Uncle Shengnian, but I don't like leaving things half-done. So please think of it as seeing things through to the end."
"...All right, I understand."
Hearing that, Tong Shengnian sighed. Having failed to dissuade him, he didn't nag any further. "I'll handle the rest of the support. Don't worry about that.
"Just remember to take care of yourself. These past few days, the old man has been muttering about why that young fellow hasn't come over for tea."
"Next time, definitely!" Ji Jue promised emphatically.
Tong Shengnian fell silent for a moment. Over the phone, through what sounded like traditional opera playing on a television, a faint, mocking chuckle from an old man drifted through.
*Leave it to you, kid.*
*Lying right to an Aether's doorstep, for fuck's sake!*
Ji Jue felt an instant pang of awkwardness.
There was no helping it; he was genuinely terrified. In the presence of a dignified Aether Celestial-Human, a single casual glance would probably reveal the exact color of his underpants. He truly felt intimidated.
"The road ahead is long. Be careful in all things."
With an emotional murmur and a final sigh, Tong Shengnian hung up.
He was truly worried that something might happen to Ji Jue.
Unlike Tong Ting's pursuit of thrills and excitement or Tong Shan's appreciation for Ji Jue's character, he cherished Ji Jue's resilience and capability from the bottom of his heart.
Such a well-rounded talent proven by reality was someone you could entrust with heavy responsibilities with complete peace of mind, even in a mere business collaboration. Once you laid out the requirements and goals, you could simply let him loose without micromanaging. Not an ounce of worry needed; it saved peace of mind, effort, and money.
As the Tong family's public helmsman, his way of doing things had always been restrained and reserved. Reaching seventy percent was plenty; in all matters, excess was as bad as deficiency. His whole philosophy revolved around rock-solid stability, pursuing the lowest risk and the safest strategy.
Feeling the difference between himself and Ji Jue once again, he couldn't help but sigh with regret.
If only he could bring him into his own conglomerate. By joining hands, who was to say they couldn't expand their operations to an even grander scale in the future?
Still, at least A-Shan got along well with him, so there would be plenty of chances to deepen ties down the road. But to think that their family had someone on even closer terms with him, yet why was she...
"What's wrong, Second Uncle?"
Wriggling on the sofa while munching dried fruit and fiddling with her phone, the silly girl perceptively looked up. "Couldn't talk him out of it?"
Tong Hua nodded in realization, commenting wistfully, "I told you, that Ji Jue guy is stubborn as a mule. Completely impervious to reason."
Tong Shengnian's expression turned complicated, a faint phantom ache blooming in his stomach.
"No, it's nothing. Go on and play."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a silent sigh. Remembering business matters, he stepped out of the living room to call his secretary. Faint murmurs drifted in from beyond the door:
"Yes, this stock. It's about to hit the daily limit down. Dump it all immediately..."
***
"Not bad."
After the banquet ended and Ji Jue finished replying to all his messages, he finally received an appraisal from his teacher, Ye Xian, over the phone.
It was a rare piece of positive feedback.
Ji Jue was instantly overjoyed, yet couldn't resist a moment of modesty. "Actually, I didn't do that much. Even the designs were mostly other people's credit. At best, I was just playing second fiddle."
"Indeed."
Ye Xian sighed and said bluntly, "You've been far too indolent lately. Positively outrageous.
"Not much progress in engineering. Plenty of other people's designs are visible, and aside from that, it's all stacked specs and Frankenstein creations—not a trace of your own style.
"In alchemy, other than that fluid-molding steel, there wasn't much of note either.
"As for the Treatise on Xiang Swords..."
She paused, declining to continue her sharp critique.
In any case, becoming infamous in academic and educational circles was already a foregone conclusion. For the sake of her blood pressure, it was better not to dwell on it.
Suffice it to say, for Ji Jue to concoct such an utterly unhinged, demonic monstrosity proved he had a certain undeniable knack for causing mayhem and earning eternal infamy.
As expected of Stagnant Rot's top pick.
Back then, she had still beaten him too lightly.
Unfortunately, the disaster was already done; there was no bending him back now. She could only watch as he barreled headlong down a path of unchecked, feral growth.
Looking on the bright side, at the very least, the ancestral heritage had been passed down.
As for what shape it had taken—that was another story entirely.
"By the way, once you're done with everything, remember to come back and make up your spiritus offense and defense classes."
"Still making those up?"
Ji Jue broke into a cold sweat instantly. "Didn't you just say I did well?"
"Mhm. Aside from that, it was decent enough," Ye Xian said slowly. "Out of all those products, only that final set of prosthetics had any real merit and conscience."
From the Green Bean and Peanut used initially to explore the manufacturing pipeline, to the Radish and Cabbage, the results were certainly startling, but in essence, it had been like an internship—methodically executing the techniques he had previously mastered according to standard procedure.
Not to mention Yan Jian's primary contribution throughout.
Even if there were highlights, in Ye Xian's eyes, they were only to be expected. If it had been complete garbage, Ji Jue had no business being an engineer or a craftsman at all.
It wasn't embarrassing, but neither could it be considered outstanding for someone of his caliber.
Except for the final Chili.
To be precise, it was the compact assisted prosthetic system that bore no resemblance to military exoskeletons, where no one else had intervened, and where every bit of design and quality control was completed by Ji Jue's own hand!
Building upon the leg prosthetic Ji Jue had previously designed, it achieved a full-body design and integration on an entirely different level of difficulty. At the same time, shedding his past bad habit of piling on materials whenever in doubt, he had framed the entire system with exquisite balance while maximizing cost-effectiveness.
To achieve this, he had gone to immense lengths, pushing every design facet and material property to the absolute limit solely to reduce production difficulty and capital investment as much as possible, ensuring its manufacturing cost remained dirt-cheap.
Among these, a particularly crucial point was...
In the final product, there was not a single trace of an alchemical process!
Even though Isis had performed calculations and trial-and-error throughout, and he had tirelessly crafted numerous prototypes using Non-Offensive and alchemy, in the end, all that blood and sweat had guaranteed that what flowed off the production line was a purely industrial product.
It possessed no spiritus, nor had it undergone alchemical processing.
When confronted with difficult problems, while wielding Non-Offensive and bearing three great legacies, to still exercise restraint and solve problems purely as an engineer was truly commendable.
One had to know that among all of Haian Auto Works' current products, more or less every one carried traces of alchemy. Even if it merely skirted the edges, even if it exploited technicalities in the rules, the Guild would never let it slide indefinitely.
If they couldn't find a way to substitute the effects of alchemy through industrial processes before then, they would inevitably face regulatory control from the Guild, or even an outright ban.
But that prosthetic was different; it could be produced indefinitely.
Even if it yielded no profit at all, even if Haian underwent a restructuring in the future and brought in a mercenary, profit-obsessed CEO, they would never pass up the chance to deepen the brand's influence through such a product.
This was a gold-plated brand asset truly worthy of taking a loss to manufacture.
No one would stand against it. As long as it existed, it would enjoy the backing of the Church of Chongguang, the Disabled Persons Association, and the Veterans Club.
Likewise, it would allow those who truly needed them to stand once more.
Even if this change in fortune was slender, compared to the grim cruelty of reality, it was already as wondrous as a dream.
"You did very well, Ji Jue."
Ye Xian made no attempt to conceal her praise and admiration. "As an engineer in the purest sense, you have taken your first step.
"Use this as your graduation project. When you get the chance, write a thesis covering the detailed process and the treatments involved, and then you can prepare for your defense—we'll settle your undergraduate and graduate defenses all in one go."
"Huh?"
Ji Jue was dumbfounded. "Th-this fast? Wait, I'm only... this isn't even graduation season."
"As a professor at Tianmen University, I still have that much authority. Besides, looking at what you've become now, keeping your enrollment lingering at Tianmen University is the real problem, isn't it?"
Ye Xian countered, "Or are you not planning to graduate?
"If so, that works out fine. I can arrange a direct master's-to-doctoral track. I happen to have a few troublesome projects for you. Once you finish them and produce results, you could practically secure an official faculty position at Tianmen.
"Though I suspect your ambitions lie elsewhere."
"Well, I... haven't really decided yet," Ji Jue scratched his head, hesitating for a moment.
Still, Ye Xian was right.
He truly had no interest in being a teacher.
If he were actually made to walk the traditional academic path to educate students, that would truly be an endless poison inflicting harm for ten thousand years. God only knew what kind of rare oddities he might train.
Besides, while one could balance the identities of an engineer and a craftsman, given Ji Jue's current situation, before reaching the realm of a Celestial-Human, he ought to focus his efforts on his own rank and craft.
Since his teacher had arranged it, so be it.
In any case, it made no difference to Ji Jue.
His home was right at the doorstep of the Tide Sound Workshop; could she really kick him out?
Ye Xian concluded, "As for the Desert Sea Rally, Lyu Yingyue just mentioned it to me. Seeing more of the world is a good thing. There's no harm in giving it a try."
Ji Jue's eyes lit up instantly. "Then Brother Ball..."
"I have uses for Guigong; don't even think about it," Ye Xian said. "Since you had the guts to sign up, you'd better be prepared to cover your own back. Don't go counting on others for help with everything.
"Besides—"
She paused, offering a meaningful reminder. "Isn't the client just waiting for you to open your mouth?"
As a craftsman, if you didn't even know how to ask for budget and investment, you might as well delete your account and quit playing.
Where in the world was the logic in going out and working for someone for free?
***
After hanging up, Ji Jue returned to the workshop beneath the factory grounds and didn't show his face again. He left all miscellaneous chores for others to handle, focusing entirely on preparing for the Desert Sea.
Not until more than a week later did the sound of violent boiling abruptly erupt within the massive crucible.
Endless bloody hues surged and billowed, spreading wildly like a sea of blood bursting its dikes. In an instant, it broke through material bonds, the crimson light hovering between physical and ethereal engulfing everything.
Including Ji Jue.
Yet from start to finish, Ji Jue stood motionless as a reef.
He looked down indifferently at the crucible before him.
The rushing crimson surged up to him, yet as if in fear, parted abruptly down the middle and swept to either side. But no matter how it churned and seeped, it could not breach the workshop's confines.
Countless bubbles rose from the bloody hue and popped, giving rise to wails of anguish.
Yet the moment Ji Jue reached out a hand, the wailing ceased abruptly. As if time were reversing, the rushing crimson flowed backward, contracting inward, dragged back into the crucible by a tyrannical force far greater than its own.
Bathed in raging flames, subjected to bitter torment.
Until a faint, humming resonance rose once more from the parched bloodiness, piercing the silence and echoing through the entire workshop. Wherever the lingering resonance passed, even the air seemed severed by invisible blades, crackling ceaselessly.
The instant the final ember died in the darkness, an invisible spiritus hand plunged in, clenching tight and cutting off the last sword resonance.
A streak of shifting, shuttling light arrived.
A translucent, crystalline broken blade appeared before his eyes!
Pan Ying had transformed again!
Having gone through the slaughter and sacrifices on the wasteland before, it had undergone three rounds of tempering in a single breath, officially embarking on transfiguring form and marrow.
After devouring numerous lives and sacrificial offerings, the crimson that had once clung thick and viscous to the broken blade, as if ready to drip at any moment, had subsided considerably. It had turned into a semi-transparent blade resembling crystal, while within the alluring, blood-red crystal, wisps of pitch-black spread along the blade's spine like blood vessels.
Its length had reached one chi and four cun. Held in the hand, it no longer looked as awkward as before.
Moreover, the grip felt far more accommodating.
Like an extension of his own arm.
Held in his grasp, even with no experience whatsoever, myriad sword techniques and maneuvers—like wondrous flashes of inspiration—continually manifested out of thin air within his mind. When swung at will, there was not the slightest obstruction.
What was even more chilling was a certain instinct that followed.
No, it was more like an undeniable, self-evident realization.
An enlightenment!
Human beings lived in this world by killing something to sustain themselves: slaughtering oxen for meat, slaying sheep to sleep upon their fleece, reaping grain to ward off hunger—and even taking lives to achieve attainment!
It felt as if one were liberated in an instant from the bonds and shackles of morality and misgivings, free to eliminate rivals, shatter karmic hindrances, and destroy enemies as natural matters of course.
Kill those who block your path—what wrong was there in that?!
The principles of the mortal world ought to be precisely so!
No need for the urges of ravenous greed, no need for the erosion of maddened bloodlust—the instant this realization surfaced in the breast, even the most rigidly upright moralist would one day turn into a fiend who slaughtered his own kind and treated life as cheap.
"To be fair, you're not wrong," Ji Jue murmured, caressing the blade. "In this world, expecting pity among our own kind is far too much of a luxury; tearing each other apart has become the norm instead.
"Even after writing endless moral treatises, in the end it still comes down to blades and swords. Truly pathetic.
"Only..." He paused, smiling as he asked, "Are you trying to tell me how to do things?"
In an instant, the crimson and pitch-black upon the blade retreated entirely, every supernatural anomaly vanishing without a trace.
In the dead silence, only a faint, trembling wail remained.
A humble plea.
Ji Jue waved his hand, not bothering to look any longer. The blade rose into the air, but before it could fall, a ferocious iron claw seized it tightly. Layers of seals engaged as dragon blood spread, binding and entwining, dragging it down into its scabbard.
Immediately afterward, Little Niuma's body shifted, contracting and expanding with the grinding screech of steel, transforming once again into an immense vehicle. It still looked like an off-road truck, but after days of continuous modification and recasting, it appeared increasingly eerie and ferocious.
Soon, even the last trace of leaked aura was completely reined in by the dragon blood, and its appearance returned to the ordinary.
It was as if it were merely a remarkably modified off-road vehicle.
Only now, the vehicle was wriggling its chassis with excitement, flashing its headlights at Ji Jue and panting through its massive intake grille.
Long since unable to wait.
"Sir, Tong Shan has sent a message. The airship has touched down and is awaiting your arrival at any time," Isis reported. "Yesterday, Miss Ye Chun sent a message indicating that your thesis seems to have left her utterly frazzled. She told you to watch your back on dark roads in the future.
"Miss Tong Hua reminded you to bring back local specialties.
"Miss Wen Wen sent over a bottle of twenty-year-aged flammable beverage, reminding you to drink it if you get sleepy on the road.
"After you depart, the relocation of the workshop will commence. Progress reports will be sent to your phone periodically. Please check them as they arrive."
"So cold, Isis."
Ji Jue reached out to take the suitcase handed to him by a mechanical arm, turning back to gaze at the workshop spirit woven from countless points of starlight. "Before I head out, don't you have anything to say?"
Isis remained as cool as ever. The faint humanoid silhouette merely bowed slightly in farewell. "Then, I wish you a smooth journey."
"..."
Ji Jue froze in a daze, doubting his own ears.
To the point of utter disbelief:
"For real?"
"Apologies, it was false."
The surging starlight shifted faintly, and that blurred countenance betrayed a hint of scorn and disgust. "In that case, I wish you get what you desire: may your corpse be left exposed in the wilderness."
*Ah, yes, yes, yes, that's more like it!*
Ji Jue beamed instantly, refreshed and invigorated, and waved goodbye one last time.
Behind him, the blast gate lifted.
The massive armored off-road vehicle roared and accelerated outward, gradually drifting into the distance until it was nowhere to be seen.
Even the thunderous rumble of the engine faded from hearing.
The gate descended slowly.
And within the workshop, silence returned.
A ray of sunlight spilled through a narrow window, falling among the various pieces of equipment. Faint flecks of spiritus danced and flickered, then vanished without a trace.
So peaceful.
After parting with that troublesome master who did nothing but bark like a dog, it was finally quiet.
All things were in harmony; the stillness was exquisite.
Only, after who knew how long, in this seemingly eternal silence, a disgruntled sound rang out.
"Tsk..."
Chapter 350