Never Enough Fun

An Ning was angry—furious, in fact! She hadn't spoken a single word to Ji Jue for ten whole minutes! Then she realized that swallowing her anger only made her blood boil hotter, and taking a step back just stoked the flames... If keeping the peace meant suffering in silence, when had she, a proud daughter of the White Stag, ever endured such humiliating treatment? Then Ji Jue happened to look up at the rearview mirror and saw a little turtle doodled on his face. ? He stared in disbelief. Blinking, he noticed another one had appeared! Moreover, the number of little turtles multiplied at the exact frequency of his lapses in concentration. Eventually, they crawled all the way down his neck. When he raised a hand to wipe them off, he discovered his fingers had somehow been glued to the steering wheel... Oh, and his shoelaces were tied together, too. ??? Ji Jue turned back, glaring at her. Still bound by the quicksilver, An Ning casually looked away as if nothing had happened. "...Aren't you being a bit childish?" "Childish about what?" An Ning glared back. "Fine! I'm just an illiterate brat! A terrible person! I traveled thousands of miles, eager to help you, only to get treated like dirt... I don't want to ride with you anymore! Stop the car! Stop the car right now! I want to go home, and I'm never talking to you again!" Fierce as her words were, she remained trussed up in her seat, unable to budge—the very picture of pitiful helplessness. She simply turned her head away, puffing her cheeks out in a huff. Ji Jue let out a quiet sigh. With a touch of material property interference, he evaporated the glue on his fingertips and reached out to ruffle her hair. She immediately shook his hand off. Still mad! Yet the moment he pulled his hand back, her pout deepened even further. "..." With another sigh, Ji Jue reached over again. Her expression turned ferocious at once, baring her teeth and growling like a pup trying to bite him. Ji Jue ignored her struggles, pressing his hand firmly down on her head. After a thorough physical pacification that ruffled her hair into a bird's nest, he opened his palm. A translucent crystal trinket rested in the center of his hand. It looked like a pink gemstone tadpole, with a smooth, rounded head, an elongated body, and a delicate tail. At first glance, it resembled... "..." An Ning froze, wide-eyed in stunned disbelief. For a moment, she forgot she was even angry. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks. "Brother Ji Jue, you're... you're being this forward? Actually, I... I'm not that kind of girl... really..." *Smack!* Livid, Ji Jue immediately gave her forehead a sharp knuckle rap. "What on earth are you thinking?!" His composure shattered completely. "A Rupert's drop! You've at least heard of a Rupert's drop, right?! If you don't know, look it up yourself..." The moment she opened her mouth, the inner calm he had painstakingly reassembled crumbled once again. What kind of depraved filth had she just mistaken his hard work for?! After frantically searching on her phone for a while, An Ning looked up blankly. Meeting Ji Jue's glare, she averted her eyes, snatched the piece from his hand, and began fiddling with it, head lowered. She pretended nothing had happened. "D-don't think a tiny peace offering like this means I'll forgive you so easily!" "..." Ji Jue shook his head, thoroughly drained. His heart was exhausted. By manufacturing definition, when molten glass at high temperatures is dropped into cold water, the tadpole-shaped glass bead that forms is known as a Prince Rupert's drop. Though no one really knew who this Rupert was, everyone called it that, so it didn't matter. Its key feature was the immense hardness of its head; the internal compressive stress and surface tensile stress were enough to withstand severe impacts. However, if the tail were chipped or snapped, the entire structure would instantly shatter into dust. Usually, they were kept as art ornaments, ubiquitous and unremarkable. However, paired with the House of An's throwing arts, their combat efficacy would undergo a qualitative leap. The teardrop head, reshaped according to fluid dynamics, remained remarkably stable during high-speed flight while holding its integrity against metal barriers or repulsive defenses to deliver tremendous impact. At the same time, if the tail shattered on impact, the fragments would produce a devastating secondary burst. Whether used against heavily armored Huangxu juggernauts or Tianyuan controllers with overwhelming field dominion, it would prove formidable. Besides, with the House of An's projectile mastery, they could pull off even flashier tricks. She didn't need any pointers on how to use it. After playing with it for a bit, An Ning had already figured out the basics. Beaming with delight, she swooped it through the air like a toy airplane, making whirring noises. The core material was Dust Crystal, an upper-tier Huangxu material harvested from Yue Chen after his death. Reconstituted from leftover scrap, its weight and hardness were unquestionable, and it had been infused with corrupted wolf poison extracted from the blood of the wolf sin-beast. Since he was making them anyway, Ji Jue had simply melted down a generous batch of unused fragments and produced an entire crate of them. When she realized the whole box was hers, An Ning's eyes lit up instantly. Humming a tune, she completely forgot she had been angry a moment ago, even feigning astonishment. "Oh my, Brother Ji Jue, what's that on your face? Let me wipe it off for you!" "..." Ji Jue rolled his eyes. He didn't stop her, letting her grope all over him under the guise of wiping his face. He simply said, "They're consumables, so don't be stingy using them. If you notice any flaws or shortcomings, don't be shy—let me know right away." "Got it!" An Ning's eyes crinkled into crescents. "Thank you, Brother Ji Jue!" Ji Jue smiled back. *No need to thank me. Once you're done field-testing the prototype, I'll pass the upgraded, mature version to Xiao An.* *That way, all three of us are happy!* The road was long. After driving for an entire day, they hadn't run into a single opponent. Upon entering Longyuan, all competitors had sensibly put distance between one another. Out in the desert and the barren Gobi, under the continuous live broadcast of the race, nobody dared to pull any stunts. Anyone bold enough to try had already died back in Huangzhou and Kunwu. All was quiet, a day without incident. Glancing at the satellite map, Ji Jue checked his race time and found he held a lead of over nine hours. Seeing no reason to rush, he pulled over when night fell and chose to set up camp. "Brother Ji Jue, look! Look over here!" An Ning tumbled over the crest of a dune, hauling a dark, hairy tail in her hands. With a sharp heave, she dragged over a massive gray wolf twice her height, which lay on the sand playing dead, utterly devoid of any will to live. The rest of the desert pack didn't even dare approach. Peering from a distance, the moment they caught An Ning's gaze, they tucked their tails and scattered into the night. "Look, look! Fluffy!" Holding the giant wolf under its armpits like a lion dancer, An Ning hoisted its upper body into the air and swung it back and forth. "..." Ji Jue sighed softly. "Stop mistreating the wildlife." "I'm not!" An Ning protested loudly. She gathered the massive wolf head in her arms and nuzzled it twice. "See? It loves me!" *No, that beast looks like it's on the verge of tears.* It was shivering like a leaf. Before long, An Ning found a new game. Pulling out a length of rope, she harnessed the wolf, brandished a small whip, and forced it to pull a makeshift sled she had cobbled together, zooming across the sand. "Woohoo! Liftoff!" "Yay!" "Whoa—!" Under the sheer threat of death, the giant wolf bolted in terror, white foam bubbling at its jaws. Terrified to stop, it ran faster and faster, dragging her through the yellow dunes in sharp drifts and wild dashes. Meanwhile, Little Niuma trotted along behind like an overgrown goofball, shining its headlights to illuminate her path. "..." Ji Jue shook his head and decided to keep his distance. He didn't want the little terror harnessing him to that sled next... His phone vibrated softly with a message from afar. Isis: [Phase One equipment procurement is complete. Installation will be finished within five days. Considering recent price fluctuations in orichalcum and structural silver, I recommend waiting before further purchases. The preliminary configuration has been adjusted as follows—] After reading it, Ji Jue replied: [Understood. Thanks for your hard work.] Isis: [Rest assured, I will cherish the fortune you earned by selling your body :-)] [???] Ji Jue felt like the question marks above his head hadn't stopped multiplying all day. Selling his body? That was risking his neck, damn it! And what was with that smiley face? The mockery was practically dripping off the screen! [You are welcome. It is my duty,] Isis replied coolly. [Lastly, I wish you a pleasant journey.] "..." Ji Jue looked up toward the night sky. The stars glittered brightly, so clear and close they felt within reach. Yet they also seemed to gaze down in quiet, aloof surveillance. Amidst the endless sea of starlight, it was impossible to tell which star held Isis's gaze. *Why does she feel like a nagging supervisor...* Ji Jue sighed under his breath. *Watch all you want! Once the rally is over and your satellite access expires, let's see how you watch me then!* *Wait, doesn't she track my phone...?* *Oh, never mind then.* Ji Jue looked down and continued processing the materials at hand, racing against the clock. Even sealed under Solid Alchemy, many materials steadily degraded and decayed. Left unattended, half of them might turn useless by the time he made it back to Yacheng. Take the Dust Crystals that manifested on Yue Chen's remains after his demise. The Huangxu was the confluence of all material substance in the world. The closer one drew to the Huangxu, the clearer the characteristics of the soul and spirit became. Even in death, the shattered remains left behind essences manifested in material form—to say nothing of the fact that Yue Chen had stepped into Exaltation just before his end. In Ji Jue's palm, an amber grain of sand gradually settled into shape. Tiny as it was, it felt heavy as a boulder. Before being activated by spiritus, its properties were exceptionally stable, just like ordinary sand. But if properly utilized, even a single grain could elevate the load-bearing capacity and material properties of an entire blessed artifact by leaps and bounds, maxing out its rigidity, resilience, hardness, and overall structural strength. Ji Jue's quicksilver jar was already more than half-full of this precious material—and that was after repeated purifications had weeded out unstable, flawed dross. They didn't call the Celestial Chosen walking treasure troves for nothing. Aside from the Dust Crystals, Ji Jue's prompt harvest had also allowed him to secure two upper-tier Huangxu blessings while they were still fresh: Solid as Bedrock and Man-Heaven Isomorphism. Once Solid as Bedrock was activated, the defensive power of the user and target covered the entire body as a unified whole, from the most delicate eyelid to the most overlooked toe. Any impact suffered anywhere would be dispersed across the entire body to be borne collectively. No blind spots, no weak points. Preserve all, protect all. The downside was... harm to one was harm to all. Forging iron demanded a solid hammer; the blessing ensured you had no weak points, but if your baseline defense was paper-thin, that was no different from having weak points everywhere. Man-Heaven Isomorphism resolved this flaw perfectly. Its effect was even simpler: through the circulation of spiritus, it bound the user or their creation seamlessly into surrounding matter, rendering them indivisible and unshakeable. Normally, when a Huangxu Celestial Chosen deployed this blessing, they anchored themselves to the earth beneath their feet, linking into the colossal ley lines born of endless matter converging below. Unless an enemy dug up and completely hurled away the entire expanse of earth and ley lines within range, not even a speeding freight truck or train could budge them an inch. When combined, the practitioner's personal defense would skyrocket to match the sum total of all matter within their spiritus's reach. Had Ji Jue not deployed the worms to corrupt and disrupt the ley lines during the Calamity of Blood Rain, Yue Chen might well have weathered the bombardment with his bare body, charging right up to pound Ji Jue into paste! These two blessings alone made this entire trip worthwhile. Solid as Bedrock and Man-Heaven Isomorphism also served as vital linchpins in numerous blessing chains. With them in hand, high-level chains like Iron Enclosure and Fiery Avici were just a few scrap pieces away from completion. Yet the sequence chain Ji Jue truly intended to complete was the peak sequence composed purely of Huangxu blessings: Immovable as a Mountain. It maximized defensive fortitude while taking root upon the earth, standing as unshakeable as a majestic mountain. This was the ideal design blueprint for Little Niuma. Coupled with the essence of dragon blood, Little Niuma would effectively become a Huangxu Celestial Chosen disguised as a car, and its Dragon Mountain armor's defense would reach a level rivaling Yue Chen's. Beyond blessings, Yue Chen's matrix had unlocked insights into the Huangxu under the Dissociation Art that nearly made Ji Jue's brain boil. Combined with the foundations he had previously gleaned from Sister Wen, if Ji Jue pushed a little harder, he could even replicate a bootleg Huangxu stasis zone within his spiritus range, just like Master Kong. Unfortunately, compared to Yue Chen's generosity, the wolf sin-beast had left behind nothing but a few drops of venomous blood. Its blessings, soul, and life force had all been snapped up by the White Stag! The resulting merit points had been credited straight to An Ning, leaving Ji Jue with nothing. It felt like watching the top supporter in a livestream shower someone else with gifts—Ji Jue couldn't help feeling a twinge of sour envy... *Ridiculous. Has anyone ever told you how fake you act? It's not like I really wanted it anyway...* Compared to the stingy White Stag, Great Sins were far more generous! They gave freely, threw gifts at you, and got offended if you refused! Stagnant Rot before, White Pavilion after—each had practically emptied their pension funds to subsidize Ji Jue. Take that cracked scale from the Sin of the White Pavilion, for example. Even though it was broken, the terrifying vitality preserved within hadn't dissipated. Ji Jue had no idea just how massive that colossal fish was, but judging by how Bashe had squandered so much of it while burning through less than a third, its scale was immense. Granted, that cursed life force was utterly mutated and practically lethal poison to a Supreme Virtue Chosen, useless for personal recovery... but his opponents certainly wouldn't mind. With Sin Alchemy to suppress and guide it, and Fluid Alchemy to purify it, he wouldn't have to worry about blood sacrifice shortages for Pan Ying anytime soon. With such pure quality and monstrous quantity, there was enough left over after finishing one blade to forge half of another, and the scraps would yield countless bullets. In Ji Jue's hands, the broken blade of Pan Ying hummed softly. Drenched in blood, the blade had lengthened by another inch, more than halfway toward completion! According to the Hanxiang Chapter, the remaining work offered no shortcuts—only patient, grinding effort. Alongside repeated tempering and reforging, he had to cleanse the blade and refine its soul, using the smith's own consciousness as a whetstone to prune errant growth and scour away impurities. By steadily weaving in blessings until the sequence was whole, each round of honing would steadily suppress mutation and bloodlust, stripping away dross to further purify its essence. Only when every trace of malevolence was cleansed would malice turn to righteousness, transforming the broken relic into an unbroken masterpiece—a true Heavenly Craft: Sheng Xie! Still... tallying up the modification costs for Little Niuma, the materials and gear needed for Immovable as a Mountain, and the impending investments into Pan Ying, Ji Jue suddenly felt that the petty cash he'd scraped together over the past few days wouldn't stretch very far. Was this the sheer speed at which an artisan burned through money? How charming. Shaking off his rueful sigh, Ji Jue lowered his eyes, his expression calm. He raised a hand and slowly passed his palm along the length of Pan Ying resting across his knees. A wisp of silver-glowing spiritus swirled around his fingertips. Driven by Non-Offensive and resonating with multiple blessings, it glided across the edge like a whetstone. Over and over, the faint hum of grinding metal vibrated through the trembling blade. Through untiring honing and reshaping, a faint mist tinged with crimson and black seeped from the steel. Before it could dissipate into the air, the flowing quicksilver trapped and sealed it away. It was Pan Ying, after all; its wicked roots ran deep. There were no shortcuts or easy tricks for the Nine Forms of the Imaged Sword—any skipped lessons had to be made up in the end. Forging Pan Ying was easy enough, but truly completing it demanded several times more effort and devotion than other blades. Using one's own soul and matrix as the whetstone meant that the slightest wavering from the craftsman would invite a ferocious backlash from the blade's malice. Even though Ji Jue wielded Non-Offensive and feared no corrosion, and his spiritus carried the divine essence of the Edge of Revolution—making his progress countless times faster than anyone else's, with immediate results—it still required a massive investment of time. The further he progressed, the harder it became. Still, there was no hurry... Slow and steady would do. Bathed in bright moonlight, Ji Jue lifted the blade, gazing into the crimson reflection of his own face, and smiled faintly. "Brother Ji Jue, look here! Over here!" An excited shout drifted from nearby. When Ji Jue turned around, An Ning was standing on the dune, holding a camera. With a crisp click of the shutter, the scene beneath the starry night was captured forever. Unfortunately, the settings hadn't been dialed in, and the focus was slightly off, leaving the shot blurred. Ji Jue's expression was frozen in a dazed, silly look. It was hardly a masterpiece. Ji Jue had sensed the outcome before the image even processed. A single thought would have deleted the photo, but in that split-second hesitation, he caught sight of An Ning's beaming face. She looked down at the screen, smiling unconsciously, her eyes shining bright. For some reason, that brightness pricked at his eyes. ...Whatever, let her have her fun. Ji Jue looked away, stowed Pan Ying, and told her to get to sleep early. Yawning, he headed for his sleeping bag. It had been a long time since he had felt this relaxed. To think he actually felt sleepy when night came. When tired, sleep. No more grinding. He slipped into his sleeping bag, leaned back comfortably against his pillow, and gazed at the star-dusted sky. But when he glanced down, his eyes locked onto another pair of eyes inside the bag. "Squeak?" A bewildered little mouse tilted its head, peering up at the owner of this den. It couldn't quite grasp what was going on. In the desert silence, the smile froze solid on Ji Jue's face. For a long, long time, he held it in—until he finally couldn't take it anymore. He threw his head back and roared at the heavens: "AN NING!"