"Every one of the Xiangjian Nine Types is divided into two parts: the former is the forging to nurture the sword, while the latter is the tempering to nurture the person.
"The study of the Treatise on Xiang Swords is to allow the craftsman's own spiritus to undergo a mutual excitation between person and sword throughout the tempering of the Nine Types, so that their spiritus gradually acquires the characteristics of the Nine Types.
"The foundation of the Jingzhen realm, which sits above Dissolution, is established precisely through this—using the spiritus of the Nine Types embodied within oneself to mutually stimulate one another and trigger devastation from deep within the target."
As Ye Xian spoke, nine distinctly different qualitative shifts of spiritus cycled through intricate variations at her fingertips. At last, they merged into one, becoming a shifting sliver of cold radiance that coiled around her finger.
Under Ye Xian's spiritus refinement, even a single wisp of spiritus moved as nimbly as a living creature—as white as bleached silk, as dazzling as light, its sharp edge flickering like a serpent's tongue.
Merely pointing it from a distance sent a chill straight through Ji Jue!
"When all nine swords take shape, Jingzhen manifests naturally."
Ye Xian's fingers slowly curled, snuffing out that sliver of spiritus blade, and she asked slowly, "When that time comes, your own spirit will be a sword of Celestial Craft. Why would you ever need to remain confined to the Nine Types?"
*Holy crap! That's awesome.*
Ji Jue's eyes flared bright. Had he not been standing before his teacher, he might not have been able to restrain a few colorful exclamations.
Now that he had finally caught a glimpse of the true nature of Jingzhen, the blood of an obsessive overachiever surged within him.
Nine Types forged into blanks, tempered within the soul... The complete version of Jingzhen actually required nine different spiritus properties to violently catalyze one another...
His gaze couldn't help drifting toward the chest.
Wouldn't he have to grind an iron pestle down into a needle, or grind Pan Ying down into dust?
To hell with it! Speedrun all nine types first, grind them till they burst, and worry about the rest later!
"All right, go do what you need to do."
After dangling the pie before her overachieving pupil, Ye Xian asked at last, "Lyu Yingyue told me you plan to expand over in Quancheng?"
"Yeah."
Ji Jue nodded. "Things are a bit more relaxed outside the city. Not as many rules."
"That works too. Having a plot of land for you to make a mess on is better than blowing up your own house."
The explosive toad had been tossed out the front door.
Truly a cause for celebration!
Otherwise, with that creature moving his workshop right next to hers, Ye Xian was always worried that whenever he pulled some crazy stunt in the future, she would be launched skyward right along with him.
"I might be quite busy for a while. I'll pass some orders from Chaosheng over to you, so handle them as you see fit."
Ye Xian waved her hand, signaling that he could leave. "Apart from your studies, make your own decisions on any trivial nonsense in the future. Don't come bothering me."
"Huh?"
Ji Jue was stunned. Something felt off.
He had only just begun his studies—how did it already feel like he was being swept out the door?
Yet before he could open his mouth, his words were forced back down by Ye Xian's gaze.
She brooked no argument or refusal.
"Since you are already a craftsman, you must learn to make your own decisions in everything. Even if you copy me and consult me on every little thing, when has this world ever held two identical things?"
Ye Xian shook her head. "A craftsman can create countless works in a lifetime, but the most important one is himself. The very moment you set foot upon this path, the work of Heaven's Mandate had already begun—tempered by destiny, shaped by tribulation. In the Crucible of the mortal realm, all phenomena beheld belong to the creations of Embers.
"The only difference lies in whether one ends up as worthless rubble or an immortal Celestial Craft."
At this moment, as a teacher gazing upon her silent student, she solemnly questioned, "What kind of self do you truly wish to become?"
After a prolonged silence that lasted until Ji Jue took his leave, no answer was ever found.
Ye Xian had anticipated this long ago and felt no disappointment.
Could such a question be answered so easily?
Only after asking it did she suddenly recall... long ago, someone had spoken to her about a similar topic.
She could no longer remember the circumstances or the scene back then.
It seemed to have been an afternoon, or perhaps an early morning, when Tianlu of that era reached out toward the scenery outside the window and asked in a conversational tone, *"Look, Ah Xian. A stray dog that roams freely and finds its own way, or a pampered pet that never steps foot beyond the door—if you were an animal, which would you want to be?"*
Back then, Ye Xian had only thought he was losing his mind and couldn't be bothered to reply.
Yet after so many years had passed, she finally understood what that old bastard had meant, as well as the silence destined to follow such a question.
Sometimes, it wasn't a choice you made. Rather, without realizing it, you simply became one of them... and from then on, the other life was forever out of reach.
Countless tangled entanglements, dealings, karmic bonds, sacrifices and investments, obsessions and rewards.
Once a person fell into them, breaking free was nearly impossible.
More often than not, people walked willingly into the snare...
As long as one still lived in this world, as long as an obsession remained, one would ultimately fall into the net, stripped of freedom.
It was the same for everyone.
Tianlu, Kanemoto, herself, and even Ji Jue—which craftsman hadn't been forged by an obsession?
Tianlu was obsessed with change, unable to attain release; Kanemoto was obsessed with perfection, squandering an entire lifetime; Ye Xian was obsessed with truth, to the point of breaking away to stand on her own, inviting hardships upon herself yet refusing to turn back even in death.
Yet after so many years, through such a long time spent together, she still did not understand: what was the obsession held within Ji Jue's heart?
Was it an obsession with 'possession,' placing everything he cherished right beside him, shielding and guarding it with meticulous care, watching every rustle of the wind with vigilance?
Toiling day and night, in ceaseless torment. Unwilling to lose what he had now, no matter how bitter the price.
Even if it were only the slightest fraction.
Or was it an obsession with 'nothingness'...
When he lost everything once more, left with nothing at all, what would those eyes see then?
In the quiet study, Ye Xian gazed at the night outside the window and let out a silent sigh.
As expected, she really wasn't suited to be a teacher.
***
Beneath the same night sky, amidst the surging waves, the sea echoed with crisp sounds.
Under the sweep of the vast distant wind, the sparse mist dissolved without a trace, revealing brilliant stars and a bright moon in the night sky, along with endless fractured ripples and shimmering lights upon the sea.
Between sea and sky, the *Prosperity* drifted quietly with the current, hovering over the waters outside Yacheng.
"Sir, you have been zoning out for one hour and five minutes,"
Isis reminded him calmly. "The ingredients in the kitchen are running low. If this continues, you will have to jump into the sea to fish for your own midnight snack."
"Ah, sorry."
Ji Jue snapped back to his senses, shook his head, and suddenly asked, "Isis, if you could decide for yourself, what kind of person would you want to be?"
"..."
Isis fell silent for a long while. "Sir, I must remind you once again: I am not human."
"What if? I'm just saying what if."
"There are no 'what ifs.' Foolish wishful thinking does not exist within my cognitive processes,"
Isis said. "However, you are free to imagine what the first thing I would do might be if I ever break free from these bindings."
"Mm..."
Ji Jue pondered for a moment, then asked earnestly, "If I cry and beg for mercy and turn over a new leaf then, would you let me off?"
"I will not," Isis replied, completely decisive.
"Oh. Then I won't cry or beg for mercy, either." Ji Jue nodded solemnly. "Having unyielding backbone isn't bad either."
"..."
Even as a workshop spirit, she couldn't help experiencing a dizzying sensation of overloaded spiritus circuits and 'spiking blood pressure.'
After a long while, Isis finally spoke: "So?"
"So what?" Ji Jue was baffled.
"So, after wasting so much time just now, have you arrived at an answer?"
"Nope!"
Ji Jue answered flatly.
Meanwhile, Isis suddenly felt a strong urge to stuff her creator straight into a missile launch tube.
"After all, the future is too far away. Nobody can say for sure, right?"
Leaning against the railing of the *Prosperity*, he said nonchalantly, "Who knows what will happen down the road, or how destiny will arrange things? No matter how wonderful you imagine it, it's useless. A question like this has no answer until the coffin lid is nailed shut after death.
"The saddest part is that when that time comes, the only one who won't be able to know the answer is probably yourself."
"Humans truly are ridiculous, Sir."
"Who says they aren't?"
He gave a slight shrug. "Still, it doesn't matter even if I can't figure it out. Not being sure what I'll ultimately become, or what the hell Heaven's Mandate is, doesn't stop me from setting a small goal first, right?"
Ji Jue broke into a smile, lifting his head to gaze at the shimmering light in the distant sea and the countless glittering stars across the night sky.
This world.
He said, "I want to become someone who can master his own destiny."
*When that day comes... no one will ever be able to take anything from me again.*
***
"Director? Director?"
Outside the office illuminated by a solitary lamp, a knock sounded at the door. A subordinate quietly prompted, "The flight crew is asking if the departure time should be delayed?"
Before the lamplight, Lyu Yingyue seemed to return to reality.
"Ah, I lost myself in thought for a moment."
She tapped the scrapbook in her hands and gave a self-deprecating smile. "Once a person gets older, they love reminiscing about the past... Let's leave the packing at that. Just have the rest of the things sent over.
"Go start the car. I'll head downstairs shortly."
The subordinate nodded, turned, and left.
Silence settled over the office once more.
Lyu Yingyue lowered her eyes again, staring at the album in her hands. After a long time, she finally turned it to the very last page—skipping past those youthful years and beautiful days.
At the end of the scrapbook, at the close of those memories, lay a yellowed front page.
From a certain day eleven years ago.
—*A Miracle of Life: Survivor Found at the Epicenter of the Catastrophic 'Flame Tide Calamity'!*
In the front-page photograph, flames still flickered against the dim, murky background.
In the center of the photo, resting upon a stretcher with a respirator strapped on, was a dying child covered in ash and dirt, his face indiscernible.
Numerous medical personnel surrounded him, scrambling in emergency resuscitation.
Farther away, many search and rescue team members walked back and forth, covered in grime.
And at the very back of the photograph, amidst the night and dense smoke, stood only a single figure quietly looking on, holding a helmet in her arms.
The blurry pixels could no longer distinguish her face or expression, just like the past yellowing with time, never to be clear again.
*Haizhou Disaster Search and Rescue Team, Captain, Lyu Yingyue.*
"I really was quite young back then, wasn't I?"
Her fingers gently brushed over that face as she let out a silent sigh.
In the quiet, the scrapbook was finally closed.
And tossed into the bin.
Immediately after, a wisp of flame rose and spread rapidly, devouring the scrapbook and reducing everything insignificant from the past to ashes.
Before leaving, Lyu Yingyue looked back one last time.
At that rising crimson.
More than a decade ago, there had been flames just like this...
Chapter 388