Naming

Ji Jue was stunned. "All I have to do is wait?" "You can try to prepare yourself." Tong Ting’s expression grew serious. "But remember: beyond that, the more you do, the more mistakes you’ll make. Above all, don't try to fight it. You know about self-fulfilling prophecies, right? Plenty of people try to evade or alter a prophecy, only to end up actively bringing about its fulfillment. Besides, nine times out of ten, prophetic dreams aren't accurate anyway. The deeper you probe, the easier it is to drive yourself into a dead end. Even an Aether Celestial-Human like the old man wouldn't actively pry into the future. Whether you see it clearly or misinterpret it, you only end up tormenting yourself with no way out." Therefore, watch and wait. Of course, most importantly... "...Rushing won't help either, right?" Tong Ting shrugged. "From what I see, you're doing quite well for yourself in the Ring of Taiyi. It's not like you can switch allegiances and come over to our Aether side. Besides..." He paused, looking at the young man with pity. "How do you know this isn't another trial and tempering sent down by Embers?" Embers was brutal, showing no mercy to the mediocre. The tripartite blessing of Crucible Blood, Unquenched Fuel, and Heaven-Endowed Spirit was so precious and rare precisely because it was essentially a sacrifice using the artisan himself as the offering—using oneself as material to plead for Embers to bestow a Heavenly Work. Thus, hardships were ceaseless. Thus, trials were endless... The artisan's path was inherently strewn with thorns and stumbling blocks. Pursuing such a blessing was like actively piling on difficulty just to show off—asking for trouble. In this process, mediocre fools who overestimated themselves naturally turned to ashes, but even the rarest uncut jade had to suffer through agonizing torment. Hearing this, Ji Jue fell silent. A soft sigh escaped him. Yet his expression was not one of exhaustion or helplessness. Rather, it seemed like... a calm detachment to which he was already well accustomed. In fact, after Tong Ting's reminder, he actually seemed vaguely relieved. So reassuring. *Oh, it's Embers! Why didn't you say so earlier? I thought Stagnant Rot was coming to rob my eggs!* Amid the brief silence, Tong Ting sighed inwardly. It truly took a Celestial Conscription, didn't it... "Aside from that, I actually came today with another request, bold as it may be." Ji Jue bowed his head in humble petition. "I hope you won't hesitate to lend a helping hand." Tong Ting froze for a moment, not expecting such deference. Subconsciously straightening up, he assumed a solemn posture. "Speak freely. The family still has some savings right now; there's no need to treat me like a stranger." "Ah?" Ji Jue realized with a start that the man had misunderstood. "No, I only wished to ask for guidance on some techniques and questions regarding the Path of Aether." "..." Tong Ting’s expression twitched. He couldn't keep his composure. Acting so grave, paying a special visit, bringing two goddamn chickens, bowing and pleading so humbly... *I thought you were looking to assassinate Xu Chaoxian! You made me brace myself just for something like this?!* "What's wrong?" Ji Jue asked, puzzled. "No, nothing. Go ahead." Tong Ting sighed internally. *For something like this... wouldn't it be easier to just ask Huahua? Her foundation might be a bit lacking, but guiding you through the door wouldn't be an issue. Besides, she knows a fair bit of the Tong family's methods anyway.* *Oh, right, that airhead was the one who sent you here. Never mind, then.* At the thought, Tong Ting’s fists clenched. He finally understood how his second brother, Shengnian, had felt: *I gave you the chance, but you blew it!* *Your uncle will just have to carry you himself...* Having sorted out his thoughts, his fighting spirit surged, and he rolled up his sleeves. It was just answering a few questions. If you were talking about the essence of Embers, he might not know, but on the Path of Aether, could an authentic inheritor like him really fail to guide a novice? Ten minutes later, Tong Ting fell silent. *Fuck.* *It really might be beyond me.* *** The crux of the issue lay in Chunjun. Ji Jue did not know much about the Path of Aether. Among his understandings of the Twelve Virtues, it was the one lagging behind... Primarily, his affinity with Aether was simply not that high. Furthermore, he hadn't killed enough Aether practitioners, to the point where his understanding of Heart Pivot and Mirror was higher than that of Aether! There was nothing he could do about that—he couldn't very well run up to the Tong family's front gates and say, "Lend me your head for a moment, would you?" By contrast, his comprehension and grasp of the divine essence of Ascension ranked near the very top among the Sovereign Virtues. Aside from his primary domain of Embers, it was second only to Swarm... and there was nothing he could do about that either, as he had killed far too many Swarm adherents. As for Chunjun, being one of the Nine Forms of Xiang Swords that the Ye family had passed down for a thousand years, continually refined and elevated across generations, it was profoundly vast. It spanned both the Ascension and Aether paths, blending their essences and combining the strengths of both. Even with all the designs, methods, essence, and core principles laid bare before Ji Jue, studying it still gave him a massive headache. So much so that after forging over two hundred test pieces, not a single one had passed verification. It wasn't as though he hadn't asked his teacher. Yet Ye Xian had not uttered a single word. She had merely held her teacup with an indifferent air, watching him wail. *Is this all it takes? I gave you the Mirror of Contained Forms, and I didn't hold back a single word of the Hanxiang Chapter and Treatise on Swords. You're just following a blueprint.* *You know the principles, and you understand the theory...* *If you can't manage it, go experiment on your own. Do you stop being an artisan the moment your teacher isn't around?* *Suffering?* *Suffering is normal. This is the pain and tempering an artisan is meant to endure. Not just here and now—from this day forth, such agony will accompany you for the rest of your life...* *This is merely the first time.* *If you truly want answers, fine. Come back to me when you are so trapped in torment and despair that you want to abandon the artisan's path altogether.* *Apart from that, everything regarding Chunjun must be explored and completed by your own hands.* Just like that, having raised the difficulty just a hair for the increasingly cocky Ji Jue, he had crashed face-first until he was battered beyond recognition. After over two hundred attempts, Ji Jue was certain that his technique, control of heat, and execution were entirely flawless. In that case, the problem could only lie in his approach and conceptual understanding. "During the transmutation—oh, you don't need to worry about the terminology... the conclusion I ultimately reached was that the endlessly purified spiritus of the Ascension branch fell out of sync with the phenomenal metamorphosis of Aether. They clashed and conflicted, leading to insufficient purification." Ji Jue asked, "My ability is truly limited, and repeated attempts have all been in vain. So I wanted to ask: how can one obtain the purest, utterly blank record of phenomena to carry the sublimation of spiritus?" "..." Tong Ting stared blankly for a long time. "Huh?" "I said..." Ji Jue repeated himself. Tong Ting remained silent, his expression gradually turning solemn. On one hand, he barely understood most of the Embers jargon; on the other, he finally understood Ji Jue's requirement regarding Aether. He needed an absolutely pure recording medium to facilitate the sublimation and qualitative transformation of spiritus. "Impossible." Tong Ting shook his head decisively. "From a realistic perspective, a purely blank record does not exist for the likes of you and me." "Ah." Ji Jue was dumbfounded. One had to understand that for Aether, records were like paper, ready to be inscribed at a whim and freely created. How could it be that not even a single blank sheet of paper existed? "You might not understand the nature of Aether, but you're an artisan, so let me ask you—" Tong Ting probed, "Does the Philosopher's Stone you pursue actually exist?" "Of course it..." Before Ji Jue could finish his sentence, he fell silent. The Philosopher's Stone, an absolutely pure spiritus, the ultimate realm of purification, the theoretically flawless foundation of spiritus. Had it ever truly existed? One could only draw infinitely close to purity, just as a Celestial Chosen could align infinitely close to a Sovereign Virtue, yet never attain the absolute. "Right? You can approach that level without limit, but you can never claim it is absolute purity. Sometimes, the word 'absolute' merely signifies nothingness. "The same holds true for the Path of Aether." Tong Ting spoke slowly. "The Path of Aether indeed encompasses a vast range and has myriad applications, but at its core, it is the observation, invocation, deduction, and even alteration of history and records. "Put simply—what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. "'There is nothing new under the sun.'" "Do you know what is most vital for an Aether Celestial Chosen?" As he spoke, he picked up a mangosteen from the fruit plate on the table, lifted it, and held it slowly before Ji Jue's eyes. "At this exact moment, what are you doing?" "Observing?" Ji Jue asked. Tong Ting nodded. "And then?" "...Comprehending?" "Yet after observing and before comprehending?" Tong Ting smiled. "First, your mind must know what it is looking at... Tell me, Ji Jue, what do you see?" His grave, mysterious demeanor made Ji Jue second-guess himself. "A mangosteen?" "Very good." Tong Ting nodded firmly. "At this exact moment, you have stepped through the doorway to the Path of Aether." "..." *Old man, you aren't pulling my leg, are you?* Ji Jue stared at him, utterly bewildered. He furrowed his brows and pondered deeply. Tong Ting let him take his time, peeling the mangosteen and eating it at his leisure. It was only after a long silence that Ji Jue’s expression shifted subtly, finally grasping what he was referring to. "You mean—'Naming'?" *Holy shit—* Tong Ting's hands froze. He looked up, his expression shifting with the bitter remorse of a beggar who had just lost a winning lottery ticket worth millions—and a deep, aching regret. Fine material indeed. He got it with just a single nudge... *Dammit, how on earth did Embers snatch him away?!* *Come on, Aether, show some backbone! What the hell were you thinking?!* *If you had poked your head out back then, even if it meant offending the Ring of Taiyi, the Wild Gathering, and the Security Bureau all at once, I would have dragged him back by the collar!* "Correct." Tong Ting gave a self-deprecating sigh and nodded in confirmation. A true transmission took a single sentence, while false transmissions filled ten thousand volumes. Perhaps the ten thousand volumes stemmed from that single sentence, but that crucial core was always where the true essence lay. 'Name.' This was the core of the Path of Aether—the most vital of all vitals. Compared to it, 'Observing' and 'Unraveling' had to take a back seat. What the Eye of Aether beheld was infinite phenomena, but being able to accurately summarize and grasp a single thread among ten thousand, being sharp enough to notice a single unique grain of sand within an endless sea—that was what truly mattered. To identify the crux and the key at a single glance, to summarize it with utmost precision, to name it, and ultimately lock onto it. This was the foundation of all interference. Anyone had eyes, and anyone could train them—such was 'Observing.' The tangle of ten thousand threads could be 'Unraveled' across nine lifetimes. Yet without the 'Name,' there was no basis for any operation on the Path of Aether. If it possessed a name, one could effortlessly and pinpoint accurately find the required vector and phenomenon amidst the world's countless identical creations. If it had no name, who could tell the difference between you, Ji Jue, and a dog?