It was another long night.
When daylight manifested once more beneath the vault of heaven, the protracted smelting and remodeling within the workshop finally drew to a close once again. In the silence, the furnace reopened.
After the last flames extinguished, a wisp of ash drifted upward and floated slowly down,
falling into a palm that reached out from the furnace.
That frail, paper-thin flake of ember flipped and danced nimbly across five fingers like a coin, blurring into dizzying afterimages beneath the lamplight.
At last, a flick of the finger—snap!
It vanished.
Ji Jue had already stepped out of the furnace, stark naked. His footsteps were light yet heavy, carrying a low reverberation reminiscent of metal expanding.
His scalp was completely bare, every hair across his body incinerated to nothing in the blazing inferno. At first glance, he looked like a glossy braised egg.
The burn scar winding from his back and neck up to his cheek had grown conspicuous, making him look at first glance like a convict just released from prison.
Yet when Ji Jue raised a hand and tapped his forehead, strands of hair shimmering with a faint silvery luster sprouted immediately from his bare scalp, curling and growing out.
Before long, it had returned to its original look.
Not only that—as Ji Jue took a deep breath and slowly raised both hands, the Non-Offensive matrix winding and intertwining across his chest and back emerged once more, its intricate circuits weaving together like a colossal tree.
Streaks of metallic hue flowed across his skin, thousands of fine threads spreading along the matrix and enveloping his entire body like uncanny seams.
Then, accompanied by an eerie hum, wisps of electrical arcs burst forth from empty air.
Yet without the slightest warning, Ji Jue's body lifted off the ground!
With no blessings bolstering him, he rose into the air, hovering dozens of centimeters above the ground, moving as effortlessly as if gliding through the sea.
Just like a miracle!
Miraculous, isn't it? Alchemy.
At this moment, Ji Jue could no longer contain his excitement. He threw his head back and laughed aloud: "Such boundl—"
*Clang!*
A shrill shriek of colliding metal erupted abruptly. A wrench whistled through the air, slammed into his buttock, and stuck fast, clinging tightly.
The immense impact sent him wobbling and tumbling in midair, nearly crashing to the floor, but he soon stabilized himself—a minor flaw, harmless to his swagger!
Unfazed, Ji Jue grinned and laughed aloud once more:
"Behold this—"
*Crack! Clang! Thud! Screeech! Boom! Gwaaargh!*
Well, the last one was Ji Jue's own miserable wail—
A barrage of deafening crashes followed in swift succession: tables, chairs, stools, plumb bobs, tweezers, scalpels, mugs, kettles, and even the entire crate of scrap blades left over from the trial forging of Chunjun in the corner rushed forward like crowds flocking to a country fair, hurtling one after another.
Hands, back, back of his head, feet, belly, and even... in short, they engulfed him completely in an instant, wrapping him into an iron ball.
Then, amid agonizing wails, the clumped mass of countless objects disintegrated.
It collapsed.
From amidst the pile of debris, Ji Jue's deadpan, disillusioned face slowly emerged.
"Isis."
"I am here."
"What was that just now?"
"I have no idea."
The workshop spirit sighed with feigned pity. "Sir, if I were you, I would not play such childish tricks in a workshop packed with metal—"
"How is it childish!" Ji Jue retorted loudly, muttering nonsense about swagger, aesthetics, and maintaining his image.
To this, Isis had already diagnosed the root cause—
He was just too bored!
After enduring this final round of low-temperature slow roasting and Embers interference, Ji Jue's body had finally fully adapted to the Metamorphosis brought by the Unquenched Fuel. At this moment, compared to other Celestial Chosen—and even compared to Embers itself—his body, spiritus, matrix, and soul could practically be said to have completed their Metamorphosis.
Even though he was still missing the blessing of the Heaven-Endowed Spirit, such progress would be considered virtually accomplished on any path under any Sovereign Virtue.
At this moment, Ji Jue's soul and flesh had achieved a complete integration and cohesion, an exquisite unity. Everything was prepared, everything on the verge of ultimate consummation—lacking only an imperceptible hairline margin, a thorough ignition, a flame descending from a wisp of Embers, and the contents of the crucible would undergo an earth-shattering transformation.
Ascension, Purification, Transmutation, Integration!
At last, shedding all mediocrity, transcending all material bounds!
Elevated and tempered by Crucible Blood and Unquenched Fuel, he had become a piece of living material himself. From blood to flesh, bone, nerves, and organs throughout his body, under the fusion of Embers' essence and Sovereign Virtue's quintessence, his material properties had shifted once more, displaying certain characteristics of metal.
If he converted them with all his might, turning all his skin into steel or high-density carbon composites was entirely feasible, maxing out his defense.
However, setting aside whatever consequences such a crude transformation might leave, increasing his paper defense would merely turn him into a living target incapable of even walking.
Why would a proper disciple of Embers compare armor-stacking with the Desolate Ruins?
Compared to advancement in alchemy and the elevation of his instincts and soul, an expanded health bar and sturdier survivability were mere trifles.
Nowadays, Ji Jue could effortlessly use material property interference to partially metallize his body, magnetize it, apply material property interference to the ground as well, and levitate his own body via magnetic repulsion.
Though it only looked cool and was utter garbage in practical application—readily granting opponents a passive headshot buff—that didn't stop him from having fun!
With higher precision and control, manipulating the material properties of his own body at will was no problem either: strength, hardness, toughness, adaptability, flexibility, softness... Having achieved barehanded alchemy through Non-Offensive, even his own body had become material, drastically raising both his versatility and baseline capability.
Its utility was truly limitless.
And just as Ji Jue was immersed in testing new directions and exploring limits, Isis's notification broke his train of thought. "Sir, a guest has arrived. I believe it is about time you showed your face after all this time."
"True,"
Ji Jue nodded. "So, when do you plan to return my pants and clothes?"
"......"
A strange sound seemed to rustle, so soft it felt like an illusion.
Five minutes later, Ji Jue pushed open the door of his office in Xinquan and stepped out. The faces he encountered along the way turned from startled astonishment to wild excitement upon seeing him.
"Mr. Ji!"
"Factory Director!"
"Hello, Boss!"
Greetings rang out without pause. Gou Er, covered in grime, came dashing in from the gatehouse, panting heavily. Without even pausing to wipe away his sweat, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Ji Jue finally appear.
"You've finally shown yourself,"
he greeted with a troubled frown. "If this kept going on, I wouldn't have known what to do. There are so many things I truly have no authority to decide..."
"I've already received the specific situation and reports."
Ji Jue patted his shoulder as they crossed paths. "Good job."
In an instant, Gou Er's expression settled, the heart in his throat dropping back into his chest. During this period while Ji Jue was absent, without explicit authorization or orders, he had overstepped his bounds quite a bit.
Under normal procedures, he would inevitably be accused of acting unilaterally and deceiving superiors while suppressing inferiors.
It couldn't be helped. It wasn't that he didn't want to follow procedure, but that ordinary methods couldn't resolve this mess!
Even swinging stun batons until they crackled loudly couldn't suppress people constantly stirring up trouble one after another.
Dangling false promises, issuing threats, soothing, and suppressing—he had done practically everything he could! He was so ruthless that even old friends from his former settlement cursed him to his face, yet he never wavered.
One had to walk a path to the very end, to death itself; once you embraced a thigh, you had to hold on for dear life. Never mind letting go—you couldn't even harbor the thought.
That was what accepting the gamble was about: once you placed your bet, you couldn't expect it to be both big and small, or dream of getting both a straight flush and three of a kind.
What a joke. How much damn money do you even have to indulge such extravagant fantasies?
Once you boarded the train, you had to sit tight and hold fast, cherishing the ticket bought with everything you owned. Even if the terminal station was death, at least you'd die with an open chest.
At the very least, it beat being a vacillating clown!
Alas, some people simply failed to grasp such a simple truth. Some people set their clever little heads spinning only to come up with some bullshit stroke of genius—having grown accustomed to trimming their sails to every wind in the wilderness, they could no longer see how much they really weighed.
To the point of courting their own destruction!
"Where's the list? You aren't qualified to make these decisions—just give it to me,"
Ji Jue held out his hand as he walked. "In the future, if I'm not around, look for Brother Feng and Engineer Yan. If the two of them agree, hand it to the security department for execution."
Gou Er followed behind, hesitated a moment, and fished a crumpled, folded sheet of paper from his pocket. Ji Jue glanced over it, signed his name and approval directly at the bottom, and handed it to A'nao, who was guarding the door, telling him to deliver it to Lu Feng.
Follow the prescription.
Watching A'nao dart off without asking a single question, Gou Er felt a wave of melancholy, but also a great deal of relief. There were many familiar names on that list; he had truly feared this blockhead might pry.
Fortunately, out of the dozen or so youngsters, at least a few were shaping up well.
Mere minutes later, the main gates of Haian Industries swung open with a roar. Security teams in armored off-road vehicles mobilized in all directions, brandishing stun batons as they began rounding people up.
Faint weeping and roars drifted in, mingled with pleas and gunshots.
From beginning to end, Ji Jue remained expressionless.
Without a shred of mercy.
In this day and age, even fools could survive. As long as they recognized reality and knew their place, their lives might be grueling, miserable, and unlucky, but at least they could stay alive.
Idiots, however, could not.
Because idiots thought they were clever.
Those who played clever would court their own death—and then drag everyone else down with them!
After a mere half a week, Xinquan had once again become completely different from the past—unfortunately, not through a rebirth, but more like being beaten back to its original state.
The once lively, bustling scene was nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by chaos and turmoil.
Chapter 413