Actions and Deeds

"I really didn't realize we'd chatted for so long. My fault entirely." Master Kong gave a soft sigh. "I wonder if Master Ye's prized disciple is ready yet, or if he'll need to ask his teacher for help again like last time." "Once a student has completed his apprenticeship, he must learn to handle things on his own. If he fails to read the situation and brings about his own destruction, there's little a teacher can do to stop him." Ye Xian let out a sigh of apparent regret. "As I see it, he'll just have to look to his own fortunes." After exchanging polite farewells, the smiles vanished from their faces the moment they turned around, replaced only by overflowing warmth and benevolence as they looked toward their respective disciples. *Friendship first, competition second.* *You won't disappoint your teacher, will you?* *If you don't kill him, don't blame your teacher for killing you!* In that single fleeting clash of gazes, the unspoken message was crystal clear. But just as the two masters looked back toward each other from opposite sides, a crisp, ringing sound burst from the void. The somewhat cramped lounge suddenly expanded, swelling outward. A single streak of pale color dripped from Kong Qingyan's fingertip, instantly surging and spreading like a tidal wave. In the blink of an eye, it formed a seemingly boundless expanse. Immediately after, from Ye Xian's thermal flask, the illusory silhouette of a Giant Whale rose into the air, encircling the empty space. In an instant, it stabilized the fragile void, erecting pillars and reinforcing the framework. Amidst the infinite paleness, shimmering ripples of light drifted across the celestial vault above, illuminating the numb, deadpan faces of the two dueling craftsmen. Ji Jue and Lou Feng let out a heavy sigh in unison. Finally... Finally, they could fight! The pressure was suffocating. If this torment dragged on any longer, they would probably have had to slit their own throats just to put on a show for everyone. Ye Xian flicked his finger with an impassive expression, and a sudden *boom* shook the air. An armored off-road vehicle, having no idea what was going on, dropped out of the sky and crashed down right behind Ji Jue's backside. Its massive headlights swiveled around in confusion, beeping frantically. Little Niuma had been yanked straight out of the garage by Ye Xian and tossed inside. "..." Meeting Lou Feng's speechless stare, Ji Jue gave a slight cough and smiled awkwardly. "As everyone knows, my ability is controlling tools. So bringing a car along isn't out of line, is it?" *Bang!* Another crash resounded as a briefcase was hurled in by Master Kong, landing beside Lou Feng. It was intensely heavy. Its mere presence there nearly crushed the pale ground beneath it, causing fine cracks to spider out. "No problem at all." Lou Feng squeezed out an equally innocent smile. "As everyone knows, our Lou family's Higher Calling is spiritus shaping, so it's only natural for me to carry a bunch of spiritus crystals with me, right?" "Right, right!" Ji Jue nodded repeatedly, his smile unwavering. Both completely normal. Both completely reasonable. Any problem with that? None at all! As craftsmen, coming prepared was second nature. Likewise, as craftsmen... launching a preemptive strike without warning and going for the throat was just as natural, wasn't it? *Snap!* The instant the two of them opened their mouths to speak with smiles on their faces, their expressions changed simultaneously. Without warning, a beam of blistering radiance shot out from Lou Feng's eyes, piercing toward Ji Jue's heart. Meanwhile, amid a thunderous roar, a deluge of bullets swirling with bloody flames completely engulfed Lou Feng! Time for an appetizer! In less than an instant, with zero spiritus fluctuation or warning, the spiritus swirling in Lou Feng's eyes had given tangible form to his sight itself, turning intangible vision into a piercing blade that stabbed forward! At the same time, countless bullets made of scrap fragments of Pan Ying mixed with the Poison of Frenzied Slaughter sprayed forth from a machine gun behind the violently shattered car window, sweeping out in a torrential fury! Unfortunately, both attacks proved utterly futile. They were both fucking craftsmen—who was fooling whom? The moment you open your mouth, I know what kind of shit you're about to pull! "Oh dear, no martial virtue at all, Old Lou." Ji Jue cast his gaze down in lament toward his chest, where the piercing thrust of spiritus had abruptly halted. An intangible spiritus hand emerged from his chest, delicately pinching that elusive thrust in the nick of time, as if plucking a flower. That filament—infinitely fine, extraordinarily long, impossibly sharp, and blistering hot—remained utterly motionless in the grasp of the spiritus hand, without a single crack. Immediately after, as Ji Jue slowly brought his hands together, the razor-sharp spike shaped by Lou Feng into a mere thread began to bend like a fishing line. It coiled and curled, and under the agile guidance and weaving of ten fingers, was knit into a tiny dress no larger than a finger. With a flick of his finger, Ji Jue sent it flying. "Returning it to you." In response came the bullets that had just rained across the sky. The overwhelming storm of rounds, upon entering within three meters of Lou Feng, seemed to plunge into an invisible mire, rapidly slowing until each bullet hung suspended in midair. Finally, they contracted, collapsed, and coiled into each other, condensing into a bona fide bronze sphere. Under the control of shaping spiritus, a new qualitative transmutation was injected, supercharging it entirely into a bomb that spared neither friend nor foe. Doubling down, Lou Feng hurled it violently toward Ji Jue! The tiny thread dress and the bronze sphere collided in midair and detonated with a deafening roar, kicking up a monstrous gale and scattering countless fragments. Yet neither of the combatants flinched or retreated. They stared right at each other. "You're getting slicker and slicker with sneak attacks, Old Lou." "Really? And you're still relying on the same old tricks. It's a bit of a disappoint—" Amid the playful mockery, before Lou Feng's words even finished and before Ji Jue could even 'look,' Ji Jue sensed a downpour of radiant light descending from the sky. The dispersed, microscopic spiritus had converged out of nowhere, reconsolidating into countless fine threads as tiny as dust motes. Like an asbestos bomb detonating in midair, it used the explosion of the bronze sphere to scatter its spiritus throughout the entire domain, constantly sowing disruption against the enemy. At the same time, even inhaling a single speck would send it coursing within, stabbing straight into the soul. Like accidentally brushing against fiberglass, the pain would pierce to the very marrow. Underhanded. Utterly vicious! Did it work? To Ji Jue, it didn't mean a damn thing. Ji Jue let out a faint sigh and shook his head. Right in front of Lou Feng, he raised a single finger. A swirl of quicksilver shifted and transformed at his fingertip, abruptly shooting out a filament so fine it was barely discernible to the naked eye. It swept across the air in every direction, and wherever it passed, every bit of interference Lou Feng had sown was thoroughly drawn in and absorbed, vanishing without a trace. Solid Alchemy, boy! Tailor-made to counter you. Lou Feng turned a deaf ear. Solid Alchemy had been around for ages—did Ji Jue think no one had ever seen it before? Since you love absorbing it so much, I'll let you have your fill! Only now did the spiritus colossus guarding Lou Feng emerge from the void. From its bizarre structure, dozens of arm-like prisms extended outward. It had been gathering power for a long time. The moment Ji Jue cleared away all the interference in a show of skill, countless prisms overlapped. Immediately following, the spiritus that had undergone three transmutations was fully excited, converting entirely into the purest light and heat! Like a bursting dam, it swept forward in an overwhelming deluge, screaming through the air! As the vast tide of spiritus surged within the colossus, it gave off a roar like crashing ocean waves. As everyone knew, what the Lou family excelled at most was spiritus shaping and transmutation. What they lacked least was spiritus. For a craftsman like Lou Feng, as long as he was willing to invest the resources, he had more than enough spiritus to squander endlessly in this duel! As for whether he was willing... Having held it in for so many years and hoarded resources for so long, now that he finally had a chance for revenge, who the hell would chicken out? Just do it! Die for me! Not only was there the torrent of searing light capable of carving a trench across the entire Haian factory area and even Xinquan, but inside Lou Feng's briefcase, marbles rolled out one after another from the gaps, rapidly expanding... Every single one of them was an artillery shell compressed and sealed within crystals! Amid crisp shattering sounds, the marbles vanished. In a dreamy, ethereal shimmer, what appeared in midair were jellyfish undulating with massive bells, drifting faintly within the blistering light. As their vast tangle of delicate tentacles danced, they wove together dreamy, shimmering bubbles. Inside the bubbles was an acidic venom that rusted all steel and targeted all machinery! Even more astonishingly, the jellyfish released from Lou Feng's marbles were also an intangible colony of spiritus creatures—an aberrant species specifically parasitic to spiritus, tamed and bred to form a perfect symbiosis with Lou Feng's own spiritus. Just as he had said, this sort of thing was hardly a rarity! Did Ji Jue think he was the only one who had it?! The torrent crashed like a tide, and the bubbles poured like a tempest, completely engulfing Ji Jue in an instant. Nearly infinite, the terrifying volume stacked continuously until the colossus collapsed and the jellyfish burst apart. Amid the dead silence, as the blinding light dispersed, only a towering steel titan stood firm. —Armored Dragon Mountain! Having taken a frontal hit from firepower capable of vitrifying an entire building, it hadn't budged in the slightest. It hadn't even grown hot or turned red. Only layers of vehicle paint peeled away and dissolved, baring heavily rusted steel beneath! The poison capable of corroding even a massive steel tower into dust had only eaten away the outermost layer of plating. Beneath it was a bizarre, pitch-black surface, with faint threads of dark red pulsing silently like blood vessels, mocking the opponent before it. I admit your spiritus ascension is impressive, but what if it runs into my Desolate Ruins? *Immovable as a Mountain, boy!* Not to mention the covert reinforcement of Bearing Earth and Embracing Sea. "How terrifying," Ji Jue remarked from within the armor, sighing with emotion. "We're friends, after all—did you really have to be so ruthless?" "Really? And what did you come here to do? Play house?" Lou Feng sneered. "I've wanted to kill you, you bastard, for a long time now!" "Is that so?" Ji Jue sounded shocked. "How could you think that? I've never felt that way at all!" *Bullshit! Who are you trying to fool?!* Lou Feng scoffed internally. When had this bastard ever fought without resorting to every dirty trick in the book, complaining even that grinding someone to dust and scattering their ashes wasn't clean and decisive enough? Yet immediately after, he heard that spine-chilling voice. It came from right behind him... A soft sigh. "After all, I've never considered you a rival to begin with—" *Crack!* The Sword of Chunjun pierced in from behind, bursting straight out through his chest!