When an Artisan Thinks, the Old Dog Laughs

Bottleneck. The word was far too understated, always giving the impression that current struggles were merely temporary—a narrow path hard to tread, requiring only encouragement and a bit more effort. Yet the crux of the matter was that the word "bottleneck" was itself a form of consequentialism. If one overcame it and pressed forward with ease, looking back would bring only the sigh that it had been nothing more than a bottleneck, a passing touch of wind and frost. But for those who failed to pass, it was an iron-walled siege, a cage of despair. An insurmountable barrier that remained uncrossed no matter how desperately one struggled with all one's might. Ji Jue had felt this kind of stalling and confusion more than once. But in the past, he had possessed far too much to draw upon. Even if he lacked an immediate solution, with the elevated insights of Fluid Alchemy and the experience brought by the Edge of Revolution, he had always been able to pinpoint the right direction. Through systematic analysis and review, a way through could always be found. Not this time. Because there was no precedent whatsoever! The construction and design of the Juque project was born of the Nine Forms, yet had already broken free of its framework. The cycle and combination of Three-Phase Alchemy were no longer within the scope of Fluid Alchemy, and the insights of Fluid Alchemy could not resolve his dilemma. In fact, it wasn't even that he couldn't solve the problem. It was that Ji Jue had no idea where the problem even lay! Breaking away from the scope of the Nine Forms, referencing Juque's structure and essence to blaze a new trail, then climbing and exploring upward from that foundation—with a foundation in place, execution was naturally not difficult, proceeding smoothly every step of the way. The design was essentially complete. But the key issue was that it fell completely short of what Ji Jue wanted! He set the difficult questions for himself, and sought the answers for himself. And the result was only a passing score of sixty. He had a foundation that, refined across generations of the Nine Forms, was already near perfection, paired with the boundless potential of Three-Phase Alchemy. Yet combining the two had merely produced a hull that could at best be called sturdy and stable? Ji Jue had racked his brains countless times, tearing everything down and starting over again and again, only to inevitably tread the exact same path. Even though this path looked flawless from every conceivable angle, being flawless was the biggest problem of all. Before considering something utterly perfect, one ought to first ask: Who do you think you are? Tianlu?! When an artisan thinks, the old dog laughs. If Ji Jue truly possessed that kind of capability, how could that hound's head still be attached to its neck? He would have yanked it off and smashed it to pulp long ago! Which meant the problem lay with himself— "First, if I may speak bluntly," Isis said. "I don't think there is anything wrong with the design." "Then that only proves one thing." Ji Jue gave a self-deprecating smile. "My 'talent' is lacking." Isis could not help him with this issue. Even though she was far more adept than Ji Jue in the application of Three-Phase Alchemy, her operations far more meticulous and varied... Yet what made her was also what bound her. As the Matrix Relic Non-Offensive, she had been born from it, and at the same time, was confined within its bounds. Unless carrying out Ji Jue's orders, any outward inquiry of hers would, pulled by this very essence, return to its origin, returning to herself. In short, whatever she forged resembled herself, and whatever she did was an extension of herself. For her, this was the optimal solution. In the fictional simulations within the Tower of Myriad Transformations, this instinctive assimilation had brought forth blossoming flowers covering the entire mortal realm. Yet the more luxuriantly the blossoms bloomed, the more all other myriad forms withered. Pure in the singular, deficient in the whole. She lacked human hesitation and bewilderment, and would never change or deny herself. This purity always brought Ji Jue a touch of regret, as well as a measure of envy. "Still not right." For the uncounted-th time, Ji Jue tore up the half-drawn foundational framework, his vision darkening with throbbing headaches. It circled back to the old path again! No, still not right! Clearly he could push further on this basis, yet he could not find the direction! Everything was right, yet something felt off, though he couldn't pinpoint what was right. Every part was good, yet something wasn't, though he couldn't say what would make it better. He had strength but nowhere to apply it. Even though he instinctively sensed that this was by no means the limit and that it could be better still, he had no idea how to take this crucial step! The suffocating frustration of exerting eighty, sixty, or barely forty percent of his full power made him nearly spit blood. The improvement brought by Heaven's Vigor was still slowly ticking upward, but at a pace so atrocious it was maddening—which meant that after all his busy toil, every bit of it had been wasted effort! It was like waking up at four in the morning to busy oneself for three hours, only to painstakingly assemble a roll of kimbap and film a vlog to show it off, making a complete fool of oneself. At this point, only one option remained— Ji Jue took a deep breath, braced himself with a fierce posture, and then, in a majestic "Fierce Tiger Dropping Flat" sprawl, threw himself into Ye Xian's study. He wailed at the top of his lungs: "Teacher, save me—!" "Mm, I see." Ye Xian glanced at the numerous design sheets Ji Jue presented with both hands. She didn't examine them closely; after hearing the crux of the issue, she already understood. Unfortunately, she had no intention whatsoever of clearing up his confusion. Instead, she was full of mockery. "This can't even be considered a bottleneck, Ji Jue." Ye Xian inquired, "What exactly do you take a bottleneck to be? At best, it's merely a temporary hitch..." It was like watching a pampered rich young master who had never dirtied his hands in his life eat a vegetarian meal one day and burst into tears, lamenting how damn hard the poor have it and how his own family had fallen on hard times. How could that be called a bottleneck? If this counted as a bottleneck, what did everyone else's lives count as? The gallows?! "Isn't this what exploration and research beyond established paradigms and templates are like? Stumbling and circling, difficult at the beginning, difficult in the middle, difficult at the end—not a single moment without agony, struggling with every step. "You've only been stuck for four or five days and you already feel in utter torment, crying that you've hit a bottleneck. But what kind of bottleneck is this, Ji Jue? "Back in Quancheng, Master Duan, who fell into the abyss of the Profound, lived this kind of life starting from age twenty-two. He gritted his teeth and persevered for seventy years, perhaps even longer—raising a tower from scratch on a dead-end path, right until the road ran out and the tower collapsed, yet remaining as unyielding as ever, never turning back!" The more Ye Xian spoke, the sharper and colder her tone grew. "Tell me, compared to that kind of desperate plight, what are you? Coming to me weeping and wailing over a minor annoyance—what do you expect me to do? "Solve this little triviality for you? Sure, no problem. But if you come running to me over a petty matter like this, why even bother being an artisan? Why don't you roll back to Chaosheng and spend the rest of your life as an apprentice doing daily chores?!" "No! Rest assured, Teacher, something like this doesn't warrant troubling you—" After so long without a dressing-down from his teacher, Ji Jue felt no resentment; instead, his wavering and bewildered heart unexpectedly settled once more. He glanced at the drafts on the table and let out a soft sigh. "The design issues, I can solve. I can keep grinding away. But I just want to know... where does my problem lie?" And so, Ye Xian fell silent, watching him. Mockery, reflection, pity, helplessness. As if struck by poignant emotion, she sighed softly. "Indeed. In a sense, that is your greatest issue—including the choice to come looking for me. It, too, is part of the 'problem' you face." She chuckled softly. "You know what is right to do, Ji Jue. You can always find a way to break through difficulties—just like right now, you picked the optimal solution." "—" Ji Jue fell silent for a moment, appearing to contemplate. After a long pause, he asked again, "Is doing this wrong?" "A student runs into a problem and consults his teacher—how could there be anything wrong with that? If anything, having a student trust me so deeply should make me pleased and proud as your teacher." Ye Xian held her teacup, gently blowing at the rising steam. "You can always find a way, Ji Jue. You always find a way. That is precisely why you've advanced so quickly, why you've reached where you are today. And precisely because of that, you've taken far too many 'shortcuts,' so much so that everything has been smooth sailing." Ji Jue opened his mouth, then hesitated. He had indeed taken plenty of shortcuts, but the hardship he was supposed to endure and the lessons he had to catch up on, he had never skipped a single one. How could she say he had taken too many shortcuts? "Mediocre folk always believe the righteous path is hard to walk and shortcuts are easy. Yet someone like you understands that if one looks to the future, the truly arduous orthodox path beneath your feet right now is the real shortcut. You've hacked through brambles along this path, relying on your own talent and insights, sailing smoothly all the way to where you are. "Yet even the smooth roads eventually come to an end. You simply aren't accustomed to walking rough roads yet, Ji Jue. You must understand: as long as you continue down this path, the plights you encounter in the future will only become more frequent, and far more difficult. "How could the cruelty of Embers ever be escaped by the talent of a single person?" Ye Xian said slowly, "There's no need to worry that something is wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. This isn't the exhaustion of talent, but the limitations of accumulation—nothing more. "You found a new road beyond your accumulation. To pioneer outward and strive upward is naturally difficult and naturally troublesome. That isn't a problem. "But having heard me say this much, you should understand by now, shouldn't you?" She paused, looking at Ji Jue. "—The greatest issue within yourself." "You mean... I've never taken a wrong turn?" Ji Jue was momentarily bewildered. A stray path? Hadn't he taken plenty of those? He had studied that whole mess of Stagnant Rot extensively! "Those Profound tricks don't count—though who's to say leaping into an abyss doesn't take you far—" Ye Xian scoffed. "You simply have never lost your way. Thus, you've never seen the scenery along the wrong paths, which is why your 'accumulation' remains insufficient. "What you lack is 'useless effort.' What you are short on is 'clumsy slogging.' What you do not possess is dullness and bewilderment. "Without failure, there is no wandering. Without stepping onto the wrong path, you lack the validation and reference of error. Even if it is a wrong path, as long as it can be called a path, doesn't that prove there are still results to be found along it?" Ever since becoming an artisan, Ji Jue had not taken a single wrong step! Once the direction was set, he had never drifted in the slightest. Soaring straight into the blue clouds! Yet the scenery along this straight path was so abundant that Ji Jue had overlooked the vistas along the crooked paths. After advancing in triumph for so long, he lacked the insights gained from turbulent rises and falls. Even if one merely bent down while idling to pick up ordinary stones that seemed better than nothing, who was to say that at another time, they might not shine with the brilliance of fine jade? Indeed, Ji Jue's designs adopted the optimal solutions for every single choice—but what did Ji Jue amount to? Was the optimal solution he believed in truly the optimal solution? Could there really be nothing worth referencing along an erroneous path? True, Fluid Alchemy and the Nine Forms had already provided answers. Fluid Alchemy had been tempered a thousand times over, and in the hands of the Sages, transforming heaven and earth was effortless. But was Quicksilver's optimal solution truly your optimal solution? Could the established formulas within the Nine Forms maintain their efficiency once taken beyond the scope of the Nine Forms? The optimal solutions predecessors had chosen were because those answers perfectly matched themselves. Yet Ji Jue, without ever having experienced failure and mistake, how could you arrive at such a definitive conclusion? It was like continually ordering off recommended lists to avoid bad picks—how could you ever know which dish in a thick menu best suited your palate? "In the final analysis, your 'mistake logbook' is far too thin, Ji Jue," Ye Xian hit the nail on the head, pointing out the greatest issue: too many right answers, too few wrong ones, such that the experience and comprehension brought by failure and mistakes were sorely lacking. "The solution is very simple." His teacher's smile suddenly turned mocking, pointing him toward a crooked road. "Go screw up a hundred—no, a thousand alchemical creations. Make a thousand defective products, each flawed in a different way." "Huh?!" Ji Jue was dumbfounded, unable to understand. "Defective products?" "Yes, exactly." Ye Xian nodded decisively. "You have some wealth now, so this won't break your bank. Go do it. You are only permitted to fail, not succeed." "Th-then what?" Ji Jue stammered in disbelief. "Then I'll be able to break through?" "Who knows?" Ye Xian waved a dismissive hand. "If you don't break through, keep going. You can even mix the right and wrong ways together. "I make no guarantees whether you will break through. But once you reach the point where you don't need to deliberately plot it out to naturally mess something up, you will certainly be superior to what you are now." She paused, her smile growing mocking. "An artisan who can only succeed and never fail is undoubtedly substandard as well. Let us begin by experiencing failure. "Ji Jue, go experience the frustration and awe that an apprentice ought to have. "Come back to see me after you're done." Ji Jue hesitated, and hesitated again, before finally mustering his courage. "Isn't there any other... more convenient way?" "Of course there is." Ye Xian nodded decisively. "If you want to treat the symptoms, there are plenty of ways. Your problem is encountering difficulties and shortcomings beyond your accumulation, leaving you unable to find a direction. "Then you can simply and crudely increase your accumulation. "Ever since the Fire Thief played with fire and burned himself to ash, artisans have been countless. Practically every known field has been explored and researched. It's quite likely there is some similar legacy that could solve your problem. "Go search for it. Stones from other hills can occasionally offer inspiration." Instantly, Ji Jue's eyes lit up. He looked toward his teacher. Wasn't the problem solved right here? When it came to accumulation, how many in the Association could compare to his own teacher? Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be solved. Because Ye Xian's expression remained detached and mocking, showing not the slightest intention of lending a hand. "Indeed, I have all of those things, and more than one method to solve it. But don't even dream of fishing anything out of your teacher's study." Ye Xian pinched out that little spark of hope. "The things in your hands are already too many, far exceeding your ability to control. Wait until you're truly qualified to easily wield more before we talk about that. "If you want All Things Self-Transform, you must understand it yourself. "Success and failure are both natural. "Behind effortless success lies a vast amount of effortless failure. For you right now, failure is instead the fastest 'shortcut.'" Ji Jue let out a long sigh, feeling as if dark clouds hung over his head, but he hesitated no longer. Failure it is, then! For the sake of All Things Self-Transform! Ji Jue gritted his teeth and made a grim resolution: from this day forth, he would be a master of failure! "I'm such a failure—!" Two hours later, Ji Jue crawled out of Chaosheng's workshop in a limp daze, squirming and wriggling until he hauled himself onto the sofa, howling, "I don't even know how to fail—I'm such a failure!" Just now, he had tried right there in his teacher's workshop, and the failure wasn't just a minor flop! He had set out to forge a sword, intentionally aiming to make it shoddy, but once finished, he discovered—it was still fucking fine grade! The Embers three-piece set was still flexing its might! What failure? Didn't exist, bro! Picking up a rock to smash his own foot, pounding away with a clatter—with the blessings of the Embers three-piece set, the difficulty of trying to fail had increased several times over out of thin air! The crucial point lay in Ye Xian's requirement. Deliberately making an irreversible mistake to ruin the piece would have no effect on the current Ji Jue. What he needed to do was find the possibility of failure within a work that should have succeeded! In other words, he had to naturally arrive at a wrong answer while sticking as close to the correct process as possible... And it couldn't be the kind of mistake anyone could spot at a glance. This was countless times harder than doing it right! "Waaah, Senior Sister, I'm such a failure, waaah, I can't even get wrong answers—om-nom—" Ji Jue wailed, squirming across the sofa, when his mouth accidentally bumped into a freshly opened bag of potato chips. He immediately buried his face in it, scarfing them down with loud crunches. "You dog, get off!" Ye Chun was horrified. She kicked Ji Jue to the other side of the sofa, trying to defend her potato chips. Unfortunately, the chips were lost, but she absolutely had to defend her sofa and her status in the household! At the thought of this guy betraying and backstabbing her a few days ago, her resentment flared uncontrollably: "What on earth are you trying to do?!" "Teacher told me to be a piece of trash!" Ji Jue replied with resounding vigor, glaring wide-eyed at her. "I'm studying hard right now! So that in the future I can eliminate the household parasite and salted fish, and take her place!" "Get lost!" Ye Chun was furious, growing angrier by the second in impotent rage. Seeing Ji Jue staring straight at her, now entering the race to out-compete her on the slacker track, panic seized her. She wailed toward the study, "Auntie! Auntie, you can't do this—I'm... I'm your A'chun—!" Unfortunately, there was no reply from the study. The door was even locked. Just like a battle royale match, leaving behind the two rascals who had ruined her reputation in the field of education to fight it out to the end! "Accept your fate, Senior Sister!" Ji Jue sneered with drool on his lips. "From now on, there is only one useless thing in this house, and that is me! I am the true slacker—none of you measure up!" "Ji Jue, you'll regret this!" Ye Chun flew into a rage. To defend her position, she rolled up her sleeves and wrestled with him directly—pulling hair, pinching cheeks, shoving him away, kicking and pushing. Yet Ji Jue seemed welded to the sofa, not budging an inch. Instead, she ended up panting with exhaustion, slumping down unable to move. Tired, drained, resigned. Small pearls of tears were about to fall— Grumble. An awkward silence. The two stared at each other in silence until Ji Jue took the initiative to suggest: "Order something?" "You dog, you're doing this again?!" Ye Chun glared furiously, staring him down, before finally squeezing out between clenched teeth: "This time it comes out of your red envelope!" "Still that same place?" "Barbecue again? I'm sick of it—" "Rice noodles?" "A bit bland." "Fried chicken?" "Do it!"