Belongs to the Virtuous

All of a sudden, the massive, dormant furnace seemed to turn into a tentacle monster. Flames shot out, snatching the terrified Little Niuma and swallowing it into its belly. The motorcycle was nowhere to be seen; only frantic, muffled beeps could be heard through the heavy furnace walls. "Brother Ji Jue, this is bad!" Xiao An turned pale with fright, instinctively wanting to cry out: *Master Little Niuma was eaten by the furnace monster!* Yet Ji Jue's expression remained calm. Through the resonance and communication of Deus Ex Machina, every operational detail of the furnace lay fully within his perception and control. No—it felt almost as if he were operating it with his own hands. The furnace had turned the tables, usurping the role of host! This furnace, having smelted countless blessings and Sovereign Virtues across untold ages, now reversed the flow of the ability's supply, drawing Ji Jue himself under its sway. It was as though it had seized his hands and pressed his palms onto the levers and the workbench, guiding him step by step, demonstrating with rushed yet unmistakable clarity, longing for him to burn it into memory. [Desolate Ruins], [Ascension], [Embers]... The spiritus originating from Ji Jue circulated within the furnace, dividing into nine parts. Like a chain reaction under the intervention of the three Sovereign Virtue insignias, it triggered successive qualitative transformations. Then, fusing in an inscrutable sequence, it manifested a silvery-white phantom light Ji Jue had never seen before, all of it merging into Little Niuma's bulky frame. Next, an unprecedented, shrill honk rang out from within the furnace, muffled behind the thick barrier. Yet in Ji Jue's perception, Little Niuma's form seemed to melt, swiftly losing its original shape. Taken aback, he wanted to stop, but the furnace dragged him forward, urging him to continue, conveying that what followed was the true crux. Just like dissolving, Little Niuma's hefty body seemed to melt into a single sphere in an instant. Defying gravity, it hovered above the raging flames. And then... thick black smoke and a massive amount of impurities were forcefully purged by violent oscillations of spiritus! In a mere snap of the fingers, the vast mass of impurities and chaotic clutter that had left even Professor Ye nearly helpless was mostly filtered out. Seven or eight long-fractured, rusted bolts; a handful of aged, cracked washers; two bent crankshafts; and even more than half a hood scraped off who-knew-what vehicle, along with two valves... The moment they fell, they were incinerated into smoke, vanishing without a trace. Ji Jue stood dumbfounded. He inspected it every day, yet he had never known so much random junk was hidden inside Little Niuma's belly. Then came the second round of sifting, expelling chunks of smoky-quartz-like substance, iron shards sharp as bone spurs, and writhing crimson worms that squirmed like living things... Those were the aberrant impurities from the blessings Little Niuma had swallowed, and even the dregs within the dragon blood! Like soaking-wet clothes thrown into a spin dryer, extraneous matter was flung out in rapid succession—having broken the shackles of matter's former physical shape, through procedures Ji Jue could not fathom in the slightest, every interfering element was stripped away cleanly and ruthlessly in the blink of an eye! Among the four fundamental elements of alchemy, this was [Purification], brought to its zenith four centuries ago! And when the liquefied Little Niuma extended and expanded once more, reading its material properties and past traces to reconstruct its form, even if Ji Jue were an absolute fool, he would have realized what the furnace was guiding him hand-by-hand to practice, learn, and comprehend. The unique mastery of Sage Quicksilver. —[Fluid Alchemy]! Even if Ji Jue could not understand eighty percent of it, even if all he could master were introductory operations, the furnace still laid bare this legacy unique to the Sage without the slightest reservation! He forgot to breathe. He strained with everything he had to commit the tactile feel and technique to memory, striving to grasp more applications and retain every sensation and sequence. But it was happening too fast. The energy remaining in the furnace, and the time they had left, were dwindling rapidly. In under twenty seconds, the furnace doors opened once more, releasing a gust of scorching wind. Through the billowing smoke, a jet-black motorcycle rolled out slowly. Its blank headlights flickered, completely bewildered, having no idea what had just happened. Its frame was slightly smaller than before, yet the spiritus fluctuations swirling over it rose incessantly like flames, poised to erupt at any second. Countless spiritus circuits were etched into the mechanisms beneath its chassis. Sixteen Sovereign Virtue insignias covered every critical corner, while rune sequences channeling blessing powers spread from the engine throughout its entire body. It was, entirely and truly, remade! Even though, compared to other alchemical creations, it was currently like an empty shell—possessing nothing except its original dragon blood—it still left ample room for Ji Jue to modify and equip it later. Everything had even been inscribed using the methods of Fluid Alchemy, allowing Ji Jue to reverse-engineer it through study as he advanced... Had the Blessing Cage connected to the furnace not been emptied long ago with no blessings left to use, it likely would have filled every slot across Little Niuma with Quicksilver's leftover blessings right then and there. Yet aside from that, what drew even more attention... was the colossal metamorphosis that followed its purification! Ji Jue froze, then blinked in disbelief, his eyes widening. This made no sense. Why did it have two wheels when it went in, but three when it came out?! It went from a little scooter into a tricycle?! The cargo capacity had skyrocketed! *Wait a minute, is your evolutionary tree even normal?* Yet Little Niuma didn't seem bothered at all. As if born this way, it maneuvered the extra wheel with practiced ease, wiggling back and forth in front of Ji Jue while letting out excited beeps. Fluid Alchemy was the art of shattering the shackles of matter and form, aligning the outward shape more closely with its inner essence. It neglected the expansion of material properties in favor of the interior, resulting in the flaw of overly demanding requirements for raw materials. Yet at the same time, reverse-adjusting the exterior based on the product's internal essence guaranteed an absolute success rate. Its potential in the art of purification had also been elevated to a terrifying degree. Little Niuma's current metamorphosis was merely the manifestation of the dragon blood, once purified, thoroughly digesting the materials Ji Jue had fed it. [This is Fluid Alchemy.] A weary sigh drifted from the furnace. [If a small sliver of the legacy can endure, perhaps my master might find some solace.] "...Thank you." Feeling the wondrous insights that had yet to fade, Ji Jue came back to his senses and sighed softly. "Is there anything I can do for you?" [I never imagined I would have the chance to rekindle before being destroyed.] The faint speck of fire flickered, trembling on the verge of extinction. [I am content; there is nothing more. Only... my master grew increasingly radical in the past, straying from the Path of Embers and bringing about such an end. As a creation, I truly could not bear to see the workshop sink into ruin like this.] It hesitated, but said nothing more in the end, only offering a self-deprecating laugh: [If there is ever another chance... please show us mercy once more.] With that, the flame quietly extinguished. Gone forever. Only an illusory sigh echoed in the wind. *Farewell, old times across all those years. Farewell, everyone.* Right before Ji Jue's eyes, the furnace trembled slightly and crumbled into dust in the breeze. Tiny motes of glimmering light drifted upward, coalescing together. They fell into Ji Jue's hand. Yet having witnessed the furnace's final dedication with his own eyes, Ji Jue felt none of his earlier joy and excitement. There wasn't even time to mourn. Ignoring the hunger and urgency surging from his soul, he had no time to absorb them. He could only carefully gather them with his spiritus to ensure nothing was lost. Then he vaulted into the air, nimbly hopping onto the vehicle. Once Xiao An was seated securely, he sped outward! Because if they didn't run now, it would truly be too late! *Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!* Fierce grinding noises erupted continuously from the void, like the hull of a submarine rapidly fracturing in the ten-thousand-fathom abyss. The puzzle ball's countdown was near its end, and the faint light propping up the abandoned workshop was dissipating rapidly... [11—10—9—8—] Accompanied by the puzzle ball's countdown, Little Niuma sped across the uneven steps, rocketing past two hundred miles per hour in an instant, even more outrageously fast than before. It wound straight down the inside of the bell tower walls! In just a few snaps of the fingers, it touched the ground, leaving behind three charred tire tracks. The puzzle ball reformed in Ji Jue's hand. A ray of faint light flew out and struck the portal they had entered through earlier, instantly swallowing them before snapping shut again. At that exact moment, the entire bell tower erupted with an unprecedented roar. Heavenly thunder surged! A flash of lightning dropped abruptly from the sky, plunging into the bell tower. The purification command from the defense sequence unleashed an absolute punishment far fiercer than fire and lightning. The plaza trembled. From the bell tower, fissures branched out as countless bricks and stones exploded outward. Under the siege of the Knights of Homecoming, the giant—riddled with holes yet still locked in relentless combat—suddenly seized up and fell to one knee. It had lost power completely. The sudden shift caught everyone off guard for a moment. Then, growing even more vigilant, they scanned their surroundings for any sign of an anomaly to guard against a sneak attack. And it was that very glance that let Lou Feng spot a figure at the distant street corner that made his blood boil in an instant. "—Ji Jue!!!" Not far from the plaza, that damned bastard had snuck all the way over here without anyone noticing! And now that he had been spotted, he was actually trying to turn around and flee?! "Fuck me..." On Little Niuma's back, Ji Jue froze mid-escape. He turned his head with difficulty and forced an awkward smile. "Oh, isn't this Brother Lou? What a coincidence." Every Knight of Homecoming raised their lance in unison, leveling them from afar right at Ji Jue's face. "Seems your nose is quite sharp, Mr. Ji," Lou Feng said coldly. "Sneaking this close out of nowhere... you weren't hoping to fish in troubled waters, were you?" "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Ji Jue shook his head vigorously, shouting his denial. How could he possibly want to fish in troubled waters? He had already cleaned out the whole damn pond! And it was all thanks to you drawing all the aggro, Brother Lou! Brimming with joy and gratitude, he fought to keep from laughing out loud. Looking at Lou Feng now, all the awkward friction from before was gone. The more he looked, the more he liked him; the more he looked, the more pleased he was. Just like looking at a godson. A fatherly benevolence radiated from him that made Lou Feng's skin crawl. He took a step back. "Seize—" "Brother Lou, hold on!" Ji Jue threw up a hand and yelled with wide eyes: "As the saying goes, heavenly treasures and sacred relics belong to the virtuous! How could the mere glimmer of a firefly like me dare to compete with Brother Lou's brilliance? Before, I was blind to your favor; how could I make the same mistake twice?" "Brother Ji Jue..." A bewildered Xiao An reached out and tugged his sleeve, trying to tell him he was stepping on his foot, but Ji Jue cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Say no more!" "We forfeit!" Ji Jue squeezed the words through his teeth, as though suppressing an eruption of emotion and sorrow. Gritting his teeth, he proclaimed, "This workshop is yours, Brother Lou!" With that, he kicked Little Niuma. Little Niuma backed up a bit, backed up a bit more, and then backed up a long way in a flash before sharply spinning around and tearing off into the distance. Just like that, they vanished. "He ran?" Even Slan found it hard to believe. Looking up at the sky, a meteor rose and quickly surveyed most of the town, confirming that Ji Jue and his companion had already sped far away. They had braced themselves for another bitter struggle. Yet Ji Jue hadn't even dared to test them, refusing to clash with them at all? "Hmph!" Lou Feng snorted. There had been several moments when he wanted to order the Knights of Homecoming to capture Ji Jue immediately. But considering that everyone had just been through a grueling battle and that Master Ye might have left some unknown contingency on him, he ultimately chose the safer path. Since Ji Jue had the sense to leave, there was no reason to chase him down relentlessly. Yet all of a sudden, as he looked toward the direction Ji Jue had fled, his heart gave a sudden thump: *Wait, how did he know this was a worksh—* Lou Feng whipped his head around toward the gaping entrance of the bell tower. His eyes went wide. Abandoning all steady caution and methodical advance, he charged straight inside. And then, he saw... several familiar tire tracks in the ashes, stamping themselves like a brand onto his heart and turning it instantly cold. When he scrambled up the stairs, panting, and finally saw the half-broken door lying flat on the floor, along with the wreckage of the workshop picked clean down to mere ashes, he could bear it no longer. His vision went black. Echoing across the skies of the entire Border Realm was an indescribably furious shriek! So heart-wrenching. "—Ji Jue!!!!"