[?]

Ji Jue was once again stunned.

Meow meow meow?

Teacher, do you want to see what you're saying?

The mere extraction of the complete spirituality composing the Mechanical Descent was already as difficult as ascending to the heavens for Ji Jue, not to mention using purely spiritual matter for alchemy and forming an independently surviving creation without any carrier...

This was already beyond the realm of wild fantasies.

"Are you serious, teacher?"

Professor Ye didn't respond but simply walked ahead towards the deeper parts of the workshop, casually beckoning him to follow.

In the midst of the corridor's transformation and inversion, another vast workshop appeared before Ji Jue's eyes. It was not his first time here, but every visit brought new realizations.

With each visit, he increasingly sensed the terrifying transformations filling every inch of the air and the torrents of spiritual matter flowing beneath the material realm, like countless stars...

But this time, the operation table didn't hold an unfinished work or any weird creation.

Instead, it was a...

Pink, diamond-studded cat bag?!

Ji Jue rubbed his eyes, double-checking that he wasn't seeing things wrong, even recognizing that this broken bag was the very one Chen Yubo and Tong Hua had been fighting over to order!

Underneath the cat bag, a small contour wriggled, struggled, and finally squeezed out a round head from the opening of the bag.

Looking at Ji Jue, it opened its mouth.

Suddenly, it meowed!

"Afu?"

Ji Jue instinctively reached out, rubbed its little head, lifted it up, looked at it closely, and confirmed several times over that this was indeed Chen Yubo's cat, which he had even fed with canned food!

"How are you here?"

Afu's claws shot out, tightly clutching Ji Jue's collar, refusing to let go, meowing pitifully with tears in its eyes.

"It was brought here this morning, and Chen Xingzhou's brother was as anxious as if he were about to die, calling Ah Chun every hour for his cat, annoying as hell.

Since you're going back today, take it with you, and save him the trouble of running and shouting in the workshop again."

Professor Ye waved his hand in disgust, and instantly the cat hair floating in the air constricted into a ball and was thrown back into the bag, ensuring it was spotless.

Then, from the cold, indifferent expression Professor Ye usually wore, it seemed as if a hint of a smile emerged.

"Speaking of which, don't you want to see an alchemy creation composed purely of spiritual matter?"

And so, in that moment, Ji Jue saw it.

Right in his hands, the blue cat that had been struggling to escape suddenly stiffened for an instant.

In the silence, it was as if some shackles had been unlocked.

Under the light, in Ji Jue's hands, Afu's shadow suddenly swelled, inflating wildly, expanding furiously, with millions of tendrils of shadow moving continuously, spreading, forming various changing silhouettes.

Eventually, as the lights went out one by one, the pitch-black shadow completely separated from Afu's shadow, enveloping the entire workshop and turning into a terror-striking, wing-like silhouette, as if it could obscure the skies.

Just like that, it casually unfurled its wings, revealing a fearsome visage that was difficult for the naked eye to fully comprehend.

Ji Jue stood stiffly on the spot, not daring to move; even the cat in his hand no longer dared to move or struggle, trembling uncontrollably.

There was no sound to be heard, no shape to be seen.

But in the invisible air, it was as if something gazed down, perusing the minute beings before it with an unhurried look, drawing near, examining carefully.

Merely the gaze was enough to make Ji Jue sweat profusely.

Not to mention the perception of terrifying spiritual fluctuations, like tidal waves.

There was something there, right in front of his very eyes!

Grimacing.

Exhaling a breath that made one's soul tremble.

Until the crisp sound of a snapped finger echoed, coming from Professor Ye's fingertip.

The immense shadow that enveloped the entire workshop once again shrank and merged into Professor Ye's shadow, disappearing without a trace.

Only Ji Jue was left standing in place, already soaked in sweat and struggling to maintain control.

"Teacher, what... what was that?"

"It was the first creation I made after becoming a master, around the time I was twenty-seven."

Professor Ye flicked her fingers, playing a game with the eager monsters lurking within the shadows. With a flick of her finger, it was as if she tapped on the forehead of the shadow, subduing it, causing it to curl up and return to its place.

"Back then, my desire for fame and recognition was intense; I cared too much about others' opinions and judgments. The slightest achievement made me anxious to show off, believing that with enough real accomplishments, I could demonstrate the gap between the capable and the incapable... Looking back now, it seems so naive and superficial.

"After it was registered with the association, it was tentatively classified as a Heavenly Artisan level creation. Over time, this series of creations was passed around and eventually became known as the 'Ominous Sequence.'

"In it, its codename is [Black Swan]."

As she spoke, the black swan in the shadows seemed to proudly spread its wings, gracefully and magnificently dancing, as if embodying unexpected, intrusive disasters.

Breathtaking.

Ji Jue almost forgot to breathe.

From the silence, he suddenly heard Professor Ye's question: "Ji Jue, one day, will you be able to create something like this?"

"I don't know."

Ji Jue instinctively shook his head.

The future was too far ahead, unseen and undetermined.

But Professor Ye, seemingly not hearing him, asked again, "One day, will you be able to create something even better than this?"

Ji Jue fell silent and after a long moment of thought, he sighed in shame, "I don't know."

After a brief pause, from amid that short-lived silence, he suddenly felt a courage emanating from nowhere, no, calling it arrogance was perhaps more fitting.

Ignorant and clownish.

Yet uncontrollably, he wanted to speak out.

He said, "I would like to try."

"..."

For a moment, Professor Ye seemed lost in thought, silent for a long time.

As if the scene from thirty years ago had resurfaced.

When her teacher asked the same question back then, her own response was similar... no, no need to beautify it, compared to the reserved Ji Jue, she must have been even more arrogant and insolent back then, right?

But what had the teacher thought at the time?

For years, Ye Xian had no clue, but now, hearing her student's answer, she couldn't help feeling joyful.

It was like a refreshing breeze blowing from afar, amidst a long journey.

Embers Road was too rough and too distant.

A lifetime exhausted yet without sight of the end.

It felt almost eternal.

Every time she saw those figures chasing after her, she felt reassured and expectant... Was her teacher back then feeling the same as she did now?

Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she could never be a kindly elder who was good at giving praise and encouragement, and besides, to harbor the idea of being mentioned in the same breath as the teacher so early...

Such a foolish student indeed needed a good chiding!

"With your current state, you're still far off."

Amidst the rare joy, Ye Xian unhesitatingly doused him with a cold reality, "Such fanciful dreams can wait until you pass the craftsman license exam."

And with that, she smiled, turned, and walked away with her hands behind her back.

Leaving behind her last words, echoing in the air.

"But, having ambition is commendable..."

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