"Fine, just go to sleep first!"

As she spoke, she waved her hand, and in an instant, from behind her, in the glow of the Fierce Flame, a sinister shadow surged ominously, spreading indefinitely like a pair of dark wings, engulfing Master Zhou in the blink of an eye.

In just a flicker, the spiritual resistance, invasion, defense, interference, and correction began at a dizzying pace, and then it was over.

The sound of breaking echoed incessantly.

Severely injured and groggy, Master Zhou's world went dark; he lost all ability to resist and fell to the ground, powerless to fight back; the only thing he could hear was an indifferent whisper,

"Stay put, and don't get in the way."

The wing-like shadows transformed, coalescing into a hand that lifted him up and threw him into a 'pile of people.' Zhou Chong desperately tried to lift his head, glaring at the figure of Ye Xian retreating, but in the end, he could no longer bear it and completely passed out.

Ye Xian looked up, her gaze directed towards the depths of the fire.

From amidst the stumbling mutants emerged a figure, its expression subtly changing, and after a long while said, "So it seems I have underestimated the people of this world."

Amidst the flames created by the conflagration, the ash-covered Master Kong paused, staring at the expressionless Ye Xian approaching, and stiffened before shaking his head definitively, "It wasn't me!"

"I know."

Ye Xian passed by, leaving behind the words, "I'll leave those burdens to you," before heading straight towards the area behind Master Kong.

Below the blood-coated, fractured tower, dancing among the fierce flames and thick smoke, a gaunt, hunched figure somehow revealed itself slowy from Ye Xian's advance.

From the beginning, he had been sitting there, completely still.

Silently observing everything as it unfolded, dispassionately watching as the tragic disaster and drama played out before his eyes.

Master Kong was stricken as if by lightning, drenched in cold sweat.

She had just walked out from within, yet in the midst of the chaos and injury, she hadn't sensed anything. But what truly frightened her was the face of that person.

So aged.

It looked so familiar, and yet now it seemed impossibly strange and difficult to believe.

The master sent by the association, the manager responsible for all alchemical work in Spring City, the one proposing and controlling the entire construction and all procedures.

—Duan Mu!

She stiffened, glaring instinctively, but soon enough, gritted her teeth in shame and rage and turned to leave, taking the survivors with her without a moment's hesitation.

Only Ye Xian stepped forward, gazing intently at the ever-wrinkled and sorrowful aged face.

Filled with curiosity.

"Is Master Duan unharmed?"

Duan Mu smiled carelessly, looking at her, "And what about you, Master Ye? As I recall, you were working in the deep well, weren't you? That's supposed to be the most dangerous place.

When the Mutated backlash happened, I thought you would die down there."

"Luckily, I'm by nature rebellious; I trust no one, am irritated by everyone, and have no faith in anyone. I always make my own little preparations.

But Master Duan, you truly startled me out of the blue."

Ye Xian, with her hands in her pockets, looked him up and down seriously, "To undertake such a great deed out of nowhere, I can't see the feeble old body you always claim to have.

Should I offer my congratulations for being a worn-out old horse that still aspires to gallop?

It really hasn't been easy."

"Easy, actually, quite easy."

Duan Mu showed no pride, nor any joy.

Despite being the instigator of it all, who should exult and look down in scorn, his face, filled with sorrow and wrinkles, just seemed to get older in front of Ye Xian.

He sighed in weariness,

"All you need is a thick skin to fail and fight again and again. As long as you can get back up, you're indomitable... Such praise for losers is nothing but deceptive flattery or poison to pour on a wound."

Duan Mu looked up to the sky with a light sigh, then couldn't help but laugh, "For so many years, everyone has seen me as the epitome of late success and resilience. But every single day, I wonder — why must it be me embodying late bloomer resilience? Why not someone else?"

Ye Xian remained silent, not speaking.

In the eyes of all the craftsmen from the association of the Taiyi Ring, Duan Mu was the embodiment of inspiration.

He had his own awakening at the age of thirty-one, joined the Embers, well beyond the age of an apprentice, wandered between workshops, faced continuous setbacks, and fought back repeatedly.

At forty, it took him nine years to earn his craftsman's license as an old member of the Embers.

In theory, it should have been praised profusely, astonishing everyone and causing a sensation for an entire year.

Unfortunately, that same year, in his examination room, there was a fourteen-year-old boy, without a school or style, who had no foundation, no elders or teachers, holding a simple pamphlet from the association, taught himself in a year, and with a thesis full of formatting errors, proposed fourteen summaries and four principles that laid the foundation for a new field of Modern Alchemy.

When Duan Mu proved his ability and pushed beyond his limits, rose within the association, and achieved master status, that reticent young man had already become the Embers Grandmaster, the contemporary Saint—the Plowsmith.

When he, with his aged vigor, called for the revival of the Union system, the future of the Union system was denied with just one word from the Grandmaster of the Heavenly Furnace.

After the Union system's revival failed and several decades later when he accumulated experience and returned to propose a new theory and re-established himself, he encountered a radical and rebellious obstructor at that year's master evaluation, and that person was named... Ye Xian.

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