Nowadays, all the prestigious nobles and great families, worthy of being called "noble families," monopolized every aspect of power and strength, including wealth, authority, reputation, and even armed forces.

For instance, the Tong family, no matter how low-key, could shake Cliff City with a stomp of their feet and cause ripples across Hai Province with just a turn over—a behemoth in every sense.

The Lou family was no different and not inferior at all.

Generations after generations had spared no effort in internal strife, manipulation, and plundering, accumulating day by day until now—riches so vast, authority so solid, reputation so supreme, and lineage so deep...

It was beyond the imagination and incomparable to wild-grown Chosen Ones like Ji Jue.

Merely the ability of "Spiritual Shaping" had been played with creatively by the Lou Family, deriving countless results from all the paths of Superior.

The purity of Ascension Series, the destruction of Entropy System, the changes of the Embers Series, the suppression of Heavenly Origin System... countless.

At this moment, Ji Jue felt the resonance of spiritual between the inheritors of the Lou Family.

Lou Feng had spent an entire day, painstakingly crafting a "Location Device" specifically to search for his aunt.

Holding the spiritual fragments he had just taken out from the toolbox, Ji Jue sensed the subtle vibrations of the spiritual fragments the moment he stepped into the third floor.

If taken out, one would definitely see that the light dots on the fragments were stirring, gliding towards the direction of the precious materials storage room.

The moment he sighed in relief, Ji Jue's heart inevitably sank again.

Damn, it actually entered the material storage room...

Can she still be alive?

Even if she were, perhaps living is worse than dying?

He wasn't afraid of hardship or tiredness, but he dreaded that after all his hard work and efforts to finally open that door, he might find some hairy creature squatting on the ground looking at him.

Even if it didn't call him 'big brother', calling him 'big nephew' wouldn't be okay either!

When Lou Feng would sit on the ground crying loudly later on, should he join in?

Anyway, better prepare the camera first.

As he clumsily moved and sorted items, he heard a low footstep outside the storage room, and the bald woman next to him suddenly turned pale.

She grabbed Ji Jue.

Pulling him, she moved to the door of the warehouse and hastily lowered her head.

Waiting respectfully.

Ji Jue didn't dare act rashly and followed suit, lowering his head, then heard many footsteps entering from outside, several figures in black robes leading, with the rest following densely behind.

Marching straight forward, without stopping.

Seemingly transporting something.

Ji Jue didn't dare raise his head to look, he could only... sneakily peek through the hidden camera mounted on the trolley. The pinhole camera viewed the outside through the handle's opening and the internal lens's reflection, in an awkward but very secretive manner.

Among the crowd, the one leading was a beardless, wrinkled old man with green eyes and restrained Flame Light in his gaze, his passing glance alone would send shivers down one's spine.

Jian Yuan!

The disciples diligently serving by his side were many, and some were carrying a huge box straight in, the dutiful disciples walking in front, unlocking and unsealing, opening the heavy doors, and the group vanished behind them.

Unfortunately, the space behind the door was a blind spot for the camera.

Ji Jue kept his head low, not daring to look.

He even restrained the unusual activity of the spiritual fragments, halting its function.

Soon, the group walked out, unlike their hurried arrival, this time their steps were slow.

The bald woman leaned forward slightly, squeezing out a flattering smile, pushing open the door for them. The craftsman at the front gave a slight nod but didn't say anything.

It was all too commonplace.

However, Jian Yuan paused slightly, suddenly glancing towards Ji Jue, who was had his head lowered behind the woman, scrutinizing.

In an instant, Ji Jue felt his heart reach his throat.

His body stiffened, his heartbeat quickened, and he was drenched in cold sweat.

But this was still a minor reaction when a lackey saw a big boss, nothing strange.

He had already realized...

It probably wasn't that he had made any blunder, but rather that his current appearance was too conspicuous, and using a crutch made him stand out even more in the crowd.

"Who is that?" Jian Yuan asked.

The accompanying Cun Ling's eyes brightened, stepping forward to answer, "Ah... an apprentice working in the Recovery Department, with decent aptitude, promising future."

"Future?"

Jian Yuan, not caring much, just sneered upon hearing this and glanced at his student, "Like you, you dare to talk about the future with me?"

Cun Ling's expression twitched, his head lowered even further:

"Student is superficial."

There wasn't the trope of a big boss whimsically proposing a test; Jian Yuan's time was precious, too lazy to waste it on such insignificant characters, he shook his hand and walked away.

Others hurriedly followed.

In just a few seconds, the warehouse was once again desolate and silent.

Only the bald woman, wiping off her cold sweat, let out a long breath.

"The Grandmaster's aura has become even more piercing and substantial," she mused, looking toward Ji Jue beside her. "How do you feel?"

"I can't really feel this substantial aura," Ji Jue replied with a wry smile, playing his part well as a little Karami. "Instead, my legs are shaking, and I'm drenched in cold sweat, terribly frightened."

"Having reverence is good. You've been noticed by the Grandmaster. If there's a chance in the future, make sure you perform well."

The bald woman waved her hand, urging him to finish the job, then dismissed him.

Ji Jue dared not delay any longer. After heading down and returning to the garbage recovery area, he sat in the manager's armchair and fell into deep thought.

As for Sun Ci, whose place had been taken, seeing this scene, he dared not speak and obediently found another chair to sit in.

Middle-aged oxen and horses, used to the beatings of life, had long abandoned impractical dreams.

Subsequently, they had a very clear understanding of their own position.

Though he had been harshly manipulated by Ji Jue, at least he was stuffed with sweet dates to the point of vomiting. Being able to scramble to this position was more than a manager could ever dream of.

Being manipulated was just a trivial matter.

Unlike the haughty little Karamis from White Deer, the oxen and horses of Embers were always sober and self-aware, not minding being the big boss's dogs. Moreover, he was looking forward to Ji Jue gradually making a name for himself and then giving him a boost!

As for the possibility that his older brother might be an undercover agent, ha, don't joke, his aura of mutation is purer than mine; you're telling me he's undercover?

You might as well say I'm the undercover one!

"When did you get here?" Ji Jue 'snapped back to reality' and looked over.

"Just now, just arrived!"

Sun Ci immediately stood up, replying respectfully, "The pass and permissions you ordered have been arranged. From now on, outside the security zone of the workshop, the use of alchemy creations will be unrestricted.

I've also brought all the materials you requested. They're all here for you to check. If anything is amiss, I'll find someone."

"Just leave them there."

Ji Jue nodded, waved his hand, and Sun Ci, knowing what to do, stood up and left to patrol the perimeter.

Ji Jue then stretched his hand to lift the lid off a metal container, gazing at the shimmering mercury inside. He grabbed a handful of hardening beads from the toolbox and scattered them into it.

In an instant, the mercury seemed to boil, and one after another, mercury spiders the size of fingernails crawled out, creating a terrifying scene that could send those with arachnophobia or claustrophobia straight to the ICU.

After an immense number of spiders emerged, they swarmed and rolled, nearly submerging his shin and knee.

Upon Ji Jue's command, they quickly hid into shadows, burrowed into floor drains, and crawled into ventilation vents overhead, disappearing with a rustling sound.

Most of these spiders burst silently while crawling, leaving behind a fine thread attached to either the drainage or ventilation ducts, stretching out.

Residual spirits then followed the threads back to Ji Jue's hand, transforming once more into a hardened mercury bead.

Recovery complete.

With the cooperation of many residual creations, Ji Jue's network unfolded layer by layer from the underground workshop, drilling through the gaps found in the past two days, extending upward toward the upper levels.

But at best, it only reached the second layer, and all were on the periphery.

If he ventured further inward, he was afraid he might trigger an alarm.

And if he dared move upward…

The many disciples under Jian Yuan would likely throw their heads back in laughter three times, reminding you of the principle that 'six crafts and six craftsmen never fake it.'

If messing around, do it secretly. Going head-to-head without measuring your strength, that's truly mindless.

After the network was laid, many conditions under the scrutiny of pinhole cameras...

Today, this vast workshop possibly housed over sixty craftsmen working endlessly and tirelessly.

Those creations and works, none of them differed from what Ji Jue had seen previously in Duden's workshop.

Pivots or frameworks.

It seemed like preparations for some super-gigantic secret ritual, which Ji Jue couldn't understand at all. He could only record the internal scenes onto a page in his record book before putting it away in his toolbox.

Finally, at the outermost area, he found an entrance and exit.

Ji Jue thought briefly, picked through various parts, and quickly, three spider-type machines took shape in his hands. After a Mechanical Descent process, they were thrown into the ventilation duct.

Minutes later, at the busy and noisy entrance, three mechanical spiders flipped open the ventilation cover, fell to the ground, climbed onto a box, and were loaded onto a truck.

After the loading was complete, the apprentice slapped the side of the carriage, and then the battered truck slowly drove off.

Thus, the chaotic outside world came into Ji Jue's view.

Under the eternally dark night sky aglow with rainbow lights, the outskirts of Spring City roared incessantly, with streaks of light continuously falling from the heavens, trailing blazing tails as they smashed into the earth, stirring up wild impacts.

Brilliant flashes appeared intermittently above the heavens, and soon, the earth trembled.

From the outside, the workshop appeared like a phantom, existing ambiguously between presence and absence, even allowing glimpses of the ruins and buildings behind it through the workshop.

Walls of containment covered in circuit-like paths rose from the ground, encircling and enveloping deeper insides.

Faintly visible were the porous boundary membranes, and giant chains flashing in and out of the air, binding something struggling inside.

Amidst the roaring, spiritual tides continuously washed over the tall walls.

The engines of the Sky Rail Train were struggling intensely, deeply mired…

For the first time, so close.

Only a few hundred meters away.

Yet, it seemed like a chasm as vast as the heavens.

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