Ji Jue's face had gradually become ashen and smeared with dirt.

He wiped his face, smelled it, that familiar scent.

Ashes...

These were Molten Furnace ashes!

He lifted his head and looked towards the pitch-black dome above.

Within Jian Yuan's workshop, all the craftsman's furnaces' spent ashes had been sent here.

It was common to see strands and threads of ash, but after so many years, such a scale of ash accumulation from countless smelting and creations had embedded an atmosphere that became vast and magnificent.

Suffocating.

"Ji Jue, do you know why craftsmen are obsessed with flames?" Jian Yuan stood in front of a shattered furnace, waving his hand, an invisible power clearing the surrounding rubble.

Without waiting for Ji Jue to answer, he continued, "With its current development, craftsmen no longer rely on flames for their works; on the contrary, an increasing number of tools have been integrated into Alchemy—water, air, dust, light, even the human body and hands... But the furnace, it remains mainstream. Without a furnace, a workshop can hardly be considered a workshop. What does that mean?"

"Convenient? Suitable?"

Ji Jue casually replied, "It's just habit from the ancestors, many standards emerged from it, and it's not surprising that later generations continue it, right?"

"Is that all? Can't you witness the magnificence of the Embers Furnace?"

Jian Yuan chuckled, "Have you not seen with your own eyes the majesty of the Embers, when the stars themselves serve as furnaces for brilliant Flame Light?"

Ji Jue fell silent for a moment.

"This is fire."

Jian Yuan lifted a finger and softly blew a breath, causing some dust to stir and scatter, but that gentle breath echoed in the subterranean space, growing into a rampaging hurricane.

At last, it whipped up countless ashes into a frenzied dance, trembling, and within it, sparks that had long been extinguished suddenly reignited!

Thousands upon thousands of flame specks converged at his fingertip.

The vast swath of tinder and ash reintegrated into a thread of pure Flame Light, dancing, leaping, illuminating all darkness.

"Do you see, Ji Jue?"

In the glow of the fire, Jian Yuan's expression seemed to shed all emotion—neither sad nor joyful, as solemn as God and Buddha—"The very first Alchemy was born from it.

From the moment the earliest flames were lit by the Fire Stealers among the kings, everything was destined. The Fire Starter burnt themselves, followers passed on the torch, marking everything with flames, creating everything, and likewise, burning everything to ashes.

The Embers Path was thus born.

The Corrosive Mutated took its form."

He said, "What you must learn lies within—"

Suddenly, an unprecedented, powerful roar surged from the deepest darkness, as if coming from everywhere, and as they converged, they seemed filled with Soul, overwhelming will and spirit.

Dispelling all lingering thoughts and echoes.

When the light at Jian Yuan's fingertip silently dissipated, from within the furnace, a fierce light gushed forth, erupting, spreading, enveloping everything.

The light of tinder and ashes manifested.

Like a storm.

Ji Jue didn't even have time to react or dodge.

For a moment, he felt his body and soul engulfed in that frenzy, shattering, peeling off, drifting towards some unknown place.

Broken and fragmented.

Flesh, life, self, soul, everything faded within the tide of light.

But what remained here?

Countless illusions and images emerged from the flames, filling Ji Jue's sight, forcefully pouring into his Soul—shattered dome, broken earth, swirling stars, and the infinite creation.

The world turned at this moment.

Revealing its true form.

In that instant, Ji Jue finally saw the origins of everything at the end of the Flame Light.

It was as if a green eye slowly opened.

Looking toward this place, towards Ji Jue.

Without sorrow, without joy, without surprise, without worry, so lofty, so indifferent, overlooking all the chaotic scenes of the mortal world, the cycles of war and peace, the intertwining of struggles and cooperation, witnessing the futile cycles' repeated performances.

What has happened will happen again, what has been done will be done again.

Under the sun, there is nothing new; the so-called changes of all things are just a cycle of strife and slaughter.

—Under the call of that Secret Ritual, the great calamity of Zhi Fu, the Corrosive Furnace Core, looked down upon us!

At that moment, uncontrollable screams of agony burst from within the flames!

Ji Jue was ignited by the flames.

Dust rose, then fell.

Drifting into Jian Yuan's palm, so fragile.

And then emotionlessly, reduced to nothingness.

"Mortal things are finite and can hardly bear Heavenly Destiny," Jian Yuan said indifferently as he looked into the furnace, "Let me see if this material... is indeed fit to receive the work of Heavenly Destiny."

Crack!

As if a shattering illusion resounded, filling his ears.

Perhaps it was the sound of the soul breaking, or the world falling apart...

Ji Jue felt like he was falling into a bottomless abyss.

Only the sound of the wind howling in his ears...

His reason told him he was still in place, bathing in the light, but he felt no warmth.

His soul told him he was falling toward an unfathomable abyss, but he had no way to struggle.

Even, hard to think.

His consciousness had already been filled and controlled by an even more vast and violent Power.

As if a deluge climbed against the earth, rising to the heavens.

In his memory, countless theories sprung to life, escaping his control, changing automatically, overlapping, combining, transforming.

All of the Mutated Transformation theories that Jian Yuan had forcefully imprinted in his memory in those days, and all the skills and operations generously shared, now seemed to stretch and connect autonomously, as if truly given life!

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