The air suddenly vibrated.

The aura of the Ruins and Embers collided in an instant, with the essence of eternity and change separating at the touch amidst the stirring and friction of their spiritual. It seemed as if a fleeting silver gleam flashed and disappeared, and then, an indistinct crack appeared in front of Ji Jue, only to swiftly vanish.

In a flash, the Static Zone spread under the giant's feet. The invisible iron wall blocking Ji Jue's path was split with a crack.

Even though among the Superior there is no distinction, the Static Zone crafted by the peak of the Rebirth Rank was actually broken by an Ember Craftsman of the Transformation Rank...

A scene that, even if spread, no one would likely believe appeared before everyone's eyes.

In the dazed silence, only a faint sigh echoed.

"It seems, the path is still passable, right?"

The trace of insight left from the brief fusion of the edge of transformation, derived from the divine essence flowing from the Embers' nature, was enough to break this present obstruction, even if it contained only a ten-millionth fraction.

Ji Jue finally nodded in acknowledgment, stepping forward:

"Well then, goodbye."

And so, departed calmly.

An Ning happily followed, playing the game of stepping on footprints and shadows, in high spirits, imitating his pace.

No more words in the dead silence.

Only the crisp sound of breaking rang out again.

Yue Chen twisted off the bottle cap, tilted his head back, and downed the strong liquor once more.

The raging molten rock, shackled beneath the earth's crust, surged silently, waiting quietly for the moment to burst forth and burn everything to cinders.

.

.

Returning to his room, he closed the door, mercury flowed, climbing along the walls, intertwined in thousands of threads. With a casual touch, he set up spiritual locks to prevent prying and minimal protections afterward.

Only then did Ji Jue let out a long sigh of relief.

He raised his hand to wipe away the faint blood seeping from his nostrils.

"More troublesome than expected."

Ji Jue sighed lightly, "It might be even more troublesome than I'm thinking now."

The momentary collision of spirits between the static zone of the Ruins and the material interference of Embers, though won by Ji Jue in this initial test, took its toll on him.

After all, even with the divine essence of the edge of transformation in hand, Transformation is still Transformation; Rebirth remains Rebirth. The gap between ranks is insurmountable, and in size alone, he's vastly inferior to the other party.

The accumulation of the other party was so profound, even renowned for its volume, the Ruins were excessive.

The southern wall was broken.

The wall's gone, but the headache remains!

"Should we escape?" An Ning curiously poked her head out, raising her hand in suggestion, "If we need to escape, I can cover you anytime, anywhere! I'm extremely fast!"

Ji Jue sighed, "Isn't this the time to show your capability as a reliable partner, to assure me you'll back me up? Besides, how can you speak of escape so matter-of-factly?"

"Eh... I'm just a worker here, and the boss offers no emotional value at all. It's tough for me, too."

At this moment, the girl unabashedly took over the big bed, rolling back and forth, "Besides, the affinity is too low—no matter how powerful Flying Light is, it's meant for killing the living. When facing those who turn themselves into stone-like beings, who knows how effective it would be?

Grandpa always tells us: the only difference between the hunter and the prey is victory or defeat. After deciding the outcome at any cost, the winner is the hunter. If one knows they're going to die and still doesn't run, such fools delivering themselves to death should die sooner, or they'll just be a disgrace."

Ji Jue was amazed, "Do you White Deer people seriously have no martial ethics?"

"Martial ethics? Are they useful?"

An Ning wriggled like a worm, poking her head out of the blanket, full of curiosity, "You don't seem to have such a thing either, Ji Jue brother?"

"..."

Truth be told, indeed.

Ji Jue had no retort.

Amidst this, An Ning burst into laughter, "So hurry up and join the White Deer! An Family doesn't reject outsiders. Someone as talented as you, if seen by Grandpa, would definitely be seized in an instant, making you transfer to the An Family in no time. Then we'd be family, and you could become Aran's guardian, solving his problem, couldn't you?"

She seemed to make so much sense.

This also seems like a way to solve things...cow-dung! This thought felt dangerous!

It feels like in the White Deer, the An Family could well be some dragon's den or tiger's lair, perhaps some pit that if I walked into, would strip me cleanly to the bone.

To solve a friend's trouble, would I dig a pit to jump in myself?

Ji Jue rolled his eyes and began blocking out her chatter.

After opening the box, he focused intently on dealing with his work.

With the end of the S1 stage, they had a day of rest before the S2 Kunwu stage started, just the right time to handle some gains.

Not only to digest the gluttony from the journey, the Little Ox barely containing it, but also to reforge the Pan Ying, already pushed to its limits once more by a blood sacrifice that needed a quick recovery.

And, currently Ji Jue's biggest shortcoming...

—Consciousness Protection!

When intercepting Sky City's convoy earlier, the initial advantageous position almost overturned under a few spiritual impacts from that Heart Core. If An Ning hadn't decisively struck, it might have ended badly.

To be fair, Ji Jue's consciousness protection and soul defense are actually not weak. Moreover, there's the subtle enhancement from the Spirit First of the Ascension series, making him one of the strongest in the Transformation Rank.

Yet, among all his equipment, from Pan Ying to Little Ox, then to Mercury protection of the Golden Iron Quality and Supreme Resilience, none could resist mental attacks.

He could only rely on the Non-attack Matrix's blessing and his own bare stats, using his Heavenly Spiritual Sense to resist others' attacks. He might endure one or two hits, but only he knows the bitter taste.

Considering his complete lack of affinity with Heart Core, there's no chance of strengthening in this lifetime. Therefore, he's planning to take this opportunity to embrace the craftsman tradition, quickly make some equipment to cover his weaknesses, and avoid another failure...

Just in time, he received excellent materials —

As the suitcase opened, the mercury bricks, solidified with solid alchemy, quickly softened and dissolved, splitting to the sides.

A deep sound emerged from the box, rising and echoing in the room.

Heartbeat.

A fist-sized heart slowly leaped from the box, consuming the spiritual essence in the void, like a drum, the rhythmic sound echoed continuously.

Once you hear that sound long enough, even your breathing seems to become chaotic, overlapping with your heartbeat, losing consciousness in a trance.

What follows is the surge of desires and wants, infinite fantasies surging in the mind, hard to extricate from.

Hunger, resentment, desire, longing, loss, anger—

A myriad of experiences and feelings rotate in the heart, suddenly igniting an inexplicable rage, breathing heavily, eyes reddened, abruptly turning to look at the bewildered An Ning — at the moment, Ji Jue just wanted to grab that naive little imp rolling around on his bed who didn't know the heights of the sky, pin her down, and then let her feel the power of the "Scissor Mechanism Calculation and Virtual Displacement Principle!"

Fiercely pouring concepts of angular displacement, line displacement, real displacement, virtual displacement, real and virtual work, relative axial strain, relative shear strain, and the Deformed Body Virtual Work Principle into her mind, making her cry and calculate the vertical, horizontal movements, and forces of points ABCDEF in the crossed mechanism!

But soon, An Ning's pure gaze, untouched by knowledge, was like a bucket of cold water poured onto Ji Jue's heart.

He sighed helplessly.

Not out of reluctance, but because you can't carve rotten wood.

This lifetime, you'll never learn structural and material mechanics well!

"What's wrong, Brother Ji Jue?" An Ning tilted her head.

"No, it's nothing."

All bloodshed in Ji Jue's eyes vanished, no longer fierce, replaced with a warm and inclusive look as if looking at a fool: "Go play, as long as you're happy."

"I always feel like you're pondering something disdainful!"

"How can that be? It's illegal to bully the intellectually challenged..."

Ignoring An Ning's angry gaze and complaints, Ji Jue took a deep breath, smiled slightly, and, once again, his heart was as calm as water.

Comfortable!

When looking at the heart in his hand, his eyes became more cautious — as expected of Heart Core, even just the aftershock of an uncontrolled blessing almost made him lose control!

Thanks to An Ning's great effect in severing consciousness and obliterating the soul, plus Ji Jue's timely handling, Maya's matrix was preserved quite well.

It was directly crushed by Ji Jue's Dissociation Technique and fed to the Mechanical Descent, while also adding more understanding and insight into Ascension and Heart Core.

The blessing peeling and preservation were unexpectedly smooth.

Even three complete blessings were left, preserving the unique secondary metamorphosis, still usable again.

One is the rare blessing of the Ascension series [Eternal Forget], which can solidify one's mental and consciousness state, avoiding deterioration and regression, while maintaining one's optimal status to the maximum, exempting interference and transformation. Within many blessing chains, it holds a critical position, and when paired with blessings of the Ether series, it can act like a save point, instantly bringing the mental and soul state back to their prime in moments of peril.

Another is Heart Core's [Hidden Anger and Resentment], which can accumulate and store inner emotions, extract and transform them. After reaching a certain level, they are instantly released, forming a torrent to crush the enemy.

The last one is Heart Core's [Desire Fire Burning Body], which is easier to understand, stimulating all suppressed desires within living beings, like pouring oil on the fire, breaking the barriers, becoming impossible to restrain, eventually, in uncontrolled wild celebration, the consciousness burns out completely. And how to manipulate the remaining shell is simply of limitless use.

Not to mention [Eternal Forget] from the Ascension series, just look at these two Heart Core's blessings, everyone, they are unbelievably monstrous... Can such Superior be anything good?

No wonder they didn't come before, were they scared after seeing my Ember brother?

Come or not, it doesn't matter! Anyway, I'm not very concerned! It's hilarious, has anyone ever said you're really pretentious?

However, regret aside, complaints aside, if Heart Core doesn't want you, there's someone else who does, Ji Jue isn't arrogant enough to think everyone likes him.

At least with nine Superior affinities, Chosen One enlistment, already leading 99.99% of the starting line of Chosen Ones, what reason is there not to be satisfied?

Besides, with these three blessings, this time I can aim for something big.

Ji Jue rubbed his hands, the terrifying heat of the Blood of the Melting Furnace rose between his hands, the Non-attack Matrix emerged from his ten fingers, countless strands of Spiritual Light danced and appeared from the coverage of his ten fingers.

Forging, begins!

.

The long night passed with many changes.

The next day, when the sun once again rose in the sky, outside the bustling camp, the departures of many S2 racing segments officially began!

A spirited Ji Jue appeared again in front of the live broadcast camera, showing no signs of a sleepless night. Through the car window, he looked back and smiled at the audience in front of the screen, waving his hand in greeting.

And right between the five fingers of his right hand, next to a simple silver ring, at some point, a new ring had appeared.

The gem-like crystal on it shone with luster, vivid and enticing.

So enchanting.

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