Two in the afternoon.
It was still in the North Mountain District, in a desolate coastal area. Professor Ye's car stopped at a deserted factory. Several factory buildings were scattered within the high walls, while vines crawled all over a low office building. Amid the sound of waves, the place was secluded and silent.
There was no sign of age or disrepair. After passing through the mottled high walls, they found a park so quiet that not a single person could be seen. There were no security guards, cleaners, or workers, yet everything was spotless. Even the greenery had been trimmed in perfect order.
Simple and straightforward, every place was exactly where it belonged. Not a single unnecessary object had crossed the boundaries or obstructed the flawless order of things.
"Is this place yours?" Ji Jue followed behind her, looking around curiously.
"More than a decade ago, when I planned to settle in Yacheng, the Libra Conglomerate gave it to me." Ye Xian walked ahead and said indifferently, "This is my workshop. Basically all my alchemical work is completed here. Normally, you can move freely around Buildings A and B. If the equipment is free and you need to use it, you may do so, but clean up afterward. Zone C is the one with the warning sign on the door. And don't wander into the third floor or above of the office building."
"Understood." Ji Jue nodded obediently, accepting the instructions without question and engraving them in his heart. He did not ask what would happen if he went in anyway. The possible outcomes were probably limited to death or wishing he were dead.
During his freshman year, while doing odd jobs for a project team, Ji Jue had nearly been beheaded after an idiot teammate mishandled a collision with a blade. Since then, he had memorized the safety procedures backward and forward, and even obtained a project safety officer's certificate.
"I'll go prepare the things we'll need."
She casually pushed open the hall door and pointed toward the spacious lobby, furnished warmly like a living room. Ye Chun was sprawled on the sofa, watching television, eating potato chips, and having the time of her life. "You can ask her about everything."
"Auntie? Didn't you have something to do this afternoon?"
Ye Chun sprang up from the sofa in shock, scrambling to gather her Happy Water and potato chips. When she saw Ji Jue, she froze, then froze again, growing increasingly horrified.
"You only put your name down as second author on my paper. How did you chase me all the way here?!"
"..."
Professor Ye sighed. The two of them had such bizarre interactions that they gave her a splitting headache. "The schedule was moved up a little. Starting today, Ji Jue will officially work in the workshop. He'll be your apprentice, under your supervision. Introduce him to the situation and teach him the basics. I don't need to tell you how to train him, do I?"
"Huh? This fast?" Ye Chun found it impossible to believe.
"By the way, he was caught up in a vicious incident a few days ago. After suffering Spiritual Substance contamination, he awakened on his own."
"Huh?! This fast?!" Ye Chun was even more shocked.
"And another thing: both your paper and his are unacceptable. Take them back and redo them." Professor Ye headed up the stairs. "Submit them before next month."
"Huh?!! This..." Ye Chun had not finished when she caught Professor Ye's gaze from the stairs. She immediately paused, then squeezed out a docile, ingratiating smile. "This is great. I love it!"
Professor Ye withdrew her gaze and went upstairs.
In the silent hall, only Ji Jue and Ye Chun remained, staring at each other.
Her messy hair and makeup made her look rather disheveled. She had none of the dazzling radiance she carried at school; instead, she seemed much more down-to-earth.
Ye Chun's gaze was clearly even more astonished. It was as if she had seen a sow sprout wings and take flight. Holding the Happy Water she had yet to throw away, she walked around Ji Jue three or four times, unable to believe it.
"You awakened on your own? That's amazing!"
Ji Jue was bewildered. "Is it really that badass?"
"Well, if badassery is scored out of a hundred, you can probably get around ninety."
Ye Chun grinned and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "It would have been pretty badass, but last month some freak from who knows where directly triggered the Mandate of Heaven Summoning. Now that was a genuine monster... Compared to that, yours is just so-so!"
"...Yeah, that's true."
Ji Jue nodded. It was hard to disagree. Then he picked up her potato chips and another can of Happy Water, sat down without the slightest reserve, and started eating. Ye Chun, meanwhile, leaned over, brimming with curiosity, her large eyes blinking rapidly. "I've heard that people who awaken on their own all possess special soul abilities. What's yours?"
Ji Jue lowered his voice and put on a mysterious air. "I'll tell you quietly. I can make telephones talk to me."
Ye Chun was instantly amazed. "What a coincidence! I can do that too!"
"Then you're also a self-awakened Chosen One. Amazing."
The two exchanged a glance, threw back their heads, and burst into loud laughter.
Before long, Ye Chun pretended to pull a small blackboard from the corner. Putting on a serious expression like Professor Ye, she picked up a piece of chalk. "Auntie asked me to bring you up to speed on the basics. So, how much do you know about Chosen Ones?"
"Reporting to the teacher."
Ji Jue raised his hand. "Basically nothing."
"Huh? Ji Jue's foundation is truly terrible." Ye Chun sighed with the solemn air of a teacher and tapped the small blackboard. "Then let's start with the types of Chosen One awakenings."
As she spoke, she wrote three lines on the blackboard.
[High-level Inheritance], [Self-Awakening], [Mandate of Heaven Summoning].
"Self-Awakening is what happened to you. Perhaps you suffered contamination, or perhaps it was caused by a disaster or something else.
"Through some twist of fate, your soul came into contact with Supreme Goodness Essence, allowing you to undergo Ascension and become a Chosen One. Since the circumstances differ, Talent abilities are all over the place, with some strong and some weak. The weak ones can talk to telephones, while the strong ones can make telephone poles talk to you. Anyway, the upper limit is high, and the lower limit is low."
"High-level Inheritance means using a fixed ritual and various special items originating from the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses—or simply using methods such as alchemy, contracts, or organ transplants—to forcibly contaminate the user's soul, ultimately triggering an awakening and qualitative transformation. Those who use this method are generally fixed to the Supreme Goodness indicated by the ritual, and their abilities are almost identical. The lower limit is more dependable, but the upper limit generally depends on luck.
"The only advantage is that, as long as you're willing to spend the money, you can mass-produce Chosen Ones."
"How much?" Ji Jue could not help raising his hand to ask, full of curiosity.
"Hmm, let me think." Ye Chun pondered for a moment before answering, "A safe, risk-free High-level Summoning Secret Rite costs somewhere between six hundred thousand and ten million Federal Currency, I think.
"I've heard there are methods that use a High-level Matrix and Masterwork, but those cost even more—astronomically more. In most cases, personal favors outweigh money, and you might end up working yourself to the bone for an entire lifetime to pay it back.
"Some are cheaper because they aren't as particular, but the success rate is... hard to describe."
"All right, I was presumptuous."
Poor, broke Ji Jue lowered his head in embarrassment. "By the way, senior, are you..."
"No." Ye Chun shook her head. "Auntie already had connections. When I graduated, she asked my opinion, and an entire set of procedures and rituals had been prepared. Supposedly, I even had a chance to borrow the Security Bureau's [Mountain Light].
"But somehow, I don't feel suited to researching things every day, and I don't seem particularly talented at fighting and killing either. It would be safer to be an ordinary person.
"I don't have much interest in research either, and I don't meet Embers' requirements. It would be better to peacefully work as Auntie's assistant.
"That whole set of things is still around, though. I originally thought Auntie would use it for you, but I didn't expect... You really know how to save money. You handled it yourself, and you even chose Embers, which is such a professionally suitable direction."
Ji Jue could not help wiping away his sweat. "I already owe Professor Ye a lot. Let's not make me owe even more money..."
He could not even finish paying off his student loans anytime soon, let alone anything else.
"...Let's continue with the setting."
Ji Jue finally had the chance to ask the question he had pondered for a long time. "What exactly are Chosen Ones? Is there really some 'Heaven' that chose me?"
"Maybe. It's possible. But it isn't just one—there are at least twelve."
Ye Chun answered, "Heavenly Selection means, on one hand, that Chosen Ones are difficult to produce and hard to create in batches. On the other hand, some people say that the instant a Chosen One awakens, they are entrusted with a heavenly mandate.
"Chosen Ones are people selected by the 'Superior Virtues.'"
As she spoke, she kept writing on the blackboard, rapidly setting down the name Ji Jue had heard several times before—[Twelve Supreme Goodnesses].
Ascension, Celestial Origin, The Horde, White Deer, Vortex, Heart Pivot, Ether, Eternal Gate, Embers, Mirror, Entropy, Waste Ruins.
"These are the sources of a Chosen One's power, twelve different directions—in other words, what we call the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses."
Ye Chun explained solemnly, "They aren't living beings, nor are they gods. They are a magnificent tapestry woven together from countless events in the past and future, stretching back to the beginning of the past and ending at the end of Destruction.
"To a certain extent, everything they comprise is the world itself as we understand it.
"Ascension represents transcendence and Truth; Celestial Origin represents order and dominion; White Deer represents wildness and chaos; Vortex represents the birth, aging, sickness, and death of all life; The Horde represents struggle and ruin; Heart Pivot represents thought and desire; Ether represents observation and records; Eternal Gate represents space and time; Mirror represents illusions and nothingness; Embers represents creation and renewal; Entropy represents energy and eruption; Waste Ruins represents matter and eternity."
"As a newcomer, you must remember the symbols and emblems they represent. And stay away from every tapestry and symbol beyond these twelve.
"Outside the Superior Virtues, all belong to Evil Folly!"
Ji Jue asked curiously, "What happens if you accidentally become contaminated...?"
"Then you'll suffer Sin Corruption."
Ye Chun smiled. "If you're lucky, you'll die cleanly. If you're unlucky, you'll live a life of torment. Perhaps you'll even become some inhuman aberration and exist through the ages in eternal agony.
"So you absolutely have to remember... Of course, it doesn't matter if you can't memorize everything. Given enough time, you'll naturally get used to it. Just don't touch those strange, messy things."
Ji Jue was practically sprawled across the blackboard, staring at it and desperately committing everything to memory. Once again, he was confused. "You just said The Horde represents struggle and ruin, but... The Horde is also a Superior Virtue?
"What exactly is good about that?"
"Exactly. Why shouldn't it be?"
Ye Chun said as if it were self-evident, "War and slaughter are also part of the world. They may be ugly or brutal, but that's simply how things are. If The Horde doesn't count as a Superior Virtue, shouldn't White Deer—which governs wildness, instinct, freedom, and resistance—also be cast out? Doesn't Celestial Origin, which represents dominion and order, likewise symbolize tyranny and control?
"Superior Virtues are eternal, towering above the mortal world, unmoved and unchanged by human likes and dislikes."
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