Ashes

There were twelve Superior Virtues, and the Watch Dial was divided into twelve hours. Beneath the Heavenly Beings, Chosen Ones were likewise divided into twelve stages.

Beneath the Heavenly Beings, Chosen Ones were divided into twelve ranks, collectively spanning the four major domains of Summoning, Metamorphosis, Rebirth, and Transcendence. If placed on the Watch Dial, they would form one sector every three hours.

Each stage represented one's own height drawing a step closer to the Superior Virtues, while each domain represented a terrifying transformation utterly different from before, a complete upheaval of heaven and earth.

Based on Ji Jue's understanding and guesses—his understanding, that is—Wen Jie should have been an undisputed Transcendence big shot, a master among masters. Just how high her level was, Ji Jue couldn't see through in the slightest. As for that old victim Lawrence, he was probably in the Rebirth domain, somewhere between the sixth and ninth ranks. He had completely shed the weaknesses of mortal things; even if he were crushed into powder, he could instantly grow back.

Unfortunately, he had wholeheartedly wanted to rely on Dragon Blood to break through into the Transcendence domain, only to run into the even more unreasonable Wen Wen, who had directly evaporated him from flesh to soul with Dragon Lightning.

And Ji Jue... was still a mere level-one weakling who didn't even have a Matrix.

The whitest of whiteboards, the newest of newcomers.

He belonged to the sort who had just created an account and was still searching online for powerful classes.

For a hardcore grinding addict with obsessive-compulsive tendencies like Ji Jue, nothing was more unbearable than seeing a progress bar refuse to budge no matter how hard he pushed.

Skipping one day of leveling could still be explained away as accumulating a little virtue. But skipping every day...

That was precisely why he was so anxious.

But anxiety was useless.

Within the Summoning domain of the First Realm, the third rank was entirely about the development and breakthrough of a Chosen One's own abilities. Apart from ability-related domains, everything else was no different from an ordinary person. Eat overnight braised-meat rice and he would get diarrhea; take a bullet to the head and he would still die on the spot.

The realm where he could punch Lawrence with his fists, kick Lawrence with his feet, and destroy Lawrence with dragon breath was simply too far away.

According to Ye Chun, at this stage, he should work hard to train his abilities until he reached a certain juncture, then seek a new Blessing from the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses and successfully level up.

Instead, he had gotten stuck right at the beginning. If he told anyone, nobody would believe him; and if they did, they would probably laugh at him, then perhaps write about him in some lousy book afterward.

He was more tragic than a screaming chicken.

What was more, he still hadn't even caught sight of the Matrix that was the crucial foundation for a Chosen One to advance further.

Among the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses, there were currently a total of 221 Matrices registered by various parties that were sufficient to achieve Heavenly Being status. Which one of them wasn't a hot commodity? Didn't each one already have someone waiting for it?

For all he knew, the hole had existed before the Radish.

Want one?

Either be a direct descendant of some major organization, or sign an indenture even harsher than that one, selling blood, kidneys, and youth for your entire life just to get a quota and line up.

Chosen Ones were common.

Over the years, setting aside the rarest Chosen Conscription, there had been countless cases of autonomous awakenings that happened through twists of fate, as well as upper-level Summonings caused by contact with certain things that led to souls being contaminated.

Yet a treasure like the Matrix, which required countless pioneers to personally test and make mistakes one by one before finally fixing its order and completely locking it in with the Superior Virtues, was not common at all.

Basically, anything even slightly good was monopolized by major organizations.

The Federation on the left, the Empire on the right, Central Earth in the middle; the distant Chongguang Church, the nearby Taiyi Ring, and Wild Bazaar lurking behind... Those with no qualifications and nowhere to be seen simply plunged headfirst into ghostly places like the Dragon Offering Society or Nirvana.

There were simply too many Chosen Ones who wanted to advance but had nowhere to go.

He wasn't needed among them.

So for the time being, even though he was stuck at a bottleneck and his progress had frozen, Ji Jue wasn't anxious.

Wasn't the Artisan's progress bar still moving?

He could just grind whichever one he could grind, couldn't he?

Besides, wasn't he still living just fine?

He had survived a terrifying incident and become Professor Ye's apprentice. It was a case of misery turning to fortune; at least he was no longer cursed, and he didn't have to worry about bad luck striking the moment he stepped outside and getting him run over by a car.

Wonderful!

Ji Jue lay on the bed with his arms spread wide, feeling incomparably at ease.

Things had gotten better. Ever since Lawrence died, everything had gotten better.

In the future, Little Two would become an accountant, he would become an alchemist, Lu Feng that bastard would continue fixing cars, and everyone would have bright futures.

With that, amid his chaotic thoughts, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

He dreamed of nothing all night.

.

.

Under the same night sky, there were also people who stayed awake all night.

"That kid has serious problems."

Inside a building beside the elevated highway, in an office, a photograph taken that very afternoon was pushed to the front of the desk. The tracker who had just returned stated decisively:

"There's absolutely something wrong."

In the photograph on the desk, beneath the hazy glow of the setting sun, a young man riding Little Lamb twisted the throttle, scattering laughter behind him with the girl seated on the back.

Youthful and radiant.

"What do you mean?"

The old man behind the desk was stunned for a moment, then frowned. "You're saying he really has some connection with that woman?"

"Maybe. It's possible."

Qi Qin, the middle-aged man with a face full of stubble, smoked and said in a muffled voice, "More than half a month ago, when the Chosen Conscription occurred, the biggest event in all of Yacheng was what the Dragon Offering Society caused.

"Yet among all the survivors, he was the one most closely connected to that woman surnamed Wen...

"That woman kept her mouth shut about the entire operation, speaking vaguely and evasively. Is it possible she wants to conceal the existence of a Chosen Summoner in the operation?"

"...Have you lost your mind?"

The old man, Jiang Jin, was stunned for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "Are you serious?"

After several decades, the sudden appearance of a Chosen Conscription had thrown all of Haizhou into an uproar. During this time, countless people had offered rewards in search of traces of the Chosen Summoner.

It had likewise put even more people on their guard.

Even if Wen Wen never mentioned a word and had said nothing at all about Ji Jue, her several visits were impossible to hide from the prying eyes of those lurking in the shadows.

In fact, it wasn't as if nobody had suspected that Ji Jue might be the Chosen Summoner.

Nearly everyone under suspicion had been dug up, with almost nobody overlooked—including Ji Jue. But after thorough investigation and scrutiny, he had been the first to be eliminated.

"Get it straight—he's a Curse Bearer!"

Jiang Jin flew into a rage. "You want me to take this and report it to the people over there? Are you insane? Do you think anyone would believe such absurd nonsense?"

"Something as outrageous as a Chosen Conscription has already happened... Is it really so impossible to accept that a Curse Bearer became a Chosen One?"

Qi Qin pondered for a moment, watched the old man's expression, and said through gritted teeth, "Besides, even if this Ji Jue isn't a Chosen One, he definitely has some kind of relationship with that woman surnamed Wen, right?"

Jiang Jin was slightly taken aback. He didn't know what Qi Qin was getting at.

"Until yesterday afternoon, I personally saw the two of them riding the same motorcycle around Tianmen University. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would've imagined that woman could even smile."

Qi Qin lit another cigarette and took a deep drag. "Is it possible she's dating someone?"

"..."

The corner of Jiang Jin's eye twitched, spasming even more violently than before.

Qi Qin continued, "...To be honest, that kid looks like a pretty boy to me too. Who knows how many little girls he's deceived? Besides, an iron tree is still a tree. Spring has come—who's to say an iron tree can't bloom?"

Jiang Jin's expression changed at once.

No matter how absurd it sounded, what if it was true?

If that were the case, there would be much more to make of that kid.

After all, even within the Security Bureau, plenty of people wanted to see that woman surnamed Wen have a miserable time.

Besides, if they could really seize this Plague God's weakness, then everyone's life in the North Mountain District would undoubtedly become much easier.

More importantly, what did "the people over there" think?

"You go out first."

The old man Jiang Jin remained impassive, and Qi Qin immediately rose and left.

Only after a long while did a voice come from behind the door. "Come in."

The old man in the office put down the phone. His expression shifted several times before he finally said, "Do as you suggested. Investigate... Dig it up for me. Get to the bottom of it and find out exactly what's going on."

He paused, a hard edge appearing in his expression. "If there really is something going on, deal with it. Understood?"

If the kid was merely a pretty boy lucky enough to get involved with Minerva, then they might be able to make use of him.

The fact that Wen Wen, that scourge, had managed to establish a firm foothold in the Security Bureau was already something many people didn't want to see. If she had another weakness, everyone would feel a little more at ease.

But if she really managed to cultivate a powerful Chosen Summoner ally... nobody knew how big a hole he might punch in the sky by then!

"Don't worry, boss."

Qi Qin grinned, revealing two rows of smoke-yellowed teeth. "I'm a professional."

And so, he slapped his chest and made his boastful guarantee.

Then...

The days of imprisonment began.

.

.

Leaving aside what explosive secrets those spies lurking in the shadows wanted to dig out of Ji Jue, simply tailing a grind addict who would throw away his life the moment he saw academic credits, papers, and grades was unquestionably an irrational idea.

Especially when that grind addict had been leashed and dragged off to become a graduate student before he had even graduated...

He would become even more of a grinder.

The fake daily life of a graduate student: pretending to swirl test tubes in a brightly lit laboratory equipped with advanced instruments, staring at the inexplicable liquid inside, and nodding and smiling at the camera with the colleagues beside him.

The real daily life of a graduate student: picking up trash, doing manual labor, and breaking concrete.

Depending on the circumstances, he might even have to babysit the advisor's children, participate in the legendary middle-school technology development competition where big shots roamed everywhere and doctoral students were beneath even dogs, cook, do laundry, and perhaps even sacrifice his chastity and body.

Fortunately, Professor Ye had never married and had no children. Her only niece was still his senior at school. Aside from her pure research interest in Ji Jue's body, mind, soul, and abilities—along with wanting to toss him into a furnace or lay him on a dissection table—she had no other needs.

Therefore, on his very first day as an alchemy apprentice, Ji Jue's duties, aside from running errands to buy milk tea for his senior who was in charge of supervising him, bringing her lunch, accompanying her while she played games and climbed ranks, and chatting about gossip, consisted entirely of...

Hard labor!