Ji Jue was taken aback.
"Just wait?"
"You can try to prepare yourself."
Tong Ting's expression turned solemn. "But remember: beyond that, the more you do, the more mistakes you'll make—especially don't try to resist.
"You know about the self-fulfillment of prophecies, right? Many people tried to avoid or change a prophecy, only to end up personally bringing it about. Besides, precognitive dreams are unreliable nine times out of ten. The more you obsess over them, the more likely you are to get trapped in a dead end.
"Even an Aether celestial like the old man wouldn't actively peer into the future. Whether he saw clearly or saw wrongly, he would only be troubling himself in the end, unable to break free."
Therefore, he should wait and see.
Of course, the most important thing was...
"...Worrying won't help, right?"
Tong Ting shrugged. "I've seen you flourishing in the Taiyi Ring. You don't seem like the type who could switch sides and come over to us on the Aether side. Besides..."
He paused, looking sympathetically at the young man before him. "How do you know this isn't yet another trial and tempering sent down by Embers?" Embers' cruelty spared no mediocre mortal.
The blessings of Melting Furnace Blood, Unextinguished Tinder, and Heaven-Granted Spirit were so precious and rare precisely because they were practically a sacrifice with the Artisan himself as the offering—using oneself as material to beseech Embers for Mandate of Heaven Craft.
Thus, suffering never ceased.
Thus, trials were endless...
The Artisan's path was already strewn with thorns and hardships. Seeking such a blessing was more like voluntarily cranking up the difficulty just to show off one's skills—asking for trouble. In the process, mediocre fools who overestimated themselves naturally turned to ashes, yet even the rarest good material and fine