Recaps

Ji Jue completed the Summoning Chain of Non-Aggression and learned that the next stage required three difficult Metamorphosis blessings. Ye Xian asked him to consider helping her with a consequential matter, then ordered him to obtain an Artisan License before the year's final registration deadline.

• Ji Jue used the Summoning Chain to reshape the Brass Leopard, and Ye Xian reminded him that it had sold for twenty-one million at auction.
• Ye Xian explained that Non-Aggression's Metamorphosis stage required Melting Furnace Blood, Unextinguished Tinder, and Heaven-Granted Spirit, each representing a difficult transformation.
• Ye Xian cautioned Ji Jue that she wanted his help with a matter that could irreversibly affect his life, but withheld the details until he considered her request.
• Ji Jue guessed that Ye Xian might want him to return to Jianyuan or help confront Xu Chao Xian, and she stopped him from speculating further.
• After learning Ji Jue had been at the Workshop for four months, Ye Xian told him to get an Artisan License before the year's final registration batch.

Ye Xian pushed Ji Jue to register for the Taiyi Ring Artisan examination, hoping a license would support a cover story that he had awakened as a Chosen One a year earlier. Ji Jue submitted his application in Yacheng, but the association official rejected it.

• Ji Jue protested that he had studied alchemy for less than four months, but Ye Xian told him his skills were enough to attempt the Artisan examination.
• Ye Xian explained that Lü Yingyue had asked whether Ji Jue was the Chosen Summoner from Yacheng, and warned that others might investigate him too.
• Ye Xian proposed that passing the examination would make the Taiyi Ring recognize Ji Jue as an apprentice for nearly a year, distancing him from the later appearance of the Chosen Summoner.
• Ji Jue learned that the record for the fastest Artisan qualification belonged to Heavenly Furnace, who had passed after only a month of study.
• At Ye Xian's urging, Ji Jue submitted his application at the Yacheng association office, where the official said the rules would not allow it.

Ji Jue learned that the Association barred him from the Artisan exam because he had studied for only one year and lacked three Artisan guarantors. He called Lou Feng for help, while Lou Feng's family overheard him losing his temper on the phone.

• Ji Jue asked Li Yun why the Association would not let him take the Artisan exam, and she explained that apprentices generally needed three years of study or three Artisan guarantors.
• Li Yun described how past crash-course candidates had led the Association to impose stricter rules on apprentices applying early.
• Ji Jue accepted that he needed three signatures and left the Association, realizing he did not know any living Artisans who could provide them.
• Ji Jue called Lou Feng and teased him about their friendship until Lou Feng cursed at him during a family meal.
• Lou Feng's family heard his outburst, and he fled the dining room in embarrassment.

Ji Jue visited the Tong Family estate to seek a signature and learned Tong Zhiwu was at Zhao's Workshop. There he ran into Zhou Cheng, the apprentice whose leg he had broken, and Zhou reluctantly led him inside to meet his grandfather.

• Ji Jue asked Lou Feng to contact his teacher for a signature, and Lou Feng arranged to have it delivered that day.
• Ji Jue compared Professor Ye's address with Tong Zhiwu's and found it led to the Tong Family estate, then asked Tong Hua to show him the way.
• Ji Jue arrived at the estate, chatted with the gatekeeper, and discovered from Tong Hua that the casually dressed old man was her great-grandfather, the Tong Family's old patriarch.
• Tong Hua told Ji Jue that Tong Zhiwu was at Zhao's Workshop, where his equipment was being remade.
• Ji Jue enthusiastically greeted Zhou Cheng at the Workshop entrance, then remembered he had broken Zhou Cheng's leg at Quancheng Outpost.
• Zhou Cheng restrained his anger and led Ji Jue inside, saying his grandfather had been waiting for him.

Ji Jue joined Zhou Zhong’s Workshop to help forge a sword for Tong Shan, discovering that Zhou Zhong’s Cosmos Framework was combining fourfold Blessings through a carefully controlled process. Ji Jue fed record books into the furnace as catalysts, and the forging continued under Zhou Zhong’s command.

• Ji Jue met Zhou Zhong in the Workshop and agreed to take over the work beside the Melting furnace.
• Zhou Zhong explained that he was forging a sword for Tong Shan and defended his own design against Ji Jue’s doubts.
• Ji Jue entered the furnace’s intense heat as exhausted apprentices were replaced and the Cosmos Framework operated around him.
• Ji Jue fed record books into the furnace, where their phenomena helped the fourfold Blessings begin merging into one.
• Zhou Zhong ordered Ji Jue to feed more materials, and Ji Jue used the Matrix of Non-Aggression to replenish the phenomena inside the furnace.

Ji Jue helped Zhou Zhong forge a ceremonial longsword by feeding disaster records into the furnace, and the surging power nearly caused an explosion. The weapon was completed after Zhou Zhong used Ji Jue as a crucial stabilizing node, leaving Ji Jue healed but eager to inspect the sword.

• Ji Jue fed the Tong Family's disaster records into the furnace and catalyzed their phenomena as Zhou Zhong directed the forging.
• Ji Jue adapted to the process and took on a central role, while Zhou Zhong secretly added more pressure to him.
• The furnace's power overwhelmed its safeguards, injured an apprentice, and threatened to explode as Zhou Zhong struggled to stabilize the cycle.
• Zhou Zhong used Ji Jue and nearby hub nodes to restore the cycle, and the finished longsword emerged from the furnace.
• Ji Jue explained that he had refused to let go because Tong Zhiwu was loyal to him, then used Zhou Zhong's medicine to heal his hands.
• Zhou Zhong took back the medicine bottle, and Ji Jue eagerly sidled over to look at the new longsword.

Ji Jue examined Zhou Zhong’s newly forged sword, quickly understood its Blessing Chain, and obtained Zhou Zhong’s signature backing his Artisan examination application. Zhou Zhong then warned Zhou Cheng that this year’s examination would be unusually severe, while examinees across the Federation, Empire, Central Earth, and Thousand Isles prepared for the coming trial.

• Zhou Zhong showed Ji Jue the longsword and its new Blessing Chain, which Ji Jue activated and analyzed almost immediately.
• Ji Jue proposed the names “Heaven and Earth are Ruthless” for the Blessing Chain and “Wielding Brush” for the sword, but Zhou Zhong claimed both names and handed him a signed application form.
• Zhou Zhong realized that Ji Jue’s handling of the furnace showed deep knowledge of Chengchuan Aggregation and feared that Ji Jue might build a school of his own.
• Zhou Cheng questioned Zhou Zhong’s decision to support Ji Jue, and Zhou Zhong challenged his grandson’s responsibility and decisiveness.
• Zhou Zhong explained that Gustav Schmidt was rumored to host this year’s Taiyi Ring Artisan examination and would enforce harsh standards, then told Zhou Cheng to learn from his setback.
• Across the Federation, Empire, Central Earth, and Thousand Isles, people prepared for the approaching examination beneath the night sky.

Jiang Tongguang visited Director Gustav, who had been assigned to oversee the Artisan examination, and learned Gustav planned to restart the costly Myriad Transformations Tower. Jiang Tongguang left expecting the examination to cause a commotion.

• Jiang Tongguang brought whiskey to Director Gustav’s Workshop and learned he had been assigned to assist Gustav with the upcoming Artisan examination.
• Jiang Tongguang explained that the Council had sent him because it feared Gustav would handle the examination too aggressively.
• Gustav showed Jiang Tongguang the dubious applications and recommendations flooding the examination and condemned candidates who lacked practical skill.
• Gustav announced he planned to reboot the Myriad Transformations Tower despite the nearly thousand applicants and the expense.
• Jiang Tongguang left Gustav’s Workshop in good spirits, anticipating that events on Dubhe Island would soon become lively.

Ji Jue registered for the Artisan exam and learned that its practical focus suited his strengths, but Ye Xian forced him through a week of intensive theory drills. After declaring him ready to pass, she promised to teach him the Elephant Sword Chapter, while setting first place as the only acceptable exam ranking.

• Li Yun registered Ji Jue for the exam, took his 410,000 fee, and warned him that Gustav would oversee a tougher, more practical exam.
• Ye Chun told Ji Jue that Gustav had a grudge against Ye Xian and might target him, but Ye Xian dismissed the concern and assigned him a huge book of past exam questions.
• Ye Xian sent Ji Jue to the basement for a week of relentless study, and Ye Chun eventually dragged him out in a dazed state.
• Ye Xian judged Ji Jue ready to pass the exam and promised to teach him the Elephant Sword Chapter afterward.
• Ye Xian told Ye Chun that Ji Jue would pass if he worked harder, then declared that any ranking below first place would be too low.

Ji Jue arrived at Celestial Pivot for the Association examination, traded insults with fellow candidates, and reunited with Lou Feng. Above the venue, Jiang Tongguang and Gustav reviewed the applicants and noted that the exam had drawn apprentices from nearly every major Workshop.

• Ji Jue was teleported from Yacheng to Celestial Pivot, which the Doomsday Train recorded as a new Present World Anchor Point.
• Ji Jue provoked two apprentices who mocked him, and security intervened before the argument turned into a fight.
• Ji Jue toured the city, sent his friends a video, and ran into Lou Feng, who had come to take the examination on his own.
• Jiang Tongguang and Gustav watched the candidates from the damaged Tower and discussed Ji Jue's record, background, and Tide Sound affiliation.
• Jiang Tongguang observed that nearly every major Workshop had sent apprentices, making the examination a gathering of prominent candidates.

Ji Jue’s examination turned into a practical repair task in a dilapidated, isolated workshop, where he struggled to restore its furnace and salvage equipment with almost no materials. As Gustav and Jiang Tongguang watched apprentices fail the test, a scream sounded outside Ji Jue’s workshop door.

• Gustav ordered the first round of the examination to eliminate eight hundred apprentices, and The Tower began the test.
• Ji Jue filled out the near-empty written exam, then collapsed as a bell sounded and woke in an underground workshop with orders to repair damaged equipment.
• Ji Jue discovered that the workshop had almost no supplies and that its furnace failed, then repaired the clogged vents and relit it.
• Ji Jue began salvaging and repairing gray metal tiles while Gustav and Jiang Tongguang watched other apprentices struggle and get eliminated.
• The ruined workshop jolted, and a piercing scream sounded outside its door.

Ji Jue sealed himself inside the Workshop during a Fiendification Pollution outbreak, then used alchemy to stop an Aberration forming in the furnace. As Gustav and Jiang Tongguang watched the exam, Ji Jue answered an Aberration entering his Workshop by raising a monstrous iron hammer.

• A colossal presence and Fiendification Pollution struck the Workshop, so Ji Jue donned a protective suit and sealed its window, walls, and ceiling with boards and gray tiles.
• Ji Jue reinforced the iron door and refused to open it when a creature outside impersonated his teacher and begged for help.
• When an Aberration began forming inside the furnace, Ji Jue used Solid Alchemy, Lockdown to trap and reconstruct it.
• Gustav and Jiang Tongguang monitored the exam as hundreds of apprentices were eliminated, while they noted several examinees who handled the crisis effectively.
• An alarm drew Gustav and Jiang Tongguang to a Workshop where an examinee opened the door, and they saw Ji Jue wielding a monstrous iron hammer as an Aberration lunged inside.

Ji Jue defeated the Mutated Creature with his improvised exoskeleton, shield, and traps, then processed it in the furnace while the proctors watched in stunned disbelief. When the examination’s simulated Calamity of No Light began, the other examinees faced a monster-infested Luye Island, but Ji Jue saw its creatures as valuable materials.

• Ji Jue battered the Mutated Creature with the Wailing Iron Hammer and pinned it to a spiked iron door used as a shield.
• The Mutated Creature escaped and tried to flee, but Ji Jue trapped it in hardened foam and beat it down.
• Gustav and Jiang Tongguang watched Ji Jue’s record and marveled at how he had repurposed the Workshop’s materials and the creature itself.
• Ji Jue stuffed the dying creature into the furnace, collected its Blood Water, and waited for it to become a useful tool.
• After the air wall vanished, examinees discovered the ruined Luye Forward Observation Center and learned their exam was based on the Calamity of No Light.
• Ji Jue surveyed the monster-filled island and wondered why it was full of good material and fine jade.

Lou Feng survived the Observation Station ruins by using the Lou Clan’s spirit essence techniques to kill an Aberration and claim its crystal, while the other examinees revealed their abilities. Jiang Tongguang and Gustav then discovered Ji Jue had transformed himself into monstrous Powered Armor and was rampaging through the monsters.

• Lou Feng bound an Aberration with translucent chains, drained its spirit essence, and took the crystal it left behind.
• Examinees used their signature arts to petrify Aberrations, fight with blood-empowered weapons, and command corpses to work.
• Jiang Tongguang searched the special livestream for Ji Jue but initially saw only a horde of Aberrations feasting in the ruins.
• Ji Jue emerged as the Fallen Transformation Armor, wielding the Wailing Iron Hammer and crushing the monsters with his living Powered Armor.
• Ji Jue’s armor repaired itself by consuming blood as he declared the ultimate art of Embers invincible.

Ji Jue turned the Observation Station’s horrors into a source of spirit essence, then abandoned the surface to build a vast underground base with a powerful new furnace. After constructing a towering scarlet powered armor, he prepared to test it.

• Jiang Tongguang and Gustav watched Ji Jue turn Mutated Creatures into Spirit Essence Batteries and found cinnabar that made them fear he might extract mercury.
• As the Embers adapted and fewer examinees died, Lou Feng completed a Crystal Giant to defend his Workshop and began his next phase of work.
• Ji Jue left his Observation Station, mined underground resources, and built a clean, expansive base equipped with cultivation and breeding facilities.
• Ji Jue rebuilt the Workshop furnace using purified Abomination Bones and established it as the base’s power source and central control system.
• Ji Jue forged a three-meter scarlet powered armor, climbed inside, and prepared to put it through its paces.

Ji Jue hunted down and captured a powerful Evil Object during the Artisan test, using carefully prepared explosives, blood-colored Mercury, and alchemical ammunition to preserve it as workshop material. As he headed off in search of another target, Jiang Tongguang and Gustav discussed the examinees’ strong preliminary results and the rising Sin Corruption that awaited them.

• Ji Jue spotted a Metamorphosed Evil Object in the jungle and prepared a long-range ambush using explosives and his Powered Armor.
• Ji Jue bombarded the Evil Object, but it regenerated, resisted the shells with a force field, and charged toward his position.
• Ji Jue lured the Evil Object into buried explosives, then used Mercury and Anchor Assault Rifle rounds carrying alchemical restraints to immobilize and capture it.
• Ji Jue sealed the Evil Object inside a hardened Mercury casing and set off toward another source of material.
• Gustav explained that Ji Jue's specialized ammunition used Solid Alchemy to suppress Spiritual Substance and seal the Evil Object's soul, while Jiang Tongguang gave Ji Jue a preliminary score of 99.
• Jiang Tongguang noted that ninety-one examinees had passed the preliminary evaluation, and Gustav said the growing Sin Corruption would soon test whether they could adapt.

Ji Jue discovered a rare Blessing while dissecting an evil creature, but the rising Fiendification Pollution soon unleashed a swarm of fiendified former examinees that stormed his Workshop. Outside the simulation, Jiang Tongguang and Gustav revealed that the attack was an exam trial scaled to the apprentices’ preliminary scores, while Ji Jue faced the first invaders at his breached gate.

• Ji Jue dissected an evil creature and found that its intact Blessing had mutated into the offensive [Foundation of Repulsion].
• Ji Jue noticed the Fiendification Pollution index climbing as black rain transformed Luye Island and drove aberrants toward his Workshop.
• A fiendified figure used an Alchemy Catalysis Sigil to collapse Ji Jue’s granite gate, and Ji Jue realized the attackers were likely eliminated examinees brought back into the exam.
• Jiang Tongguang admired the chaos as alarms sounded and the number of surviving apprentices fell below three hundred.
• Gustav explained that the number of opponents assigned to each apprentice was determined by their preliminary score, and he pointed out that Ji Jue appeared to be handling his trial with ease.

Ji Jue defended his underground base from the Sin Corruption examinees who invaded it, then realized the examiners had more in store. As the next stage began, Lou Feng discovered that Ji Jue’s armored form had followed him into his own simulation.

• Mutated examinees broke through the base’s Spiritual Substance blockade, triggering Ji Jue’s hidden explosives and defensive weapons.
• Ji Jue left the Workshop Core in powered armor and slaughtered the intruders with his Evil Arms and Repulsion fields.
• Ji Jue realized the invasion was only an appetizer, but the examiners muted his projected curse before he could finish it.
• Jiang Tongguang began the next stage of the simulation, while Lou Feng used a Crystal Giant to defeat the invaders at his Workshop.
• Ji Jue’s armored form emerged outside Lou Feng’s Workshop, and Lou Feng recognized him and panicked.

Gustav and Jiang Tongguang unleashed powerful examinee-made threats against the candidates in the simulation, with Ji Jue facing an especially brutal siege. Ji Jue activated the Workshop’s defenses and chose to attack Lou Feng’s Crystal Giant, trapping it in a corridor as their fight began.

• Ji Jue broke through the Workshop gates in his armor, and Jiang Tongguang and Gustav watched the simulated assault begin.
• Gustav sent the Lou Clan’s Spiritual Substance Giant, North Wind Workshop’s sixteen soul-hunting knights, and the Shadow of the Throne after Ji Jue.
• The Association showed eliminated candidates the ongoing simulations as the leading examinees’ scores surged under the renewed evaluation.
• Ji Jue activated the Workshop’s defenses and charged Lou Feng’s Crystal Giant, choosing to target the opponent whose abilities he knew best.
• Lou Feng’s Crystal Giant shattered its Spirit Essence shield into an explosive storm of lightning and crystals, but Ji Jue repelled the attack and cornered it in a corridor.

Ji Jue fought the Crystal Giant, Shadow of the Throne, and the Soul Hunter Knights as they attacked his Workshop. Surrounded by the enemies, he removed his final shackle and flooded the floor with blood from the shattered pipelines.

• Ji Jue pierced the Crystal Giant with an Anchor Assault Rifle spike, then dodged Shadow of the Throne’s gravity attacks as the two enemies fought him together.
• Ji Jue damaged Shadow of the Throne with a mercury-filled shell and sword strike, but a Valhalla charged in and pierced his armor.
• Ji Jue’s armor engulfed Valhalla in red Mercury, while he fought off the remaining knights and destroyed a Spirit Essence Battery to unleash a shockwave.
• Ji Jue crushed a Valhalla’s soulstone and devoured the spiritual substance before the Crystal Giant, Shadow of the Throne, and surviving knights surrounded him again.
• Ji Jue removed his final shackle, causing the ceilings to break and scarlet liquid to pour through the Workshop.

Ji Jue unleashed the Workshop’s power and defeated Long Bo, Valhalla, and the Shadow of the Throne in the simulation. He ended the battle seated on the sealed throne, complaining that the chair was uncomfortable.

• The observers watched Ji Jue fight the three Alchemical Creations, and they recognized him as Ye Xian’s inheritor from Tide Sound Workshop.
• Ji Jue activated the Workshop, spending vast reserves of Spiritual Substance to seize control of everything in the simulation.
• Ji Jue redirected the enemies’ attacks and crushed the Crystal Giant and the Soul Hunter Knights.
• Ji Jue infiltrated the Shadow of the Throne with scarlet mercury, dragged its ruler from the throne, and beheaded it.
• Ji Jue sealed the throne, sat down, and remarked that it dug into him.

After the simulation showed the apprentices how their workshops had fared, Ji Jue ranked first among the eighty-four survivors and prepared for the next round of conflict. He spent points on materials and two basic blessings, leaving the story with him welcoming the powers of Metal and Iron Essence and Ultimate Resilience.

• The simulation reset the Workshop and showed Ji Jue a recording of Lou Feng defeating the mirror-image Abomination Armor with a precise spirit essence attack.
• Ji Jue watched the other apprentices react to their recorded battles, while Lou Feng discovered he had placed twenty-seventh.
• The Myriad Transformations Tower revealed the rankings, placing Tide Sound Workshop: Ji Jue first with 363 points, and announced that the confrontation would resume in seven days.
• Ji Jue decided to defend his workshop and target others, then exchanged points for common materials, instruments, and the blessings Metal and Iron Essence and Ultimate Resilience.
• Jiang Tongguang and Gustav discussed the apprentices' growing competitiveness and noted Ji Jue's purchases as Ji Jue welcomed the two blessings.

Over five days, Ji Jue processed aberrations and transformed his Workshop, completing a powerful upgraded Powered Armor named Assault Cow and Horse No. 2. As pollution spread across Luye Island, the countdown ended and the next stage began.

• Ji Jue used Mercury Hands to process aberrations, gathered materials, and upgraded the defenses and control systems of his underground Workshop.
• Ji Jue completed the Powered Armor, improving its protection, mobility, weapons, and cockpit shielding while adding recorded battle cries.
• Ji Jue named the armor Assault Cow and Horse No. 2 and named two Workshop guard units Two-Headed Donkey and Harbinger Ghost.
• Ji Jue expanded and improved the Workshop as pollution worsened above ground, forcing him to wear breathing equipment on the sixth day.
• On the seventh day, black rain fell, and when the countdown reached zero, a prismatic structure appeared before the examinees.

Ji Jue’s mirror-image battle with Helmut escalated into a bizarre invasion of his Workshop, but Helmut’s apparent victory was interrupted when Ji Jue’s Powered Armor prepared a rocket attack. The chapter ended with Helmut staring in disbelief as the Assault Cow and Horse aimed a Baihu Type Twelve-Tube Rocket Launcher at his Workshop.

• Helmut Neumann recognized Ji Jue as his opponent and sent a mirror image to attack him outside the Workshop.
• Ji Jue’s mirror image was killed by the forest turrets, while Helmut’s illusions and spatial rift let him invade Ji Jue’s Workshop Core.
• Helmut reflected Ji Jue’s face in the Mirror of Usurpation, transferring Ji Jue’s face and Workshop control to himself.
• Ji Jue’s Workshop rumbled as Helmut believed he had won, but Ji Jue’s body exploded before the takeover could secure victory.
• Helmut celebrated in his independent simulation, confident that his defenses would defeat the intruder.
• The Assault Cow and Horse assembled a Baihu Type Twelve-Tube Rocket Launcher and aimed it at Helmut’s Workshop.

Ji Jue used rocket launchers to bombard Helmut’s Observation Station with cultivated Fiendification Pollution, overwhelming its defenses and forcing Helmut to activate the workshop’s full protections. After mocking Helmut and retreating into the sky, Ji Jue turned the Assault Cow and Horse into a blazing projectile and dove toward the exposed workshop.

• Ji Jue’s rocket barrage damaged the Observation Station and spread spores, tainted blood, and evil-creature organs across the workshop perimeter.
• Helmut used the workshop to repair the damage, then realized that invasive mycelium was disrupting its circuits and spreading through the defenses.
• Ji Jue fired two more volleys, leaving the area covered in Fiendification Pollution and mushrooms until the Assault Cow and Horse ran out of ammunition.
• Helmut froze the mycelium and ordered the workshop’s traps, defenses, and purification systems activated.
• The Assault Cow and Horse raised painted middle fingers at Helmut, insulted him through its speakers, and launched into the sky.
• Ji Jue wrapped the airborne armor in heated mercury and drove it toward Helmut’s exposed workshop like a blazing projectile.