Recaps

Ji Jue’s Powered Armor smashed through Helmut’s Workshop, suppressed its spirit essence with mercury vapor, and defeated him in a final duel. Back in Ji Jue’s Workshop, Helmut’s intruding Mirror image succumbed to Fiendification, and Ji Jue froze him in place before hinting that he had another idea involving the rules.

• Ji Jue’s Assault Cow and Horse crashed into Helmut’s Workshop, wrecking its defenses and freezing its spirit essence with mercury vapor.
• Ji Jue’s hybrid-powered armor resisted the interference, pinned Helmut with the Anchor Assault Rifle, and forced him to flee.
• Helmut stopped running, accepted defeat as an Artisan, and challenged the armor to a final duel; the armor defeated him with a crimson greatsword.
• In Ji Jue’s Workshop, Helmut’s Mirror image convulsed and began mutating from the pollution in the Workshop.
• Ji Jue froze the intruder’s swelling, Fiendified body with mercury and asked whether he wanted to see what the world looked like.

Ji Jue launched his Workshop into space during the simulated duel, witnessing the true shape of the world before his capsule broke apart. As the Myriad Transformations Tower prepared to reveal the second-round results, Gustav and Jiang Tongguang discussed the apprentices, the Association, and Jiang’s growing disillusionment.

• Ji Jue transformed the Workshop into a rocket and launched it, telling the head he had brought along about his dream of spaceflight.
• Jiang Tongguang questioned Gustav about allowing Ji Jue to launch, and Gustav revealed that Andre was also planning to destroy Luye Island to test his theory.
• Ji Jue’s rocket climbed above the storm clouds, where he saw the Nether Sea Worm and the true, square form of the present world.
• The capsule shattered, leaving Ji Jue drifting in space as he called the world beautiful; Jiang Tongguang praised his achievement while Gustav switched off his phone to avoid Deron’s reprimand.
• Gustav explained why he imposed strict limits on apprentices and challenged Jiang Tongguang about how long he could tolerate the Association’s state.
• Jiang Tongguang denied any dissatisfaction, and the two returned to work as the second-round elimination results neared.

After the second round left only thirty-two contestants, Ji Jue and Andre Angel Gonzalo emerged as near-equal leaders with sharply contrasting Workshops and abilities. Andre spent most of his points on a Blessing to strengthen his suppression, while Ji Jue bought several combat Blessings, leaving both prepared for a coming clash.

• The second round eliminated most contestants, doubled survivors’ points, and placed Ji Jue first, Andre second, and Lin Ke third in the rankings.
• The contestants watched the released match records and learned about the remaining artisans’ ruthless techniques, including Lou Feng’s Entropy Spirit Transformation and Lin Ke’s Knot Amulet.
• Ji Jue studied Andre’s stone sanctuary, which suppressed change and threatened to disable much of Ji Jue’s alchemy.
• After seeing Ji Jue’s replay, Andre spent more than half his points on the Heavenly Origin Blessing [Receive the Chart and Register] to strengthen his Workshop’s suppression.
• Ji Jue spent nearly all his points on combat Blessings, including Battle Hardened Tempering and Seize Day Plunder Assault, as the contestants prepared for the next round.

Ji Jue faced Frederick Cosgum of North Wind Workshop in the third-round simulation, where Frederick’s heroes and war giants attacked Ji Jue’s workshop. Ji Jue unleashed a horde of fiendish defenders, while his own mirror image was left without them in a separate simulation and revealed a blade capable of splitting Frederick’s bombardment.

• Another Black Rain arrived as Luye Island’s Fiendification worsened, while Ji Jue’s workshop remained stable amid the pollution.
• Ji Jue drew sixth-ranked Frederick Cosgum of North Wind Workshop as his opponent, and Frederick formally challenged him to battle.
• Frederick summoned War Giants and Seeds of Heroes, then blasted open the workshop gate with a cannon shot.
• Forty-one fiendish creatures Ji Jue had rebuilt and chained as guards charged out to meet Frederick’s forces.
• Ji Jue’s mirror image tried to summon the fiendish guards in a separate simulation, but they were not brought along, leaving it facing a fortified camp alone.
• As artillery rained down on the mirror image, it drew a scarlet blade and split the falling shells, storm, and rain in two.

Ji Jue unleashed Assault Cow and Horse - Mark 3 and its blood blade to break through North Wind Workshop’s defenses, while Frederick struggled to restrain him. Frederick finally realized that Ji Jue and the blade were fundamentally one and the same.

• Frederick sensed that Ji Jue’s blood blade grew stronger through endless sacrifices without showing the expected corruption or frenzy.
• Ji Jue switched to a direct assault, charging through the puppet formations with the upgraded Assault Cow and Horse - Mark 3.
• Ji Jue used the blood blade to shatter the sealed gate, then broke through Frederick’s ice, chains, and other Workshop restraints.
• Ji Jue fought through the reborn heroes and War Giants, while Mercury repaired his armor as he pressed forward.
• Frederick saw the exchange of Blood Qi between Ji Jue and the blade and realized they were fundamentally one and the same.

Frederick transformed into Burning Lord Surtr and clashed with Ji Jue, whose sacrifice-bound weapons briefly gave way before he revealed a second sword. Ji Jue’s bizarre weapon introductions stunned everyone and enraged Frederick, who attacked again to silence him.

• Frederick realized Ji Jue had merged his blood, life, and soul with the vicious weapon, making him difficult to kill while its supply lasted.
• Frederick fused with his workshop’s flames and Spiritual Substance, becoming Burning Lord Surtr, then charged Ji Jue with a giant molten sword.
• Surtr’s flaming sword initially overpowered Ji Jue’s long blade, but the two fighters continued trading fierce blows until Surtr suffered a chest wound.
• Ji Jue revealed a short sword alongside his long blade, surprising Frederick and the observers.
• Ji Jue introduced the long blade as Ex-Wife and the short sword as Stepmother, describing their powers and joking about a planned pair of gauntlets.
• Frederick roared at Ji Jue to shut up and swung his enlarged flaming sword at him.

Frederick unleashed Surtr’s full power against Ji Jue, but Ji Jue revealed that his blades and Blessings could transform and combine, then used a hidden weapon to destroy Surtr’s core. The battle ended with Frederick grievously wounded and the observers identifying Ji Jue’s final technique as Disintegration Art.

• Frederick’s rage drove Surtr to unprecedented strength, but Ji Jue’s Stepmother pierced the giant and inflicted severe, irreparable damage.
• Ji Jue revealed that Ex-Wife and Stepmother could switch forms and that their Blessings had been combined into a single composite creation.
• Jiang Tongguang and Gustav recognized elements of Chengchuan Aggregation and Myriad Sources Convergence in Ji Jue’s weapon-making technique.
• Frederick restored Surtr with the Workshop’s flames and swept through the battlefield, apparently piercing Ji Jue’s armor and cockpit.
• Ji Jue reappeared behind Surtr and used a hidden black weapon to shatter its core, leaving Frederick near death.
• Jiang Tongguang confirmed that Ji Jue’s final technique was Disintegration Art.

Ji Jue’s mirror image defeated Frederick with a weapon called Kunjin Kao, and Ji Jue explained how he had adapted the principles of Disintegration Art. As the examination continued, the Myriad Transformations Tower broke free of Gustav’s control, and a Grandmaster of the Era Heavenly Furnace took over.

• Ji Jue’s mirror image used Spirit Source Circulation and Material Spirit Interaction to strike Surtr’s weak point and collapse his structure from within.
• Frederick realized he had been outplayed, but the replay showed Ji Jue defeating Surtr even faster without the Workshop’s assistance.
• Ji Jue explained the limits of Disintegration Art, described his alternative method, and used Kunjin Kao to tear apart the mirror image.
• Jiang Tongguang urged Gustav to end the examination, but Gustav insisted it continue.
• The Myriad Transformations Tower ignored Gustav’s commands, expanded to its complete form, and triggered crisis alarms across Dubhe Island.
• Jiang Tongguang suspected a Grandmaster had taken control when the emblem of the Grandmaster of the Era Heavenly Furnace appeared.

Ji Jue strengthened his Workshop as the simulation grew increasingly ominous and the Black Rain transformed Luye Island into a realm of monsters. When the countdown ended, all thirteen remaining contestants and their Workshops were brought together on the island, beginning the final elimination round.

• Ji Jue assessed his limited abilities, spent all 1,416 of his points, and set to renovating his Workshop.
• As the Black Rain ravaged Luye Island, Ji Jue reflected on the monstrous world and imagined setting it ablaze.
• The countdown turned blood-red, and a thunderous bell revealed all thirteen remaining contestants to one another.
• Ji Jue greeted Lou Feng, whose resentful gaze and silent response drew the others' attention.
• The simulated worlds shattered, and all thirteen contestants' Workshops appeared in a circle on Luye Island as the final elimination round began.

The contestants turned on Ji Jue and Lou Feng as the Heavenly Furnace’s brutal trial began, forcing Lou Feng to unleash his Absolute Spirit Extinction Domain. While Ji Jue’s workshop was battered into rubble, it shed its disguise and revealed a monster rising from beneath the Nine Lands.

• The participants agreed to attack Ji Jue, who fled as meteors struck his workshop and called on Lou Feng to hold off the others.
• Lou Feng was attacked by Nine Seals, the Flesh Engineering Hundred-Eyed Giant, and the Shadow of the Throne as the other contestants moved against him.
• Lou Feng activated Kong Qingyan’s Absolute Spirit Extinction Domain, crystallizing spirit essence and disrupting workshops across the domain.
• Lou Feng’s attack eliminated a distant contestant, while crystals spread through the Nine Seals Workshop and a giant tree of Spiritual Substance grew inside it.
• The attackers reduced Ji Jue’s mountain to rubble, but his workshop shed its outer disguise as silver light surged up from beneath the Nine Lands and a monster awakened.

Ji Jue revealed that he had fused himself with his workshop to create the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands, a vast Mercury body that devoured Spiritual Substance and overwhelmed the other contestants. After eliminating two contestants and resisting the remaining workshops' attacks, he challenged every faction to attack him together.

• More than eight workshops destroyed Ji Jue's mountain workshop, but his Construction of Ten Thousand Hands emerged from the ruins and drained the evil creatures of their Spiritual Substance.
• Ji Jue revealed that he had fused his life, soul, and resources with his workshop, turning it into an extension of his hands.
• Ji Jue used the Ten Thousand Hands to seize meteors and smash nearby workshops, then ripped out their cores and devoured their reserves, eliminating the first contestant.
• Ji Jue shaped a massive sword from a torn-out main axis and used it to break through another workshop's defenses and drain it, eliminating a second contestant.
• The Construction of Ten Thousand Hands withstood the Dragonheart, Five Flowers Five Leaves, and Cooperative Association attacks as Ji Jue invited all the remaining factions to come at him together.

Ji Jue crippled the earth-vein workshop, destroyed the Nine Seals Workshop, and uprooted Lou Feng’s crystalline Tower to replenish his dwindling Spiritual Substance. After Lou Feng gave in, Ji Jue renewed his Construction of Ten Thousand Hands and annihilated the Flesh Giant Hundred-Eyed Giant.

• Ji Jue struck the ground and disrupted the earth veins, crippling the Five Flowers Five Leaves workshop and its Geodetic Axis Instrument.
• Ji Jue bypassed the Bell Tower Workshop and destroyed the Nine Seals Workshop, then uprooted Lou Feng’s crystalline Tower.
• Andre offered Lin Ke two thousand units of Spiritual Substance to join forces, but Lin Ke had no time to respond before Ji Jue changed course.
• Lou Feng recognized that Ji Jue was bluffing about his strength, but Ji Jue threatened to call Lou Feng’s aunt unless he supplied Spiritual Substance.
• Lou Feng’s Tower refilled Ji Jue’s reserves, allowing Ji Jue to rebuild the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands and cut the Flesh Giant Hundred-Eyed Giant into a rain of blood.

Ji Jue and Lou Feng unleashed the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands, destroying the Hundred-Eyed Giant and devastating Luye Island. As Andre coordinated the surviving workshops against Ji Jue, their combined attack failed to close around him, and Ji Jue declared it too late.

• Lou Feng steadied the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands against the Hundred-Eyed Giant’s soul-pulling eyes and helped Ji Jue pierce and drain the giant.
• Ji Jue and Lou Feng transformed the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands and shredded the Hundred-Eyed Giant, while their storm of blades devastated Luye Island.
• Lin Ke questioned Andre about his deception, then agreed to let Andre coordinate the surviving workshops under a wartime deal.
• The surviving workshops joined forces to trap and crush the Construction of Ten Thousand Hands, but their combined barriers could not fully close around it.
• Ji Jue told the assembled opponents that they were too late.

Ji Jue unleashed the Foundation of Repulsion, devastating Luye Island and destroying several workshops, but he survived by reconstructing himself. As Andre’s lingering interference weakened him, the two prepared to face off, until Don’t Know’s sudden intervention sealed an empty battlefield and Ji Jue’s Construction of Ten Thousand Hands rose to replace the sun.

• Ji Jue overloaded the Foundation of Repulsion and unleashed a blast that tore through Luye Island, while dragon scales shielded the surviving workshops from total destruction.
• A voice confirmed Ji Jue was dead, but a blade formed from metallic vapor attacked the Dragon Heart Workshop before Ji Jue revived himself at full strength.
• Ji Jue discovered that fragments of Andre’s shattered workshop had infiltrated his Construction of Ten Thousand Hands, causing its operation to decay and limiting his ability to rebuild.
• Ji Jue and Andre acknowledged each other’s strength and prepared for their decisive confrontation, with Andre saying he could still hold on for a while.
• Don’t Know raised obelisks from the ruins and used his Sanctuary to seal the battlefield, but Ji Jue had already flown into the sky, where his Construction of Ten Thousand Hands took the sun’s place.

Ji Jue launched a high-altitude assault on the workshops below while Andre countered with an ability that reversed his creations. As their techniques clashed, Ji Jue began to glimpse a new form of Revolution.

• Ji Jue carried Lou Feng into the stratosphere and stabilized him after the brutal ascent.
• Ji Jue rained blood blades and Sin Corruption from above, while Andre used a dust storm to conceal the rising obelisk towers attacking him.
• Ji Jue pierced one obelisk tower with a ten-thousand-meter mercury blade, splitting and corrupting it as Andre struck back with blazing light.
• Andre's attack destroyed Ji Jue's mercury shield and reverted his controlled mercury to purified mercury, revealing his powers of constancy and regression.
• Ji Jue combined memories of the Formless Sword with Full-Domain Flow Control and glimpsed the silver radiance of Revolution.

Ji Jue defeated Andre in the artisan examination after a fierce clash of Sage and dragon inheritances, and Gustav named him the victor. The Myriad Transformations Tower continued operating after the match, and an unidentified user ordered it to continue.

• Ji Jue struck Andre’s sanctuary with a mercury tower, while Lou Feng watched from a parachute made of mercury.
• Andre accepted his defeat with a farewell, and Blazing Light swallowed the collapsing sanctuary.
• Gustav entered Ji Jue as the examination’s final victor and erased traces suggesting the apprentice had studied alchemy for less than half a year.
• Jiang Tongguang noticed that the Myriad Transformations Tower was still operating despite the darkened projection and Floating Light.
• An unidentified user rejected a request to stop the tower and ordered, “Continue.”

After passing the examination, Ji Jue met the Examiner in a simulated beach setting and learned that the encounter was an optional bonus challenge. The Examiner revealed hints about Ji Jue’s lineage, then assigned him a target: kill the Nether Sea Worm.

• Ji Jue woke on a beach inside the simulation and encountered Jianyuan, who had infiltrated the examination.
• Jianyuan’s appearance changed into the Examiner, who congratulated Ji Jue on passing and becoming an Embers Craftsman.
• The Examiner told Ji Jue that Jianyuan’s teachings were an orthodox inheritance and hinted that Ji Jue belonged to the same lineage as Jianyuan and Ye Xian.
• Ji Jue rejected the Examiner’s invitation to exercise unlimited freedom by asking to break away from Tide Sound and establish an independent inheritance.
• The Examiner questioned what Ji Jue sought and dismissed his joking answers about money and wrongdoing.
• When Ji Jue asked whether he could refuse the questioning, the Examiner told him to kill the Nether Sea Worm.

Ji Jue learned that the Nether Sea Worm was an enormous Existing Fiend spread throughout the simulated world, then accepted the examiner’s offer of unlimited materials and Blessings in Creative Mode. He returned to the aberration-infested island eager to experiment, but blew himself up within ten minutes.

• Ji Jue protested that he could not fight the Nether Sea Worm, and the examiner revealed that the Nether Sea itself was the worm’s dispersed incarnation.
• The examiner explained that the Nether Sea Worm was gestating to undergo Metamorphosis and could have become the Nether Sea Dragon if it had reached its full potential.
• The examiner gave Ji Jue a remote control that could rewind, accelerate, or exit the simulation, then stopped him from leaving by offering unlimited Association Standard Records materials and Myriad Phenomena Records Blessings.
• Ji Jue accepted the Creative Mode offer, while the examiner vanished and reappeared to offer customer service and ask for a good review.
• Ji Jue returned to the simulated island with the dog and began experimenting, but blew himself up less than ten minutes later.

Ji Jue used Myriad Transformations to indulge in simulated weapons and build a vast mechanical army before confronting the Nether Sea Worm, only to be overwhelmed. After his death, the examiner explained that a “Lock” prevented more than twenty Fusion Bombs detonated at once from taking effect, and Ji Jue was told to try another method.

• Ji Jue tested Myriad Transformations by detonating Fusion Bombs and destroying islands, then endured the pain when the examiner explained that the simulation felt almost entirely real.
• Ji Jue spent months practicing Workshop production, processing Blessings and materials, and researching Disintegration Art before starting the main quest.
• Ji Jue used accelerated time and replication to build armies, weapons, and a knockoff aerospace hub, while more than thirty years passed in the simulation.
• Ji Jue attacked the Nether Sea Worm with sixteen Fusion Bombs and an enormous mechanical force, but the creature annihilated his defenses and killed him.
• The examiner explained that the Lock suppressed Fusion Bombs when more than twenty detonated at once, and urged Ji Jue to try another approach.

Ji Jue tried to defeat the Nether Sea Worm by building an overpowered Sage’s Shadow, but its conflicting Blessings made it collapse, and the worm evolved beyond his attempt to destroy it. After restarting, he investigated the Nether Sea and questioned how Great Calamity related to Superior Virtue, leaving him alarmed by the examiner’s implications.

• Ji Jue built a Sage’s Shadow packed with Blessings, but conflicting sequences caused it to explode before the Nether Sea Worm appeared.
• Ji Jue streamlined the Sage’s Shadow and fought the worm for over an hour, but its evolution corrupted the creation; he self-destructed it, only for the worm to reform after the blast.
• The examiner gave Ji Jue ten points, explaining that uncontrolled power and excessive Blessings had caused his failure, and Ji Jue reconsidered his teacher Ye Xian’s standards for creations.
• Ji Jue spent another simulated lifetime refining the Sage’s Shadow, died of old age, then restarted and began analyzing the Nether Sea’s pollution.
• Ji Jue asked why Supreme Goodness Essence could fall into Evil Folly while great-sin pollution struggled to rise, and the examiner argued that evil consequences arose more easily than good ones.
• Ji Jue realized the examiner might be implying that Superior Virtue and Great Calamity were closely connected, and wondered whether Jianyuan had infiltrated the Association.

Ji Jue repeatedly tried and failed to eradicate the Nether Sea Worm in the simulation while the examiner mocked his efforts and questioned whether he cared about the world's fate. The examiner then showed him generations of foolish people reinventing civilization, and Ji Jue finally lost his patience, leaving the examiner to challenge his claim that he did not care what happened to the world.

• Ji Jue explored the Nether Sea Worm's vast polluted territory and attempted to blast the sea away, but the Waste Ruins prevented him from digging through the world's foundation.
• Ji Jue died repeatedly while testing different ways to defeat the worm, and the examiner awarded him scores and told him that patience and hope could still lead to success.
• Ji Jue demanded to leave, but the examiner made him wait and asked whether he could trust an artisan's words or remain indifferent to the world's fate.
• Ji Jue watched foolish people mishandle bicycles, vehicles, construction, and war before they rediscovered Spiritual Substance and began developing alchemy.
• Ji Jue kicked over his chair, struck one fool, and smashed its coconut, prompting the examiner to ask whether he would accept the world no matter what it became.

Ji Jue created a new Workshop Spirit through Fluid Alchemy, only for it to reject his proposed names and choose Isis. The chapter left Isis newly awakened and bound to Ji Jue as his Master.

• The examiner explained that Ji Jue’s impulse to impose the world he wanted was part of the nature of the Chosen of Embers, then vanished to meet Plow Forging Artisan.
• Plow Forging Artisan confronted Heavenly Furnace about the Myriad Transformations Tower’s heavy use of the association’s reserves, and Heavenly Furnace repeatedly pulled him back after he tried to leave.
• Ji Jue used Fluid Alchemy and purified spirit essence to create a soul-like Workshop Spirit, accidentally spilling gemstone powders into the cauldron during the process.
• The new intelligence awakened and rejected Ji Jue’s suggestions of Prophet and Fool, then chose the name Isis.
• Isis explained that the name represented rebirth and reincarnation, and called Ji Jue her Master.

Ji Jue used Isis to scan the Nether Sea Worm and discovered that the Nether Sea was the Worm itself, then smuggled Isis’s spirit essence crystal through a time rewind and restored her in a new vessel. The chapter ended with Isis greeting him as they began rebuilding the Workshop.

• Ji Jue drank a bitter Longevity Potion while Isis prepared a vast mercury network to scan the Nether Sea Worm.
• Ji Jue examined the scan and ordered Isis to survey the remaining seventeen hundred regions, which she completed over two years.
• Ji Jue saw the combined scans reveal the Worm’s enormous body spanning the sky, ocean, earth, and air of the Present Realm.
• Ji Jue activated the return protocol, took Isis’s spirit essence crystal, and used a time rewind to bypass the Rules and smuggle it.
• Ji Jue reconstructed a vessel, restored Isis inside it, and greeted her before they started rebuilding the Workshop.

Ji Jue repeatedly tested and refined his creations against the Nether Sea Worm, learning to balance their materials and blessings precisely while pushing Solid Alchemy to new limits. After ending the experiment, he spoke with Isis about her existence and prepared to begin one final round before leaving.

• Heavenly Furnace watched Ji Jue use the Workshop Spirit and the Nether Sea Worm to improve his methods, and reflected on the passing of teachings between generations.
• Ji Jue lured the Nether Sea Worm onto a prepared silver nail and attacked it with Terrifying Thunder, but the Mercury Tower collapsed after thirteen seconds.
• Ji Jue reset the experiment and spent a long period refining his creations, focusing on exact material balance and improving his Solid Alchemy.
• The Heaven-Reaching Blade endured the Nether Sea Worm's corrosion for six minutes and eleven seconds before breaking apart, so Ji Jue ended the purification experiments and ordered a return.
• Isis told Ji Jue she believed he tolerated her because he felt guilty about creating a simulated soul, and she vowed to curse him forever.
• Ji Jue accepted Isis's vow and announced one final round before they went off work.

Ji Jue and Isis rebuilt the Nether Sea as a vast network of workshops, suppressing the Worm’s attempts to awaken. After Ji Jue had himself surgically transformed into a new body, Isis hinted that she might finally take revenge on him.

• Isis accused Ji Jue of making her work for centuries, and he argued that working was better than resting.
• With Ji Jue’s authorization, Isis’s workshop defense system killed 114,110 attacking evil creatures and erased their remains.
• Over the following decades, Ji Jue and Isis spread workshops, Spirit Essence Circuits, and Towers throughout the Nether Sea while repeatedly delaying the Worm’s awakening.
• Isis woke Ji Jue after the Nether Sea had been covered with workshops, and he ordered her to operate on him and build a new body.
• Isis operated without anesthesia, silenced Ji Jue by anesthetizing his vocal cords, and implanted the workshop’s core into his new body.
• Isis refused Ji Jue’s offer to create a simulated nervous system and suggested she might torment him while he could no longer reach the remote control.