Recaps

Ji Jue arrived at the Security Bureau's North Mountain District office, where Tong Hua's attempt to use Aether Eye on him frightened her, and Lao Zhang sensed a terrifying mass of pain and despair attached to him. Wen Wen gave Ji Jue the remains of two Chosen Ones he had killed and arranged for Lao Zhang to train him in self-defense and Spiritual Substance enhancement, though Wen Wen threatened to take over the lesson herself.

• Tong Hua used Aether Eye as Ji Jue arrived and was overwhelmed by a horrifying vision, then screamed and fled to Wen Wen for help.
• Lao Zhang welcomed Ji Jue and sensed a vast, disturbing presence of pain and despair entwined with him.
• Wen Wen brought Tong Hua back to apologize, then gave Ji Jue two boxes containing the remains of Ming Yan and Bai Yi as spoils from his previous fight.
• Wen Wen told Ji Jue that Lao Zhang would teach him self-defense and Spiritual Substance enhancement, but threatened to train him herself after he misunderstood her meaning.

Lao Zhang taught Ji Jue the basics of using Spirit Essence for offense and defense, and Ji Jue quickly applied Embers techniques to strengthen his hand. The lesson ended with Lao Zhang preparing to teach him combat and advising that an Embers Chosen One’s best response to an enemy was to run.

• Wen Jie did not spar with Ji Jue, so Ji Jue faced Lao Zhang instead.
• Lao Zhang demonstrated his Vortex abilities and taught Ji Jue how to use Spirit Essence to reinforce his body and defend against blows.
• Lao Zhang explained that Embers Spirit Essence could adjust and control material properties, prompting Ji Jue to strengthen the back of his hand with Waste Ruins.
• Lao Zhang tested Ji Jue’s reinforced hand with a metal stick and warned him to practice for no more than five minutes a day.
• Lao Zhang ended the first lesson early and told Ji Jue that an Embers Chosen One’s most effective measure in combat was to run.

Lao Zhang trained Ji Jue to survive ambushes by running, using a gun, and fighting back, then gave him an intensive massage that restored his battered body. Ji Jue left considering how to earn more money and agreed to try one final practical combat simulation.

• Lao Zhang warned Ji Jue that low-rank Embers Chosen Ones were poor at combat and should flee when ambushed, then taught him to draw his gun and run while using his abilities.
• Lao Zhang repeatedly beat Ji Jue during the training exercise as Tong Hua, Wen Wen, and An Ran listened from outside.
• Lao Zhang reset and massaged Ji Jue's body, easing his bruises, stiffness, and exhaustion, and gave him a business card for Zhang's Massage.
• Ji Jue worried about his growing debts and considered taking side work from Laila.
• Lao Zhang invited Ji Jue to try one last practical combat simulation, and Ji Jue accepted.

Ji Jue passed Lao Zhang’s second defense class by using a hidden final bullet, then celebrated with Wen Wen and drank until he passed out. The next morning, Ye Chun found him eating breakfast and warned that trouble was already at the door.

• Lao Zhang launched a surprise attack during Ji Jue’s training, and Ji Jue used the completed White Deer Emblem to retreat and fire back.
• Ji Jue tossed aside his modified Guardian and used its fifteenth bullet to strike Lao Zhang in the temple, passing the class.
• Lao Zhang praised Ji Jue’s aptitude to Wen Wen and said he could challenge her with more effort.
• Wen Wen took Ji Jue out to celebrate, and he passed out after drinking heavily.
• Ji Jue woke up hungover, went to a noodle stall for breakfast, and heard Ye Chun warn that trouble was near.

Ji Jue accompanied Ye Chun to the Workshop, where they faced Kong Qingyan and her student Lou Feng. After Professor Ye provoked Kong Qingyan, Lou Feng challenged Ji Jue to demonstrate the gap between them, leaving Ji Jue angry at being singled out.

• Ye Chun told Ji Jue that the Workshop was involved in the trouble, and they drove there together.
• Ji Jue met Lou Feng, who mistook him for a member of a prominent Ji clan before learning he was a local from Yacheng.
• Kong Qingyan praised Ji Jue, but Professor Ye insulted Lou Feng and challenged Kong Qingyan to compete herself.
• Kong Qingyan rose in anger, but Lou Feng stepped forward and asked to test himself against Ji Jue.
• Ji Jue resented being picked on as the weaker target.

Ji Jue fought Lou Feng in a Chosen Ones’ duel after Lou Feng opened with a sneak attack, and used his Little Cow and Horse to catch him off guard. Lou Feng then unleashed a gravity technique, leaving Ji Jue struggling against its pull.

• Ji Jue reluctantly agreed to fight Lou Feng after Professor Ye said the duel could proceed under the supervision of two masters.
• Lou Feng attacked Ji Jue without warning with a hidden Spirit Essence weapon, but Ji Jue dodged using what he had learned in training.
• Ji Jue fired at Lou Feng, who blocked the shots with a layered Spirit Essence shield and continued attacking while Ji Jue evaded.
• Ji Jue tricked Lou Feng into turning around by warning him about an attack behind him, and Little Cow and Horse ran over Lou Feng’s face before his necklace blasted it away.
• Kong Qingyan urged Lou Feng to stop dawdling, and he used Celestial Origin to exert a powerful gravitational pull on Ji Jue.

Ji Jue transformed Little Cow and Horse into a steel beast and gained the upper hand over Lou Feng, but Lou Feng used Time Sand to recover his spirit essence and conjured Dragon Scale Armor. Cornered at the arena wall, Ji Jue summoned a dung truck to charge at him.

• Lou Feng's White Deer emblem briefly faltered, but his attack damaged Little Cow and Horse while he taunted Ji Jue.
• At Ye Xian's urging, Ji Jue poured his Spiritual Substance into Little Cow and Horse, transforming it into a steel beast with Waste Ruins blessings and Shadow Transformation.
• Ji Jue exploited the limits of Lou Feng's repulsion field, broke his shield, and fired a shot that shattered a ring and bruised Lou Feng's hand.
• Lou Feng refused to surrender, crushed a Time Sand bead to replenish his spirit essence, and formed the Lou Clan Secret Tradition, Dragon Scale Armor.
• Lou Feng charged Ji Jue with blazing jet blades, but Ji Jue backed against the wall and summoned a dung truck that smashed through it toward Lou Feng.

Ji Jue defeated Lou Feng by blasting him with a manure truck, forcing Kong Qingyan to surrender before Professor Ye restored the factory and erased the witnesses’ memories. Back at the Workshop, Professor Ye revealed she intended to make Kong Qingyan pay for the offense, and Ji Jue warned her that killing a master would cause serious trouble.

• Ji Jue used Zenigame’s Water Cannon through a manure truck to soak Lou Feng, who flew into a rage and charged at him.
• Kong Qingyan froze the scene, pulled Lou Feng back, and declared their surrender before leaving with him.
• Professor Ye restored the factory, erased the onlookers’ memories, and returned the surroundings to normal.
• Ji Jue realized Professor Ye had likely arranged for the conveniently parked sewage truck to be there.
• Professor Ye told Ji Jue she planned to make Kong Qingyan pay for provoking her, and Ji Jue cautioned that a master’s unexplained death would cause a huge mess.

Professor Ye identified Kong Qingyan’s visit as an attempt to assess her and the Workshop, then demonstrated her Disintegration Art while teaching Ji Jue how to analyze the Mouth of the Ancient One. She offered to teach him the technique and sent him to retrieve a matrix called [Non-Aggression] from a Rift World outside Yacheng.

• Professor Ye told Ji Jue that Kong Qingyan had come to assess her and the Workshop, not merely to settle a personal rivalry.
• After a call from Chen Xingzhou, Professor Ye asked Ji Jue how much he had analyzed the Mouth of the Ancient One and corrected his notes.
• Professor Ye unfolded the Mouth of the Ancient One’s structure, explained its components, and used Disintegration Art to remove its redundant parts while preserving its core function.
• Ji Jue eagerly accepted Professor Ye’s offer to teach him Disintegration Art.
• Professor Ye asked Ji Jue to retrieve a matrix named [Non-Aggression] from an emerging Rift World outside Yacheng.

Professor Ye arranged for Ji Jue to enter a collapsing Rift World in search of a Feigong Matrix and equipped him with a Devil-Crafted Ball. Ji Jue joined Ye Xian’s workshop as her apprentice, officially naming his ability Deus Ex Machina, while Ye Xian was reminded of becoming a student herself.

• Professor Ye explained the Rift World’s dangers and the chance that it contained Mercury’s Workshop and a Feigong Matrix, and Ji Jue chose to go despite being afraid.
• Ye Xian gave Ji Jue the Devil-Crafted Ball as an assistant that could help him enter workshops and return him to safety if necessary.
• Professor Ye contacted Wen Wen, who arranged for Ji Jue to report to the North Mountain District branch and travel with another Chosen One.
• Ye Xian presented Ji Jue with a Taiyi Ring workshop registration form that bound him to Tide Sound Workshop as her apprentice.
• Ji Jue accepted the name Deus Ex Machina for his ability, signed the form, and called Ye Xian his teacher.
• Ye Xian remembered entering her own teacher’s Workshop and wondered whether she had ever regretted what followed.

As a Rift World convergence drew Chosen Ones to a remote camp, Ji Jue and An Ran arrived on a battered motorcycle and caught the attention of Lou Feng and many others. An Ran promised to protect Ji Jue, then revealed that he had a long list of personal grudges among the crowd.

• Chosen Ones gathered at the guarded camp near Yacheng as the Rift World passage neared opening, while Kong Qingyan warned Lou Feng to follow Slan and the Homecoming Knights.
• Ji Jue rode into the camp on a battered Little Motorcycle with An Ran, drawing curious looks from the assembled Chosen Ones.
• Lou Feng recognized Ji Jue and reacted with fury, while Ji Jue realized several people in the crowd were glaring at him.
• An Ran promised to protect Ji Jue and identified several people who held grudges against him, including men he had injured and someone whose younger brother he had killed.

Ji Jue confronted Kong Qingyan and drove her away by warning her that her Workshop was under attack, then was swept into the Rift World when it opened. The Rift World closed after taking only part of the crowd, leaving behind victims marked by the Dragon Offering Society, while Haizhou received a warning that the wanted terrorist White Owl had entered the country.

• An Ran explained his ties to the Wild Bazaar and begged Ji Jue not to leave him, then embarrassed Ji Jue by reading his private quote from a notebook.
• Ji Jue met Kong Qingyan and Lou Feng, delivered Ye Xian’s warning, and triggered Kong Qingyan’s alert that her Workshop’s central control was at risk.
• Kong Qingyan rushed away to defend her Workshop, while Lou Feng challenged Ji Jue to settle matters later.
• The Rift World opened and sucked Ji Jue, An Ran, Little Cow, Horse, and others inside before closing again.
• The people left outside found drained corpses marked with the Dragon Offering Society emblem and identified Shepherd · Formless as the likely culprit.
• Two hours later, Haizhou received a security alert that White Owl had infiltrated the country, along with a wanted notice carrying a ninety-one-million bounty.

Ji Jue, An Ran, and Little Cow and Horse entered the Rift World and were attacked by a gigantic centipede-like monster and swarming birds. An Ran fought off the birds while Ji Jue drove them through the ruins, leaving the group fleeing from the relentless monster.

• Ji Jue and Little Cow and Horse fell into the Rift World, but An Ran used a cord to slow their fall and haul them onto a rooftop.
• Ji Jue saw the ruined world’s apocalyptic sky and discovered that the Devil-Crafted Ball had overheated and broken after warning him that something was wrong.
• An Ran pulled Ji Jue away as a gigantic centipede-like monster burst through the building beneath them and unleashed maddening screams into Ji Jue’s mind.
• Little Cow and Horse carried Ji Jue and dragged An Ran away from the monster, while An Ran used the An Family’s Projection technique to kill the pursuing birds.
• Ji Jue poured his Spiritual Substance into Little Cow and Horse, accelerating their escape as the monster chased them through the ruins.

Ji Jue and his companions encountered the Homecoming Knights while fleeing a colossal monster, then discovered that the grotesque creatures in Rift World had never been human. Ji Jue’s attempt to communicate with one overwhelmed him with frenzied voices, and the group heard crying nearby.

• Lou Feng ordered Slan to find Ji Jue, but Ji Jue arrived towing a colossal monster and forced the Homecoming Knights to flee.
• Ji Jue and his companions escaped the monster and stopped in some ruins, where An Ran killed a grotesque creature that had ambushed them.
• An Ran examined the creature and told Ji Jue it had never been human, pointing out metal and artificial materials within its body.
• Ji Jue found traces of a Spirit Essence Circuit in the creature and used Deus Ex Machina to communicate with it, but thousands of shrieks overwhelmed him.
• An Ran heard crying in the distance as Ji Jue recovered from the encounter.

Ji Jue discovered that the horrors in the Rift World were creations of Mercury’s lost Fluid Alchemy, then learned from the Devil-Crafted Ball that the entire Rift World was Mercury’s Workshop. The Ball had survived an attempt by the Workshop’s Guardian to seize control of it and left Ji Jue facing the revelation that they were already inside the Workshop.

• Ji Jue used a drone to investigate the cries and saw a mutated family whose infant transformed into a writhing creature and fled.
• Ji Jue recognized the creatures as Mercury’s creations, made and transformed through Fluid Alchemy, and feared that they would keep evolving without collapsing.
• The Devil-Crafted Ball recovered after Mercury’s Guardian module had detected and attacked it through their spirit essence circuits.
• The Devil-Crafted Ball told Ji Jue that they were already inside Mercury’s Workshop and that the entire Rift World was the Workshop.

Ji Jue and Little An traveled toward the bell tower believed to house the Rift World’s Workshop core, but a group of bounty hunters ambushed them. Ji Jue triggered Blast while prone as the attack unfolded.

• Ji Jue and Little An left their temporary shelter and headed toward the bell tower, using Ball Bro’s readings to guide them.
• Ji Jue reset a tripwire mine and planted another to ambush anyone pursuing them.
• Little An sensed an approaching threat, and Ji Jue refused to leave him behind as the attackers struck from above and behind.
• Ji Jue shot the falling, carapace-armored Chosen while Little An knocked aside a hidden attacker’s dagger with an iron shard.
• A Mirror System Chosen disoriented Ji Jue with a crowd-control attack as the ambushers pressed their assault.
• Ji Jue hit the ground in a prone position and activated Blast.

Ji Jue and Little An defeated the attackers, including a distant sniper, but the corpses began flowing toward the Bell Tower after a mysterious bell rang. Their next move remained unclear as the ruins revealed a larger battle underway.

• Ji Jue’s grenade killed Little Su and broke the female assassin’s illusion, while the giant monster transformed into a Wendigo.
• Ji Jue dodged a sniper’s shots, then used Little An’s sword aura and the Thunder rifle to kill the sniper from eight hundred meters away.
• Ji Jue and Little An cornered the fleeing Wendigo, and Little An killed it with a hidden weapon.
• Ji Jue began collecting blessings from the dead with the Devil-Crafted Ball, but the corpses crumbled and their blood and Spiritual Substance flowed toward the Bell Tower.
• A soul-shaking bell tolled from the Bell Tower.

Ji Jue watched the Workshop rebuild the Rift World, restoring its defenses along with bizarre errors, while intruders were slaughtered by the Bell Tower guardian. As the Homecoming Knights fought the guardian, the Devil-Crafted Ball revealed a hidden entrance and a way to bypass the Workshop’s security, leaving Ji Jue poised to sneak inside.

• The bell rang, and the Workshop used scattered Spiritual Substance to restore the Rift World, including its damaged buildings, residents, and defenses.
• Ji Jue learned from the Devil-Crafted Ball that the Workshop’s decades of neglect had caused strange reconstruction errors.
• Several intruders tried to reach the Bell Tower and died to its defenses and guardian.
• Lou Feng hired Slan and the Homecoming Knights, who summoned the Horde’s Blessing and attacked the guardian.
• The Devil-Crafted Ball showed Ji Jue a hidden entrance and supplied a fake authorization key to bypass the Workshop’s detection program.

Ji Jue and Little An entered Mercury’s Workshop, where they found a lingering vision of Sage Mercury witnessing the Heavenly Pillar’s collapse and the destruction of a city. The Devil-Crafted Ball identified the disaster as the Collapse of the Heavenly Pillar.

• The Devil-Crafted Ball disguised Ji Jue and Little An and helped them sneak into the clock tower, where they found broken guardians and abandoned children’s belongings.
• Ji Jue and his companions reached Mercury’s Workshop and found its books, instruments, and creations ruined or missing.
• Ji Jue and Little An saw a lingering trace of Sage Mercury gazing toward the Giant Pillar and a cathedral hosting a wedding.
• The vision showed Celestial Origin collapsing, the Giant Pillar shattering, and the city falling into ruin as monsters rampaged.
• Ji Jue watched the bride perish amid the destruction and saw Sage Mercury silently witnessing the disaster’s repeated aftermath.
• The Devil-Crafted Ball named the catastrophe the Collapse of the Heavenly Pillar.

Ji Jue awakened the abandoned furnace in the Sage’s workshop and asked it for guidance, but the furnace’s sudden surge of power engulfed Little Cow and Horse and dragged the motorcycle inside. The chapter ended with its terrified scream echoing from the sealed furnace.

• The Devil-Crafted Ball told Ji Jue that Mercury may have played a crucial role in the collapse of the Heavenly Origin Tower, and the Sage’s phantom vanished after seeming to look toward him.
• After finding no useful relics in the workshop, Ji Jue decided to activate its rusted melting furnace despite the Devil-Crafted Ball’s warnings.
• Ji Jue used the Devil-Crafted Ball to connect the furnace to a mobile workshop, triggering a clash with the Rift World Workshop.
• Ji Jue awakened the furnace, exhausting his spiritual substance before Little An treated him with an emergency supplement injector.
• The furnace’s consciousness spoke to Ji Jue, who humbly requested its guidance.
• The furnace released a torrent of light that wrapped around Little Cow and Horse and pulled it inside before the furnace shut.

Ji Jue used the Melting furnace to purify and remake Little Cow and Horse, learning the basics of Sage Mercury’s Fluid Alchemy before the furnace vanished. He escaped the collapsing Workshop, leaving Lou Feng to discover that Ji Jue had taken its treasures and cry out in fury.

• The Melting furnace guided Ji Jue through Fluid Alchemy, purifying Little Cow and Horse and transforming it into a three-wheeled vehicle covered in Spirit Essence Circuits and Supreme Goodness Emblems.
• The furnace gave Ji Jue its final request to show mercy to the Workshop, then collapsed into dust and left behind specks of light that Ji Jue gathered.
• Ji Jue and Little An escaped the clock tower on Little Cow and Horse as the Devil-Crafted Ball’s countdown ended and the tower was destroyed.
• Lou Feng spotted Ji Jue near the plaza, but Ji Jue claimed he was withdrawing and fled before the Homecoming Knights could seize him.
• Lou Feng entered the clock tower, found the Workshop reduced to ashes, and screamed Ji Jue’s name in fury.

Ji Jue and Little An fled through the Rift World, reflecting on Little An’s uncertain future before spotting a wary mutated figure and choosing not to pursue him. Elsewhere, Formless gathered his scattered followers and consumed a captive to restore part of his soul after entering the Rift World.

• Little An admired the weapons Furnace had renewed and told Ji Jue he trusted him to help if his family tried to cut off his hands.
• Little An explained that he had run away because he did not know what life he wanted, and Ji Jue promised to help him if he could not find an answer before turning eighteen.
• Little An spotted a mutated figure watching them, but Ji Jue stopped him from shooting and drove away without pursuing it.
• Formless’s nine followers helped him unpack tools, supplies, and a bound prisoner in an underground room.
• Formless and his followers devoured the prisoner’s life, Spiritual Substance, and soul, allowing Formless to take shape and recover some of his scattered soul.

Ji Jue consumed the essence and experienced memories of Mercury forging the blade [Revolution], then woke with a clue linking the Master to Sky Rail. He turned his attention to the changes the essence had brought him.

• Formless identified the underground Rift World as Mercury's final resting place and hoped to find a Sage's body.
• Ji Jue gave in to his ability's hunger and devoured the essence fragments within him, losing consciousness as memories and insights flooded his soul.
• Ji Jue experienced Mercury's memories of forging [Revolution] and her final conversation with the Master, who warned her against regretting her choice.
• Ji Jue woke after just over three hours and recognized that the emblem on the Master's chest matched the insignia on his watch, linking it to Sky Rail.
• Ji Jue failed to piece together the mystery of the Eternal Empire and looked to examine the gains from consuming the essence.

Ji Jue absorbed the Furnace’s experience and memories, mastering the basics of Fluid Alchemy and crafting improved bullets while still searching for the Non-Aggression Matrix. When a mutated local told him that the Prophet knew where Non-Aggression was, Ji Jue agreed to follow him.

• Ji Jue’s progress exceeded the limit for Tier One, and the Furnace’s records made him an official inheritor of Fluid Alchemy.
• Ji Jue used Fluid Alchemy to make weak mercury limbs and reinforce bullets that Little An could enhance and activate later.
• The Devil-Crafted Ball warned Ji Jue that a group of mutated locals had approached their ruined safehouse, led by a man Ji Jue had previously spared.
• The man told Ji Jue that the Prophet wished to see him, but Ji Jue initially refused the invitation.
• The man said the Prophet knew where Non-Aggression was, so Ji Jue decided to go with him.

Ji Jue and Little An entered a hidden camp beneath the town and met the Prophet, who offered to guide them to traces of Mercury’s Matrix, Non-Aggression, in exchange for help. Ji Jue refused to cooperate, then claimed he could repair air conditioners and set off to inspect the camp’s equipment.

• Ji Jue and Little An followed the middle-aged man through the sewers to a settlement of mutated people and met the Prophet.
• The Prophet explained that Non-Aggression was a Matrix left by Mercury and offered to show Ji Jue its traces if he helped the camp.
• Ji Jue denied wanting the Matrix and rejected the Prophet’s offer, then left with Little An to rest in the camp.
• Ji Jue told Little An he could not trust the Prophet and suspected the camp might be spying on them.
• Ji Jue told the middle-aged man he could repair air conditioners, received permission from the Prophet to work on camp equipment, and headed off to inspect it.