Chapter Summaries

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.

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.