Chosen: Beyond Fate

Meanwhile, the ringing of the sword gradually grew clearer. Its echoes lingered without end. With every faint chime, everyone felt their scalp prickle, as though the blade of some absolute law had been laid across their necks.

Then, without warning, the Celestial Circuit shifted, and the furnace shuddered.

Amid the ringing of steel, a crack appeared. It was like a vicious beast bound by iron laws making one final desperate struggle. Violent spirit matter burst through the breach as a piercing shriek rang out.

A scorching jet shot past Ji Jue and struck one of the apprentices. Flames engulfed him instantly, charring large patches of skin. As he screamed, the node he had been maintaining collapsed, and one spirit circuit after another broke apart and vanished, but they reformed in midair and reconnected almost immediately.

Cracks split across Zhou Zhong’s outstretched palm. Thick blood dripped from his fingertips, only to evaporate before it could reach the ground.

“Hold it steady!” Zhou Zhong barked.

But even as he raised his voice, the sword’s ringing grew sharper and sharper, accompanied by an unending series of cracks. Scalding jets of spirit matter burst forth, and steam flooded the enormous workshop.

The Celestial Circuit shook frantically. Even the full nine-layer structure—three above and six below—could no longer fully suppress the flames erupting from the furnace or the power produced by the blessings’ transformation. They refused to integrate.

After countless materials had undergone Elevation and Purification, and vast numbers of recorded phenomena had been transformed and refined, everything would ultimately have to be brought together through Integration. But if Origin’s Iron Law could not suppress the backlash now erupting from within, then everything the furnace had produced would end in one of the most spectacular explosions the Tong family had ever seen.

And going up with it would be not only the creation Tong Shan had commissioned but also all the painstaking work Zhou Zhong had poured into it over the past several days, as well as the reputation he had spent a lifetime building.

The furnace was about to blow!

Unless Zhou Zhong was prepared to hang himself crying outside the association’s front gate tomorrow and claim the year’s grand prize for ultimate humiliation, there was no way in hell he could let the furnace fail before he did.

“Hold it steady!!!” Zhou Zhong roared.

A tremendous, violent torrent of spirit matter rushed from his body as he forcibly took control of the spirit circuits that were gradually collapsing and slipping out of control. Through sheer strength alone, he sustained the Celestial Circuit.

Within the highly concentrated spirit matter environment, many illusions had appeared, such as visions of raging flames, surging tides, and flashes of lightning and rolling thunder. Under the creation’s fierce backlash, the slightest lapse could cause those illusions to become reality.

Things should never have reached this point. The problem was that they had put far too much into the furnace! And with Ji Jue acting as such an absurdly effective extra pair of hands, everything had gone far too smoothly.

The more they fed into it, the easier it became. The more they added, the more exhilarating the process felt. Progress had advanced at an unbelievable pace. They had gone far beyond the original plan, incorporating far more phenomena into the flames than anyone had anticipated.

The finished product had been pushed to a level higher than expected, so high that the furnace core was the first thing to fail. Under the resulting chain reaction, the four sections and eight pillars broke, and the entire Celestial Circuit shook fiercely.

Amid the deafening crashes and chaos, complex matrix symbols flared on Zhou Zhong’s body, extending outward until they imprinted themselves into the air. Using himself as the central axis, he once again forced the entire operation back under control.

Unexpectedly, amid all that turmoil, there was another crucial node nearby, one that had never been part of the prepared contingencies or backup plans. It was right beside the furnace, within arm’s reach, and it was still holding firm. That single node was bearing more than a third of the crushing pressure without letting go.

It was Ji Jue! He was still holding firm, bearing more than a third of the immense pressure without letting go.

There was no time to think or hesitate. Zhou Zhong made the decision in a snap. Using Ji Jue and the three surrounding key nodes as the foundation, he rebuilt the balance of the entire system.

After a brief, vicious tremor, everything snapped back into order. The Celestial Circuit continued to revolve without a hitch. Streams of light flowed like rushing stars, converging amid the ringing sound and pouring into the cracked, exposed furnace.

The roar of tides, the rumble of thunder, the echoes of earthquakes, and the crash of collapsing mountains overlapped without end. Visions of water, fire, smoke, surging waves, and falling objects rushed toward them, only to vanish. At last, bit by bit, a metallic gleam emerged from the ashes, rising into the air like a soaring dragon.

The nine layers of the Celestial Circuit—three above and six below—contracted at once. The shifting colors faded into stillness, closing layer after layer around the sword like a sheath.

A heavy longsword dropped from the air straight into Zhou Zhong’s hands. Everything had fallen perfectly into place. Once realization settled, the hands holding the sword trembled slightly. At last, Zhou Zhong broke out in a cold sweat.

From around him came an endless chorus of coughing and ragged breathing. After days of grueling work, the soot-covered apprentices were utterly exhausted. They lay sprawled across the floor, too drained to move.

Only Ji Jue remained standing before the furnace. He raised his wrist, wiped the ash from his face, and let out a long breath. Thank god it didn’t blow. Otherwise, we’d all have been launched into orbit.

When he turned around, he found Zhou Zhong staring at him coldly. “Why didn’t you let go?”

In that split second earlier, Ji Jue had clearly had the chance to pull away in time. If he had, he never would have ended up in such a sorry state. Now, his both hands hung at his sides, and his palms were badly burned, with all ten fingers drenched in blood. Some of the cracks were deep enough to expose the bone.

Helpless, Ji Jue shrugged. “Couldn’t help it. If it were anyone else, I probably would’ve let go. But Mr. No-Fun’s always treated me pretty well. If I bailed on him now, how am I supposed to dump the blame on him and scam money out of him later?”

Zhou Zhong said nothing. He simply looked at the young man, then waved his hand. A bottle flew through the air and landed in Ji Jue’s palm. “Apply it yourself.”

The fist-sized bottle seemed to be made mostly of some crystal-like material, with layers of spirit circuits sealing it so tightly that not even a trace of its contents escaped.

The moment Ji Jue opened it, a streak of emerald liquid flowed over his hands, and the wounds immediately began to close. The blood vanished, the scars faded, and within moments, not a trace of the injuries remained.

The effect wasn’t just on the surface. Even the tiny fractures beneath the skin healed in an instant. Ji Jue’s body, which had been left slightly weakened by the growth of his soul, was replenished as well. A healthy flush returned to his somewhat pale face.

More importantly, there was no sign whatsoever that the medicine was too potent for his weakened state. His body accepted it naturally, without the slightest strain.

This is good stuff, seriously good stuff! As expected of something from a master’s private collection.

Ji Jue clicked his tongue in admiration. After carefully screwing the cap back on, he casually slipped the rest of the bottle into his pocket.

Zhou Zhong stared at him. Only then did Ji Jue seem to remember something. He slapped his forehead and went, “Oh!”

With obvious reluctance, he slowly pulled the bottle ?out of his pocket and held it toward Zhou Zhong. Zhou Zhong immediately snatched it and put it away.

Every time I start thinking there might actually be something admirable about you, you have to go and pull something like this! With Ye Xian’s personality, how the hell did she manage to raise such a shameless student?!

Even after failing to pocket the bottle right in front of a master, Ji Jue showed not the slightest hint of embarrassment. Instead, he shamelessly sidled over again, eyes practically sparkling as he stared at the heavy longsword Zhou Zhong was holding.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Let me see, let me see!