Chosen: Beyond Fate

It was almost like burning offerings at a grave or stoking a heated brick bed.

Ji Jue’s primary task was to take thick spirit matter books and throw them into the flames. These were record books created through the Aether Path, containing detailed imprints of disasters the Tong family had encountered across various regions over the years, each one preserved through their own spirit matter and matrices. Now, every last one of those records was being burned.

Ji Jue would then use his own spirit matter to activate the records and bring the phenomena contained within them to life.

Amid the chaotic transformations and terrifying heat, he had to seize the crucial moment and imprint everything contained in those records into the blazing fire of the furnace. His task was to minimize the loss of the recorded phenomena as much as possible and prevent the records from becoming distorted.

Once those records and phenomena were fed into the Celestial Circuit, the furnace would recreate what had once occurred, using it to temper the blade and inscribe those traces into it.

The sword let out another sound. A flash of cold light swept through the furnace, severing every bit of chaos in its path. It was as though the blade followed the very order of heaven and earth, cutting away all that was barren and defiant to establish a new order of its own. Such terrifying force and sharpness were nevertheless bound within an ironclad set of laws.

Origin served as the foundation, imposing order on everything. Aether formed the central axis, encompassing all things. Mirror provided the turning point, reversing the boundary between real and unreal. Ruins formed the vessel, allowing it to interfere directly with the physical world.

The four blessings came together through countless runes, emblems, and spirit circuits to form a complete whole.

If the weapon could truly be forged to completion, Tong Shan probably wouldn’t need to replace it again until he reached the level of a Celestial Being. Even if it eventually ceased to be useful to him personally, it would still be more than worthy of being passed down to future generations and establishing an entirely new branch within the Tong family’s legacy.

Calling it a weapon almost felt inadequate. A ceremonial artifact would have been more fitting.

Just as Zhou Zhong had said, this really was better.

To Ji Jue’s surprise, Zhou Zhong told him once more, “Feed the furnace.”

As the furnace fire reflected in Ji Jue’s eyes, he reached forward once more. By now, he had no attention to spare for anything else. For him, this was an opportunity unlike any he had ever encountered: a master fully absorbed in the act of creation, demonstrating his craft right before his eyes, with every crucial detail and transformation laid bare before him, and countless insights waiting to be drawn from them.

He had already lost himself in the process. Before long, he no longer needed Zhou Zhong’s orders or reminders. Ji Jue simply fell into rhythm on his own, blending seamlessly into the workflow without the slightest hitch.

One record book after another went into the flames. Each time, Ji Jue seized the critical moment and used Pacifier to activate and catalyze what was recorded within, keeping the process moving without pause.

Without a word from anybody, more record books kept arriving. Normally, each one required an Aether Chosen One to spend an enormous amount of time documenting, verifying, and tracing events in painstaking detail, but now, they seemed endless, with members of the Tong family bringing in box after box, ensuring the supply never ran out. The entire process flowed seamlessly, without a single flaw.

Despite the sheer scale of the operation and the number of people involved, under Zhou Zhong’s direction there was hardly a single snag. Even when problems did arise, he dealt with them almost casually. More often than not, he eliminated potential issues before they could surface.

So this is what a master is capable of.

As Ji Jue marveled inwardly, he began to feel the growing importance of his role and the pressure that came with it.

If Myriad Convergence was an enormous system of coordinated work, then Ji Jue’s role within it had somehow shifted from the outermost edge toward the very heart of the operation without him even noticing. The deeper workings of the system were still obscured, difficult to make out as though viewed through a veil of mist, but compared with before, he could now observe and come into contact with far more of its inner workings.

Who would have thought that someone as petty as Master Zhou Zhong could occasionally be this generous?

Before the furnace, Zhou Zhong’s face remained perfectly impassive. Only those who knew him well would have noticed the brief flicker of displeasure and gloom in his eyes. It wasn’t as though he wanted to give Ji Jue this much access! The problem was that Ji Jue was just too damn useful.

With a project this massive, everyone was expected to contribute as much as they possibly could[1]. There was absolutely no room for anyone to slack off.

Originally, Zhou Zhong had planned to kick Ji Jue out the moment he failed to keep up, preferably after giving him a good mocking. He hadn’t expected the bastard to fit into the process so effortlessly.

Even though they had never worked together before, Ji Jue had already begun to follow the rhythm of Myriad Convergence by instinct after only a few rounds of feeding materials into the furnace, judging for himself when to feed the furnace and when to catalyze the process.

He even adjusted his own position according to the heat and the progress of the blessings’ transformation, making it easier for the other sections to operate and maintain control while lending them support where needed. At times, he also took over part of their burden himself. Without anyone quite noticing when it happened, more and more responsibility had been piled onto him.

Loads that even other apprentices and sometimes craftsmen would have struggled to bear were little more than a breeze to Ji Jue. His fingers never faltered throughout the process. The spirit matter flowed exactly as it should, without the slightest excess or shortfall, while his control remained steady.

That was how Myriad Convergence worked: the more capable someone was, the more responsibility they were given. The better they could withstand the pressure and maintain their performance, the more important their role became. By the time others realized it, Ji Jue had already become one of the key figures in the entire operation.

Goddammit...

Even Zhou Zhong, who prided himself on being a master with years of cultivated composure, couldn’t stop a flicker of irritation from rising amid everything else he was managing, along with a trace of jealousy he would rather die than admit he felt.

All the good apprentices went to other people. Why the hell had he never managed to pick up someone this skilled? If Ji Jue had been his apprentice, would he still need to worry about his workshop declining or having no one worthy to inherit his legacy?

What a pity and a waste. How infuriating.

But then Zhou Zhong thought about it again and remembered that Ji Jue wasn’t his apprentice anyway, so why should he hold back? This wasn’t his bicycle. What was wrong with standing on the pedals and riding it as hard as he could?! Ji Jue ought to be thanking him for the workout!

Without letting anything show on his face, Zhou Zhong casually shifted Ji Jue into the central axis of the Purification section. As such, the balance of the entire operation tilted slightly. As the Celestial Circuit continued to circulate, an immense pressure descended upon Ji Jue.

Let’s see how you can handle a little more.

Inside the furnace, the flames surged higher. The Supreme Benevolences circulated, the blessings transformed, and spirit matter erupted in waves.

Time passed. For craftsmen, the endless subtleties of forging and creation could be utterly absorbing. For anyone merely watching, however, there was very little to see.

By around seven or eight that evening, Tong Hua had finally drained her phone battery and could no longer stand sitting around. She left a note behind and went to her room.

1. In Chinese, 有一份力就要尽一分，有十分尽十分 (“If someone could contribute one part, they gave one part. If they could give ten, then they gave ten.”) is a way of emphasizing that everyone should give their full effort according to their ability. Rendered literally in English, however, the repeated numerical phrasing sounds awkward and can distract from the intended meaning. Thus, I chose to translate this more idiomatically in a way that still relays its intended meaning. ☜