Chosen: Beyond Fate

Everyone looked at the utterly wrecked lounge and the students rolling on the floor and wailing in pain. For a while, no one could bring themselves to utter a single word. Their expressions only grew more and more grim the more they looked around.

Only Master Kong, seeing that her apprentice was still in one piece and merely had a little dust on his face, looked slightly better. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, she had learned his lesson.

Zhou Cheng, whose face was beaten beyond recognition, couldn’t hold back any longer. Blood and tears streamed down his face as he wailed, “G-Grandpa...”

Ji Jue was speechless, and he looked utterly shocked. “Don’t you fucking call me that! An apology is enough. Why are you suddenly trying to claim me as family?! I don’t have a grandson like you!”

The entire room fell into an awkward silence. Everyone who could still breathe could not help but hesitate. They wanted to speak up but stopped themselves.

Just saying, it’s possible that when he said that, he wasn’t talking to you.

Beside Master Kong, Zhou Zhong, the long-bearded master who saw his grandson beaten into such a state, scowled. His face turned crimson, and his bloodshot eyes looked as if they would burst from sheer rage. His spirit matter rushed forth fiercely, and the entire room seemed to freeze over. Pressure surged like a tide, crashing into Ji Jue.

“What exactly is going on here?!” Zhou Zhong forced the words out through gritted teeth. “Do you still look anything like a craftsman?!”

The violent pressure sealed off the surroundings, almost crushing Ji Jue in an instant, but that same pressure immediately vanished without a trace, leaving only a light breeze brushing past his face.

Professor Ye, having arrived late, finally walked into the lounge. She did not ask for the reason nor an explanation of what had happened. With a wave of her hand, she dispersed Master Zhou’s furious attack.

Zhou Zhong turned his bloodshot eyes toward her and sneered. “So this is how you handle matters, Master Ye? Your student beat someone to a pulp over a minor argument! This is outrageous. I’d like to see whether anyone in the Taiyi Ring still gives a damn about the rules!”

“Outrageous? I don’t think so.” Ye Xian casually swept her gaze over the miserable state of the room, then gave a slight nod. “Looks like he held back quite a bit.”

“This counts as holding back?! Then what exactly would it take to—”

Furious, Zhou Zhong laughed. Just as he was about to say something else, he saw Ji Jue reach behind his back and pull out a handgun. After ejecting a round, Ji Jue held it in his hand and started playing with it casually.

Zhou Zhong choked on his words. His eyelids twitched uncontrollably. What the fuck?!

Among the people who had rushed to the scene, anyone who could make it through the doorway was, at minimum, a senior craftsman. Their perception and experience were naturally no joke. A simple glance was enough for them to sense the terrifying aura contained in that tiny bullet. Inside, there was vicious corruption, ferocity made manifest, savage and deranged killing intent, and an insatiable hunger. It was the Rampant Slaughter Poison!

Everyone gasped and took a step back in perfect unison as chills ran down their spines.

Holy shit, do the people of Tidesound Workshop have no conscience at all? She handed something this deadly to a student to play with?!

If Ji Jue had lost his temper during the fight, someone would probably be laid out on a slab by now, with nothing left to bury!

Everyone turned their attention toward Horsey’s trunk, which had suddenly opened. Inside was a heavy machine gun, a mountain of phlogiston explosives, and several other indescribable objects. Cold sweat poured down everyone’s backs.

Well, as a completely neutral passerby, Ji Jue really had shown quite a bit of restraint, honestly speaking. At least everyone was still alive, right?

Ye Xian waved her hand impatiently. “Enough. Don’t bring out that homemade stuff to show off in front of the elders and teachers. Are you hurt?”

“Yes. The skin on my hand is scraped.” Ji Jue raised his hand obediently and sighed deeply. “Good thing you came early, Professor. If you’d been any later, it might already have healed.”

The awkward atmosphere grew even thicker. The teachers involved looked more and more somber, while the craftsmen who had come over to enjoy the spectacle felt that the so-called victims did not seem quite so pitiful after all.

No matter what had happened, so many of them had ganged up on one person. It was one thing that they could not win, but they couldn’t even break through Ji Jue’s defense. The truly insulting part was that all they’d managed to do was leave a tiny scratch on him. Anyone who did not know better might think a dog had gnawed on him!

How weak! Absolutely embarrassing.

Zhou Zhong’s face twitched with rage, and his white beard trembled uncontrollably. He was gripping his cane so hard that it was about to snap. He took turns staring at Ji Jue and Ye Xian. “As expected of Master Ye. What an impressive show of force. Should I be thanking you for not taking out that thing and poisoning your fellow peers?”

Ye Xian ignored him. Ji Jue, on the other hand, slapped his forehead.

“Professor, I picked this up from his hand just now. It almost stabbed me. I don’t know what it is, so could you take a look? I wouldn’t want to accidentally damage someone else’s precious treasure.”

He took out an ordinary-looking arrowhead from his pocket and displayed it before everyone. Silence descended once more, but soon people resumed their earlier gasping.

Everyone looked at Zhou Zhong in shock. They had thought Tidesound Workshop was already outrageous enough, but apparently there was always someone even more unhinged[1]. But this was taking it a little too far, wasn’t it? There was actually another expert here?!

Ye Xian picked up the arrowhead and glanced at it. She immediately understood what it was. “A Heart-Poison Arrow? A rather ancient item. It should be a product from before the Eternal Empire, back in the Age of Chaos. Its method of production has already been lost, and there aren’t many surviving samples left in the world. It is quite rare.”

“Then what is it used for?” Ji Jue asked, blinking his big, curious eyes. The sight made Zhou Zhong want nothing more than to stab him.

Ye Xian patiently explained as if she were giving a lesson. “This is a weapon used for sneak attacks. It’s a single-use consumable. After it’s activated with the user’s spirit matter, it turns completely incorporeal, existing somewhere between existence and nonexistence. It has neither physical form nor spirit matter, and it will pursue its locked target like a shadow. No matter where they run, they cannot escape, even if they flee to the ends of the earth.

“Once it pierces the target, it will break down inside their consciousness and soul. After the arrowhead dissolves, the enormous amount of resentment contained will parasitize the soul. Even if the victim doesn’t die on the spot, they will spend the rest of their life in agony, until the resentment inside finishes eroding them and their soul dissolves completely.”

Ji Jue turned pale in shock. “Then if someone gets stabbed by it, wouldn’t they be in a terrible state?”

Ye Xian nodded. “Yes. Even if a grandmaster came to help, there probably wouldn’t be any cure. Isn’t that right, Master Zhou?”

Zhou Zhong was livid. He lowered his head and looked at Zhou Cheng on the floor. Under that icy gaze, Zhou Cheng tried several times to open his mouth and speak, but no sound came out. Soon, as if struck by sudden inspiration, his eyes rolled back, and he completely fainted.

“Sir! Sir!!!” someone cried out. On the floor, the woman with a huge gash on her face struggled to get up. She sobbed incoherently and grabbed her teacher’s hand. “Save me, save me... He wanted to kill me... I...”

Her teacher was a sallow-faced, middle-aged man. Seeing his student in such a miserable state, he trembled with rage. Flustered, he hurriedly applied medicine to her wounds and tried to comfort her as he looked at Ye Xian with anger.

“I know you look down on mediocre people like us, Master Ye. I know how powerful Tidesound Workshop’s reputation is! Back when you said my paper was complete nonsense, you had your reasons, and I accepted it! But what about now? Whatever happened, you can’t let your student beat someone this badly and not give us an explanation!

“If it comes to it, I’ll take this to the main association! I’d like to see whether being a master means you can cover the sky with one hand[2]!”

Among the onlookers, someone else assessed the situation in the room and said, “Exactly. This is far too much.”

On the floor, the cries grew even louder.

“My hand! My hand!”

“Help! Help me...”

The fat man, barely clinging to life, struggled to get up and screamed, “Sir, he’s a mad dog! The moment there was the slightest disagreement, he...”

Ye Xian watched coldly from the sidelines. She turned a deaf ear to all of it. Only after everyone had finished speaking and making a scene did she calmly turn back and glance at Ji Jue. “Do you have anything to say?”

Ji Jue shook his head, utterly unconcerned. “No. I already said everything that needed to be said before I started fighting.”

“Fine! Very well!” The middle-aged craftsman holding his student got up with a cold laugh. “So this is how Tidesound Workshop operates. It seems this is Master Ye’s idea of fairness. Well, consider my eyes opened today! From now on—”

Before he could finish, a recording was blasted at max volume from Horsey’s speakers, cutting through all the noise.

“These days, it feels like any amateur can walk into a workshop and call themselves a craftsman...”

“Don’t tell me he got in with that face of his?”

“Maybe he’s here as someone’s boy toy.”

“Why don’t you crawl back into whatever gutter spawned you, you oversized maggot?”

“That wench raised nothing but a mad dog.”

“Bastards like you really need to be taught some manners!”

The earlier insults played one after another. The highlight reel was clearly broadcast in full to everyone, with not a single essential part omitted.

The furious craftsman who had been holding his student froze. His face went through so many expressions that it was almost impressive. It was like watching a broken television screen. Really, it was quite the spectacle[3].

When Ye Xian looked over at him, he took an instinctive step back and averted his eyes. He lowered his head and glared furiously at the student in his arms.

An amateur? Who got in with his face? Boy toy? Wench? Bastard? Needs to be taught manners?

The more he listened, the more cold sweat poured down his back. The only thing running through his mind was whether smashing that recording to bits would be enough to salvage the situation.

Do you have any fucking idea that twenty years ago, saying even one of those things would’ve gotten your teacher killed and his ancestors’ graves blown to hell?! I’ve spent so many years keeping my head down, yet you have the nerve to pull this shit? Go die on your own if you want, but could you not drag me into it?

What concluded the recording was an even earlier conversation. In that conversation, Ye Xian’s student asked, “What if someone deliberately provokes me?”

Ye Xian had replied, “Obviously you endure the humiliation, bear with it, and prioritize the greater good. What else would you do?”

No one spoke up anymore.

Ji Jue sighed. “Professor, I really did try my best. Unfortunately, no matter how much I reasoned with them, it didn’t work. Do these people look down on us?”

“They do. Craftsmen and masters are all so arrogant. Whenever something happens, they put their own interests first, huddle together to protect each other, and twist the facts to suit themselves. How could people like that possibly hold Tidesound Workshop in any regard? For some people, I’m afraid their own pride matters more than anything else.”

In the dead silence, the humiliation was almost audible. From the very beginning, the apprentices had been getting torn apart without a break. They had lost across the board and embarrassed themselves completely. This was a loss in every damn way possible!

What a complete disaster. If they had known this would happen, they would have never come here.

After Ye Xian’s apprentice finished beating his peers, it was the teacher’s turn. Tidesound Workshop was still going strong, destroying everyone.

The people involved looked increasingly uncomfortable[4], but none of them could get a word out. Under the pleading gazes of the others, Master Duan, who had stayed out of this whole thing, could not help but sigh.

“Ye...”

1. The original RAW writes 卧龙所在之处，必有雏凤 (“Wherever there was a hidden dragon, there had to be a young phoenix.”), which is saying that comes from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and originally referred to Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong. In modern internet slang, it is often used jokingly: when someone in a group does something incredibly “unhinged” or ridiculous, there is bound to be another “hidden dragon and young phoenix” nearby who is just as bad. In other words, it means the two sides are evenly matched and just as outrageous. ☜

2. “To cover the sky with one hand” is a Chinese idiom, pronounced yī shǒu zhē tiān. It describes someone using their power and influence to manipulate the situation and deceive or silence the public. ☜

3. The original Chinese is “堪称缤纷多彩。” Literally, it means “it could be called colorful and varied.” But in context, it is not really describing beautiful colors. The craftsman’s face is changing rapidly because he is embarrassed and panicking. A direct translation like “a colorful display” sounds awkward in English, so I translated it as “Quite the spectacle” to keep the sarcastic tone while sounding natural. ☜

4. The raw here writes “The faces of the people shifted,” which is a commonly used phrase in Chinese novels. It means the people looked embarrassed, panicked, angry, ashamed, and uneasy, with their expressions constantly changing. However, it sounds awkward in English if translated literally. So I generally will change it to something else that fits the situation/context. This also applies to every instance of “expression changed/shifted” in earlier chapters and future chapters. ☜