Chosen: Beyond Fate

How should one describe Ji Jue’s creation?

Even Ye Xian, with years of experience and sharp judgment, was momentarily at a loss for words. If you said it was worthless, that wasn’t quite right. The technique of directly shaping mercury through spirit intelligence implantation was genuinely brilliant, simplifying complexity and pushing cost-effectiveness to the maximum.

The amount of spirit matter Ji Jue needed to expend was only for partial hardening and reinforcement of flexibility in key areas. Not to mention the overall enhancement provided by Fluid Alchemy. In this kind of temporary, workshop-free application, it was indeed far more flexible than modern alchemy.

As long as the base material was good enough, Fluid Alchemy could partially make up for the limitations of the physical medium to some extent. On top of that, Ji Jue also had the absurd ability called Spirit Primacy.

If you said it was spectacular, then the crude appearance, the barely adequate spirit intelligence power source, and the non-ergonomic design all made it hard to praise. In terms of output, it couldn’t compare to military-grade powered armor at all. Its defense relied entirely on externally mounted steel plates, its fire control solely on his hands, its radar exclusively on his eyes, and so on.

More importantly, Ji Jue’s ability worked on machinery, and then he used technique to extract spirit intelligence from it. It did not exist without a source.

In other words, he had really taken everyday junk found anywhere on the street and built something like this at home. A full-coverage motorcycle helmet, a welding mask, an outdated model of a transport-type powered exoskeleton from ten years ago, external motors bolted onto the joints to boost power, and steel plates welded directly onto the structure—with just one glance, one could tell that it was all junk.

The problem was, he had actually managed to take that pile of trash, piece it together, squeeze out the last bit of usable function, and turn it into something that could actually move and be used. One makeshift fix after another, and somehow he had stitched it all together. He was basically a Chosen garbage collector! Could it be that he had become mentally ill after spending every day in the warehouse handling scrap?

Ye Xian didn’t know whether to feel pity or sympathy. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of shame. Judging from the smug look on that brat’s face, he had probably been preparing for this class for who knew how long.

But what was the point? Just to squeeze out a little extra defense and attack power? A patchwork monstrosity with no real system-wide integration like this, could it even actually perform at its stated specs? If it couldn’t even move properly, it would be nothing more than a walking coffin.

What was the objective here?

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the knockoff youth-edition[1] armor came charging forward, spewing thick smoke. It rushed like a meteor, kicking up a terrifying wind pressure, almost like a truck barreling in.

So what?

Ye Xian calmly took up her stance, once again falling into a rare moment of deliberation. Should she just punch it apart directly? Throw it? Grapple with it? Or, on the contrary, seal up its structural gaps and turn the student’s cleverness into a self-made trap?

She saw the four arms swinging toward her, positioned on the left, right, upper-left, lower-right of the machine. In the blink of an eye, folding joints on the shoulders and back unfolded. Like insect limbs, agile mechanical arms burst without the slightest hint of mechanical sluggishness or stiffness. Instead, they were so fluid and nimble that they seemed even more agile than real flesh and bone.

That made Ye Xian’s eyes light up. Not bad.

Although they were only two additional limbs, for a matrix like Pacifier that focused heavily on control, this was practically a breakthrough-level upgrade. Moreover, with Deus Ex Machina, there was no need to worry about control overload or losing coordination.

In an instant, it had an exponential leap in performance and growth. But, too bad, it was useless. The original baseline was simply too low. Even after all the improvement and scaling up, for Ye Xian, it still amounted to almost nothing.

Moreover...

Boom!

From a single exchange, mercury exploded. On Ji Jue’s shoulder, a six-axis industrial robotic arm, apparently salvaged from some old discarded machine tool, was severed at the waist and torn apart. All its functions were rendered useless. Ji Jue staggered, feeling a sharp pain in his waist.

The moment they crossed, Ye Xian raised her arm and drove an elbow upward, shattering one mechanical arm. At the same time, her other hand struck like a blade with a fingertip thrust aimed straight at his waist. It cleanly tore through the armor plates there, leaving behind an unrelenting pain along Ji Jue’s lower back and spine.

He swayed for a moment, nearly falling. Under the buzzing noise of the rapidly-spinning spirit matter furnace, the mercury armor shimmered. In the midst of the charge, Ji Jue spun in place, reinforced the leg armor, and unleashed a horizontal kick. The motor structure exploded under the buffering load, yet that force was still fully released through the rotation, slashing outward without reservation.

But it was useless. Ye Xian retreated in an instant like a phantom, taking a casual step back and narrowly avoiding it. In the next moment, Ji Jue’s arm and the mechanical arms behind him swept in, attempting to grapple her.

He has a bit of brains, but not much. What’s the point of having more hands?! Without the effect of Pacifier, it’s just a flashy gimmick! It might be fine for bullying kids, but when things get serious, this is still far from enough.

Bang!

As his sweeping left arm suddenly jolted, he felt something far tougher than steel latch onto it and restrain it. It was Professor Ye’s right hand. Immediately, intense pain flared from his back as her left hand, shaped like a blade, cleanly uprooted the mechanical arm mounted there.

Then her palm came down like a hammer, striking his right arm joint dead-on and shattering his original motion in a crushing blow. As Ji Jue tried to counterattack, a chill swept through his face—only then did he realize Professor Ye’s left palm was already hovering in front of his face.

With a direct push, a thunderous boom erupted. He blocked again and again, forcing her back and holding her off. Fluid Alchemy surged to reinforce him, pushing his toughness, hardness, and flexibility to the limit!

Then came the unending sound of cracking as silver shattered all around. The smirking welding mask marked with a √ symbol shattered on the spot.

Just as Professor Ye’s palm was about to push into Ji Jue’s chin, completely breaking his balance and stance and throwing him to the ground, Ji Jue’s right hand narrowly caught her wrist. A sharp grinding sound echoed, like a nail scraping across glass.

Professor Ye let out a cold laugh. The moment Ji Jue and she restrained each other’s arms, they simultaneously executed the same inherited technique—the Dissociation Technique. Both attacks missed. Ji Jue’s arm was still protected by the mercury armor, while Professor Ye’s wrist was enveloped by the repulsive field of the Mo Ye matrix.

Unfortunately, this kind of raw power contest lasted only a brief moment. Ji Jue still had no way to break through Mo Ye’s repulsion when the hardened mercury armor was already torn apart with overwhelming force. The spirit circuits and the marks of the Supreme Benevolence emblems collapsed completely, unable to withstand even a second under Professor Ye’s dismantling.

The armor shattered. A surge of spirit matter drove straight in, about to pour into Ji Jue’s body and completely break his remaining ability to resist, but he let out a breath of relief.

Professor Ye’s expression darkened. She tilted her head slightly. A faint strand of pale hair at her temple lifted on its own, floating without wind. The next moment, Ji Jue was sent flying with a massive blast. Ruthlessly decisive, she struck without restraint or hesitation.

First, she used Dissociation Technique to interfere with the matrix, instantly severing the link between blessing and soul. Then both her hands, strengthened through physical reinforcement, drove straight along the center line and clenched into fists. With only a slight movement of her shoulders, an unimaginable burst of power erupted within that narrow space, pushing Ji Jue away.

First he flew backward, then he tumbled, and finally he skidded. By the time he stopped, Ji Jue was lying on the ground, nearly suffocating, having slid all the way to the edge of the field.

He almost crashed into the wall, and he could not get back up at all. Every part of his body ached. His internal organs could barely expand or contract properly. And yet, a smile still formed on his rapidly paling face, as if he was pleased with himself. Coughing and gasping, he asked, “Teacher, does this count as a surprise?”

Professor Ye stood where she was, maintaining her posture. After a long moment, she finally let out a deep breath. It sounded almost like a sigh of resignation. She had actually been startled by a student during class? If she had not reacted in time and forcibly clenched her hand into a fist at the last moment, she would have instinctively started the material-processing routine.

“Yes, it does. Of course it does,” she replied calmly. “There is no better surprise than this.”

Her gaze dropped, landing on Ji Jue’s hands. Beneath his right hand, within the shadow cast by his five fingers, something seemed to move slightly. It rose, passing through his flesh and body, moving upward.

A semi-transparent hand unfolded, clenched, and flexed with ease. It was... a third hand.

From the very beginning, the changes brought by Fluid Alchemy, the armor, and the four arms were all disguises. They were just tools and traps meant to draw attention. The constantly shifting forms of attack and planning were nothing more than a way to make her believe that there were no other methods left.

The moment when everything seemed to converge into a final decisive strike against Ji Jue, this spirit matter hand that had been restrained and hidden from the start finally shot out in a sudden ambush and slashed at her face.

Unfortunately, it was half a second too late. Or rather, from the beginning, he’d never expected this so-called “ultimate move” to decide the outcome. At best, it was just a desperate counterattack meant to drag both sides down.

It was a pity, though. Because of his hesitation over the difference in their identity and status, he had not dared to use a more sneaky or ruthless method of ambush. Otherwise, she could have justified giving him a couple more punches right now to teach him a lesson.

If he was still alive, that is.

“Well done.” Professor Ye reached out and pulled him up from the ground. From beneath the workshop floor, a wheelchair naturally rose and supported him. “Learned it in the Time Ruin?”

“Mm. When the Soul-Summoning Bell was forming the Sage’s Remnant Shadow, I suddenly understood something. Here, I imitated what I saw. Didn’t expect it would actually work. Consider this an extension of Pacifier.”

An extension?

It was more than that.

Professor Ye’s right hand, hidden behind her back, tightened slightly. Her left hand rested on Ji Jue’s shoulder as she examined him with full focus, and, as expected, she saw two completely different blessings.

As they became more solid, a shifting spirit matter light emerged over the blessing of Flawless Craft, like a layer of magnificent crystalline transformation. Meanwhile, Spirit Primacy seemed to be wrapped in spirit fire, its projection growing clearer and more complex.

In just a few days, Ji Jue had achieved a complete qualitative transformation.

Inside the Time Ruin, he had successively worked on patients and the injured, reshaped and created fetal entities, granted a vessel to Sage’s Remnant Shadow, and finally used the Mercy Bone Blade to complete the separation of spirit and flesh in patients with Undying Disease.

Through full immersion and absolute commitment, Flawless Craft broke through its bottleneck and achieved specialized mastery over spirit manipulation. Spirit Primacy’s support and enhancement of spirit and will had also advanced to another level through the feedback of Ascension.

This was how he could achieve such an incredible result. A perfectly compatible spirit hand, capable of carrying the Pacifier matrix and all blessing power, had been formed. Its inspiration clearly came from the manifested Sage’s Remnant Shadow, imitating the form of Mercury, with its countless wings, eyes, and hands.

Unfortunately, the sage’s formless hand that governed the operation of all phenomena between heaven and earth could only be reconstructed as a tangible hand using spirit as its foundation in Ji Jue’s hands, given the limits of his ability.

Unlike before, when it could only appear as an auxiliary force formed within the furnace, this single physical spirit hand was enough to raise Pacifier’s power by at least one third. Not to mention the additional tactical flexibility in real combat it brought.

Compared to the original version, that kind of unfathomable, almost godlike power born of natural creation, this was not just a step back, but a massive regression. The gap was so wide it was like heaven and earth; it wasn’t even in the same category, and not worth mentioning at all.

But that depended entirely on who was being compared, and at what level. Who on earth was able to learn a technique that was supposed to be understood and mastered step by step in the Rebirth Realm at the Resonance Realm? What about all the prerequisite skills in between? Did they just get skipped entirely?!

Once Ji Jue’s level advanced, he would naturally be able to transform form into formlessness. By then, more than half of Pacifier’s true transformative potential would be in his hands. The remaining half could only worry helplessly, because there was nothing it could do. It would just have to wait until he had the time, the mood, and the interest to make up the remaining lessons. If he wasn’t in the mood, then it would simply be postponed.

Ye Xian shook her head and sighed. “Mercury really does love you.“

“Uh...” Ji Jue hesitated for a moment, looking left and right. Despite confirming that the workshop was completely sealed with no prying eyes or hidden surveillance, he still lowered his voice out of habit. “Honestly, when I summoned the Sage’s Remnant Shadow, it didn’t feel that difficult. And Mercury’s shadow... seems to have its own intelligence.”

Ye Xian’s steps paused slightly. She glanced back at him, not reacting with surprise like he expected. Instead, she asked, “And?”

1. In most cases, a so-called 青春版 Youth Edition is essentially a stripped-down, lower-spec version of the standard model. ☜