Without a single warning, a cracking sound, like porcelain emerging from a kiln, echoed through the entire underground space.

One after another, spirit circuits hidden within the vault and the air trembled into visibility, shattered, and dissolved into scattered light. It was as if stars had appeared in an instant, only to fall back to the earth. Under the reflection of rainbow light, the scene was breathtakingly beautiful.

Even Ji Jue, only a beginner in alchemy, could immediately understand what this meant. The inner-layer defense sequence had completely collapsed, and then came the rumble of destruction.

There was a massive explosion. Far away, in another passage, a wall suddenly caved in. Amid countless clouds of dust, explosions continued one after another.

A group of disheveled figures crawled out of the ruins. Leading them, a man gripped a broken blade, the very alchemical weapon that had just shattered the inner defense sequence, a masterpiece the master had poured everything into forging for this expedition.

With the maintenance systems long gone, the defenses had been reduced to nothing. One strike was enough to break them.

“I found it! I found it!!!” Lou Feng shouted in excitement.

Who knew what he and the knights had gone through along the way. His whole body was caked in grime, and there was an extra scar on his face. Under the workshop’s defense systems, his group’s numbers had already been reduced, and everyone was wounded.

Upon seeing the rainbow-lit ocean of spirit matter before his eyes, he could no longer contain his wild joy and burst into laughter.

But across the deep, boundless sea of spirit matter, he finally saw the figures standing on the distant road; there were two people, one scooter, and a head. They were riding with wind in their faces, not a speck of dust on them. It was as if they were out on a casual countryside trip. All they were missing were ice cream cones and a camera to snap a photo and post it online.

Lou Feng’s smile froze. When he finally saw the face of the driver and the scar he would recognize even if it turned to ashes, his face twisted violently.

“JI JUE!!!!” he shouted in disbelief.

How the hell are you here?!

“Oh, Young Master Lou.” Ji Jue rubbed his eyes. The reunion was so sudden that, for a moment, he didn’t know how to react other than to break into a smile. “What a coincidence!”

On the back seat, An Ran sniffed the air and frowned slightly.

“Mr. Ji, they smell really bad,” he said in a low voice.

In the dead silence, only that whisper lingered, impossible to miss, as if it was thunder rolling through the air.

Ji Jue quickly covered An Ran’s mouth. “Hey, don’t say things like that!”

If he kept going, Lou Feng was really going to snap. Although it was kind of funny watching Lou Feng lose it every time, they still couldn’t have him breaking down every day, right?

“Ji Jue...” Lou Feng said through gritted teeth, his face twisting as his killing intent could no longer be suppressed. Behind him, more than a dozen Homecoming Knights had already raised their weapons, waiting for orders.

Explosions kept blaring right above their heads. After another explosion, the ceiling shattered.

Crimson blood burst outward and swept across the space. Under the escort of countless walking corpses, spirit matter converged and formed an invisible figure. Its gaze looked down upon the hall, no longer able to restrain its excitement.

“Hahaha, so it really is here!”

Without hesitation, and without even acknowledging the insignificant insects in the distance, the Shepherd dove straight down toward the hall. Behind him, countless vengeful spirits gathered like a waterfall, pouring downward.

Another door suddenly tore open out of thin air.

“Found it! It’s here!” an excited voice came from beyond the door. A dirt-covered face poked out, eyes shining with excitement.

Another group had arrived. “It’s here!”

“Boss, the detectors we left behind have picked up a signal,” Silan said with a frown as he leaned to whisper into Lou Feng’s ear. “It looks like someone has followed us here.”

Lou Feng didn’t react immediately. He only saw that, along with cracks spreading across the ceiling and walls, yet another group of people had crawled out and were reaching for the very core of the workshop he had sworn was his to claim.

The continuous earthquakes and abnormalities over the past few days had already alerted countless Chosen Ones to the anomaly beneath the ground. As the reset date approached, the workshop had stopped concealing its structure. Anyone with even a bit of experience could determine its location.

Lou Feng had prepared himself to defend his discovery, but he never expected that just as he opened the door, others had already arrived ahead of him. He couldn’t even begin to understand how that damn Ji Jue got here first, and how the hell did so many people suddenly pop up behind him?

It was like returning home from escaping an ambush only to realize something was wrong, as if there were shadows lurking under the bed, inside the closet, behind the curtains, even outside the window. What had looked like an empty lane was actually filled with people hiding in the bushes! Where the hell did they all come from?!

There was no time to think about that. Those bloodshot eyes locked onto Ji Jue for a brief moment before turning away. The group immediately sprinted toward the cathedral. If they were even a step too late, forget the loot, they might not even get the leftovers.

Ji Jue was also losing it.

What the hell is this? A market day at the grocery fair?! Why did it suddenly get so lively here?

He instinctively looked at the silent head beside him. “Seer, any idea what’s going on?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” the Seer replied calmly. “Probably just a coincidence.”

A coincidence that everyone just happened to discover the deepest, hidden core of the workshop, all arrived at the exact same time, and all rushed to get to the treasure first? That kind of coincidence?

Anyone who had ever bought even two rounds of Federation lottery tickets would know better than to believe something so naive.

BOOM!!!

Flames erupted from the end of the passage. Inside the cathedral, without warning, a blade-like tongue of fire burst forth, tearing through the air. A scorching gale spread outward, sending countless particles of dust rising in panic.

A charred figure could be vaguely seen being blown backward. In midair, it turned into ash and scattered with the dust. Explosions continued to erupt one after another from deep within the towering darkness of the cathedral.

In an instant, the once-silent hall seemed to awaken. Countless spirit circuits surfaced across its structure, while viscous, liquid-like darkness rose from within them, writhing and expanding as it revealed a monstrous form no one had anticipated. It was like a furious, hungry beast.

The defense mechanisms left behind by Mercury had fully activated. After four hundred years of dormancy, they had once again unleashed the terrifying power meant to bury all intruders alive.

The first to react was the devil’s work ball, which could directly read the workshop’s operational state through spirit fluctuations. Shocked, it shouted, “Holy crap, she lured in this many people to act as cannon fodder scouts? That woman is seriously ruthless! Did you see that? Did you see that?! I told you, didn’t I?! The more beautiful a Divine Creation is, the more deceptive it is! Be careful, kid!”

Ji Jue asked dryly, “So this is all your...”

“It’s just a backup measure to ensure the success of this operation,” the Seer replied, glancing back calmly. “With so many people ahead of us, there’s no need to worry about being targeted by the workshop’s internal defense systems anymore.”

She was like a tour guide diligently clearing every obstacle for her employer.

“Now, we can move forward,” she added.

A deafening thunderclap detonated, followed by bursts of lightning. Blinding bolts of electricity spread out in all directions. A figure, moving at inhuman speed, shot through the rift realm and charged into the cathedral-like core of the workshop. Then, half a leg, still crackling with electricity and sparks, flew out just like that, landing in the sea of aether, where it rapidly dissolved and vanished without a trace.

There wasn’t even a scream.

With a ripple in the air, a massive beast-like entity revealed itself the moment it entered the zone. It seemed to have been using some kind of invisibility technique, but it was unexpectedly detected. It froze for a split second, then layers of armor-like flesh grew over its body as it forcibly tanked lightning and flames, charging into the darkness and disappearing inside.

A strange, seductive laugh echoed out. It was so alluring that everyone who heard it couldn’t think straight for a moment. Even from such a distance, Ji Jue’s vision went dark, and blood dripped from his nose.

But the laughter was abruptly cut off, turning into miserable groans and screams.

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted once more. Crimson spirit light burst outward, like a blood mist, seeping out from the darkness and sending chills down everyone’s spines.

Meanwhile, Lou Feng’s group moved without any concealment at all. After more than a dozen Homecoming Knights formed a protective ring around their boss, he raised his wrist. On the string of prayer beads that Ji Jue found all too familiar, one bead suddenly shattered.

Spirit Morph!

This time, what appeared was not an artifact or an armor piece, but a faint, human-shaped silhouette.

Through Spirit Morph, the elders of the Lou family had sealed their own spirit matter and power within the prayer beads, granting them to their descendants for protection. When necessary, they could even manifest like a temporary avatar.

After sensing the surroundings for a brief moment, the blurry figure waved its hand. Silver mist spread outward, enveloping them completely as they pushed through the barrage of attacks from the defensive system and marched straight into the core.

Ji Jue’s eyes practically turned red with envy.

You said this was a rift exploration, but you damn rich bastard just keep stacking buffs everywhere you go! And you even brought backup manpower with you?!

As the core fully activated, more and more figures emerged from various rifts and passageways. Ji Jue stared in stunned silence. If anything, it felt like a once-desolate, empty fairyland suddenly entered its peak tourist season. A sea of people had gathered in this barren shithole wasteland.

The place almost looked crowded at first glance.

Ji Jue couldn’t believe the rift realm could become this lively. A shiver ran down his spine. How the hell were there still so many people hiding around here? Even more absurdly, over the past few days, there hadn’t been even the slightest trace of them.

There are way too many sneaky bastards in this world! They’re ruining life for honest young people...

He looked at the outermost layer of defenses that resembled an iron fortress and felt completely stuck. “So what now? How do we get in?”

Aside from Horsey, neither he, An Ran, nor the Seer were suited for this at all. One was a weak Ember Chosen One, one was a dodge-focused White Deer Chosen One, and the last was just a head that couldn’t even move. Not a single one of them had invested anything in defense! Were they supposed to just carry the scooter and charge in?

The devil’s work ball couldn’t stand watching anymore and wanted to smack him.

“Just walk in! Use your legs! The external defense modules only check for permissions! Did you forget you’ve got local clearance now?!”

Oh crap, right!

Ji Jue finally snapped back to reality. He did have Mr. Furnace’s authority and validation from Fluid Alchemy! If his permissions went any higher, he’d basically be cosplaying as Mercury herself...

The defense system was only blocking outsiders. But right now, with the Tongtian Mark on his head[1], he was a legitimate local resident of the rift realm!

What’s there to hesitate about? Let’s go!

1. “Tongtian Mark” is usually regarded in physiognomy and palmistry as a rare and prestigious pattern, symbolizing exceptional talent, wealth, or strong benefactor luck. In face and hand reading, it mainly refers to two types: one is a vertical line on the forehead running from the glabella up to the hairline, and the other is a special fate line on the palm that rises from the Mount of Moon straight toward the base of the middle finger (also known as the “piercing wealth line”). ☜