Just like that, taking three steps forward and two steps back, Ji Jue edged toward the boundary of the defensive field slowly and cautiously. He tentatively poked one foot in, then the other. Finally, he, An Ran, and the scooter passed through.

They didn’t face any resistance at all. The pitch-black defenses, towering like a sheer cliff, writhed slowly, parting right down the middle to clear a path for him. It even gave the impression that, if it were a bit more intelligent, it would have hung up a “Welcome Home, Owner” banner.

Without any obstacles and challenges blocking his path, he was in. Inside, he and the rest of his group froze and looked at each other.

“What the hell?”

“Could it be that too many people already broke in earlier, and the system’s out of power now?”

The moment they looked around, they straightened their backs and strode confidently toward the core. Sadly, they ended up screaming as they fled in panic under the bombardment of lightning and infernal flames. The writhing darkness lunged forward with a growl before swallowing them whole in one gulp.

Silence returned. Deep within the darkness, the massive gate riddled with countless holes had already collapsed and fallen backward. Shattered debris was scattered across the equally devastated hall, as if a hurricane had swept through, and countless explosions had left behind blood and faint, scorched remains of corpses.

“That’s way too reckless...” Ji Jue sniffed the strange burned smell in the air, barely holding back a sharp inhale[1].

People were actually charging in face-first? This was the core of the sage’s workshop. From the faint, broken spirit circuits lingering in the air, Ji Jue could almost sense just how absurdly powerful the traps and defenses triggered by those intruders had been.

Even after four hundred years of decay, the core security system had weakened by who knew how much, yet it could still crush him hundreds of times over. They had barely stepped through the gate, and Ji Jue already felt like turning back.

After all, it was child’s play for a dignified sage to crush Chosen Ones who hadn’t even reached the Rebirth Realm. If any real defenses were needed, they would certainly be set up to deal with other sages, let alone small fries like Ji Jue.

In order to expand the workshop and control the entire rift realm, Mercury had stripped away almost everything that could be sacrificed or omitted, leaving only the bare minimum that was barely functional. It was completely impossible to tell what she had been thinking.

After entering the core, the devil’s work ball, which had been lazily spectating the whole time, no longer dared to slack off. It separated from Ji Jue’s arms and emitted a faint blue glow, subtly enveloping them to shield them from the workshop’s surveillance and detection.

Ji Jue’s clearance was high enough to enter the gate, but who knew what additional internal regulations existed? If they triggered something random due to a mismatch, they were done for.

A mechanical, emotionless voice said, “Stealth protocol initiated. Element collection complete. Parsing sequence loading... loading complete. Spirit Vision activated.”

It was impossible to tell what kind of earth-shaking, complex transformation had occurred inside the devil’s work ball. Amid the interweaving of multiple blessings, the rough outline and structure of the entire workshop core was projected directly into Ji Jue’s vision.

Then came another layer of effects, built upon the blessings of Ascension and Aether. Spirit Vision allowed the user to observe all changes, flows, and operational trends of spirit matter through sight and perception. It was like dropping dye into clear water; everything became vividly exposed, impossible to hide.

There was no time at all to teach Ji Jue what colors or symbols corresponded to which Supreme Benevolence or which spirit matter mutations. What would normally be a thick, book-length analytical manual was forcibly compressed into his soul like a brick, imprinting itself directly into his memory. It made his vision go black.

When he opened his eyes again, the world had become completely different. All disturbances were laid bare before him.

Ji Jue grinned, uttering the same line every Aether Chosen One inevitably would.

“Alright, let’s see...”

He felt like he had gone blind. There was simply too much light.

There were blinding, blazing flashes everywhere, as if hundreds or thousands of flashbangs had detonated at once. The overwhelming flood of information and sensory impact became like a hammer slamming into his skull. Fortunately, with the devil’s work ball’s regulation and filtering, the intensity quickly dropped to a tolerable level.

As if a curtain had been pulled back, the kaleidoscopic world hidden behind the blinding light finally revealed itself. What had looked like a simple cathedral-like structure from the outside was in fact an unimaginably vast internal space, still expanding and constantly shifting. It was like a living organism, endlessly mutating.

To Ji Jue, it resembled a semi-transparent layer of glass, shimmering with the radiance of spirit matter and Supreme Benevolence.

Through the walls, he could see intense bursts of light scattered across every part of the core, whether it was the natural fluctuation of circulating circuits or the destruction and resistance caused by intruders.

Ji Jue couldn’t help but gasp. “You people really all have your own set of unique talents...”

He was like a safety inspector on his first day at a construction site, looking up to find every scene more bizarre and extreme than the last. The madness was so overwhelming it was almost unbearable to watch.

Some people were headbutting straight into the core defenses like idiots who didn’t value their lives. Some, like Young Master Lou, relied on numbers and firepower to forcibly dismantle and excavate everything. Some ran around like headless chickens. Others were stuffing even gilded decorations off the walls into sacks.

It was as if glowing red-hot iron balls had been thrown into a pool of water; boiling reactions erupted one after another, causing the once-still depths to reveal their terrifying, writhing nature. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Among them, the most eye-catching was a pitch-black spirit torrent formed from a chaotic mixture of all colors. Just looking at it sent chills down one’s spine. It constantly shifted its form without pause.

Within the core, that torrent was spreading wildly, even devouring other intruding Chosen Ones. Most of the time, the moment contact was made, the opponent’s signal would vanish completely, swallowed into that viscous darkness.

And no one could figure out what the hell that thing even was.

“Spirit analysis comparison complete. Result: Dragonrite Society,” the devil’s work ball concluded.

Ji Jue was speechless.

What the hell, why is it you guys again?! Why are you everywhere?!

Overwhelmed with frustration, Ji Jue couldn’t figure out how such a massive “bomb” had suddenly been thrown into this pond. It couldn’t be that old bastard Lawrence had finally won his comeback fight and revived, right?!

He was stunned, especially when he saw the number marked after the reference level indicated by the devil’s work ball.

Level eight?! Are you kidding me?!

That crossed the thresholds of Resonance Realm and Metamorphosis Realm and reached the Rebirth Realm. That was already three entire realms above someone like him, a completely fresh newbie who hadn’t even learned the basics yet!

How did those guys even get in here? Wasn’t he told that only those with good looks could enter this match[2]?!

BOOM!

In that split second of distraction, a violent shockwave erupted, like an invisible tide sweeping past. The ground shook, and the heavens trembled.

It wasn’t just the core or the underground; it was like the entire rift itself was undergoing an unprecedented upheaval. Cracking sounds echoed continuously as fissures rapidly spread across the dome above the core.

The sea of spirit matter roared from the tremor, its rainbow radiance thrown into chaos. Faint bell chimes rang out. Like an illusion, they echoed in the ears of every soul present.

The massive core was shaking violently as well. Its internal structure rapidly shifted, like a living labyrinth, once again expanding and evolving into endless variations. Literally speaking, heaven and earth were spinning.

Ji Jue nearly slipped and got flung into the ceiling, but in the next moment the “ceiling” rotated down beneath his feet. Horsey clung desperately to what had originally been the floor, now upside down, looking around in a panic and bleating in alarm.

Ji Jue barely managed to catch the Seer as she fell out of the scooter basket. He looked around in shock.

“What the hell is going on? I swear I’ve seen these camera angles in old horror movies before.”

“It’s just adaptive transformation. It’s not even a defensive program,” the Seer replied calmly. “Fluid Alchemy is the art of adapting physical matter to essence. Under external stimulation, the core expands its domain and reshapes its internal space to maintain its original function. You can think of the entire core as a living space, constantly changing. All its sequences are preparing for a reboot. We don’t have much time left.”

“So where do we go next?” Ji Jue looked around at the constantly shifting staircases and doors appearing and disappearing along the walls. “Are we supposed to open loot boxes?”

The Seer seemed to smile. “Do you think Mercury would bring a map and take the stairs when going home? The central hub is an ever-changing lock. Anyone who enters without grasping its rules and essence will be trapped in infinite transformation. Fluid Alchemy is the key. Ji Jue, you must learn to look downward, not upward.”

“Huh?” Ji Jue lowered his head, utterly confused. He could only see the constantly shifting patterns on the floor.

“Not actually looking downward, but looking ‘down’. Ignore appearances, do not get stuck in material form, and seek the essence. Looking upward makes things increasingly scattered and distant. Looking downward lets you seize the true core. One is form, the other is spirit.”

The Seer slowly added, “Form and function belong to the realm of disorder. Spirit and truth are the pure essence. Do not be blinded by those messy applications and theories. Trace back to the essence, adjust it, and control it. That is the true core of Fluid Alchemy.”

Ji Jue stood frozen in place. He stared blankly into the Spirit Vision before him. Countless shifting lights rose, fell, danced, quivered, and then calmed again. The entire world moved like a field of stars, as if an invisible hand controlled everything, descending from an unseen height to effortlessly govern it all, including Ji Jue.

The central hub, the underground, and even the entire rift realm all had invisible veins like threads, coiling between those unseen ten fingers. With a predetermined command, the slightest adjustment could trigger endless transformations and extensions in everything.

The formless currents intertwined into countless chaotic flows. If one were inside them, one would only feel confusion and disorientation. But if one wanted to rise above them and see the whole picture, then one had to look downward.

“So it’s not that I go and find the path,” Ji Jue murmured in his dazed state, as if a bolt of lightning had split through his mind. “It’s that I make the path appear beneath my feet, right?”

He needed to control the workshop and make everything give way before him. It was so simple, but unfortunately, he could not do it. He was not a sage; he wasn’t even close to the level of a master. In fact, this task was so far beyond his capabilities that it was almost laughably unrealistic.

“So, the other way should also work.”

Ji Jue’s decisive murmur made the Seer pause. The words she was about to say remained stuck in her throat as she turned back in surprise. For the first time since meeting Ji Jue, she sensed a terrifying talent she had never encountered in her four hundred years of “living.”

Indeed, for Ji Jue, a novice, trying to control the workshop was pure fantasy, but he could control himself. Through Fluid Alchemy, he imposed an interference upon himself, turning himself into a part of the central hub. Now, he truly participated in its operation, and even fused with it!

For others, this was nothing more than a madman’s fantasy. But for Deus Ex Machina, it was almost effortless. All he needed was a second of his time.

In the blink of an eye, Deus Ex Machina had already captured the immense resonance that filled the entire rift realm. It was neither communication nor domination, but rather becoming a component of the workshop itself. Ji Jue had, by virtue of authority inherited from the old furnace, integrated into it.

An indescribably terrifying clamor exploded within Ji Jue’s mind, like the thunderous echo of the world’s operation system. Just a fraction of that aftershock was enough to overwhelm him.

As blood seeped from his nose and mouth, Ji Jue’s eyes grew brighter. Through Spirit Vision, the endlessly shifting changes suddenly became strikingly clear. The incomprehensible operations now felt almost self-evident, laid bare without concealment.

The functioning of countless rooms, their contraction, expansion, birth, and destruction, could now be seen as clearly as if laid out before his eyes.

He was like a speck of dust, passively carried within a massive Rubik’s cube. Now, the cube had revealed a corner of its mystery to him, exposing the mechanism behind its operation.

Snap!

Among the violent tremors, a tear suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the rotating wall opposite them, revealing a complex structure constantly shifting. Beyond that, there was a narrow passage that changed endlessly, its destination unknown.

Ji Jue didn’t even have time to wipe away the blood from his nose. Laughing, he twisted the throttle. “Hold on tight, An Ran. We’re hitching a ride!”

The engine roared. They sped forward, charging into the darkness.

1. This here is a Chinese idiom that describes the instinctive act of inhaling sharply when someone is suddenly startled, extremely frightened, shocked, or creeped out. It conveys a feeling of inner tension, alarm, or a spine-chilling reaction. ☜

2. 卡颜 “Face-gating” refers to a practice in nightclubs, bars, or offline social gatherings (often called “face-gated parties”) where physical attractiveness is used as the entry threshold. In this setup, participants are required to be good-looking, and the organizer or host decides who is allowed into the seating or VIP area based on their appearance. ☜