As everyone knew, in the distant past, before the Southern Continent, Northern Continent, Central Lands, and Thousand Island were separated, when the world was still whole and undivided, everything in the mortal realm was under the control of the Eternal Empire.

After the primordial Age of Chaos came to an end, the Eternal Empire unified all things and ruled over everything. It was a dominion that lasted for thousands upon thousands of years. Its terrifying power, sturdy foundations, and accumulated wealth spoke for themselves.

Under such circumstances, for members of the resistance organization known as Onyx, what they needed most, aside from determination and perseverance, was something even more crucial: the ability to escape.

Facing the empire’s periodic crackdowns, its scorched-earth offensives that wiped out strongholds, and its siege tactics of sealing off and starving everything out, the early Onyx members could do little more than drift from place to place, hiding in dark corners. Living from hand to mouth, never knowing where the next meal would come from, was the norm.

What? Workshops? Dream on, bud! Even if you were just putting up a simple brick house, before the roof beams were even in place, the empire would already tear it down and grind it into dust. Building a workshop was impossible. Newly planted wheat would be uprooted, pregnant sows in pens would be slaughtered, and even the earthworms in the soil would be cut in half.

Because of this, Onyx craftsmen had to minimize their reliance on workshops and equipment as much as possible. Unless absolutely necessary, they would never stay in one place for long.

Any trace left behind by an unregistered workshop would become a death sentence for a craftsman. However, a craftsman without a workshop was like a civil servant without a formal position, soda after the fizz was gone, a safety officer with low status, or a web novel writer without any reviews or upvotes.

They were not quite dead, but they were also very far from being truly alive. They were not truly living life, they were only one breath away from death. They could not do without something like a workshop, yet having it could also cost them their lives.

Faced with such a chokehold of an impossible predicament, generations of members, both Celestial Beings and Chosen Ones, secretly conducted countless trials and experiments before finally arriving at the optimal solution.

This was the origin of Pacifier.

In order to break free from a craftsman’s dependence on workshops and tools, they even went as far as discarding workshops and tools altogether. They would directly process materials with their bare hands, using their own spirit matter to perform alchemical manipulation on matter itself.

Thus, no furnace was required. Wherever the hands reached, Pacifier could freely manipulate the properties of matter. No tools were needed. Wherever spirit matter extended, Pacifier could freely construct circuits and runes.

As long as a craftsman’s hands remained intact, the struggle of Onyx would never cease. As long as a craftsman’s soul endured, the realm of innovation would never perish. There were no restrictions, nor shackles.

All things and all phenomena were shaped by these hands, and everything in heaven and earth existed because of these ten fingers. This was called Pacifier Creation, and the result it brought was absolute control over one’s spirit matter.

Whether it was guidance, catalysis, diffusion, compression, extraction, or purification, just as Ji Jue once dreamed, it allowed the arbitrary extraction and manipulation of all spirit matter within materials. Just like what Ji Jue saw the moment he fused with Pacifier, everything in the world was shaped by unseen hands. All Pacifier Creation originated from the craftsman’s own hands.

As long as something was within the range of Ji Jue’s ten fingers, any change in spirit matter could not escape his control. Unless the level of qualitative change or total quantity exceeded his control capacity by more than tenfold, it would inevitably fall within his interference range.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Lou Feng tried, his efforts were useless. From the day Pacifier was born, it became the natural enemy of all spirit-matter-based manipulation abilities. Any technique built upon the use of spirit matter was forced back to its original form the moment it encountered Pacifier.

You see, there’s this hero that has a specific advantage over others. Whose fault is it you didn’t ban him? Oh, right, guess you weren’t the one in charge of bans this time around. Never mind then. Hurry up and die already!

Ji Jue pulled the trigger again, emptying the last row of solid-core rounds from his belt.

Click!

With a “casual” wave of his hand, the raging beast born from Spirit Morph froze. From the very moment it appeared, it had already begun to dissipate again, like a fragile illusion that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Just like that, Ji Jue watched Lou Feng’s pale face, as if he had seen a ghost, while casually hiding his right hand behind his back. The skin of his hand was splitting, his nails were lifting, and his hand was twitching and going numb to the point where it could barely be controlled. He clenched his fist tightly and performed the Ember Path spirit reinforcement, material-property manipulation technique.

On the black, intricate totemic tattoos, a faint glow flickered for a second. Under the operation of Pacifier, refinement began. The target was his damaged hands, and the purpose was to restore them to their original state.

This was the most basic operation in alchemy: restoration. Now, bolstered by both Fluid Alchemy and modern alchemy, the two worked in tandem, advancing along dual paths with perfect balance in and out.

In an instant, the torn wounds closed, and the bruises faded and were concealed. The raised fingernails returned to their original position, restored as if nothing had ever happened to them. His hands looked perfect.

As for the subtle fractures in the bones beneath, the broken capillaries, the torn muscles... unless Young Master Luo had X-ray vision built into his eyes, there was no way he could see any of it.

That was the most wondrous part of magic. As long as you couldn’t see through the thin veil hiding what was really going on, everything before your eyes could appear natural, seamless, and miraculous.

Lou Feng did not need to know that Ji Jue was still weak, and that he was already close to his limit from repeatedly reversing and dissolving the opponent’s Spirit Morphs. All he needed to know was that every one of his attacks, belonging to the proud legacy of the Luo family he had cherished since childhood, looked like nothing but a joke in front of his opponent. That alone was enough.

What followed was an almost suffocating sense of pressure. Compared to the shock of having his Spirit Morphs broken, the true final straw that crushed Lou Feng was the panic born from instinct and the terror that overwhelmed reason. Under the protection of the Dragon Scale Helm, Lou Feng had completely lost his composure.

The coping strategies he had been taught since childhood, as well as the vast experience accumulated by the Lou family over hundreds and thousands of years, kept surfacing in his mind like flowing water, only to vanish without leaving the slightest trace behind.

He simply could not understand what Ji Jue was doing. What was going on? What just happened? What the hell was this?!

He did not even dare to rashly activate the other clone hidden within the Time-Sand Bead on his wrist. That was his final, life-saving trump card.

The moment he saw Ji Jue load a blood-red solid-core round into the chamber, a wave of instinctive chill rose again. Beneath the already cracked Dragon Scale Helm, his figure blurred. When he reappeared, he was already dozens of meters away, having created distance despite the costs and raised a shield barrier.

Gone was his earlier refinement and composure. Lou Feng’s hair was disheveled, and his face was pale. He could only stare fixedly at Ji Jue and at his hands.

So this was Pacifier? Was the matrix inherited from the sages really that different from his own?! Could such an outrageously powerful matrix enhancement exist?!

Even though the essence and logic of alchemy told him it was absolutely impossible for something this ridiculous to exist, he could no longer distinguish truth from deception because of that faint, mocking, indifferent smile.

The moment he sensed Ji Jue pulling the trigger, he instinctively raised his hand. An overwhelming chill erupted as wind and snow whirled. A wall of ice and iron rose from the ground, blocking the line of fire, but what came from the barrel was nothing more than an ordinary solid-core bullet. It could not even pierce through the outermost layer of the ice wall.

Damn it, I got played again!

Ji Jue raised an eyebrow and could not help but whistle. This wave of feigned mystery had an absolutely excellent effect. A basic attack alone had practically baited out the enemy’s Flash[1], items, and abilities.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough. If he could advance another realm, or deepen his research into Fluid Alchemy and modern alchemy, then with this level of pressure fully stacked, the opponent would not even dare to take a team fight against him. They could even start avoiding him altogether in the future.

“Calm down, boss!” Silan’s voice came through the communications channel. “Don’t get fooled by that kid. I don’t exactly know what trick he’s playing, but it’s definitely not as simple as it looks. This isn’t a one-on-one duel. No need to fight him alone!”

Boom!

Leading the Homecoming Knights, Silan swung his arm and hurled a spear toward Ji Jue. However, the spear was severed in midair by the metal shards thrown by An Ran, exploding into a mass of crimson light.

The knights spread out, once again shielding Lou Feng while abandoning their attempt to block and surround An Ran. The Homecoming Knights were strictly disciplined, and Silan had kept a clear mind from the beginning to the end. Winning the battle wasn’t their top priority; guaranteeing the boss’ safety was. What was the point of winning anyway? Everyone came here to fight for money. Even if the knights killed those two kids, if Lou Feng died, who would pay them?

In less than a few minutes, An Ran’s spirit matter had already been largely depleted. His surging sword qi fluctuated unpredictably, yet it only made him appear even more ferocious.

Relying on the mobility granted by Sword Cry, An Ran held his ground even though he was outnumbered. The Homecoming Knights, despite their numbers, still could not deal with him and had only managed to leave a few wounds. Meanwhile, An Ran’s opponents were almost all injured, some even severely. Unfortunately, the injuries had no real impact on their combat effectiveness.

The Chosen Ones blessed by the Crimson King all received nearly identical gifts: Blood Drinking, Fortressbreaker, Battle Frenzy, and more. For someone like Silan, a Grand Knight Commander who had reached the fifth level, those many blessings had already formed a chained effect known as Wild Hunt.

People like Silan had no weak points, no fatigue, nor fear of danger. As long as they were still alive, they could maintain peak combat performance, and could grow even stronger as their health dropped. If their will remained unbroken, the fight would not end.

In the decisive battle ninety-odd years ago, seventy-one Red Alliance knights had charged head-on and shattered the White Kingdom’s Iron Guard, establishing the banner of the Homecoming Knights. They were born to fight, returning home only in death. To this day, the headless undead knights remained a lingering nightmare across the battlefields of the Central Lands.

The regrouped knights did not rush into another assault. Instead, they all pulled out the pendant-like potion flasks strapped to their chests. They bit through the necks of the flasks, spat out the fragments, then tipped their heads back and drank the contents in one gulp.

A tangible crimson flame rose from them. The flames seemed almost alive, linking them together, as if they were about to become a blazing inferno that would engulf the entire world.

It was a blood-burning sacrifice, a ritual in which Swarm Chosen Ones offered their own blood as sacrifice and performed a ritual sacrifice to the fungal collective, receiving blessings from the Mycelial Lord in return. By exchanging life for power and endurance, all knights shared a single soul and blood source. Only Swarm Chosen Ones with identical matrices could so easily merge into a unified whole.

The Homecoming Knights were about to go all out.

Under the protection of the wing formation, Lou Feng, now dust-covered and disheveled, finally revealed a cold smile as he stared at the two remaining enemies. They had nowhere to run anymore. Even that broken-down vehicle was gone.

Wait. Something inexplicably made Lou Feng freeze. He felt a chill, followed by a delayed sense of shock and confusion he could not understand.

Where is it? Where the hell is that scooter?!

Just then, he heard a faint cracking sound coming from behind all the Homecoming Knights.

Click!

An ammunition belt was loaded.

In the chaos of battle, a three-wheeled scooter that had previously gone completely unnoticed finally shook off the dust cover draped over its cargo bed, revealing a mountain of spoils.

Beneath the piled-up bags and bundles was a bracket that Ji Jue had welded together at the camp not long ago. Mounted on that bracket was a strange, grotesque construct of steel. It was thick, long, black, and hard. Six barrels that had somehow begun to slowly rotate were now aiming directly at the knights’ backs.

Lou Feng’s eyes nearly split open in rage.

It was a donation from retired veterans, a good piece of equipment dug out from the underground storage of the Retired Soldiers’ Mutual Aid Association thanks to Lu Feng pulling some strings. Mr. Furnace had refurbished and re-forged it.

Now, it was loaded with twenty-one hundred rounds of ammunition personally approved and allocated by Ms. Wen, making up more than seventy percent of Horsey’s load capacity. It was a six-barreled heavy machine gun.

The scooter finally finished adjusting its rear-facing angle. In response to Ji Jue’s signal, it let out a full-throated screech.

“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!”

1. Flash is a summoner spell in the game League of Legends. Its effect allows a champion to instantly teleport a short distance toward the location indicated by your cursor. ☜