Above Destiny

Chapter 237 Dream of Ashes
Imagine that your back is extremely itchy but you can't scratch it. After searching through all your drawers and cabinets, you finally find a scratcher, but no matter how you scratch, nothing feels right. The more you scratch, the more uncomfortable it becomes, and the more uncomfortable it becomes, the more you scratch.

The small itch becomes a big itch, and finally becomes the seven-year itch.

Thinking of the tragic reality, I feel like I am suffering from death and life and cannot find relief.

Finally, he fell to the ground, scratching his head and crying, regretting his decision.

The destructive power is not small, and the intention is not vicious.

And the effect is not bad...

So much so that Jian Yuan at this moment, just wanted to ask one question:
how did you do it?
The procedure is correct, the steps are correct, the ideas are correct, but the answers are all wrong!

Obviously, so many violent materials were used, and so many techniques of intensification and distortion were adopted...why is the degree of evil so shallow and crude?

It should have been a ferocious weapon that could kill people even with the slightest scratch, but now it has turned into such a funny thing!

It's like when you suddenly decide to melt down an old necklace to make a bracelet, but it's still 24K pure gold before it goes into the furnace, but when it comes out, only the outer layer is left? !
What about the rest?

Did you feed me?
"Where is the evil transformation?"

"I don't know!" Ji Jue glared, "Isn't this just made normally? You taught me the theory, you gave me the book, you used the materials, and in the end, I made something like this. I still want to ask you something!"

"Don't blame others when something goes wrong. Shouldn't you examine your own problems?"

Ji Jue's smile gradually faded, and in the end, he no longer concealed his indifference: "Or, could you be so kind as to tell me...what exactly did you teach me?!"

Jian Yuan did not answer, but just weighed the tickler in his hand and sighed.

——Cunningly controlling the direction of the evil transformation, persistently and seriously adjusting the effect and intensity, and finally, finally turning the work into a piece of waste just right.

It is really amazing.

He had already understood this.

After all, this isn't the first time...

Before that, there was armor that was mighty and ferocious but had no defense, and would cause eczema all over the body after wearing it, a red ball that would make people laugh uncontrollably after putting it on their noses, and a letter opener that would easily poke yourself in the hand and would cause tetanus 100%.

And this tickle that gets more itchy the more you scratch it...

It's all funny.

As the saying goes, a wise chess player meets a wise general.

When you encounter such a good talent, being a teacher should be an easy thing.

It was such a refreshing lecture - he originally had such naive thoughts: it was the first time he received a student with such good qualifications, and the first time he saw someone making such rapid progress on the road to transformation, the two joys added together... omitted.

To the point that Jianyuan suddenly wanted to open his skull and look inside carefully to see if the rebellious bone was inserted into his brain upside down - why the hell don't you learn your lesson!
There is a saying that goes, the master leads you to the door, but the practice is up to you.

It goes without saying how valuable the true teachings are.

As a master craftsman, Jianyuan's gold content has naturally been verified by both the association and Yousui. But now, just as you are about to reach the door, Ji Jue starts jumping left and right at the door, and then makes some small noises for you.

Hey, I'm coming in~ Hey, I'm coming out~ Hey, I'm coming in again~ If you don't like it, hit me~
Such a wanton waste of talent.

What a pity.

But it doesn’t matter…

There is always a way.

"Very good, well done."

He casually threw Ji Jue's work into the annihilation furnace without even bothering to take another look at it.

If a student can get 100 points in an exam, he may only be at the level of 100 points.

But when he could always score exactly 60 points, it meant that the test paper was no longer difficult for him and was just a toy.

Theory, practice, concept, creativity, idea...there are no shortcomings!

How can such good material be left to waste?

"That's enough for the basics," he said. "It's time to move on to the next lesson."

"Okay, okay, got it."

Ji Jue stretched out his hand indifferently, "Where's the book?"

"It's a pity that this lesson is not taught in the book."

Jian Yuan smiled, full of expectation: "You need to go and practice it yourself."

Just a wave of the hand, as if there was an invisible force controlling everything, and then, everything within sight was pulled aside.

Ji Jue's eyes blurred, and it seemed as if he had passed through numerous doors and corridors in an instant and arrived at a dark and dilapidated space.

Vast and desolate, dark and far-reaching.

The earth cracked and the blue bricks were full of cracks.

The former palace was in ruins, with broken walls and broken walls. Even the huge furnace in the center was incomplete and had been extinguished for so many years that no one knew when it had been extinguished.

And above the sky, ashes were falling intermittently like gray snow, mixed with a few sparks, flickering and extinguishing, and finally, piling up on the ground.

The wheelchair rolled over the ground, following behind Jianyuan, leaving two long and thin tracks.

forward.

Stopped in front of the ruins of the furnace.

All of this looks like a dilapidated...workshop?
"This was my residence before I defected from the association. I had a fight with that guy and it was completely messed up, so I just abandoned it... Although the furnace fire has gone out, but after so many years of gathering firewood, it can be reused."

Jianyuan strolled in it, his black robe dragging on the ground, but it was not stained with a single ash.

On the other hand, Ji Jue has gradually become dusty and dirty.

I wiped my face and smelled it. It was a familiar scent.

ash……

This is the ashes of the furnace!

He raised his head and looked at the dark dome.

In Jianyuan's workshop, the ashes from all the craftsmen's furnaces were sent here.

A few wisps are still normal, but after such a large amount of ashes have been piled up together for so many years, the breath contained in them has become vast and magnificent from countless smelting and creation.

Suffocating.

"Ji Jue, do you know why craftsmen are obsessed with fire?"

Jianyuan stood in front of the broken furnace and waved his hands. An invisible force cleared the messy ruins around him.

Without waiting for Ji Jue to answer, he continued, "Today, craftsmen no longer need to rely on fire to make things. On the contrary, more and more tools have been introduced into alchemy - water, air, dust, light, and even human bodies and hands... But the furnace is still the mainstream among the mainstream. Even a workshop cannot be called a workshop if it does not have a furnace. What is the meaning of it?"

"Suitable? Convenient?"

Ji Jue answered casually, "Our ancestors got used to it, and many specifications were created because of it. It's not surprising that later generations continue to use it, right?"

"Besides? Can't you see the magnificence of the Emberfurnace?"

Jian Yuan smiled and said, "Have you never seen with your own eyes the brilliant flames of the stars when the embers come to power?"

Ji Jue was silent for a moment.

“This is fire.”

Jianyuan raised his finger and blew gently. Some dust was disturbed and spread, but the gentle breath echoed in the underground space, constantly expanding and turning into a raging hurricane.

In the end, countless ashes were stirred up, dancing wildly, and trembling, and among them, the sparks that had been extinguished for who knows how long were actually burning again!

Thousands of strands of flames gathered at his fingertips.

The vast embers once again merged into a ray of pure flame, dancing, leaping, and illuminating all darkness.

"Did you see that, Ji Jue?"

In the light of the fire, Jian Yuan’s expression seemed to have completely faded away, without any sadness or joy, solemn as a god or Buddha: “The first alchemy was born from this.

Everything was destined from the moment the first flame in the world was lit by the fire thief among the kings. The fire igniter burned himself, and his followers passed on the flame, using the flame as a symbol to create everything, and likewise, they burned everything with the flame.

The Way of Embers was born from then on.

The evil of stagnation and corruption is caused by this.”

He said: "What you need to learn is in it——"

At that moment, an unprecedented loud noise suddenly came from the deepest darkness, as if coming from all directions, but when they gathered together, it seemed to fill the soul and overwhelm the will and soul.

Dispelled all distracting thoughts.

At the moment when the flames on Jianyuan's fingertips dissipated silently, the fierce light in the furnace rushed out, gushed, spread, and enveloped everything.

The light and embers of fire appear here.

Like a storm.

Ji Jue didn't even have time to react or dodge.

For a moment, he felt that his body and soul were being submerged, collapsed, and peeled off in the raging tide, flying piece by piece to an unknown place.

Fragmented.

Flesh, blood, life, self, soul, everything faded away in the tide of light.

But what can remain here?
Countless phantoms and images emerged from the firelight, filling Ji Jue's field of vision and forcefully pouring into his soul - the collapsing sky, the broken earth, the rotating stars, and even the infinite creation.

The world turns on this.

Reveal your true face.

At that moment, Ji Jue finally saw the end of the flames and the source of everything.

It was as if a green eye slowly opened.

Towards this place, towards Ji Jue.

Neither sad nor happy, neither surprised nor worried, so lofty, yet so indifferent, overlooking all the chaos in the world, the rotation of war and peace, the intersection of struggle and cooperation, witnessing the repetition of futile cycles. What has happened will happen again. What has been done will be done again.

There is nothing new under the sun. The so-called change of things is nothing but a cycle of strife and killing.

——Inspired by the secret ritual, the great evil of the mortal world, the stagnant and corrupt furnace, looked down!

At that moment, uncontrollable cries of pain burst out from the flames!

Ji Jue has been ignited by the flames.

Dust rises and falls.

It floated into Jianyuan's palm, so fragile.

And was crushed into nothingness by the expressionless face.

"Everything has its limits, and it is difficult to receive the destiny of heaven." Jian Yuan looked at the furnace indifferently, "Let me see, is your material... qualified to receive the destiny of heaven?"

collapse!
It was as if there was an auditory hallucination of collapse, filling my ears.

Perhaps, that was the sound of a soul breaking, or the world falling apart...

Ji Jue seemed to have fallen into an abyss with no bottom in sight.

All I heard was the whistling of the wind in my ears...

His reason told him that he was still there, basking in the light, but he could not feel any warmth.

His soul told him that he was falling towards an abyss with no end in sight, but he had no way to struggle.

Even, it’s hard to think.

Consciousness has been filled and controlled by an even more powerful and violent force.

It was as if the rainstorm was rising up into the sky against the earth.

In his memory, countless theories emerged like living things, out of his control, changing, overlapping, coupling, and transforming on their own.

Over the past few days, all the theories that Jianyuan had forcibly imprinted in his memory, all the skills and operations that he had taught him, now seemed like living things, extending themselves, connecting with each other, and communicating with each other... as if they were truly given life!
——Ascension!
Inexplicably, such a thought appeared in Ji Jue's consciousness.

To turn stone into gold, to give spirit to dead things, to bring miracles to ordinary things, to make mediocre things shed their old forms, this is the first step of alchemy.

Then, it is the transformation, so all the skills and theories interweave, overlap, collide and intensify with each other, and one genius-like inspiration after another emerges, flashes, develops on its own, and spreads...

Next, purification——

Countless scattered and expanding theories and fantasies suddenly shook at this moment, intertwining with each other, cutting off the clutter, correcting the fallacies, and erasing the malpractices.

Finally, it is unification!
When those spontaneous flashes of light, inspirations and numerous theories were connected together, a vast road ahead emerged from Ji Jue's consciousness.

Twelve emblems of great sin, three categories of sixteen dyeing techniques, thirty-one spiritual structures, and the changes and true meanings of seventy-seven kinds of killing things...

The high-level exposition is exquisite and profound, the straightforward guidance, and the detailed listing of all obstacles and difficulties, he only needs to move forward step by step... The wonders of the evil transformation are at his fingertips, and the depth of the distortion can be explored if he bends down!

The road to heaven is right before your eyes!
"forward."

There was a voice in my ear saying, "You just have to move forward."

But Ji Jue stood still.

Even unwilling to look up.

He struggled and wanted to turn back.

But couldn't move.

When he came to his senses, he found that he had been engulfed by blood, and wailing was like a tide, covering everything.

The deformed world was spinning before him, with distorted stars moving across the sky, illuminating the cracks in the night sky and the broken earth.

He seemed to have turned into a god, looking down from the sky. Everything was changing and flowing at a speed a trillion times faster, but in the end, it returned to a cycle of despair.

Once it flourished, once it became extinct, once it revived, once it declined.

The glory is gone, leaving only devastation; the great changes have brought ruins; the grand wishes have poisoned the world; the beautiful dreams have been shattered, leaving only emptiness.

All things in the world flooded into his consciousness like a tide, but he had no time to remember or think. He could only witness it all in a daze, and in the end, he belatedly came to enlightenment.

Bitterness rises from the blood, hatred is purified from tears, and after the so-called love and beautiful dreams are burned in the fire, only despair and nothingness are left, transforming into each other. The world's complexity and ruin are unified together, turning into a chaotic sea.

Destruction again and again, rebirth again and again.

When the road of change reaches its end, all that remains is this futile and ugly cycle.

In the end, everything came together.

When Ji Jue lowered his head, he saw the pair of hands that turned pitch black from despair and curse.

Sticky blood dripped from the fingertips.

The source is continuous and inexhaustible!
All evil is caused by this heart, all suffering is caused by the hands, and all the evil in the world is done by the ten fingers... This is the sin of non-aggression!

At the moment of enlightenment, Ji Jue once again heard the mournful cry that had been repeated countless times in the four hundred years of reincarnation.

The non-aggression, the riots, the rage, the futile struggles, but in the end, everything fell silent in the illusory light of tears.

"The world is created by man, Ji Jue, and so is hell."

An indifferent voice came from afar: "But where is your hell?"

Then, everything gradually became clear.

Ji Jue raised his head and saw the scorching red sky again. Under his feet was the pitch-black earth. Rain of ashes was flying between the worlds. In the distance, the sound of wind brought hallucinatory wails and howls.

So familiar.

In the flames and fire, the dead souls laughed and danced, biting, killing and ravaging each other, torturing each other endlessly and suffering eternally.

Flames ignited from the end of hell, illuminating Ji Jue's pupils and filling his consciousness and soul.

"Isn't this what makes you who you are, Ji Jue?" A mocking voice sounded: "But if this world is hell, what are you?"

Hell laughed in his ears, spoke encouragement, and told him:

You have been in hell all along!
So, we should not remain silent, we should not endure, and we should not stay where we are...

To hate, to burn, to destroy!
For a moment, Ji Jue couldn't wait to throw himself into it and embrace this natural destiny.

But in the inexplicable hesitation, he couldn't help but look behind him.

Even though there is nothing there, nothingness...

Only from a distant place could the sound of singing be heard.

So vague, but it cannot be covered by wailing and wailing, it continues persistently, as if echoing forever.

Just like the stars rising at the end of the night.

Shining glow.

She was looking at herself.

So Ji Jue smiled suddenly.

"don’t worry."

He raised his hand, wiped away his tears, and smiled at her: "I'm fine."

Just like that, I got up from the ground again.

Abandoning the so-called hell and the truth of the world, he strode towards the nothingness without hesitation.

Even if it's in vain, even if it's meaningless.

No matter how high the road to heaven is behind you, no matter how many times you repeat it, it doesn’t matter.

——The place he wants to go is not here!

It seemed as if an angry roar sounded from the sky, and endless green fire gushed out and emerged, trying to block his way.

But then, the bright stars lit up again, moved, and gathered together. Finally, the furnace of heaven overturned, and all kinds of fire fell like waterfalls, spreading to the world.

The two collided and disappeared into nothingness.

In the chaotic waves, a ray of silver light suddenly crossed over, like a sharp blade, cutting everything off!

At that moment, Ji Jue opened his eyes.

The remaining light in the furnace dissipated silently.

Everything came to an abrupt end.

In the dead silence, ashes fluttered down like snow, landing on Ji Jue's shoulders.

His palms hovered in the air in vain.

It seemed as if he was just one step away from holding that hand again... When the bubble of the dream dissipated, there was only nothingness left in his palm.

"It's such a long-awaited dream."

Ji Jue sighed in sudden realization, lowered his eyes, and stared at the remaining ash in his palm.

"Thank you, Kanemoto."

He turned around and expressed his gratitude sincerely: "Excuse me, how should I repay you?"

He was smiling, but there was no warmth in his expression.

In the dead silence, there was only infinite darkness in those pupils, like an abyss.

"Congratulations, Ji Jue!"

Jian Yuan smiled, so relieved: "You have learned the first lesson of controlling evil and dominating distortion - hatred and malice... No, it should be said that you finally don't need to hide yourself anymore."

Just like that, he patted the rebellious apprentice on the shoulder and told him:

"Tomorrow, we will continue."

(End of this chapter)