Above Destiny

Chapter 299: Spirit of Nothingness
In the dead silence, Ji Jue had a blank expression on his face and looked coldly at the laughing face.

"You ask me if I can accept a bunch of fools performing a monkey show?" Ji Jue asked coldly, "Even if I can't accept it, what can it prove? Am I living among a bunch of fools?"

"Hmm?" The examiner was shocked. "I haven't been to the Federation for a long time. Could it be that things in the Federation are different now than they used to be, and people don't pick up things on the road?"

"..."

Ji Jue's expression twitched and he fell silent.

The examiner was more and more shocked: "Do you think they did a good job?"

"..."

Ji Jue became more and more speechless.

To be honest, although, well, no matter how stupid these idiots are, they are still much better than those rubbish in City Hall.

At least better than Xu Chaoxian, right!
If Xu Chaoxian had not been hit to death by the truck, he would probably have found it difficult to surpass this height in his lifetime.

"No, what on earth are you trying to imply?!"

Ji Jue frowned and looked more alert.

"I didn't hint at anything."

The examiner shrugged. "At best, it's just some old things that have happened countless times. It has nothing to do with the distinction between the Empire and the Federation, and it has nothing to do with history.

To be honest, the history of mankind is actually about being stupid, making mistakes, being stupid again, and then starting over again when the old scars are forgotten, and so on, over and over again... I'm just showing the essence of it.

This level of absurdity is far from being comparable to reality.”

"But the key is——"

The examiner asked: "Can you read it?"

He paused and asked mockingly, "Or, would you like to dig out your eyes?"

Ji Jue didn't answer.

How to torture a person with brains?

All you need to do is find a clown to give you advice and talk big about your field of work, and then pair him with a group of brainless followers and a hundred thousand loud speakers.

The noise continues and the stupidity continues.

Either bow your head, accept the folly, and become a believer.

Either...

Go back and look through the warehouse to see if your flamethrower can still be used.

It's not because I have become a moralist who follows the truth, nor because I am a righteous person filled with righteous indignation. It's just that I simply cannot tolerate stupidity, mistakes, and rubbish that messes up everything!

At that moment, the examiner laughed.

It is difficult to tell whether it is meant as mockery or sarcasm.

Or they are similar.

"See, Ji Jue? This is the nature of the Chosen One of Ashes, and you have long been ingrained in it!"

He patted Ji Jue on the shoulder and said, "Rather than being arrogant and conceited, it's better to say that it's natural and 'self-righteous'."

How I feel it should be, how I think it should be, how I want it to be.

So, it should be like this and like that!

——Anything else is wrong!

“This has nothing to do with good or evil, morality, or even talent or genius. As long as one possesses this essence, even a fool can develop a desire for change.

The key is to what extent it can be achieved..."

He looked at Ji Jue and asked curiously, "The difference is, what kind of world do you desire?"

Ji Jue looked at him indifferently for a long time.

"I'm sorry, I'm not that self-conscious. Even if I'm not in the world, I don't think it will be any different." He said, "The world can go on without anyone, so why can't it go on without me? Besides, am I not capable of making mistakes?"

"Compared to being forced to sink into the carnival fire created by idiots, at least you can suffer the consequences of your own actions, right?"

The examiner smiled: "In the tradition of the Mohists, non-aggression is respected. They believe that this is the most wonderful manifestation of the embers - the ten fingers of both hands can recreate all things in the world, whether for good or evil.

From the moment these hands were born, they were destined to bring about changes and to do something.

You can choose what to hold on to, Ji Jue, it's all up to you. Or... you can just sit back and let the fools do everything."

He seemed to be about to say something else, but his words paused for a moment.

His eyebrows were raised.

"Sorry, I have guests here, you go ahead and do your work."

He took one last look at Ji Jue and smiled, "Don't worry, just enjoy yourself. I'm afraid this is the only chance for you to do whatever you want."

Just like that, it disappeared into the void, never to be seen again.

One step forward and the world changes.

The examiner, no, the Heavenly Furnace, had appeared in the luxurious lounge before. The fire was still burning vigorously. Under the warm light of the crystal chandelier, towering bookshelves surrounded it.

Luxurious and elegant.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any place prepared to entertain guests, so we'll just have to make do here."

He waved his hand and said, "Long time no see, Zhuli. I thought you were here to eat scavengers."

The person sitting on the sofa opposite raised his head.

He looked middle-aged, but his hair was gray. He did not hide his tiredness and helplessness: "Lady didn't want to show up after the quarrel with you last time. She kept going around and around and finally came to me... Why do you always throw all the troubles to me?"

"Maybe because you're the youngest and easiest to bully?"

Tianlu smiled, sat down, and didn't waste time in greeting: "What's up?"

"What do you say?"

The plowsmith looked at him deeply and said, "In the past half hour, the Tower of All Changes has burned one third of the essence in the association's reserve.

After all this commotion, Delon couldn't get in touch with you. He was about to retire, but you tied him to a roller coaster. He's so anxious that he's almost hanged at my door."

"You are the chairman of the board, but you can't keep calm?" Tianlu raised his brows. "It's just a small consumption. I will give it to him later. You are not afraid that I can't afford it, right? Tell him to get out of here and don't bother me."

"I'll tell him."

The plowsmith nodded and stood up without stopping: "Next time, please let me know if you need anything."

Tianlu smiled indifferently and picked up the teacup: "If you have any objections, you can take over the title of Tianlu, and then you won't have to go through all this trouble like you are doing now."

The plowsmith paused for a moment, as if thinking.

Soon, he shook his head: "Forget it, it's troublesome."

Tianlu was curious, "It's just a hassle, not impossible?"

The plowsmith said nothing.

"It's great to be young." Tianlu said, "I'm welcome anytime."

No one responded.

The plow maker had disappeared.

I don't know when, he left.

"Today's young people."

Tianlu shook his head, sighed, drank the tea, put down the teacup, reached out his hand, pulled it forward - pulled it back!
Snapped!
The figure that had already gone far away actually returned to the Tower of Wanhua again.

【? 】

The plowsmith looked back in confusion.

I don't understand, what are you doing?
Tianlu still smiled and repeated: "I just said, you are welcome anytime."

"..."

The plowsmith's eyes twitched for a long time, then he sighed helplessly and replied, "Okay."

"Ah."

Tianlu let go of her hand with satisfaction and said goodbye with a smile: "Okay, take care."

The plowsmith seemed to want to say something but stopped himself. Finally, he shook his sleeves and disappeared.

Amidst the crackling sound of the burning stove, Tianlu pinched his chin and began to think.

If I were to pull him back now...

What would he say?

"A little more inspiration, a little more wisdom, and a little more long-term vision..."

The huge reconstructed workshop was no longer clean and spacious as before, but was filled with piles of materials. It was like a combination of a high-tech laboratory and a witch's hut from ancient legends.

After many brand new steel instruments were moved aside, a slightly rustic stove was placed on the original site of the furnace, and a large cauldron hanging above the flame was bubbling.

But from refractory bricks to firewood and even the big pot that seemed to have been used for many years, all of them were luxury items on the association's sales list, so expensive that Ji Jue didn't even dare to look at them for fear of hurting his eyes.

Nowadays, as modern alchemy becomes more developed, many of the dross and inconveniences of ancient alchemy are gradually replaced, while the older primitive alchemy still has a place.

It has even become some kind of luxurious, expensive and secretive technique that cannot be found in ordinary workshops.

No matter how much alchemy develops, there are still many principles and mysteries that have not been solved.

It's like watching graduate students singing and dancing around their instruments or programmers burning incense and kowtowing to their servers. You may not understand or agree with them, but when it's your turn, you'd better follow suit.

And, don't ask why.

For something like this that cannot be explained by technology or theory, we still have to rely on metaphysics and luck.

And Ji Jue just happened to understand a little bit.

Although it is not profound enough to be called a secret, fluid alchemy still retains its own heritage and ancient rituals.

At this moment, what was boiling in the cauldron was a magnificent silver light.

Four-fifths of purified mercury is used as the base, and one-tenth of pure sulfur is gradually dissolved until it is uniform. During the process, salts that supplement the guilt are gradually added to catalyze the reaction.

Mercury, sulfur and salt.

In the origin of alchemy, besides fire, the most important thing is the existence of the so-called 'three elements'.

This is because all three can be combined with spiritual essence and have excellent compatibility. Even the roughest raw materials still have excellent qualities that far exceed their peers.

From the perspective of compatibility with spiritual essence, sulfur and salt can actually be used as common materials and carriers for fluid alchemy, but these two are really not very fluid...

At this moment, what is being refined in the cauldron is the supreme essence, the Philosopher's Stone, which was highly praised by many alchemists in the primitive period of alchemy!
In primitive times, it was called a panacea and a universal material. Adding a little philosopher's stone to any creation could greatly enhance the spirituality and completeness of the creation itself.

It sounds awesome, but with the development of the times, it is no longer rare.

With the discovery of modern alchemy, the Philosopher's Stone is not only used to refer to the brilliant alchemical results, but its original principle has also been revealed.

In essence, it is nothing more than a spiritual crystal that is pure to the extreme.

Theoretically speaking, it is a spiritual crystal that is absolutely free of any interference, has never suffered any acquired pollution or changes, and is extremely pure.

But in reality and practice, the word 'absolute' means it is impossible to achieve.

Spiritual essence cannot be born or disappear out of thin air, it only flows out from the soul, acts, dissipates, and returns to the cycle of the world. From the moment it is born from the soul, it is destined to be interfered with and transformed by the soul itself, and even form many special qualitative changes, and be given more changes.

Just like you can't create blood without any DNA information present.

You can only use the raw materials to remove the interference and pollution brought by the acquired factors as much as possible. After repeated purification, you can replace the spiritual essence and manifest it again on this basis, infinitely approaching the "absolute" itself.

Not difficult.

But it is pure hard work, time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly.

One careless move will lead to failure.

Now, as time accelerates, the cauldron in front of Ji Jue has been boiling for more than seventy years.

Through the continuous replacement and purification of the three elements, the spiritual essence has undergone thousands of times of purification in the closed space and has gradually lost all its colors. Now, it is so clear that it is almost imperceptible.

As if invisible.

That is the original nature and composition of all souls.

Now, all you need to do is apply pressure and induce it, and the empty spiritual essence will gradually collapse and become the purest crystal. But that is not the result Ji Jue wants.

What he wanted was to build a spiritual intelligence that was infinitely close to the soul on this basis with spiritual essence that was pure to the extreme!

One could almost call it, soul-giving!

Artificial intelligence, mimic soul, in the primitive alchemy period, it was called the little man in the bottle, Homon Cruz. According to rumors, it possesses all the wisdom in the world and knows all the mysteries.

But it's just a rumor.

If that were the case, then the Way of Ether would probably be the first to be annexed by the Embers.

Moreover, artificial intelligence is no longer rare nowadays, and there are many forms of it. There are also ancient blessed creations that have developed intelligence after being used for a long time.

For the original Ji Jue, it was actually the simplest thing - just throw a deus ex machina over and be done with it.

Whatever you want, you will get it.

The reason why he adopted such a troublesome method was that he hoped that the mimic soul he created could achieve a perfect match with fluid alchemy. For this reason, he spent a lot of time to gradually learn this method. Fluid alchemy originally had considerable advantages in this aspect. The artificial life created by Mercury in the Rift Realm in the past could even reach a level that was difficult to distinguish from real people after several iterations.

Now, when the pure spiritual essence was circulated under the guidance of fluid alchemy and turned into a small vortex, Ji Jue knew that the crucial moment had come.

Gives qualities to the blank ectoplasm.

Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed the materials beside the cauldron. There were all gemstone dusts that Ji Jue had ground to the limit with his own spiritual essence and his own hands.

Although he no longer has the natural talent for finesse, his experience and muscle memory are still there, and his hands are an absolutely accurate scale.

10 grams of opal, representing inspiration and creativity, endow the empty shell of the soul with the initial flash of inspiration; 6 grams of amethyst, symbolizing wisdom, endows it with the ability to think and summarize independently; 4 grams of sapphire, symbolizing long-term vision, allows it to not be bound by the present world and difficulties, but to focus on the future...

"Well, add a little self-help initiative, a little reason, a little passion..."

Ji Jue began to add ingredients with great interest, watching the transparent blank soul gradually take on various colors and mix with each other. However, when he waved his hand, his sleeve swept across the table and knocked over the test tube rack.

In an instant, a large amount of gem powder of various colors poured down, and he had no time to stop it.

A boiling sound suddenly rang out, the colorful lights changed in a complex manner, the spiritual essence was turbulent, and it was almost unbearable.

Ji Jue was busy cleaning the table, and finally found that the only thing that survived was the jade powder placed in the corner.

"Oops, I think I forgot to add the human side?"

He was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and looked at the cauldron that was shaking violently in front of him. He subconsciously took a breath of cold air: Damn, it's broken!
It seems like I accidentally created some kind of hateful intelligence?
No, before that, if so much explosive material is released, the newly born blank soul may collapse, and there is no chance of success.

He put his finger on the rewind, ready to start over again.

But the cauldron in front of him suddenly stopped shaking violently and returned to calm.

In the flowing mercury, spots of light rise up, as bright as stars.

Done? !
Ji Jue was stunned. He threw away the remote control and quickly took out the prepared flask.

Using its own spiritual essence to protect itself, it enveloped the fragmented starlight to prevent it from collapsing in the erosion and turmoil of the outside world after it escaped from the cauldron. It then carefully put it into the flask.

The spiritual circuit flashed through the void.

The blockade is complete.

The remaining time is to wait for the reaction to complete.

The newly born soul was reconstructed during the smelting process, and absorbed the spiritual crystals that Ji Jue had originally prepared in the flask, gradually growing stronger. At the same time, it gradually digested the information and memories instilled by Ji Jue in the spiritual crystals.

Just like a baby growing up.

But it only takes a few minutes.

As the countless stars flickered and disappeared, the weight in the empty flask stabilized at thirty-seven grams.

The new core intelligence of the workshop opened its eyes after a long sleep.

Around the flask, the spiritual circuits lit up, and spiritual intelligence spread outward from the flow. Relying on tools, it made the first sound since its birth.

Calm and cold, without any emotions or ups and downs.

it says:

"—at your service, sir."

"yeah!!"

Ji Jue clenched his fists in ecstasy. He didn't expect it to be so smooth the first time. He danced with joy and couldn't believe it: "It actually worked?"

"The self-check is complete for your problem."

The workshop spirit in the bottle replied, "Yes."

It said, "Please name it."

The soul germinates, develops, grows, and is born, continuing the mysteries and laws until now, the final step has arrived - naming.

After getting the name, it will be completely complete.

But at this moment, Ji Jue also hesitated slightly.

The success was so smooth that he thought he would have to try a few more times, so he didn't even have time to think about the problem.

Hearing this, he paused slightly when he opened his mouth, and what emerged in his mind was the scene in the rift in the past, that old face, cunning and calm, hatred and calmness, teaching and guidance, and the relieved and relaxed smile when he said goodbye for the last time.

He laughed at himself and looked at Zhineng:

"You can just call yourself... the Prophet."

"reject."

The resolute voice made Ji Jue stand there in a daze.

【? 】

What the hell?

Theoretically speaking, naming is equivalent to establishing a pure master-slave relationship. From then on, the craftsman and the soul are integrated and cannot be separated.

But the book doesn't say that this newly born spirit will refuse to be named!

"Why?" Ji Jue was puzzled.

"According to previous data retrieval, this name has already been adopted by other intelligences. This behavior of the user is usually called 'eating a meal replacement'."

The spirit of the workshop said: "Remind users not to project their feelings for other creations onto 'me'."

"What the hell is eating meal replacements!"

Ji Jue felt really bad. It turned out that you artificial intelligences are not allowed to have the same name!
But it’s the first time for everyone, so there’s no need to be too particular. Besides, Ji Jue doesn’t care about this. Since you are not satisfied, just change it.

He thought for a long time: "That's called... Fool?"

The spirit of the workshop answered flatly: "No."

"What's wrong again!" Ji Jue glared.

"Not nice."

The workshop spirit’s answer was concise and to the point, overwhelming Ji Jue.

Okay, okay, you’ve picked it, right?
Ji Jue slapped his knees and said, "Why not just call..."

"reject."

This time, he was rejected before he even said anything.

【? ? ? 】

The Spirit of the Workshop said: "On a comprehensive basis, the inherent dependency path of users in naming does not conform to the positioning and role of 'I'."

Ji Jue was angry: "You didn't even listen, how do you know it doesn't match!"

The spirit of the workshop said: "Based on the reasoning, it is nothing more than XX cattle and horses, right?"

Ji Jue: “…”

Workshop Spirit: "Really?"

"..."

In the silence, Ji Jue looked away and did not answer.

For the next hour, Ji Jue was fighting wits and courage with the newly born spirit of the workshop.

He had no awareness of what to do when facing an out-of-control creation and threw the rewinding aside.

The main thing is that he is determined to do it!
You can argue if you want, it's not useless, and isn't it lively and healthy? !
What a personality!

Flint didn't work because it was too ugly; Siren didn't work because it was too abstract; Truth didn't work because it was too far away; Astra didn't work because it was inexplicable... In the end, among a bunch of names such as Bast, Hela, Hel, Ereshgajeel, etc., the Spirit of the Workshop chose the final name.

【Isis】

"Why?" Ji Jue was puzzled.

This name is a fragment of mythology passed down from long before the Chaos Age. It is said that this goddess of life and growth fell into the underworld. No one understands why she likes it so much.

"like me."

Isis replied: "Isis rises from Hades and falls, falls from life into death and rises again. She is called the goddess of rebirth and reincarnation. The Emerald Record says that she rises from the earth and falls from the sky.

Just like I was born from nothingness, reborn from the spirit substance, but will still return to nothingness, right? "

"..."

Ji Jue shook his head, "Why not call her Persephone? Isn't it the same?"

"It's different. Isis's husband is dead."

Isis replied: "From your naming habits, you seem to be quite persistent about this. Combined with the knowledge and memories you have injected, I guess that the death of a partner seems to be a good thing worth celebrating in human society."

She said: "I hope this name will bring you some good luck."

In the silence, Ji Jue had nothing to say and his expression twitched.

"...I thank you."

"You're welcome."

In the flask, bright starlight flashed, just like the proud opening and closing of eyes.

She said, "My Lord."

　Ah, it's the end of the month! Please give me a month~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)