Chapter 214

For a moment, the sound of gasping for air was endless.

It's just that in the stuffy underground, there's nowhere cool to be found, and all everyone is breathing into their stomachs is the pungent, scorching wind...

Just a momentary sweep, a wisp of mercury thread that was difficult for the naked eye to observe, easily cut off Lou Feng's hair.

Cutting hair by blowing on it is nothing more than this.

Although most people present could easily achieve the same effect, wanting to be so hidden is simply impossible. What's more, what just came out of the furnace was far more than just this one strand.

Didn't expect that after Ji Jue squatted by the furnace all night, he would come up with such an outrageous little prop for a locked-room slaughter.

For a time, even the eyes looking at Lou Feng became increasingly admiring—didn't expect that you Yu Jin artisans usually look gentle and human-like, but you have a handful of deadly things in your pockets!

What other world-shocking wisdom do you have to show?!

In the unrealistic expectations, Lou Feng's eye twitches again and again, his gaze sweeping past the broken end of his forehead hair, glaring at Ji Jue.

This dog thing must have done it on purpose just now!

Ji Jue smiles innocently, pretending not to know what happened.

After a short practice, the operation becomes increasingly practiced. Liquid mercury flows and changes between his ten fingers, like stretching dough; every time it closes and stretches, the mercury threads increase in number while becoming finer.

In the end, between his hands, it seems as if they are already covered in flowing silver brilliance.

When thousands of fine threads fall, scattering on the ground, the luster flows between the fine threads, looking like water waves, swaying and moving, so graceful.

"Done."

Ji Jue's index finger and thumb close, pinching carefully, feeling the silk-like touch and thickness, estimating the diameter.

After a large amount of fine processing experience, the blessing of 'Hand of Heaven' has grown to the point where, in this pinch, it is enough to obtain detailed data through touch, and when judging the situation to three decimal places, it is not inferior to professional equipment.

0.012 millimeters, close to 1 silk.

If one deliberately goes to control it, it can be even lower. Under the premise of maintaining operation and control, it should be able to be pressed to about 0.3 silk, but that is already meaningless; there is no need for it to be that low.

Ji Jue's hands close, the flowing thousands of wisps of mercury merge again, or interweave, and in the gentle interlacing of the ten fingers, they entangle in one place without any resistance; in a flash, they turn into a silver-shining woven towel.

The moment he lifts his hand and shakes it open, it starts to expand endlessly; having only consumed more than twenty grams, it covers the entire shelter.

No matter how Ji Jue pulls, cuts, or pierces, in the stretching and deformation, there is no sign of breaking or cracking.

All power comes from the blessing integrated into it.

Among the blessings of the Wasteland lineage, another blessing almost completely opposite to 【Quality of Gold and Iron】—【Form of Ultimate Toughness】!

The effect of Quality of Gold and Iron is to harden the object and improve its hardness, so the effect of Form of Ultimate Toughness is the opposite, softening the acting substance to the limit, thereby obtaining unimaginable toughness and extension ability.

After the two are combined, the defect of Quality of Gold and Iron having too high brittleness is compensated; when facing impact, under the buffering of toughness, the structural stability also ushered in a qualitative leap.

Combining hardness and softness.

The strength of the mercury creation has been greatly improved, and its versatility has been further expanded. With the Form of Ultimate Toughness, Ji Jue has since gotten rid of the defect that cable-type materials cannot be replicated with mercury.

Using humans as a metaphor, if Quality of Gold and Iron is the skeleton responsible for supporting the frame, then Form of Ultimate Toughness is undoubtedly the muscle, sufficient to undertake the needs of transmission functions.

If combined and used well, it is simply infinitely useful!

"Worthy of being a Good Artisan!"

Ji Jue exclaims: "Even in such a chaotic environment, you can ensure precision, meticulously stripping out such a complete blessing; thank you, Young Master Lou!"

This was when they raided the branch of the Huaxie Sect earlier, Lou Feng urgently stripped it from a Wasteland Chosen One. Opportunities are rare; Quality of Gold and Iron is still considered common for the Wasteland, but a Chosen One with such an offbeat blessing as Form of Ultimate Toughness in the early stage is simply too rare.

For this, Ji Jue voluntarily gave up most of the materials in the workshop that he couldn't use as a labor fee.

Anyway, it was picked up for free, nothing to regret.

But Good Artisan is really easy to use...

You say, what kind of genius invented a matrix like Good Artisan?

At this moment, noticing Ji Jue's eager and enthusiastic eyes, Lou Feng snorts coldly: "You worry less about me, that's better than anything!"

Don't I know what you dog thing is thinking?

You're targeting my matrix again, aren't you!

"Oh, how could that be!"

Ji Jue shakes his head and sighs, "Look at what you're saying, am I that kind of person!"

"Don't you know in your own heart whether you are or not!" Lou Feng is almost laughed to anger: "If your dog eyes glanced at my matrix a little less, I might have believed it!"

We're all Yu Jin, who doesn't know what you're thinking about.

"If you're really grateful to me, don't keep me in suspense."

Lou Feng lowers his eyes, looking at the mercury creation in Ji Jue's hands that changes constantly and follows the heart, "Just the blessing of Quality of Gold and Iron is fine, at best it can only be considered a semi-finished product.

But the blessing of Form of Ultimate Toughness, how did you add it in?"

Lou Feng hasn't seen or used mercury as a material; it can be said that it is widely used, whether it is used as an additive to neutralize reactions or as a filter to precipitate impurities, it is already commonplace.

But the reason why few people use it as the main carrier material for blessings is because of its inherent deficiencies—even if pure mercury is extracted and changed, it is still difficult to carry blessings like ordinary metals, and even limited by its liquid nature, it is difficult to engrave and carry even a few complex spiritual quality circuits.

Just a Quality of Gold and Iron, Lou Feng can guess and understand—fluid alchemy has specialties when processing this type of material, what's more, it can be forcibly raised in material properties and defects by improving the essence.

Ji Jue has disguisedly raised the carrying limit of mercury through the improvement of spiritual quality!

But even so, the limit still exists, and after being enhanced once, it will only be more difficult, more troublesome, and more exaggerated to enhance it again.

If there were no limit, then what would everyone learn modern alchemy for? Everyone would kowtow to mercury and become the disciples and grandchildren of fluid alchemy; wouldn't that be wonderful? How could it fall to the point of being a lost art?

Or is Feigong just that awesome?

You have to know, the stable coexistence between multiple blessings is, even for an artisan, an engineering project that must be carefully considered, cautious, and walking on thin ice.

What's more, it is this kind of blessing that, although from the same source, shows repulsion, coexisting within such an unstable carrier as mercury, and can still operate stably.

What's the difference between this and you taking a microwave motherboard to play 3A games and playing two at once?!

To this, Ji Jue just smiles mysteriously: "Do you really want to know?"

Lou Feng rolls his eyes: "If it's a secret, I won't ask. If you really intend to say it, I'll pay..."

"No need to pay."

Ji Jue doesn't care about the tricks behind the magic, "It's very simple, because I didn't fix it at all; let alone fix it, I didn't even mess with it."

As he speaks, his hands separate.

Immediately, the mercury at his feet also opens from the middle, splitting into two; one is as hard as steel, and the other is as soft as water, distinct and clear, leaving Lou Feng stunned in place.

"Did you forget that mercury is liquid." Ji Jue starts to laugh, "That is to say, there's no need to be so troublesome; I just need to mix the two parts of mercury together and use them, isn't that the end of it?"

How does a semi-finished product accommodate two complete blessings?

Very simple, one semi-finished product can't handle it, just change it to two semi-finished products. Then mix these two parts together, make do, and use it as a finished product.

Isn't it all the same!

What else do you want?

For a time, in the dullness, Lou Feng almost splits apart.

What the hell is this?!

As an artisan apprentice with a formal education, he looks for ways from theory and finds problems from principles, but he didn't expect to encounter such a wild solution from Ji Jue.

This is too rough, rough to the point of being unbearable, but it is genuinely effective and easy to use.

It's just an emergency enhancement measure.

Starting from the extreme cost-performance perspective, solving problems with the most stingy method and the most effortless angle—add more flour if there's too much water, add more water if there's too much flour. Why so much trouble? I know if a high-voltage cable has electricity just by touching it!

If you ask Ji Jue, Young Master Lou is harmed by a wealthy life!

Always wanting everything to be perfect.

If you have repaired cars for two more years, you would have learned all the crooked ways—even if the A and B pillars are broken, you can straighten them with pliers, weld them, and continue to use them; as long as the car can start, it's fine. As for what the chassis and suspension look like, don't look down; it's not good for you.

Just tell me if it can drive!

Bitching so much? Don't want to pay? Haven't you seen that big black-skinned guy picking his feet on the recliner? I advise you to think clearly before speaking...

If you want to talk about high-precision theory, Ji Jue might show weakness.

But if you want to talk about how to make do to the limit within your ability, he understands it too well!

"... Wrong!"

After all, he is Young Master Lou, knowledgeable and experienced; after reacting from the initial shock, he immediately understands the trick: "Simultaneously fusing and operating multiple different blessing creations, and so stably, what kind of technique is this? The parallel knots of the Bai Chao workshop? The dual-flow same-path of the Empire? Doesn't look like it, neither is it; is this the style of the Thousand Islands?"

Bending down, just after touching it twice, the general situation is already clear in his heart: "When did you steal... cough, learn the Chengchuan Gathering Form from Nanyun?"

"Hmm? Is that the name?" Ji Jue is surprised: "I don't even know."

Lou Feng's eye twitches wildly, glaring; this dog thing is showing off, right? But immediately after, he hears Ji Jue's voice:

"Want to learn? I'll teach you."

"..."

For a time, Lou Feng is also stunned in place.

But Ji Jue isn't stingy; rolling up his sleeves, he directly uses his two semi-finished products to talk about the connection, series, and combination between different spiritual quality circuits, construction methods, and precautions.

If you want to say it, this can also be considered the result of looting from Du Deng's workshop earlier. Before leaving, Ji Jue, based on the principle of not wasting, dissociated all the large facilities that couldn't be moved!

Not a bit was left.

Including the furnace that Du Deng had saved for who knows how much money to barely construct and carefully tuned who knows how many times—directly selling out all his tricks.

Although the essence is really low and the operation is too amateurish, he also learned many disorganized and unsystematic techniques, and Chengchuan Gathering Form is among them, and it is the most complete one.

And Ji Jue feels that if Du Deng could continue to study, he might not be able to rely on this to summarize all his scattered and chaotic techniques, which can be considered a grand and proper path.

That old man Jianyuan really didn't deceive him; he pointed out the path to him, not hiding anything, but unfortunately, the mud can't support the wall.

No wonder Zhifu doesn't look down on him.

After a round of communication, Young Master Lou went to study by himself with a full notebook, asking a question from time to time, but it didn't take long before he had completely understood the theory, which made Ji Jue look at him with admiration.

Broken, the speed and efficiency of Young Master Lou's rolling are also a bit exaggerated.

A sense of urgency suddenly scratched up.

He couldn't sleep either, so he simply supported himself with a mercury recliner and started writing the half-finished paper, taking Young Master Lou's furnace and Feigong to test on the spot from time to time.

Time passed minute by minute like this.

In the trivial sounds, a crisp sound suddenly rang out.

In the rhythmic knocking sound, a gap slowly appeared on the wall, but no figure could be seen. Two seconds later, Tong Shan's figure suddenly reappeared.

Still the same set of heavy clothes and attire as when he left, he took off his respirator and blew out the vigorously burning candle on the candlestick in his hand. The moment the fire went out, the figure that originally couldn't be perceived or detected appeared before everyone.

If you look closely, the half-candle remaining on the candlestick is surprisingly in the shape of half a finger.

With finger bone as the core, flesh and fat as the wax.

Ji Jue looks at it, envious and eating lemons.

It is indeed the Tong family, rich and oily; such consumable-like blessing creations are in a big pile in their pockets.

——Hand of Deception.

Just as seen in the shape and appearance, it is a candle made of human fingers. Although it is a consumable, the interior is smelted with the blessing of the Mirror lineage, 【Dazzling Sight and Confusing Hearing】.

Lit with the fire of spiritual quality, once lit, the wind cannot move it, and the lighter cannot be observed as long as they are within the range of the candlelight, whether it is sight or sound, and even the movements caused will be completely covered.

When burning, the blessing of 【Dazzling Sight and Confusing Hearing】 will be activated, forcibly distorting all related perceptions, which is called 【Deception】. And the more times of deception, the higher the frequency, the faster the consumption speed.

If Ji Jue watches from the sidelines with the naked eye, it might be able to last for half an hour, but if it is a Heavenly Human of the Ether lineage, even if it is just a glance, this thing will instantly burst, revealing its true form.

Tong Shan has been out for so long, the consumption must be more than one candle.

And on that face that is usually stiff, a rare trace of gloom and worry appears.

"The situation is very bad."

He says bluntly: "The Huaxie Sect is currently in a head-on battle with the Anquan Bureau, and both sides are still in the stage of testing each other, but there have already been many places where they have fought fiercely.

But unlike the scattered situation in the past, this time the cooperation between the few gangs is unexpectedly close.

All the evil pollution accumulated in Quancheng for such a long time has been stimulated, with layers of strict defense, almost like an iron bucket. I risked walking a little further to the front, almost got discovered, and took a very long detour to come back.

If we continue to hide like this, it's probably only a matter of time before we are discovered..."

For a time, everyone's expression became heavy.

Especially when Tong Shan unfolded the Ether Record Book he carried with him, on the automatically recorded map, there was still a large area of darkness, but all the places that had been explored were one piece after another of overlapping scarlet, a large amount of evil pollution residue, and secret ritual blockades. Various dangerous signs were as dense as rain, covering all the blanks.

Simply, minefields everywhere!

And their location was already far outside the range of the outpost; no, it's better to say, it was simply under the butt of the Huaxie Sect!

For a time, everyone looked around, all having an absurd feeling of 'what the hell did you bring me to'.

Is this still Haizhou!

"Things might not be that bad."

After a short pondering, Xu Guan, who had finished reading the records, coughed twice to boost morale: "The enemy is in the light and we are in the dark, so there is still room for operation.

No matter how strict the blockade is, it is mainly against the outside, and it might not be that strong on the inside.

Look, no matter how close their cooperation is, in the final analysis, it's impossible for them to be one family. If we can disguise ourselves as a part of them, maybe we can slip out quietly without causing chaos? As long as we don't walk in the direction of the outpost, we can go out and take a detour before going back."

Once these words were spoken, in the silence, everyone's eyes moved, but they subconsciously lifted their heads and looked at Tong Shan.

This is when the prestige as a captain and the trust between members are shown.

At this critical moment of life and death, everyone instinctively entrusted their trust.

Tong Shan nods slightly, noncommittal: "Team meeting, everyone express their opinions, speak for yourself, be responsible for yourself, be responsible for the team.

Who's first?"

Everyone hesitated for a while.

And on the outer circle, Ji Jue, who was listening on the mercury high stool, couldn't help but lift his head and look at him. His fingers falling on his knees subconsciously tapped twice.

Thinking.

Tong Shan didn't express his position first? That's right, no matter what, his prestige was enough to influence the decisions of most people in the team; if he really wanted to collect opinions, he must wait for others to speak first.

But... collect opinions?

Is it really necessary?

If he intended to retreat, he could just make a decision directly; the direction had already been decided, and the remaining details could be adjusted and refined, so why be so troublesome?

Or is it...

Ji Jue understood in his heart, his gaze met Tong Shan's for a moment, the two looked at each other, said nothing, and their gazes separated upon contact.

Both sides already understood.

And at this moment, the first to stand up is Lou Feng.

"Sorry..."

His expression twitched, pinching the spiritual quality crystal in his hand that hadn't shattered yet: "I, I haven't found my aunt yet, I... I want to stay."

As he spoke, he condensed another crystal from his palm, fixed with spiritual quality blockade: "There is a letter here, Captain Tong, please give it to the teacher.

Everyone has saved me more than once along the way; this is my own stubbornness, and it has nothing to do with others."

Tong Shan accepted the spiritual quality crystal and said nothing.

"I, don't really know, it's all very dangerous." Jiang Xuan scratches his chin, "Since Xu Guan has a way, let's try it? At worst, it's death; fighting one is enough, fighting two is not a loss, fighting three is a profit."

"Hey, it seems I'm the large group, right?"

Ji Liu starts to laugh, pondering for a long time, sighs: "Xiao Xue and I obey orders; you decide, Captain Tong."

"I haven't spoken yet, how can you represent me?" Ji Xue glares angrily.

Ji Liu glances at her, shrugs: "Then you speak—"

"..."

Ji Xue held it in for a long time, becoming increasingly angry, glaring fiercely at her own brother: "Me too!"

Xu Guan's expression is complex; after all, how many years of friendship is it? No matter how slow, he should understand his meaning now.

"Have you really considered it?" he asks solemnly.

"Haven't considered it, confused, a mess, no certainty, don't know." Tong Shan answers bluntly: "The situation is like this, I won't force it.

As a superior, I must consider the opinions of my subordinates.

This time, I'll make it clear."

Tong Shan folds his arms, looking around at everyone: "The situation is like this, the future is unpredictable. Hesitating will only lead to death; either bet on the probability and escape.

Or stay and become a thorn in the side of the Huaxie Sect!"

"Agreed!"

Ji Liu raises his hand without hesitation.

Ji Xue is a beat slow, suddenly angry again, kicking her brother fiercely: "Me too!"

"Ah? Is that how it is?" Jiang Xuan suddenly realizes, grins, "Should have said so earlier, anyway, isn't it the same if we go back and continue to be sent to the front line? Looking at it this way, there's no need."

"..."

Xu Guan hesitated for a long time, sighs, "I have no opinion."

For a time, in the silence, while Lou Feng was still stunned and surprised, Tong Shan's gaze finally fell on Ji Jue.

"Everyone has decided."

Ji Jue is puzzled, "Why ask me?"

"You and Mr. Lou are different from them."

Tong Shan sighs, "You are not people from the Anquan Bureau, haven't received a cent from Tian Yuan... You were pulled into the pit by me. What kind of mess Yacheng is, I know as well as you do, and there's even less reason to call on you to stand out for the sake of the big picture.

Artisans originally have no obligation to sell their lives." He hesitated for a moment, promising: "If you don't agree, I will prioritize retreating."

"... You said it yourself, I'm not from the Anquan Bureau, and there's no reason to sell my life for this mess." Ji Jue sighs.

Tong Shan is silent.

"But I'm still half a Yacheng person, right?"

Ji Jue becomes increasingly helpless, laughing at himself: "I'm quite used to living here; if possible, living here for another ten or twenty years is no problem.

At a time like this, I can't just stand by and run away with my family."

He has already personally experienced the severity of natural disasters.

The horror of man-made disasters is probably even worse.

Once Quancheng bursts, probably more than half of Haizhou will be involved in the pollution and reduced to such a demonic realm.

For so many years, Quancheng has sunk into the darkness; now, even hiding underground, he can still hear the faint crying and wailing that echoes constantly from the depths of the soil like a hallucination.

Too much blood and tears.

So-called death, so-called despair...

But how many more such hells need to be created?

How disgusting does it have to be before they are willing to stop?

He can choose not to be a friend of the Anquan Bureau.

But he and the Huaxie Sect are already enemies!

From the moment that bunch of dogs sent the drifting Time Ruins to Yacheng... Just killing one Lian Cheng is simply not enough!

Even if he can't be a good doctor, at least he can be a good artisan.

There are always people with holes in their brains who like to say 'garbage is treasure in the wrong place', but some garbage is just garbage, hopeless from the bones; if there is really a tiny bit of value, then...

Then what he can do is to send the good materials and beautiful jade that were placed in the wrong place back to where they should be!

In the silence, Ji Jue reaches out, plucking the blade of the bone knife, listening to the faint ringing, and from the long-lasting echo, lifts his head and looks at Tong Zhiwu's serious face.

Suddenly, he smiles compassionately:

"—At this point, can you still add money?"