Chapter 00210: Bad News and Judgment
# Bad News and Judgment
Chapter 210
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 210: Bad News and Judgment
Du Deng Meyer, male, thirty-five years old, fifth-tier Ember, a craftsman.
Born in the Thousand Islands, a common mixed-blood, like any ordinary Ember, he learned from many masters, absorbing various skills—meaning he drifted from workshop to workshop doing odd jobs.
In pursuit of becoming a craftsman, he chased after corruption and, after receiving the blessing of stagnation, kowtowed to the Abyssal Mentor, Jian Yuan, becoming a flute-playing disciple—or at least a nominal one.
Officially a student, but in reality, a tool.
Jian Yuan, a master who had already made a name for himself a century ago, defected from the association and joined the Nine Calamities.
He was a model of teaching without discrimination.
For his students, he taught whatever was useful, and once taught, he used them until they were worn out.
Over the years, as the number of his students grew, it seemed like a gathering of talents, producing countless monsters and demons, earning him the title of the "Stagnant Furnace of Corruption," implying that his furnace had birthed countless freaks.
And Du Deng was the least talented among the worst batch... not a metaphor, but the real deal.
His foundation was scattered, his theories were weak, and in the four areas of Ascension, Extraction, Purification, and Integration, he was mediocre at best.
After piecing together a bunch of contradictory skills, he couldn't integrate them or refine them.
He ate from a hundred tables and ended up with a stomachache, learned a hundred skills but lost touch with all his teachers.
In the end, he became a barely passable craftsman, and that was it for his life.
No more progress.
This was what Jian Yuan had told him outright.
If it weren't for the severe lack of manpower, he wouldn't even have been considered as a tool.
But in Du Deng's eyes, it was clearly because the old man was stingy with his teachings, deliberately discouraging him.
In his words, the old man was as bad as they come, as cruel as they come, even slapping passing cats... nothing like the magnanimous, kind, and approachable senior before him now!
So, could you please spare my miserable life out of mercy, seeing how I've confessed everything? I'm willing to turn over a new leaf, become a dog for the Security Bureau, and be forever grateful for your kindness...
No torture, no coercion, not even an interrogation.
Ji Jue had just started, and before the process could even begin, Du Deng's mouth started firing like a machine gun, spilling everything.
Desperate to buy his life with details.
Especially after Ji Jue, in front of him, used a disintegration technique to destroy an alchemical device, then silently placed his hand on Du Deng's body...
Then, there was a long silence.
Everyone was silent.
Tong Shan hesitated for a moment, about to speak, but Xu Guan, who had been monitoring the whole time, rubbed his face and sighed silently, "He's not lying."
No traces of lies, no omissions of key points.
Either this guy was playing the fool, his level so high that he could easily crush everyone present, just playing a game out of some twisted amusement.
Or... he was telling the truth.
Then, a collective gasp filled the room.
Ji Jue's face was expressionless, Tong Shan lowered his eyes in silence, Lou Feng's face turned ashen, and the other members burst out in curses from their hometowns or the cliffs.
It was like a gathering of demons and monsters...
In the current Spring City, it was a gathering of heroes.
Under the leadership of the current High Priest, Priest, and Saint Envoy of the Cult of Corruption—the big boss, Lu Changsheng—the Nine Calamities surged like a storm.
All sorts of shady characters emerged from the shadows, gathering in Spring City through hidden paths beneath the vortex, planning a major event that only the most deranged would love.
What exactly this major event was, Du Deng, a small fry who could only serve as a tool for Jian Yuan and was even considered clumsy, had no idea.
But just looking at the scale...
Each one was more heavyweight than the last.
First, the Cult of Corruption, which worshipped evil beings and spread corruption; then the infamous Dragon Sacrifice Society; the Temple of No Leakage, which followed the Abyss and advocated the extinction of all life; the Heavenly Heart Society, chosen by the Great Calamity of the Heart, Wei Yang; and the Abyssal Craftsmen of the Stagnation lineage...
Look at these five groups, each one a lawless outlaw, each one a seasoned demon, each one a darling of the Nine Calamities.
Oh, the Dragon Sacrifice Society was a bit of a gray area, but still... the Dragon Sacrifice Society, in pursuit of becoming dragons and chasing disasters, had done even more outrageous things!
These five bizarre groups coming together to do something big...
Hai Zhou had never seen such a gathering of talents!
Even if, apart from the Cult of Corruption, they couldn't all come out in full force, at least they sent their strongest and most reliable members.
The Cult of Corruption alone against the Security Bureau was like an egg hitting a rock, but with these demons and monsters united, things were about to get bad.
Even though there was fierce infighting among them, with dogs biting dogs non-stop, they weren't fools.
With great benefits at stake, even if there were disagreements, they were just minor disputes.
They would definitely do something big first!
Do something big! Do something big! Do something big!
Ji Jue couldn't even imagine what kind of ghost these extraordinary talents could dig up together!
He had thought that after crippling a team from the Cult of Corruption, these guys would suffer heavy losses, or at least be in pain for a long time.
But now, it seemed like it was nothing.
Just a small matter.
A minor ailment, not worth worrying about.
Now, they weren't even considered a major threat...
Whether it was fortunate or not—Lou Feng's aunt had news.
The good news was that she was still alive; the bad news was, that's all there was to it.
The survivors of the permanent investigation team hadn't been slaughtered, nor had they been humiliated or tortured.
They had all been frozen on the spot and taken away.
No one knew where they had been taken.
Lou Feng's expression darkened, and he said nothing more.
He gritted his teeth and turned to leave.
He threw himself into dismantling the workshop, forcing himself to shift his focus.
But judging by the loud sounds of destruction, it was clear how bad his state was.
Ji Jue sighed.
At this point, there was no point in regretting the small losses.
He just hoped Lou Feng could hold on.
"Found it!"
In the midst of the search, Ji Xue, with her terrifying speed and efficiency, finally found the most crucial thing—a palm-sized disk engraved with numerous characters, its pointer constantly rotating.
Like a compass.
The others' spirits lifted, and they looked at Xu Guan.
After Xu Guan finished his inspection and nodded slowly, they finally couldn't hold back and let out a sigh of relief!
It was Du Deng's Geomantic Compass.
The Abyssal Craftsmen would never sleep in the same bed as the Cult of Corruption.
Saying they shared the same bed but had different dreams would be a compliment.
During his several trips in and out of Spring City, Du Deng had secretly recorded several different routes on his Geomantic Compass.
Otherwise, if the situation changed and the Cult of Corruption packed up and left, what would happen to their allies?
Stay in Spring City and wait to die?
In these times, the most important thing wasn't whether you could succeed, but whether you could ensure you could continue to act if you failed.
Now, with Du Deng's map, as long as they disguised themselves well, they might be able to slip out in time.
The opportunity was right before them.
Next was the matter of dealing with Du Deng...
When everyone's cold eyes turned to him, Du Deng's face changed drastically, and he began to beg and kowtow frantically to Ji Jue.
Ji Jue was about to speak when he heard Lou Feng call his name.
Lou Feng stood in Du Deng's workshop, pushing open the door, his expression unprecedentedly grim.
"Come here."
He said, "Look at this."
Then, Ji Jue's face also turned grim.
In the workshop was a half-assembled giant machine, like some complex pillar, engraved with numerous spirit circuits, rigorous yet bizarre in design.
Some parts completely defied modern alchemy, yet somehow they fit together, making it work.
If it weren't for the thick stack of design drawings and the detailed instructions that guaranteed no mistakes as long as you followed them, Ji Jue would have had no idea what this thing was.
Actually, he still didn't understand.
The maker, Du Deng, didn't understand either, but he didn't dare to ask.
His teacher told him to do something, and he did it.
Asking too many questions? Did he want to go to graduate school? In Jian Yuan's eyes, further education was never a good thing.
Ji Jue could only guess what this thing was for based on the fragmented insights from the Mechanical God, his own theoretical knowledge, and the instructions.
But even the little he guessed made his heart sink.
"Can you be sure?" Ji Jue asked, holding onto a sliver of hope.
Lou Feng was silent for a moment, then his voice was equally hoarse: "It's because I can't be sure that I called you. But the parameters are like this, the spirit frequency and verification sequence modules... I've seen them before."
Ji Jue was speechless.
"Is it that serious?" Tong Shan asked.
"... Let me explain from the beginning."
Ji Jue took a deep breath, steadied himself, and with trembling fingers, flipped to the last page of the design drawings: "To put it simply, this thing is like a substation."
"What does it do?"
"In simple terms, its function is to connect to a massive system, acting as a node and extension, preventing shocks from output peaks and troughs, and acting as a buffer."
Tong Shan was even more confused: "What's the problem with that?"
"That's the problem."
Ji Jue swallowed dryly, flipping to the middle of the design drawings and pointing at the parameters and requirements, "Why would an Abyssal Craftsman in Spring City use the Security Bureau's verification standards? And why are the internal spirit frequency and sequence verification identical to those of the outpost?"
"..."
Tong Shan's face also turned grim, unprecedentedly so: "Are you really sure?"
"I don't know, I'm just a sidekick apprentice."
Ji Jue smiled bitterly.
When he was fighting in the lounge, he hadn't expected such a pitfall waiting for him.
Even if he had been involved, he might still have been clueless.
Professor Ye's style was to say nothing unnecessary, and to let you learn everything on your own.
For projects unrelated to Ji Jue and involving the big picture, she would at most throw him in as a laborer, letting him learn as much as he could, and see as much as he could, all on his own.
"Honestly, I don't know the association's plans or the specifics of the implementation, so I can't gauge how bad the situation is."
Ji Jue pondered, organizing his words: "If we're lucky, it's just a simple case of information leakage, with someone passing the specifications and verifications to the Cult of Corruption. Worse, they might have already prepared countermeasures, rendering the association's efforts useless."
But if luck was worse...
Ji Jue didn't continue.
It was possible that after the association's many masters and craftsmen had painstakingly proposed an entire plan and completed ninety-nine percent of the project, they suddenly found all parts unresponsive.
And the long-awaited opponent pulled out a remote control from their pocket...
At that point, you could start praying it was just a regular adult toy.
The beauty of humanity is that you can always hold onto hope.
So, it could be, it might be.
It better be!!!
But at that moment, as if in a hallucination, Ji Jue heard a weary sigh.
Then, a terrifying roar shook the heavens and earth, enveloping Spring City, even in the broken workshop.
The lights flickered, and countless dust particles fell.
In the workshop, the unfinished device lit up with countless spirit circuits, as if desperately responding to something, but soon, under pressure, it disintegrated and fell silent.
Then, everyone saw.
The sky lit up.
In the sound of cracking, the black clouds that had shrouded Spring City for decades silently dissipated, revealing the long-lost stars of the mortal world.
It was as if an invisible force had dug through the rotten soil, reaching deep into the earth, directly bringing the buried graves back to the mortal world, but the mortal world was so cruel.
The sky was filled with cracks, and the starlight was so fragile.
Countless strange lights flowed within, turning into a rainstorm.
A torrent of polluted rain poured down, soaking everything.
Thick white mist spread in all directions, but it seemed to be restrained by some invisible force, the piercing sound echoing across the sky, unable to expand.
Countless strange figures in Spring City howled in excitement, running wild.
The darkness surged, boiling endlessly.
Spring City was rising, step by step, laden with decades of accumulated hatred and resentment... slowly and methodically breaking through the blockade, heading towards the mortal world.
And the boulder in Ji Jue's heart finally sank to the eighteenth basement.
When people are speechless, they sometimes laugh inexplicably.
But no sound came out.
"... On the bright side, at least we don't have to find a way out anymore, right?"
No one responded.
In the dead silence, there was only silence, and even the trembling and frightened voices in the pool of blood.
"No, not me,"
Du Deng squirmed, struggling, shouting in terror: "Spare me, spare me, I know nothing, I'm innocent! Really... I, I..."
Tong Shan didn't even want to speak, just reached out, but his raised wrist was caught by Ji Jue.
As if believing his words.
Curiously asking:
"Really?"
For a moment, Du Deng was ecstatic, wanting to nod, but found he couldn't move.
Wanting to cleverly explain or cover up, but no words came out.
Before those eyes gradually ignited by some flame, he could no longer speak.
"Are you innocent?"
Ji Jue asked softly, step by step, moving forward.
Du Deng trembled, opening his mouth, but his throat seemed to betray him, unable to speak lies.
The path of Embers was inherently cruel, and such shallow words as good and evil could not measure a craftsman.
Moreover, those who turned to corruption need not speak of morals and bottom lines—things that didn't exist.
He had mastered dozens of skills, but which one was not steeped in betrayal and death? He had created hundreds of works, but how many carried hope, free of malicious intent?
Refining living bodies to elevate spiritual intelligence, sacrificing infants to extract material properties, stripping souls to purify materials...
Among the infinite evils of the world, was his share so small as to be forgiven and ignored?
Ji Jue stepped forward, asking again: "Do you practice the path of supreme goodness, uphold the principles of change?"
The calm, almost abnormal voice echoed in the broken workshop, firm as iron, sharp as a blade, piercing the soul, resonating endlessly.
The color drained from his face.
And within the matrix, the traces of corruption could no longer be hidden, all revealed, the sticky black rising like thick smoke.
It had long since... penetrated his soul and marrow!
At that moment, Ji Jue finally unlocked the shackles.
Thus, the anger and killing intent that had risen in his spirit since entering the workshop could no longer be restrained, filling his consciousness.
Along with it, a tiny, almost imperceptible flame deep within Ji Jue's soul awakened.
So familiar.
But completely different from the flames seen in nightmares.
Like a mark or scar that, once touched, could never be erased, or a wish and hope flowing from a moment of fusion in a distant realm.
A trivial mark.
But when awakened, it spread like fire, uncontrollably enveloping the soul, consciousness, and everything.
Thus, pushing him forward.
Urging him to ask.
To fulfill this mission and duty.
Thus, from the brilliant flames within his soul, his eyes gradually shone with a dazzling pure white.
Like burning mercury.
Looking down.
"Finally—"
Ji Jue lowered his eyes, "Do you have any other defense to offer?"
No one responded.
Only the sound of cracking came from Du Deng's body.
His face contorted, twitching, unable to avoid Ji Jue's gaze, unable to speak any lies.
In that solemn gaze, countless traces of corruption violently stirred, as if trying to escape the unworthy vessel.
But they could not break free from the faint flame's restraint.
To others, it seemed like ordinary questioning, but to Du Deng, it was like being thrown into a furnace, brutally smelted, unable to resist.
Like hell.
"I... I..."
Du Deng's face twisted, twitching, his bloodshot eyes wide, desperately opening his mouth, mustering all his strength, roaring: "I'm not wrong! What do you know, people like you, what do you know!! I just, I only..."
Wanted to reach higher!
I just wanted to...
The roar and wail were cut off.
A hand covered with intricate silver marks pressed against his face, cutting off all thoughts, words, and resistance.
"Turning to stagnation, betraying change, creating chaos with oddities, causing disorder with excess."
Ji Jue sighed regretfully: "What you have become no longer bears the mark of renewal, your path ahead is only rooted in cruelty and emptiness..."
Therefore—
—I judge you as a calamity.
A light, ethereal spiritual fluctuation spread from between his fingers, instantly enveloping the body, reaching everywhere.
Soul, blessing, matrix... wherever it passed, everything turned to ash in the terrifying vibration akin to the disintegration technique!
Nothing remained.
This is the only end for you calamity-chasing scum!
(End of Chapter)