Chapter 00218: Smart Home
# Smart Home
Chapter 218
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 218: Smart Home
In the accelerated time, everything seemed to slow down.
By the time Ji Liu had carved a path through the chaos, the outermost obstacle, split in two from the middle, hadn’t even had the chance to fall to the ground.
Ji Liu didn’t look back.
He didn’t give himself a moment to catch his breath.
The blood flames surged once more.
He smashed through the wall in front of him, his halberd piercing through layer after layer, unstoppable as a raging tide.
Only when he felt the massive spiritual reaction right in front of him, as if he had hit an invisible wall, did Ji Liu’s heart leap with joy.
He had found it!
The outer layer of protection for the ritual core!
In this slowed-down time, he had no time to worry about the chaos and attacks behind him.
He entrusted his life and trust entirely to his companions, charging forward without looking back.
His hands rose, and all the blood and fire surged, coiling around his axe and halberd.
In the end, no flames could be seen—only a patchwork of rusted crimson covered the blades.
Destruction and annihilation were fully imbued within them.
His eyes widened, and a crimson light flickered in his pupils, silently igniting.
“BREAK—FOR—ME!!!”
In that instant, a deafening roar erupted, so loud that even telekinetic barriers couldn’t block it.
Countless streaks of crimson light burst forth from the swing of the axe, converging and finally slashing down with a mighty, swirling force!
A sound like a bubble popping echoed.
Screams, chaos, panic.
A spiritual barrier appeared out of nowhere, only to shatter.
Another one formed, but it was still no match.
Under the impact of Ji Liu’s self-sacrificial technique, [Tempered Through Battle], the defenses of the ritual core shattered with a resounding crash!
At the same time, cracks appeared all over Ji Liu’s body, and a hot mist of blood sprayed out.
He felt a breeze brush past him.
Two figures had already rushed past him without looking back.
In the moment they passed, one of them patted his shoulder.
“Thanks, bro.”
“Tch…”
Ji Liu’s lips twitched slightly.
Only at times like this did she act like a little sister.
He chuckled silently.
Then, he pushed himself up and turned around.
He looked at the figures that had finally reacted or were already charging at him.
His cracked axe and halberd rose once more, and with a wild laugh, Ji Liu charged forward.
Behind the rapidly closing fissure, in the chaotic workshop, the craftsmen had only just realized what was happening.
Instinctively, they rushed toward the massive pillar-like core.
They wanted to sound the alarm.
But it was already too late.
In the sixth second of the real world, at the end of the accelerated minute, Ji Xue stumbled and fell to the ground.
All her enhancements vanished in an instant.
Blood seeped from her nose and mouth as her spiritual energy depleted.
But in that final moment, the full force of her acceleration had already been poured into Ji Jue’s body.
At the same time, the monstrous strength she had developed from years of sparring with her brother erupted, hurling him toward the massive pillar.
Like a cannonball.
—Tenfold acceleration, one second!
A flash of light, and Ji Jue had already landed from mid-air, his left hand pressing against the meticulously crafted central control of the core.
Without hesitation, he activated [Mechanical Descent]!
Bang!
The moment his spiritual energy was injected, it was repelled.
It had no effect.
The core stood firm.
As a creation of the craftsmen, it rejected any spiritual input that didn’t have the proper verification sequence!
But unfortunately, Ji Jue’s right hand had already pressed down on it.
—[Disintegration]!
A ripple of spiritual energy spread out instantly, and the complex structure and modules of the core appeared in Ji Jue’s mind.
But none of that mattered now.
What Ji Jue was about to unleash was a complete destruction of all spiritual constructs and alchemical creations!
In the hundredfold accelerated time, even the faint hum caused by vibrations turned into a sharp, glass-scraping noise when it reached the outside world.
In an instant, the sound of shattering erupted.
In the intricate structure of the core, the outermost circuits and protections had been ruthlessly smashed open by Ji Jue.
Then, [Mechanical Descent] was injected into it!
And so, everything within the bank appeared before his eyes—
By the time the craftsman finally lunged forward and pressed his hand on the control panel, countless error alerts had already appeared on the projection, with no response whatsoever.
His permissions had been completely revoked.
In the span of a single snap, all internal authentication had been wiped clean, falling under Ji Jue’s control.
The craftsman stared blankly, looking up at the sweat-drenched Ji Jue.
Ji Jue also looked up, smiling at him.
“Well, well, who would’ve thought?”
Ji Jue browsed through the core’s functions, raising an eyebrow in surprise. “You even set up a smart home system?”
This just made things…
So much easier for me!
Click!
With a crisp sound, under the control of the ritual core, the light membrane defenses instantly turned inward, sealing everything off.
Then, all the locked doors swung open, and the internal defenses were deactivated.
Immediately after, in the core’s detection system, the signals representing allies and enemies suddenly flipped.
The massive pillar of the core roared to life, operating at full capacity.
All spiritual energy supply was cut off.
Matrix suppression, blessing interference, and chaotic ripples of light spread throughout the bank.
“Alright, Plant.”
Ji Jue’s voice came through the now completely clear and interference-free channel, filled with satisfaction. “Go all out.”
“Got it.”
Tong Shan’s voice responded.
In his hands, the vortex pattern on the flag contracted endlessly.
Pale chaotic currents rose out of nowhere, gathering and compressing until, at the top of the flagpole, they formed a pale spiral.
Fragile as a bubble.
Then, the storm compressed to its limit was released at this very moment!
Straight down!
Piercing through all obstacles, it descended from the sky alongside him!
The altar shattered, blood mist boiled, and crimson spread.
Tong Shan didn’t even need to destroy anything further.
The underground vault was already in complete disarray, with everyone still reeling from the shock.
The priest, who had just exhausted himself dispelling the mutated entity [Hunger House], didn’t even have time to react.
The appearance of a burning star manifested.
The tip of the flagpole pierced through!
As the group charged into the bank, continuous tremors and dull thuds erupted.
Outside, Lou Feng grew increasingly anxious.
He couldn’t figure out what was going on, nor did he understand what was happening inside.
He kept fidgeting with the grip in his hands until the heavy sniper rifle vibrated in dissatisfaction.
Damn it, don’t touch me!
Feeling the rifle’s displeasure, Lou Feng’s eye twitched, and he wanted to curse—of course, anything related to Ji Jue was bound to be abnormal!
At this moment, the sniper rifle, firmly mounted on its base, remained motionless.
But Lou Feng was restless, instinctively crafting bullets with his skills, loading them one by one into the magazine.
By the time all four spare magazines were fully loaded, not much time had passed.
“Don’t worry, no news means everything’s fine,” Xu Guan tried to comfort him, though he hadn’t even noticed that the notebook in his hand was crumpled and deformed.
Lou Feng sighed, speechless.
Or rather, all the curses in his heart were directed at Ji Jue.
What was the point of giving him this thing out of the blue?
He glanced at the sniper rifle in front of him, utterly confused.
Even with only a basic understanding of firearms, he knew that different fields were like different mountains.
At best, he had only learned how to shoot small-caliber handguns for self-defense in case of spiritual energy depletion.
But how to operate a sniper rifle? He had no clue.
“Never learned? Even better, it’s simpler. Look, here’s the trigger, here’s the bolt, pull this to reload, here’s the safety—don’t worry about it, you can leave it on all the time, it won’t fire accidentally. Aiming? No need to aim, just listen to it. When you hear the BGM, just spin it and you’re good to go!”
What the hell?
What kind of operating manual was this?!
BGM? Spin? What kind of professional terms were these? Why did he not understand any of it?
Lou Feng was completely baffled, racking his brains for any relevant memories, only to find none.
Was Ji Jue trying to set him up? To drag the whole team down? But he hadn’t done anything to offend him recently.
Was it about the incident in the Rift? He’d already been kidnapped and extorted for a huge sum! Could Ji Jue really hold a grudge like that?
If he died, it wouldn’t matter—his family had plenty of members.
But what about his aunt? At this point, he had no choice but to submit.
He couldn’t give away his teacher’s secret techniques, but he still had plenty of shares inherited from his mother.
If necessary, he could…
Lost in his distracted thoughts, he was drenched in sweat before he even realized it.
He didn’t even notice Ji Jue’s voice in the comms.
But then, the sniper rifle in front of him suddenly let out a crisp *ding*.
He snapped out of his daze and looked up, just in time to hear the small speaker on the stand vibrate.
Then, a series of intense drumbeats and piercing electronic music burst forth.
A collection of cheesy DJ tracks copied from Lu Feng began to play!
In the completely degraded sound quality caused by the corrupted environment, amidst the noise and electronic beats, a lively voice filled the air: “Pack up your bags and go…”
So cheesy! So damn cheesy!!!
No matter how many times he heard it, Lou Feng’s face instinctively scrunched up in disgust.
But the moment he realized what was happening, he instinctively grabbed the sniper rifle from the stand and pulled the trigger.
Boom!!!
The bullet flew out of the barrel, piercing through the wall and disappearing.
But in Xu Guan’s ether perception, a red outline suddenly exploded.
Then, silence.
Lou Feng instinctively turned the rifle, feeling as though he were holding a furious, struggling dragon.
He used all his strength to keep the gun steady, his finger instinctively pulling the trigger.
Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!
The deafening roars and vibrations continued.
In the ether perception, one red outline after another was torn apart by the alchemical bullets.
In less than a few seconds, the entire magazine was empty.
Lou Feng fumbled to reload and continued.
The recoil of the rifle kept slamming into his shoulder, but he didn’t even notice the spreading pain.
In this unprecedented focus and joy, he suddenly felt a dizzying sense of exhilaration.
The earlier tension and confusion had completely vanished.
In their place was an unprecedented certainty and confidence!
—He was spinning!
Not him spinning, but the world spinning around him!
In an unconscious fit of laughter, Lou Feng nodded along to the intense DJ beats, instinctively singing along.
He… was spinning!
(End of Chapter)