Chapter 00232: Since We Have Met the Master Craftsman, Why Not Bow
# Since We Have Met the Master Craftsman, Why Not Bow?
Chapter 232
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 232: Since We Have Met the Master Craftsman, Why Not Bow?
Meanwhile, outside the silent storage room on the third floor.
All the craftsmen who rushed here wore ashen faces, trembling as they stood on either side, straining to listen.
The footsteps grew closer, and they were drenched in sweat, struggling to maintain their balance.
In the stillness, Jian Yuan walked with his hands behind his back through the utterly ruined storage facility.
Casually, he crushed a distorted being that tried to crawl out of a broken box, reducing it to a pool of black liquid, which splattered against the wall.
The sound echoed in everyone’s ears, akin to hearing their own blood spill onto the ground.
A shiver of fear gripped them.
Finally, Jian Yuan’s gaze landed on the wall, where a hasty inscription was written in dark ink.
It appeared as though it was a greeting from a visitor.
"Upon hearing of your rich collection, I can hardly contain my joy and made a special visit. I have come in high spirits and shall leave similarly, leaving a poem as a memento."
The poem read:
"A horse is thin, its hair long and hooves fat, a father steals from his son but is not a thief; We have lived half a life, yet neither has seen the other."
Boom!
At that moment when Jian Yuan finished reading, the explosives hidden in the crevice suddenly detonated.
Flames erupted, engulfing everything, waves of force surged, and then, everything came to a sudden halt.
Frozen.
With a mere casual gesture, a snap of his fingers, and without any divine assistance, the pathway of stillness within the wasteland manifested here!
The flames blossomed like flowers, and shattered iron scattered like leaves.
The cracked ink art on the wall appeared even more grotesque and unsightly.
Jian Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, staring for a long time before slowly shaking his head.
"Chun Ling."
Among the rigid, trembling crowd, someone suddenly leaped out, crawling forward and kneeling on the ground: "Master, I am here."
Without turning back, Jian Yuan raised his hand and pointed at the wall before him: "What do you think of this poem?"
Instantly, cold sweat gushed from Chun Ling like a waterfall, drenched in perspiration.
Gathering his courage, he looked for a long time, again and again, before finally tremblingly replying, "It’s, it’s nonsensical!"
"Indeed."
Jian Yuan nodded, turning back to glance at his student, and suddenly asked, "You said these past two days have been busy, with various matters in the workshop, and you could handle everything alone. How does it seem now?"
Facing death, Chun Ling was not flustered; panic was useless.
In despair, he lay flat on the ground:
"It's a complete mess."
"No, there’s at least a bright spot, isn’t there?"
Jian Yuan chuckled lightly, pointing at the wall: "Isn’t this trouble you’ve fostered? After teaching you for so many years, I never expected that in your eagerness for results, you made no progress. Yet, in creating chaos, you have quite the talent. I must have misjudged you."
"Master, please show mercy! Master, I..."
Chun Ling was in tears, trembling as he bowed his head: "Student..."
"Rest assured, I won’t treat my own students as punching bags. To me, this calamity doesn’t much concern you; at most, you are just incompetent. Once someone sees through the facade and habitual ways, it’s just like those rabble, led around by the nose."
Jian Yuan lowered his gaze and looked down: "Since you are incompetent, you shall be punished."
In that moment, Chun Ling rejoiced, tears streaming down his face.
His bowing became increasingly frantic.
"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!"
Jian Yuan strolled away and did not look back, while everyone hurried to follow.
Only Chun Ling remained in the empty storage room, still bowing and weeping.
Ten minutes later, under Jian Yuan's command, the supervisors and department heads from all levels gathered on the fourth floor.
In the solemn hall, everyone stood frozen in place, exchanging nervous glances, their expressions filled with dread and unease, whispering among themselves.
Among all of them, however, Sun Ci appeared the most relaxed.
On one hand, he had only just taken office yesterday, so even if trouble arose, it had nothing to do with him.
Besides, he was responsible for managing a trash heap...
As long as the rancid water didn’t bubble up, who cared about the insects and vermin in the garbage?
"It's so serious; what happened? Why does everyone look so..."
His assistant stood beside him, head down, curiously glancing around.
Sun Ci discreetly waved his hand, signaling him to lower his voice: "Something happened. With such a big commotion, the master craftsman is definitely going to deliver absolute punishment."
"What absolute punishment?" Ji Jue asked, curious.
Sun Ci's expression twitched, growing pale, and he dared not say more:
"Just watch."
From within the stillness, Ji Jue once again heard the footsteps, heavy and solemn.
Jian Yuan stepped out slowly from behind the door and took his seat.
He was silent.
Then, finally, a metal frame was pushed forward.
Upon seeing it, everyone turned pale and hurriedly stepped back, clearing a large space.
Next, bare-chested Chun Ling, under the guard of two craftsmen, trembled as he stepped onto the platform, bound to the iron frame.
Thud, thud, thud, thud...
A chilling bubbling sound emerged from the dark void beneath the iron frame, and then dark, murky eyes opened, tendrils of thick darkness creeping out like tentacles.
They coiled and clung to Chun Ling’s body.
Hissing.
Deeply penetrating.
Chun Ling's face turned white; he bit down hard on his teeth, enduring the torment.
Finally, he could no longer hold back, letting out a horrid scream that tore at his throat, a hoarse and mournful wail that never ceased.
Under the entanglement and erosion of the dark tendrils, his right arm quickly shriveled, its form changing and shedding its skin’s color and texture, revealing bizarre wood grain.
Within the flesh and blood, it dried and cracked.
Behind his back, his flesh bulged into a large mass, which continued to swell, extracting his soul and blessings, hungry and devouring, until finally, it tore through flesh and blood.
From his bones, a wooden doll adorned with blood-red patterns sprouted, remarkably lifelike, its face almost identical to Chun Ling’s, one trembling in fear while the other grinned sinisterly.
It was only half-formed, the lower half yet to complete its growth.
The grinning puppet's arms wrapped around his neck, staring thirstily at the surroundings.
In the sound of gasps, Ji Jue held his breath.
This was terrifying!
Mutation...
The mutation from the embers lineage!
Jian Yuan directly catalyzed the great curse blessing within Chun Ling, intensifying the balance, resulting in a distorted creation birthed from Chun Ling's soul and flesh!
Yet, it deliberately barred the creation from draining Chun Ling’s soul completely, deliberately stalling its progress halfway, inflicting the maximum level of pain.
Having part of his soul and flesh taken away, this incompletely grown mutated entity would henceforth be a grave threat to Chun Ling; any moment of carelessness could lead to it completely draining him in an irreversible mutation.
But at the same time… if Chun Ling could emerge victorious in this competition and fully control the monstrosity catalyzed by his own soul, then it could split into two, allowing his skills and abilities to undergo a tremendous transformation, and his connection to decay would achieve qualitative improvement.
But what was the probability?
How high? Near to none…
The trial was too harsh, too cruel.
Like kicking a person on the verge of dying of thirst off a cliff, then placing a bottle of water at the edge.
Step forward and live, step back and die!
Choose your own fate...
Ji Jue instinctively shrank his neck.
Watching as the howling and convulsing Chun Ling was dragged away like a dead dog, never to be seen again.
Everyone visibly sighed in relief.
Heads down, they became even more respectful.
Someone took the blame; someone took the blame, and that’s fine!
What a relief, at least it wasn’t themselves…
Then, they heard Jian Yuan’s voice.
For the first time since he walked in, he spoke.
"Sneaking in is not easy; performing rituals amidst chaos shows great skill. The methods are quite exquisite. Cold-hearted and ruthless—harsh on others and even harsher on oneself... Such a person, who would have thought, chose to pursue the embers instead of the white deer?"
Jian Yuan propped his chin on his hand, flickers of flame dancing in his azure eyes as he curiously asked: "But now that the person has been saved, why do you still remain?"
In an instant, the silence fell, and everyone held their breath.
They widened their eyes, looking at each other, not understanding the master craftsman's intentions.
Once they did understand, they didn’t dare acknowledge it, acting as if they were quail with their heads tucked in.
Fear shook through them.
When Jian Yuan’s gaze turned towards them, the crowd parted in terror.
Ji Jue also dodged his gaze.
Yet, he found that the gaze had latched onto him…
With it followed.
His heart plummeted to the pit.
“…”
His scarred face twitched; he lowered his head, as if summoning courage: “Master Jian Yuan? You are here to…”
“Yes, here for you.”
Before Ji Jue could finish, Jian Yuan nodded.
Thud!
Beside Ji Jue, the dazed Sun Ci fell back, fainting completely in fear.
"Young and yet so audacious."
Jian Yuan glanced at his exaggerated posture, saying: "While the application is a bit scattered, the foundation is solid. Quite impressive. The aura of embers on you is heavy but not excessive; you must have only recently become a craftsman, right? A year? No, less than a year..."
He paused slightly, lightly sighing: "You truly are a good material."
Ji Jue trembled in fear, collapsed to the ground, stammering:
"Master, I really..."
"My patience isn’t great, so it’s best you don’t waste time."
Jian Yuan impatiently interrupted him: "Your companion doesn’t have much time left either."
“…”
In that instant, Ji Jue's expression darkened.
Ultimately, there was nothing he could do but sigh.
“You are truly shameless… fishing here, are you?”
"Maintaining a household and being prudent come first. If you sense something wrong, you must be prepared," Jian Yuan mocked with a smile, "Elders who don’t die are thieves; isn’t that the reasoning behind it?"
To which Ji Jue nodded in agreement.
"What a coincidence, we who commit crimes are the same."
In that moment, Jian Yuan’s pupils slightly narrowed.
Far beyond the workshop, trucks crashed against the ruins, being stopped in their tracks, and then, surrounded by various creations and craftsmen, they began a careful search.
Driver's seat, cargo hold, under the vehicle...
One box after another was opened, yet there was nothing inside.
Not even a single bomb was found!
Meanwhile, below the workshop, in the retrieval department, the leading craftsmen smashed through doors, capturing each apprentice.
As they proceeded forward, smashing through the partitions of the office, they finally saw the empty box.
And even, a hole in the floor leading straight to the sewer...
In the murky water, mercury spiders crawled back and forth, their heavy explosives flashing alarmingly red, the ticking sound was unbearably grating.
So urgent.
The people at the front turned pale instantly.
Then…
Boom!!!!
(End of Chapter)