Chapter 00237: Dream of Ashes
# Dream of Ashes
Chapter 237
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 237: Dream of Ashes
Imagine this: When your back itches unbearably, but you realize you can't scratch it, and after rummaging through every corner, you finally find a scratcher.
Yet no matter how you use it, it feels all wrong; the more you scratch, the worse it gets.
What starts as a small itch turns into an unbearable one, escalating to seven years of itchiness.
Reflecting on the harsh reality, it feels like you’re living in a nightmare from which there is no escape.
In the end, you collapse on the ground, clutching the scratcher and weeping bitterly, filled with regret for your past decisions.
The harm it causes is undeniable, and the intention behind it is notably malicious.
Yet, the result could only be described as utterly useless…
At this moment, Jian Yuan could only ask one thing:
“How did you manage that?”
All the theories were correct, all the steps were right, the thought process was sound, yet the answers were all wrong! Clearly, he had used so much abrasive material, employed numerous intensifying techniques... why was the degree of distortion so superficial and crude?
What should have been dangerously lethal weapons capable of taking lives with the slightest scratch had turned into such a comical thing!
It was akin to deciding on a whim to melt down an old necklace to make a bracelet, only to find that before entering the furnace, it was 24K pure gold, but afterward, it emerged with only the outer layer remaining!
What happened to the rest? Did you eat it?
“Where’s the distortion?”
“I refuse to explain!” Chi Jue exclaimed, his eyes wide: “This was made using the normal method, right? The theories you taught, the books you provided, your materials, and in the end, I came out with this! If anything, I should be asking you!”
“Don’t blame others when you encounter problems. Shouldn’t you reflect on your own issues?”
Chi Jue’s smile gradually faded until he no longer concealed his coldness: “Or could you kindly tell me… what exactly did you teach me?!”
Jian Yuan did not respond; he merely weighed the scratcher in his hand, sighing with a mix of emotions.
—Masterful manipulation of distorted change, meticulous adjustments of effects and strength, and in the end, he managed to turn a creation into a useless object.
It was truly astonishing.
He had grasped this concept long ago.
After all, this was not the first time…
Before this, there had been formidable armor that looked fierce but had absolutely no defense, armor that caused full-body rashes after wearing, red balls that made one laugh uncontrollably when placed on the nose, and letter-opening knives that, when held, were all too easy to stab oneself with, guaranteeing a hundred percent tetanus.
And now, this scratcher that only provoked more itching…
All of it was ridiculous.
As the saying goes, when two opponents meet, it’s a test of talents.
With such fine materials at hand, being a teacher should have been a relaxing endeavor.
What a thrilling lesson it must be — he had initially entertained such naïve thoughts: receiving such a gifted student for the first time, witnessing someone progress so rapidly on the path of distortion crafting, the joy compounded… until it was no more.
So much so that Jian Yuan suddenly longed to open Chi Jue's skull and see if there was a rebellious bone jutted in the back of his brain — why the hell are you not learning properly!
There’s a saying: the master leads you to the door, but the journey is yours to take.
True knowledge is invaluable, no doubt about that.
As a master craftsman, Jian Yuan’s prowess had surely been validated by both the guild and the depths of understanding.
Yet here he was, watching as Chi Jue had reached the doorstep only to start hopping around like a fool, creating a ruckus.
“Hey, I’m going in! Oh, I’m coming out! Hey, I’m going in again! If you don’t like it, hit me!”
Such extravagant squandering of talent.
What a shame.
But it didn’t matter…
There would always be a way.
“Very well, you’ve completed this satisfactorily.”
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed Chi Jue’s creation into the obliteration furnace, too lazy to spare it another glance.
If a student could score a perfect hundred on an exam, perhaps they were only at the level of a hundred.
But when he consistently hovered around the sixty mark, it indicated that the exam posed no challenge at all; it was merely a toy.
Theory, practical skills, concepts, creativity, and philosophy… not a single shortcoming!
With such fine materials, how could they be wasted?
“The basics have been learned sufficiently here,” he said. “It’s time for the next lesson.”
“Alright, alright, got it.”
Chi Jue, indifferent, extended his hand: “Where’s the book?”
“What a pity, this lesson does not come from the book.”
Jian Yuan chuckled, filled with expectation: “You need to go and experience it physically.”
With a mere wave of his hand, as though an invisible force controlled everything, the surroundings transformed, pulling everything into a side.
Chi Jue blinked and, in an instant, seemed to traverse through countless doors and corridors to arrive at a dark and dilapidated space.
Expansive yet desolate, darkness loomed.
The earth had cracked, green bricks were riddled with fissures.
The halls once grand lay in ruin, and even the massive furnace in the center was incomplete, extinguished for years, he couldn’t even recall when that happened.
Above, a flurry of ashes drizzled down like gray snow, mixed with sparkling embers, flickering out as they settled on the ground.
The wheelchair glided across the ground behind Jian Yuan, creating two long, narrow tracks.
Forward.
It stopped before the ruins of the furnace.
Everything looked as if it were a broken… workshop?
“This was my shelter before I left the guild. I had a fight with that guy, it got thoroughly messed up, so I abandoned it… Although the furnace’s fire has long been extinguished, after so many years of accumulating remnants, it can still be used as a source of scrap, barely.”
Jian Yuan strolled through, his black gown trailing the ground, yet not a speck of ash clung to it.
In contrast, Chi Jue had gradually become covered in dust and dirt.
Wiping his face and catching a whiff, it was an all too familiar scent.
Ashes…
This was the ash from the furnace!
He raised his head and gazed at the pitch-black ceiling.
In Jian Yuan's workshop, all the ashes of the craftsmen’s furnaces had been sent here.
A wisp here, a thread there seemed quite ordinary, but after so many years, with such an accumulation of ashes, the essence concealed within became vast and magnificent.
It was suffocating.
“Chi Jue, do you know why craftsmen are obsessed with fire?”
Jian Yuan stood before the broken furnace, gesturing with his hand, the invisible force clearing away the surrounding debris.
Before Chi Jue could answer, he continued, “In the present day, craftsmen no longer need to rely on fire for crafting. On the contrary, more and more tools have been incorporated into alchemy—water, gas, dust, light, even the human body and hands… but the furnace remains the mainstream. A workshop without a furnace cannot truly be called a workshop. What’s the significance of that?”
“Suits you? Is convenient?”
Chi Jue answered casually, “The ancients were used to it, thus many specifications arose, and it’s no surprise that later generations continued the tradition.”
“What about beyond that? Can you not witness the magnificence of the ashes furnace?”
Jian Yuan chuckled lightly, “Have you never laid your eyes upon the dignified flames that arise when Ashen Sovereign presides, with the stars serving as the furnace?”
Chi Jue fell silent for a moment.
“This is fire.”
Jian Yuan raised his finger, gently blowing a breath, causing some dust to stir, spreading out, yet that soft breath echoed within the underground space, expanding continuously into a raging whirlwind.
Finally, it lifted countless ashes, swirling and trembling, and within them, a spark that had not extinguished for who knows how long ignited once again!
Strands of firelight coalesced at his fingertips.
The vast embers rejoined to form a strand of pure flame, dancing, leaping, illuminating all darkness.
“Did you see that, Chi Jue?”
Amid the fiery glow, Jian Yuan's expression seemed to shed all itself, devoid of sorrow or joy, solemn like a deity: “The original alchemy was born from this. When the first flames in the mortal realm were ignited by the thief of fire amongst the kings, everything was set in motion. The one who ignited the fire would self-immolate, and the followers would pass on the fire, marking their creations with flames—creating everything, while also burning everything to ash. Thus, the path of embers was born. From the stagnation of fetid distortion, it came to be.”
He said: “What you need to learn lies within—”
In that moment, a thunderous roar, unlike anything before, suddenly surged from the deepest parts of darkness, as if it came from all directions.
When they converged, it felt as if it filled their souls, overpowering will and spirit.
Dispelling all distracting reverberations.
When Jian Yuan's fingertip flame silently dissipated, the furnace inside blazed brilliantly, flowing outward, bursting, spreading, enveloping everything.
The light of embers sprang forth.
Like a storm.
Chi Jue had no time to react or evade.
For an instant, he felt as though his body and soul were submerged in that tempest, collapsing, peeling apart, flying towards some unknown destination.
Shattered and fragmented.
Flesh and blood, life, self, soul—all faded away in the tide of light.
But what remained here?
Countless phantoms and images emerged from the firelight, filling Chi Jue's vision, forcefully injecting themselves into his soul—shattered heavens, broken earth, flowing stars, even endless creation.
The world moved.
Revealing its true face.
In that moment, Chi Jue finally saw where everything originated, at the end of the fiery glow.
As if a pair of emerald eyes slowly opened.
Looking towards here, towards Chi Jue.
Without sorrow or joy, without surprise or worry, so lofty and indifferent, gazing down at the chaotic state of the mortal realm, the cycles of war and peace, the clash of struggle and cooperation, witnessing the futile repetitions time and again.
What has been will surely be again.
What has been done will surely repeat.
Nothing new under the sun; the so-called changing of phenomena is merely a cycle of conflicts and slaughter.
—Under the summons of that secret ritual, the great distortion of the mortal world—the fetid heart of the furnace—is gazing down!
In that instant, an uncontrollable scream of pain erupted from within the flames!
Chi Jue had already been set aflame.
Dust rose and fell.
Drifting into Jian Yuan's grasp, so weak.
Then, expressionless, it was ground to dust.
“All worldly matters are finite, hard to bear the decree of heaven,” Jian Yuan coldly looked towards the furnace, “Let me see, does this scrap of material… have the fortitude to accept the decree of heaven’s work?”
Boom!
It was as if a shattering sound reverberated, filling his ears.
Perhaps it was the sound of the soul fracturing, or the world collapsing…
Chi Jue seemed to have fallen into an unfathomable abyss.
Only the roaring wind was heard in his ears…
His reason told him he was still standing in the light, yet he felt no warmth whatsoever.
His soul told him he was falling into an unseen abyss, yet he could not struggle.
Even thinking became difficult.
His consciousness had been filled and dominated by an even more overwhelming and violent force.
It felt like a downpour reversing back to the earth, rising to the sky.
In his memory, countless theories manifested like living entities, breaking free of his control, self-altering, overlapping, coupling, transforming.
During these days, all the theories of distortion crafting that Jian Yuan had forcibly imprinted in his memory, everything that had been imparted, now seemed to possess life, naturally expanding, connecting, intertwining... as if truly granted life!
—Ascend!
Inexplicably, such a thought appeared in Chi Jue’s consciousness.
Turning stone to gold, bestowing spirit to lifeless things, granting wonders to the mundane, shedding the ordinary—this is the first step of alchemy.
Next comes the refining, thus, all techniques and theories intertwine, overlapping, colliding, igniting flashes of genius, appearing spontaneously, flourishing…
Following that comes the purifying—
Countless erratic and expanding theories and reveries suddenly trembled, interweaving, cutting away the clutter, refining misconceptions, erasing flaws.
Finally, there is the unification!
When those flashes of inspiration, ideas, and various theories linked together, a vast path emerged from Chi Jue’s consciousness.
Twelve grand marks of distortion, three categories of sixteen transformation crafts, thirty-one structures of spiritual essence, seventy-seven changes and truths of lethal substances…
An exquisitely profound exposition birthed guidance, listing all obstacles and doubts systematically; he only had to proceed step by step… the wonders of distortion within reach, the depths of aberration easily explored!
The road to transcendence lay right before him!
“Advance.”
A voice whispered in his ear: “You only need to move forward.”
Yet Chi Jue stood frozen.
Even unwilling to lift his gaze.
He struggled, wanting to turn back.
But he couldn’t budge.
As he regained focus, he found himself engulfed in blood, the wails surging like a tide, covering everything.
The distorted world turned before him, the skewed stars traversed the heavens above, illuminating the cracks of the night sky and the shattered earth.
He seemed to transform into a god, looking down from above, everything reshaping at countless trillions of times the speed, yet ultimately reverting to a cycle of despair.
Once flourishing, once extinct, once revived, once fading.
Splendor faded, leaving devastation; reform brought forth ruins; grand aspirations poisoned the world; dreams shattered, leaving behind only emptiness.
The myriad forms of the mortal world surged into his consciousness, he lacked the time to remember and contemplate, only able to daze and witness everything until, at last, slowly, an understanding dawned.
Sorrow and resentment arose from blood, hatred purified from tears, so-called love and dreams burned to ashes, leaving only despair and void to compound with one another, the tumult and ruin of the world unifying, transforming into a chaotic ocean.
Time and again, destruction; time and again, starting anew.
The path of transformation reaching its end leaves behind only this futile and grotesque cycle.
In the end, all and everything converged together.
When Chi Jue lowered his head, he saw, a pair of hands born of despair and curses turned pitch black.
Thick blood dripped from the fingertips.
Unending, flowing without cease!
All manner of evil deeds were formed from this heart; all pain was crafted by these hands; the world's malice was all enacted by ten fingers… this is the sin of violence not rebounding!
In that instant of awakening, Chi Jue once again heard the grieving cries reverberating countless times from four hundred years of cycles.
Violence against one’s own, ire, futile struggles, yet in the end, they fell silent again in the spectral light of tears.
“The world is made by man, Chi Jue, and so is hell.”
A voice devoid of emotion came from afar: “But your hell, where is it?”
And so, everything began to clarify.
Chi Jue lifted his head, once more seeing the blazing sky above, beneath him lay the pitch-black earth, and ash rained down between the worlds, where the distant wind carried haunting cries and wails like hallucinations.
So familiar.
From the flames and fire, those lost souls laughed, danced, tearing, killing, ravaging each other in an unending cycle of torment, eternal pain.
The flames ignited at the end of hell, illuminating Chi Jue’s pupils, filling every facet of his consciousness and soul.
“Isn’t this everything that has shaped you, Chi Jue?” A mocking voice echoed: “But if this world is hell, then what are you?”
Hell laughed beside him, pouring out encouragement, telling him:
From beginning to end, you have been in hell!
So, do not remain silent, do not endure, do not linger any longer…
Go hate, go burn, go destroy!
In that moment, Chi Jue couldn’t wait to plunge into it, embracing this inevitably appointed fate.
But in inexplicable hesitation, he couldn’t help but glance back.
Even though it was an empty void, a realm of nothingness…
Only from a distant place came a song.
So vague, yet unable to be drowned out by shrieks and wails, unwaveringly enduring, as though echoing into eternity.
Like the stars rising at the end of the dark night.
Shining brightly.
She was watching him.
Thus, Chi Jue smiled in realization.
“Don’t worry.”
He lifted his hand, wiping away his tears, giving her a bright smile: “I’m doing well.”
And so, once again, he rose from the ground.
Turning away from the so-called truth of hell and the world, he strode towards that void, no longer hesitating.
Even if fruitless, even if meaningless.
No matter how high and distant the road to transcendence behind him loomed, nor how many times it repeated, it did not matter.
—Where he wanted to go was not here!
A furious roar seemed to echo from the heavens above, a flood of azure flames surged forth, eager to block him.
But then, the brilliant stars ignited once more, running, gathering, until at last, the heavenly furnace toppled, a myriad of embers cascaded like waterfalls, pouring down to the world.
The two collided, merging, then dissolving into the formless.
In the chaotic tide, a silver light suddenly cut across like a blade, severing everything!
In that moment, Chi Jue opened his eyes.
The residual light in the furnace silently dissipated.
All came to a sudden halt.
In the dead silence, the drifting ashes fell like snow, blanketing Chi Jue's shoulders.
His palm hovered in vain.
It seemed he was just a breath away from grasping that hand once more… but when the dream’s shimmer faded, only emptiness remained in his palm.
“What a long-lost beautiful dream.”
Chi Jue sighed vacantly, lowering his gaze to the remnants of ash left in his palm.
“Thank you, Jian Yuan.”
He turned back, sincerely expressing his gratitude: “May I ask how I should repay you?”
Although smiling, there was no warmth.
In the silence, those eyes held only infinite darkness, like an abyss.
“Congratulations, Chi Jue!”
Jian Yuan smiled, so pleased: “You have just learned the first lesson in mastering distortion and ruling aberration — hatred and malice… no, I should say, you no longer need to mask who you truly are.”
Just like that, he patted the rebellious apprentice on the shoulder, telling him:
“Tomorrow, we continue.”
(End of Chapter)