Chapter 292: Bonus Question

The examination continued.

Even after reaching what should have been its finale and conclusion, there was no pause whatsoever. Once everyone irrelevant had been expelled, the entire area was sealed off from both inside and out, completely isolating it from the outside world.

And now, within this black box, in a place beyond the reach of any satellite signal, Ji Jue opened his eyes.

Under dazzling sunlight, seawater washed over a golden beach. Waves crashed against the shore, while the cries of seagulls echoed in the distance. His workshop was gone, and all his blessings had vanished as well. Every one of his creations was gone, yet Pacifier and Deus Ex Machina still had not returned.

“Hm?” Ji Jue climbed to his feet in confusion and looked around. “Where the hell did I end up?”

Was the exam still not over? Or had he somehow gotten transmigrated again the moment he let his guard down?! Was this even still the mortal world?!

“This place is still part of the simulation,” a hoarse voice sounded from behind him. It was low and horribly familiar, but laced with a grating noise like metal scraping against metal.

A chill ran down Ji Jue’s spine. He couldn’t bring himself to move.

An old man dressed in black slowly walked out with his hands clasped behind his back. Deep within his pitch-black eyes, eerie green flames seemed to burn without end. He looked down at Ji Jue with undisguised contempt. “Don’t tell me you thought the exam would be over just because you dealt with everyone else?”

“Holy shit, Jian—” Ji Jue blurted out in shock and practically leaped off the sand, staring in disbelief.

“Hm?” Jian Yuan raised an eyebrow, seemingly waiting for Ji Jue to finish addressing him properly.

Ji Jue’s face lit up with a beaming smile as he hurried forward with overflowing enthusiasm. “Oh my! Why, if it isn’t my esteemed guide to Putrefaction, Mr. Jian Yuan! Haven’t seen you in a few days, what brings you all the way out here? Someone as important as you really shouldn’t be running around in dangerous places like this. What if some blind fool with no respect for his elders accidentally bumped into you or hurt you? Wouldn’t that be a terrible loss for the mortal world?”

“What?” Jian Yuan glanced at him with an ambiguous smile. “You think those useless fools in the Association could stop me? I really have you to thank for this. If they hadn’t all been focused on the examination, I wouldn’t have been able to break in so smoothly. Tell me, shouldn’t I be thanking you?”

“Come now, Master Craftsman of the Depths! With your unmatched wisdom and martial prowess, it’s surely only a matter of time before you rule over the Ember Chosen Ones and have the whole Depths trembling at your name! For a humble nobody like me to contribute even a tiny bit to the glorious cause of Putrefaction is the greatest honor imaginable. Even if I had to work myself to the bone—”

Mid-sentence, Ji Jue raised his eyebrows. Before him, the remarkably lifelike appearance of Jian Yuan broke apart, revealing a stern and solemn face beneath.

There was no telling how old the newcomer was. Their appearance seemed to shift every second, making them difficult to distinguish. They looked almost like a phantom, yet were unmistakably real.

“Is that so?” They nodded in understanding. “I see. So you’re actually a mole who infiltrated the Association.”

“Not at all!” Ji Jue lifted his chin. All traces of his earlier fawning disappeared as he put on a solemn, righteous expression. “Sir, you’ve got the wrong idea. Just now, I was only pretending to play along with that treacherous old bastard. Even if I had to feign submission to that scoundrel, in truth, Jian Yuan and I are mortal enemies! My heart belongs to Ember—no, wait, to the Association! The Association is the one and only sun in my heart!”

“Is that so?” the newcomer asked doubtfully.

Ji Jue nodded. “Of course! It was all a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding!”

“To change your tune so quickly and switch sides so smoothly... Now that’s something you don’t see every day.” A faint smile appeared on the newcomer’s face. Well, if it was all a misunderstanding, then I’m glad we cleared that up. But tell me, why are you gripping that dagger behind your back tighter than before?”

“What dagger? There’s no dagger.” Ji Jue shook his head innocently, tightening his fist around the makeshift dagger he had fashioned from a shard of stone until he crushed it into powder. He casually shook the dust from his hand, destroying the evidence.

His smile was bright and sincere. He looked perfectly well-behaved and harmless, without a hint of ulterior motive. Blinking with pure, innocent curiosity, he asked, “May I ask how I should address you, sir?”

“Mm. Just call me the Examiner.” The Examiner smiled just as warmly. “The person who was supposed to oversee this exam caught a cold and couldn’t come to work, so I’m filling in for them today.”

Ji Jue sighed, wondering. “That’s strange. Every math teacher I’ve ever had said the same thing.”

The Examiner still smiled, seemingly not noticing the jab in Ji Jue’s words at all. Instead, he clapped his hands approvingly. “In any case, congratulations. You passed the exam and made it all the way to the end! From today onward, you’re officially a bona fide craftsman of the Ember Path! It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say that you’ve become famous overnight!

“Hmm. At this rate, the craftsmen of your generation might even end up looking to you as their leader. If you make good use of that influence, you could very well establish a branch of your own within the Association. And if you manage it well, a seat on the Council may well be within reach in your lifetime.”

“You can stop dangling the carrot now[1].” Ji Jue looked around. “So, mind telling me what exactly is going on here?”

“Hmm... I suppose you could call it a bonus round?” The Examiner’s smile grew brighter as he watched Ji Jue’s reaction. “By the way, you don’t need to be quite so guarded. Jian Yuan may be a little extreme, but aside from the parts involving Aberrant Alchemy, most of what he taught you actually comes from one of the orthodox legacies of your lineage. There are risks involved, of course, but broadly speaking, it’s still a legitimate path. You really don’t need to be so wary.”

Ji Jue shook his head firmly, maintaining a solemn expression. “Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. That old bastard Jian Yuan is my mortal enemy. How could I possibly have anything to do with him? And what exactly do you mean by ‘your lineage’? The Association is huge. Surely there’s room for someone like me to stand out a little?”

The Examiner stared at Ji Jue for a long moment, his expression shifting into something almost like astonishment. In the end, he let out a soft sigh. “So they really haven’t told you anything.”

“Sorry, but if you’ve got something to say, could you just say it plainly? Please stop speaking in riddles.”

“Hahaha! But I like riddles.” The Examiner made no attempt whatsoever to hide his delight. He was clearly enjoying himself immensely, taking shameless pleasure in teasing a kid, and apparently finding the whole thing hilarious.

Ji Jue simply watched him in silence.

The man waved a hand, conjuring a table and chairs out of thin air. He settled comfortably into a seat, then raised his glass toward Ji Jue for a toast. Somehow, Ji Jue now had a glass of lemonade in his hand.

“Like I said, this is only a bonus round. There’s no need to be nervous. Just relax.” The Examiner took a small sip from his glass. “Think of it as the bonus question at the end of an exam. Whether you do it or not is entirely up to you. It won’t count toward your score, nor will it affect your results or ranking. Just think of it as... a little challenge. What do you say?”

Ji Jue set the lemonade down on the table, unmoved. “What do you want me to do?”

“Whatever you want. Anything at all.” The Examiner gestured toward Ji Jue, then toward the sea behind him, the endless glittering waves, the blue sky above, and everything else around them. “Don’t you want to give it a try, Ji Jue? To have total freedom, with limitless possibilities at your fingertips. This entire world belongs to you. You can do whatever you please.”

Ji Jue eyed him suspiciously. “You sure about that?”

“Of course.” The Examiner nodded.

Ji Jue nodded as well. “Well, since you put it that way, can I start by leaving Tidesound Workshop, establishing a legacy of my own, and severing every last tie with everything that came before?”

The Examiner froze, staring at Ji Jue in shock. Ji Jue stared right back.

Eventually, the Examiner rubbed the spot between his eyebrows, looking more and more bewildered. “What the fuck? Is breaking away and founding your own school part of the legacy too?”

Several times, he opened his mouth as if to say something, only to stop himself. In the end, he simply let out a helpless sigh. “Besides, don’t you think it’s a little late to cut ties now?”

“I feel like it. Why the hell do you care?” Ji Jue shot back. “You’re the one who said I could do whatever I wanted, aren’t you?”

The Examiner shrugged. “Well, I have to say, your lineage really does attract some interesting people.”

Ji Jue replied flatly, “I’ve already cut ties with them. Don’t lump me in with them.”

If he was going to deny it, then he might as well deny it to the bitter end. No matter what, Ji Jue refused to drag his teacher into his mess.

“Birds of a feather flock together. Isn’t that how your lineage came to be in the first place?” The Examiner shook his head. “Jian Yuan sought knowledge. He became obsessed with it, and ultimately threw himself into Putrefaction to establish a legacy of his own. Meanwhile, Ye Xian sought the truth. She did not hesitate to break away and strike out on her own, and she refused to play along with hypocrites. And now there’s you...”

He looked up at Ji Jue, curiosity filling his eyes. “What is it that you seek?”

“Money!” Ji Jue blurted out the first nonsense answer that came to mind.

“Very well.” The Examiner nodded approvingly. He showed no contempt whatsoever for such a materialistic answer. If anything, he sounded rather pleased. “There’s nothing wrong with being easily satisfied. Contentment makes for a happy life.”

Ji Jue raised an eyebrow. “What if I want to slaughter someone’s entire family?”

“Hmm. A little bloodthirsty, perhaps, but that’s no big problem either. At least you’d be making full use of everyone involved. Not a bad quality.”

“What if I want absolute obedience and have zero tolerance for anyone who dares defy me?”

The Examiner clapped his hands. “Excellent. That’s an admirable ambition!”

Ji Jue actually laughed. “What if I want to rape and pillage and commit every evil under the sun?”

“Not particularly classy, but at your age, I suppose it’s understandable.” The Examiner propped his chin on one hand and studied Ji Jue with an amused, teasing smile. “But if you were really the kind of person who could sink to the level of a scum like that, you wouldn’t have fought so hard to make it this far, would you?”

“Is this some kind of Association interview?” Ji Jue asked coldly. “Can I refuse to answer?”

The Examiner spread his hands slightly and asked in the most straightforward way possible, “Do you really think you have a choice?”

Ji Jue had nothing to say to that. He just side-eyed the Examiner, as if to say, So you’re not even going to keep up the act anymore, huh?

“Fair enough. It probably isn’t very nice to keep grilling a candidate with question after question.” The Examiner put on a thoughtful expression and sighed theatrically. “Anyway, let’s get back to what we were talking about. If having too much freedom feels a little overwhelming, how about I give you an objective to work on instead?”

“I don’t need an objective,” Ji Jue said with complete sincerity. “What I need is a lawyer, I think. If I sue the Association for unlawful detention and for subjecting me to inhumane psychological torture that left me severely depressed and unable to take care of myself, how much compensation do you think I could get?”

“Mm. Looks like you’re quite eager for an objective after all.” The Examiner smiled and pointed at Ji Jue. “You. Go kill the Nethersea Worm.”

1. The RAW here is “不好意思，我胃不好，不爱吃饼，可以先别画了么?” Literally: “Sorry, my stomach isn’t great and I don’t like eating pies. Could you stop drawing them for now?” In modern Chinese, 画饼 (drawing pies) means to tempt someone with grand future promises or benefits that may never actually materialize, basically “selling someone a dream.” It won’t make much sense in English to translate it literally, so I translated it as “dangling the carrot,” which I feel preserves the joke best. ☜