"Girl, is this truly Mechanist Arts?" Fuyaozi, hearing her words, was also overjoyed.
Mo Tiange pondered for a moment before replying, "This disciple dares not be certain, but based on my understanding of formations and restrictions, this is definitely not an ordinary restriction. I can only say it somewhat resembles Mechanist Arts."
"Then hurry and test it," Fuyaozi urged. "If we can obtain Mechanist Arts from here, it would be an unexpected boon."
Back in her Foundation Establishment Stage, Mo Tiange had witnessed the wonders of Mechanist Arts in the cave abode of the Loose Cultivator Ziao and had received two Foundation Establishment Stage puppets from him. Knowing the marvels of this ancient art, she was already brimming with enthusiasm even without Fuyaozi's instruction.
After measuring the Yin-Yang and Five Elements attributes of the restriction, Mo Tiange put away her compass and took out the Taiji Bagua Diagram from her sleeve, tossing it towards the cave abode entrance.
The Taiji Bagua Diagram hovered within the restriction, slowly unfurling and rippling like water, methodically smoothing out the surrounding Spiritual Qi.
Once the Spiritual Qi had calmed, Mo Tiange reached out her hand. The Taiji Bagua Diagram flew back into her grasp and was returned to her sleeve.
Now, examining the restriction was much clearer than before. The Yin-Yang and Five Elements were no longer shifting unpredictably, making it easier to discern whether Mechanist Arts were involved.
"Strange," she murmured. "I can sense Spiritual Qi fluctuations similar to a cultivator's within, but there are no puppets or anything..."
The difficulty in identifying Mechanist Arts also lay in the possibility that it might consist of just a few simple mechanical arrangements, not necessarily shaped like humans or beasts. Coupled with Mo Tiange's limited knowledge of the art, she couldn't immediately determine whether this was Mechanist Arts or a restriction far surpassing her own realm.
Seeing her hesitate for a long time, Qin Xi said, "Let me try." With that, he stepped forward, reached into his Qiankun Bag, and summoned the Dingyue Lamp.
The Dingyue Lamp looked utterly unremarkable—its color a faded blue, its texture dull, its design simple, resembling a rustic old lamp that had burned for decades before a Buddha statue in the mortal world. It was dusty and gray, and only upon close inspection could one see the intricate patterns carved inside the lamp, forming a wondrous array that faintly emitted pure Spiritual Qi.
The Dingyue Lamp flew up and, upon touching the restriction, emitted light. At first, it was just a faint, bean-sized blue flame. Slowly, the airflow within the restriction stirred, and the Dingyue Lamp grew brighter and brighter.
Mo Tiange could see this was a clash of two forces. Qin Xi's Dingyue Lamp was also a rare Magical Treasure. Artifacts specialized in breaking restrictions were uncommon to begin with, and his was a Spiritual Treasure found in some secret realm, belonging to the top-tier of Magical Treasures. Thus, although he wasn't proficient in formations, with this lamp, ordinary restrictions couldn't hold him back.
The Dingyue Lamp's light reached its peak. Just as the Spiritual Qi within the restriction began to tremble, as if it would be repelled the next moment, a sudden "hum" was heard. The surging Spiritual Qi actually formed a light screen, blocking the Dingyue Lamp before the restriction.
Seeing this, Qin Xi formed a hand seal. The Dingyue Lamp abruptly began to spin, stirring the surrounding Spiritual Qi into a vortex that crashed against the light screen.
"Sss..." A sharp tearing sound rang out. The light screen shuddered, and several ripples appeared on its surface.
Seeing this scene, the two of them showed delight. Qin Xi focused even more intently, directing the Dingyue Lamp to crash into the light screen again.
After several impacts, a heavy "boom" of an explosion sounded. Under the Dingyue Lamp's assault, the light screen suddenly shattered. The light flickered and vanished in an instant.
"Success!" Just as Mo Tiange was about to step forward, she suddenly sensed a surge of Spiritual Qi. Her intuition screamed danger, and she retreated a step.
Simultaneously, a dull grinding sound echoed. Two massive stone spheres shot out rapidly from either side of the cave abode, hurtling towards the Dingyue Lamp.
Startled, Qin Xi formed a hand seal. The Dingyue Lamp immediately flew back, brushing past the two stone spheres, and landed in his hand.
With a thunderous "crash," the two stone spheres collided. Stone fragments flew everywhere, causing the surrounding Spiritual Qi to fluctuate wildly. A wave of energy rolled towards the two of them.
This energy wave was also a Spiritual Qi attack. Qin Xi waved his sleeve, and the sword energy of the Three Yang True Fire Sword formed an array, repelling it.
Once the energy wave dissipated, a light screen still remained before the cave abode. Mo Tiange and Qin Xi stood before it, looking at each other.
"Mechanist Arts. It really is Mechanist Arts!" After a long while, Mo Tiange muttered to herself.
Those two stone spheres weren't ordinary rock but a rare stone material called Jade-Shattering Stone, incredibly sturdy. In modern times, even a fist-sized piece would be a fiercely contested material for artifact refinement at trade gatherings. Yet, in this ancient cultivator's cave abode restriction, this Jade-Shattering Stone had been made into such large spheres—truly a waste of heavenly treasure.
Qin Xi let out a breath, storing the Dingyue Lamp away. "This is the first time I've seen such a restriction. It clearly seemed broken, yet there was still a follow-up."
Mo Tiange frowned. "This restriction has two layers. The outer layer is a formation restriction based on Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. When that layer is broken, the subsequent Mechanist Arts activates to repel intruders, after which the restriction repairs itself." At this point, she slapped her forehead. "This is troublesome. I have no idea how to break it."
One day. They only had one day left. If they couldn't obtain the treasury token within a day, the treasures in the treasury would have nothing to do with them. If they weren't confident in breaking this restriction, it would be better to go to an elder's cave abode and compete with the others.
Mo Tiange turned to Qin Xi in distress. "What should we do? Should we give it our all here, or give up and go to another cave abode?"
Qin Xi deliberated for a moment, about to speak, when his eyes suddenly lit up. "Look, the restriction!"
Mo Tiange looked towards the cave abode entrance again, with delight. "This..." Just now, the restriction had seemed restored, but that wasn't the case. In this short while, the light screen had weakened considerably.
"Right!" Mo Tiange realized. "Self-repairing restrictions usually repair slowly over a long period. It's impossible for them to restore their full power instantly after being broken. In fact, that outer layer restriction was already broken by the Dingyue Lamp. What recovered later was just a trick to fool us."
As she spoke, she took out her compass again. "Now that this restriction hasn't recovered much of its power, breaking it shouldn't be difficult. As for the Mechanist Arts, it doesn't seem particularly powerful..."
Seeing her focus intently on breaking the formation again, Qin Xi smiled slightly. He sat down cross-legged nearby, both recuperating and keeping watch.
The Dingyue Lamp had broken the initial restriction; what had repaired afterward wasn't too formidable, at least not surpassing the Nascent Soul Stage. After pondering for a long time, Mo Tiange took out a set of formation-breaking tools from her robes.
Several formation flags arranged into an array diagram before the cave abode entrance. When the last flag was planted, Mo Tiange formed a hand seal. The flags suddenly lit up, finally coalescing into a sphere of light. Then, with a soft shout, she sent the light sphere flying to crash against the light screen.
"Sss!" This time, there wasn't even a stalemate. The light screen silently dissipated.
After waiting a moment, the subsequent Mechanist Arts didn't activate, and the restriction didn't immediately repair itself. Mo Tiange breathed a sigh of relief. "The first layer is considered broken."
Qin Xi had already stopped his recuperation when she began breaking the restriction. Now he asked, "What about the mechanism behind it? Any ideas?"
Mo Tiange thought for a moment. "I don't know much about Mechanist Arts. I can only use a crude method."
She took out those two stone-carved puppets from her Qiankun Bag and, using her spiritual sense, controlled them to walk towards the cave abode.
These two puppets were gifts from the Loose Cultivator Ziwei and were also made via Mechanist Arts, though of a lower stage. Over the years, they had handled miscellaneous tasks in her cave abode. The advantage of using these puppets was their incredible durability and lack of consciousness. Even if damaged, she could repair them in the future once she learned Mechanist Arts. If she used other living creatures to test, like those three spirit beasts... they probably wouldn't come back.
The two puppets walked into the restriction step by step. When they reached the spot where the stone spheres had rolled out earlier, a faint "click" was heard. From the stone walls on either side of the cave abode, two glossy wooden hands suddenly emerged, grabbing for the puppets.
Mo Tiange was about to make the puppets dodge when she realized these hands were extremely fast, instantly seizing the puppets by the neck. The two puppets immediately swung their stone swords, trying to chop off the arms, but with a "clang," the stone swords broke in two upon striking the arms.
Now even Qin Xi couldn't remain seated.
These hands looked wooden, yet they were actually harder than the puppets' stone swords! He knew that although these puppets were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, their materials were extraordinary, difficult for even ordinary Magical Treasures to damage!
Mo Tiange was stunned for a moment. She watched as the two arms exerted force, and the stone-carved puppets broke in two, heads separated from bodies.
After severing the puppets, the two arms retracted, disappearing back into the stone walls.
After a while, Mo Tiange came to her senses and sighed. With a sweep of Spiritual Qi, she retrieved the two puppet "corpses" into her Qiankun Bag.
She never expected these two puppets, which had followed her for so long, to be so easily destroyed.
"Don't be foolish," Fuyaozi's voice sounded in her mind. "So-called Mechanist Arts—the puppets and mechanisms created possess cultivation levels corresponding to cultivators. The more advanced they are, the rarer the materials used. Your two puppets are only at the Foundation Establishment Stage. Using them to test these mechanisms is rather laughable, isn't it?"
Mo Tiange was dazed for a moment, then began to understand. In the past, relying on her puppets' special, hard-to-damage materials, she had often used them to test formations. But she had forgotten that a formation's lethality came only from the Spiritual Qi fluctuations triggered by Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, whereas Mechanist Arts, like puppets, had physical substance.
"Master," she said, filled with shame. "In your opinion, how should this mechanism be broken?"
Fuyaozi chuckled lightly. "Overwhelming force to subdue skill. Have you forgotten?"
Mo Tiange was stunned, then suddenly enlightened. "Thank you for your guidance, Master!"
These past few days, she had either been breaking restrictions or dealing with others. She had overthought herself into stupidity! What did the cultivation world rely on to compete? Naturally, strength! Before absolute strength, no skill was useful.
Whether it was the initial stone spheres or the later wooden hands, their power hadn't exceeded the Nascent Soul Stage. Since that was the case, they could simply force their way through directly. Why bother overthinking?
Thinking of this, she turned to Qin Xi with a smile. "Senior Brother, it's up to you!"