Volume Two: Weapon Directory Chapter 153: Five Arts of Divine Mechanism

Lu Haoran was a genuine grandmaster. Without even needing to unleash the power of his congenital sword bones, he unzipped the body of the towering swordsman and rescued Liu Xiaoyi, whose face was as sallow as wax, from within.

"Brother, I'm pretty reliable after all, aren't I?"

"Let's go quickly! Someone else is coming!" Liu Xiaoyi exclaimed. Sudden fluctuations of vital energy filled the heavens and earth, originating from more than one source, all locked onto their position.

Lu Haoran tossed the Longevity Sword down beneath his feet, grabbed Liu Xiaoyi tightly, and said, "Hold on steady! We're leaving!" He was actually capable of flying by a sword! Gazing at the trail of white smoke streaking toward the north, the Qi family could only sigh. Although those ingenious mechanical beasts were fast, they could never intercept him once he decided to leave.

On the layer of true qi formed by the Longevity Sword, Liu Xiaoyi swayed unsteadily for a long while before finally adapting. Standing here a hundred zhang in the air and looking down, a vast expanse of the Southern Wilderness's landscape came into full view.

"Compared to the Central Plains, it truly is far too barren. When will rain from the heavens fall to ease the drought and scorching heat of the Southern Wilderness?"

This was his homeland, and the passion Liu Xiaoyi held for it surprised Lu Haoran. Jianghu wanderers had long since cast aside their pasts, single-mindedly pursuing the Great Dao; too many attachments would distract one's cultivation and slow their progress.

Yet Liu Xiaoyi was completely unaware of the position the Southern Wilderness occupied in his heart. The words "my homeland" brought him the memory of the bowl of porridge he could drink every single morning, and the familiar faces of neighbors stretching across several streets guarding them.

Standing firm against them were the majestic, centuries-old city walls of the Southern Wilderness, blocking all invaders from the Great Wilderness outside the Hangu Pass. On the thirty-three-zhang-high, rough walls, the scars of time were mottled, and the flames of war ignited and extinguished time and time again. The soldiers garrisoned at the frontier passed down their powerful bows and sturdy crossbows from generation to generation.

The capture of their commander-in-chief was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Blue Feather Army, but it was not enough to destroy the will they had forged over the centuries. There was merely a temporary gloom in the sky, casting a somewhat oppressive atmosphere over the encampment within the pass.

As deputy commander, Imperial Censor Gao Yingkui was somewhat at a loss at this moment, pacing back and forth inside the tent, wondering what his next course of action should be.

At the very least, they needed to buy three more days of time. Although the city walls were high, they could only block ordinary soldiers; they were still far from enough to stop martial artists leaping over roofs and bounding over walls. Pondering deeply, Gao Yingkui was plagued by the lack of capable men under his command, and he waved his hands and sighed repeatedly.

The disciples of the Banners Mountain brought by Xue Cangfeng had suffered heavy casualties in this battle and had already returned to Banners Mountain to report on their mission; it was unrealistic to lower his pride and ask for their help again.

Just at this moment, Liu Xiaoyi and his companion landed outside the tent, straightened their clothes, and stepped inside. Gao Yingkui recognized him—a year ago, he was still just a junior with low cultivation, but now he had already involved himself in this offensive and defensive battle.

"How is the situation on the front lines? How far away are the Great Wilderness pursuers? Please, little friend Liu, tell me in detail!"

Seeing the two men covered in dust and grime, Gao Yingkui knew they had retreated straight from the battlefield. Without beating around the bush, he immediately asked.

Having seen everything clearly from high above, Liu Xiaoyi spilled out everything he had witnessed: "They are about five kilometers away. Not only do they have ingenious mechanical beasts, but when I left, I also sensed other fluctuations of vital energy."

Hearing this, Lu Da Mingbai immediately crowded forward and explained, "Short General, I'm quite familiar with this sort of thing. Listen to all of you: the Qi family is a branch of an ancient sect, and they aren't just what you see right before your eyes. They are deeply hidden!"

The Daoist technique passed down by the Qi family is known as Mechanism Arts. Within the ancient sect of the Divine Mechanism Hall, there were five different Daoist arts, each controlling different objects, each with its own merits and none inferior to the others.

Zhuge Zeng utilized the Blood-Driving Art among them, which in itself was a technique straddling the righteous and the demonic, depending entirely on the practitioner's state of mind. Blood puppets were merely one way to utilize the Blood-Driving Art; there were even more profound methods of application, but by the time it was passed down to Zhuge Zeng, those could no longer be learned.

The strength of ancient cultivators was far beyond what people today could imagine. Those remnants within the ruins were treated as priceless treasures by later generations; a single weapons manual had been fought over for hundreds of years with countless casualties, and to this day, the matter had not been neatly resolved.

The old man carrying a hoe that Liu Xiaoyi had encountered earlier used the Shape-Gathering Art of the Divine Mechanism Hall. It was able to condense and combine objects encompassed by vital energy according to one's imagination, making it an extremely practical Daoist art.

What the Saintly Monarch Palace inherited was the Puppetry Art of the Divine Mechanism Hall. Those silk threads extending from the puppets were of the exact same kind used by the disciples of the Qi family to manipulate their mechanical beasts.

The Divine Mechanism Hall was a sect from the same era as the Deriving Sword Sect, and it had once been exceptionally glorious. Yet, because of that calamity, they had no choice but to break into pieces, abandon their mountain sect grounds, and sink into the mortal world to hide their names.

The one that had fared the best was the Great Wilderness Qi family. Not only did they use the Weapon Graveyard to develop and expand their clan, but now they had even brought their army right outside Hangu Pass, and their momentum had reached its peak.

By Qi Yan's generation, there were no males in the main branch of the Qi family, leaving only Qi Yan—whose iron-fisted determination was no less than that of any man—to seize the position of young clan leader. This slaughter was Qi Yan's stepping stone; as long as she breached Hangu Pass, no one within the clan would dare to shake her status.

Qi Chongshan led troops to hold the left flank, while Qi Chonghai encamped on the right. Their wooden stakes were not driven deep, for they had no intention of waging a protracted war.

"Drag that defeated general over and hang him on the flagstaff!" Riding a flying tiger beast at the very vanguard, surrounded by a throng of mechanical beasts, Qi Yan looked toward Hangu Pass.

The Great Wilderness army had attacked the land she occupied more than once, yet every time they failed to breach Hangu Pass. The thirty-three-zhang-vertical, thick city walls were made of concrete stone that even mechanical beasts could not destroy. Through the tireless efforts of Qin dynasty craftsmen, all seasonal rains were blocked safely inside the pass.

Xun Sanman was bound hand and foot to the flagstaff, hung high with ropes, swaying gently in the wind. A messenger soldier mustered all his strength and shouted loudly toward the ramparts of Hangu Pass: "Listen up, soldiers of Hangu Pass! If you do not open the gates, your commander's head will roll!"

The defenders at the pass saw it clearly; that was indeed Xun Sanman, except he was beaten to a pulp, covered in blood, looking completely different from the commander who had sat within the grand tent.

"Hmph! Barbarians from the Great Wilderness! Do they take my Hangu Pass to have no men?" The garrison general on duty was furious and moved to descend the city walls to do battle, but was pulled back by the newly arrived Gao Yingkui.

"Old General Huang, do not be angry. If you go out there, you are simply falling for their provocation. Those mechanical beasts are formidable; you must never fight them head-on!"

Although Gao Yingkui was deputy commander, he actually held little prestige within the Blue Feather Army. He had initially come to oversee the army in the capacity of an imperial censor, but because the old general was over sixty years old, it was deemed inappropriate for him to serve as sole commander, leading to this temporary substitution of posts.

Huang Tu took up his Dragon-Patterned Heaven-Breaking Spear, fastened his helmet, and replied sternly, "Imperial Censor Gao, forgive this old man for failing to obey. I have been on friendly terms with the Xun family for half a lifetime. If Sanman dies before my very eyes, I will have no way to account for it when I return to the capital! Bring me my horse!"

The gates of Hangu Pass swung wide open, and a troop of soldiers drilled out, lining up abreast against the Great Wilderness army. Pointing his spear at the Great Wilderness battle array, Huang Tu cursed, "You scoundrels! Daring to invade the frontier pass of the Qin dynasty, leave your dog-like lives behind!"

Seeing that it was an elderly general, a burly general in the Great Wilderness array wielding a mountain-splitting axe spurred his horse forward, came before Huang Tu, and said, "Such a big mouth for an old fool! Today, I'll make you piss your pants!"

"This old man's spear does not kill nameless nobodies. Bring me the brothers Qi Chonghai!" Huang Tu didn't even deign to look at his opponent properly, showing utter disdain.

Having fought on the battlefield for decades, he had suffered few defeats and won many victories, slaying countless enemy generals. His martial prowess had few rivals, and his spear technique was nothing short of perfection; just lifting the tip of his spear brought faint sounds of a dragon's roar echoing around him.

"Then am I, Li, not worthy to be your opponent? Shameless boast! Prepare to die!" Clearly enraged by these words, his opponent swung his axe in a wide arc, hacking straight at Huang Tu's head.

Huang Tu gripped his Dragon-Patterned Heaven-Breaking Spear with one hand, lowered his head, and turned his horse's head to the side. The long spear swept out smoothly in tandem, striking his opponent's chest first and knocking him right off his horse.

The tip of the spear merely brushed against the armor on his chest, but his true qi pierced directly into the body along with the spearhead, killing him instantly beyond all doubt.

"You killed my brother, rebel general, don't run!" Another young general charged forward brandishing a saber. Without a wasted word, Huang Tu released his grip, pushed the long spear away, took his treasured bow down from his back, and loosed three arrows in succession.

Killing yet another general in a single exchange, Huang Tu laughed heartily, "The dogs of the Great Wilderness are nothing much! General Xun, this old man has come to save you!"

Riding his steed and gripping his spear, he charged toward the location where Xun Sanman was held. Anyone who dared to block his path was slain by the Heaven-Breaking Spear. The dragon pattern manifested as a green dragon, wrapping around Huang Tu's body to fend off sabers and spears for him.

The old general's might was unstoppable, greatly boosting the morale of the Blue Feather Army. They surged forward in a counterattack, sending the newly stabilized Great Wilderness army into rout. Unable to sit still any longer, Qi Yan—as the commander-in-chief—could not easily strike herself, yet with Qi Chongshan and Qi Chonghai absent, the only one capable of stopping this old general was herself.

"The dignified Great Wilderness army, and yet no one usable? If word gets out, won't it be the laughingstock of all?" Zhuge Zeng walked up beside Qi Yan at some point, sparing no effort in his sarcasm.

Qi Yan frowned. This sinister old Daoist used the Blood-Driving Art, and according to the rules left by the Divine Mechanism Hall, the five lineages were forbidden from infighting; otherwise, a disaster would descend to annihilate them all.

Otherwise, she would have killed Zhuge Zeng first on the battlefield earlier. The blood puppets in his hands had sucked dry all the corpses on the battlefield, even turning those of the Qi family into mummies, which somewhat displeased her.

"I am a lone wolf, unlike your family, which is brimming with talented people. Let me exert some effort this time, and once that mechanical puppet is restored, leave some soup for me to drink."

The usually cautious Zhuge Zeng had unexpectedly stepped forward to share the burden for a fellow sect member he had known for less than an hour. Qi Yan's suspicions grew even deeper, but having no other choice, she could only watch silently as he walked away.

Pleased as punch with his sharp tongue, Zhuge Zeng produced a talisman, slapped it onto his sleeve, and flicked his cuff forward. More than ten blood puppets flew out from within, racing straight toward Huang Tu.

"What kind of filthy, unclean monsters are these! Die!" Huang Tu thrust forward with his spear, his charging horse maintaining its momentum. The blood puppets converged, unleashing a sea of blood that engulfed Huang Tu, obscuring the scene inside from external view.

Within the sea of blood, these blood puppets moved swiftly, appearing from all directions at will. The four hooves of Huang Tu's mount were seized, and the blood puppets opened their mouths to bite.