Yu Sheng was sotis truly curious about how the little 66.6 cm tall shorty on his shoulder could co up with such extraordinary word combinations in her head—though, in any case, he distinctly felt the little puppet’s resentnt toward her height had reached a certain level.
For example, right now, she didn’t even mind maintaining her true height of 66.6 cm and "piloting" a 1.67-ter-tall body...
This made Yu Sheng sigh, "You’ve really got a knack for ’settling for less,’ but isn’t this a bit too much?"
"What can I do!" Erin shook Yu Sheng’s head vigorously, "Just say if it’s feasible or not!"
"Let go! Let go of my hair!" Yu Sheng frantically pushed away the little paws of the puppet, "I’ll ask around for you later! Let go!"
Only then did Erin finally release her grip and look up at the twelve-ter-tall Siege Giant Divine Soldier, her expression dumbstruck.
"I always feel like I was so, so tall before, looking down on everything from a height, but now I can’t even rember what it’s like to have that perspective looking down," she mumbled, "Nowadays, I have to look up at everything, and even when I see a Pekingese mixed-breed dog, I have to avoid it... afraid of being carried away."
Yu Sheng listened, amused yet helpless, and could only touch the little puppet’s head as a form of comfort, then looked towards True Man Yuanling, "You’ve dismantled this ’chanical Man’ to such a degree, have you discovered anything new?"
"If I must say, there is sothing," True Man Yuanling nodded, "On the inner side of the chanical Man’s rib armor, there are inscriptions likely left by a craftsman. It reads, ’Cast, Tianyuan Year 127, March 8, Taoming Valley Golden Casting Pavilion, Craftsman: Song Xingzhi’—these writings are still used today on the Taixu Star, among which the characters for ’Tian’, ’Valley’, and ’Craftsman’ are in archaic form."
Erin blinked, "What does it an?"
Yu Sheng had already understood, so he spoke up before True Man Yuanling, "It ans that the part was manufactured on March 8 of Tianyuan Year 127, and the place of production should be sowhere called Taoming Valley Golden Casting Pavilion, with the direct responsible craftsman nad Song Xingzhi—am I right?"
He directed the last question at True Man Yuanling.
"That’s exactly right." True Man Yuanling nodded.
"The chanical Man unearthed in the Exotic Realm not only carries markings from the real world but also such formal production inscriptions..." Yu Sheng mused, "That’s indeed peculiar."
True Man Yuanling’s expression turned serious, and he slowly shook his head, "Not just that. The bigger issue with this sentence is that we neither know what year ’Tianyuan Year 127’ is nor what the ’Taoming Valley Golden Casting Pavilion’ refers to."
Yu Sheng was taken aback by this.
And just as he was about to ask for more details, a lodious chi, like that of a wind bell, suddenly sounded from an unknown direction, and True Man Yuanling displayed a listening posture.
"Elder Qianji of the Lying Cloud Ten Halls has arrived," a mont later, True Man Yuanling nodded to Xuan Che, "Xuan Che, go welco him in."
Xuan Che imdiately bowed to accept the order and turned to fly out of the hall.
Yu Sheng patiently and curiously waited, and after about twenty minutes, he heard the sound of chanical workings from outside the hall door. Soon, the heavy door finally reopened, and a tall figure entered Yu Sheng and the others’ view, quickly moving towards True Man Yuanling.
In that instant, as Yu Sheng got a clear look at the figure’s appearance, he was stunned.
Because the one walking in looked nearly like a chanical Man—the "True Man Qianji" was completely clad in tal, his copper and iron body exuding a misty spiritual light. Even his Daoist Robe had a tallic sheen as if it was an integral part of that steel shell. His chest was deliberately left open perhaps to show off; within the chest, encased in a thick transparent shell, was a clearly visible assembly of ticking gears, connecting rods, and axles. And within these constantly operating chanical components, an iron-grey heart beat slowly. With each heartbeat, nurous intricate and mysterious Immortal Talismans faintly surfaced on its surface, looking exquisite yet deceitful.
The tall "chanical Man" strode in, bowing from afar towards True Man Yuanling, producing a slightly tremulous booming voice from his chest, "Yuanling, you’ve acquired quite a lot of new curiosities in your Soul Suppressing Tower. When will you let study them?"
"True Man Qianji, glad to see you’re well," True Man Yuanling laughed, returning the bow and reminding, "Today, there’s an esteed guest present, so you should restrain yourself a bit..."
Only then did "True Man Qianji" seem to notice the presence of beings other than True Man Yuanling and the Siege Giant Divine Soldier in the hall, turning his gaze towards Yu Sheng and his companions.
Then his eyes fell on the absent-minded Luna.
"Greetings, fellow Daoist," True Man Qianji said very formally with a bow, "May I ask what materials and structure your physique is made of?"
Luna was completely unresponsive...
"Ahem," True Man Yuanling coughed lightly and quickly raised his hand to introduce, "This here is Yu Sheng, the ’expert’ I ntioned to you before, and he is the main guest. The one you just greeted is Miss Luna, this Nine-tailed Silver Fox is Miss Hu Li, and on Yu Sheng’s shoulder..."
Just as True Man Yuanling was halfway through the introduction, True Man Qianji had already turned to face Yu Sheng, and solemnly bowed. "Hello, Daoist friend, did you refine this small chanical man on your shoulder yourself? It’s truly small and exquisite..."
The mont Yu Sheng heard the words "small chanical man," he felt sothing was amiss. Sure enough, he then heard a gust of wind by his ear as Erin shot out like an angry little bird, accompanied by a trail of chirping and floral fragrance: "You ** still need to say it’s small and exquisite! Small my **..."
Fortunately, Yu Sheng had spent enough ti with this little puppet to develop so skills. At the instant his shoulder shook, he guessed that this shorty was about to launch out, so he quickly reached out and caught her mid-air, grabbing Erin by the waist. She was left flailing and cursing in futility while hanging in mid-air, her target of curses now turning to Yu Sheng...
True Man Qianji’s face, composed of nurous copper plates and flexible tals, suddenly revealed a look of astonishnt. He watched the vigorously fluttering Erin in mid-air, the gears on the side of his eye sockets creaking as they turned. "So lifelike! Quite temperantal too!"
"She’s called Erin," True Man Yuanling finally found a chance to speak with a sigh, "She’s an Alice Puppet, but encountered so mishaps early on that forced her to temporarily reside in this body—which was also refined by Yu Sheng."
The gears in True Man Qianji’s chest made a clicking sound, freezing for half a second.
anwhile, as Yu Sheng was considering how to interact with this seemingly eccentric ’Ten Hall Elder,’ he saw the latter suddenly turn around, facing Erin and giving a formal bow. "Greetings, Daoist Erin, I deeply apologize for any offense, and hope you will understand."
This left Erin at a loss: "..."
Apparently, the little puppet was used to engaging in online argunts with unruly netizens, battling through hundreds of responses without stopping. This situation was a first for her, and she was left speechless for quite so ti before finally responding, squeezing out the last bit of courtesy and education from her bones: "Uh, it’s okay, and nice to et you too."
Beside them, Luna suddenly raised her head and nodded at True Man Qianji: "Mm, good."
True Man Qianji was montarily dumbfounded, unsure what Luna’s sudden, "Mm, good" ant.
Then, as if realizing sothing, his gaze fell once more on Yu Sheng.
From within the ticking machinery of his body, ca an odd rattling sound.
"This fellow Daoist Yu..." True Man Qianji mumbled in confusion, the lenses embedded in his eye sockets contracting and expanding, his tone suddenly uncertain, "Daoist friend, is this an external incarnation? Why can’t I see it clearly..."
This ti it was Yu Sheng’s turn to be dumbfounded: "...Huh?"
"Consider it as your lenses needing cleaning!" True Man Yuanling said exasperatedly, "Moreover, why does your body always make strange noises—what number is this?"
"Heavenly Character No. 22," True Man Qianji casually replied, "I originally intended to send Earth Character No. 16 over, but Earth Character No. 16 went to repair a geological vein a while ago and unfortunately fell into magma and got destroyed, so I had to send the idle Heavenly Character No. 22 body over. The noise you ntioned might be due to a collision with the mountain during flight, causing so loosening in the joints, but it doesn’t matter."
Yu Sheng listened curiously to the ntion of "Heavenly Character No. 22" and "Earth Character No. 16," and True Man Yuanling explained, "Managing the affairs of a large sect is busy, and the matters of cultivation and teaching cannot be delayed. We each have our own thods; I use the technique of external incarnation, while True Man Qianji created a whole bunch of identical bodies for himself, categorized into ’Heaven, Earth, and Humanity’ based on their use for research, craft, and administration.
"This is considered a unique incarnation thod in the path of artifact refining—what you’re seeing here is not his true form but a chanical incarnation.
"Of course, over the years, True Man Qianji might not be able to distinguish which was his original body."
"Haha, sotis it’s really hard to tell," True Man Qianji laughed heartily, sounding completely unconcerned about it, "Anyway, I use whichever I’m given, the Primordial Spirit is the source, while bodies are just temporary vessels, this is the ’chanical Ascension Path’..."
Erin also understood at this ti and excitedly poked Yu Sheng’s head: "Hey, hey, this process is quite similar to mine!"
True Man Qianji quickly turned around upon hearing this, "Daoist Erin also practices the chanical Ascension Path?"
Erin: "I have no idea! My body was all helped by Yu Sheng kneading."
True Man Qianji looked at Yu Sheng again, "Daoist Yu Sheng also practices the chanical Ascension Path?"
By this ti, Yu Sheng was already getting a headache—why is this so confusing!!
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