Mechanical Ascension

On the enormous, disc-shaped plaza, the so-called Ascension Ceremony was taking place.

This didn't seem to be the kind of big exam that Bai Qiuran and Tang Ruowei had imagined, which brought all the applicants together. Instead, it was more like a corporate interview.

Those interested in participating register with a Puppet of similar size to the Blue-skinned People. The Puppet then lead them into a large, enclosed metal cylinder for inspection. If the inspection is passed, the Blue-skinned People disappears behind a light screen, and the Puppet announce in a mechanical voice that he has passed the Ascension Ceremony.

If they fail, the Blue-skinned People will be pulled out by the Puppet through another small door in the metal cylinder and returned to the City.

When Bai Qiuran and his group arrived at the square, they happened to see a Blue-skinned People woman who had passed the test. She was being carried behind a light screen by two Puppet. The light screen was covered with simple Runes, which blocked people's view.

Bai Qiuran blinked, a barely perceptible light emanating from his pupils. His gaze pierced through the light barrier formed by Runes, revealing what lay behind it.

Behind the light screen were six life support pods arranged on the ground. After the Blue-skinned People woman entered the light screen, she and five other Blue-skinned People, in a group of six, entered the life support pods under the instructions of the Puppet.

After the hatch closed, Bai Qiuran saw some Runes appear inside the hatch through the transparent door wall. An inexplicable force made them fall into a deep sleep. Then, the pipes connecting these life support pods above began to operate. Countless energies were transmitted through the patterns on them, causing the pipes to emit light. The Souls of these sleeping Blue-skinned People were transported by this pipe to a huge pod further away.

The cabin shook incessantly. After a moment, the cabin opened, and six stiff-faced, golden-bodied, short, and simply constructed Puppet emerged from it.

"Is this what they call the Ascension Ceremony?"

Bai Qiuran surprise, "Mechanical Ascension?"

He observed that each of these newly created Puppet possessed an Artificial Purple Mansion within its body. Inside the Purple Mansion, identical Nascent Soul sat cross-legged in the Purple Mansion center, emitting Radiant Light and True Essence that illuminated the entire artificial Purple Mansion.

True Essence slowly circulated within the Puppet's bodies, activating the Runes engraved on the Puppet parts one by one according to the Puppet's intricate mechanical structure. In a short while, these newly born Puppet possessed the cultivation level and combat power of Spirit Severing Stage Cultivators.

"Damn it."

Looking at the Artificial Purple Mansion and the Nascent Soul inside, Bai Qiuran waves of pain in her heart.

"These Puppet are inhuman! What do they take the Nascent Soul that we Cultivators have worked so hard to cultivate for?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Ruowei glanced at him. Although her true form did not have the ability to directly penetrate the light barrier with her gaze and see what was behind it, she could guess what was behind the light barrier based on Bai Qiuran's words.

"Master, everyone has their own blessings; you can't envy that."

She patted Bai Qiuran's shoulder and whispered.

Enraged, Bai Qiuran slapped her on the waist, causing the girl to cry out in pain.

"Are you trying to die?!"

Tang Ruowei immediately retaliated, kicking Bai Qiuran in the shin.

"You're okay with playing for real?"

To be honest, given the hardness of her bones now, ordinary people can no longer harm her internal organs, but Heaven's Envy is always an exception.

"Brother..."

At this moment, the blue-skinned youth standing in front of the two turned around and saw Tang Ruowei and Bai Qiuran fighting.

"You two have such a good relationship."

He was somewhat envious.

"I wish I had a girl like that as my partner."

"Go find one."

Bai Qiuran said to him, "Look at you, you know so much, you're so polite, and you speak so well. If you just lower your pride a little, finding a girl you like shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

"I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and that's why I came to participate in the Ascension Ceremony."

The young man in blue smiled bitterly and said something very heartbreaking.

"If one can successfully Ascension to Heavenly Gods, then having a partner becomes irrelevant..."

Bai Qiuran patted his shoulder silently.

"Actually... as someone who's been there, I have to tell you that sometimes a partner isn't as wonderful as you imagine."

He seemed to recall something particularly unpleasant, and involuntarily shivered.

"It's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering..."

Even the blue-skinned youth and the book, with their good tempers, couldn't help but speak up at this moment.

"Ahem, let's not talk about that."

Bai Qiuran coughed twice.

"What did you want to say to us just now?"

"I'm going to register."

The blue-skinned youth said to Bai Qiuran and Tang Ruowei, "I'm really happy to have met you two as Mortals. If I successfully Ascension, perhaps you'll be able to meet me again when I've become Heavenly Gods. At that time, I might ask the Machine God to help you with your work in the wild."

"Um."

Bai Qiuran smiled gently at him and encouraged him, "I wish you success!"

Thank you for your kind words!

After saying goodbye to the young man in blue and watching him walk away towards the registration area, Bai Qiuran's eyes flickered, and her smile faded.

He rested his chin on his hand, stood there in thought for a moment, then beckoned to Tang Ruowei.

"Ruowei, come with me for a moment."

What are you doing?

Tang Ruowei followed him and walked with him to a corner of the square.

After scanning the surroundings twice with his Spiritual Sense and finding no surveillance from the Puppet, Bai Qiuran reached out and opened a dimensional Rift. Then, grabbing Tang Ruowei's hand, he darted inside.

Tang Ruowei followed him, and the two entered the Dimension of Shadows, where everything on the ground turned into dark silhouettes, indistinct and eerie.

However, this wasn't Tang Ruowei's first time here, so she wasn't particularly afraid. After landing, she crossed her arms and asked, "Master, is there anything we can discuss?"

"We'll also attend that Ascension Ceremony."

Bai Qiuran said to her.

"We're going too? Master, although I don't know what happened inside, it's probably not a good thing, but it's something you'd envy, right? It's probably something like the Puppet turning the Blue-skinned People into one of them."

Tang Ruowei asked suspiciously, "Should we just go directly in our main body? Won't that cause problems, like our minds being forcibly controlled by those Puppet... etc."

She recalled Bai Qiuran's envious, jealous, and hateful expression from before, and suddenly a possibility occurred to her.

"Master, you wouldn't have finally given up on treatment and want to have the Puppet implant an Artificial Purple Mansion and Artificial Nascent Soul in you, just to comfort yourself that you also have Nascent Soul, would you?"

"What are you saying, you unfilial disciple? Do you think I'm a man who gives up on people so easily?"

Bai Qiuran gave Tang Ruowei a flick on the forehead with an air of righteous indignation, then added in a low voice, "But it's still possible to create an avatar to have some fun and experience what it's like to Spirit Severing Stage Puppet Cultivators."