The little beast perched on the flying eaves was a squirrel, crafted from metal and stone, so lifelike that it could transform into a living creature and move about freely.
Its beady eyes darted around. Seeing no one nearby, it dropped to the ground.
It sniffed here and there, then cackled. "The spiritual energy is so rich. I'd love to spend some time cultivating here."
It spotted a plate of hazelnuts on a nearby table and pounced on them, gobbling them down.
Unfortunately, it was a strange creature with no sense of taste. After a few nuts, it spat them out and sighed mournfully. "Who knows when I'll finally know what it's like to be human—to savor the seven emotions and six desires, and feel the warmth and coldness of the mortal world?"
A voice sounded from Tianji. "If you keep misbehaving, I'll make you experience the ten tortures of hell. You'll regret you weren't born sooner."
Tianji jumped. "All right, all right. I was just looking around. You're even keeping an eye on me? How did a disciple who hasn't even reached the middle stage of the Cang Xiang Realm manage that?"
Ning Ye ignored it.
Tianji muttered to itself, "Hmph, I know. It must be through that thing you gave me. You may have mediocre cultivation, kid, but you've got plenty of strange tricks."
"Are you done talking?" Ning Ye snapped.
"Got it."
Tianji stretched out a little paw, and a strange object appeared on it: a small wooden box. It looked around, found a spot, and set the box down. Following Ning Ye's instructions, it tapped a few places around the box. The box lit up and began to buzz.
Then it ran to another corner and did the same thing, hiding another mechanism box.
After it had hidden several and watched them all activate, Tianji shot into the ground and slipped away, leaving the little boxes behind to blink steadily.
Meanwhile.
At Ningxin Cottage.
Ning Ye was still making idle conversation with Chi Wanning and the others. He had no intention of making an impression; he simply waited in silence, counting the seconds.
"Forty-two, forty-three..."
As he counted, Chi Wanning asked, "What do you think, Junior Brother Ning?"
Ning Ye froze. She was asking him again? He looked blankly at Chi Wanning.
Chi Wanning smiled. "You've drifted off again, Junior Brother Ning. We were discussing the new talents who've emerged in the Divine Palace over the past two years."
Discussions of talented newcomers were a popular topic among the Immortal Sects.
The pyramid-like structure of cultivation meant that only a handful could ever reach the summit, and geniuses were undoubtedly the ones most likely to make it.
Judging the talents of the present was sometimes a way of judging the future.
For that reason, the favored sons and daughters of the Divine Palace often held lively discussions about talented newcomers outside their own circle.
Hearing Chi Wanning, Ning Ye considered it for a moment. "I've spent all my time cultivating and paid little attention to outside affairs, so I'm not too familiar with this. If I had to name someone, I'd say Young Master Xiao is undoubtedly the most outstanding talent the Divine Palace has produced in recent years. Reaching the Hualun Realm in just two years speaks for itself."
Xu Yanwen had only recently advanced to the Hualun Realm. Crossing into a new realm was a hurdle. Even if the Hualun Realm was the lowest such hurdle, Xu Yanwen's success on his first attempt was still remarkable.
Yang Ziqiu snorted. "What a bootlicker. That was quite the flattering speech. But he's not the only one to reach the Hualun Realm within two years. Heartbreak Woman Wen Xinyu, Blackwater Yan Mo, and Purple Lightning Long Xiangye—all of them broke through within two years."
Ye Tianshang, beside him, added, "I hear Wang Sen, the new disciple Soul-Severing Human Demon recently took in, has done well too. He wasn't much before, but ever since he became Soul-Severing Human Demon's disciple, his cultivation and strength have shot up."
Oh?
Wang Sen was making a name for himself now, too?
Ning Ye knew it had to be thanks to the merit he'd earned before and Soul-Severing Human Demon's help.
He had rendered meritorious service to the Wood Puppet Sect, so the sect had surely rewarded him with resources. With Soul-Severing Human Demon training him as well, he was already at the eighth level of the Heart Method, by the sound of it, and was now pushing for the ninth.
With enough resources, perhaps he really could break through to the Hualun Realm within the coming year. If fortune favored him and he succeeded on the first attempt, he would leap straight into the heavens.
But Ning Ye merely said, "It's a good thing the Black and White Divine Palace is full of talented people."
Chi Wanning smiled at him. "I think you might shine just as brightly among the new disciples who joined a year ago, Junior Brother Ning."
Ning Ye shook his head repeatedly. "You flatter me, Fairy. I haven't even reached the fourth level yet. How could I presume to call myself a genius?"
Yang Ziqiu snorted. "At least you know your place."
Just then, a deafening boom erupted from the western wing.
An alarm blared immediately afterward.
"Has something happened?" Everyone rose at once. In the distance, smoke billowed and flames soared into the sky.
"It's Xuanyu Pavilion!" Chi Wanning cried. She had already leaped into the air, her sleeves fluttering as she danced through the sky like a fairy.
But no one had any mind to admire Chi Wanning's beauty just then. They all hurried after her toward the scene.
Ning Ye was slow, so he called out, "Brother Xu, give me a hand."
At least Xu Yanwen still valued their friendship. He grabbed Ning Ye and carried him into the air, speeding toward the commotion.
As they drew closer, Ning Ye sensed the fragment's exact location more clearly. It really was in one of the rooms here.
"Tianji, it's in a room thirty meters behind you," Ning Ye informed it.
Underground, Tianji received the message and moved toward the target.
By the time they reached the courtyard of Xuanyu Pavilion, it was packed with people—all of them the hall's guards and servants.
At the same time, a young man landed, his face livid. His flushed blue-green face twisted with rage as he shouted, "How dare someone destroy my Xuanyu Pavilion!"
Chi Wanning landed beside him. "Senior Brother."
His name was Xuan Mulang, one of Ancestor Qingmu's disciples, and Xuanyu Pavilion was his residence. He had been cultivating in his meditation room when someone had blown up his courtyard right under his nose. He was furious. The damage was one thing; the real issue was the humiliation.
Who had done this?
Xuan Mulang was proud and had made plenty of enemies. At once, countless names flashed through his mind, and he had already narrowed it down to several likely suspects.
Ning Ye finally understood. Ancestor Qingmu had given the treasure bed to Xuan Mulang to use.
Tianji sent him a message. "I'm here. Which one is it?"
Ning Ye had given it only vague instructions. Without seeing the place for itself, Tianji couldn't possibly know exactly where the fragment was.
Ning Ye sent back, "Don't worry about which one. Grab anything valuable!"
"Understood!" Tianji shot forward, manifesting countless stone arms. Everything valuable within its sight was snatched up.
He had to buy Tianji time. In the space of a single thought, Ning Ye quickly picked up a fragment of a wooden box from the ground and examined it. "An ordinary mechanism box, loaded with saltpeter and detonated with talisman paper. There are some other mechanisms I can't make sense of."
"Siping!" Xuan Mulang barked.
A sharp-eyed guard in black stepped forward and carefully examined the wooden box in Ning Ye's hand. "That's right. This mechanism triggered the explosion. It's simple, but the workmanship is ingenious."
"What do you mean?" Chi Wanning asked.
"It uses a very special method to delay the explosion."
Everyone was taken aback. "The Black and White Divine Palace doesn't have such a technique."
They all understood at once: the culprit had to be an outsider.
Xuan Mulang was surprised too. If that was the case, then it wasn't one of his usual rivals?
Chi Wanning said, "The mechanism wasn't powerful enough to cause much damage, and it was placed somewhere no one was. Could the culprit's goal have been something other than killing?"
Everyone was startled by her words. Ning Ye, too, admired Chi Wanning's powers of deduction.
Realizing there was no time to waste, he immediately told Tianji to withdraw, then looked at Xuan Mulang. "When the explosion went off, did everyone come here?"
Xuan Mulang's expression changed. "Oh no!"
He turned and rushed back. The others followed him to the inner quarters. Xuan Mulang went straight into his alchemy chamber—his treasures weren't all kept in one room, so he hadn't thought of the bedroom first. Seeing that the alchemy chamber was untouched, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered something, and his face went pale. "The bedroom!"
He charged inside.
That was exactly what Ning Ye wanted.
He could sense that the fragment was still there—Tianji hadn't taken it.
The moment they entered Xuan Mulang's bedroom, Ning Ye finally sensed where the Thousand Mechanism Hall Fragment was.
It was a vase.
More precisely, the Thousand Mechanism Hall Fragment had been embedded in a vase and made into an ornament. Its patterns matched those on the fragment perfectly, making it look like one seamless whole.
Without Ning Ye's connection to the fragment, even he wouldn't have found it quickly by sight alone. No wonder Tianji had missed it.
But for Ning Ye, who possessed the Thousand Mechanism Hall, that didn't matter.
As they entered the room, Ning Ye used the wooden door to conceal his movements and flicked his fingers. Several tiny pellets landed in a corner.
They were Flame Burst Beads. A little spiritual power was enough to make them explode after a delay, though they were much less stable. Ning Ye made them detonate immediately.
Xuan Mulang had just charged into the bedroom and was about to inspect his treasures when a loud bang rang out. The explosion came again, its shock wave surging through the room and blasting everything inside to pieces. One after another, the mechanism boxes elsewhere went off as well. The impact made the entire Xuanyu Pavilion shudder.
The cultivators knew things were bad. Their first instinct was to raise defensive shields.
Smoke rolled everywhere. Booming blasts filled the air, and every corner of Xuanyu Pavilion rose in flames and smoke. Countless objects burst apart.
The vase shattered into countless pieces in an instant.
The fragments howled through the flames and smoke, then automatically entered Ning Ye's body and vanished.
Before you continue