"Hand over the blueprints in exchange for a Secret Art inheritance?"
In this life, Li Chen was only a forlorn orphan. War had driven him from his home as a child, and he had missed the chance to enter the Creation Sect and receive a complete education. He was much like the refugee children in the small, war-torn countries of Earth in his previous life. It truly was a shame.
And the sect Zhao Bin had mentioned was the true overlord of the Eastern Victory Continent, one of the superpowers standing tall in the present age: the Creation Sect.
If he now had a chance to obtain its Secret Art and make it the foundation of his future livelihood, he could hardly ask for anything better.
Li Chen had entertained the idea of treasuring his own battered broom, but he had been born with knowledge in this life, possessing several extra decades of human experience. He had long since understood which choice was better.
The Creation Sect was the orthodox authority on the Artifact Dao and the overlord of an entire continent. The Art of a Hundred Crafts it commanded could rightly be called divine abilities. Knowledge was difficult for someone of his standing to obtain, so exchanging his work for a Secret Art inheritance was indeed a good choice.
This opportunity also came because Zhao Bin appreciated him and was willing to help. Otherwise, he might never even have found this avenue.
Of course, stones from another mountain could polish jade. Radically different natural environments had produced vastly different paths of development, and Li Chen would never belittle himself by assuming that what he possessed was worthless.
The facts had also proved that many of the mortal ways of thinking and ideas he displayed stood out in this world like fireflies in the night sky. Sooner or later, he would distinguish himself from the teeming masses.
It was rather laughable, really. Supernatural might was so overwhelming in this world, and individual strength so great, that they had instead limited the growth of certain things. Industrialization and information technology, at least, were still only budding here, and their development was outrageously slow. The sect reforms implemented by the Creation Sect, along with innovations such as the Cultivation Academy, met opposition from every quarter. The Outer Dao in particular all but regarded it as a mortal enemy, and wars frequently broke out between them.
"What, you're unwilling?" Seeing Li Chen lost in thought, Zhao Bin misunderstood, and his expression changed slightly.
Li Chen came back to his senses and hurriedly said, "You misunderstand, Master Artisan. I'm merely astonished. How could such a crude piece of work catch your discerning eye?"
As he spoke, he quickly took something from inside his robes: the design blueprints recording the secrets of the Rotary-Wing Aircraft. "Please help me fulfill this wish, Master Artisan!"
Zhao Bin did not take them. Instead, anger appeared on his face, and his voice turned stern. "Put them away! Remember, Secret Art is not to be shown to outsiders!"
"When you go out into the world, don't be this foolish." Although Zhao Bin scolded him, his sincerity had clearly moved the man, whose eyes softened a little. "Come to the academy gates on the first day of next month. I'll be taking the apprentices to Yong City, the Commandery Seat, for their assessment then. I'll bring you along."
Joy lit up Li Chen's face. "Thank you, Master Artisan!"
Zhao Bin gave a slight nod, then turned and left.
Li Chen watched him go. Even long afterward, a faint excitement lingered in his heart.
Ten years. He had swallowed his pride and attended lessons here without being a student for ten whole years!
From the initial distance and indifference, to a discerning eye recognizing a pearl, to increasing favor-and now that he was old enough, he had finally managed to "win over" Master Artisan Zhao, a man with a cold face but a warm heart.
Rogue cultivators had few avenues open to them in the first place. Gaining the support of such a benefactor and a chance to obtain a Secret Art inheritance had truly been no easy feat.
"The first day of next month? If I want to earn the status of Puppet Master then, I'll have to prepare properly..."
Muttering to himself, he turned and headed toward his home.
"Whoosh!"
The Flying Disc skimmed through the air at low altitude, following close behind him.
"Creak..."
With a teeth-grating sound from the turning mechanism, Li Chen pushed open his shop door, casually flopped into a chair inside, and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Ding!"
After a clear chime, a synthesized voice sounded. "Welcome home, Master."
Home...
Yes, alone in a strange land, he was a stranger-and this place already counted as Li Chen's home. Indeed, it was an old home where he had lived for more than ten years.
Li Chen's parents in this life had both been rogue cultivators. War had uprooted them, and after death separated them forever, his father had brought him, then only three years old, to settle in White Rock Ward. When Li Chen was ten, his father's old wounds flared up, and he breathed his last.
Fortunately, White Rock Ward lay far behind the front lines, and the situation across the Eastern Victory Continent had remained fairly stable over the years. Only thus had Li Chen been able to inherit his parents' possessions without trouble and survive.
Li Chen's current wealth consisted of this little repair shop, which had cost over a hundred thousand talisman coins altogether to establish and had earned a modest reputation in the ward, along with some Art of a Hundred Crafts and knowledge of the Puppet Dao that his parents had cobbled together during their years of wandering.
The talisman coins his father left him had run out completely several years earlier, and the spirit materials and Mechanism Devices were almost exhausted as well. But with two lifetimes of experience, Li Chen had still relied on his inherited craft and the fanciful ideas born of those two lives to forge a distinctive path of his own. He lived quite comfortably in this small, remote backwater. At the very least, he probably had no need to worry about spending the rest of his life in comfort in a mortal kingdom.
But Li Chen, fortunate enough to have transmigrated and been reborn, had no interest in toiling away all day and spending the rest of his life in dull mediocrity.
"As for working for someone else, that's not happening. I'm never working for someone else in this lifetime. I can't become a sect disciple either, so wandering around is the only way I can keep myself going. Entering the rough-and-tumble world feels like coming home. Roaming the world feels even better than being at home. Everyone there is so talented, and they say such nice things. I absolutely love it there!"
While Li Chen muttered this mysterious language that the people of this world could not understand, a nearby cantilever resembling a mechanical arm moved over, unscrewed the insulated flask, picked up a cup, poured water into it, and brought it to his lips with flawless precision.
Li Chen remained sprawled in his chair, merely turning his head a little to better accommodate being given water. He drank comfortably, then sighed again.
"The first day of next month... They say a golden nest or a silver nest is no better than your own dog's nest, but I, Li Chen, can't really stay trapped here for the rest of my life."
"This world is far grander and more fascinating than I first thought. Restrictions, spell formations, divine abilities, the Great Dao, demons and monsters, other continents-how could I possibly be content without going out to explore?"
"Besides, the Eastern Victory Continent might not remain peaceful forever. If war breaks out again someday and chaos returns to the land, won't the ants at the bottom suffer all the same?"
"Farewell, White Rock Ward... If I can rise in the world, I'll make my fortune out there and achieve great things. If I can't, I'll wander destitute and leave my corpse exposed in the wilderness. Either way, I'm never coming back!"
Before long, Li Chen sprang to his feet like a carp flipping upright, went over to the counter, and rummaged through chests and cupboards, selecting the things he wanted to pack and take with him.
There was not really anything valuable. Even the shop itself was rented, rather than property his father had bought. To move out now, he only needed to let the landlord know, take the odds and ends and spirit materials still worth a little money, gather some blueprints and books, and remove the spirit stones he had installed in the spell formations. He soon had everything properly prepared.