"Fellow Daoist Yan, have you ever heard the saying, 'Beautiful faces are all alike, but an interesting soul is one in ten thousand'?" Seeing Yan Xiu refuse, Li Chen smiled and asked him.
"Since this Mechanism Automaton can be considered a being with an artifact spirit, what harm would there be in granting its wish and giving it Painted Skin?"
Yan Xiu said, "You don't understand, fellow Daoist. Once it has a body, it wants equipment; once it has equipment, it wants status and position. We simply can't afford to cater to it!"
"The sect once held an extensive debate over this, discussing whether highly intelligent creations should be granted personhood, along with status and standing comparable to natural living beings. The conclusion was that they must at least exceed Nine-Star rank and possess emotions, or even genuine life, before they can be treated as ordinary people."
Li Chen said, "In that case, why did you speak to me privately through divine sense rather than explain it openly? Clearly, a Mechanism Automaton this intelligent already has some capacity for independent reasoning. It can distinguish beauty from ugliness and good from bad, and recognize joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. One step further, and it would develop intelligence and emotions."
Yan Xiu shook his head. "Strictly speaking, I've already fulfilled my duty to inform you, but I still wanted to offer a reminder: making modifications rashly can throw our management into confusion."
That was a practical reason. If everyone who came here heard these highly intelligent Mechanism Automatons pleading and helped modify them, the Observatory Court's administrators would be left utterly at sea.
Hearing this, Li Chen said no more.
He was not an unreasonable person. Besides, he had come to take the Grand Artisan assessment, not to sightsee, so as a