Inside Chen Village.
At the boundary between the residential area and the orchard, three men in tattered clothes, their hair hanging loose, charged back and forth, trying to break through the rune array trapping them.
Although the three men looked battered, their presence remained formidable. The tall man in the middle, dressed in fine animal skins, was especially powerful. He wielded a long staff, and the earth shook and the mountains trembled with every swing as he destroyed the array foundations around him.
Chen Hongjie led dozens of Chen Village warriors, shifting positions and repairing the damaged array foundations with the rune flags Landuo had given them.
A Huo seized an opening and launched a sneak attack on one of the men inside the array.
Clang! Clang, clang!
Blades and swords flashed, then vanished in an instant as A Huo retreated from the array.
The man grunted, another wound appearing on his body. He gritted his teeth and continued attacking the rune array around him.
Chen Jianfeng led a squad of about twenty people, each equipped with a Rune Gun No. 1. They fired volleys at the enemies at intervals. Although they could not kill them, they caused them plenty of trouble and kept them from attacking the rune array with all their strength.
"Master Landuo, we can't go on like this! Wu Hongtian is too strong. We can trap him, but we can't kill him at all. Once our rune flags are exhausted, we'll be in danger."
Chen Jianfeng came to Landuo's side, his face full of worry.
Landuo sighed and looked toward the village entrance.
Boss, if you don't come back soon, I'll have no choice but to use our last resort!
That was what he thought.
But that last resort was not yet fully complete. At present, only Chen Mu could bring out its full power. If Landuo operated it himself, he had no idea how effective it would be.
If he made a mistake and lost this trump card, they would be in even greater danger.
Just as Landuo hesitated, a cry rang out from the watchtower by the village entrance.
"A Mu, it's A Mu! A Mu is back!!"
Overjoyed, he hurried outside.
With a tremendous boom, Chen Mu, covered in blood, was sent flying through Chen Village's gate by a kick.
Chen Mu had been running too fast. The villager operating the gate had only intended to let Chen Mu in, but before he could react, Mingye charged in right behind him.
"Not good!"
The warrior operating the gate immediately closed it, but it was too late.
Mingye was not faring well either. Chen Mu's rune bullet had exploded in her right shoulder. If her instincts for danger had not been so sharp, allowing her to protect her heart with Spiritual Power in advance, she would have been a corpse by now.
She pursued Chen Mu despite her severe injuries, hating him to the bone. She could no longer concern herself with her master's orders; all she wanted was to kill him as quickly as possible.
Chen Mu lay on the ground in a pitiful state, his clothes torn and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Quick, save Chen Mu!"
Chen Jianfeng rushed over with the Rune Gun squad. Seeing Mingye about to attack Chen Mu again, he immediately ordered his men to fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Although Rune Gun No. 1 was far less powerful than No. 2, being hit by one would still hurt. Mingye had no choice but to swing her short blade, knocking down the incoming bullets one by one.
"Boss, here!"
While the Rune Gun squad held Mingye back, Landuo seized the chance to reach Chen Mu and placed a disc in his hand.
This disc was the array disc for the rune array covering all of Chen Village. Whoever held it became the center of the rune array.
After taking the array disc, Chen Mu smiled. He glanced at the three intruders advancing like a hot knife through bamboo in the distance, then at Mingye ahead of him. The fear in his eyes was gone, replaced by keen excitement.
"The road to heaven was open, but you wouldn't take it. Hell had no gate, yet you insisted on barging in!"
He poured his Soul Power into the array disc and instantly felt his divine soul spread over every part of Chen Village. Every place in the village bearing runes felt like an extension of his own body.
An acute sense of danger rose in Mingye's heart. She felt as though she were inside a terrifying giant beast, and that beast was slowly awakening.
Her whole body turned cold, an icy chill piercing from her spine straight into her brain.
Without hesitation, she turned and ran, frantically gathering the Spiritual Power in her body into her legs. She was even faster than she had been at her previous top speed.
"Trying to run? Too late!"
Chen Mu reached out and clenched his hand in the air, shouting excitedly at the top of his voice.
"Roar! Mechanism Fortress!!"
In an instant, countless silvery-white gun barrels extended from the wooden fence surrounding Chen Village. As though possessed of intelligence, they automatically aimed at Mingye.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A ceaseless barrage erupted from the gun barrels.
Although the bullets spat from the barrels were not rune bullets, they were remarkably effective. That was because Chen Mu had equipped every weapon group with a Rune Core No. 2.
Rune Core No. 2 could not directly increase the power of the barrage, but it had tremendous computational ability. It could analyze an opponent's movements and automatically attack weak points. It also made attack patterns more complex, preventing enemies from discerning the rhythm of the assault.
For instance, it could make different gun barrels fire dozens of consecutive shots at the same spot. Its aim was so precise that it almost never missed. That way, no matter how strong an opponent's defenses were, it could gradually break through them.
Before long, Mingye was knocked to the ground, powerless to resist. Chen Mu spared her life, however, and had her captured.
Mingye's identity was still a mystery, and Chen Mu wanted to know why she had come to capture him.
After dealing with Mingye, Chen Mu directed all the mechanisms to attack Wu Hongtian and the two men who had broken in with him.
Wu Hongtian was indeed worthy of being the leader of a medium-sized tribe. His strength was no weaker than Mingye's at her peak. But under the relentless pounding of the endless barrage, even he was powerless to turn the tide. In the end, he was shot full of holes and died there alongside his subordinates.
Wu Hongtian had truly been unlucky. He had only intended to probe Chen Village's strength, believing that even in the worst case, he would have no trouble escaping with his life. He had never expected to die here.
Watching the invincible Mechanism Fortress, Landuo laughed heartily, his heart swelling with pride.
He was now very glad he had met Chen Mu on Ghost Yin Mountain. Otherwise, he reckoned he would never have completed such a great undertaking in his lifetime.
Given enough time, he could have built a Mechanism Fortress on his own, but he could never have made it this powerful.
The most important reason this Mechanism Fortress was so strong lay in its mechanism weapons.
Although firearms were ingenious, Landuo was well-traveled and knowledgeable, and had seen similar things in some sects skilled in hidden weapons.
What truly struck him as incredible were the Rune Core's computational ability and the logical programs Chen Mu had written for the weapons.
His mechanism puppets could understand human commands and accept human control because he possessed a secret method for refining souls.
By refining a beast soul and erasing its independent consciousness, he could cultivate a puppet soul that only received commands.
But Chen Mu's mechanisms needed no such thing. Once Chen Mu inserted a Rune Core into a mechanism and fitted it with the corresponding combination of runes, the mechanism could operate according to the program he had preset.
What Landuo did not know was how shocked Chen Mu had been when he learned that Landuo could easily achieve a function akin to artificial intelligence by refining beast souls.
For a program, achieving artificial intelligence was actually much harder than performing a function such as calculating bullet trajectories. Communication between living beings was free-form, and the same words could have different meanings in different contexts.
Yet puppet souls refined from beast souls made fewer mistakes than artificial intelligence written in a program.
After Chen Mu learned to refine beast souls from Landuo, he immediately thought of combining Rune Core programs with beast souls. That was how the Mechanism Fortress came into being.
Beast souls possessed intelligence, while Rune Core programs possessed precise computational ability. Combined, they were like a fierce tiger sprouting wings or a fine steed growing fangs, their power multiplying.
The Mechanism Fortress was still only an initial attempt. Chen Mu believed this combination had much more potential, which he would have to explore gradually.