Kun

The discovery of land in the sea is indeed exciting, especially the finding of traces of human habitation, which further fuels the imagination.

"Arrive!"

Is anyone there?

As they approached a small, dark island, the group made sure to greet the houses on it beforehand to avoid offending anyone.

"The lower part of this house doesn't seem to be made of wood?"

"There seems to be no one inside!"

"It appears to be constructed from bronze and iron!"

"The legendary Mohists's mechanical city is hundreds of feet in circumference. This doesn't seem like it, does it?"

The island was flat and barren, devoid of flowers, trees, or any trace of small animals. Only countless seashells clung to the island, and the houses themselves raised suspicions among the visitors.

This house is only the size of a toilet in the real world. The house uses copper and iron as the foundation and walls, and the upper part is constructed of paulownia wood.

As the seawater continued to wash over them, patches of verdigris appeared where the seashells had adhered.

This place doesn't look like it's inhabited. To forcibly connect it to the Mohists's mechanical city would be absurd, since everyone isn't that blind, and this doesn't resemble a city at all.

However, it seems impossible to say that these strangely constructed houses have no connection with the Mohists, since there are very few schools of thought that can be built in the middle of the ocean.

"Although my mechanical bird didn't react, this house is definitely related to the Mohists," Li Shaojun said with a hint of joy.

"If it's something from the Mohists, then we need to be careful when we go in!"

Li Shaojun patted the mechanical bird that didn't react, almost wanting to just throw the useless thing away.

He was about to put away the mechanical bird when Gongsun Hong pointed at it and gestured for Li Shaojun to throw it into the house to check the situation. Li Shaojun thought about it for a moment before throwing it out.

With a series of flapping sounds, the mechanical bird repeatedly struck the house, as if someone were knocking on the door.

With no response, the group disembarked from the wooden boat and set foot on the island, beginning to examine the peculiar house in the sea in an attempt to find some clues.

"I don't know where this is. I've never seen this house in this area of the sea before," Gongsun Hong said.

"Your cultivation level is high, why don't you open the door and see what's inside?" Li Shaojun suggested.

"Opening a door is no problem!"

Gongsun Hong nodded.

Even if this was a trap set by the Mohists, Gongsun Hong didn't believe he would be killed just by opening a door.

This might be somewhat risky, but it definitely won't kill him.

Gongsun Hong took a deep breath, and when he reached the door, he couldn't help but pull it hard.

"It's rusted and locked up, can you guys come and help?"

Pulling repeatedly, Gongsun Hong's old face inevitably turned bright red.

Although Gongsun Hong was old and not a martial artist, as a cultivator, his strength far surpassed that of an adult male.

The fact that the door can't be opened at this point proves that it's jammed.

"You're so useless, you can't even open a door!"

Li Shaojun gave a mocking laugh and then glanced at Zhang Xuezhou.

Seeing that Zhang Xuezhou didn't move, he had no choice but to go forward and help him himself.

Li Shaojun felt that he was in a position to be subservient to Zhang Xuezhou, since he had to rely on him for food and drink. He was unwilling to follow Gongsun Hong's orders, but he could act according to Zhang Xuezhou's instructions without any problems.

"What kind of damn bronze door is this? It's jammed!"

After Li Shaojun stepped forward and exerted his strength together with Gongsun Hong, he was so frustrated that his face turned red, and he couldn't help but grumble and call out to Zhang Xuezhou to come and help.

"If it's locked, don't bother pushing it. You might as well just tear off the roof and crawl in!"

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the two men and then gestured to the wooden part on the copper wall. This made Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun curse under their breath, feeling that Zhang Xuezhou hadn't said anything earlier, making them do all the work for nothing.

"This wood has been soaked in tung oil, making it resistant to decay even after a thousand years. Ordinary swords and knives cannot pry it open!"

Gongsun Hong took out his sword and poked around a bit, then looked at Li Shaojun.

"What, it's me again?" Li Shaojun asked in surprise.

"This kind of wood is not afraid of wind, sun and rain, and seawater is difficult to corrode it, but it is afraid of fire. It would be best to burn a hole in it with fire," Gongsun Hong said.

"I know wood is afraid of fire, all kinds of wood are afraid of fire!"

Li Shaojun groaned and took a deep breath, then stomped the Seven Stars formation several times.

Fire!

After nearly thirty breaths, a flame suddenly erupted from Li Shaojun's hand.

"This is our Daoist Six Ding Divine Fire. It burns everything precisely. If it weren't so powerful that it couldn't be used for grilling meat, I... damn it, it burned my hand!"

Li Shaojun had revealed his hand, so all he could do was gloat and show off.

But within seconds, a sharp pain shot through his hand, and Li Shaojun immediately plunged his hand into the seawater.

He was extremely skilled, but not skilled enough to control his abilities perfectly, which left Gongsun Hong speechless.

Fortunately, Li Shaojun wasn't exaggerating too much; the paulownia wood, once touched by the Six Ding Divine Fire, quickly burst into flames.

If they couldn't pry open the door, tearing off the roof wouldn't be too much of a problem. If they encountered any valuable clues, Gongsun Hong, skilled in water magic, could quickly draw in seawater to extinguish them.

"Hey!"

Seeing that the roof was burning and crumbling, Gongsun Hong pointed his finger, and the seawater was instantly drawn up by his magic, gushing upwards continuously.

"Cultivators at the Divine Ability Realm are truly remarkable!"

Li Shaojun made a sour comment, and then he quickly compared the spells cast by both sides.

Li Shaojun finally realized that no matter how many Technique Method he possessed, they couldn't match the speed at which Gongsun Hong cast his spells.

If he were to fall out with Gongsun Hong, his best option would be to flee for his life immediately.

"Please come over here, both of you. This is indeed the Mohists's secret chamber, filled with many complex and difficult-to-understand mechanisms!"

The seawater extinguished the flames, and after Gongsun Hong swung his sword several times, the scene inside the room was revealed.

"The Mohists's mechanical workshop is here, which means the mechanical city is very likely nearby," Li Shaojun said.

"There should be a connection," Gongsun Hong nodded. "I just don't know what kind of sea this is. I've been in the East China Sea for over ten years and have never seen anything like this before!"

"There might be some issues with the waves these past few days, revealing areas that were previously submerged," Li Shaojun speculated. "This small island is completely bare, with only these shellfish, which is enough to prove that it's a reef in shallow water!"

"Your guess is very likely correct," Gongsun Hong agreed.

People may talk a lot, but when it comes to actually using their brains, they won't make jokes.

Immediately, everyone lifted the roof off the house, revealing everything inside.

The door to the house was locked shut with copper rust, but the interior was sealed extremely tightly. There was also a secondary seal made of fish glue inside, so not a drop of water got in.

There was a metal rod engraved with various streamlined shapes in the room, as well as a small square table with yellowed bamboo strips on it.

This naturally delighted everyone.

"There don't look like any traps or mechanisms; let's just go in!"

"The fact that bamboo slips were left behind might point to the Mohists's mechanical city!"

"There's writing on it, come and take a look!"

After taking a closer look at the contents of the room, everyone rushed in to check.

After Li Shaojun flipped through the bamboo slips, he frowned and called Gongsun Hong and Zhang Xuezhou over.

"These characters seem to be from the ancient Song Dynasty!"

"A little hard to recognize!"

"Dong Kun Dong Kun?"

What does that mean?

Li Shaojun had a dabbling in Daoism and had learned a little bit of everything, while Gongsun Hong was a learned Confucian scholar, and Zhang Xuezhou had also seen quite a bit of things.

However, when the three of them gathered together, they found it too difficult to identify the bamboo slips they had acquired.

"I think this 'movement' is easy to understand; it means to move around," Li Shaojun said.

"Could Kun be this pole?" Gongsun Hong asked doubtfully.

"I think this character looks like the character for 'sun,' so it might mean the sun," Zhang Xuezhou countered.

"The characters for 'sun,' 'moon,' and 'star' are the easiest to identify in classical Chinese, so this definitely isn't 'sun,'" Gongsun Hong said. "There's clearly an extra section below!"

"But there's another section on this side," Li Shaojun said, "I think it looks like a fish!"

"If you say it like that, it won't flow smoothly!"

"I feel it should move with the sun, maybe at some point!"

"Let's move it around a bit, I think we could put a fish in!"

"Moving iron bar!"

The three of them spoke up one after another.

No one objected to the movement, but what exactly to move was a mystery to everyone.

Zhang Xuezhou's waiting for the sun to rise was too slow, and Li Shaojun's idea of finding a fish to move around made no sense. In the end, Gongsun Hong's simple and easy-to-operate Kun gained the upper hand.

"I've never seen an iron rod named Kun!" Li Shaojun said.

"But I can name an iron rod 'Kun,' and for example, I can call this sword of mine the Kun Sword. Don't you think that's wrong?" Gongsun Hong retorted.

"Okay, okay, okay!"

Li Shaojun gave a perfunctory reply, then took two steps back to check the surroundings. After confirming that there were no traps or mechanisms, he signaled Gongsun Hong to continue his efforts.

"This iron bar... it can't be pried... pried open!"

Gongsun Hong's weak voice came again, and Li Shaojun could only step forward to help despite his disdain.

The two shouted in unison, and felt as if the iron rod was stuck deep in the rocks, and it would be difficult to pull it out without tremendous force.

This prompted Li Shaojun to call upon Zhang Xuezhou, who had been putting in the work but not contributing.

"Pull, pull, pull!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his head, and could only roll up his sleeves and do the hard labor.

The three exchanged a glance, and then exerted their strength simultaneously.

Gongsun Hong was as strong as a burly man, while Li Shaojun had used some unknown method to temporarily increase his strength. Zhang Xuezhou, though seemingly weak, actually possessed considerable strength, having consumed numerous strength-enhancing pills.

The three of them couldn't compare to violent martial artists, but their combined strength was enough to easily exceed a thousand pounds.

After exhaling and making several sounds, the iron rod began to sway from side to side.

Everyone saw a stream of bright red blood gushing out from under the iron rod, causing their expressions to change.

Before everyone could let go, a loud explosion came from below the island.

In a short time, the island covered with seashells sank directly into the sea, and then quickly embarked on a journey like a speedboat.

"It's... glug!"

"The Kun of the Northern Sea!"

"The Mohists tamed the Kun (a mythical fish) to use as a means of navigation!"

The raging seawater poured in from the roof, accompanied by the surging pressure of the seawater.

Gongsun Hong's eyes widened. Li Shaojun exclaimed, mentioning an incredible creature. Then, a rope quickly wrapped around his waist, binding Li Shaojun to the iron rod.

Zhang Xuezhou quickly activated the Water-Avoiding Technique.