Mechanism Stronghold

The Mohists's mechanical city, as one might imagine it, is an ingeniously crafted large house, about the size of an amusement park, where one can obtain artifacts left behind by the School of Mohists simply by going inside.

The actual Mohists Mechanical City was a large, collapsed ruin.

The ground was still illuminated by a purple light that could induce hallucinations; a glimmer of light followed the darkness beneath the ruins.

It is virtually impossible for an individual to complete a normal search.

This is not one of the twelve side rooms of the low palace in the secret realm, nor is it merely a single main hall.

"The Mohists's Mechanical City contains 1,080 mechanical rooms and tens of thousands of hidden passages, but only in key areas are these enormous mechanical figures guarding it!"

Upon seeing everyone burst in, Li Shaojun couldn't help but shout.

With more people, things get done. Li Shaojun could sense that after Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong entered, the massive mechanical figure slightly shifted its limbs, no longer focusing all its attack power on him.

"The Mohists has four guardian mechanisms: wind, fire, water, and earth. It is said that these four mechanisms are all capable of top-tier cultivators," Gongsun Hong said with a slightly grim expression. "Wind is good at flying, fire can spew out high-temperature furnace fire, water can fight underwater, and earth has an unparalleled defensive power."

"To survive such damage, it must be a creature with strong defenses," Zhang Xuezhou said solemnly. "Its body is entirely made of metal, and it certainly looks very hard."

"It's fire!"

As soon as Zhang Xuezhou finished speaking, a vibration was heard from the mechanical man's body.

One arm was pointed towards Li Shaojun on the left, and his mouth was facing Gongsun Hong in the middle; the other arm was pointing towards Zhang Xuezhou.

As if something had been ignited, blue flames spewed from the automaton's arms and mouth in a short time.

The underground passage was brightly lit.

Holding a jade ruyi weighing over a hundred pounds, Zhang Xuezhou found it difficult to jump. He rolled to dodge, and saw Gongsun Zhang Xuezhou also awkwardly dodging.

"Don't leave the range of the Jade Ruyi, otherwise we will be killed in one blow after being bewitched!" Gongsun Hong shouted.

"Cut off its left hand, then its right arm, then stuff a lump in its mouth and seal it shut," Li Shaojun shouted.

"The plan is correct," Gongsun Hong replied irritably. "You shove yourself into its mouth first, and I can cut off its arms!"

"I'm not a lump!"

All three of them tumbled about in a sorry state.

Although it was an underground passage, the entrance was three zhang high, and the space to the left and right was two zhang long, just like a large hall.

Behind this mechanical figure called 'Fire' was a small door, just large enough for a normal person to pass through.

Clearly, this is a protective design; anyone wishing to pass through this area must defeat this mechanical figure named 'Fire'.

Gongsun Hong had some reservations about this sudden confrontation, but upon seeing the small door behind the mechanical man, he had to admit that Li Shaojun had found the right direction.

The fact that the door was intact suggests that the secret chamber behind it likely contains some of the Mohists's treasures.

The places guarded by top-tier mechanical beings are also likely to contain heavy objects.

This was enough to get everyone to work together, but Gongsun Hong was skilled in tactics, not in martial arts.

Moreover, his Green Bamboo Sword was forged from Law Treasure bamboo. No matter how outrageous the bamboo was, it could not compare to the thickness and sharpness of metal, and it was almost impossible for it to cut through such heavy metal armor.

Gongsun Hong replied irritably, muttering incantations as he swiftly conjured a stream of water.

While dense fog isn't as convenient as being near a water source, it doesn't present any significant difficulty in using water magic in such an area.

The stream of water, like a serpent, swiftly coiled around the mechanical man. In the short time it took for the flames in the man's mouth to go out, the water had already seeped into it.

The blue light of the flames rekindled, and a plume of steam rose up with them.

"Mr. Gongsun, your water can't extinguish the fire," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"If fire were so easy to control, this mechanical figure wouldn't have survived this long!" Gongsun Hong cried out as he dodged in disarray. "I just wanted to see if it was damaged anywhere in this catastrophe, so I tested it with water magic. I didn't expect that even without the control of the Mohists, it would still be unstoppable."

"Luckily, its underlings are all dead, otherwise we wouldn't even have anywhere to hide!"

Li Shaojun also shouted.

Normally, the Mohists's mechanical arts would be about overwhelming attacks, using resources to take the lives of their opponents. They wouldn't have such an extremely important mechanical figure being ganged up on like this.

The brief conversation also made everyone notice that this mechanical figure had extremely slow movements; not to mention jumping, even walking seemed difficult.

Lacking a controller, this mechanical figure's abilities were limited under passive control, and its fire-breathing attacks appeared extremely chaotic.

Aside from the powerful flames that can heat metal to a red-hot state in a short time, this mechanical robot's current weakness is difficult to overcome.

This is also why Gongsun Hong only mentioned the mechanical man's 'sharpness'.

"Dongfang Shuo, hold onto the jade ruyi and don't run around! There's still purple light here; if we get caught up in the illusion, we'll be doomed!"

The three of them could even yell for a while, and Zhang Xuezhou, holding a jade ruyi weighing over a hundred pounds, repeatedly managed to dodge them.

Even in his disheveled state, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the Mohists mechanical arts. Even though the real world hadn't developed intelligent mechanical beings, it still relied on humans to fight.

He was somewhat curious about the internal structure of the mechanical beings, and also about what kind of program controlled their actions.

If the mechanical bird can fly by adjusting its spring-loaded gears, then the mechanical man doesn't have a large spring-loaded mechanism on his back.

Although these mechanical beings have obvious flaws, they are undoubtedly powerful weapons in certain situations, and when deployed on the battlefield, they can even exist as killing machines.

"Hiding here and there while it finishes spraying isn't going to work. Once these places are all red-hot, we'll have nowhere to hide," Zhang Xuezhou suggested. "Why don't we call Ao Sheng over to spray water?"

"That's a good idea. Ao Sheng has been swallowing the fog for so long, his stomach must be full of water," Li Shaojun said.

"I think it's feasible!"

Gongsun Hong nodded sheepishly.

His water was countered by fire, but this was mainly because Gongsun Hong could only mobilize a limited amount of water in a short time. If he could instantly spew out water for the mechanical figures to bathe in, Gongsun Hong believed that it would still be effective.

The crowd dodged and weaved, and only after the intense heat from the fire-breathing entrance subsided did they manage to escape in a chaotic and disorganized manner.

This strategic location was several miles from the bottom of the mountain, not a long distance. With the jade ruyi, they were immune to the hallucinations, and their pace returned to normal.

"I knew I wasn't wrong about you guys! You really did solve the problem while I was absorbing the mist!"

Zhang Xuezhou and the others descended the steps of the Mohists's mechanical city normally, which greatly pleased Ao Sheng, whose stomach was bloated from swallowing the medicine.

After letting out a burp, he repeatedly praised Zhang Xuezhou and the others, thinking that these humans were quite remarkable.

More importantly, Ao Sheng felt that these people were loyal, as they actually came to him with the treasure that could break the hallucination.

If he had such resources, Ao Sheng felt he would definitely search for them to line his own pockets before calling his other companions to take advantage of the situation.