Though his Celestial Craft Cave couldn’t compare to a top sect like the Jiuyao Sect, its foundation in Celestial Craft City made it far stronger than the likes of the Cyan Simurgh Sword Sect and the Red Flood Dragon Gang.

"Elder Mo has already dispatched the Mechanical Hall’s Giant Kite Team to investigate. A report should be back within a few days."

-----------------

At 3:45 AM, the chimes of the Nine Peaks Bell of the Celestial Craft Cave rang throughout the entire Celestial Craft Fortress.

When Xu Yunfan followed Zhan Yan into the Council Hall, the bronze floor tiles were already covered with bodies shrouded in white cloth.

The surviving stewards from every hall were recording names in a register, the sound of their pen tips scratching across paper exceptionally grating.

"Four hundred seventy-three dead in the Celestial Craft Department, two hundred severely wounded..."

Zhu Xu of the Melt Gold Hall leaned on his great saber, its blade covered in a dense, shocking array of nicks and cracks. "The Melt Gold Hall’s Earth Fire Room has been destroyed. My head disciple, Yan Yuwei, is severely injured and unconscious."

Fu Jin strode through the door, carrying a pair of blood-stained Armor-Breaking Hammers.

"The Weapon Casting Hall lost sixty-nine disciples. The Earth Fire Room needs to be rebuilt."

"..."

By the time the casualties among the Celestial Craft Cave disciples and the surviving populace of the city were fully tallied, it was already the afternoon of the next day.

Inside the Celestial Craft Hall, Hong Baichuan, his face pale and his breathing slightly unstable, looked down at the injured Hall Masters below.

He looked at Mo Han.

Mo Han took a bronze tube from his robes. The Jiao Xiao secret report that slid out from it revealed shocking words under the glow of the hall’s Fluorescent Stones:

"According to the report from the Mechanical Hall’s Giant Kite Team, the gates of the Cyan Simurgh Sword Sect have been burned to the ground, and their Sect Leader’s head is hanging from a flagpole. The Red Flood Dragon Gang Headquarters has sunk into Bibo Pond, with three hundred disciples drowned. The Iron Bone Sect, Liuyun Manor, Hundred Herbs Valley... the Seven Clans of Cangzhou... all annihilated!"

With every word Mo Han read, the faces of those present grew a shade grimmer.

Silence fell over the hall. Only then did Hong Baichuan speak softly.

"What do you all make of this?"

Wan Chen’s expression was incredibly grim.

"The bottom of Bibo Pond holds a Sea-Suppressing Stone from a previous dynasty. With that to rely on, those slippery eels from the Red Flood Dragon Gang could escape into secret underwater caves. How could they..."

"Because the Cangzhou Navy packed Thunderfire charges into the eye of the Sea-Suppressing Stone."

Mo Han’s mechanical arm unfolded a scroll sent back by a disciple from the Giant Kite Team.

It depicted three Cangzhou military warships dumping crates of Thunderfire charges into the pond. "Look at the markings on the prow—those are the personal warships of the Cangzhou Governor’s Mansion!"

Zhan Yan’s expression was utterly grim. Being as old and shrewd as he was, how could he not understand? For the Incense and Candle Sect to act so brazenly, they had to have the backing of the Great Zhou Imperial Court.

"Even the Cangzhou military has become the Incense and Candle Sect’s lackeys. That demoness in Jade Capital City wants to hunt down and exterminate all the Mortal Martial Sects!"

Anyone present who was a Hall Master was sharp enough to understand the implications of Mo Han’s words.

Mo Han sneered, "But they can’t exterminate *everyone*. The top Six Great Sects of the Great Zhou remain aloof. They haven’t made a move this entire time. Who knows what dirty secrets are hiding there."

Zhu Xu, the usually quiet Hall Master of the Melt Gold Hall, felt as if the sky was falling. He swayed on his feet.

"If that’s the case... if that’s the case, what are we to do?"

"Cangzhou has become a place of peril. If we at the Celestial Craft Cave remain here, I fear we will eventually draw the attention of a Supreme Grandmaster of Qi Cultivation."

The men began to argue heatedly, unable to reach a consensus.

The Celestial Craft Cave had been rooted in Guniu Mountain since its founding. After a thousand years, their attachment to this place was naturally profound.

Wan Chen boomed, "With the Mo Family’s Mechanical Giant Beasts and the Celestial Craft Profound Steel Lotus Fortress, not to mention the sulfur and ore veins underground that we haven’t even dug five levels deep into... even an army of a million would be forced to retreat empty-handed! What the hell is there to be afraid of!"

"We still haven’t figured out many of the mechanisms for the Mo Family’s Mechanical Tiger! We can’t even bring out thirty percent of its power. How are we supposed to defend ourselves? The title of Supreme Grandmaster of Qi Cultivation isn’t just for show."

Nine Realms Qi Cultivation was already an Extraordinary state, granting inconceivable power.

The Profound Steel Fortress could not stop it.

For a moment, the entire Celestial Craft Hall erupted into a chaotic, deadlocked argument.

"Relocate the Sect!"

Hong Baichuan’s hoarse voice fell like a heavy hammer.

The dome of the great hall seemed to tremble. The Hall Masters fell silent as if choked by an invisible Qi Force, unable to speak for a long moment. Finally, they all sighed in silent resignation.

In the past half-day, all the messages returned by the Giant Kite Team disciples had been nothing but heart-chilling bad news.

Mo Han, standing beside them, had clearly prepared for this. He retrieved a paper tube from a mechanism built into the side of the Celestial Craft Hall and spread the blueprint from within on the table for all to see.

"In the past few decades, I’ve traveled all over the place. Naturally, I know of quite a few blessed locations that would be suitable for our Celestial Craft Cave.

I began making deductions and scouting locations back then. There were three criteria: a Refined Iron vein hundreds of feet underground, which guarantees an abundance of other valuable associated ores; a source of Molten Lava Earth Fire within thirty li; and no dynastic garrisons within a hundred li. There aren’t many places that fit, but I found three."

His mechanical prosthetic finger traced a line across the blueprint, tapping on a point on the map.

"First, the border between Mosenan Dao and Jian Nan Dao. The Earth Fire there burns year-round. The Juliu branch, one of the inheritors of the former dynasty’s Mo Family, once built the Li Fire Earth Palace there. Although it’s now buried, its core Melting Furnace is still operational. We might even be able to replicate that furnace and install it on a Mechanical Giant Beast for power.

Second, the border between the Great Zhou and the Western Regions. Ancient Meteorite Iron is buried beneath the sandstorms. Three years ago, a camel caravan dug up the remains of a Mo Family Mechanical Scorpion there, proving the existence of a large ore vein. It also has a natural lava fountain, no worse than the Thunderfire Cave beneath Guniu Mountain.

Third, a perilous region in Lingnan Dao. I went there myself twenty years ago during the great earthquake—the Earth Dragon Flipping Over. I saw a giant bronze gate emerge from a lake of lava, a relic of the Mo Family’s Mechanical Art. Zhu Xu was with me at the time. He took measurements and confirmed an astonishingly rich ore vein lies beneath the ground."

Zhan Yan’s brows furrowed. "The Li Fire Earth Palace is only eight hundred li from the Jade Capital, with an imperial highway running right by it. That demoness of the Great Zhou could have her Profound Armor Guard on us in less than a day! How would we defend ourselves while we’re still getting settled?"

Zhu Xu stared at the map of the Profound Nether Desert, his brow deeply furrowed.

"The Meteorite Iron in the Profound Nether Desert contains a profound Evil Qi from beyond the heavens. Ordinary Melting Furnaces can’t handle it at all. I’m afraid the disciples of the Melt Gold Hall would be invaded by the Evil Qi!"

"You..."

Seeing that they were about to start arguing again, Hong Baichuan gave a light cough.

"In half a month... COUGH... we will make a final decision. Hall Master Mo, Hall Master Wan, Hall Master Chu, I will trouble you to use this time to gather all necessary supplies with your full effort."

He looked to Zhan Yan. "During this time, I’m afraid we’ll need to prepare more weapons, arrows, and crossbows."

Zhan Yan replied, "With the Mechanical Hall’s molds, we’ll have more than enough arrows and crossbows."

-----------------

「Three days had passed since the meeting in the Celestial Craft Hall.」

A thousand feet beneath Guniu Mountain, Xu Yunfan looked at Yan Yuwei, who was covered in bandages, and asked hesitantly, "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Who are you looking down on?"

Yan Yuwei gave a grand wave of her hand, swinging the Mechanical Profound Iron Ore Pickaxe she held. It cut through the air with a SWISH.

"When I was first training in the Melting Gold and Forging Iron technique, I took heavier injuries than this just to absorb the Geng Metal Qi from the ore veins. And I was back here mining and training the very next day."

Hearing this, Xu Yunfan didn’t say anything more. Two days ago, he had asked Zhan Yan if he could also study the kung fu of the Celestial Craft Department’s other three halls. Naturally, Zhan Yan refused.

But when Xu Yunfan revealed he had reached Third Level Perfection, Zhan Yan’s jaw dropped, and he agreed in a daze.

(There should be another Chapter later, I’m writing it now)