As he spoke, Mo Shisan’s fingers dipped. In that instant, the dozen or so puppets swung forward, iron sand seeping from the pores all over their bodies. It flew toward Xu Yunfan, moving so fast it HISSed through the air.

Xu Yunfan’s expression remained calm. With a slight flick, the mechanism between his fingers twitched. A Mechanical Puppet at his side suddenly shot out to block his path. The puppet then opened its abdomen, which began to spin wildly, sucking the entire cloud of iron sand into its belly.

"You..." Mo Shisan stared, dumbfounded. "Did you merge the Melting Gold and Forging Iron into the Silk Binding Force?"

’You have mastered the rudiments of Hundred Refinements Silk Binding Strength.’

’...’

’Your Celestial Craft Forging Technique is now complete.’

’You have mastered the rudiments of the complete Celestial Craft Forging Technique.’

’Celestial Craft Forging Technique: 0/500 (Rudimentary)’

’Effects: Thousand Machine Deconstruction, Earth Vein Resonance, Mechanical Puppet, Refined Transformation, Remove Impurities and Retain the Essence, Hundred-Forged Condensed Steel, Thousand-Hammered Spirit Pattern’

In that instant, a torrent of knowledge so immense it could only be described as Vast and Profound surged into his mind.

Veins suddenly bulged on Xu Yunfan’s temples. A roar, like a million gears grinding together, echoed in his ears, and it felt as if his very brain was beginning to boil.

The memory from the Attribute Panel exploded like a flash of gold within his Sea of Consciousness. The four words ’Celestial Craft Forging Technique’ transformed into three hundred and sixty golden threads, piercing deep into his Sea of Consciousness.

He saw it all: the first Ju Zi of the Mo Family holding the Celestial Measuring Ruler to survey the Earth Veins; a fangshi from a past dynasty pouring Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit to cast the Celestial Sphere Instrument; and even the lost Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Transformations Map rapidly disassembling and reassembling right before his eyes.

"CRACK!"

A sharp pain shot through his spine as if his vertebrae were dislocating, making him let out a muffled grunt.

Beneath his skin, the Red Copper Pattern from Melting Gold and Forging Iron, the Turtle Shell Pattern from Profound Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength, and the spiral pattern from Hundred Refinements Silk Binding Strength wove together in a frenzy. They ultimately condensed into the Mo Family’s "Non-Attack" totem, fusing with the transcendent form he had attained after reaching the Third Level Perfection of his tendons, bones, and skin.

Before he could react, Xu Yunfan’s muscle fibers TWANGED like taut bowstrings. The surface of every muscle bundle became coated in the cold gleam of meteorite iron.

When he activated the Mount-Carrying Form of Profound Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength, his back muscles writhed and reformed like living things, creating a layered-armor structure capable of deflecting ninety percent of any impact.

Tendons are the strings, bones are the tenons, qi is the pivot, blood is the mercury.

"I see..."

Under the system’s overwhelming, brute-force infusion, the three Ultimate Skills of the Celestial Craft Cave had finally combined to complete the Celestial Craft Forging Technique, resurrecting the lost Ultimate Skill of the Mo Family.

Melting Gold and Forging Iron corresponded to quenching, Profound Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength to forging, and Hundred Refinements Silk Binding Strength to shaping.

But in the end, the Celestial Craft Forging Technique wasn’t a Cultivation Technique. It was a Secret Martial Art, much like the Heavenly Cicada Linked Body Technique, but one that focused on vast knowledge. It was the art of using one’s learning to create objects of exquisite, even divine, craftsmanship.

"What’s wrong?"

Mo Shisan watched Xu Yunfan, perplexed. A moment ago, Xu Yunfan’s muscles had been undulating in waves, like a great python writhing beneath his clothes. The sight had made his skin crawl; he’d thought Xu Yunfan had taken a Heart-Eroding Pill and was about to mutate. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Xu Yunfan casually tossed the Mechanical Puppet aside, causing Mo Shisan’s eye to twitch. He felt a sharp pang of distress.

"That was a Level C Mechanical Puppet! It took me three full days to assemble! Even a Third Level Martial Artist wouldn’t get the better of it easily!"

Mo Shisan hurried over to right the Mechanical Puppet, his expression deeply unhappy.

"Garbage!"

The disdain in Xu Yunfan’s voice made a vein throb on Mo Shisan’s forehead. He shot to his feet, but when he saw that Xu Yunfan had already hoisted the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer onto his shoulder, he froze.

"If you’re so good, then you try making one."

Xu Yunfan said, "Actually, I think that Human-shaped Mechanism Armor you were researching has more potential. Are you sure you don’t want to give it another shot?"

Mo Shisan gripped his wrench, the Bronze Mechanism Box he’d pulled from the puppet creaking faintly in his palm as he squeezed. He was carefully inspecting it, and when he heard Xu Yunfan’s question, he snapped back without looking up.

"Human-shaped? Do you think this is some street-corner puppet show? The torque required for bipedal locomotion is three times that of a quadruped! To say nothing of the shoulder-axle linkage, which requires seventeen separate Transmission Chains! A single point of failure could bring down the whole system. The only reason we can build these Mechanical Puppets at all is due to generations of improvements from the disciples of the Mechanical Hall..."

"So you’re still using the same mortise-and-tenon gear linkage that hasn’t changed in eight hundred years?"

Xu Yunfan suddenly snatched the Mechanical Puppet from the table. As Mo Shisan stared in shock and fury, a sharp crack echoed out as gears shattered. With his bare hands, Xu Yunfan ripped open the puppet’s bronze chest plate and twisted two springs, each as thick as his little finger, into mangled shapes.

Under the spike of the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer, Mo Shisan’s prized red copper spine bent into a crescent. Twelve wolf-fang tenons CLANGED and scattered across the floor.

"What a criminal waste of good materials!"

His heart aching at the waste, Mo Shisan snatched up the Celestial Measuring Ruler to strike Xu Yunfan, but the ruler was caught gently in mid-air.

The burst of exquisite, dark Silk Binding Force he’d unleashed was utterly insidious—it could leave the skin unblemished while turning the flesh and blood beneath to pulp.

But against Xu Yunfan, it was like a clay ox sinking into the sea—it vanished without a ripple.

Mo Shisan’s pupils contracted. He knew Xu Yunfan’s talent in the Martial Dao was exceptional, that he had reached the stage of Tendons and Skin Perfection, but he never imagined he would be so strong that his own power was completely unfathomable.

’We’re both at the Third Level Martial Master Realm, so how can we be worlds apart?’

Xu Yunfan planted a foot on the puppet’s wreckage, twirling half a Scorpion Tail Hook between his fingers. "This Iron Tortoise of yours has a spine that’s far too brittle. It vibrates so much it’s only good for being a puppet on a string."

A pulse of Strength shot from Xu Yunfan’s fingertips, sending Mo Shisan stumbling back three steps until he crashed into a cabinet of parts, knocking it over.

’He knew there was a gap in their power, but in his own field of expertise, Mo Shisan refused to concede.’

"A Human-shaped Mechanism Armor?"

Mo Shisan sneered, his feet crunching on the scattered ball bearings.

"Five years ago, the Lingnan Dao Yazhou Tang Sect built a twelve-foot-tall human puppet. They even invited us from the Celestial Craft Cave for a demonstration. A pity it fell apart on its third step! The failure was so embarrassing the Tang Sect has kept its gates sealed in shame ever since."

He snatched two Copper Tiger Claws to demonstrate. "A four-legged Mechanical Beast’s center of balance is at its hips. A humanoid can only rely on its ankles for support..."

"KRRRACK—"

Along with a tooth-grinding shriek of metal, the steel parts in Xu Yunfan’s hands became like clay, kneaded and molded into any shape he desired. Mo Shisan could only stare, dumbfounded.

Turning iron to mud was something any powerful Martial Artist could do with ease. But to see Xu Yunfan casually knead it into flat discs and perfect spheres was simply inconceivable.

As he watched in shock, Xu Yunfan used the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer in a brutally crude fashion to forge the thirty-six vertebrae into a single, solid piece. With a final strike, a 2.3-meter-tall steel humanoid crashed to the floor. For feet, Xu Yunfan had embedded two Mountain-Opening Axe Blades into its ankles.

Mo Shisan’s wrench CLANGED to the floor.

He stepped forward, trembling, and caressed the curved armor on the Mechanical Armor’s back. The whirring gears and transmission rods inside were all familiar—they were the original parts from his own humanoid puppet, now warped and reshaped by Xu Yunfan’s bare hands.

"The weight-bearing problem for a biped... Did you use liquid joints for cushioning?"