Chapter 360: Imperfections in Matters

Yu Sheng realized that places of extraordinary talent and spirit in this universe were not limited to the Borderlands; the Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain area was quite remarkable in that regard as well...

However, looking on the bright side, the Thousand Mechanism True One did have an easygoing personality, which relieved Yu Sheng—after all, he had previously heard from the Yuan Ling True One that the sect masters and elders of the other major sects were "old fellows wholly devoted to cultivation," and he had assumed they were all a bunch of rigid and stubborn cultivators; but now, seeing the Thousand Mechanism True One, although he might indeed be "wholly devoted to research/cultivation," he was by no means rigid or stubborn.

Of course, the fact that conversations with this Elder of the Ten Clouded Halls would occasionally be steered off-topic was merely another trivial matter.

Fortunately, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Yuan Ling True One, the topic at the scene finally returned to the right track.

"Shocking to the soul, shocking to the soul indeed..."

The Thousand Mechanism True One tilted his head back, gazing at the ten-plus-meter-tall Battle-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier standing before him, and could not help but sigh with emotion.

"We only dismantled its front and rear armor plating and did not touch its core," the Yuan Ling True One said from the side, "what exactly lies within requires your explanation."

The Thousand Mechanism True One waved his hand: "No rush, no rush, let me go up and take a look."

Before his words had even faded, this grand master of the sect, who had completely regarded the automaton's body as his own flesh, gently turned his neck; the next second, with a few soft "click-clack" sounds, his entire head along with a small portion of the structure beneath his neck detached directly from his body, rose into the air accompanied by a faint humming, and flew toward the mechanical core of the Battle-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier.

Immediately following this, several slender mechanical arms extended from beneath his detached head; intricate metal joints swayed as they climbed onto the mechanical structure on the Giant Divine Soldier's chest, carefully probing among the dazzling gears and talismanic inscriptions.

Upon seeing this scene, Erin nearly jumped right then and there, instinctively grabbing Yu Sheng's hair: "Oh my! The Ancestor of Puppets!"

"Hair!" Yu Sheng immediately slapped away the little puppet's claws; he too was startled by the Thousand Mechanism True One's maneuver, but still instinctively turned his head to look at Erin, "Why mention the Ancestor of Puppets at a time like this?"

Erin spoke with conviction: "The rules of the Alice Puppets state that when one sees someone's head fall off, one must immediately shout 'Ancestor of Puppets' to avoid one's own head falling off..."

Yu Sheng looked utterly bewildered: "... What utter nonsense."

Just then, the Thousand Mechanism True One's voice also emerged from the chest of his body left on the ground: "Yuan Ling, have you noticed the various inscriptions inside this automaton?"

"Naturally, we saw them," the Yuan Ling True One nodded and said, "but the era names and place names written on those inscriptions are unknown to anyone."

"Unknown to anyone... indeed, I do not recognize them either, but did you not think of anything?" As the Thousand Mechanism True One spoke, his head slowly descended from the air, and after a few "click-clack" sounds, reconnected to his body, "Tianyuan Year One Hundred and Twenty-Seven, Tianyuan... the calendar currently used by the Tai Xu Spirit Pivot for reckoning years is the 'Holy Calendar,' consistent with 'Terra' and the 'Borderlands,' and used alongside the Holy Calendar is our own calendar, the 'Tai Xu Calendar'... do you recall the several major revisions of the 'Tai Xu Calendar' mentioned in the books?"

"Of course I recall," the Yuan Ling True One nodded, "the Tai Xu Calendar has been in use since the day the historical records were resumed, but during the initial hundred years, numerous errors occurred due to various reasons, requiring three major revisions and four minor revisions, with repeated adjustments, before it became barely usable, and it has served as the 'Official Calendar' on the Tai Xu Star for guiding seasonal agriculture to this day."

"Various reasons... do you recall what the most significant reason was?"

Hearing the question posed by the other party, a hint of seriousness appeared on the Yuan Ling True One's expression.

"Inconsistent with the star patterns, incompatible with the cycle of the Heavenly Dao, and most importantly, 'the calendar has imperfections'."

"Yes, inconsistent with the star patterns, incompatible with the Heavenly Dao, the calendar has imperfections," the Thousand Mechanism True One spoke slowly, the mechanical core within his chest clicking as if rapidly calculating many things, "the cause of these calendar imperfections and inconsistencies with the star patterns boils down to one reason—the Old and New Worlds."

The Yuan Ling True One said nothing, merely silently raising his head to gaze at the mechanical giant on the platform.

The Thousand Mechanism True One's low, resonant voice sounded from beside him: "With the change of heaven and earth, the old methods of star observation became unusable; with the severing of the lineage, many things passed down by the ancestors became difficult to trace to their origins. How magnificent were the Ancient Holy Spirits, yet they could not preserve all things in the world; many things they could not preserve... became gaps in ancient books, breaks in the lineage, becoming 'the calendar has imperfections.' The calendar is thus, and the era-counting method is likewise."

Hu Li blinked her eyes; diligent and eager to learn, she tried hard to follow the conversation between the two True Ones, but at this moment realized she truly could not understand, so she could only turn her head and poke Yu Sheng's arm with her tail: "Benefactor, what are they talking about?"

Yu Sheng had actually been completely confused at first, but having learned quite a few "secrets" about this world from Bai Liqing, he now made a connection from the two people's conversation and guessed the gist: "You mean that the inscriptions on these Giant Divine Soldiers record... 'information from the Old World'?"

"That is a hypothesis," the Thousand Mechanism True One turned his head; although his face was forged from metal and stone, it now bore a solemn and complex expression, "Fellow Daoist, as an expert from the Borderlands, you should also know that all heavens and myriad worlds once suffered a great calamity called 'Annihilation'; after the Annihilation, all worlds fell into silence and death; it was only through the Ancient Holy Spirits' desperate struggle that the universe was recreated from the remaining embers; thereafter, the concept of 'Old and New Worlds' existed within this universe."

"But that was ultimately a great calamity in which all heavens and myriad worlds fell into complete silence and death; even with the recreation of the universe, there were always things that could not be saved; those things, to this day, are the many unmatched and incomplete gaps in the history, technology, and lineage of various civilizations. Our Tai Xu Spirit Pivot is already considered one of the most complete in terms of lineage, second only to the 'Academy' on the Terra Star, yet even so, we have many things regarding the Old World that we cannot comprehend."

"The era name 'Tianyuan' has never appeared in the ancient books currently in circulation; in fact, we do not know at all what the era-counting method of the Tai Xu Star was like during the Old World; even the 'calendar' we use to guide agriculture was pieced together after the historical records were resumed and the universe reopened; but now, the inscriptions on this mechanical giant mention the 'Tianyuan' era name... by common sense reasoning, I believe this is the era-counting method used on the Tai Xu Star during the Old World, or at least a node within that era-counting method."

"Based on this deduction, the 'Taiming Valley Golden Casting Pavilion' recorded on the inscriptions should also be a place name existing only in the Old World, and the craftsman Song Xingzhi was likely an ancestor from the Old World as well."

Yu Sheng remained silent for a moment.

He did not know what he should sigh about at this moment—was it the great achievement of the world's reshaping? Or the history recorded by the Tai Xu Spirit Pivot and that lost "Old World"? Or perhaps... it was to properly consider why this Battle-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier, which seemingly records information from the Old World, appeared in the desert region of the Tai You Star?

And while Yu Sheng was lost in thought, the Yuan Ling True One suddenly broke the silence again: "There must be other grounds as well."

As he spoke these words, his gaze fell upon the Thousand Mechanism True One.

"Yesterday, I sent you the image of the Giant Divine Soldier's mechanical core, and you immediately rushed to come; did you already discern something from that image at that time?"

"I will not hide it from you."

The Thousand Mechanism True One nodded, then raised his hand and waved; he did not know from where he produced a wooden box; opening the box, inside were several exquisite jade pieces, each less than half a palm in size.

He placed those jade pieces in his palm; a wisp of luminous radiance rose from his palm, and then, with a few clear, resonant sounds, the jade pieces floated up, circling and rising and falling around the Thousand Mechanism True One; light and shadow also leaked from the jade pieces, outlining massive silhouettes in the surrounding air.

These were actually dazzling "Giant Divine Soldiers" of various types and sizes!

"These are the large-scale mechanical puppets cast by my Ten Clouded Halls, arranged by model and function; among them, those that can be classified as 'Battle-Breaking Giant Divine Soldiers' are these few."

Accompanying the Thousand Mechanism True One's words, the illusions projected from the jade pieces continuously adjusted their position and size in the air; some images also disassembled, presenting certain details within them.

Of course, this should not be technical data involving core secrets, but merely some rudimentary demonstrations; yet from the Yuan Ling True One's serious expression, Yu Sheng judged that this data should be sufficient to explain many things.

The Thousand Mechanism True One's voice continued—

"This is the 'Iron Guard' class Giant Divine Soldier; the mechanical core it uses belongs to the same lineage as the 'Tiger-Wolf' class; you should be able to see that this mechanical core is quite different from those of other Giant Divine Soldiers—yet it bears some resemblance to the thing inside the belly of the Giant Divine Soldier excavated from the foreign region."

"For a very long time, the original design of this type of mechanical core remained a mystery."

"Of course, I know how to construct it, and I am even very clear about its principles and all technical details; Yuan Ling, you know my capabilities; there is no mechanical art I cannot comprehend... but comprehending the principles and technology is one thing, while ascertaining its 'source' is another matter entirely."

"Just as our Tai Xu Calendar has 'imperfections,' the mechanical arts of the Ten Clouded Halls have also always had a small segment of 'imperfection'; this portion of imperfection, my master, my master's master, and I, three generations, have filled in; but what we filled in was only the 'technique' portion; what we could not fill in was the 'source' of the technique, and the people who once stood at that source."

As the Thousand Mechanism True One spoke, he slowly turned his body; he raised his head, his gaze passing over those mechanical projections in mid-air, and settled upon that ancient Giant Divine Soldier.

"Taiming Valley Golden Casting Pavilion, Song Xingzhi... finally, the first name has been filled in."

(End of this chapter)