Chapter 54: Secrets Regarding the Three Sages

In a narrow alley somewhere within the Tianji Workshop.

Suddenly, a burst of radiance flashed, and two figures tumbled out.

"Ugh."

The moment he emerged, Li Yu felt dizzy and nauseated, his stomach churning as if the rivers and seas were overturning.

It took a long while before he managed to suppress it.

Observing the street signs nearby, he indeed saw the characters for "Tianji Workshop," and his suspended heart finally eased a little.

The random teleportation function of the Taiping Ghost Market was said to be a complete set of curios custom-ordered from the [Heavenly Craft Sect Headquarters]. Besides safely transporting Li Yu into the Tianji Workshop, it could also scrub away any messy tracking markers on him.

Five thousand taels!

Not expensive.

One must know that his total income tonight was nearly thirty thousand taels; after deducting five thousand, he still had over twenty thousand left, and his pockets were once again full.

The art of medicinal cuisine is truly the path to wealth.

"However, compared to those two super restaurants in the East and West Districts, my business is still just small-time."

"At this stage, gold and silver wealth are of great use."

"But once I advance to [Sequence Seven], these will lose much of their significance, and those practitioners at the Sequence Six level perhaps still follow the primitive rule of barter."

While Li Yu was busy identifying the path and pondering.

He suddenly sensed something and abruptly turned his head to look at his mechanical maid.

He saw that on Hongdou’s fox-girl face, for the first time, there appeared a dull expression like a "system crash," while at the same time, she intermittently spat out some inexplicable mechanical sounds.

"Receiving an unknown signal source... currently checking for relevant permissions!"

"No permission... permission module recovering... some illegal permissions detected... please, Master, supplement the application in time... starting to receive and play."

"Detected that this is not a secure environment... sound will be disabled... if Master requires it, please enable it manually..."

"Hum!"

As the mechanical voice ceased, the gem at the center of Hongdou’s brow immediately emitted a burst of light.

Like a projector, it cast fragmented, intermittent, yet silent scenes directly onto the blue-brick wall opposite.

At first, Li Yu was somewhat confused.

But very quickly, after watching for a few moments, he was shocked to realize that he might have accidentally stumbled upon a terrifying secret regarding the overlords of the Tianji Workshop, the [Three Sages]:

The scene clearly showed a massive factory of flesh and machinery!

Many demon-Daoists were busy surrounding three tower-sized monster bodies in the center of the factory.

Their heads!

Li Yu could not be more familiar with them.

Tiger, Sheep, Deer... the three great sages who had been rampaging not long ago, capable of chewing human bodies into white bones in a few bites.

According to local rumors: the Three Sages had cultivated an incomplete path to godhood and had been stuck at [Sequence Six] for many years, which is why they were so desperate to obtain the "Demon Star Order" and enter the Ghost Realm Spirit World to defy the heavens and change their fate.

Clearly, they had temporarily found another path.

Flesh and mechanical modification!

Even without sound, one could tell from the visuals alone that the demon-Daoists were subjecting the three leaders to cruel modifications.

Main materials: various bizarre machines and a large amount of flesh, including human remains and limb fragments from various ghosts and evil entities.

Upon seeing this clearly, Li Yu’s face was already filled with horror.

He first darted out of the alley to take a quick look, then returned immediately.

Sure enough, not far away, that extremely vast and mysterious factory lay prone on the land of the Tianji Workshop like a monster.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the factory was still brightly lit.

"I was randomly teleported to this vicinity, and as a result, Hongdou, this Linglong puppet with partially restored modules, accidentally received networked information from that flesh factory?"

"The puppet-maker who created her must have a significant background and intent to have granted Hongdou such illegal permissions."

"Damn it, if this secret is known to me, won't it bring disaster upon myself?"

"Hongdou!"

"If you receive these images, will you be discovered?"

"Replying to Master, because this permission was illegally opened and not recorded in the Tianji system, no one will discover it... please, Master, supplement the application as soon as possible."

"I understand, let me listen to the audio separately."

Upon hearing this, Hongdou walked directly behind Li Yu and inserted two fingers into his ears.

Instantly, the audio and video were synchronized.

As Li Yu saw some of the modification details clearly, he also heard the roars from the Three Sages:

"Pain, it hurts so much."

"This method better work, otherwise I will definitely rebel against the [Holy Nest], my tiger-whip..."

"All of you stop, you bunch of idiots are so clumsy. Where is the person in charge of guidance from the Holy Nest? Didn't they say they were going to send some Holy Master or prodigy?"

"Big Brother, Second Brother, stop yelling. This modification is indeed useful; I can feel the malignant nature inside me being excised..." "You are an idiot too, what is being excised is your deer-whip."

"Warning! Warning!"

"Master, other signal sources are about to pass by..."

"Quick! Turn off the audio and video."

The change was sudden, but Li Yu’s reaction was fast.

While maintaining his posture, he had Hongdou enter silent mode.

The next moment, there was indeed a change in the night sky.

One could see streams of light shooting over from afar, like falling stars, dropping into the factory in the blink of an eye.

They passed over the alley where Li Yu was, but they merely took them for a pair of wild lovers stealing a moment in the night, completely unaware of the massive blunder.

Li Yu had remarkable eyesight; in that final fleeting glance, he clearly saw a somewhat familiar figure enter the factory.

=9+Book_Bar

"Is that Shang Yang?"

"I didn't expect to run into this ruthless person in reality. Is he the Holy Nest prodigy? Could it be that he and his master are responsible for the flesh modification of the [Three Sages]?"

"Using this method, can they excise the pollution and malignancy to let the three of them advance further?"

Many doubts arose in Li Yu’s mind.

But he clearly could not stay in his current location for long; he didn't even delay for a breath, nor did he have time to ask Hongdou how much image information she had received.

He impatiently led her through various twists and turns, returning to the butcher shop residence.

As soon as he returned home!

Li Yu didn't even have time to count how much wealth his trip to the Taiping Ghost Market had brought him; he immediately had Hongdou enable audio-visual synchronization for him again.

After a full half-stick of incense, Li Yu finally finished studying all the information Hongdou had intercepted.

Besides the live footage, there was even some modification data and illegal secrets.

It was unknown what exactly he had seen, but the look of horror on his face grew even more intense.

At the same time, a trace of worry appeared.

"So those Three Sages were originally humans, named Hu Vanguard Commander, Yang Daoli, and Lu Yimiao."

"They obtained an incomplete inheritance of a path to godhood from somewhere, swore brotherhood, and cultivated together."

"At first, it went smoothly; the three had peerless evil arts and were invincible, until they reached a sequence called [Calamity Demon Dao], where the path ahead was cut off. No matter how many years they searched, they never found any clues."

"Until the Demon Star Order, their last hope, was also shattered, the three had no choice but to accept the suggestion from the Holy Nest."

"A gift from the true god [Ancient Sage]: flesh and mechanical modification."

"The Holy Nest would build a factory and arrange personnel to excise all parts of them except for their heads, then stitch on various powerful machines and bizarre flesh."

"Once successful, the three would advance into a special sequence called [Holy Head Heavenly Soldiers]."

"They would not belong to the orthodox Ancient Sage path, but their combat power would be between Sequence Six and Sequence Five... most importantly, their lifespan would jump from just over a decade to hundreds or thousands of years, and they would no longer be tortured by malignant backlash. This was the real reason the three agreed."

"Life in the Tianji Workshop is already not easy; if these three beasts advance further, the days for the workshop residents will likely be even harder."

Thinking of this, the sense of crisis in Li Yu’s heart could no longer be contained.

He didn't even have time to rejoice at having peeked at such a massive secret.

The sixth truth bubble had taken another big step forward.

It was only a sliver away from completion.

"Tomorrow, a new issue of the 'Wanfu Daily' will be delivered; reading it should complete it. I wonder if the sixth bubble can parse the high-sequence formula for the Spirit Venerable path?"

"My strength growth is still too slow."

"Being only a Sequence Eight [Elixir Apprentice] is far from enough in this Wanfu City."

"Continue to accelerate and improve my strength. I'll first refine the four types of spirit elixirs—Vajra Elixir, Sword Malice Elixir, Hundred Filth Elixir, and Weeping Sorrow Elixir—which are convenient for me to cause trouble and can quickly enhance my strength."

"Hongdou, contact that salesman Shi Dazhu and request to purchase these spirit materials..."

"The bounty has been accepted!"

"Shi Dazhu has begun preparing the trade goods and will deliver them within twenty-four hours. Preliminary estimate: at least twenty thousand taels of payment required. Please, guest, prepare in advance."

When the reply came, Li Yu couldn't help but sigh again.

His newly filled coffers were once again facing depletion.

Early tomorrow morning, he must once again ponder his grand plan for making money.

(End of this chapter)