Chapter 166: The Art of Engineering

Neither of them dared to fight that stone sword head-on; the moment the stone sculpture swung it towards them, both Mo Tiange and Daoist Fangzheng dodged out of the way. A loud rumbling noise rang out, and the stone slab on the floor shattered.

Mo Tiange’s and Daoist Fangzheng’s expressions changed. They knew the materials in a Nascent Soul cultivator’s Immortal’s Cave must’ve been consecrated, yet this stone sculpture was able to pierce it so easily with one strike of its sword that didn’t seem to have much power! They wondered whether they could do the same or not, but the answer was obvious—they couldn’t.

However, they didn’t have time to think about it further because the stone sculpture swung its sword again. Just like before, the force of this attack was extremely high.

But as they predicted earlier, despite its enormous strength, this stone sculpture’s movements were extremely slow due to its heavy figure, while speed… was precisely Mo Tiange’s forte!

Mo Tiange stepped onto her White Silk Handkerchief and fled, avoiding the stone sculpture completely.

In a flash, Daoist Fangzheng made a snap judgment about their current situation. After he dodged the stone sculpture’s second attack, he brandished the horsetail whisk in his hand. The hairs on his whisk turned into a myriad of long threads that pierced the stone sculpture.

From what Mo Tiange saw, Daoist Fangzheng’s horsetail whisk wasn’t a high-grade magic tool—she didn’t know how Daoist Fangzheng consecrated it, but it was very powerful. The threads, which were transformed from the whisk hair, were very similar to the flying needles Mo Tiange frequently used in sneak attacks. However, while her flying needles were corporeal objects, the whisk hair was incorporeal; they were actually just bursts of spiritual aura.

Countless whisk hairs were suddenly launched quickly. It was too late for the stone sculpture to dodge or maybe it simply didn’t plan on dodging at all, so its whole body fell within the range of the whisk hair.

Spiritual aura surged, raising a thick cloud of dust. Mo Tiange and Daoist Fangzheng were startled but both soon retreated. They held their breaths and brandished their sleeves. This Immortal’s Cave had been closed for many years, so the stone sculpture had been covered in dust for a while—Daoist Fangzheng’s attack caused all the dust to scatter in the air!

The two of them felt somewhat torn between laughter and tears. They actually made such a blunder after their first attack. However, when they looked at the stone sculpture, their expressions instantly turned serious again. It hadn’t suffered the slightest damage!

“Fellow Daoist Ye!” Daoist Fangzheng’s expression sank. “This thing’s defense is amazing; our attacks will be useless.” While Mo Tiange didn’t know, Daoist Fangzheng had painstakingly practiced his whisk hair manifesting technique for over a hundred years. If it struck a late stage Foundation Building cultivator, it should break their protective barrier, yet the stone sculpture surprisingly wasn’t affected in the slightest!

Right after Daoist Fangzheng spoke, the stone sculpture stopped for a short moment as if it was trying to listen to them. In the next second, it changed direction and suddenly swung its sword at Daoist Fangzheng.

This sword attack was incredibly powerful. Daoist Fangzheng dodged it, but he was still injured by the sword aura, causing him to grunt in pain.

Mo Tiange acted without delay. The Shuttle of Flying Apsara transformed into several golden rays which moved towards the stone sculpture to trap it underneath.

A few sizzling noises rang out. Mo Tiange’s expression sank. The golden rays of the Shuttle of Flying Apsara didn’t leave any trace on the stone sculpture!

Even since she received the Shuttle of Flying Apsara, she had always relied heavily on this magic tool. Later, she heard from Lord Daoist Jinghe that the main component of the tool was a thousand-year-old gold essence which permeated heavenly stone, so it could be used to fight magic weapons—it was a magic tool he intentionally created for Qin Shoujing when he just built his foundation. Normally, when thousand-year-old gold essence was used to create flying swords, it would increase the sharpness of those swords. Because of that, although the Shuttle of Flying Apsara didn’t have any blade edge, it was still very sharp. Up until now, Mo Tiange still hadn’t encountered anything its golden ray couldn’t cut.

But faced with this stone sculpture, the Shuttle of Flying Apsara unexpectedly became useless!

Mo Tiange’s expression looked rather dreary. For a moment, she was at loss over what to do. Nevertheless, Daoist Fangzheng, who was struggling under the stone sculpture’s attacks, suddenly shouted, “Use spells! Use spells to attack it!”

Mo Tiange was stunned when she heard his cries, but a split second later, she reacted. She recalled the Shuttle of Flying Apsara then formed a hand seal to cast a Cold Wind Spell.

Stones came from soil. Wood parted soil. Wind came from wood. Water nourished wood.

This Cold Wind Spell was a complex five elements spell. It embodied water and wood elements. Water indicated entrapment, and wood parted soil. The speed of this stone sculpture was already slow, and this Cold Wind Spell struck it right at its weak spot.

Once the Cold Wind Spell struck, the stone sculpture became sluggish. Its speed became even slower than before. Although its strength and sword aura were astonishing, its speed was too slow, so it couldn’t hit them anymore. At last, Daoist Fangzheng was able to escape from it.

“Fellow Daoist Ye.” Daoist Fangzheng breathed heavily. Clearly, his injuries were severe. “Soil subdues water; we might as well directly use the wood element Entwining Spell and bind it up! I tested it before; its sword aura attack only comes in straight lines. We’ll be fine as long as we dodge it.”

Upon hearing what Daoist Fangzheng said, Mo Tiange remained silent and simply nodded. She stopped using the Cold Wind Spell. Instead, she clasped her hands, condensed some spiritual aura then began using a high-level wood element spell—Rustles of Falling Wood.

Countless dead leaves rose along with the howling wind. Numerous vines sprouted from the ground and wound up the stone sculpture. Wood element spiritual aura was also launched fiercely at it.

Under the overflowing green light, the stone sculpture was bound until it couldn’t move at all. It wanted to swing its sword, but the vines coiled up to its sword-wielding hand and directly stopped its movements. The stone sculpture, which neither the horsetail whisk nor the Shuttle of Flying Apsara could touch, was finally subdued by wood element spiritual aura.

But it wasn’t over yet. Although the stone sculpture had been subdued using wood element spiritual aura, Mo Tiange’s cultivation level wasn’t high enough, so she couldn’t strike it down straightaway. This stone statue possessed incredible strength, so even though it was bound up, Mo Tiange still had to exert a lot of power.

“Fellow Daoist Fangzheng!” Mo Tiange, who sensed the spiritual aura inside her body depleting at lightning speed, couldn’t help but furrow her brows. “This spell consumes too much spiritual aura; I won’t be able to keep this up for too long!”

Daoist Fangzheng followed by clasping his hands and casting a wood element spell.

Now that she had help from Daoist Fangzheng, Mo Tiange finally had things a bit easier. She had never encountered an opponent who just relied on their formidable strength, like this one. Even though it was only a stone sculpture which didn’t have any intelligence, it was still extremely hard to battle. When she encountered the fifth rank Two-Headed Eagle during the demonic beast riot, her cultivation level was lower, but she also didn’t feel as helpless as she did now. It was no wonder people from ancient times said: “All skills are useless in the face of absolute strength. The hardest technique to tackle is no technique.”

Basking in the overflowing green light, the stone sculpture once again turned around and stopped to listen. It looked as if it was trying to determine where the spiritual aura came from.

Something flashed in Mo Tiange’s mind. She lifted her hand and once again hurled the Shuttle of Flying Aspara. It unexpectedly turned into a very long golden thread and slammed into the stone sculpture’s ears!

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This time, the golden thread went completely unhindered. It pierced through one of the stone sculpture’s ears and came out the other side. A soft “Crack!” rang out. The stone sculpture suddenly seemed even heavier than before, and its movements came to a halt. Mo Tiange stopped casting her spell and focused on controlling the Shuttle of Flying Apsara.

A “Bang!” resonated in their ears. Before long, the stone sculpture’s momentum vanished, and it eventually stopped moving. Nevertheless, it then emitted a thread of bizarre spiritual aura.

Daoist Fangzheng sighed with relief then asked, “Fellow Daoist Ye, how did you know its weakness was its ears?”

While wiping the sweat off her face, Mo Tiange answered, “Didn’t Fellow Daoist realize… every time it made a move, it always had to listen to our voices first?”

“… I see…” Daoist Fangzheng was filled with admiration. He thought: “Sure enough, women are more meticulous.” Although he also thought something was a bit off, he never thought its ears were its weakness.

After putting away the Shuttle of Flying Apsara and the White Silk Handkerchief, Mo Tiange looked at Daoist Fangzheng. “Fellow Daoist Fangzheng, what about your injuries?”

Daoist Fangzheng hastily swallowed a medicinal pill then shook his head. “Never mind me; they’re not serious.”

Mo Tiange didn’t ask further. She walked towards the stone sculpture then crouched down to examine it.

When she employed the Shuttle of Flying Apsara, she sensed that this stone sculpture’s interior wasn’t stone. However… its exterior was obviously an entire piece of stone; there weren’t any openings.

Daoist Fangzheng also walked over when he finished ingesting his medicinal pills. He said, “Strange… This stone sculpture was obviously so solid; how could it be opened?”

Mo Tiange tilted her head as she pondered the matter then she started groping around the stone sculpture’s head.

There weren’t any cracks showing the joint lines, but there were traces of its mold. In other words, this stone sculpture could actually be melted? She wondered what kind of Real Fire was needed to melt such a hard stone.

“Could this be the Art of Engineering?” Mo Tiange mumbled.

In the current cultivation world, the Art of Engineering had long been extinct. There were only whispers that some people could create Aura Refining realm puppets; those puppets were used to watch over their dwellings or serve tea to guests, but their fighting abilities were weak.

The stone statue in front of them obviously wasn’t sustained by external spiritual aura, but its cultivation level was in the peak stage of the Foundation Building realm. If this was the Art of Engineering, shouldn’t it have been extinct long ago?

“Fellow Daoist Ye, you also know about the Art of Engineering?” Daoist Fangzheng, who heard her musings, asked curiously.

Mo Tiange raised her head to look at him. “I read about it in a book. Does Fellow Daoist Fangzheng perhaps understand this art?”

Daoist Fangzheng showed a wry smile. “How could I? The Art of Engineering went extinct a long time ago. I’m just an individual cultivator; how could I possibly have learned it? It’s just that as an old man, I’ve lived for a long time, so I’ve heard a lot. I also heard a bit about this Art of Engineering.”

“Oh? Then what does Fellow Daoist think about this stone sculpture? Was it made with the Art of Engineering?”

“It’s very possible.” Daoist Fangzheng nodded. “Cultivators can also use their spiritual aura to control puppets—that isn’t the Art of Engineering. This thing, however, was able to operate so smoothly without its master. This should definitely be the Art of Engineering.”

Mo Tiange also had the same thoughts. So that meant… the master of this place comprehended the genuine Art of Engineering?

After staring at the stone sculpture for a long time, Mo Tiange said, “Fellow Daoist Fangzheng, I want to keep this one. If there are any other objects later on, you can choose first. Is that alright?”

“Well…” Daoist Fangzheng hesitated. He naturally wanted this stone sculpture too. If it was brought outside, he could sell it to cultivation groups or clans. For people interested in studying the Art of Engineering, a peak stage Foundation Building puppet must be worth at least several thousand spirit stones, right? However, Mo Tiange looked very determined—he didn’t want to offend her and besides, she also promised him some benefits. Since he would only lose mere spirit stones, he nodded. “Alright. This won’t be of much use to me, so if Fellow Daoist wants it, Fellow Daoist can take it.”

A faint smile appeared on Mo Tiange’s face. She put the stone sculpture in her Qiankun Bag and said, “Thank you. I’ll definitely keep my promise. If there are any treasures ahead, Fellow Daoist may take more.”

Daoist Fangzheng chuckled. He was about to say something polite in return, but his expression changed drastically. His gaze was fixated on something behind her. “Fellow Daoist Ye, look!”

Upon hearing Daoist Fangzheng’s frightened cry, Mo Tiange immediately looked back. Right after she did, her expression also changed!

Several other stone sculptures unexpectedly started to move!

One, two, three, four, five! Five stone sculptures!

The two of them were extremely pale. Although they already knew their weakness, there were too many of them now!

They didn’t have time to think much. Mo Tiange flew up then hovered in midair. The Shuttle of Flying Apsara transformed into a golden ray, which immediately pierced the ear of one of the stone sculptures.

That stone sculpture halted and raised its sword. Its sword aura instantly surged, completely blocking her golden ray.

Mo Tiange ground her teeth. When the previous stone sculpture was entrapped by her wood element spell while she used the Shuttle of Flying Apsara, it couldn’t react in time, but things were different now! These stone sculptures might have slow reaction times, but their sword aura was terrifying; it was able to block her attack in one stroke!

What should she do? Her mind turned rapidly, but she still couldn’t think of a solution.