Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 243 Mechanical Creatures
"Senior Bai!!" Song Shuhang was overjoyed to see Venerable Bai arrive.

The others still remaining in the ancient city were utterly stunned when they saw the White Venerable. He was a flawless being, his features so exquisitely crafted that they seemed like the most celebrated masterpiece of nature, without a single imperfection. At that moment, everyone felt that despite the calamity they had suffered, seeing this immortal made it all worthwhile.

"Since Fellow Daoist Bai is interested, why don't you open one up and take a look? The owner of this place shouldn't have any objections."

"Senior Su Yun!"

Besides the White Venerable who was "local," the second person to arrive was Su Yun, who was idle and bored. The survivors also saw this "senior" that Song Shuhang had mentioned. He was equally handsome and had the appearance of an immortal, but he didn't have the stunning and charming feeling of the White Venerable.

"Is this alright?" Venerable White asked politely, pulling a figure who was clapping and welcoming them in front of him.

"Is this a contraption?" The next member to arrive immediately recognized the true nature of the "people" welcoming them at the city gate. The person who arrived was none other than Kongming. Even Song Shuhang could sense something was amiss, so Kongming, whose wife was a master of this art, could naturally discern it easily.

"Mr. Kongming," Song Shuhang greeted Kongming. Kongming responded with a smile.

Song Shuhang's roommates Gao Moumou and Tu Bo, along with the others, were dumbfounded. When a certain figure appeared, they immediately began to observe him discreetly. This person had a half-smile on his face, his eyes were half-closed, and he appeared calm and composed.

His slender, almond-shaped eyes, combined with his half-open expression, gave him an air of cunning and unfathomable depth. He wore a black suit, which, though rather haphazardly dressed, did not resemble that of a Taoist practitioner at all.

And then you tell them this person is the legendary Zhuge Liang? That's harder to accept than you being a peerless master yourself.

"Shuhang, this Mr. Kongming wouldn't happen to be..." Gao Moumou leaned closer to Song Shuhang and asked in a low voice. Although his voice was low, which member of the chat group present couldn't hear him?

Song Shuhang nodded and replied in a low voice, "That's right, it's the one you're thinking of."

"Hiss~" Gao gasped in shock.

Su Yun immediately laughed and said, "As expected of Mr. Kongming, he is the most famous person no matter where he is."

Kongming smiled in response, then observed the White Venerable dismantling the puppet. Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, the White Venerable swiftly peeled off the "human skin" covering the figure. While the fear was instinctive, their underlying thought was: Even peeling skin is so beautiful for this Senior White; we really want to be peeled by him!

Their first reaction upon having this thought was that they were probably sick. This was even with Venerable White already able to restrain his charm; if Venerable White couldn't restrain his charm on his own, then what would happen would be that they would start enthusiastically shouting: Senior White, come and skin me alive!

Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine. It's not that it's terrifying, but rather that it makes me feel disgusted no matter how I think about it.

The creature, its skin peeled off, revealed a grayish-white shell, somewhat resembling a mannequin in a shopping mall.

The White Venerable did not possess the magical incantations or spiritual light commonly used by ordinary cultivators. Instead, he wisps of divine thought, finer, more concentrated, and purer than spider silk, shimmered with a warm, jade-like light. Like living tentacles, they carefully probed into the open body of the puppet.

Seeing this, Song Shuhang's lips twitched involuntarily. He was all too familiar with this scene; Senior Bai had already developed experience in disassembling things. He would first use his divine sense to probe the overall detailed structure of the target, memorize it, and then begin disassembling. But when it came to reassembling, he often couldn't restore it to its original state.

The White Venerable discovered that the core of these mechanisms was a strange material that existed between a liquid and a solid state. It had a deep, dark golden color, with a mercury-like luster flowing across its surface, while inside, countless fine, hair-like veins shimmered with a faint white light, clearly suspended and intertwined.

The internal power does not come from external infusion, but rather from the matrix itself, which naturally generates, circulates, and perpetually regenerates with each breath and pulse. It is a miniature and self-consistent spiritual circulation system independent of the external world.

Venerable White quickly disassembled a pile of parts. These parts were not made of metal or jade, but rather resembled small sections of solidified, flowing dark golden "light." They had a warm, smooth feel, yet carried a strange sense of life rhythm.

In the cultivation world today, mechanical creations still involve first refining materials, then assembling them with a core. The runes of the mechanism need to be inscribed on the carrier, spiritual energy needs to be transformed and transported through the core hub, and the joints need to be engaged and transmitted by the interlocking mechanisms.

The creation of these ancient mechanical puppets, aside from the unchanging core, involved completely fusing the driving runes and structural materials into a single unit, making it even simpler and more convenient. To Bai Zunzhe's surprise, the puppet's core also contained a rudimentary AI system—very modern indeed. The AI ​​of the "burly man" puppet he had captured was far too simplistic; a slightly more complex one would be… Bai Zunzhe turned his gaze to the village chief, who was enthusiastically welcoming them.

The survivors realized that their "comrades" had been torn apart, and these guys who were still clapping enthusiastically were too weird and a little scary.

"Shuhang, go and strike up a conversation, test the waters," Su Yun said.

"Ahem, could you please arrange a place for us, sir, so we can rest for a while?" Song Shuhang asked tentatively.

"Haha, don't worry, gentlemen. I can't guarantee anything else in this ancient city, but we certainly have plenty of empty places to rest," the old man in ancient attire said with a smile, stroking his beard. Although the city was large, it was mostly deserted, with few people in sight.

"Heroes, this way please. I will now lead you to your resting place." The old man said, stepping aside to show you the way.

Song Shuhang started chatting with the old man. Suddenly, Song Shuhang smiled and asked, "Old man, have you taken a dump?"

"Haha, young friend, you do indeed have such insight." The old man in ancient attire stroked his beard, smiling warmly.

This conversation... is completely nonsensical!

Song Shuhang frowned slightly, then decided to ask an even more outrageous question, deliberately speaking in a vague and hurried tone: "Old man, is your mother a big monkey?"

But the old man in ancient costume seemed not to hear him, still smiling broadly. He even warmly took Song Shuhang's hand, pointed to a grove of weeping willows in front of him, and said kindly, "Come, hero, look how lush these willows are."

"Your dad is a gorilla." With his senior's backing, Song Shuhang was naturally assertive. In the original storyline, he had to be vague to explain himself. Now, he spoke clearly and directly.

"Haha, even a hero thinks this willow tree is quite nice, right?" The old man in ancient costume stroked his beard with satisfaction.

"You are a big monkey."

"Haha, what the hero said makes sense."

These conversations left Gao and his companions completely bewildered. Meanwhile, Venerable Bai and Zhuge Liang seemed lost in thought.

"This seems a bit like a pre-programmed procedure."

"Yes, it has some connection to modern programming technology."

"Looks like an NPC."

This method of programming within mechanisms isn't difficult to replicate; the key is inspiration. Venerable White immediately grasped its essence, and he was even more eager to discuss more advanced mechanical creation techniques with the master of the mysterious island.

Su Yun stroked his chin. As expected, the inspiration for this kind of mechanism design probably originated from Song Mutou.

"Huh? Administrator, Mr. Kongming... what's going on here?"

(End of this chapter)