Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

Looking at Lily, who was as smug as a husky, Zhang Ze smiled faintly and turned to walk in Xiao Xuan's direction.

"Then I'll ask someone else." Zhang Ze said.

Lily, who had been waiting for Zhang Ze to bow his head and worship, was left awkwardly standing there.

Lily's arrogant expression immediately collapsed, and she quickly caught up with Zhang Ze, tugging at his sleeve. "Boss, don't go, I'll tell you. I'm begging you, this has to be told by me."

Seeing Lily so humble, Zhang Ze reluctantly agreed.

Lily explained that, like him, she had recently fallen into a state of being both inflated and awkward.

It was as if she felt she was invincible in the world, yet also felt she was nothing, with a bleak future.

Lily felt invincible because the technique, passed down from her grandmaster, named Thousand Mechanism Rune Array, had yielded results after collaborative research with several Thousand Mechanism Cultivators.

As the name implies, the Thousand Mechanism Rune Array can change mechanisms and transform rune arrays to combine into any basic array.

Theoretically, combining multiple Thousand Mechanism Rune Arrays can form a very advanced array.

But the follow-up problem was that Lily hadn't found suitable materials to complete the true Thousand Mechanism Rune Array.

How to respond to this was still without clue.

Just like most Thousand Mechanism Cultivators, Lily had some obsession; she wanted to carve out a unique path.

She felt that the most important first step had been taken, and naturally, she had to walk alone all the way afterward.

So she tinkered on her own for a long time.

But with just five hundred years of heritage, understanding mechanisms was already quite good for Thousand Mechanism Cultivators; as for other things, they weren't really skilled.

She remained stuck there.

"So how did you get past that hurdle?" Zhang Ze asked.

Lily put her hands on her hips, "I went to the back mountain and set off a box of Thousand Mechanism Thunders, and then I figured it out."

"This Thousand Mechanism Thunder, the Heavenly Illusion Pendant, the Demon Suppression Set you and Tang worked on recently, were all created on the foundation of our predecessors."

"If I can't figure it out myself, then I go ask others."

"So I stopped worrying and went straight to Tang. In terms of Taoist Technique, who can surpass Dragon Tiger Mountain?"

Just like Lily said, Tang is a top expert in Five Elements Taoist Technique. Lily needed a Taoist Art with both fast casting speed and great power.

And there really is something that meets both these requirements.

That's the kind of Taoist Art Wave used by Big Heads.

Back then, after dividing his cultivation among the Big Heads, Tang discovered they had intellectual issues; not to mention doing tasks for him, they even struggled with basic self-care.

Teaching them spells was even more futile, so Tang spent a few years devising a simple and straightforward Taoist Art Wave that even without brains could be learned.

The power of the Taoist Art Wave completely depends on cultivation.

The Big Heads learned it, but this spell had a flaw: besides the Big Heads, ordinary cultivators couldn't use it.

Because the spell was too simple and pure, cultivators couldn't withstand the backlash from casting the Five Elements Taoist Art, whether physically or in terms of divine sense.

Releasing it with Thousand Mechanism Technique was the same; it was easy to explode, blow up components, blow up the brain.

So, Tang and Lily experienced a brief bottleneck again, but quickly resolved it after Tang saw Zhengyi, who came for tea and conversation.

The Sword Sect forges swords, and the swords they forge are the most durable across the Four Continents.

If you forge iron, wouldn't it be the same to beat out some other things?

So Lily, Tang, the Sword Casting Elder of the Seventh Sword Pavilion, and the now smartened Xiaoxuan and Big Heads gathered together.

Through research and design, suitable Thousand Mechanism components were quickly developed, and the cannon shell was made.

Not only could it withstand the backlash of the Taoist Art Wave, but with the amplification of the Thousand Mechanism Rune Array, the power was further increased.

Tang then taught the Big Heads the Dharma method for refining magical artifacts, and they refined their respective Thousand Mechanism components into magical artifacts, further enhancing their strength.

The problem with exploding components was solved, and the next issue to tackle was exploding brains.

Tang thought of his familial Substitute Talisman. With Tang's reminder, Lily also thought of Spirit Recognition Technique and Golden Armor Soldiers, which is another name for Five Ghost Transport.

If a mind is going to explode, let it be the Five Ghosts'. They can suffer a bit more; life will get better.

With the Thousand Mechanism Rune Array as the core, combined with mechanisms, artifact refining, and the Sword Sect's sword-forging Dao, a Thousand Machine Cannon capable of breaking the firmament was created.

Lily finished telling the story and whispered at Zhang Ze's surprised expression, "Actually, that cannon still has problems."

"The backlash from casting a Golden Core Stage Taoist Technique Wave cannot be withstood by the Five Ghosts, and we haven't figured out what to do yet."

"So that cannon can actually only be used by Big Heads. The experiment was just for show. Otherwise, if I lost, it would be embarrassing."

Lily continued, "Actually, the real experiment is this: a small Thousand Machine Cannon usable by Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators."

With that, Lily took out an oddly-shaped small Thousand Machine Cannon from the Hundred Treasures Bag.

Whether due to hasty production or Lily's forgetfulness, this Thousand Machine Cannon lacked a dragon head.

Congratulations!

Even this crude appearance looked rather handsome to Zhang Ze, like an unpainted Bull Gundam Floating Cannon.

Lily flaunted the Thousand Machine Cannon in her hand to Zhang Ze, "This is the second experiment – let's see how effective it is in real combat!"

"Who's up? Is it Xiao Xuan again?" Zhang Ze asked.

Lily patted her nonexistent chest, "Of course, it's me."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Thousand Machine Cannon floated up under Lily's control, deftly pointing its muzzle in all directions and moving up and down.

It was just like a Floating Cannon.

But Zhang Ze glanced at Lily, feeling somewhat distrustful.

After all, as everyone knew, because Lily spent nearly all of her time on the Thousand Mechanism Technique, she hardly cultivated and had almost no practical combat experience.

So now, she was still at Qi Cultivation, and her combat ability might not even be comparable to the resilient Xiaoxuan.

Zhang Ze thought that letting Lily conduct this combat experiment might not yield particularly ideal results.

Lily understood Zhang Ze's look and handed him the Thousand Machine Cannon, "This thing can only be used by me right now, not even Xiaoxuan can, try if you don't believe me."

Zhang Ze took the Thousand Machine Cannon, and after attempting to control it, it, as expected, fell to the ground.

He tried again with sword control technique; although it floated well, any attempt to make it fire resulted in it falling to the ground again.

The feeling of operating this thing was strange; Zhang Ze felt like he was operating a shuttlecraft by entering commands via keyboard.

Lily picked up the Thousand Machine Cannon and told Zhang Ze.

"This Thousand Machine Cannon is completely driven by the Thousand Mechanism Rune Array, and controlling its floating movement and firing requires continuous reconfiguration of the rune array.

"Without learning rune arrays and the Thousand Mechanism Technique, it's impossible to control it well.

As for solutions, you could actually hold it in your hand or attach it to a flying sword or magical artifact, then remove the control runes and retain only the firing runes."

"Also, it's not mandatory to fire the Taoist Art Wave; firing other spells is also possible, though the power and casting speed might not be as good."

Lily paused and then continued.

"But those are all future issues; now there's only this one sample, so it's up to me!"

Zhang Ze thought Lily made such a complicated thing, maybe just for show.

But after considering it, he thought Lily had a point too.

Since a Floating Cannon was made, having a star pilot for the entire process to operate the experimental machine and crush the remnants of the old era was quite reasonable.

By now, more than half of the crowd in the plaza had dispersed, leaving only a few people. Opposite Lily stood a young Taoist child from Dragon Tiger Mountain, as her opponent.

...

After a while, Lily controlled the Thousand Machine Cannon, drawing figure eights in the sky, celebrating her first victory in a duel.

Though the tactics were sneaky, a win is a win.