Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

Morning.

In the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion's council hall.

Xing Ke, also known as the Sword Spirit Senior who gave himself a new name to avoid trouble, was floating at the top, arms crossed, looking at everyone.

Mainly looking at Zhang Ze, Lily, and Chen Qin, the three of them.

Zhang Ze could tell from the current color of the Sword Spirit Xing Ke that he seemed a little angry.

"You guys must have forgotten about me!"

Zhang Ze did kind of forget, because ever since the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion's underground city got on track and Li Yueqi left, he hadn't seen the Sword Spirit Xing Ke.

But he didn't immediately try to make excuses and looked at Lily instead.

Because theoretically speaking, Lily should be the one who communicated most frequently with the Sword Spirit Xing Ke.

After all, the Thousand Mechanism Puppets in the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion's underground city were overseen by the Thousand Mechanism Cultivator, and all those sword spirits were managed by Xing Ke.

To make the underground city operate perfectly, these two really should work together seamlessly.

But Lily's reaction was the most outrageous; she walked yawning into the council hall this morning, looked at Xing Ke floating mid-air, and said directly.

"Who are you, dude?"

One sentence, and Xing Ke was quite upset.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Lily stammered.

"It's not my fault, you know. I was busy with the Thousand Mechanism Rune Array stuff, and when you're busy, it's easy to forget things..."

"But how did you handle things on the underground side? You never met the Sword Spirit Senior?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Passed it on to someone else... uh, I mean, I handed this task over to someone more suitable." Lily explained awkwardly.

After another lengthy explanation, with Xing Ke glaring and Zhang Ze and others pressing her, Lily finally revealed the truth.

"Here's what actually happened..."

According to Lily herself, she was originally quite responsible.

But one day, she was so exhausted that she completely forgot about the underground city tasks.

She left that booklet summarizing the recent problems in the underground city on the control room's table.

According to what was recorded in the booklet, some of the sword spirits in certain checkpoints of the underground city had issues. They needed to be fixed before opening the next day, or replaced with spare sword spirits.

But the next day, when Lily remembered, it was already afternoon.

When she rushed to the control room with a look of "I'm doomed," she found that the booklet was gone.

Moreover, after asking the Thousand Mechanism Cultivator on duty that day, she learned that all the sword spirits in the underground city had been repaired and adjusted without any mishaps.

Lily tried a few more times after that. Each time, the booklet on the table would disappear the next day, and all the problems in the underground city would be resolved.

Lily, who didn't think things through, adhering to the principle of laziness when possible, believing that great minds should focus on what's crucial,

skipped the step of reporting to the sword spirits and simply left the booklet on the table every day.

Later, because Lily's schedule was packed to the brim, she had no time at all. Moreover, since the underground city was running smoothly, she tossed the task of summarizing problems to the Thousand Mechanism Cultivator on duty.

Those guys, after being hinted by Lily, followed suit. Every day, after completing their shift, they would just leave the booklet on the table and leave.

As for how the booklet disappeared and how the sword spirits in the underground city got fixed on their own, these tech-obsessed nerds never seemed to think it through...

After finishing her story, Lily was about to continue making excuses but suddenly remembered something and straightened up immediately.

"To be honest, it's not entirely my fault." Lily said confidently.

"Aside from me, have any of you seen Senior Xing Ke lately?" Lily looked at Fuji.

Fuji had avatars all over the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, and some were even wandering in the underground city, so theoretically, Fuji should have encountered Xing Ke quite often.

But Fuji also shook her head, "I haven't seen..."

"Really, I haven't seen the Sword Spirit Senior at all these past few months." Qiao Lezhi recalled while pinching her chin.

"I haven't seen either." Although he came later, wandering around the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion every day, Tang also had no impression of the Sword Spirit.

Everyone looked at Xing Ke.

The atmosphere shifted, and the light of the Sword Spirit Xing Ke dimmed slightly. He slowly landed, stayed silent for a moment, then said.

"I haven't been out these past few months, so it's normal you haven't seen me."

"I sent the Little Ghosts to fetch the booklet."

"The sword spirits in the underground city, once set up, can automatically travel back and forth directly between where I reside and the underground city..."

"But! You still shouldn't have forgotten about me!"

"..."

Since investigating this matter revealed that everyone shared responsibility, everyone tacitly moved past the topic and began studying the real issue at hand.

What's up with those Five Elements Little Ghosts?

Five Ghost Transport is a fundamental Taoist art of Dragon Tiger Mountain. The Taoists have used this art for so many years, yet they have not discovered that these Five Ghosts possess intelligence.

They only have instincts similar to wandering spirits, and their actions are all controlled by the spellcaster.

The same was true when Zhang Ze stitched together the Golden Armor Soldiers before.

Although it is possible to infuse knowledge through the Spirit Recognition Technique, it is merely carried out mechanically. It didn't manifest such obvious wisdom as it did last night, even being able to communicate.

"What's with those little ghosts?" The most curious about this was still Tang.

Sword Spirit Xing Ke listened and did not answer but instead asked Tang, "Do you know where we Sword Spirits come from?"

"Dongqi? I remember my father mentioned that the method to refine Sword Spirits was obtained from the Eastern Qi Royal Family," Chen Qin raised her hand and said.

The method of refining Sword Spirits is a secret of the Eastern Qi Royal Family. During the Dongqi era, Sword Spirits were extensively placed in the military and served as guards in various yamen.

After the fall of Dongqi, the method accidentally fell into the hands of the Sword Sect.

However, the method that the Sword Sect obtained was not complete. The failure rate for refining high-tier Sword Spirits with intelligence was very high, and it was very costly.

Additionally, the Sword Sect, being naturally boorish, was also too lazy to research this.

Therefore, the role of Sword Spirits within the Sword Sect has always been to serve as companions for the disciples' training.

Counting Xing Ke, there aren't even thirty Sword Spirits with intelligence within the entire Sword Sect.

"In essence, we Sword Spirits are no different from the Five Ghost Transport; both are refined from metallic Spiritual Qi," Sword Spirit Xing Ke said.

"Ever since Zhang Ze mentioned that Spirit Recognition Technique to me, I have been researching this spell."

"Due to my special existence, I found some very interesting things about the Spirit Recognition Technique."

The way Sword Spirits perceive the outside world is also different from the Human Race, and he has a unique understanding of the Spirit Recognition Technique.

"The essence of Spirit Recognition Technique is actually translation."

Having been a technical geek for a long time, Xing Ke raised his hand to cast a spell and summoned two little ghosts.

Just that these two little ghosts had notably different personalities.

One was bold and very curious. It looked at Fuji with curiosity, boldly approached, and then was scared back by the small Fuji casually released by Fuji.

"Wow!" The small Fuji, waving its claws, scared off the little ghost and then happily hopped back to the main body.

The other one was somewhat timid but rather sly and crafty.

It thought it was very sneaky, although it was not sneaky at all when it hid Lily's teacup, which appeared to be the easiest to bully.

After everyone had seen enough.

Sword Spirit Xing Ke waved his hand and then pointed to the empty space outside, making a gesture to go.

The two little ghosts received the order and hopped to the outside without Xing Ke casting or chanting, and they suddenly self-destructed with a "pop".

Before anyone could ask, the Sword Spirit raised his hand and summoned the two little ghosts again.

Judging by their cheeky demeanor, they were undoubtedly the same two from before.

Moreover, seeing their appearance, the recent self-destruction did not bring them any harm.

"By using special methods, the Spirit Recognition Technique can grant or rather awaken their intelligence. This process is very slow, and the intelligence of these little ghosts is currently no more than that of cats or dogs, but that's the reality."

"Also, I found that each little ghost is actually unique. Previously, because their consciousness was not apparent and no one paid attention, this trait went unnoticed."

"With the same special spell, one can always summon the same one each time."

"By the way, these Five Elements Little Ghosts are theoretically indestructible, so self-destruction doesn't harm them."

"In this aspect, they are different from us Sword Spirits. When we Sword Spirits die, we're truly dead."

"The specific reason I am still figuring out."

Everyone looked at Tang.

Tang rarely shook his head, "Ever since the Ancestral Master came up with this Taoist art, none of us has delved deep into studying it."

"It's too weak, basically only used occasionally by qi-cultivating Taoist children."

After talking about the little ghosts, Sword Spirit Xing Ke waved his hand to make the two little creatures gnawing on the table corner dissipate, then took out a silver-colored magical artifact.

"The Spirit Recognition Technique doesn't just work on little ghosts; it can also be applied to this magical artifact. I..."

Before Xing Ke finished speaking, the crucial Zhang Ze and Lily simultaneously stood up.

Because of the Sword Spirit's research on the Spirit Recognition Technique, both simultaneously realized that there were new breakthrough directions for some bottlenecks.

"I'll go find Dan Dan!" Lily said.

"I'll go find Xiaoxuan and the others!" Zhang Ze had already run out.

Looking at the hurried backs of those two, the seemingly wise Qiao Lezhi took out her small walnut.

[Xiaoxuan, come to the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion conference hall, and bring Dan Dan with you, there is an important matter to discuss.]

After sending the message, Qiao Lezhi tossed the small walnut onto the table.

"They are really dumb; they don't even know how to use the walnut."