Sensing this aura, the members of the Mo Family were terrified.

"Daoist Li, stop! Quickly!"

"The deeper you go, the more traps you’ll activate! You might end up triggering the entire Mechanical City!"

They all cried out, their voices filled with anxiety.

It was because they could all feel it.

If this continued, the constantly shifting mechanisms would affect them even if they stood perfectly still.

"Daoist Li, listen to me, I beg you! Stop now!"

Mo Hong looked frantic, a fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead.

He hadn’t been the Mo Family Patriarch for long. ’Am I going to die here?’

At this moment,

The dangerous aura emanating from the Mechanical City far surpassed what they had faced when they first forced their way in.

Clearly, Li Chang’an was approaching the core.

CLICK... CLACK... CLICK...

The sound of countless mechanisms whirring to life echoed in their ears, like King Yama’s call to the underworld, filling them with ever-growing terror.

The Mechanical City seemed to be coming completely alive!

The aura of death drew closer and closer.

"Aren’t they saying this Li Chang’an is supposed to be a prudent man? Why is he being so reckless?"

"Wenyuan, you never should have asked him for help!"

"Sigh... Am I really going to die here today?"

"..."

The trapped members of the family were growing pessimistic, even desperate.

They needed a sufficient number of High Tier Puppets.

But Li Chang’an specialized in Alchemy and Talisman Painting. How many Puppets could he possibly have on him?

If he didn’t have enough High Tier Puppets in his Storage Pouch and caused the Mechanical City to fully reactivate, they would all die here today!

"Daoist Li, why are you in such a hurry?"

Mo Wenyuan quickly sent a Sound Transmission, begging Li Chang’an to wait.

If they waited for the other Mo Family disciples to arrive and retrieve enough Puppets from the Mo Family Treasure Vault, there might still be hope for them.

But Li Chang’an had no intention of waiting.

He wanted to claim the Mechanical City master’s inheritance and the Divine Soul Technique all for himself.

He chose to turn a deaf ear to their many transmissions.

Seeing that he showed no sign of stopping,

The trapped Mo Family members gave up hope, each resigning themselves to their fate of dying here.

"Sigh..."

"Mo Feng, Wanwan, what happened back then... I was in the wrong."

From the old Patriarch’s faction, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator suddenly spoke up, apologizing to Mo Feng and his sister.

When a person is about to die, their words turn kind.

"I didn’t want to see the two of you grow strong because I was afraid you would compete with my branch of the family for cultivation resources."

"He’s right. I was also at fault for what happened back then."

"Feng, if we make it out of here alive, I will go to your father’s spirit tablet and kneel in apology."

"..."

At that moment,

The Cultivators from the old Patriarch’s faction all openly apologized, begging the two siblings for their forgiveness.

Seeing that the pair remained silent,

They each swore a Dao Heart oath, promising to never move against the siblings again and repenting for their past actions.

Afterward,

The current Patriarch, Mo Hong, spoke up to mediate between the two sides.

In the end, Mo Feng and his sister reluctantly forgave them, stating that they would return to the Mo Family.

And just like that,

In the face of impending death, this group of Mo Family Cultivators had unexpectedly united once more.

’Did I just do a good deed?’

Li Chang’an thought to himself.

He continued to control his Puppets, breaking through one trap after another, gradually reaching the very core of the Mechanical City.

As time passed,

Mo Wenyuan and the others began to notice something was wrong.

Why did Li Chang’an have so many High Tier Puppets?

Just as they were thinking this,

A cold and rigid voice suddenly echoed from the core of the Mechanical City.

"You have passed!"

The moment the voice faded, the countless mechanical traps all ceased to operate, and the entire Mechanical City fell deathly silent.

The members of the Mo Family were shaken, finding it hard to believe.

Had Li Chang’an actually broken into the core region?

They tossed out a few Low Tier Puppets to test the way and were overjoyed to find that not a single trap appeared!

"It seems he really made it inside!"

"Just how many High Tier Puppets does he have? Why does he have more than the combined reserves of more than ten of our Puppet Masters?"

"Don’t overthink it! Everyone, let’s use this chance to get out of here!"

"Right!"

Everyone scrambled into action, afraid the Mechanical City would reactivate. They raced toward the Giant Gate.

Meanwhile,

The Puppet under Li Chang’an’s control entered a secret chamber in the very core of the Mechanical City.

Inside the secret chamber,

He saw a skeleton sitting cross-legged.

In front of the skeleton was a Jade Table, upon which sat a Storage Pouch.

Li Chang’an had the Puppet take the Storage Pouch. He found that there was no restriction on it and he could open it directly.

He immediately opened it to have a look.

What greeted his eyes were mountains of Puppets and materials for the Mechanical Technique.

A very small number of the materials were Tier Three!

With a thought, Li Chang’an took out a Jade Scroll and probed it with his Divine Sense.

"A Tier Three Low Grade Puppet inheritance."

He shook his head slightly. Since he already had a Tier Three Middle Grade inheritance, this one was useless to him.

A moment later,

Li Chang’an took out a second Jade Scroll.

"A Tier Three Middle Grade Mechanical Technique inheritance!"

This inheritance,

Described how to create various Immortal Dao Mechanisms.

A quick glance was all it took for Li Chang’an to discover many similarities with the Puppetry Technique.

For example, the "Mechanical Beasts" it described were made in almost the exact same way as Beast-shaped Puppets.

However,

Compared to the Puppetry Technique, the Mechanical Technique had other ingenious uses.

The most common was to use the Mechanical Technique to protect one’s Cultivation Dojo, making it much more secure.

A dojo protected by a Tier Three Mechanism Technique was enough to make even a Golden Core Cultivator wary.

According to this inheritance,

During Ancient Times, a massive faction of itinerant merchants possessed a Tier Five Mechanical City that floated in the sky. They traveled year-round between the Nine Great Sects, trading all sorts of Treasures.