After securing both the divine sword and the cultivation manual, Aedric was in an excellent mood. He didn't delay; he plunged straight into the War God Mecha, grabbed the still-lost-and-wandering Gongshu Chou by the collar, and dragged him out.
Mechanisms! Mechanisms!
There was no way he would miss out on this treasure trove of knowledge.
When Aedric escorted Gongshu Chou out of the hall, he saw Gai Nie and the Loulan High Priestess leading a group of Loulan warriors toward them.
It turned out that with everyone's combined effort, all invading Qin soldiers had already been wiped out, and the martial experts accompanying them had either fled or vanished.
Well… except for the one old man currently held under Aedric's arm.
The only Qin "elite" that failed to run was Gongshu Chou.
After confirming that the War God Mecha was undamaged, the High Priestess sincerely thanked Aedric and Gai Nie—though she regretted that the Chiyou Divine Sword had disappeared. Surely one of the Qin experts must have stolen it.
Aedric could only touch his nose awkwardly.
Beside him, Gai Nie gave him a deep, knowing look.
He had personally witnessed Aedric produce a huge sword out of nowhere earlier, so he was pretty sure who had "stolen" Chiyou's blade.
Still, with his cold, aloof personality—and having confirmed Aedric wouldn't misuse the weapon—Gai Nie simply pretended he saw nothing.
After all, the sword wasn't his to begin with.
The previous battle had drained both of them considerably, and under the High Priestess's earnest request, the group stayed in Loulan for a while to rest and fully recover.
During that time, Aedric naturally refused to waste the opportunity.
He frequently sparred with Gai Nie, exchanging insights with the living pinnacle of swordsmanship.
Later, by trading away Dugu Nine Swords, he acquired the "Vertical"-school sword arts—including the famed Hundred-Step Flying Sword—gaining a deep understanding of this world's sword philosophies.
As for Wei Zhuang's "Horizontal"-school techniques?
Aedric had already fed the entire battle data from their fight into his Predator wrist computer.
With Yautja-level computational power, the computer reconstructed the entire style—including Horizontal Slash Across Eight Directions—within a single day, allowing Aedric to understand the complete structure of the Vertical-Horizontal Sword Art.
He was thrilled just imagining it:
Left hand: Hundred-Step Flying Sword
Right hand: Horizontal Slash Across Eight Directions
One person executing Combined Vertical and Horizontal, the ultimate technique.
He practically wanted to scream in excitement.
As for Gongshu Chou's mechanism craft—at first, the old man refused to say a word.
But the moment Aedric took out modern technological knowledge, the old tech-obsessed freak's eyes sparkled like stars. He practically drooled on the spot, agreeing to exchange knowledge instantly.
Unfortunately, he didn't get to stay long.
On the fifth day, a Qin envoy arrived carrying the decree of Emperor Qin Shi Huang:
Either Loulan sold Gongshu Chou back for a high price…
Or Qin would send an army and simply take him by force.
Two options.
Loulan could pick whichever they liked.
Though Loulan's desert barriers made it extremely hard to invade, the problem was—this was Qin Shi Huang, the man who unified the world. If he decided to attack, he would attack, regardless of cost.
No one doubted this. Not Aedric, not Gai Nie, not Loulan.
After several rounds of discussion, the High Priestess reluctantly agreed to ransom Gongshu Chou to avoid provoking Qin's wrath.
The old man, completely absorbed in studying the modern science Aedric gave him, was actually unwilling to leave. But imperial orders were absolute, and he finally departed—though he wistfully clung to Aedric's hand, repeatedly pleading for him to visit Xianyang and "exchange knowledge."
Honestly… the people of this era were terrifying in their hunger for knowledge.
The so-called "Hundred Schools of Philosophy" was really just a massive intellectual deathmatch—top geniuses fighting to claim supremacy, willing to sacrifice pride, shame, and anything else.
Terrifying…
but admirable.
This was, after all, the root of Chinese civilization.
After marveling at the ancestors' insane thirst for knowledge, Aedric turned to the mechanism theories he'd obtained.
Though time was limited and he only learned the basics, it was enough to understand how this world's mechanisms worked.
It turned out these machines didn't need energy because the internal structures and carved patterns essentially formed miniature energy-gathering formations, absorbing natural qi to operate like living creatures.
As for why they used bronze?
Gongshu Chou had happily explained—perhaps Aedric had never heard of "Mount Shou Bronze".
Even the legendary Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor's divine sword was forged from this material. It was the crystallization of earth and heaven—the best conductor of energy in existence.
Well…
Only in this world, Aedric silently noted.
But with just these basics—even with limited time—Aedric, with his Predator supercomputer, spent only a few days to optimize the formations and derive a more efficient version.
When he shared this with Gai Nie, the Sword Saint could only sigh in relief.
"Good thing Gongshu Chou already left," he said.
"If he knew you could do this, he'd kneel on the spot and beg to become your disciple."
And that was no exaggeration.
People in this era cared about face—but they could also throw it away instantly if it benefited their clan.
"Face? What's that? Can you eat it?"
After ten days in Loulan, once everyone had fully recovered, Aedric and the others bid the High Priestess farewell.
Only Gao Yue stayed behind.
Her mission to resolve the thousand-year feud between Loulan and the Bai Li clan wasn't yet complete—not without the War God Mecha's destruction.
Thus, she remained to guard the Mecha.
Before leaving, Aedric secretly asked the High Priestess and Gao Yue if they knew what martial art Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor used against Chiyou.
Was it perhaps some supreme palm technique that produced glowing Buddha-script mudras…
something like… Buddha's Palm?
Both women shook their heads.
According to ancient records, Yellow Emperor studied an art passed down from the Azure Dragon itself—an ultimate technique that let him temporarily transform into a dragon.
Its name was—
Dragon God Art.
…
Aedric froze.
Great.
Now Dragon God Art shows up too.
What next?
Where's Shui Yue Cave Heaven?
Where's that 500-year undying freak?
Don't tell me he's hiding in Xianyang wearing a black robe and a mask, acting all gloomy…
Damn it.
Please tell me I'm wrong.
~~--------------------------
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