Liu Lili was probably really hungry before this. After drinking in the northwestern wind for a month, she had already tossed aside the Thousand Mechanism Cultivators' mantra of bigger, faster, stronger.
Upon receiving Zhang Ze's advice, she immediately had a moment of epiphany, letting go of all formalities.
She never looked back on her path towards Huaqiangbei.
As for the various cultivation techniques and arrays that Zhang Ze gave her, she had no qualms about deconstructing and combining them at will.
It wasn't because she had some sort of system rewarding her, but in Liu Lili's mind, this flat-chested loli thought.
"We're Thousand Mechanism Cultivators after all, what's wrong with being stinking beggars, stinking workers? We don't even have a legacy, so what's the harm in picking up some cultivation techniques and playing with them?"
Once, during the process of combining spells into an array, Liu Lili blew something up.
Fortunately, it was just an array formed from two low-tier spells, and Liu Lili wasn't harmed.
But that explosion did open her mind up a bit.
Those two spells were Qi Cultivation spells that Zhang Ze had previously saved up.
It's funny to say, but the Qi Cultivation spells that Zhang Ze patched together after the Golden Armor Soldiers weren't selling well.
The reason was nothing other than the fact that the Golden Armor Soldiers were simply too powerful.
Now the Golden Armor Soldiers had become a staple cultivation technique for Qi Foundation Stage disciples of the Seventh Sword Pavilion.
Other cultivation techniques Zhang Ze developed later, only a few derived from demonic techniques were selling well as support techniques.
Spells like the "Humidity Spell" or the "Lubrication Technique" which sounded suspicious were actually quite popular in the exchange list at the mission hall.
Liu Lili blew up the spell "Talisman Soldier Sword" and "Molten Fire Finger".
"Talisman Soldier Sword" was just a simple combination of Sword Sect's Sword Qi and Dragon Tiger Mountain's talisman, purely to earn some exchange points from the system.
"Molten Fire Finger" was a toy developed by Zhang Ze inspired by the "Humidity Spell" and "Lubrication Technique".
Its purpose was to make the fingers ignite, looking cool when lighting a cigarette.
But what Zhang Ze forgot was that smoking wasn't encouraged in the Immortal Cultivation Realm nowadays.
Those who smoked were a bunch of ancient freaks a hundred or thousand years old using pipes or snuff bottles to smoke medicinal mixes made from heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
Not to mention those ancient freaks' cultivation, where they could ignite something with just a blink of an eye.
Just the act of using fingers on a snuff bottle or pipe was already utterly silly.
Zhang Ze really didn't know what kind of miracle Liu Lili would create by combining these two things together.
He took over the 'ancestor-forgetting, sect-betraying invention', as Liu Lili called it.
A round ball, the size of a baby's fist, with no openings.
Zhang Ze couldn't help but inject some spiritual Qi into it, wanting to see what this thing was.
Then Liu Lili panicked.
She snatched the small ball from Zhang Ze's hand and threw it directly out the door.
Just in time, Mei'Er walked in and instinctively caught the small ball, even bringing it close to her face to examine it.
"Miss, this..."
Boom!
The small ball exploded.
Flames and seven or eight talisman swords scattered all around, giving Mei'Er an impromptu bang trim.
Luckily, Mei'Er's cultivation was Golden Core, so she wasn't harmed apart from the scare.
Liu Lili felt she had caused trouble and hid behind Zhang Ze.
Zhang Ze also felt he had caused trouble and hid behind Chen Qin.
Chen Qin was thrilled and turned to ask Liu Lili, "Is there more? I want to play too."
"Ahem, Miss, please act with composure."
After a while, Mei'Er tidied up the messy room.
Liu Lili obediently sat at the table, explaining her development process to the two bosses and the boss's maid.
"Initially, my idea was to embed the array of the 'Talisman Soldier Sword' into Mechanical Arm Armor, so that in battle, I could launch the talisman sword while also using it as an arm guard.
"But the problem was, I couldn't find suitable materials.
"Either it was too heavy, affecting arm movement in daily life, or its strength was too low, possibly breaking with just a knock during a fight.
"I initially planned on using Wulong Wood to make the arm armor, but you know, boss, that stuff is too expensive.
"Selling it cheap would make me a fool. Selling at cost price and no one would buy it."
"So, I thought I'd cheat a little, shave the Wulong Wood thinner, and pad it with some iron."
Liu Lili scratched her head awkwardly.
"So, it exploded then." Zhang Ze had already caught onto Liu Lili's train of thought by this point.
Liu Lili nodded vigorously.
"Yes, it exploded, almost blew my hand off. But it also gave me some insight."
"Since it explodes anyway, why not use the cheapest materials and then toss it into the enemy's hand to explode." Saying this, Liu Lili glanced at Mei'Er.
"I just saved up a few, named them Thousand Mechanism Thunder!"
Zhang Ze smacked his lips, thinking this was indeed an ancestor-forgetting, sect-betraying decision.
While other cultivators were pursuing one machine lasting three generations, Liu Lili had already started treating Thousand Mechanism Tools as consumables.
Leading her to create a cultivation version of the claymore mine.
Abstract.
Chen Qin's mind was enlightened by Liu Lili, and she started discussing with her.
For example, throwing by hand was too troublesome; why not make a disposable tube that could launch these balls using mechanism paired with the array.
Moreover, even the tube could explode; after launching, you could throw the tube out too.
Or make a mechanism, bury it underground, directional launch, specifically targeting legs.
The discussion getting heated, the big and little girl ran off hand in hand towards the Thousand Mechanism Workshop.
Only Mei'Er and Zhang Ze were left in the room.
Mei'Er hesitated to speak while Zhang Ze already understood her meaning.
"You want to say that these things are useless for cultivators in the late Foundation Stage, right, Sister Mei'Er?"
Mei'Er nodded.
Zhang Ze gazed at the ceiling for a while.
"If they're useless, they're useless then."
"Grain Avoidance Pill doesn't have an effect on cultivators in late Foundation Stage either, but it's still the starting point for Pill Master's cultivation."
"In ancient times, Qi Cultivation cultivators initially crafted Grain Avoidance Pills simply because herbs weren't easy to store, so they refined them into pills for convenience."
"They never foresaw that they'd later refine so many strange Immortal Pills."
"If we follow Liu Lili and the junior sister's train of thought, at least the Thousand Mechanism Technique will evolve from useless toys into somewhat useful toys.
"As for figuring out how to make something that can explode a late Foundation Stage, explode a Golden Core, explode a Nascent Soul."
"That'll take slow research."
"Swordsmanship, Alchemy Dao, all these paths have been tread for tens of thousands of years, and the Path of Thousand Mechanisms has only existed for over five hundred years."
"The road must be traveled step by step, don't you think so, Sister Mei'Er?"
Zhang Ze squinted as he looked at the mission prompts ahead of him.
"[Thousand Mechanism City Mission Key Node Triggered]"
"[Thousand Mechanism City Mission Completion Increased]"
"[Liu Lili, Chen Qin Personal Side Quest Progressed]"
"[The Path of Thousand Mechanisms]"
"[Opening up a cultivation path for Thousand Mechanism Cultivators, current stage: Qi Cultivation]"
"[Rewards Issued]"
Zhang Ze calculated the awarded reward, and seeing that he was one step closer to Foundation Establishment yet again, he felt satisfied in heart and spirit.
Feeling smug, he stretched out lazily and accidentally knocked over the blueprints on the table.
Revealing the Little Imperial Book hidden underneath the blueprints.
It was something found in Mei'Er's boudoir.
Mei'Er saw it.
Zhang Ze also saw it.
"Sis, can you hear me out?"