Chapter 147: The Mechanical Prodigy

Deep within the mist.
Fan Li and the others moved forward together, huddling close. Though their pace was slow, their direction was correct, and they had already traversed half the range of the Water Mist Maze.

"The first formation went reasonably well."
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt a cool breeze brush across the top of his head.
Though it was just a faint wispy gust, it was distinctly different from the mountain wind.
Fan Li stopped in his tracks and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, be on your guard!"
The moment his voice fell, he saw a white butterfly land on the south-pointing chariot.
Looking closer, it was actually folded out of paper!

"Not good!!!!"
Zhuge Liang suddenly shouted.
Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
An explosion rang out, and it was right next to them.
In their haste, the group circulated their vast qi, transforming it into a thin film-like barrier that managed to block the shockwave of the explosion.
Fan Li's cultivation was far too poor; he simply lacked the time to react.
However, Yan Yuan and Lv Fubao both stepped in front of him simultaneously, each propping up a barrier to shield Fan Li behind them.
Therefore, he remained completely unharmed.

"There are many more, be careful!" Zhou Yu shouted.
Sure enough, another seven or eight paper butterflies fell, attaching themselves directly to the vast qi barrier.
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!!!!
Amidst the continuous explosions, Fan Li's figure was already swaying precariously.
Suddenly!
An inconspicuous golden light struck, crashing heavily into Fan Li's body and sending him flying ten zhang away.
Ten zhang!
That was the exact distance threshold set for the activation of the Water Mist Maze.
Mid-air, Fan Li felt as though his bones had been rattled apart by that streak of golden light.
At that very moment, an inexplicable bout of dizziness washed over him.
When he crashed to the ground, he discovered that he had been separated from the others.

"Golden light... The Sovereign of the Metal Virtue!"
Fan Li gritted his teeth and managed to struggle to his feet.

...

"Where is Fan Li?"
"Why is he missing?"
Taking headcount after the explosion, Lv Fubao realized that only Fan Li was unaccounted for.

"The Duke of Jin is truly gone?!"
Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, and Zhou Yu exchanged glances, their gazes finally falling upon the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue.
"Was it you?"
Lv Fubao pointed at the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue.
"Aside from the explosions just now, I felt a hidden surge of energy suddenly ambush Fan Li!"

At these words, the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue sneered.
"A hidden energy ambush? What nonsense are you spouting?"
"The four nations and the Pure Land are allies. As the representative of the Pure Land, why would I attack an ally? It is clearly because Fan Li's cultivation is too weak, and he was blown away by the blast wave of the explosion. What does that have to do with me?"

The truth was that the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue had indeed launched a sneak attack.
However, relying on the thick fog and the chaotic scene of the explosions, the others had zero evidence.

"You...!" Lv Fubao was both shocked and enraged, her pink fists clenched until they turned red.
At this moment, Yan Yuan stepped in front of Lv Fubao.
"Junior Sister, please restrain yourself."
"The person who launched the sneak attack earlier was unwilling to expose their identity, so the force of the strike was quite limited. The Duke of Jin is not necessarily in mortal danger."
"If the Duke of Jin can navigate the Water Mist Maze on his own, we will be able to reunite with him."

Yan Yuan was indeed experienced and steady, hitting the crucial point in a single sentence.
At the very least, the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue had not managed to kill Fan Li instantly.

"But can he really get out of the maze all by himself?" Lv Fubao said with worry. "Shouldn't we go look for him?"
Yan Yuan pondered for a long time before finally shaking his head.
"The directions in the maze are chaotic. We no longer know where the Duke of Jin is, making him truly difficult to find."
"It is better to push through the formation first. Even if we must abandon our recruitment of Guiguzi afterward and simply ask him to lift the maze to rescue the Duke of Jin, surely Guiguzi would not refuse."

Hearing Yan Yuan say this, Lv Fubao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Unless Guiguzi wanted to make an enemy of the entire Great Chu, he had no reason to let Fan Li perish trapped within Mount Yunmeng.
"Senior Brother, let's do as you say!"

The Sovereign of the Metal Virtue stood by, watching coldly, trying to guess Lv Fubao's identity in her heart.
Yet no matter how much she guessed, she could never figure out who she really was.

"Kongming, do you have any spare south-pointing chariots?" Zhou Yu asked.
Zhuge Liang shook his head. "I only brought one. This isn't a military campaign or warfare, why would I bring more?"
Zhou Yu smiled bitterly. "Mechanisms, formations, and astrolabes are none of my specialties. In this maze, I truly cannot be of any help."
"Although I have a way out of the formation, it will probably take ten days or half a month." Guo Jia shrugged, making a helpless expression. "Time is tight, isn't it?"

Ten days or half a month?
Hearing this, everyone shook their heads.
If they really waited ten days to walk out of the Water Mist Maze, Guiguzi would probably have already followed Crown Prince Wanli to Great Ming.

"What is the meaning of this?"
"Do you all only have this much capability!?"
"Great Ming only sent two people, yet they have beaten all of us?"
The Sovereign of the Metal Virtue grew anxious.
Her cultivation was the highest among the group, but she had always viewed mechanisms and formations as unorthodox side paths and had never studied them.
Unless she forcibly destroyed the maze by brute force, even the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue was helpless.

Creak!
Creak, creak!
Creak, creak, creak!
Suddenly, a familiar mechanical sound echoed, identical to the south-pointing chariot that had been destroyed earlier.
Hearing the sound, the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue looked over, her face immediately lighting up with pleasant surprise.
"A south-pointing chariot!?"

Although the styling was slightly different, a massive pointer on top of the carriage proved beyond a doubt that it was indeed a south-pointing chariot.
Lv Fubao stood coldly beside the south-pointing chariot.
Without even glancing at the Sovereign of the Metal Virtue, she only said to Zhuge Liang and the others, "Let's continue, get out of the maze as soon as possible."
"You temporarily built a south-pointing chariot?" Zhuge Liang asked in astonishment.
"Mn." Lv Fubao nodded. "I carry quite a few mechanical materials with me. Having observed the structure of the south-pointing chariot earlier, I already understood its basic principles."

Zhuge Liang remained silent for a long while before smiling bitterly. "Ever since I left my thatched cottage, I have never seen a mechanical genius like you. After just a few glances, you were actually able to replicate my south-pointing chariot..."
The Sovereign of the Metal Virtue, on the other hand, wore a face full of shock.
She was utterly unwilling to admit that a Confucian cultivator woman could be more outstanding than herself!
No!
She had not lost!
Under the heavens, she was the one and only Mahayana-realm female Confucian!

At this moment, on the other side of the maze.
Zhang Juzheng was unwilling to admit it, but he had to acknowledge the reality.
Crown Prince Wanli's talent far surpassed his own!

Right now, an azure dragon transformed from vast qi crawled along the ground, forming a dragon path.
Crown Prince Wanli stepped upon the dragon path, moving forward in the absolute correct direction.
The Water Mist Maze could disrupt human perception, but it could not affect the Azure Dragon of Vast Qi.
The two of them moved at an extremely fast pace, completely making up for the time lost earlier by the paper butterflies.

"The explosive power of those few paper butterflies was limited; it could never have caused casualties."
"Except for Fan Li, whose cultivation is simply too low."
Thinking to himself, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help feeling a jolt of panic.
Was Crown Prince Wanli's original intention to snipe Fan Li?
If he couldn't have him, he would destroy him?
The Crown Prince was so young, why were his thoughts so meticulous and ruthless?

"It's fine, at least it prevents Fan Li from defecting to Great Ming in the future and becoming my competitor." He thought this, comforting his somewhat fearful heart.
Zhang Juzheng recalled how strictly he had tutored the Crown Prince's coursework when the prince was a child.
Would the Crown Prince take revenge on him in the future because of those matters?

...

"Phew!"
"Done!"
Fan Li was covered in sweat.
At this moment, he held a thin thread in his hand, the other end of which was tied to a fine iron wire.
The thread was tied only to the middle, allowing the iron wire to maintain its balance, suspended mid-air.
Using the corner of his silk-textured robe to rub it in the same direction, the iron wire generated magnetic force—this was frictional electrification.
The magnetic force was temporary and required periodic friction to recharge.
Regardless, this was a compass.