Gongsun Huaizhi said, "The so-called art of mechanisms, when it reaches great success, must invariably harness the power of all things under heaven and earth. Sole reliance on mechanisms will ultimately meet its limits, only by incorporating the laws of nature can one truly begin."
The old man was a quintessential type of proud and arrogant technical genius.
If he could not be subdued, he would be no different than any other person, even if they were the Heavenly King.
Should he be subdued, then Gongsun Huaizhi would become an extremely honest, enthusiastic, and guileless great mechanism master. He took out a stone and explained, "This stone is filled with a type of ’qi’. It must not be exposed to fire, for once it meets fire, it will immediately explode. The destructive power in such a confined space could be equivalent to a blow with all the might of a Martial Artist from the Seven Heavens."
After the huge rock wall was opened, a hundred-yard boulder swayed slightly in the wind, a beam of light poured in through a crack, and then the secret chamber suddenly brightened. Li Guanyi fixed his gaze to see that there was a concave device where the light entered that could gather and direct light.
By gathering natural light and directing it elsewhere, after several such redirections, beams of light fell down upon stone platforms, upon each of which sat various mechanisms in miniature form.
The feat of Li Guanyi capturing a thousand troops single-handedly completely stunned Gongsun Huaizhi.
The old man went back and forth, with wide eyes and touched the still warm pastries, utterly baffled. Even if catching a thousand pigs, tying them up, and leading them back home, it would take several days.
And what about a thousand armored soldiers, accompanied by a War General from the Five-layered Heaven?!
He was quite certain that these armored soldiers all possessed Inner Strength beyond the Entering Realm, wearing full-coverage Scale Armor, which was medium-grade armor with a larger covering area than light armor but with thinner plating, and were equipped with large blade spears with cutting edges on both sides and blood grooves.
Thick, capable of splitting a skull with one chop, broad-backed heavy cleavers.
And Powerful Crossbows, whose piercing power was no less than that of the Gongsun Family’s Mechanical Crossbows.
This was power enough to obliterate the Gongsun Family outright if they did not comply.
If you won’t be of use to me, then you will be killed by me.
Chen Dingye’s way of doing things was just .
Furthermore, the military tactics used by Qi Junsong were to switch the rear guard to the front guard, expand the formation, maintain the same number of field kitchens to lure the enemy, and then send an elite force to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines. The Gongsun Family had no experience against such tactics.
Three hundred years of turmoil.
On the battlefield, the combat styles of war generals unfold amidst the clash of forces.
Even a general of Qi Junsong’s caliber.
To the average Martial World factions, it would be an overwhelming force.
After all, the Martial World wasn’t just about fighting and killing; folks wanted to dispute over benefits and advantages. Events as drastic as destroying entire factions were rare for Martial World sects, while for armed forces, well, war generals did precisely that.
They were well-practiced!
If Li Guanyi had not been there, the Gongsun Family might have suffered a terrible disaster.
Just thinking about Qi Junsong leading a thousand Armored Soldiers to appear at the gates of the Gongsun Family, Gongsun Huaizhi felt a chill running down his back. Therefore, he was extremely amicable towards the young general who had resolved the crisis. Clutching the young man’s arm, he laughed loudly and said, "Come, let the old man show you the accumulation of centuries of my family’s heritage."
"The Gongshu Lineage was not tolerated at court, our ancestors were killed, their descendants fled into exile, remembering our forefathers’ admonitions, we no longer specialize in researching those mechanisms used to besiege cities, but the foundation of the Gongshu Lineage’s mechanical techniques originated from siege warfare."
"After generations of mechanical masters’ research, in the end, they would create items for use in battle formations. However, in the centuries of peace that followed, bringing out such items would mean death; in the subsequent three hundred years of contention among factions, bringing them out would also mean death."
"These items should have been completely destroyed, reduced to ashes."
"But due to our ancestors’ painstaking research and their achievements, we couldn’t bear to destroy them, so we stored all the scrolls here, waiting for a major change in the world. And now the time has come, please!"
Gongsun Huaizhi took out an object and handed it to Li Guanyi, saying, "This is the Mechanical Crossbow Carriage." Li Guanyi held the mechanism in his hands, noted its intricate and compact size, yet it was heavy. He asked, "What is the use of this item?"
Gongsun Huaizhi smiled and said, "This is a repeating crossbow cart, which is mentioned in ’Mozi.’ At that time, my ancestor Gongshu Ban debated with Mozi, my ancestor attacking while Mozi defended, this item can be used for both offense and defense."
"Throughout these centuries, my family has perfected it, using a central wheel axle for quickly reloading the crossbow arrows. This is merely a hundred times smaller than the actual product, which is huge. It takes ten Martial Artists at the Entering Realm to operate it and can be mounted on city gates to shoot down from above."
"This mechanical technique."
"Can instantly shoot out sixty giant crossbow arrows, each a zhang in length."
Li Guanyi looked at the device in his hand, dumbfounded.
Crossbow arrows that are a zhang long—that’s three meters three.
To simultaneously shoot such large arrows, sixty of them?
No wonder it needs ten Martial Artists to power it.
Gongsun Huaizhi proudly said, "The ensuing generations improved it, I also redesigned the arrows. After our modification, when the arrow hits the ground, it will burst, and the internal mechanism will be triggered instantly,"
"The large arrow will split apart, and inside each giant arrow are dozens of smaller arrows, scattering irregularly, enough to envelop a radius of a few zhang."
"It can also be poisoned."
Li Guanyi felt his forehead throb and said, "You mentioned, a cart... "