Mechanical Alchemist

Two days later, at Sensoji Temple.

In the dilapidated great hall, the light of the Hexagram Alchemy Array gradually faded.

In the center of the formation, Su Lun slowly opened his eyes, letting out a tired breath, "Hoo...finally, the fusion is successful."

Although it was his first time integrating a "legendary" quality prosthetic armor, the process went smoothly without any uncontrollable or deformed accidents.

This "Endless Stomach of the Roaming Whale," as identified, could be successfully merged as long as one understood the basics of the Space Law.

Su Lun sensed the changes in his body and muttered to himself, "As expected of a legendary prosthetic armor, both space affinity and comprehension of the law have increased significantly."

This was anticipated. After the fusion of the prosthetic armor, it would passively enhance certain related attributes. This stomach, being the biological material of a void beast, was naturally not bad.

Su Lun felt the gain was significant; even if the prosthetic armor turned out to be "useless," at least the enhancement of spatial ability meant a stronger capacity for survival.

With this in mind, he formed the sorcerer's seals with both hands, and the alchemy array beneath his feet suddenly lit up: "Prosthetic Armor·Release!"

On another look, his palm moved forward slightly, and a black dot suddenly appeared. As dark spiritual power was infused, the black dot gradually enlarged. About half a minute later, it had formed into a fist-sized black hole in the center of his palm, resembling the infinite depth of the starry sky.

Half a minute. In the time it took for the spell to succeed, an enemy could have killed him countless times.

Despite being mentally prepared, Su Lun could not help feeling a tinge of helplessness at the corner of his eyes, thinking, "Slow to cast, uses up a lot of mana... just as I thought."

Upon sensing again, the "black hole" contained an independent space.

It was the "initial point" of space described by the All-knowing Eye, almost as big as several dozens of indoor basketball courts.

Inside, it could fit a few fully intact warships.

Su Lun was very satisfied; at least, he wouldn't have to worry about conveniently carrying super-large combat mechas he planned to build in the future.

Furthermore, there was immense room for growth in the future.

It was like blowing up a balloon; how big it could ultimately become depended on his own ability.

Su Lun thought about it and changed the sorcerer's seals in his hand again, causing the black hole in his palm to begin emitting a suction force, naturally executing the "Void Whale Swallow."

As he continued to infuse dark spiritual power, the suction force grew stronger, forming an increasingly larger black vortex in his hand. The gusting wind whistled through the decrepit hall, and the wooden Buddha statues trembled slightly.

As the suction increased, it could now whip up sand and rocks...

The commotion and appearance were quite good.

But the larger the vortex became, the geometrically greater the amount of dark spiritual power needed.

Su Lun's face turned slightly pale.

The absorption that lasted about a minute had consumed about thirty percent of his dark spiritual power, an amount that was terrifying.

But the effect it caused was not proportional.

A preliminary evaluation suggested that the "Whale Swallow" could absorb objects within about ten meters, but both the suction power and the casting speed were hardly impressive.

It might be suitable for collecting certain inanimate objects.

If they were alive, they would have run away long ago.

For a battle of his current stage, this almost had no offensive use.

Hmm... indeed quite useless.

It was like a tractor engine trying to pull an aircraft carrier.

The thing was good, just not very useful at the moment.

However, with the improvement in understanding of the Space Law, the absorption effect would greatly increase.

Su Lun comforted himself inwardly: The future holds promise.

...

After successfully advancing, Su Lun did not plan to stay longer at Sensoji Temple.

He hadn't forgotten that during these two days, Chitose and the Princess were being chased by ghosts and spirits all over the place.

They had been in communication over these two days; it's very likely that they were not in danger but were trying to hold on, not wanting to disturb his advancement.

As soon as he turned on the communicator, Chitose's somewhat resentful voice came through, "Oy, you finally succeeded in advancing! If not, we were about to be chased into a corner... Hurry up, there's a Ghost King!"

Hearing Chitose's tone, Su Lun also breathed a sigh of relief - at least they were safe.

....

About half an hour later.

Su Lun had ambushed his targets in a dense forest, while crows with totemic wings circled in the sky above.

Soon, he saw two familiar figures being chased by dozens of ferocious ghosts and spirits in a pitiable run.

The group of ghosts and spirits, with the momentum of a storm, appeared terrifying. The leading Ghost King was the "Red Demon," the same "Mountain King" that had previously besieged the Princess at the dilapidated ancient shrine.

Su Lun looked at the two people running towards him with the eight-armed spider spear unfolded behind him, and a number of rune-infested puppets appeared in the woods.

Such a small number of monsters posed no threat at all.

Charging into the forest, upon seeing Su Lun, Qianjiao let out a loud shout, "Catch!"

With that, she threw the Princess she was holding in her arms over to him. Her face lit up with excitement as she drew the Demon Blade, disengaged her six-armed outfit, and turned back to slaughter her way into the monster horde. It looked as if she were venting all the frustrations from being chased around the world these past few days.

Su Lun hadn't the chance to say anything before he saw a person flying towards him, his eyelid twitching, but he caught the Princess and held her in one arm.

The Princess, knowing she was a burden, steadied herself and said somewhat awkwardly, "Sorry for the trouble."

Su Lun smiled and placed her to one side, "We'll talk later."

With that, he started to control the puppets to battle with the monsters.

The battle was without suspense; after Qianjiao distracted the Red Monster, the lesser ghosts posed no threat.

In the wilds, without a continuous assault by a horde of ghosts, Su Lun's puppet army quickly slaughtered the lesser monsters. Some of them with strong survival abilities that could burrow or phase out fled, and he didn't bother chasing after them.

A short while later, the battle was nearing its end.

In the dense forest, only Qianjiao and Red Monster were left entangled in battle, but the outcome was becoming clear.

Clearly, there was no need for help, so Su Lun and the Princess just stood by and watched.

He observed Qianjiao's Sword Qi flowing smoothly through the red mist, slaying indiscriminately; the Sword Qi wrapped around the Demon Blade caused tons of damage to the Ghost King, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, murmuring, "Qianjiao's Sword Intent has improved so drastically these past two days...?"

Previously, Qianjiao's slashes had very limited effect on such Spiritual Body monsters, and she relied entirely on the Demon Blade to kill them.

Now, it was clear that even a regular sword slash could cause the red mist to fade. The slaying made the monsters howl in agony.

Hearing this, the Princess nodded and said, "The Bodhi Seed is a treasured Buddhist relic, greatly affecting those who cultivate the Sword Dao of the underworld. These past two days, sister Qianjiao has completely unleashed the Demon Blade, and her comprehension of the Sword Dao has indeed soared."

"Oh?"

A glimmer of joy appeared in Su Lun's eyes as he listened.

Now, it seemed that the value of the Bodhi Seed to Qianjiao was immeasurable.

...

It wasn't long before the battle ended.

The mist of the Red Monster grew thinner, and with the Princess's talismans, there was no escape; in the end, it was slain by the sword.

The previous fleeing by Qianjiao and the Princess wasn't for lack of ability to counterattack, but because it was inconvenient to move with a non-combat Princess, fearing that she might get hurt. They also had to give the monsters the illusion that they could keep on attacking.

More importantly, the Ghost King had to be left for Su Lun to devour.

After putting away her blade and catching her breath, Qianjiao called out to Su Lun, "The rest is up to you."

"Alright!"

Su Lun saw the "grey mist" left by the Ghost King and didn't delay, directly devouring it.

'You have stripped the soul of the Kurayama Ghost King 'Red Monster'.'

'You've grasped some casting techniques related to 'commanding the wind and rain' spells...'

'You've obtained a piece of information: 'There are some ancient secrets hidden beneath the decrepit shrine...'

'You know some secrets of the Netherworld...'

'Spiritual Power+...'

'...'

Beyond the Soul Shard, like before, the dispersing aura of the defeated Ghost King in the forest was also absorbed by the shadow of the death god.

Su Lun felt exhilaratingly refreshed in an instant, and his perception became clearer.

Although it wasn't as exaggerated as the Aura of Shuten-doji, he immediately felt that his understanding of the Death Law had risen a notch.

Behind him, the features of the shadowy figure of the death god became somewhat more defined.

This feeling of "experience points" skyrocketing was quite delightful to Su Lun.

But he didn't linger for long.

The noise of the battle had attracted other monsters; several exploratory ghostly mists appeared at the edge of the forest.

Su Lun gestured to Qianjiao and the Princess, "Let's go, we should get out of here first."

Qianjiao asked, "Where to?"

Su Lun's eyes flickered as he replied, "Let's head to the Cangshan Shrine. I stripped some information from the monster's soul just now. There seems to be something special there."

Qianjiao: "Okay."

....

Su Lun and his two companions made their way towards the east of the city, to a desolate mountain with a shrine known as "Cangshan."

The local bully of Cangshan was the "Red Ghost," but now that the Ghost King had been killed, there weren't any troublesome creatures left on the mountain, so the trio made their way up smoothly.

As they walked, Su Lun couldn't help but ask, "Sister Qian, your 'Sword Intent of Drawing Sword Hell' seemed quite similar to Mr. Akutagawa when you killed the Ghost King just now. Are you close to entering the Sword Saint Realm?"

He naturally noticed that even without the enhancement from the Demon Blade, Qian's Sword Intent was already quite substantial.

"I don't know," she replied.

A hint of sigh lingered in Qian's eyes as she shook her head and said, "The hurdle of 'Sword Saint' is one you either overcome or you don't. There's no such thing as 'about to overcome.' It's a difficult process for any swordsman – it might take several more years or maybe even a lifetime to bridge that final gap."

As she spoke, her brow furrowed, and she added, "Moreover, since everyone perceives things differently, the paths of the Sword Dao are completely individual. Mr. Akutagawa could guide me, but I can't possibly follow his path exactly. I always feel like I'm missing some kind of opportunity. My Qi dissipates instead of condensing, but I just... don't know what's missing."

Su Lun nodded, not quite understanding, and asked offhandedly, "Then the Bodhi seed was of no help?"

"It's precisely because it was helpful that I came to realize this gap," Qian answered.

"Oh..."

Su Lun couldn't help much with this issue, so he said no more.

During their previous rapid visit, they hadn't had the chance to take a good look at the mountain scenery. Now that they could see it more closely, despite the desolation, there was a sort of decrepit beauty to the landscape. The stone bird gates had collapsed, and along the path stood some incomplete stone lanterns, whose architectural style differed slightly from the current Mountain Hermit's shrines, revealing an ancient charm throughout...

The three of them made swift progress and soon entered the shrine.

Just like Sensō-ji, the shrines in the Netherworld saw few ghostly visitors, leaving only a few dilapidated houses behind.

To Su Lun and Qian, who were both outsiders, all shrine buildings seemed identical.

But as a Shinto Shrine Maiden, Shinfuku Mitsuko could discern the architectural details of the shrine at a glance. She pointed out, "This is an Ancient Shrine. It seems to be in the architectural style of the shrines before the 'Great Collapse.'"

Qian asked, "The Great Collapse?"

"Yes," Mitsuko nodded and explained, "There's a legend in our Shinto teachings about a 'Great Collapse' that occurred a very long time ago, leading to the crumbling of realms and the fall of deities... But the era is so distant that I don't know much about it. I only know that Shintoism thrived before that, and deities would often descend to impart their teachings and laws. So, the shrine buildings have some unique styles..."

Upon hearing this, Su Lun immediately guessed that it was probably the cataclysmic war between gods during the collapse of the Dawn Era, the part of history known as the "lost history" when the Alchemy Plane was shattered.

But he didn't gather any more useful information.

Su Lun even thought that the real Netherworld probably didn't have shrines or temples. They likely existed just because they were written about by Fujiwara Hayato.

It seemed to bear some special symbolic significance.

He looked at the shrine, his eyes reflecting contemplation, and pointed to a building, saying, "Come on, let's go inside and take a look. There's a basement there."

The memory from the Red Ghost indicated that it had lurked here precisely because of that basement.

The three of them arrived at what was supposed to be a side hall, standing over a stone floor. Su Lun pointed to a tile, "It's beneath this one."

Mitsuko looked at the layout of the hall and said, "This should be the 'Treasure Hall.' It's usually where the divine artifacts and treasures of the shrine are worshipped."

Interested by the conversation, Qian chimed in, "Is there really treasure?"

While ghosts and specters could pass through walls and burrow into the ground, Su Lun and his companions could not.

Luckily, Su Lun was skilled in engineering machinery. He took out some mechanical parts and quickly assembled a steam-powered drilling rig with a helical drill bit. Once the steam boiler was activated, the drill bit furiously bored into the ground, churning up the soil, and soon broke through the rock ceiling of the underground palace.

When Su Lun heard the distinctive sound of breaking stones, he said, "Let's go down."

The three of them leaped down.

....

The underground palace wasn't very spacious, and it was engulfed in darkness. When the magic lamp was lit, the first thing they saw was a golden deity statue.

The deity statue had an angry furrowed brow, its body red as flames, holding swords and spells in hand. Most eye-catching was the eight magatama patterns representing thunder drums on its back.

Mitsuko recognized it instantly and exclaimed, "This is the incarnation of 'Konjin Thunder God,' the Great Deity!"

Su Lun already knew about the existence of such a deity statue and was not surprised.

Hearing the name from Mitsuko, he immediately recalled the description of this deity from the archives.

This deity was worshipped by the Mountain Hermit's residents as both the "Thunder God" and "God of Swords."

Although not as famous as Amaterasu Omikami, this deity was from the same era and held a revered status. It was said to be linked to the death of Izanami.

In the extracted memories from before, the Red Ghost had lingered in this place because the deity statue possessed a special "Divine Power."

Yet, upon scrutinizing the statue, Su Lun couldn't discern anything noteworthy, although the All-knowing Eye identified it as a statue that contained "Shinto Regret."

However, even after sensing it, Su Lun, as an Alchemist, didn't find anything special.

Thinking that Mitsuko might know something, Su Lun turned to her and asked, "Miss Mitsuko, what is an incarnation of a deity?"

Mitsuko elaborated, "Legend has it that before the Great Collapse when Shintoism flourished, deities would descend to bless their faithful by embodying themselves in certain crafted golden images of the devotees. These images usually retained some of the deities' Divine Power."

"Oh."

Su Lun listened and still felt that this thing shouldn't have much to do with him, it probably had some use for the Princess.

But suddenly, he felt a violent storm of Sword Intent bursting around him.

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He turned his head to look, and Qian Tiao's expression was extremely serious, her gaze fixed on the divine statue like lightning. Her hand rested on the Demon Blade, and the six-armed Rakshasa phantom had already manifested behind her.

Upon closer inspection, a layer of Protecting Body Qi, condensed by Sword Qi, began to swirl around her body. That layer of Qi, however, resembled dancing thunder serpents, gradually crackling with strands of lightning.

Su Lun immediately realized something, "Sword Qi becoming Gang Qi, has Sister Qian Tiao's dominance succeeded?"

More than that, the Sword Intent of the path to hell was erupting like a volcano, so intense that standing beside her, one felt almost pressured by her sharpness. The "Ghost King Hundred Eyes Monk Zong Zheng" in her hand released demonic Qi like a tide, as a snow-white, thousand-eyed centipede phantom wrapped around her left arm.

Upon further observation, the [Magic·Bodhi Seed] hanging at her waist was shining brightly, seemingly protecting her mind and spirit.

A twitch appeared at the corner of Su Lun's eyes as he thought of something, "Has she had an epiphany?"

The instantaneous enlightenment of Buddhism is indescribable and profoundly mysterious.

It had come just like that.

The "Konjin Thunder God" is the God of Swords, and that hint of "Shinto Regret" must have become the final piece Qian Tiao needed to step into the realm of the "Sword Saint."

The Princess, noticing the anomalies on Qian Tiao's body, exchanged a glance with Su Lun and also showed a relieved smile.

Not knowing how long the process would take, the two of them did not disturb Qian Tiao and quietly moved a bit further away.

....

The subterranean palace was fairly large, so the two of them walked to the other side of the divine statue.

Something came to Su Lun's mind, and he whispered, "I remember there were some Shinto stone carvings and murals on the walls..."

As he spoke, he illuminated them with a magic light source.

The pale yellow light wasn't very bright but still revealed a section of vividly carved reliefs.

Without looking, Su Lun knew that the content on them was similar to the movements of a "divine dance" and ceremonial scenes, none of which were of use to him.

But when the Princess clearly saw the content of the murals, it was as if she had seen something unbelievable, with a look of shock impossible to hide on her beautiful face.

She quickly covered her mouth, exclaiming, "This is the secret 'Dance of the Divine Priestess,' never passed down before the Great Catastrophe of our Shinto Shrine Maidens!"

Seeing these stone carvings felt like a duty had descended upon the Princess; she quickly examined all the murals and said in astonishment, "My god, at our Iga Shrine we only have a few remaining fragments, but here, there are complete twenty-four paintings!"

Su Lun was seeing the Princess lose her composure for the first time and asked, "Is this secret technique very powerful?"

"Yes."

The Princess's bright eyes trembled with excitement, and without concealing anything from Su Lun, she said excitedly, "The inheritance of our Shinto Shrine Maidens almost all comes from the content on these stone tablets. This path... can lead to the divine!"

"Shrine Maiden" is a profession,

"Imperial Prince" is a status,

and "Divine Priestess" is a level of power.

These few paintings were more precious than those Su Lun had seen previously in the royal palace.

Hearing this, Su Lun thought to himself, "This Netherworld really has many treasures."

He looked at the joyful expression of the Princess and couldn't help but feel that their chance encounter was too coincidental.

Yet what he found even more impressive was that Fujiwara Hayato, that grand literary master and grand adventurer, had indeed collected quite a few treasures!

....

Qian Tiao was immersed in an epiphany before the statue of the "Konjin Thunder God," and the Princess had discovered a secret technique on the underground palace's stone tablets. Both were fixated in an extremely obsessed state, looking as if they wouldn't rest for quite some time.

This left Su Lun suddenly with nothing to do.

After strolling around the underground palace and finding nothing else of use, he went outside.

Thinking he might stay in this shrine for a few days, Su Lun set up some barriers to isolate their presence, praying that no major demons would come to interrupt before Qian Tiao finished her epiphany.

After all was done, Su Lun opened his notebook and, on the sketch he had made of the Netherworld, he drew a mountain and wrote down "Ruined Shrine."

In the center was Ghost Town, with Asakusa Temple to the south, and Izanami's shrine to the north.

Su Lun added a few notes to his notebook, analyzing all possible ways out.

Though this trip to the "Netherworld" brought huge gains,

he hadn't forgotten that if they couldn't get out, all the treasures were for naught.

The three of them, and the treasures they carried, would just add some more relics to this world.