As he approached the main house, Yun Heng was in no hurry to enter. Instead, he unequipped his Dharma artifacts and walked straight toward a large courtyard on the west side of the main building.
Just as he clearly remembered the scent of “bamboo wine” on his best friend, Yun Heng also remembered the aura of every one of his younger siblings. He knew exactly who was here and who was not.
The east side of the main house had been Yun Heng’s residence since he was age 8, known as Zhaoyang. The west side was Yun Sheng’s residence, called Muyai.
It wasn’t hard to tell from this layout that Yun Sheng was Yun Heng’s biological younger sister. If he remembered correctly, his ninth sister had just celebrated her 11th birthday not long ago.
Yun Heng reached out, intending to gently push open the gates of Muyaige, but they wouldn’t budge.
While inwardly cursing his other siblings for leading his little sister astray, Yun Heng tried pulling the doors outward instead.
This time, they opened.
However, what greeted Yun Heng was neither his little sister nor an empty building, but another cold, heavy iron gate. There were no traces of formations on it, and Yun Heng couldn’t see any accompanying talismans.
The only thing that could be considered a hint was a large bronze lock on the iron doorframe.
“The art of mechanisms…?”
Yun Heng raised an eyebrow.
It had been a long time since he had seen something so primitive.
The “mechanisms” that Jiang Keke longed for—the ones found in storybook secret realms—had gradually been lost over 60,000 years ago. They were incredibly rare in the modern cultivation world.
This was because such things were too primitive; they could be easily handled through either brute-force dismantling or intellectual deduction using formations that were clearly an entire dimension higher in complexity.
Yun Heng reached out and tentatively tried to solve it.
**[Incorrect password. You have 2 attempts remaining.]**
The mechanical iron gate emitted a dull warning. There wasn’t a single ripple of spiritual energy.
This genuinely surprised Yun Heng.
He knew his little sister was interested in mechanical contraptions, but he hadn’t expected her to have such a high level of talent.
It wasn’t just a pure mechanical device, but an intelligent mechanism with a counting system and feedback!
Unfortunately, Yun Heng didn’t have many memories of his sister’s future. He thought for a long time but couldn’t remember if she had made any significant waves in his past life.
‘I haven’t read many ancient books, but I did dabble in this field in my previous life. I should find time to help her supplement her systematic knowledge of the art of mechanisms and introduce her to some famous masters who will become well-known in the future…’
Thinking this, Yun Heng solved the mechanical lock in a few swift motions.
*Click.*
The door opened.
Accompanied by the rustle of candles lighting up and the friction of interlocking gears, a crudely fashioned jade puppet appeared before Yun Heng’s eyes. It stiffly moved to pour him a cup of tea.
The movement wasn’t exactly fluid, but it was extremely rhythmic.
What surprised Yun Heng the most was that the tea brewed by the puppet was exactly his favorite temperature and strength! It was perfect.
“Brother.”
A short-haired girl wearing a short-sleeved top stepped out from the shadows. She held a dark gold carving knife that seemed to have gone blunt, stained with wood shavings.
She didn’t use things like storage bags or storage rings. Instead, much like Jiang Keke during her “poor girl” phase, she tucked every tool she might need into her belt, creating her own unique version of a “storage bag.”
This person was Yun Sheng.
“Your look is quite avant-garde.” Yun Heng looked at Yun Sheng, rubbing his chin. “Do Mom and Dad know you’ve cut your clothes like this?”
“We aren’t mortals; why do we need to follow those rigid social rules? I just think it’s cooler to wear this, and it makes it easier for me to move,” Yun Sheng shrugged and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Then she leaned in close to Yun Heng, her eyes sparkling. “Forget about that. Brother, what do you think of the mechanism I built overnight?”
Yun Heng noticed a heavy sense of sluggishness around Yun Sheng’s eyes, somewhat similar to the cultivators in the demon inspection department.
However, the difference was that her eyes were brimming with excitement. Far from showing any dissatisfaction or fatigue, she was overflowing with passion.
“It’s very impressive,” Yun Heng said after taking a sip of tea, giving a sincere evaluation. “As far as I know, you might be the most talented person in the art of mechanisms.”
“Hehe, I’m not that great.” Yun Sheng scratched her cheek shyly. Then, as if remembering something, she habitually climbed onto Yun Heng’s lap.
“Brother, you have no idea. After you left, I took apart everything in your room—not just the toys, but also that broken timed hourglass, the loose tenon joints, and even the paperweight you used when practicing calligraphy. I took them all apart and reassembled them into brand-new contraptions…”
Her two small feet swung back and forth unconsciously. Her fingers gestured in the air, tracing complex structures, and her eyes were strikingly bright.
“Brother, let me tell you, they all have these things hidden inside that are like human joints. They aren’t driven by formations; they’re… they’re like bones that lock together. If you push or pull, they move! Like this one! I took it apart thirteen times before I understood…”
“And that wooden bird you threw under the bed because you thought it was too noisy? I bent the vocal reed inside its belly to a different angle. Now it sings two lines from ‘The Return’ every day at 5:00 AM!”
“Even though the tune is a bit off, it sounds much better than the old ‘quack quack’ sound! Oh, and one more thing! That drawer in your study that always got stuck?”
“You lied and told me it was broken, but it wasn’t! You embedded a hidden catch in the very back that only pops open with a specific vibration frequency…”
“I tried over 300 different materials and finally used thin slices of molted Spirit Cicada shells. I stuck them onto the mechanism, and now it opens with a single tap! I’m smart, right? Hehe…”
Yun Sheng’s speech grew faster and faster. With every sentence, she pulled an exquisitely crafted mechanical creation from the tool bag at her waist.
Though they lacked spirit or a soul, they galloped as freely as real living creatures, looking remarkably lifelike.
Yun Heng looked at Yun Sheng, who had just spoken what felt like over 1,000 words in one breath, and smiled faintly.
“…Talking sure is exhausting.”
Finally, Yun Sheng realized how dry her throat was. She couldn’t help but jump down from Yun Heng’s lap and hurried away on her short legs to pour herself a cup of tea.
She was much like Yun Heng; neither of them enjoyed cultivation. She was currently only at the ninth level of Qi refinement and had not yet reached the stage of inedia.
“Every time I think about taking you out, you refuse to go. But as soon as the art of mechanisms comes up at home, you’re a chatterbox,” Yun Heng teased.
In a way, his little sister had truly inherited the “fine traditions” of both him and Yun Wangji. Her defining trait was being “rebellious.”
This manifested as her eyes wandering whenever she spoke to anyone outside of the nine children of the Yun family and their parents. She wouldn’t hear it when people scolded her, nor when they praised her.
Back at home, she would just stare blankly at parts and frequently stay up all night doing modifications. It was only when Yun Heng managed to come over once every 2 weeks to play with her alone that she would seize him and explain how interesting mechanisms were, unable to stop once she started.
Yun Heng vaguely remembered a term from his life before his previous life that could describe Yun Sheng. What was it… an “Otaku Girl”?
“Going out isn’t fun,” Yun Sheng said, shaking her head. “Instead of wasting energy socializing with people I don’t know, I’d rather study those toys of yours.”
“But not a single one of my toys was made using the pure art of mechanisms. Some of the formations inside were more complex than Third Brother’s collection,” Yun Heng said, feeling amused.
He wasn’t a fool, so he naturally wouldn’t “return to basics” by using ancient methods to create things when spiritual energy was available.
“Heehee.” Yun Sheng gave a mysterious smile. “Actually, I’ve found that you’re quite silly sometimes, Brother.”
Yun Sheng hopped over to the desk in a few strides, flipped the switch on the oil lamp, and struck a “ta-da!” pose, showing off with pride. “Brother, do you remember this?”
Yun Heng looked where she was pointing. It was a tattered Tin Dog. It was much cruder than the jade puppet, but its movements were more flexible than any of the contraptions Yun Sheng had shown him just now.
“I think… that was the birthday gift I gave you when you were age 3?” Yun Heng said hesitantly.
He remembered that it was the first time he had made a contraption based on his memories of Earth. It was very poorly made; the dog had fallen apart after just a few steps.
Back then, Yun Sheng had hugged the pieces and cried for 3 days and 3 nights. From then on, she had locked herself in her room and began her research into the art of mechanisms.
“Yes, yes!” Yun Sheng clapped happily, then carefully picked up the Tin Dog as if afraid it might fall. The Tin Dog stuck out its metal tongue and gently licked the back of Yun Sheng’s hand.
“Brother, didn’t you tell me many stories before? One of the lessons stayed fresh in my memory.”
“I don’t remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of how there are many things that even the creator doesn’t fully understand; he just feels it should be this way, so it is. The same applies to you.”
Yun Sheng pressed her face against the Tin Dog, her eyes full of tenderness.
“You left a book in every toy. Even though you never opened them, I know they were treasures that only I, using ‘parts,’ could successfully decode.”
In truth, Yun Sheng had made many preparations for Yun Heng’s return this time.
But unlike her older brothers and sisters, who saw Yun Heng as a brother they could fool around with or act spoiled toward, Yun Sheng saw him as the author of the book of parts, her mentor in the art of mechanisms, and… the only person in the world willing to listen to her seriously.
Therefore, her expectation for their “reunion” wasn’t to play around, but to verify—to see if her brother still remembered the principles abandoned by the world, and if he could still engage in a “mechanical dialogue” with her.
This was why Yun Sheng had spent the entire night modifying the jade zither she had borrowed from Sister Yun Lu into a puppet.
In the small world of her room, she had waited for her brother’s “evaluation” with her best and newest work.
What made Yun Sheng incredibly happy was that her brother was still that same brother.
“Oh, right, Brother. Tell Mom and Dad that my stomach hurts and I won’t be attending the banquet later.”
Yun Sheng suddenly had a burst of inspiration. She thought of a way to make the jade puppet run even more smoothly and decided to work on it immediately.
However, she didn’t want to disrupt her brother’s reunion with the others, so she used this excuse to tactfully say, “I want some peace and quiet.”
Yun Heng looked at his little sister, who was already lying on the floor drawing blueprints, and remained silent for a long time.
In the end, he left a note that read: “I will come see you again tomorrow at noon.”
Then, he quietly departed.