Chapter 40: Craftsman's Pride
The moment Li Ge, with her resolute will, broke through her inner demons, the spiritual connection she felt through the "heart knot" became more stable and powerful than ever before. "Great!" Chu Yun's voice echoed intermittently through the weak connection, as if his mind and Li Ge's were reconnecting. "Chu Yun! Are you okay?" Li Ge asked hurriedly. "I can still hold on... but... he's tampering with my memories... I need time..." Chu Yun's voice was filled with painful struggle. "We'll be there soon!" Li Ge declared, ready to lead Mo Li and Zhi Lan toward the distant sea of fire. However, as she took a step, she was violently repelled by an invisible force. "What's going on?" Li Ge's face changed. Between them and the sea of fire, huge cages, constructed of cold steel and delicate gears, suddenly rose from the ground. The bars of the cages flickered with faint electric light, emitting an aura that Mo Li was both incredibly familiar with and yet incredibly repulsive. "This is... my Mo Clan's 'Dragon Locking Formation,'" Mo Li said hoarsely, looking at the suddenly appearing cage before him. "Can you break it?" Li Ge asked. "Yes," Mo Li nodded, then shook her head. "But... I can't." "What do you mean?" Mo Li didn't answer, her body shaking uncontrollably. As she stared at the familiar mechanical structures before her, her world began to spin. A cold, damp prison replaced the shattered wasteland. "Mo Li! Mo Li!" Li Ge's anxious calls grew increasingly distant. She found herself kneeling on the cold, filthy ground, her hands and feet bound by heavy shackles inscribed with forbidden runes. And before her, her father—the usually stern man who always secretly brought her candy figurines—was pinned to the ground by two soldiers in official uniforms. A sinister-looking official was holding a yellow scroll and reading aloud: "...the Mohist lineage, unrequited in repaying the emperor's kindness, has instead devoted itself to crafting useless objects, misleading the people and destabilizing the nation's foundation... They deserve death! By the will of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that the entire Mohist family be executed, and all mechanical drawings be destroyed as a warning to others!" "No! We don't have any!" Father raised his head and roared at the top of his lungs, "My Mohist mechanical art is for developing water conservancy projects, for improving people's livelihoods, and for protecting the frontiers! It's not useless!" "Protecting the frontiers?" The official sneered, and he kicked...
The moment Li Ge broke through her inner demons with a resolute will, the spiritual connection that came from the "Heart Knot" and belonged to her became more stable and powerful than ever before.
"Great!" Chu Yun's voice came intermittently through the weak connection, and his spirit and Li Ge's seemed to be reestablishing contact.
"Chu Yun! How are you?" Li Ge asked hurriedly.
"I can still hold on...but...he is tampering with my memory...I need time..." Chu Yun's voice was full of painful struggle.
"We'll be there soon!" Li Ge said, and was about to rush towards the distant sea of fire with Mo Li and Zhi Lan. However, as soon as she took a step, she was violently bounced back by an invisible force.
"What's going on?" Li Ge's face changed. Between them and the sea of fire, huge cages made of cold steel and precision gears suddenly rose from the ground. Faint electric light flickered on the bars of the cages, emitting an aura that Mo Li was both incredibly familiar with and incredibly disgusted with.
"This is... my Mo family's 'Dragon Locking Formation'." Mo Li said in a dry voice as he looked at the mechanical cage that suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Can you crack it?" Li Ge asked.
"Yes." Mo Li nodded, then shook his head, "But... I can't do it."
"What's the meaning?"
Mo Li didn't answer, her body trembling uncontrollably. She stared at the familiar mechanical structures before her, her entire world spinning. A cold, damp prison replaced the shattered wasteland.
"Mo Li! Mo Li!" Li Ge's anxious calls grew increasingly distant. She found herself kneeling on the cold, sewage-soaked ground, her hands and feet bound by heavy shackles inscribed with forbidden runes. And before her, her father—the usually stern man who always secretly brought her candy figurines—was pinned to the ground by two soldiers in official uniform.
A sinister-looking official held up a yellow scroll and read aloud: "...The Mohist lineage, unrequited in their gratitude to the Emperor, has instead devoted themselves to crafting useless objects, misleading the people and destabilizing the nation... Their crimes deserve death! By the will of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that the entire Mohist family be executed, and all schematics of their mechanisms be destroyed as a warning to others!"
"No! We don't!" Father raised his head and roared at the top of his lungs. "My Mohist mechanical engineering is for building water conservancy projects, for improving people's livelihoods, and for protecting the borders! It's not useless!"
"Guarding the border?" the official sneered, stepping on my father's back. "Relying on a bunch of lowly craftsmen like you who only know how to tinker with gears and springs? What a joke! Our dynasty has a million strong armies and the immortals of the Tianshi Mansion. Why would we need your inferior 'tricks'?"
"Sir! What my father said is true!" the young Mo Li cried. "The 'Longbeef Plow' we built can do the same amount of work as a hundred men in a day! The 'Flying Kite Shuttle' we built can transmit military intelligence from the front lines back to the capital within half a day! These are not useless things!"
"Shut up!" the official shouted. "You're so young, yet you're as eloquent as your father! Come, shut her up!" Two soldiers immediately stepped forward and blocked her mouth tightly with a dirty rag. She could only utter desperate whimpers.
She looked at her father, at the usually amiable uncles and aunts who had also been escorted in, and watched them being dragged out one by one before her. Then she heard the dull thud of blades piercing flesh from outside. She watched the official walk up to her and look down at her, his eyes filled with contempt and disdain.
"Little girl, remember. In this world, 'power' is everything. Your so-called 'wisdom' and 'creativity' are worthless in the face of absolute power. Man can never defeat nature."
"No... no..." The extreme pain caused Mo Li's consciousness to suddenly break free. She gasped for breath and found herself still standing in front of the mechanical cage. Li Ge and Zhi Lan were looking at her with concern.
"Mo Li, you just..."
"I'm fine," Mo Li interrupted Li Ge. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and the hand holding the "heart knot" was shaking uncontrollably. She once again looked at the cage before her, constructed with the mechanical devices she was most familiar with. In her eyes, the cage seemed to have transformed into the official's mocking smile from back then.
She reached out, trying to analyze the cage's structure, to find its core node. But as soon as her hand touched the cage's bars, the bars made of steel and gears crumbled and disintegrated before her eyes like sand.
"How could this be..." Mo Li's pupils suddenly constricted. Unconvinced, she reached out again, attempting to reconstruct the blueprint for the "Dragon Locking Formation" in her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, the lines and structures she had once been so familiar with collapsed the moment she was about to complete them.
"It's useless. Give up." A malicious voice sounded in her mind, "Your mechanical skills are useless. You can't even save your own family. You can't even break this small cage. You are a loser."
"No... I'm not..." Mo Li clutched her head and knelt on the ground in agony. She felt her greatest pride, the confidence and pride she held as a descendant of the Mohist school, being eroded and disintegrated bit by bit by an invisible force.
"Mo Li!" Li Ge's voice came again, this time with a hint of severity, "Look at me!"
Mo Li slowly raised his head and saw Li Ge's cold yet extremely determined eyes.
"I don't know what you saw." Li Ge said word by word, "But I know that if you give up now, Chu Yun will really die. All of us will die here." She pushed the "Heart Knot" in front of Mo Li.
"I don't understand your mechanical arts either. But in my opinion, it's just a 'tool', just like my ghost medical skills and Chu Yun's talismans. Tools themselves are neither right nor wrong, nor superior or inferior. What really determines whether it is useful is the 'heart' of the person who uses it."
"If your heart gives in first, then your mechanical skills will truly become 'useless'."
Li Ge's words were like a key that opened the heaviest lock in Mo Li's heart.
Yes. Heart. She remembered the last words her father mouthed to her across the crowd before his execution: "Believe...it..."
Believe in it. Believe in what? Believe in those cold steel and gears? No. Her father had made her believe in the millennia-old Mohist spirit of disrespecting gods and ghosts, defying power, and trusting only in the wisdom and hands of humankind. It was the pride that "Heaven's ways are constant, not for the sake of Yao or Jie," but that man can, through his own efforts, "control Heaven's will and use it."
"I understand..." Mo Li slowly stood up from the ground. The fear and confusion in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented, blazing light.
"You're right." She looked at the ever-changing mechanical cage before her, a smile full of confidence and defiance on her face. "Tools are dead. But people are alive."
"Heavenly Creations..."
"Man can conquer nature!"
As she uttered the last four words, a powerful will, imbued with creativity and logic, erupted from her. The "Heart Guarding Talisman" on her chest shone brightly with golden light. She no longer attempted to touch it with her hands, nor to decipher it with her eyes. Instead, she closed her eyes, immersing her entire consciousness in the "rules" of the mechanical cage.
In her brain, which was like a precision instrument, countless lines, structures, and energy circuits began to reorganize and calculate at an incredible speed.
"Found it." After just three breaths, Mo Li suddenly opened her eyes. She stretched out her hand, without hesitation, and pointed precisely at an inconspicuous connection point on the lower left side of the cage: "Li Ge, use your strongest power to attack there!"
Li Ge didn't hesitate at all. She raised her sword finger, and a black ice needle composed of pure cold energy, almost solidified into a solid object, instantly flew out of her hand and accurately pierced the node that Mo Li had pointed at.
"Crack!" A crisp sound, like shattering glass, echoed. The entire, seemingly indestructible, massive prison instantly cracked, starting from the point that had been struck. Then, with a loud bang, it completely collapsed and disintegrated, transforming into a shower of metal fragments.
The road ahead is clear again.
"Let's go." Mo Li rushed towards the sea of fire without hesitation. In her hands, a pile of gleaming, rapidly self-assembling mechanical parts appeared. Having triumphed over her inner demons, her power had also been reborn.
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