Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

The crowd had had their fill of commotion by the cultivation furnace.

Cheng Mo spoke up: "Now that the Body Cultivation Furnace has been repaired, shall we try to create the puppet?"

Ma Xianhong nodded: "I drew a sketch earlier, in the inner room, but it's not finished. Brother Cheng, why don't you and Qiu Rang try to improve it? My head is still a bit dizzy, I'm afraid I'll have to rest for a few more days."

Qiu Rang patted his chest: "Don't worry, Master, we've got this covered."

Ding Ziheng interjected, "I think it was mainly Brother Cheng who did the work; you only got to show off a few moves at the end."

Qiu Rang glanced at him sideways: "How could I be worse than you?"

Ding Ziheng: "..."

Ma Xianhong beckoned to Xia He: "Miss Xia, come here for a moment."

Xia He didn't understand, but she still went over.

Ma Xianhong pulled a notebook from his pocket: "This contains some of my insights on how to finely control Qi in training. Take a look; it might be helpful to you."

Xia He took the notebook, her eyes crinkling into crescents: "Thank you, Brother Ma! I was just wondering how to control it more steadily, this notebook is a lifesaver!"

It's getting late.

Cheng Mo ignored Ding Ziheng and Qiu Rang, who were arguing again, and pushed Ma Xianhong back into the inner room, helping him to bed: "Get some rest."

Afterwards, he took a puppet blueprint and left the Cultivation Hall with Xia He.

Back in the cabin, Xia He lit an oil lamp, its light filling the room.

She sat down opposite Cheng Mo, propped her chin on her hand, and her eyes sparkled: "Little Mo, do you think Village Chief Ma figured we wouldn't stay here? Did he specifically give me this notebook so I can help you later?"

Cheng Mo spread the drawings out on the table without looking up: "That's about right. Old Ma is a kind man. Let's give him a few gifts before we leave."

Xia He became interested: "What are you planning to give?"

Cheng Mo took out paper and pen he had taken from Xiu Shen Tang and placed them on the table: "Give him a group of beauties."

Xia He's eyes widened: "You're going to give him his girl? His health is so poor..."

Cheng Mo pointed to Ma Xianhong's unfinished puppet sketch: "Ru Hua is a robot."

Xia He: "???"

Cheng Mo didn't explain further, straightened his back, and urged her to go practice her skills.

After the two finished practicing their skills, and Xia He finished washing up and came out, Cheng Mo was already lying on the table drawing.

Xia He leaned over for a look. The paper was covered with lines, symbols, and annotations, so densely packed that it made her dizzy.

What were those things? Heaps of indescribable things. She decided to give up trying to understand and turned back to her bedroom.

Lying on the bed, Xia He closed her eyes. The sound of a pen nib scratching across paper came from the living room, continuous and steady. Listening to that sound, she felt unusually at ease, and soon her breathing became long and even.

Cheng Mo, on the other hand, was focused on his painting.

The pencil sketches on the rough paper. These days, picking up design again has brought back some of the less pleasant feelings from those all-nighters drawing in my past life. However, there have been many gains, so it's a bittersweet experience.

As dawn broke, Xia He opened her eyes and glanced to the side. The bed next to her remained completely still, and the blankets hadn't been lifted at all.

She sat up abruptly and ran out of the bedroom.

Cheng Mo was still sitting at the table, his pen quickly sketching the last few strokes.

"Little Mozi," Xia He walked over and poked his shoulder, "Do you want to follow Village Chief Ma's example and stay in bed for a few days too?"

Cheng Mo looked up, his eyes slightly dark, but his spirits were quite good: "For cultivators, staying up all night occasionally is nothing." He put down his pen, stretched his neck, making a cracking sound, "Just the final touches left."

Xia He leaned closer out of curiosity.

This time she understood; the paper depicted a robot, but judging from its appearance, it looked more like a character from a shadow puppet show.

"Is this the Ru Hua you were talking about?" she asked.

Cheng Mo nodded, pointing to the upper right corner of Ma Xianhong's sketch—there were two heavily inked traditional Chinese characters there: Ru Hua.

"The name was chosen by Lao Ma."

Xia He stared at those two words, her lips twitching: "...That does fit Village Chief Ma's style quite well."

Cheng Mo put down his pen: "Let's go for our morning exercise."

When the two finished their practice, Ding Ziheng appeared on time, carrying an old hen: "Brother Cheng, could you please make chicken soup for the leader today? We'll just have the leftover wild boar from yesterday, how about that?"

Cheng Mo naturally had no objections, took the chicken, and began to process it.

After the meal, the group headed to the Xiu Shen Tang with the newly completed blueprints.

In just one night, Ma Xianhong's condition improved significantly. He was not only able to get up on his own, but also slowly walked around the room.

Seeing them come in, he smiled and took the food box: "From now on, you won't have to trouble Brother Cheng and Miss Xia to bring you meals every day."

Cheng Mo nodded: "That's fine. If you can move around by yourself, it's best not to bother others."

The expressions of the people nearby were subtle: "..."

Xia He nudged him with her elbow: "Little Mozi, did you stay up all night and go crazy?"

Cheng Mo smiled and said, "What I mean is, from now on, these tasks can be done by puppets."

Ma Xianhong's eyes lit up: "Brother Cheng, have you finished the design?"

Xia He answered quickly: "He drew all night last night."

Qiu Rang was astonished: "I just finished reading the cult leader's draft last night, and I haven't figured out how to improve it yet..."

Ding Ziheng: "You think Brother Cheng is as useless as you?"

This time, Qiu Rang didn't confront him. Because he saw the new blueprints Cheng Mo had unfolded…

Compared to this, I really am... a complete loser.

Ma Xianhong was eager to see the drawings, but Cheng Mo held them down, saying, "There's no rush, let's eat first."

Ma Xianhong quickly finished his breakfast, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and picked up the blueprints to examine them closely.

His gaze moved quickly, sometimes his brows furrowed slightly, sometimes he clapped his hands and sighed softly, his eyes sparkling.

After reviewing the overall structure, Ma Xianhong pointed to the reserved instruction set storage area: "Brother Cheng, you're planning to place storage runes here, right?"

Cheng Mo nodded: "Is something wrong?"

Ma Xianhong shook his head: "There's no problem, it's just that the reserved space is too large. We can compress it a bit and use the saved space to expand the energy chamber, which can improve the range."

Cheng Mo: "I've added some extra space. If you have a better design, of course, I'll go with yours."

Ma Xianhong didn't stand on ceremony and picked up paper and pen to redraw the picture.

This was the first time Cheng Mo had seen Ma Xianhong draw.

With a flick of his wrist, a palm-sized metal disc appeared in his hand, from which seven or eight thin, hair-like metal tentacles emerged, deftly holding pens of varying thicknesses and simultaneously drawing in different areas.

Damn, isn't he still not fully recovered? How come he's using several magical artifacts in a row? What's that octopus-like thing? Are you trying to become Doctor Octopus?

Seeing the surprise on his face, Qiu Rang explained in a low voice, "This set of magical artifacts integrates runes and a divine core for storing information. It was specially designed for the sect leader himself, so it doesn't require too much effort to control."

Cheng Mo noticed a faint glow at the core of the disc: "A divine core? So small?"

I had heard Qiu Rang mention this kind of external Qi source before, but I didn't expect it could be miniaturized to this extent.

Qiu Rang nodded: "Actually, it can only be made small. If it's too big, the structure will be unstable. At most, it can only be used on the puppets you designed."

Cheng Mo pondered, "If we make more and turn them into a matrix, could we use them as a reactor for the Body Refinement Furnace?"

Qiu Rang was taken aback for a moment: "...I hadn't thought of that."