Chapter 355: The Mecha Actually Breaks Up Quarrels Between Animals! How Many Versions Is This Upgrade?
（Some things I can be even more wicked with than you imagine, but it is not allowed domestically to write about some aspects of the demonic path, please understand!）
……
Chen Ke and four members of the Demon Subduing Hall looked in shock at the scene inside the courtyard. Suddenly, the entire courtyard centered on the patriarch, and a gust of forceful wind appeared.
This gust of wind repelled outward in all directions; they could feel it even outside the courtyard.
The wind seemed to arise out of thin air, right at the center of the courtyard, or rather centered on the patriarch.
Such a strange scene was absolutely abnormal and was definitely related to the patriarch.
They simply could not understand it. After all, they had only just been informed that the people of the Demon Subduing Hall were allowed to cultivate a family kung fu called the Tai Xu Chasing Wind Leg, and they had not yet started cultivating it.
So they were completely unable to make sense of what they saw.
Chen Han’s face was now filled with excitement. After obtaining this Formation Puppet Modification Stone, he had been wondering whether the Chen Clan’s Feng Shui formation could work.
Perhaps because the Chen Clan’s Conceal Wind Gather Qi also came from the game system, even if it was not a true formation, it could completely function.
Once he activated the Formation Puppet Technique, the Chen Clan’s Conceal Wind Gather Qi Feng Shui formation was fully triggered, and a phenomenon appeared.
Without hesitation, he fully urged the Formation Puppet Technique, allowing the four formation puppets to connect with the Conceal Wind Gather Qi Feng Shui formation.
In an instant, the surging wind became even stronger, even beginning to blow outward in all directions.
The Conceal Wind Gather Qi formation was originally stable over the area, but now that four formation puppets were being integrated into it, it was like throwing four stones into a calm lake, creating huge ripples.
All tourists within the Chen Clan’s Conceal Wind Gather Qi range felt the change.
Quite a few tourists were puzzled:
“Why did it suddenly get windy?”
“Yeah, it suddenly feels a bit chilly.”
“…”
Outside the Affairs Hall, Chen Ke and the four Demon Subduing Hall members raised their heads in surprise, seeing a wind vortex appear within the courtyard, swirling up some fallen leaves and dust.
Even some dead leaves from around the area were swept up.
With these things as contrast, the originally invisible wind vortex was highlighted, making it very clearly visible.
The key point was that this vortex rose higher and higher, its suction growing stronger and stronger. Everyone around could feel it, more and more dead leaves were being dragged in, and even people’s clothes were being tugged.
Such a sight quickly attracted the attention of many tourists. Tourists passing nearby could all feel the wind force generated by the vortex.
Especially those passing around the Affairs Hall: one look up and they were drawn by that extremely tall wind vortex. It was like a small tornado, except without the terrifying pull and destructive power of a real tornado.
The tourists were curious and wanted to go into the courtyard to check, but with people from the Chen Clan Demon Subjugation Hall standing guard, they were unable to approach and could only raise their mobile phones to film this abnormal vortex.
Uploaded to Douyin, this would also be a spectacle.
More and more tourists were attracted and gathered outside the Affairs Hall.
Seeing the tornado rising in the courtyard, some even wondered if the Chen Clan people were using some spell inside.
Had the Chen Clan stopped trying to conceal things?
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mi were filming a video at another place within the Chen Clan grounds when they also saw that extremely tall wind vortex.
“Xiao Yu, what is that?” Xiao Mi asked in surprise, pointing toward the location where the vortex appeared.
“It’s over by the Affairs Hall. It must be senior brother doing something again.” Xiao Yu immediately identified the location and then led Xiao Mi toward the vortex.
In a short while, they arrived where the vortex was; it really was at the Affairs Hall. At this moment many tourists had already been drawn there.
They immediately headed into the Affairs Hall.
Chen Ke and the Demon Subduing Hall members naturally did not stop them and let the two enter.
Wearing hanfu, Xiao Yu and Xiao Mi felt the fabric rustling in the wind as soon as they entered the courtyard, but they were stunned by the scene inside.
In the courtyard, four formation puppets stood around him, and at their chests, the character for “formation” was glowing, with lines of special runes flowing over their whole bodies. It looked miraculous.
Looking at those four puppets, their eyes lit up as well.
The previous puppet had been given to the higher-ups; they had not expected four more to be made. The key point was that these four were clearly different from the previous one, starting with the color.
The silvery white seemed even cooler than before, but each puppet had a “formation” character on its chest, and that character did not look dominant enough.
While they were still surprised, the glowing “formation” characters on the chests of the four puppets faded, and the runes covering their bodies rapidly contracted back into the “formation” characters on their chests.
The miraculous wind vortex, as if it lost its source of power in that instant, collapsed and scattered at once.
Only then did Xiao Yu and Xiao Mi reach Chen Han, taking a close look at the four puppets.
“Senior brother, you made another four puppets?” Xiao Yu asked in amazement, even with some anticipation. “Can I control these puppets too?”
Chen Han shook his head and said, “These are a special type of puppet. No one else can control them.”
As he spoke, he looked to the panel on the light screen in his mind.
A movement map for the formation guardian puppets appeared there, along with control options: static guard, set route patrol guard, and random route patrol guard.
Static guard meant staying in one place; if no one went there to trigger the formation, the formation puppets would not move.
Set route patrol guard meant patrolling along a route specified by him, while random route patrol guard meant letting the puppets move randomly.
This was very similar to how puppets were set up in many xianxia games.
He could not be bothered to set a fixed route and directly chose random patrol guard.
At the same time, a game prompt appeared:
【Formation guardian puppets have been activated. You have chosen random route patrol guard mode. The mode can be changed. Please set detailed constraints for the formation guardian puppets under this mode!】
Chen Han was surprised.
There was even such a setting.
But thinking about it, this was a good thing. After all, the Chen Clan was a scenic spot. Without such settings, if the puppets suddenly rampaged and injured people, that would really be a one-cut disaster with intestines all over the ground.
So the first setting was that they could not harm tourists—no, they could not harm any life. If any life was in danger, they had to protect it.
This was the first rule.
In fact, if tourists were in danger, the puppets would go to rescue them. That was what was shocking and astonishing.
Chen Han then set many more detailed requirements in succession. In reality, these formation puppets had to remain as potential dragons not yet put to use.
However, he could also erase these rules with a single thought and let them become true formation guardian puppets that carried out a kill-without-mercy policy.
When he finished setting things up, the four formation puppets began to move on their own, ignoring everything around them as they walked out of the Affairs Hall.
Seeing this, Chen Ke and the Demon Subduing Hall members instinctively moved aside.
When the four formation puppets walked out, the tourists watching outside were all drawn to them.
Everyone showed looks of disbelief, many of them confused.
Weren’t people saying the Chen Clan’s mechas were fake?
The news had reported it, the topic had been so hot, and everyone had believed it. Now what was with these four mechas walking out?
From their steps, one could clearly hear the mechanical metal collision.
That heavy feeling was nothing like someone inside wearing a shell.
“Can someone explain what the hell this is?” a tourist could not help swearing.
He felt like he had been played.
“That is definitely not someone wearing a shell,” another tourist blurted out.
Everyone realized that, yet they still could not figure out what was going on with those online news videos.
They did not believe that no one had ever seen the Chen Clan’s mechas in person. How had none of those people come out to speak?
These people sure could keep their mouths shut.
While they were still in shock, the four mechas had already begun moving toward the area outside the Chen Clan.
Only then did the tourists realize that these mechas seemed to be moving by themselves; no one was controlling them.
Online, it had been said the Chen Clan’s mechas required human control.
Those manned mechas had been declared fake, yet here they were seeing unmanned ones.
So they had been upgraded?
That did not seem right.
As the tourists wondered, they all followed along.
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mi also realized that these mechas did not seem to need control, and quickly left the courtyard to follow and observe.
The appearance of these four puppets naturally drew more and more tourists’ attention.
The four puppets soon left the Chen Clan.
At this moment, bursts of dog barking sounded.
You Cai came over with a pack of dogs. As a dog demon, his intelligence was high, and he was drawn to these puppets, clearly sensing that these mechas were different.
He even led the dogs to follow the four puppets, and seemed to make a curious discovery.
It seemed the routes these four big guys were taking were not quite right; they overlapped with the paths he had taken with his younger brothers.
Woof woof woof!~
You Cai barked loudly at them, as if trying to elicit a response, but these four did not respond, so he continued to follow them with the dogs.
As if he could not hold back anymore, he suddenly leapt out, and in a couple of moves climbed onto the shoulder of one puppet, barking.
As a dog demon, his intelligence was not low. He immediately found that this thing seemed to have no intellect. He even tried squatting on the puppet’s head, yet it still did not react and continued walking forward.
Woof woof woof!
You Cai’s mouth curved up, as if he had found an amusing toy, and he simply squatted atop this puppet’s head, unmoving.
This scene was naturally seen by the following tourists, who were all shocked and recorded videos.
The Chen Clan’s Dog King stayed on a mecha and refused to come down, as if treating it as a mount, while the other dogs trailed behind.
The watching tourists soon discovered that not long after the four mechas left the Chen Clan, they separated. One mecha turned back and went into the Chen Clan again.
One mecha headed toward the former sea of flowers, one went toward the left side of the back mountain, and one went directly up the mountain path to the back mountain.
Many tourists were stunned. Which mecha should they follow?
The onlookers quickly made their choices and split up, each group choosing one mecha to follow and join the fun.
The puppet with You Cai squatting on its head clearly had the most tourists following it. After all, a dog treating a mecha as a mount was quite eye-catching.
If this were a robot dog instead…
…
Behind the Chen Clan, as development progressed, the area increasingly looked like a mountain forest tourism landscape.
Especially after three ornamental forests were opened, the number of tourists the Chen Clan received daily exceeded four thousand and continued to rise.
The three ornamental forests could host a large number of tourists, and with the Spirit Spring on the back mountain, the Chen Clan’s capacity for tourists had greatly increased.
Ming Di would now often bring his cousin and Zhu Xueqin up to film some videos.
Today when they came up the mountain, the three of them saw an interesting scene: on a branch, a squirrel was facing off against an animal that looked like a fox.
The squirrel was holding a large nut. It was obviously not wild; one glance showed it had been produced by a human factory, clearly thrown by tourists.
The fox-like animal was clearly trying to loot that nut.
Ming Di had not expected to see such a fun moment and began filming the two small animals. This could be used directly as video material to upload online.
Some tourists also noticed and took out their phones to film, wanting to see how things would end between the two little ones.
But in their lenses, an unbelievable scene suddenly occurred: a metal arm suddenly stretched out and grabbed the fox-like animal’s tail.
The animal was so startled its fur stood on end, struggling under that metal arm. The squirrel was also shocked and dropped the nut in its paws.
“What the hell?” Ming Di instinctively looked over and saw an incredible sight, instinctively swinging his lens that way.
He saw a silvery white mecha.
Apart from the color, its shape was almost identical to the previous J-16 mecha, except for an extra “formation” character on its chest, which people did not understand.
The surrounding tourists were likewise stunned by the sudden appearance of the mecha and could not look away.
What surprised them even more was that the mecha, after grabbing the fox-like little animal, placed it into its other hand, then used its fingers to gently rub the animal’s head, as if soothing it.
Miraculously, the animal’s bristling fur relaxed under the comfort. It stared at the mecha, then even jumped about curiously on the mecha’s body.
Up in the tree, seeing the threat gone, the little squirrel hurriedly scampered along another branch and left.
The mecha then picked up the fox-like animal again, squatted down, and gently placed it in the grass, letting it leave and disappear into the grass.
Everyone was dumbfounded by this scene.
“Was it just mediating a dispute between the two small animals?” a tourist exclaimed.
“Isn’t that obvious?” another tourist shot back.
The other tourists nodded. There had been no words and no drastic movements from the mecha, but anyone could see what its intent was.
Ming Di could see it too and immediately gave the mecha a close-up with his lens. This would definitely blow up on Douyin.
After what he had just seen, he could not help wondering whether this mecha had life, and that it was a mecha that loved life and loved peace.
Clearly, he did not know this was just a small unintended consequence of how Chen Han had set the rules.
Chen Han had set “do not harm life, rescue life,” originally referring to people, mostly tourists.
But who could say those small animals were not life?
So when he saw two small animals about to fight and one was relatively weak, mediating the fight became protecting life.
This tiny accident really shocked Ming Di and the tourists.
The last peace-loving robot they remembered like this seemed to have been that android from Dragon Ball.
And while they were still in shock, the mecha had already continued up the mountain, walking steadily step by step, metal weight colliding with the ground.
Ming Di hurried after it.
The tourists did the same.
They soon discovered that the mecha seemed to be patrolling, leaving traces in many places on the back mountain, then after reaching the mountain top, starting back down.
Ming Di kept filming from behind until the mecha returned into the Chen Clan grounds. Only then did he go back to Shangyuan Village to start editing the video.
He especially highlighted the scene of the mecha mediating between the two small animals.
When he finished editing, before uploading, he directly wrote a title: 《The Chen Clan’s strength has risen again. They have gained a new type of formation guardian puppet. Now I will have to be even more cautious if I want to scout the Chen Clan.》
After clicking upload, Ming Di laughed. Was that abstract enough?
Calling the mecha a formation guardian puppet.
He really felt like a genius.
But the video would not post properly. He soon realized something was wrong; the view count was climbing very slowly, and there were very few likes.
Given the Chen Clan’s level of popularity and his follower base, that should not be the case.
He quickly realized it must be traffic limiting.
He immediately picked up his phone to search and indeed found that there were very few new videos online about the Chen Clan’s four mechas.
It was not just him being throttled; others too. Anything related to the Chen Clan’s mechas was being limited.
In the capital city.
Inside the Mechanical Science Laboratory, Minister Ma and Academician Liu were looking at a liquid crystal screen in front of them, where a rune was being drawn with a different sequence of strokes.
A person next to them explained, “Academician Liu, Minister Ma, for the first rune of this mecha, there are these differing drawing orders, and they are progressive. With each added stroke order, there are several more possible variants.”
“And in Daoist Sect talisman classics, stroke order is extremely important. If one stroke is wrong, you have to start over.”
“So we will have to test each possible variant in turn, and also first study the composition of this cinnabar. Otherwise, talisman drawing of the runes may not work.”
Academician Liu and Minister Ma nodded together.
This was their shared understanding.
In fact, the fastest way would be to ask the Chen Family Head. Since he had already given them the mecha, he definitely would not hide this information.
But one consideration made them abandon that idea: if they did that, their subordinates would lose initiative and become dependent.
Besides, only what they figured out by themselves could be truly mastered. So if possible, they preferred to research it step by step on their own.
Only as a last resort would they ask.
At this moment, someone came up to Minister Ma and handed him a tablet. “Minister Ma, take a look at these videos. These were newly posted online by tourists at the Chen Clan. They have produced four more mechas, and the tourists have seen them.”
Minister Ma quickly took the tablet to watch the videos. Academician Liu leaned in as well. In the first video they saw four mechas walking out of the Chen Clan.
Then the second video, the third…
The more they watched, the more shocked they became.
Minister Ma frowned and said, “We only just had Zhong Hou from the network department help deal with things online to suppress the heat of this matter. Now with this situation, many people will have seen it. Even without the internet, some with ulterior motives will notice.”
Academician Liu sighed. “Of course they will be noticed. It is possible there are people with other agendas mixed among the Chen Clan’s tourists. We must ask the higher-ups to be more vigilant against other parties.”
As he spoke, he frowned. “Also, have you noticed? These four mechas no longer require human control. They are more advanced than the one the Chen Family Head gave us.”
Minister Ma had noticed. It was really hard to keep composure.
Keep in mind, for the mecha given by the Chen Family Head, they had already enlisted two laboratories, one researching cinnabar and one researching metal. It was a huge project.
The staff member reporting to them suddenly said, “Minister Ma, you should also watch the last video. These new mechas from the Chen Clan are not just simply unmanned.”
Hearing that, Minister Ma immediately opened the last video on the tablet. After hitting play, both he and Academician Liu widened their eyes.
“How did they do that?”
“This is a bit over the top.”
They saw a puppet mediating between two small animals, even comforting them, and gently putting one into the grass to let it leave.
This mecha had practically become an animal welfare envoy.
And this was something a mecha could do?
Chen Han knew nothing of their shock. After night fell, he went back to the courtyard and scrolled videos for a while. When he saw that after creating four formation guardian puppets he still had not made the trending search and there was almost no popularity, he knew the mecha topic was still being throttled.
But with so many tourists coming to the Chen Clan and Linhe County every day, he did not think it could be concealed for long.
He put down his phone, planning to return to his room to shower and cultivate, when he received a call from Liu Ye. After he answered, the other side reported, “Patriarch Chen, I have already gotten someone working on the matter you arranged. It can be handled within two days. If you are in a hurry, I can arrange the trip now.”
“Okay, go ahead and arrange it,” Chen Han replied.
After all, the sooner it was done, the sooner he could upgrade the demonic path puppet.
After chatting with Liu Ye for a bit more, he hung up. As he walked toward the hall, he suddenly received a game prompt:
【A surge of strong demonic energy has appeared within the Chen Clan’s range. A demonic path expert has infiltrated the Chen Clan with unknown intentions. Please quickly organize Chen Clan members and find this demonic path expert!】
“???” Chen Han froze, feeling this task was quite sudden.
So late at night.
On the back mountain path, the sound of metal striking the ground was very clear in the darkness. The figure of a formation guardian puppet stretched into a long shadow under the mountain path streetlights.
It was faithfully carrying out its master’s settings.
And within the forest, a figure was hiding, holding a filming instrument and recording it.
