Bureaucratic maneuvering

  Neither of them dared to confront Shi Jian head-on. The moment Shi Jian swung down, Mo Tian Ge and Fang Zheng Dao Ren dodged separately. A loud rumble was heard, and the stone slab on the ground suddenly sank and shattered.

  Mo Tian Ge and Fang Zheng Dao Ren both turned pale. They all knew that the Yuan Ying cultivator's Dong Fu was definitely made of material that had been blessed, but this stone carving sword that came down seemed to have not used much force, yet it easily pierced through the stone board! They asked themselves, they couldn't even do it.

  Before he could think more, Shi Yin swung his sword again. The power of this sword was also very fierce.

  However, as previously speculated, this stone carving has a great power, but its body is clumsy and slow. And speed, it's exactly what she's good at.

  She stepped on a white silk handkerchief and sang a heavenly song as she ran away without being touched by the stone statue at all.

  That Fang Zhengdao also judged the situation in an instant and avoided the second attack of the stone statue. With a flick of his hand, the dust on his sleeve turned into thousands of long lines, stabbing straight at the stone statue.

  Fang Zheng Dao Ren's dust-removing broom, judging from the Heavenly Song, is not a high-level magical artifact. However, it's unknown how Fang Zheng Dao Ren refined it, but its power is extremely great. The technique of transforming the dust into threads is just like her flying needles used for sneak attacks. Moreover, flying needles have form, while dust threads are formless; what bursts forth is only spiritual energy.

  Tens of thousands of dust threads flashed by in an instant, extremely fast. This stone carving couldn't dodge or rather didn't even have time to dodge, and its entire body was enveloped within the range of the dust threads.

  A burst of spiritual energy, countless dust particles rose into the air, Mo Tian Ge and Fang Zheng Dao Ren were both stunned for a moment, then each retreated, closed their breath and swung their sleeves - this cave hadn't been closed for who knows how many years, the stone carvings had long since been covered in dust, and with Fang Zheng Dao Ren's strike, all the dust flew up into the air!

  The two of them couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, they had made such a mess with just one move. Looking again at Shi Diao, he didn't have any injuries at all! The two of them immediately turned serious.

  "Leaf Dao You!" Fang Zhengdao's face sank, saying, "This thing has an astonishing defense. Can't be moved." Mo Tian Ge didn't know, but he was clear in his heart that his Dust Silk Transformation Technique, which he had practiced for over a hundred years, would have been able to break through the defensive shield of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator if it had hit solidly, but this stone statue hadn't even been affected!

  As soon as Fang Zhengdao spoke up, the stone statue paused for a moment, seemingly listening, and then adjusted its direction before suddenly swinging its sword towards Fang Zhengdao.

  This sword's power was truly terrifying. Fang Zhengdao barely dodged in time, but still suffered an internal injury from the sword energy and let out a stifled groan.

  Moy Tian Ge timely shot out, Fei Tian Shuang transformed into several golden awns, covering the stone statue's head.

  After a few "puff puff" sounds, Mo Tian Ge's face sank. The golden edge of the Fei Tian Shuo didn't even leave a mark on this stone statue.

  Since obtaining the Flying Heaven Dart, Mo Tian Ge has been very reliant on this magical instrument. It was later said by Jing and Dao Jun that the main material is thousand-year-old golden essence, which has been infused with the Heavenly Stone, comparable to a treasure, and was specially made for Qin Shu Jing as a foundation. Thousand-year-old golden essence is generally used on flying swords to increase their sharpness, so although the Flying Heaven Dart has no blade, it is extremely sharp, and until today, she still hasn't encountered anything that can be cut by the Golden Mang.

  Facing this stone carving, even Fei Tian's dart was completely useless!

  Moy Tian's face turned somewhat somber, and for a moment he didn't know what to do. However, he heard Fang Zhengdao, who was struggling to withstand the stone statue's attack, shouting: "Use magic, use magic to attack!"

  Upon hearing this sentence, Mo Tian Ge was taken aback for a moment before immediately reacting, retracting the Flying Heaven Dart and forming a hand seal to release an Icy Wind Technique.

  Stone destroys Earth, Wood conquers Earth, Wind generates Wood, Water nourishes Wood.

  This Frost Wind Technique is a compound Five Elements technique, containing both Water and Wood elements. Water governs constraint, while Wood overcomes Earth; this stone statue was originally slow in speed, but the Frost Wind Technique precisely struck its weakness.

  The Frost Wind Technique was released, and Shi's body shape slowed down even more. Although the power was astonishing and the sword energy was astonishing, the speed was extremely slow, and it couldn't hit anyone at all. Fang Zhengdao finally escaped safely.

  "Yè Dào Yǒu," Fang Zhēng said with a heavy breath, clearly injured, "Earth can't overcome Water, it's better to use the Wood-element binding spell directly, bind it! I just tried it out, its sword energy forms straight lines, as long as we avoid them, we'll be fine."

  Mo Tian Ge heard this, didn't say anything, nodded slightly, and instead of using the Cold Wind Technique, he clasped his hands together, concentrated his spiritual energy, and began to use a high-level Wood-element spell. The falling wood was rustling.

  Countless withered leaves rose, the wind howled, countless vines grew out of the ground, entwining the stone statue, and a spiritual energy shot out from the wooden frame, shooting towards the stone statue.

  Under the vast green light, the stone statue was entwined by vines and couldn't move. Wanting to swing his sword, the vines wrapped around again, directly binding the hand that held the sword. The stone statue, which neither the dust sweep nor the flying heaven needle could break, was finally tightly restrained under the entwinement of the wood-type spiritual energy.

  But that's not all. Although the stone carving was restrained by the wooden spiritual energy, Mo Tian Ge's cultivation was insufficient and he couldn't directly knock it down, so he could only entangle it. Unfortunately, this stone carving had incredible strength, and even if it was entangled, it would still require a lot of effort.

  "Righteous Daoist friend!" Mo Tian Ge felt the spiritual energy within him rapidly depleting, and couldn't help but furrow his brow. "The consumption of spiritual energy is too great, it can't be sustained for much longer!"

  Fang Zhengdao also joined his palms together and began to chant a spell of wood magic.

  With the support of Fang Zheng Dao Ren, Mo Tian Ge finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had never encountered an opponent like this before, who relied solely on brute strength, even if it was just a stone statue with no intelligence, it was still very troublesome to deal with. Thinking back to her past experiences, she once encountered a fifth-tier double-headed eagle in the Beast Realm, and although her cultivation was weaker than it is today, she didn't have this feeling of being at a loss for what to do. No wonder the ancients said that one strength can subdue ten skills, the most difficult technique to break through is actually having no technique.

  In the midst of the vast blue light, Shi Yao turned around again to listen carefully, as if searching for the source of the spiritual energy.

  Moy Tian's song stirred in his heart, he raised his hand and threw the Flying Heaven Dart again. However, it transformed into a long golden thread that shot towards the stone statue's ears!

  This time, the golden thread pierced into the stone statue's ears without any obstruction. A faint "tingling" sound was heard, and the stone statue's body shook heavily before falling to the ground. Mo Tian Ge stopped his spell and focused all his energy on controlling the Flying Heaven Dart.

  The sound of "hong" did not stop, and after a moment, the stone statue's momentum dissipated, finally stopping, but in an instant, it released a strange and mysterious spirit.

  Fang Zhengdao caught his breath and asked: "Ye Daoyou, how did you know its weakness was in its ears?"

  Moy Tian Ge also wiped the sweat from his face and replied, "Has fellow daoist discovered it? When making a move, one must always listen first."

  "......I see." Fang Zhengdao nodded in admiration, thinking to himself that women were indeed more meticulous. He had discovered some discrepancies, but hadn't thought they would be weaknesses.

  Received Flying Heaven Shuttle and White Silk Handkerchief. Mo Tian Ge looked at Fang Zheng Dao Ren: "How is the injury of fellow Taoist?"

  Fang Zhengdao hastily swallowed a dan pill and shook his head: "Nothing, just a minor injury."

  Mo Tian Ge didn't ask any more questions and walked forward, squatting down to look at the stone carving.

  When she was riding the Flying Pinnace, she felt that the stone statue inside was not as ordinary as the outside, but... no matter how she looked at it from the outside, it was a complete block of stone, without any gaps.

  Fang Zhengdao ate Dan Yao and also walked over, saying: "It's strange, this stone is so hard, how can it be opened?"

  Mo Tian Ge tilted his head in thought, then began to search this stone carving's head.

  There are no continuous seams, but there are casting marks. So to speak, this stone carving can actually melt? Such a hard stone, yet it's unknown what kind of true fire can melt it.

  "Is this really an official trick?" she muttered to herself.

  The art of puppeteering has long been lost in the modern world of cultivation, with only rumors of people being able to create puppets that can reach the Qi Refining stage, used for guarding mansions, serving tea and water, but having weak combat abilities.

  This stone carving in front of me clearly has no external spiritual support, yet it has the cultivation of building a foundation and reaching the peak. If it's a mechanical technique, wouldn't it have been lost long ago?

  "Does Ye Dao also know about the agency technique?" Hearing her mutter this sentence, Fang Zhengdao asked curiously.

  Mochen Ge raised his head: "I've seen it in books. Does Fang Zhengdao really understand this technique?"

  Fang Zhengdao smiled wryly and said, "Where? The mechanical arts have long been lost. I'm just a loose cultivator, where can I go to learn? It's just that I'm an old man who has lived for a long time and heard a lot of things. I've also heard some things about the mechanical arts."

  "Oh? What does fellow Daoist think of this stone carving? Is it a mechanism?"

  "It's very similar." Fang Zheng nodded, "A cultivator can also use spiritual energy to control a puppet, but that's not mechanical technique. This thing can move freely without its master, it should be mechanical technique."

  Mo Tian Ge also thought so. In that case, does the master of this place understand the true art of machinery?

  Staring at the stone carving for a long time, Mo Tian Ge said: "Fang Zheng Dao You, I want this thing. If there's anything behind it, you can choose first, how about that?"

  "This..." Fang Zheng hesitated, he also wanted this stone carving. If it were taken out, it could be sold to a cultivation family or sect, and those who studied mechanisms would pay a high price for it. Even if it was just a foundation-stage cultivator's plaything, it would still be worth several thousand spirit stones. However, looking at Mo Tian Ge's determined expression, he didn't want to offend her, and she had also promised him benefits. He would only lose some spirit stones, so he nodded readily: "Alright, this thing isn't of much use to me either. If Fellow Leaf wants it, I'll give it to you."

  Moy Tian Ge smiled slightly and put the stone carving into his Qian Kun bag: "Thank you, I will keep this promise. Next time if there are any treasures, fellow Taoist can take more."

  Fang Zhengdao smiled and was about to say something polite when his face suddenly changed, looking towards the back of Mo Tian Ge: "Ye Dao friend, look quickly!"

  Fang Zhengdao let out a shout of surprise, and Mo Tian Ge turned his head around, his face also changing color!

  But saw several stone carvings, at this moment suddenly moved together!

  One, two, three, four, five! Five stone carvings!

  Both of them were pale-faced. Even now that they knew the weakness of the stone statue, there were still too many!

  Without thinking much, Mo Tian Ge suddenly flew up and stopped in mid-air of the great hall. The Flying Heaven Dart transformed into a golden awl, directly targeting one of his ears.

  The stone statue paused for a moment, then raised its sword, and the sword energy shot up into the sky, blocking the golden light.

  Mò Tiān Gē clenched her teeth. Just now, she was using the Flying Dagger under the constraint of the Wooden Element Spell, and Shí Kè hadn't had time to react. But it's different now - these stone statues may be slow to react, but their sword energy is fierce, and with just one move, they can block everything.

  What to do? Thoughts racing, but for a moment, couldn't think of a solution.

  To be honest, I spent the whole night writing these three thousand words. Fighting is my weakness, but not writing it wouldn't be like cultivating immortality, so I had to grit my teeth and write it. Time was running out, and earlier I thought gloomily, let's just stop updating, but reason told me that even if I wrote a little less, I still had to update, otherwise others would wait in vain for the update, and thinking about it myself made me feel ashamed. Now I really want to learn from Xiaocai classmate and shout, "I've hit a bottleneck! I've hit a bottleneck!" Who is Xiaocai classmate? A certain very much loved male lead... Everyone can guess, but there's no prize for guessing correctly.