Shadow Hack

Panda Novel

Ashbi and the four patriarchs who had unsightly complexions left the room and looked at the group of people gathered inside the colosseum from the corridor.

The crowd surrounded an enormous machine. They were inspecting it carefully while discussing what they saw with those around them. When Ashbi took a closer look at the machine, he saw that it looked like a vicious beast with a long arm. He had never seen such a thing before, and it brought a frown to his face. He then carefully observed the machine to get a clue about what it was.

Suddenly, one of the people opened a small gate at the top of the machine and sat down inside. The next instant, the machine rotated right and left, then raised up the long arm which was at the front and smashed it downward.

A hole was dug out in the ground.

“Interesting.”

A smile appeared at the corners of Ashbi’s mouth. Who would have guessed that a machine would surprisingly have such formidable might? The instant it had moved a moment ago, he sensed flux energy erupting inside it. In the world of flux experts, the might of the strange machine could easily compete with ninth level experts.

Was that the basis of Chen Xiu’s confidence left behind by the godfather?

Ashbi guessed that it had to be it, but he did not say anything.

Behind him, the four patriarchs were discussing something with furious faces. It took them awhile to notice that the city lord was leaning against the railing and surprisingly watching something in the arena underneath. The four of them moved to his side and glanced downwards, where they saw the enormous creature which everyone was surrounding.

It left them startled for a moment. After a long time, Jiao Xiu expressionlessly said, “Is this the basis for his confidence, given by god father? It doesn’t seem like anything special!”

“This enormous beast possesses the strength equivalent to a ninth layer great flux expert which is rather interesting,” Deva Clan’s matriarch said all of a sudden.

The patriarchs of Doro Clan and Rahu Clan did not say anything. They had lived for a long time, but it was the first time they saw such a thing, and all of them thought that the machine was the backing given by Asura to Li Yunmu. According to them, the gods who were alive for a very long time, no one should know what exactly was that thing, so it was impossible for a branch family descendant like Chen Xiu to have thought of it.

But in the end, the enormous machine only possessed the strength of a ninth level great flux expert, so how could it be a true backing? In front of a god, such power was worth no more than a wave of a hand.

Curiosity appeared in the phoenix-like eyes of the matriarch of Deva Clan, and she softly said, “What exactly is sixth ancestor thinking of doing? I am somewhat curious now. This won’t do, I will dispatch people to keep watch.”

The rise of a clan depended on development in all fields, like resources, cultivation, and even powerful experts. What concerned the Ground Clan created by the sixth ancestor, its descendants did not have the aptitude nor purity of bloodline to even breakthrough into the sage realm, let alone a steady foundation or cultivation methods. With such a weak base point, was the sixth ancestor trying to create the weakest clan in Asura City?

Unless there was a secret the four clans did not know about.

A profound smile appeared on the fair face of Doro Clan’s patriarch. “I am also curious. How does this sixth ancestor plan to develop the Ground Clan?”

“Let’s go. If my younger brother saw us peeping, who knows what he might say,” Ashbi expressionlessly said and pushed away from the railing to leave. The next moment, his figure disappeared into thin air.

The four clan patriarchs smiled at each other while trying to guess Ashbi’s mood. Usually, regardless of what happened, he would welcome everything with a smile. But right then, when he saw the new machine, he turned expressionless. It could be assumed that he was provoked.

Despite him having toiled for so long as the city lord and earning high merits, god father still showed more concern for a recently adopted son. Anyone in his place would feel heartache over such unfairness.

In the colosseum, a group of Ground Clan’s descendants surrounding the enormous beast in front of them sighed in amazement. No one had ever seen anything like that. At first, they had thought that it was a lump of iron, but they later found out that it was a human-controlled machine.

It was simply mystical.

Everyone believed that it was something previously used by the four great clans, and a hint of pride appeared on their faces. As the fifth clan of Asura City, they could also use the things that previously belonged solely to the four great clans.

But that theory was soon called false by the creator of the machine—Jia Lou. As a forging master who had served the four great clans, he had never seen anything like that.

In order to demonstrate how it worked, Jia Lou entered the cabin and controlled the machine to smash its long arm against the ground. The pointed head entered the ground and dug out a small hole. Upon seeing that, the surrounding descendants of Ground Clan released a collective sigh of amazement. The lump of iron could actually move.

“This is definitely a machine for practicing martial skills. You can see that this machine needs someone to control, so whoever wants to practice martial skills can control it to fight. This way, they will become increasingly more proficient with their martial skills,” an extremely wise-looking person said with certainty

“Your words must be correct. This is definitely a machine for practicing martial skills. You see, after Old Bastard practiced using this machine, he became a flux expert. I really envy Old Bastard who was bestowed a martial skill by the ancestor. If I had a martial skill, I could also break through and become a flux expert.”

“That’s enough, you just started contributing and you already want ancestor to bestow a martial skill to you? Stop daydreaming. As long as we work properly and obtain sufficient credit points, we will be able to exchange them for martial skills. Take a look at Jia Lou. He created this enormous beast for practicing cultivation last night, so he will definitely be rewarded by the ancestor.”

After those words, everyone’s gazes went to Jia Lou who had created the machine, and their hearts filled with envy.

Jia Lou walked out of the cabin with dishevelled hair and bloodshot eyes. There were two large black rings around them.

He had worked throughout the night and was on the verge of passing out. However, Rat had gone to report his achievements to the ancestor, so he did not want to miss receiving his credit points. For that, he endured the sleepiness until he could exchange his credit points for a cultivation method.

Speaking of which, even he himself did not believe it. When he had received the blueprint, he had thought that it would take at least a few days to finish the enormous machine for practicing cultivation. But who knew that as soon as he started forging, he discovered that the parts were of identical sizes, so they could be created in batches.

After noticing that, he got a spurt of energy and forged the machine in one night.

Rat had seen the strange expression on Li Yunmu’s face, and he rushed over to the crowd once he was freed. After stopping in front of everyone, he pointed his finger at the descendants of Ground Clan standing closest to the machine as well as those entering the control cabin and aggressively said, “You lot, you all come down from there! If this machine is broken, you will all pay with your credit points.”

After the two words ‘credit points’ were said, everyone retreated a few steps. The descendant whose body was halfway inside the machine received a scare and fell back on a group of onlookers while frantically trying to get away from the enormous machine.

When everyone retreated, Rat heaved a sigh of relief. He then turned to Li Yunmu and cautiously said, “Lord, you can check whether this machine is according to the blueprint or not. If there’s any difference, I will tell Jia Lou to correct them.”

Li Yunmu looked at the flux energy powered mechanical digger, checked the hole dug out, and nodded.