The sound of gears meshing was as dense as a sudden rain, levers pounding like an iron hammer repetitively. The right calf began to swell rapidly once more, the chaotic aura spreading outward, gradually carrying a hint of danger.
Ban Ji gasped for breath, drenched in sweat.
The whispers in his ears grew stronger, while the runes in front of him became so dense they occupied his entire field of vision, with only a few remaining gaps quickly disappearing.
In a moment of crisis, Ban Ji relied on his last shred of clarity to form seals with his hands.
Divine Arts—Blind Fool!
A thick plume of gray smoke descended out of nowhere, enveloping Ban Ji.
The gray smoke rapidly converged, transforming into a bone china-like gray-white shackle that pierced through Ban Ji’s upper body, with two chains extending from his eyes into his brain, and then piercing out from his ears.
The Divine Arts quickly took effect.
The bizarre runes in Ban Ji’s vision seemed to be covered in a hundred layers of grease, becoming utterly blurred.
Over half of the bloodshot threads in his eyes diminished, his pupils scattered, turning gray-white, with saliva mixed with traces of blood dribbling from his grinning mouth onto the floor tiles.
The unbearable itching from before receded like a tide, while the suppressed sharp pain, though rising, remained difficult for Ban Ji to perceive in this state.
The wound remained untreated, but the bleeding had stopped, all because the flesh around the wound had turned into brass-like mechanical armor plates.
Ban Ji lay in the pool of blood, his right leg from the knee down empty and vacuous. He grinned foolishly, his ten fingers still dug deeply into the floor tiles, his nails entirely flipped.
Meanwhile, his severed leg continued to tremble ceaselessly, its shape like a bubble, constantly expanding then shrinking, its exterior ever-changing in bizarre fashions.
The severed leg eventually turned into an enormous mass akin to a carriage cabin, filled with various mechanical components. They were mixed together in a chaotic mess, yet somehow able to operate.
Boom.
A soft sound, as from one side of this ugly and strange mechanical monstrosity, a humanoid mechanical hand suddenly extended.
The hand was still smeared with a mysterious gel, its fingers tapping on the floor tiles, and after some exploration, it turned directly like a snake sensing its prey, heading straight for Ban Ji’s body.
But its momentum came to an abrupt halt in the next instant.
It was dragged down by the enormous mechanical monstrosity behind it, limiting its range significantly.
Yet the hand did not relent, driven by a beast-like desire from its source, struggling to drag its massive frame toward Ban Ji’s body.
Initially, it did not budge an inch.
But soon, its torso trembled slightly, shedding various broken mechanical fragments that attached to the hand, gradually enlarging it.
The hand slowly gained strength, indeed moving incrementally closer to Ban Ji’s body.
After 30 minutes.
The Blind Fool Divine Skill reached its limit, and the condensing gray smoke shackle dissipated back into gray smoke.
Ban Ji regained his sanity, abruptly opening his mouth to gasp for big breaths.
The sharp pain struck like an iron spike, piercing heavily into his nerves, but only pain without the itching sensation thrilled the experienced Ban Ji to ecstasy.
He suppressed the sharp pain, swiftly checking himself and scanning his surroundings.
A gigantic, bizarre mechanical monster seemed to stare down at him. The hand was already big as a python, within an arm’s distance from Ban Ji.
Yet it remained motionless, stopped in place, devoid of any aura.
Ban Ji’s heart skipped a beat, followed by a pale smile emerging on his face.
The smile quickly expanded, eventually resounding with a smug laughter of survival.
"This time, my Immortal Aptitude activated; I successfully got through it!"
The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts.
This Immortal Aptitude made Ban Ji unique since childhood.
Initially, the activation intervals of The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts were long, and the reasoning it imbued to Ban Ji was negligible.
As a child, Ban Ji merely thought he was having nightmares.
But upon starting school, he showed an almost intuitive understanding in the cultivation of Mechanical Techniques.
Logically, Mechanical Techniques involve calculations, but Ban Ji would just take a glance and feel from the heart: That’s the result.
And each calculated result matched his intuition. Moreover, intuition surpassed calculation, as calculations could err as well.
This exceptional performance immediately caught the attention of Ban Ji’s parents.
With the decreasing intervals of The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts activations and increasing reasoning, Ban Ji displayed symptoms of fainting and convulsions. After each "episode," his "intuition" in Mechanical Techniques surged markedly.
Ban Ji’s parents found it difficult to address the "strange illness," and could only seek help from the family.
Delving deeper into the family’s research, they uncovered several mysteries of this aptitude: it wasn’t recorded as any known aptitude but was extraordinary. It imparted not only knowledge of Mechanical Techniques but also of the Demon Sect and Monster Path.
And this knowledge acted directly on Ban Ji’s body, rather than being infused into the Divine Sea, granting him an almost instinctual "understanding."
Understanding was merely the façade; Ban Ji’s body inherently knew what was going on.
The fainting was only the façade, as it was essentially Ban Ji’s body struggling to handle reasoning from three domains, autonomously protecting him, causing him to faint, immunizing him against a deluge of reasoning.
Yet this deluge couldn’t be entirely exempted, and with The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts’ increasing activation frequency, the forcefulness of the deluge grew fiercer.
Once they understood this point, the Ban Family thoroughly prioritized Ban Ji.
Initially, the Ban Family thought it was an aptitude downside, a sequel, but upon discovering the essence, realized this was hardly a flaw; it was simply Ban Ji lagging behind.
The aptitude was confirmed as Immortal Aptitude, and the Ban Family secretly tailored a cultivation path for Ban Ji around him.
"Greedy Opportunity Demon Heart Technique" was meticulously selected, and the Ban Family paid a heavy price for it.
This Demon Skill specializes in cultivating the Divine Sea, aiming to enhance Ban Ji’s learning capability. Instead of passively enduring reasoning deluge, it’s better to actively learn.
This was the right move, allowing Ban Ji to quickly adapt, his abilities rising swiftly, with the cultivation of Mechanical Techniques and Demon Path advancing greatly.
Upon Ban Ji’s Foundation Establishment, the Immortal Aptitude surprisingly heightened once again!
Ban Ji began to strain in coping.
Naturally, the Ban Family wouldn’t give up on their future hope with Immortal Aptitude, helping with all efforts. To relieve Ban Ji’s plight, they offered aid from various aspects.
To thoroughly resolve this deficiency, they discreetly sought external assistance.
By chance, they encountered The Hermit of the One Dao while he was wandering the world. This extraordinary man, with a cultivation level at the Refining Void Level, was world-renowned, considered by nearly everyone as the strongest Divination Cultivator of the time.
The Ban Family’s Supreme Family Elders sincerely invited him for assistance, and The Hermit of the One Dao performed a divination for Ban Ji, determining that his Immortal Aptitude was distinctive, it was indeed a King’s Order!
"Historically, aptitude has been heavenly bestowed."
"The Way of Heaven diminishes surplus to supplement deficiency. Reviewing history, neither Mechanical Technique nor Monster Path has ever birthed a king."
"Hence, Heaven places a bet here. Certainly, not just on this point."
"In the future, should Ban Ji succeed, he’ll be king of Mechanical Technique and Monster Path."
"Naming this aptitude The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts is reasonable."
The Ban Family’s Supreme Family Elder questioned: "With such prospects, why does knowledge from the Demon Sect participate in the deluge?"
The Hermit of the One Dao sighed deeply: "A calamity in centuries to come, demons rising and righteousness waning; it’s the fate of two realms. Since after the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, the world’s been peaceful for long, with the Righteous Path dominating all, flourishing exceedingly. Prosperity leads to decline, ebb and flow, it’s the cycle of Heaven and Earth."
The Supreme Family Elder further inquired: "The Golden Age of Cultivation has lasted nearly a millennium. This calamity, bound with Heaven and Earth upheavals, will there be a Fourth Emperor?"
The Hermit of the One Dao replied: "The will of Heaven is chaotic; how can we deduce? Yet this time, even a king will be the most exceptional of all."
This answer invigorated all the Ban Family’s Supreme Family Elders present.
What constitutes the most exceptional?
To rule over Mechanical Technique and Monster Path—that’s the most exceptional!
In other words, Ban Ji, blessed with King’s Order, could very well be the future ruler unifying the world?
Our Ban Family might thus transcend the developmental shackles of centuries, leaping as one of the most potent royal families in the entire realm?
The Supreme Family Elder knelt down, seeking further guidance from The Hermit of the One Dao.
The Hermit of the One Dao merely left behind a pile of treasure: "Our fate concludes here; these treasures can pair with the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain’s consumption and calculate Ban Ji’s path to becoming king. Just follow the calculated results step-by-step to achieve King’s Order, at least the hegemonic status of a nation."
```