Shi Lang sat down on the ground with his eyes closed. He waited for five minutes to regain his energy, all he had used was his physical energy as a Terran. The spiritual cultivation has yet to be tapped in. He circulated the spiritual energy in his body to alleviate his exhausted muscles.

After five minutes, he stood up and began to run forward again. This time Shi Lang did not think too much when turning to the dead ends. He followed his instincts totally giving up deliberation. It was not the first time he has come inside a ruin and encountered this sort of situation. Just when he was running through a calm passageway, he sensed something.

Then his gaze fell on a sword on the floor and he rushed over to grab the hilt of the sword. This was not an ordinary nanobot weapon but a treasure sword. It was a proper weapon for a cultivator. Shi Lang has been longing for this sort of weapon for a long time. Ever since he regained his cultivation, he wanted a proper weapon to use his skills but he had not reached the level where he could forge a weapon for himself.

As soon as he grabbed the treasure sword, he could sense himself brimming with confidence. The weight of the sword was not to his liking, but it was still better than the nanobot constructs. Swinging the blade a few times while running through the silent passage. Shi Lang familiarized himself with this weapon.

In front of him was a fork road. Based on his instinct, the boy turned to the left one and abruptly stopped. In front of him was a huge beast.

…

Jenkins and Hayley saw this and they were shocked. They did not expect to find a living specimen of the wildlife of this planet. The beast was akin to a tiger back in the Federation, however, this tiger had four eyes and two big fangs. The body was covered with scales as if a dragon. The tail was a snake, and the claws of the beasts were giving a dreadful vibe.

At the moment, the neck of the beast had a metallic collar around it and the beast seemed to be sleeping. Jenkins said in a low voice, “Lang, pull back. We do not know what this beast is capable of.”

Shi Lang replied, “Can yous top being a sissy? Use some common sense. This beast is a machine, a life-size puppet. To protect this ruin.”

Jenkins and Hayley were shocked, the girl asked, “How do you know?”

Shi Lang looked straight at the camera and said, “Can you all learn to look beyond the appearances? Use the thermal screen.”

The technician followed the instructions and said, “Damn, the general is so wise.”

The thermal screen showed the temperature of the beast to be really cold as if a piece of metal. The only thing that made them feel confused was the small area of heat shown by the scanners. Before they could say anything, Shi Lang said, “That is the power source of this big guy.”

…

Shi Lang looked at the sleeping puppet and then looked at the sword in his hand. Hayley said, “Try to shoot it with your handgun.”

Shi Lang said, “You kids need to understand that technology and spiritual energy are two different things. Technology is not invincible, but to make sure that you do not pester me again, I will show you.”

He took out the handgun and with no hesitation, shot at the puppet in the distance. The phaser beam hit the scales on the body of the puppet, and just as Shi Lang had predicted, they were deflected. However, the attack woke up the puppet.

The beast opened its eyes and stood up from the ground. The low clanking sound emitted from the joints was too obvious. The thermal detector showed, that the beast was getting warmer. The source of energy was now supplying the whole body. Shi Lang said, “Kids, watch this seat take down the doom machina for you.”

Hayley said, “Can you stop quoting from Robed Raider.”

Shi Lang chuckled and gazed at the puppet. The whole thing was six meters tall and was now moving around, the collar around the neck was now lying on the ground. Although it was moving around, the eyes were locked on Shi Lang. The boy smiled and said, “It is detecting my base of cultivation.”

The beast roared and charged ahead. Shi Lang said, “If you noticed something I will give you ten merit points.”

That said, he swung the sword and rushed forward.

…

The technician said, “The mouth of the beast, the inside looks like a real mouth, it has epidermal tissues.”

Shi Lang’s voice sounded, “You get ten merit points.”

Jenkins and Hayley cast an envious gaze at the technician, who pretended not to see them.

…

Shi Lang was rushing forward to deal with the beast, while the opponent was doing the same. They both met in the middle of the room, and the beast swept a huge claw at him. Shi Lang was not outdone, he parried the attack with grace. The air was filled with sparks from the collision. Shi Lang just took half a step to dissolve the impact of the attack.

He was not suppressed by this beast. The two kept on fighting and the battle grew intense. Soon the attacks were emitting visible, shockwaves, and Shi Lang was now taking bigger steps back and the beast was also using different matters to attack him. In addition to claws, the tail was whipping an irregular pattern.

Shi Lang suddenly stopped and said, “So, have you had fun, or do you want some more exercise?”

The people on the monitoring thought he was out of his mind. However, the next moment, the puppet shook his head. Shi Lang chuckled and waved his sword to call over the guy. The puppet rushed over and Shi Lang indulged in the fight once again.

The speed this time was higher and so was the intensity. The shockwaves were now damaging the room itself. The beast was now in tatters. Shi Lang had decided to use his spiritual energy with the blade. The impact dealt the most damage to the beast. The scaly armor skin was now shed. One of the claws was laid waste, and the tail was also gone.

Shi Lang’s sword had chinks in it. He sighed, and concentrated his spiritual energy on all the joints in his body, and then on the ligaments and tendons. All this was done to help him in charging forward at the fastest speed possible. He flashed, appeared under the belly of the beast, and with his sword laced with spiritual energy, he cut open the belly of the puppet.

The speed was not slow, it all was finished in just a few seconds. The beast fell to the floor with a bam. Shi Lang walked over to stand in front of the beast’s head. He glanced at it, and then after some thought, he probed the surface with his hands.

…

Jenkins said, “Oye, why are you touching it?”

Shi Lang replied, “Touching your ass. keep quiet and watch.”

…

Shi Lang located a few spots on the forehead of the beast and pressed them hard. The spots emitted a clicking sound, following which, the head of the beast opened up like a mechanical treasure box. Inside the forehead, a crystal was placed. Shi Lang had an ecstatic smile on his face and he took out the crystal.

He did not need the visor on his helmet to record this. He was aware of what it was. Sometimes in the cultivation world, people will embed spirits of beasts, or souls of their enemies, by means of inscription or fusion. This was a similar thing. Earlier when fighting Shi Lang had realized that the puppet was not a complete puppet, it had a source of intelligence similar to what a processor in a computing system.

Suddenly, Hayley’s voice sounded in the earpiece, “General what is going on down there? Is everything fine?”

Shi Lang replied, “Yes, it is fine. Can you not see?”

Hayley replied, “Sorry, sir, but after the head compartment opened up, the drone stopped broadcasting, and even the helmet cam is not working. We only know that your vitals are normal.”

Shi Lang looked around and found that the drone was still flying. He guessed that it could be the spiritual fluctuations from the release of this crystal in his hand. He replied, “I will try to reboot the cams, let me take a tinkle first.”

Hayley said, “Sir, can you respect yourself a little?”

Shi Lang sighed and said, “Adjutant Hayley Dupont, I would excuse myself and when I am done, I will reboot the system. Is that fine?”

Hayley replied, “Copy that, General lang.”

Shi Lang quickly took off his suit, he circulated the spirit energy in the storage tattoo on his chest and placed the crystal inside. Then he leisurely took a tinkle at the corner of a room, and after suiting up, he rebooted the system.

The tinkle was to leave some forged evidence to emit the loopholes.