Otherworldly Affairs Office

"Xia Yu, stop them! Don't let them leap ashore! Eyes of Golden Flame!" Faced with the frenzied creature again, Shangxing shouted, grabbing the neck of the monster rushing beside him. As their eyes met, Shangxing's large black eyes suddenly began to emit crimson beams, and soon two scorching rays shot out from his eyes into the monster's eyes.

The creature, usually indifferent to pain, screamed miserably this time, covering its eyes and rolling on the ground. Not long after, its body spontaneously combusted with a bang, and a cloud of black smoke drifted towards Shangxing's body.

Seeing the monster fall, Shangxing's eyes returned to their normal state as he slowly closed them. It was clear that even with his current state, he couldn't execute such attacks continuously. Ignoring the black smoke entering his body, Shangxing turned his head and asked, "Jiumu, how are things on your end?"

There was no response because Ye Jiumu had no time to reply. He was focused on undoing a section of the protective array around Pei Yan in the thick fog, allowing Zhao Yuanhu to evacuate him quickly.

On another front, despite Xia Yu and Wang Wenze's best efforts to hold back six creatures, two managed to break through their defense, leaping past them and pouncing forward.

Seeing this, Xia Yu was overwhelmed with grief and rage, unable to heed the precondition of not killing the creatures, only incapacitating them. With a sharp yell, a flash of light appeared on her fingers, and two massive hammers, the likes of which are only seen in films, materialized in her hands.

She turned and smashed them down on the creature that dared challenge her. With the enhancement from her awakened ability, the hammers' weight doubled. The creature's arms, raised to block, instantly bent out of shape, and the protective array on its body shattered into luminous shards. The hammer smashed directly onto its grotesque head, splitting it like a thousand blossoming peach blossoms.

Not stopping, Xia Yu swung the hammers horizontally in a sweeping motion, sending any creature in its path with broken bones and tendons, their muffled grunts echoing as they were flung away. As the hammers completed their arcs, two wisps of black smoke rose and passed through an inner barrier, surging into her body.

As she tried to swing the hammers again, the insides of her body churned violently. Without the inner source to support her, her arms holding the hammers hung limply. Xia Yu, sweating profusely, rested her hand on a hammer's handle, cursing with bitter regret, "If it weren't for this black smoke, I'd mop the floor with these monsters all by myself!"

In the blink of an eye, the two remaining creatures had reached the pond's edge, their claws reaching for Zhao and Pei. Seeing the imminent danger and burdened by Pei Yan, Zhao Yuanhu couldn't defend effectively. Without much thought, she tossed Pei Yan aside and flicked her long sleeves. Numerous thick black cables shot out, tangling the four claws of the two creatures and binding them tightly together.

However, doing so neutralized Zhao Yuanhu's advantage in Body Technique. With the injured behind her, she had no room to retreat. Facing the creatures' immense strength, her own was gradually waning.

"Do I still have to reveal that ability in front of everyone?" Zhao Yuanhu hesitated, thinking as she felt the creatures starting to break free. Determined, she steeled herself, ready to make her choice.

Just as she was about to activate her ability, a gust of wind came from behind her before she could react. One of the creatures on her left abruptly broke free from her binding and was tossed backward.

"Ah, sorry! I dozed off for a bit, how embarrassing!"

A familiar but utterly exhausted voice reached the ears of everyone present. Their eyes lit up, seeing over Zhao Yuanhu's shoulder to where the voice came, spotting Pei Yan, clutching his head and staggering out slowly from behind her.

Wang Wenze's initial joy was quickly replaced by shock, seeing Pei Yan's injured, now hollow left eye, which hadn't healed back to human form. Inside the eye socket was replaced by a glimmering blue Mechanical Eye.

Seemingly still unaccustomed to the transformation, after a couple of steps, Pei Yan's body lurched, and he landed on one knee, clutching his left eye in agony with his left hand.

Noticing the anomaly, Ye Jiumu turned to see Pei Yan kneeling behind him and immediately ran to support him, asking with delight, "Pei Yan, are you alright? How do you feel now?"

"System, are you there?! Come out!" Ignoring Ye Jiumu's concern, Pei Yan covered his left eye, enduring the surges of excruciating pain while calling out softly.

However, no matter how he called, the system voice that once spoke in his mind didn't reappear, as if it had been nothing but a hallucination of a near-death experience.

Watching Pei Yan kneeling and muttering to himself, Ye Jiumu was puzzled, "Pei Yan, what's wrong? What are you saying?"

Pei Yan, his head throbbing violently, couldn't hear the voices around him. As he kept calling for the system in vain, a word suddenly flashed in his mind. Initially, he didn't notice, but as he prepared to fully mechanize and return to battle without awaiting a response, the unfamiliar term emerged again in his consciousness.

In an instant, Pei Yan recalled Wang Wenze's words at the dinner table! A name, the name of the ability!

"Celestial Craftsmanship - Human Agency!" Without hesitation, Pei Yan shouted the phrase!

Upon hearing it, Ye Jiumu was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized the implication, his eyes brightening. He immediately stepped back a couple of paces as the transforming Pei Yan verified his suspicions.

Pei Yan's first-tier awakening had occurred!

Amid a series of mechanical assemblages and metallic friction sounds, Pei Yan once again completed full-body mechanization. As the tarp tied to his waist flew off on the breeze with his changing mechanical form, a newly mechanized Pei Yan stood before everyone.

This time, Pei Yan hadn't evolved to gain more height or a larger physique. Post-transformation, his height and body hadn't altered much from his fleshly form.

Without the intimidation brought by height and mass, Pei Yan's mechanical form now exhibited smoother lines, the previous stiffness and sluggishness in his movements gone as he swung his arms around. The entire machine perfectly obeyed his will. Every inch of the machine gleamed silver under the moonlight.

Most shocking was his head. The once hefty faceplate now thin as a cicada's wing, lightly covering much of Pei Yan's face. The right eye's shield grew narrower and more delicate, while the left eye abandoned the shield completely, a blue Mechanical Eye peering intermittently through the mask's gaps.

"Pei Yan, are you okay?" Ye Jiumu asked tentatively, somewhat on edge, as he approached the newly transformed and imposing Pei Yan.

Pei Yan remained silent. Ye Jiumu waved a hand through the mask's slits at the constantly rotating Mechanical Eye. Suddenly, Pei Yan snapped his head to the side, the Mechanical Eye rapidly contracting, startling Ye Jiumu into two retreating steps. Before he could respond, Pei Yan extended a mechanical arm, pressed it against the face of the creature struggling with Zhao Yuanhu, and without further action, the creature convulsed and fell unconscious.

"I'm perfectly fine now!"