Kiyomizu from the Demon Slayer world wasn't short.
Although only seventeen years old, he was already meters tall, and might grow a little more in the next few years, but was basically set.
However, this puppet, modeled after Tsugikuni Yoriichi, was actually so much taller than him, nearly meters.
Presumably, Tsugikuni Yoriichi's figure three hundred years ago was also about this tall.
"Can you take it apart for me to look at? Or should we do a demonstration first?"
Kiyomizu examined the puppet's joints for a few moments, but couldn't see any problems, so he asked Kotetsu.
"I'll do a demonstration first!"
Kotetsu laboriously moved a small stool, stood on it, reached behind Yoriichi Type Zero, found a switch and turned it on, using all his strength to pull out a chain and twist it around a disc.
Kiyomizu curiously looked over.
This is… a spring?
That's right, the craftsmen of that era didn't have the multiple energy sources of later eras, and the most likely power source for Yoriichi Type Zero was a spring.
A spring device works by manually winding the spring tightly, storing mechanical energy, and then gradually releasing it, thereby driving complex mechanical structures and maintaining power for a long time.
Seeing Kotetsu's strenuous efforts, Kiyomizu took the initiative to step forward, using the power brought by the breathing technique and chakra to twist the winch.
At Kotetsu's speed, it was estimated that twisting it for an hour wouldn't make Yoriichi Type Zero move for more than a few seconds.
He could hear the sound of the chain being pulled inside the puppet.
It must be a multi-spring drive system.
This puppet is extremely heavy and has multiple arms, so the winch on the back must be connected to multiple spring systems.
"Click!"
As soon as the mechanical twisting sound came, Kotetsu immediately shouted, "Okay, okay!"
Then this little brat activated another mechanism, temporarily fixing the winch.
"In the past, winding this up would allow Yoriichi Type Zero to work for a quarter of an hour. It is said that a long time ago, one winding could last for nearly half an hour, but now, even if I replace the spring according to the blueprints, it can only last for ten minutes. Oh right! There are also the blueprints, I'll go get them!"
Kotetsu ran into the house again, chattering.
But by the time he came out, Kiyomizu had already drawn his Nichirin Blade and was fighting with Yoriichi Type Zero.
"It really uses the techniques of Sun Breathing, just as I guessed. Saying 'those who pursue the path to the end will arrive at the same place,' but in reality, Tsugikuni Yoriichi was still worried that his Sun Breathing would be lost. Besides the Kamado family, he still left his inheritance in other places."
Kiyomizu thought silently, holding the Nichirin Blade, which already had many nicks, in his right hand and fighting Yoriichi Type Zero.
After a few exchanges, Kiyomizu had also completely watched all of Yoriichi Type Zero's movements.
It was indeed the twelve forms of Sun Breathing, but the movements of Sun Breathing were so fast and sharp that even with the physical qualities of a Pillar, it was impossible to fully execute them. This puppet also needed six arms to perform the Sun Breathing techniques stiffly.
Kiyomizu estimated that for the people of the Demon Slayer world, those more difficult moves of Sun Breathing required unlocking the mark and reaching the standard of physical fitness.
And it wasn't enough to just meet the physical fitness standard, one also had to have a high enough compatibility with Sun Breathing to learn the breathing techniques within.
No wonder it had been three hundred years and no one had ever learned Sun Breathing from this puppet.
Perhaps every swordsman who saw Yoriichi Type Zero would pre-emptively think that it was a sword technique that required six arms to perform, and naturally wouldn't try to learn it.
As for Sun Breathing, Kiyomizu didn't have an attitude of having to learn it. At least he believed that the Li Breathing he had developed was more suitable for him. If one day he became stronger than Tsugikuni Yoriichi, Li Breathing might not be inferior to Sun Breathing.
Currently, he was more focused on using the Sun Breathing techniques displayed by Yoriichi Type Zero to corroborate with the Hinokami Kagura he had learned from Tanjirou, in order to better improve and strengthen his own Li Breathing.
Ten minutes later.
It couldn't beat the current Pillars, but it was enough to be used for training most of the Pillars of this generation.
"The second and third arms on the left, and the first arm on the right are blocked, the steps are obviously uncoordinated, and the upper body's rotation is stiff…"
After a battle, Kiyomizu understood a few of the puppet's superficial problems.
Later, after disassembling the puppet, he could also repair it in a targeted manner.
"Li Pillar-sama, the blueprints!"
Kotetsu handed two yellowed pieces of paper to Kiyomizu.
"The original parts from three hundred years ago have disappeared. In my great-grandfather's generation, the Swordsmith Village was attacked once, which led to the loss of the original copied blueprints. This one was copied by my great-grandfather, and the other one was drawn by my father imitating my great-grandfather's version."
Kiyomizu took the blueprints and looked at them carefully.
The first blueprint was very tattered, glued together with some kind of paper paste, otherwise it would have become fragments.
The second one was slightly yellowed, but still legible.
Indeed, as he had guessed, it used a spring as the main power source, but it was more than just a spring.
Gravity and springs were also utilized.
Kiyomizu even saw a structure similar to a pendulum system inside.
Did they have pendulums three hundred years ago?
It seemed like the time points were about the same, indicating that with the technological level at that time, the ancients could indeed have created it, but it was not made public.
Forget it, never mind that.
Throwing the distracting thoughts out of his mind, Kiyomizu continued to look at the blueprints.
With his experience, he could roughly tell that these two blueprints were missing about twenty percent of the content.
And with Kiyomizu's mastery of puppetry, he could roughly guess what the missing twenty percent was.
But to know the specifics, he would have to disassemble the puppet and take a look.
The tools here were quite complete, and it only took Kiyomizu less than half an hour to disassemble Yoriichi Type Zero.
"This sword…"
Kanemori Kouzou surprisingly picked up the black, rusted sword located in the spine of Yoriichi Type Zero after disassembly.
Haganezuka Hotaru also leaned his head over and snatched the sword away.
"The forging technique of this sword is indeed from three hundred years ago, and it must have been made by the top swordsmith of that time. Judging from the weight and shape, the user's arm strength must have been astonishing, and it is likely to be that powerful swordsman who served as the model for the puppet."
The village chief, who had superb swordsmithing skills, judged.
