Chapter 362: Equipment Refining Ideas and Another Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus!

“Use it!”

Lu Changsheng activated the Third-Tier Refining Skill in his system space.

Instantly, vast knowledge about Equipment Refining flooded his mind.

‘Basics of Equipment Refining,’

‘Craftsmanship Techniques,’

‘Techniques, Divine Abilities, and Materials in Harmony with Heaven and Earth,’

‘Design Principles for Artifacts, Spirit Tools, and Magical Treasures.’

After a long time,

“Refining…”

Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes, digesting the treasure trove of knowledge.

He had to admit, the Third-Tier Refining Skill was extremely profound.

It not only helped him master a vast amount of refining knowledge,

but also provided him with a deep understanding of the art of Artifacts, Spirit Tools, and Magical Treasures.

From now on, he could even analyze an opponent’s possible weaknesses and flaws through their life-bound treasure and target them specifically.

Additionally, when he crafts his life-bound Magical Treasure in the future, he can adjust it according to his ideas to make it more compatible with himself.

After all, any technique or Magical Treasure could be used by anyone,

but if it’s custom-made to fit him perfectly, the results would be far better.

“The path of refining isn’t much different from Puppetry; they seem like different branches of the same concept.”

Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes, sensing numerous similarities between refining and puppetry.

If they had to be distinguished, refining leaned more toward controlling Qi and drawing out the maximum power in the hands of a cultivator.

Puppetry, on the other hand, was more functional.

It didn’t require much consideration of a cultivator’s techniques or Qi.

Moreover, enchanting puppets was much more intricate and complex than refining.

Now that he had acquired Third-Tier Refining, Lu Changsheng felt if he focused and studied it deeply, his puppetry skills might advance to the Third-Tier.

However, he wasn’t particularly interested in Third-Tier puppetry at the moment.

Instead, his interest in industrialization rekindled.

Back when he first acquired puppetry skills, Lu Changsheng had the idea of establishing a puppet factory with an assembly line.

Decades later, the puppet workshop on Bihu Mountain had now roughly achieved the assembly line technique.

But this workshop was still far from his original vision.

In his initial concept, there were not only manual assembly lines but also puppet automation.

He wanted some puppet parts and components to be crafted by puppets themselves.

He even considered creating large puppets that would function like automated CNC machines.

However, reality was much harsher than imagination.

Crafting such tools was one challenge.

Yet, the real obstacle holding him back wasn’t the crafting process itself,

but the costs, daily consumption, and maintenance expenses.

The long-term operation of Second-Tier puppets required continuous expenditure of mid-Tier Spirit Stones, and even High-Tier Spirit Stones in some cases.

Although their efficiency was slightly higher than Qi Refining cultivators,

the issue was that in the cultivation world, cultivators were anything but scarce.

A puppet apprentice in Bihu Mountain earned less than ten low-Tier Spirit Stones per month.

In fact, because of Bihu Mountain’s good reputation, countless cultivators, eager to learn a craft and find a backing, were willing to sign indenture contracts, demanding only food and shelter in return.

Under such circumstances, relying on puppet automation would be a loss-making venture.

The Thousand-Faced Fox Puppet did appear out of nowhere. It required neither daily consumption nor ongoing maintenance, thus aligning with Lu Changsheng’s thoughts on artificial intelligence.

However, this type of Third-Tier puppet couldn’t be crafted at the moment and cost too much to measure.

After all, trying to profit from crafting puppets via the Thousand-Faced Fox Puppet would probably take a hundred years to recover the investment.

Now, after acquiring Third-Tier Refining Skills, Lu Changsheng had many new ideas.

While full industrialization wasn’t possible,

partial industrialization was certainly feasible.

For example, no matter whether refining, pill refinement, Talisman Making, or puppetry, they all involved a tedious step.

That was material processing.

For refining and puppetry, the main materials were metallic spiritual ores.

These spiritual ores required cultivators to spend significant time refining them and purging the impurities.

“The only problem during spiritual ore refining is removing impurities without losing the spiritual essence.”

“If I can create a spiritual power furnace that automatically removes impurities while locking in the spiritual essence, it’ll save a lot of time for material refinement.”

Lu Changsheng squinted his eyes, contemplating whether his idea could be realized.

After all, cost is always an issue.

If the spiritual power furnace is too costly to operate, it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

“This spiritual power furnace could be similar to the Earth Flame Formation, by drawing on earth fire and connecting it to spiritual veins, avoiding the need to use Spirit Stones to maintain it, thus only leaving the costs of crafting the furnace and maintaining it later.”

“Also, the ease of use must be factored in, as it must be operable by Qi Refining cultivators.”

Lu Changsheng continued pondering its feasibility.

After a long while, Lu Changsheng thought this idea was worth trying.

It wasn’t just for profit.

Considering how the production methods in the cultivation world were still manually oriented, improving efficiency felt like his duty as a transmigrator.

Maybe it could kick-start an industrial revolution.

Perhaps with this, the artisans in this primitive workshop stage of the cultivation world might experience a small shock.

Three months later.

Puppet Workshop.

Lu Changsheng looked at the towering furnace before him, made entirely of red copper all over and etched with countless talismans, with a satisfied expression.

He then turned to Lu Xian’er beside him, saying, “Xian’er, give it a try.”

“Yes, Father.”

Lu Xian’er, dressed in loose robes with a steady expression and a neat beard at the corner of his lips, nodded respectfully.

He stepped forward, embedding nine mid-Tier Spirit Stones into the Earth Flame inlet and held up his hands in a sign, igniting the Earth Flame formation connected to the furnace. The flames roared to life.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz!”

The red copper furnace began to hum and tremble, the spirit patterns on its surface glowing red as the noise grew louder.

“Open!”

Lu Xian’er continued casting his sign commands with a shout, lifting the furnace’s feed entrance and unleashing a surge of gas.

With a slap to his Storage Bag, dozens of pieces of Wujing ore flew into the red copper furnace.

“Bang!”

The furnace entrance slammed shut with a roaring sound as the temperature continued to rise.

Meanwhile, Lu Changsheng used his Divine Sense to monitor the situation within the furnace.

He could see the Wujing ore slowly melting into liquid iron, and the impurities being gradually expelled.

Although the ore’s spiritual essence was burned during the process, the spirit patterns inside the furnace locked it bound tightly within.

After some time.

The furnace emitted a roaring sound and flashed with golden spiritual light.

Seeing this, Lu Xian’er quickly cast another hand sign, activating a command aimed at the furnace.

The red copper furnace’s discharge outlet opened as waves of heat rolled out, raising the temperature within the Great Hall.

The liquid iron from the Wujing ore flowed out in black glistening torrents, quickly solidifying afterward.

“Father, this Wujing iron is refined very cleanly, though its spiritual essence is somewhat uneven. If it’s to be used for making Artifacts or puppet components, it might need a bit of processing.”

After the molten iron had solidified, Lu Xian’er stepped forward to inspect it closely, reporting his observations.

“Alright, I think I know where the problem lies.”

Lu Changsheng nodded in agreement.

He had observed it through the entire process and already pinpointed some issues.

“So, how do you find the performance of this Spiritual Refining Furnace?”

Lu Changsheng continued to inquire.

“It’s highly efficient; however, it can’t refine multiple types of spiritual ores simultaneously.”

“Additionally, if the amount of ore is too small, prolonged operation would be inefficient.”

Lu Xian’er noted.

“Hmm.”

Lu Changsheng nodded; he too was aware of these issues.

The Spiritual Refining Furnace he had crafted was at the level of a High-Tier Spirit Tool.

Without even considering his own labor, the material cost alone exceeded ten thousand Spirit Stones.

The time, effort, and cost involved, and the ultimate outcome wasn’t particularly satisfactory to Lu Changsheng.

“Father, currently, we have several stable spiritual ore veins at White Tiger Mountain. If these ores are brought here for unified refinement, it could still lower costs significantly and boost efficiency.”

“Moreover, once our family workshop expands further in the future, the furnace’s efficiency will also greatly improve.”

Lu Xian’er continued to suggest.

Despite finding the furnace’s effectiveness somewhat average and underwhelming,

he knew how much time and energy his father had put into it. Naturally, he didn’t want to dampen his father’s spirits.

“Alright, I’ll make time to improve it later. For now, see if there are any more issues that need fixing.”

Lu Changsheng nodded, feeling a bit uninterested, and left the puppet workshop.

At this moment, he realized even more how hard it was to push for industrialization in the cultivation world.

As a Top-Tier Third-Tier equipment refiner, even crafting a furnace to refine First and Second-Tier spiritual ores was such a hassle.

It required time and effort to continuously optimize and upgrade.

And in the end, the only advantage was increased efficiency and a slight reduction in labor costs.

With the time and effort he spent on this, he could’ve made more through refining pills, refining equipment, or Talisman Making.

At this point, Lu Changsheng could only say that it was a pure hobby of his and couldn’t be entirely measured in terms of profit.

“Yes, Father.”

Lu Xian’er nodded in agreement.

After Lu Changsheng left, he quietly stared at the Spiritual Refining Furnace before him.

He couldn’t help but admire his father’s creativity and hands-on abilities.

“If the puppet workshop could expand tenfold from its current scale, and we had an endless supply of spiritual ores, this furnace’s effect would likely manifest fully.”

Lu Xian’er murmured to himself.

Although the puppet workshop on Bihu Mountain was doing quite well now, it only served the surrounding area and did not expand further.

Thus, the workshop’s scale has not increased in recent years; instead, they focused on diversifying puppet types and increasing the production of higher-Tier puppets.

But the demand for puppets was limited.

Unless the family business could expand to encompass the entire Qingyun region or even the entire Jiang Kingdom’s cultivation world,

then this furnace’s effects would truly be recognized.

“Expanding the family business to cover the whole Qingyun region and Jiang Kingdom’s cultivation world is possible, but I wonder if I will live to see that day.”

Lu Xian’er thought about his father, the family’s mistresses, and his younger brothers, Lu Qingshan and Lu Quanzhen, as well as his sister Lu Wangshu.

With them, the family had a high chance of advancing further, potentially becoming a Top-Tier family in the Qingyun region, maybe even a Golden Core Formation family!

But with his Ninth-Tier Spirit Root, he was destined to never attain Foundation Establishment in this lifetime, and he wasn’t sure if he could witness that day.

“I might not see it, but Xuanyu will certainly witness it in the future.”

Thinking of his son Lu Xuanyu, a smile graced his lips.

He had four children in total.

His second son, Lu Xuanyu, though only possessing a Seventh-Tier Spirit Root, exhibited far more talent in puppetry than him,

with a promising future of possibly becoming a Second-Tier puppeteer, and maybe seeing the family rise to that level.

Time passed swiftly, and before long, more than half a year had gone by.

After all this time in arduous training, Xia Zhiyue was finally trying to break through to Foundation Establishment.

Given Xia Zhiyue’s situation, Lu Changsheng escorted her to Sumeru Cave Heaven for the breakthrough.

After all, she had been with him for over thirty years, and having only a younger brother left, he trusted her greatly.

“Hmm, is this going to be a failure?”

Watching Xia Zhiyue as she worked to break through, Lu Changsheng’s brow furrowed.

Having seen so many of his family members go through Foundation Establishment, he was well aware of what was happening.

He was quick to notice Xia Zhiyue’s dwindling strength and recognized that she might be on the verge of failure.

But when he thought about it, Xia Zhiyue only had a Seventh-Tier Spirit Root and hadn’t undergone significant trials. She wasn’t all that strong-minded, so failing the breakthrough seemed normal.

After all, taking a Foundation Establishment Pill only enhances the probability of success; it doesn’t guarantee it.

“It’s good that I came prepared.”

Naturally, Lu Changsheng wouldn’t allow Xia Zhiyue to fail the breakthrough.

He was standing guard beside her, precisely to prevent any accidents during the breakthrough and avoid failure.

He immediately stepped forward, embracing her, and whispered, “Zhiyue, calm your mind. I’ll help you with the breakthrough.”

“Mmh~”

Trying her hardest to break through, Xia Zhiyue immediately felt her lips being sealed. Her body softened, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Lu Changsheng’s neck.

Soon, accompanied by gentle rustling sounds, their bodies fused together, followed by delicate, soothing cries.

As Lu Changsheng continued to channel his technique, ‘Rising Sun,’ pouring his Qi and Yin-Yang Dual Qi into her body,

the waning energy that made it hard to solidify her Dao Foundation reignited, slowly lifting it from the pool of her core.

However, since it was being forced together through external means, her Dao Foundation was covered with tiny cracks, resembling a broken jade plate.

It was the most fragile and poor of all Dao Foundations, the shattered foundation!

But despite its fragility, Xia Zhiyue still successfully broke through to Foundation Establishment.

“Thank you, my husband.”

After a long time, Xia Zhiyue’s face was flushed, and she offered her thanks to Lu Changsheng in a trembling voice, her eyes filled with affection.

Other cultivators usually felt invigorated and energized right after breaking through to Foundation Establishment,

but Xia Zhiyue’s experience was quite different from the norm.

Not only did she have to endure the rush of spiritual energy from the world, but she also had to withstand Lu Changsheng’s powerful impact.

And all while staying focused on solidifying her Dao Foundation and cooperating with Lu Changsheng; it left her utterly exhausted. She didn’t want to move even a finger.

“It’s okay. Just rest now.”

Lu Changsheng softly replied.

He realized that dual cultivation during a Foundation Establishment breakthrough surprisingly had its own unique charm.

“Mmh~”

Xia Zhiyue moaned softly, quietly savoring the transformation of her breakthrough.

Despite having only formed the weakest shattered foundation, she could still feel her body undergoing a rebirth.

At that moment, Xia Zhiyue felt like she was in a dream.

She never imagined that she would actually break through to Foundation Establishment one day.

“Father, your daughter has made it to Foundation Establishment!”

Xia Zhiyue murmured, thinking of her father.

She remembered how, when she was a child, his biggest wish was to reach Foundation Establishment.

He also hoped that she and her brother would break through to Foundation Establishment one day and become great, high-flying cultivators!

Back then, it was just a father’s wishful thinking, an aspiration that seemed nearly impossible.

But now, she had helped realize that dream for him.

And not long ago, her younger brother Xia Zhaoyang had sent her a letter, saying he had gathered the Foundation Establishment Pill and materials and was soon preparing to attempt his breakthrough.

Unlike her, he had a Fourth-Tier Spirit Root and was a disciple of an Immortal Sect.

And over the years, through his own efforts, he had accumulated enough merit to get the Foundation Establishment Pill and materials; he had a high chance of success.

“I wonder what expression Xiaoyang would make if he knew I reached Foundation Establishment before him.”

Thinking of her brother Xia Zhaoyang, a smile came to her face.

Two weeks later.

“Hmm? Xiyue is coming?”

While Lu Changsheng was guiding his daughter Lu Wangshu in her cultivation, he suddenly sensed something and an Yin-Yang Communication Talisman appeared in his hand.

He knew it meant Xiao Xiyue had arrived at Bihu Mountain.

He immediately took his daughter Lu Wangshu to welcome Xiao Xiyue.

The three of them met joyfully and returned straight to Biyun Peak.

Lu Changsheng asked her if the matter at the Luoyun Mountain Range had been resolved.

Years ago, when he took his daughter Lu Wangshu to the Luoyun Mountain Range, Xiao Xiyue had estimated that the secret realm would be over in half a year. But she was only just now returning.

“Yes, earlier there were some unexpected events in the secret realm.”

Xiao Xiyue replied softly.

She revealed that demonic cultivators had appeared in the secret realm, causing delays.

It was because of this that the Azure Cloud Sect issued an extermination order and shared the secret realm with the Heavenly Sword Sect, Sunset Glow Sect, and Spirit Control Sect.

“Hmm? Demonic cultivators appeared in the secret realm, and because of this, the Azure Cloud Sect issued an extermination order?”

Hearing this, Lu Changsheng thought about the demonic cultivator at the Golden Core Formation he had killed earlier and paused in thought.

“Yes.”

Xiao Xiyue nodded gently and took out several Jade Boxes from her Storage Bag, handing them to her daughter. “Wangshu, these are gifts from your mother.”

Then, she handed one Jade Box to Lu Changsheng. “Changsheng, I’ve also brought back a gift for you.”

“Oh, a gift for me too?”

Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow with a smile.

He didn’t expect Xiao Xiyue would bring back a gift for him as well, in addition to the gifts for their daughter Lu Wangshu.

He opened the Jade Box.

Inside, a three-inch wide lotus with a glimmering blue-white radiance lay quietly.

“A Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus!?”

Lu Changsheng’s eyes narrowed, surprised by what he saw.

The lotus before him was about three inches wide, its petals glistening in a blue-white hue.

Recalling what Hong Lian had told him before, he recognized it as a Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus!

“Huh?”

Next to him, Lu Wangshu looked at the Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus and found it somewhat familiar.

It looked similar to the one she had seen her father collect from the Nine Heavens Gale Layer.ale.

However, this lotus was not as large or as beautiful as the one her father possessed.

“Changsheng, you recognize it?”

Xiao Xiyue was a bit surprised.

Her beautiful eyes softened as she continued with a smile, “I know you’ve been searching for items with spiritual eyes and collecting Spirit Source Beads.”

“During this trip to the secret realm, I found out that planting this Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus has the same effect as Spirit Source Beads, so I exchanged for one.”

Xiao Xiyue explained.

“Xiyue, come with me.”

Lu Changsheng let out a long breath and said to Xiao Xiyue.

From what Xiao Xiyue just said, and the sight of the Heavenly Yuan Treasure Lotus, he’d already pieced together some of the puzzle concerning the Old Demon Black Crow.

He even speculated what Xiao Xiyue might have done in the secret realm.