Chapter 22

The sudden change stunned everyone.

"Cough, cough..." Li Xian, pale-faced, climbed to his feet.

Just now, Li Xian was truly terrified. The sudden explosion was extremely powerful. If it weren't for his cultivation at the eighth level of the Qi Condensation stage, he would have been seriously injured.

"What's going on?" Everyone was puzzled and even more panicked, worried that Li Xian had been hurt.

Li Xian, supported by Tang Rong, sat down. Seeing everyone's tension, he suddenly smiled, "Everyone, don't worry. Cough, cough... Such things will happen often in research. Just consider it as a... cough, cough... lesson."

The reason was simple: the small spirit-gathering array could no longer meet the energy needs of the engine, so it broke down.

"Is that so? Then we should create a larger spirit-gathering array." Everyone immediately proposed this solution without hesitation.

Li Xian shook his head, "This can only solve the problem temporarily, not permanently. Have you thought about it? The current engine has already reached a design power of 10 horsepower. What about the future?

In the future, the engine will exceed 100 horsepower, 1000 horsepower, even 10,000 horsepower. How will we create the spirit-gathering array then?"

"This..." Li Xian's words troubled everyone. Yes, if the engine reaches 1000 horsepower, would they have to carry a millstone as a spirit-gathering array? That would be too impractical.

"Use spirit stones as power!" Tang Rong suggested, "A low-grade spirit stone is ten times more powerful than a regular spirit-gathering array. However, a spirit stone can only be used for one hour. Moreover, spirit stones are almost impossible to buy in the Great Xia Kingdom."

Spirit stones? Li Xian heard this name again. These spirit stones, which were said to be everywhere in ancient times, are now rare treasures. Even a defective spirit stone can bring deadly trouble. Even Li Yulong couldn't obtain a single spirit stone.

But the words "spirit stone" made Li Xian think of "batteries" and "energy blocks." If he could get a spirit stone as a reference and study to create "artificial spirit stones," then...

The thought was exhilarating. How could he obtain the first spirit stone? Right, the Dragon Palace! If he were to pay a huge price, he might be able to exchange for one, or even several spirit stones.

As if on cue, while Li Xian was musing, Song Xing came in to inform him that the sea race's envoy had arrived and was at Li Xian's Green Cloud Valley.

The sea race's envoy, could it be the legendary Turtle Chancellor? Li Xian was filled with a mix of mischief and anticipation.

However, Li Xian was disappointed. It wasn't the legendary Turtle Chancellor, but a human, middle-aged, with a touch of沧桑 (沧桑 means "weathered" or "worn out") and an indescribable aura of authority—a late-stage Foundation Establishment expert!

"I am Wei Zhe, representing the sea race," he said.

"Senior Wei, have you brought the weapon designs or samples?"

Wei Zhe handed over a jade slip, "Everything is here, including the spirit materials and minerals the sea race can provide, as well as the weapon designs."

Li Xian took the jade slip to examine it, but Xu Ren suddenly spoke, "Young Master, let me take a look first?"

"Mr. Xu, please."

Xu Ren examined it and then passed it to Li Xian. Wei Zhe didn't seem to show any displeasure.

In fact, Xu Ren's action was similar to testing for poison. Jade slips could be tampered with, especially when dealing with the legendary dragon race. It was better to be cautious.

Upon seeing the jade slip, Li Xian was delighted. It contained a type of thread called "Fire Spider." The ocean is vast, with countless large and small islands, most of which are the sea race's territories. To trade with Li Xian, the sea race had gathered many things. However, many good items were extremely expensive, almost twice to ten times the price of Sea Soul Threads, including several second-stage (Golden Core) spirit threads.

But from the list of materials, Li Xian敏锐地 (敏锐地 means "sharply" or "keenly") noticed a hidden piece of information: the sea race valued stainless steel! The sea race probably didn't realize that their thoroughness in listing all the materials would reveal this hidden intelligence to the astute Li Xian!

Li Xian calmly finished examining all the materials and the strange weapons. He put down the jade slip. "Senior Wei, there are no problems with the weapons. Even a trident three zhang long can be perfectly crafted."

"That's great." Wei Zhe's smile widened.

But Li Xian suddenly sighed, "However, Senior, you are asking for one million pounds of stainless steel weapons, which is quite difficult. We can only produce 5000 pounds of stainless steel per day, which is our maximum capacity. Forging weapons, especially excellent ones, requires about five pounds of iron to forge a two-pound longsword.

One million pounds of weapons would take about two years."

"Two years?" Wei Zhe was taken aback, thinking it would only take three to five months. But Li Xian was correct. Excellent weapons require repeated folding and forging to leave the so-called "refined iron."

Seeing this, Li Xian immediately said, "Senior Wei, we have a method to speed up the production of 'stainless essence.' However, it might... require some spirit stones. I wonder if the sea race is willing to sell spirit stones. The price is negotiable. With just one low-grade spirit stone, we can produce the stainless essence needed for 10,000 pounds of weapons."

Li Xian was lying through his teeth. Stainless essence? It was a complete bluff. But Li Xian didn't know that these three words he said today would make countless cultivators rack their brains in the future—what exactly is stainless essence!

Wei Zhe squinted at Li Xian for a long time, "If I give you ten spirit stones, how long will it take to complete the forging?"

"Within five months, and if everything goes smoothly, four months."

"Good! I'll give you ten more spirit stones and cancel ten pounds of Sea Soul Threads."

"Agreed!" Li Xian almost gritted his teeth—sooner or later, I will make tens of thousands of spirit stones from the sea race.

Thus, in this transaction, Li Xian obtained ten spirit stones and 190 pounds of Sea Soul Threads. However, Li Xian extravagantly traded 100 pounds of Sea Soul Threads for 30 pounds of other spirit threads.

Wei Zhe left immediately, promising to deliver everything within ten days. Li Xian's side also began to get busy. The first task was to—upgrade the machine tools.

The sea race are all large-bodied beings. The largest weapons this time were five tridents three zhang long, used by the Sea Patrol Night Forks.

Each trident had a diameter of one foot, and the three prongs were as thick as thighs, weighing about 150,000 pounds! Just these five tridents alone weighed over 700,000 pounds!

To forge such weapons, they had to urgently upgrade the machine tools. Otherwise, it would really take two years to forge them by hand!

Everyone began to make simple grinding and forging machine tools. The craftsmen were already very skilled, and they had accumulated sufficient technical expertise. Bearings, main shafts, workbenches, engines, and other components were prepared one by one.

To ensure the machine tool's cutting tools could move straight, Li Xian proposed the use of lead screws. By rotating the lead screw, the grinding tool could move horizontally, and a smooth guide rod would keep the tool stable. With this, even a trident five zhang long could be processed.

Using machine tools to process new parts and then assemble new machine tools, at this moment, Li Xian's industry truly began to expand—machines producing machines, though still very primitive.

The smelting and machinery workshops were bustling with activity. The craftsmen, or rather, the skilled workers, were overjoyed as rewards from Li Xian flowed into their pockets like a stream.

With the help of spells, in just seven days, Li Xian saw the birth of a large processing machine tool, one capable of processing a trident three zhang long. Although the engine driving the machine tool was only 5 horsepower, the efficiency of the machine tool was abysmal, and the precision was laughable, it was enough to process cold weapons like tridents.

Perhaps the only thing that could satisfy about this machine tool was the cutting tools, which had been refined by the true essence of late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and had array formations attached. It must be said that with cultivation, many things were almost like cheating.

Of course, the abysmal efficiency and laughable precision were from Li Xian's perspective; the workers didn't see it that way.

When everyone saw the massive machine tool complete the processing of a test iron column in just one hour, the workshop immediately turned into a sea of joy. Even Xu Ren, the strategist, was stunned by the sight.

After the morning celebration, Xu Ren called the excited Li Xian in the afternoon, "Young Master, Wei Zhe should be returning soon. There's something I need to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Li Xian was still immersed in his excitement.

"Young Master, people like Wei Zhe, who serve the demon race and the sea race, are not accepted by others. So, when dealing with them, be cautious and don't be too friendly."