Chapter 7

It was another morning a few days later. Li Xian opened his eyes and was stunned. Last night, he had a dream where all the basic knowledge of array formations intertwined and confused him. When he got up in the morning, he suddenly found that he had mastered the basics of array formations!

"Again, this happens!" Li Xian didn't know whether to cry or laugh. The last time, he had learned the array formation knowledge of the碧玉灯 (jade lamp) while studying carving with Sun Ming; now, after a good night's sleep and a pleasant dream, he had comprehensively mastered the foundational teachings that Tang Rong had arranged for a year.

After mastering the array formations, Li Xian finally advanced to the sixth layer of the Qi Cultivation stage. The Li family's inherited immortal technique, *Qingyun*, was indeed excellent, from the Qi Cultivation stage all the way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage, it was very complete.

"Progress is certainly something to be happy about, but too much progress might not be a good thing. So, I've decided to... hide my abilities."

After tidying up, Li Xian entered the "research room."

The research room, this "strange" institution, had now become the absolute core of the workshop. Here, the array formations of the colored lamps had been improved multiple times, and the lamps produced now were even more beautiful and dazzling.

There was just one thing that made Old Mr. Sun's beard tremble with anger. He had clearly developed a longer-lasting array formation that could make the colored lamps last for two years, but Li Xian respectfully placed it on a high shelf.

Old Mr. Sun pointed at Li Xian's nose and scolded him for being a cunning merchant.

The atmosphere in the research room was lively. When Li Xian entered, everyone continued to busy themselves with their tasks.

Song Gang laughed the loudest. After several attempts, he had successfully produced stainless steel. The appearance of stainless steel even caught the attention of Li Yulong, who began to take the "lowly profession" seriously for the first time.

The weapons in the soldiers' hands could only last for three years, mainly due to rust. Even the magical tools used by many Foundation Establishment cultivators were primarily made of ordinary steel, and these tools would still slowly rust.

However, the cunning Li Yulong did the same thing with stainless steel as Li Xian did—respectfully and solemnly placing it on a high shelf. But he also forged a small batch of weapons and took them away, for unknown purposes.

Next, He Lin was also very happy. With stainless steel components, the looms became much larger and easier to operate, increasing the weaving speed by more than thirty percent.

Liu Bin, who used to be a carpenter, was gradually becoming a mechanical engineer, although he was currently only researching looms.

Tang Rong sat in the center, as the person with the highest cultivation, he had the right to do so.

Li Xian walked to the blackboard with a leisurely pace, "Starting today, we will research two things. One is called a bearing, and the other is called an engine. Only with these two things can our workshop truly transform."

Next, Li Xian explained the basic structure of a ball bearing.

Tang Rong smiled when he saw the bearing structure, "This is simple, we just didn't think of it before. We can use magic to create very smooth balls."

The magic balls were indeed very smooth and round, very cute. A single spell made the iron balls roll all over the floor, but after half an hour of hard work, no one could find two of the same size. This result made Tang Rong lose face, his face turning red.

Li Xian proposed a solution: "Create a mold and use it to cast. One mold can produce countless identical parts. Let's use jade to carve the mold, and Teacher Tang Rong can draw reinforcing array formations on it."

Carving the jade mold was quick. The skilled jade workers took only an hour to carve three qualified molds—the inner and outer bearing sleeves and a ball mold.

Tang Rong took the molds and used earth magic to optimize and reinforce them, then drew reinforcing and heat-resistant array formations. A set of molds was thus completed.

Song Gang then took the molds and went out to cast. Liu Bin also followed, preparing to improve the loom once the bearings were ready.

Seeing that the bearing problem was solved in just one morning, Li Xian was momentarily moved. The world of magic was truly amazing, and the progress was incredibly fast. But deep down, he had a bit of concern—did this mean that others could easily copy it? How could he prevent copying? There was no patent system in this world!

But this was just a fleeting thought. Li Xian quickly opened up. The best way to prevent copying was to become strong as soon as possible and widen the gap. A backward country could copy cars, but it could never copy a space shuttle! Even if the space shuttle's blueprints were placed in front of them, they could only stare.

Next came the focus: the engine. Without an engine, everything was useless.

"Make something rotate automatically? That's simple, a whirlwind spell is enough." Tang Rong continued to assume.

As he spoke, Tang Rong really cast a small whirlwind spell. To make up for his earlier loss of face, he put a lot of effort into it, creating a small tornado about seven feet high that rotated very steadily.

"Not enough, the power is too weak and the size is too large. The engine must have sufficient torque, that is, enough rotational power, as strong as the explosion of a lightning spell. But it also needs to be stable and continuous. Most importantly, it must be controllable."

Everyone began to discuss; mainly Tang Rong and a few elites from the magical tool workshop, with Sun Ming also chiming in.

"Create a shell, also called a stator; and an internal rotating core, also called a rotor."

"This is really challenging. Young Master, where did you get such an idea?"

Li Xian smiled and raised his head, "I promise, from now on, you will all receive a 5% reward from the engine's profits. Don't underestimate the engine. In the future, every loom and every carriage will need an engine. The sales of engines will be like the jade lamps now, every household will need one.

Even a 0.5% profit would make everyone richer than the Great Xia Kingdom."

"Ah..." Everyone immediately started to brainstorm. If Li Xian had said this in the past, everyone would have just laughed it off; but now, they revered Li Xian as a "wise man."

Seeing everyone buried in research and reorganizing the basics of array formations, Li Xian smiled contentedly.

In fact, after suddenly understanding the principles of array formations, Li Xian had already designed over a dozen engines, and using array formation knowledge, they were all true perpetual motion machines—thanks to the spirit-gathering array. The biggest difference between knowledge research and cultivation was that cultivation was a personal matter, while research was a team effort. Therefore, Li Xian consciously cultivated his first team.

During the research process, Li Xian continuously gave everyone a little guidance, but just a little was enough.

To make the engine work, it needed to 'repel'; and the mutual generation and overcoming of the Five Elements, the opposition of Yin and Yang, could all be used to create the corresponding engine.

In the evening, Song Gang ran back excitedly, "Success, success, Young Master, we succeeded. We made 10 bearings, all identical. We even made the main shaft."

Liu Bin also shouted, "It's incredible, the loom is twice as easy to operate. This way, I can make a larger loom, one that can be operated by a dozen people."

Li Xian took the bearings and inspected them, very satisfied. The quality of the bearings was already comparable to general industrial products. But he still gave a few pointers— "I know you're excited, but don't get too cocky."

"Senior Song Gang, you can try adding different metal elements to forge different alloys. Some alloys are wear-resistant, some are hard, and some are anti-oxidative. You need to research this bit by bit.

Also, don't just use one size of bearing, make several sets.

Senior Liu Bin, besides the loom, I have another task for you. It has some similarities to the loom, and I believe you will quickly figure it out. This machine is called a lathe.

A lathe is a machine that processes and produces other machines. There are many types. First, research a lathe that can forge weapons and sharpen blades.

The simplest lathe only needs a main shaft slide rod, a crank, a few connecting rods, some bearings, a few belts, and a few pulleys. The belts can be made from hemp thread and coated with animal glue to prevent slipping.

Once the technology is mature, add rulers, lifting screws, gears, etc."

Looking at the diagrams Li Xian provided and listening to his explanation, Liu Bin immediately slapped his chest and shouted, "Simple, much simpler than the loom!"

Time quietly passed, and it had been a hundred days since Li Xian arrived here.

On this day, Tang Rong finally made the first engine, and it was a perpetual motion machine!