Longzang

Chapter 1192 The Doors Need to Be Opened Again

Wei Yuan still remembers the original weapon forging workshop, which was just a blacksmith shop. Although it had three courtyards, Yu Zhizhuo did most of the work by himself. At that time, the original weapon forging furnace was moved from the Taichu Palace and was considered Yu Zhizhuo's personal property.

Wei Yuan looked up at the huge characters "Forging Workshop" on the archway. Now, just one radical of the character "Forging" was bigger than the three courtyards of the old building!
This archway is five hundred feet tall, and the three large characters are like a lake or a sea, shining with seven-colored celestial light, and can be seen with the naked eye for hundreds of miles around.

Wei Yuan looked again and saw that it was indeed seven-colored, but not celestial light. Although the three large characters were not flashing with celestial light, they were the same color. If an ordinary flying spirit saw this, it would probably be startled and think that it had accidentally entered a celestial abode.

This archway was exactly what Wei Yuan wanted. He thought he needed to find a divine power that could transform him into a hundred-zhang tall person so that he wouldn't look out of place standing on the archway. He also wanted passersby to copy it so that future generations could admire it.

At that moment, a wave of smoke, charcoal fumes, acidity, and alkalinity hit him, completely shattering Wei Yuan's beautiful dreams.

Yu Zhizhu appeared in a flash, wearing a snow-white outer robe. However, although the robe was white and new, it could not conceal his charred skin and balding hair and eyebrows. Clearly, something had just happened again.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Wei Yuan asked with concern. Yu Zhizhuo's resume currently only has three lines: Master of Qingming Forging Workshop, Academician of Qingming Academy of Sciences, and Academician of Qingming Academy of Engineering, so he is definitely a great talent.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "I did a small experiment. I used the power of the Four Symbols to restrain several specific immortal materials. After compressing them to the extreme, they will become new immortal materials. Although the spirituality of the immortal materials will be greatly depleted in the process, they will release a considerable amount of energy, which is much more violent than an explosion."

Wei Yuan found the name familiar and said, "Isn't this the fusion of the outer world?"

Yu Zhizhu shook his head: "It seems so, but it's not. The properties of things in the two worlds are different, and the Great Dao cannot be generalized. The fusion of the outer world is scattered and difficult to gather. According to the description, at its limit, it is only at the level of a restrained strike by a miscellaneous immortal. But they, with the power of mortals, can use their ingenuity to make use of this scattered power. It is truly ingenious."

Wei Yuan said, "Our current template energy... is it enough? Do we already need to do this?"

"The energy supply is abundant, far more than we can use! This year's Dao Foundation Ceremony marks the full maturity of the first generation of children born in Qingming, so there will definitely be a surge in Dao foundations. In addition, the new generation of children from the Xu family are also reaching the time for foundation building. This year alone, more than 100,000 people have registered."

Based on past proportions, at least 60,000 of these 100,000 children from the Xu family will have a foundation in Dao cultivation. Adding the rest, this year's graduating class will likely have 120,000.

Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and he said, "By the twentieth year of Hongjing, we should have a million Dao Foundations."

"Will Hongjing last for twenty years?" Yu Zhizhuo suddenly blurted out.

Wei Yuan's heart stirred again, and he asked, "What have you discovered, Senior Brother?"

"I recently took on a traditional business, a big one, to forge an unparalleled imperial weapon! The best way to forge such an imperial weapon is to use ancient methods and draw upon the light of the imperial star as a catalyst. But I've been setting up the array for several days, and even though the imperial star is bright tomorrow, I can't draw down even a sliver of starlight. I thought it was because Qingming's Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array was locking away the heavenly secrets, so I went back to Taichu Palace, but I still couldn't draw it down."

The imperial star shines brightly but lacks vitality; this emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty is likely in dire straits.

Wei Yuan wasn't particularly interested in the Emperor of Tang, but he was interested in the imperial weapon. He asked, "What imperial weapon? What is its purpose? Who ordered it from you?"

Yu Zhizhuo said, "The order comes from the Four Saints Academy. It needs to be used in conjunction with the ancient human king's fortune that they have stored. The minimum requirement is that it can bear the ancient fortune. If it can be fully utilized, that would be the best."

"And the payment?"

"The Four Saints Academy has several Xuanxing Cores obtained from refining fragments of the Outer World, and one of them will be used as payment. If the Emperor Weapon can reach the level of a Celestial Artifact, the payment will become three cores, and will be upgraded from low-grade to mid-grade."

The Xuanxing Core is the most commonly used foundation for a grotto-heaven. When immortals cannot cultivate a special grotto-heaven, they will use it to refine one. The refined grotto-heaven is stable and well-regarded by ordinary immortals, and is considered a valuable commodity among them.

The imperial weapon that Yu Zhizhuo forged should normally be a top-grade spiritual treasure of the Imperial Realm. Exchanging immortal materials for a top-grade spiritual treasure is a fair trade. Yu Zhizhuo wanted to draw upon the power of the Imperial Star to refine an immortal weapon.

Wei Yuan was also hearing about this for the first time, but he didn't take it seriously. Although the immortals of the Four Saints Academy had stood on opposite sides several times at the critical moment of life and death, there was still Li Zhi among the Four Saints Academy.

As long as he is there, and as long as the immortals of the Four Saints Academy do not directly attack him, Wei Yuan will still not regard the Four Saints Academy as an enemy, which is fundamentally different from the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land.

The academy's mission has always been to uphold the legitimate rule of the human king, assist the true Son of Heaven, and ensure lasting peace and stability for the world. The concept of lasting peace and stability shares some similarities with Wei Yuan's ideals. Therefore, their desire to forge imperial weapons for the human king is a natural necessity.

Now Wei Yuan's vision and ambition are different. He said, "A mere imperial weapon can't change the overall situation. Let them refine it. Refine it to the best of their ability, but don't ask for a low price."

Yu Zhizhu laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll put those hypocrites to the fire and put them to the test!"

Neither of them cared about the imperial weapon. Wei Yuan stopped and looked up at the archway, saying, "The last time I came here, the archway was only a hundred feet tall."

"This was actually done by a group of young disciples. They said they had developed a structure that could be used to build huge structures, so I approved some silver and materials and let them get started. I originally thought that a few Dharma Aspects leading a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators could only manage to build something, maybe fifty zhang at most. But I didn't expect these guys to actually build five hundred zhang!"

Wei Yuan scanned the archway and said, "This structure is indeed quite amazing. With the strength of these materials, it seems impossible to build it this tall?"

Yu Zhizhuo said, "The maximum length of materials I gave them was two hundred feet, and I had to personally refine the main materials myself. But these little guys developed special refining techniques for each key material, actually designing over a hundred different refining methods. The structure was also incredibly innovative, its ingenuity is truly astounding. These structures ultimately distributed all the stress evenly across the twelve main pillars, creating this archway. It's quite sturdy, though a bit too ornate. If you ask me, since it's not celestial light, it should only use yin and yang colors, and then hang the portrait of the Realm Lord on it..."

Wei Yuan's face darkened; he was helpless against Yu Zhizhuo's taste.

However, when he looked at the archway again, he was still amazed. No matter what kind of building it is, as long as it is big enough, it is a wonder, even if it is ugly or flashy.

Wei Yuan examined the structure carefully, and after a moment nodded, praising, "This structural design is indeed ingenious; the younger generation is truly remarkable."

Yu Zhizhu nodded and sighed, "Indeed, even I couldn't design such a structure. And you know what, there are a few mathematical geniuses among them. I don't know what's going on in their heads. They're only at the template level, but their thinking and ideas are much sharper than those of us who have reached the perfect Dharma Aspect. I even thought I had encountered the reincarnation of Patriarch Tinghai."

Putting everything else aside, your book, "A First Exploration of the Wilderness," has already been read by more than ten people.

Wei Yuan was suddenly startled!
Yu Zhizhuo's heart skipped a beat, and he realized that he might have said too much. So he laughed and said, "This archway is a bit ugly. I'll teach them some music, chess, calligraphy and painting later, and polish their taste!"

"Actually, it's not bad. It's imposing and befits this huge forging workshop."

"Let's go in first and talk about it later."

"Follow me." Yu Zhizhuo walked through the gate first, followed by Wei Yuan. The two tacitly stopped mentioning the structure of the archway and the book "First Exploration of the Wilderness".

After entering, Yu Zhizhuo said, "Now that the weapon forging workshop is almost a hundred miles away, the facade can't be too shabby. In addition, the lights on the archway can penetrate the clouds and be seen from hundreds of miles away, which can prevent passing flying ships from accidentally entering and prevent flying ships from hitting the archway. At the same time, it can also locate flying ships passing by nearby. In short, it has many functions and is quite practical."

Wei Yuan nodded: "That's only natural. Let's go. Where is the loom we're looking at today?"

Entering the archway means entering the weapon forging workshop's exclusive grand formation. This formation is based on the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Formation and has several additional layers of protection, safeguarding the weapon forging workshop for nearly a hundred miles to the north and south.

Yu Zhizhuo led Wei Yuan to the Craftsmanship Center and then into a huge building that was tens of feet high.

Inside the main hall, hundreds of cultivators were busy at work. In the center stood a massive machine, its gate-shaped frame over ten zhang tall. For some reason, Wei Yuan was reminded of the Dragon Gate Crane from the outer world. And this behemoth—was it a loom?

At Yu Zhizhuo's command, more than ten template Dao Foundation cultivators took to the air, hanging a mesh-like object on a giant loom. They then started the machine, and multiple nozzles extended from the upper beam, spraying a mist-like liquid onto the fine mesh, forming a layer as thin as a cicada's wing. Then, nine template Dao Foundation cultivators floated in the air, each exhaling a breath of spiritual energy onto the fine mesh. The thin liquid film instantly condensed upon encountering the spiritual energy, eventually transforming into a thin spiritual cloth.

Then Yu Zhizhuo flicked his finger, and countless fine sword energies shot out, instantly cutting the huge piece of spirit cloth into eight hundred pieces, each of which was a standard bolt of spirit cloth.

The whole process took less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and eight hundred bolts of spirit cloth appeared in front of Wei Yuan!

Wei Yuan raised his hand and summoned several bolts of cloth. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the cloth was quite strange. In fact, it was a single piece, and the patterns and designs were printed on later using fine silk screens.

The quality of this cloth is slightly inferior to that of truly hand-woven spirit silk cloth, but a Dao Foundation weaver can only weave one bolt of cloth a day, while this pile of cloth is enough for him to weave for three years, the efficiency is worlds apart.

"How much does it cost to make this piece of cloth?" This was Wei Yuan's biggest concern.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "The only cost is for the spirit cloth concentrate, but they are all common materials. The spiritual energy required for the final product is even cheaper, requiring only nine Dao Foundations daily, which can be rotated every three days. The fine silk net is the key. Depending on the type of silk net used, the finished cloth can have its own pattern and color, and the color and pattern are formed as one piece, never fading."

"So, the cost is..." Wei Yuan didn't care about these technical details.

“It’s one-fiftieth of the market price.” Yu Zhizhuo finally gave Wei Yuan the answer that satisfied him.

A glint flashed in Wei Yuan's eyes, and he said slowly, "So, it seems that all cultivators under heaven will have to wear the cloth we produce?"

Yu Zhizhuo's eyes also flashed with a cold light, and he said, "It should be said that it is a low-level cultivation. The cloth for Dharma Aspect and above is being developed, but the quantity is not large. It seems unnecessary to specially research a machine for this purpose."

Wei Yuan glanced at the several Golden Core Dharma Images and said, "It's alright, continue the research, and soon there will be more Dharma Images."

Yu Zhizhuo said, "That would be the best, but what if some people in certain places don't want us to take away their business and don't allow us to go there to sell cloth? One machine like this is enough for 100,000 cultivators to wear. If we make a few more, we're afraid we'll wipe out all the spiritual cloth masters in the world."

Wei Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and said, word by word, "Then let's have another 'open door'!"

"That's a great idea! The gates of the world's markets should be opened to Qingming!" Yu Zhizhuo revealed his signature honest smile, each of his snow-white teeth gleaming like a blade.

(End of this chapter)