Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

He and Zhu Xianxun exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly. Both of them now had an air of immortality on their faces, and it looked like they were about to become immortals. Only Fu Yuanshan opened his eyes and looked at the manuscript paper in the room, but he didn't quite understand what he was looking at.

When Wen Yuan also brought a test tube rack from next door, Zhu Xianxun picked up a test tube.

"This is the liquid medicine. According to your requirements, it is concentrated with 15% of the immortal roots. I actually refined the contents of the bottle the day you left. Since I'm only using immortal roots to make medicine, I refine some every now and then. But Shangluo, do you know what I've been doing these past few days?"

"I don't know." Shangluo shook his head. Although he had been very busy these days, it seemed that Zhu Xianxin was not idle either.

Zhu Xianxin pointed to the blackboard behind him and said, "I'm optimizing the production process and then contacting the factory for mass production."

"Huh? This thing is mass-produced?"

"If it can't be mass-produced, this will be meaningless. I can't just sit here stewing radishes all day long, right? But will I stop here?"

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "So you don't know yet? Wen Yuan should have heard of it. I graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing University. Because alchemy can only benefit oneself, mass production of elixirs can benefit the majority of people. But I have studied alchemy since I was a child and I already know that elixirs can never be mass-produced. Because there is an insurmountable gap between them, which is called 'spiritual coordination' in metaphysics. In short, elixirs must be made by the alchemist himself, and every step requires human hands. Because only by doing it personally can you put your willpower into it. But——"

He paused:

"What you gave me wasn't actually a recipe for an elixir, it was a formula! In other words, this isn't a metaphysical problem, it's an engineering problem. The radish's medicinal properties haven't changed at all during the refining process, and it hasn't been incorporated into any 'elixir.' It's simply been concentrated. Concentration doesn't require spiritual blending, so it can be solved through engineering processes."

"But why didn't it concentrate successfully before?"

"All of this has a premise - when you concentrate radish, what are you concentrating? Is it the 'radish concentration'? Then why don't you just stew the broth in the radish soup until it's dry? No, that's not the active ingredient, it's just the radish residue. If stewing it dry is useful, then wouldn't drying and processing the radish be the spiritual root among spiritual roots? In fact, we don't even know what ingredients in the Immortal Root Radish play the role of 'Immortal Root'. If you don't know what you want to concentrate, how can you concentrate it? Although we still don't know the exact use of the Immortal Root Radish, but!"

He shook the bottle, and it was thick:

"I followed your recipe and added flour, honey, and soy powder. It can be concentrated! Yes, these things form a 'fairy root complex' with the 'active ingredients' in the fairy root. It 'labels' the active ingredients in the fairy root in the form of a complex! Then I just need to extract this part of the complex. So this is not a metaphysical problem at all, it's an engineering problem."

"Huh?" Shangluo was completely dumbfounded. He had indeed thought that Zhu Xianxun had been fanning himself in front of the alchemy furnace for a few days, but as soon as he entered the room and saw the room full of manuscripts, he began to feel that something was wrong.

His gaze lingered on the still-unerased blackboard. Besides the heavenly book, the blackboard also had rows of hand-drawn cylindrical instruments connected end to end.

"So, it worked?"

Zhu Xianxun pointed to the corner of the blackboard, where a row of data was circled. "After calculation, these complexes account for 0.71% of the initial extract of the immortal root. Its properties are slightly different from the other parts. I refined it to about 15% through some technical processes, and made it into the 'medicine liquid' in the flasks in front of you. I tested it myself and everything was normal. Then I had Wen Yuan try it as well, and everything was normal. Then I called you, Shangluo, and Senior Fu here. Senior Fu, I still need your final confirmation."

Chapter 117 Bottled Qi Sea

Fu Yuanshan didn't hesitate. He picked up a test tube, opened the lid and smelled it.

He frowned, not because of a problem, but because of surprise:

"Your Majesty, how can I describe the spiritual energy in this? It's about to explode! High-quality elixirs contain more abundant spiritual energy than this. But this is the first time I've seen a medicine that emits spiritual energy, and it's only extracted from the most common radish root. No wonder Wen Yuan's mouth was emitting spiritual energy just now, just like a little train. This thing..."

He was momentarily speechless, as he had come up with a metaphor that he himself dared not believe. But after thinking it over again and again, he finally completed the confirmation:

"This thing gives me the feeling of a sea of qi. The sea of qi of celestial beings is essentially compressed spiritual energy. This one also compresses spiritual energy, making me feel like a bottled sea of qi. Although the degree of compression is not as high as mine, it can indeed be called a sea of qi in a bottle."

"Sure enough. I feel it myself." Zhu Xianxi nodded slightly. "I've handled at least eight thousand elixirs over the years. But elixirs themselves are condensed and restrained, otherwise they wouldn't form a pill. And these concentrated immortal roots, created through engineering, are actually emitting spiritual energy explosively. Is this similar to the Qi Sea of ​​the celestial beings?"

"At least that's how I feel. But I'll have to drink it to find out for sure."

He tilted his head back and drank the extract in the bottle in one gulp.

After pausing for a few seconds, he said:

"Although the radish is still the same radish, this little bit of liquid probably isn't enough for me to perform a single move. But I can feel it becoming a part of my Qi Sea. To me, the Qi Sea is a pool that holds spiritual energy, and these extracts can actually provide spiritual energy during the Qi Sea's circulation. Well, it's gone. It replaced my Qi Sea to circulate the Qi Sea, and it was gone in a few seconds."

He breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt unsatisfied.

"This feels good. I thought it was only effective for children, but it actually works for me, too. The amount is too small, though. For it to work for me, I'd have to take at least a whole tank at a time. Can it be concentrated further?"

"Maybe we have to try it, but not in the near future." Zhu Xianxi continued, "Then if you were to evaluate it, Senior Fu, what effect would it have on Qigong practitioners?"

"He can allow a Qi cultivator to create a Qi Sea from nothing, allowing him to mobilize spiritual energy explosively like a Foundation Establishment cultivator. This amount is just enough for me, but for a Qi cultivator, it's enough to cast spells—although only a few moves, but it's the difference between having it and not having it. Wen Yuan just said down below that he could fight me in a duel, and now he can indeed fight me in a duel."

"Doesn't this mean we can mass-produce celestial beings?" Zhu Xianxin himself was shocked.

"That won't work. After all, this comes from the radish, and there's only so much spiritual energy in the radish. The celestial being's sea of qi is compressed from the spiritual energy. Once the compression is successful and the dantian is opened up, the foundation is established. The fundamental difference between the foundation-building stage and the qi-training stage is that the foundation-building stage allows for 'circulation'. We can continuously circulate a set of internal energy within our bodies, allowing it to circulate along the Qi meridians without distraction. This little spiritual energy isn't even enough to circulate a full Qi meridian, not even half of it. But... maybe we can continue to compress it?"

He asked Zhu Xianxi, "Your Majesty, can this be further compressed? Spiritual energy is about quality, not quantity. Because the width of a person's Qi channels is limited, the denser the spiritual energy flowing through them, the better. If it can be compressed to twice its original strength, it will even exceed the concentration of my Qi channels. Although now, in addition to practicing Qi, it can replace some of the functions of the Qi Sea. But if it can be compressed to twice again, it will not only be able to fight me, I am afraid even the Eastern Guard General will find it worth fighting."

"Well, it's not working for now. Maybe the process needs to be improved, or we need to make breakthroughs in other areas. Shangluo and I will study it further. Since it can be used by Qigong practitioners, the rest will be fine. Wen Yuan, you go out and remember to bring a bottle to Lu Qianhu's daughter and let her try it too. Maybe it can help him. Senior Fu, thank you for your hard work today."

His gaze turned to Shangluo: "Shangluo, please stay for a moment. I need to make a call and I need you here."

After the two of them left, Zhu Xianxun breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that my efforts were not in vain. Then Shangluo, I have to make a phone call next. You only need to know the content of the call, don't tell anyone else."

"Yeah." He nodded, indicating that he would keep his promise.

Picking up the red phone on the table, he dialed a number.

"Hello, Ah Zhe, it's me. Yes, it worked. I had it tested by a Tianren senior, and it's indeed effective for Qigong practitioners. It can even have a similar effect to that of a Tianren, a Qi sea."

He paused for a moment, waiting for the other party to finish speaking.

"Don't worry, I've already contacted some university friends. Their factory can provide the necessary conditions for mass production. However, I've only performed extractions under laboratory conditions before, and many processes are carried out outside the laboratory. So, as agreed, please send the centrifuge over. It's a big deal."

The other side replied, and he raised his voice again:

"Remember! No second-hand ones! I don't want to smell bananas. I almost vomited when I tried the medicine with you! I want a brand new, unopened machine. Have Ninghe deliver it."

After that, both parties hung up the phone.

Zhu Xianxun put down the phone and looked at Shangluo:

"Have you guessed who's on the other side?"

"Yes, national surname?"

"Yes, it's Ah Zhe. You're wondering why I don't call him by his name, right? Because it's awkward. The Marquis of Yanping was given the national surname 'Zhu', but even the first King of the Country didn't call himself 'Zhu Chenggong' all the time. He only announced himself as 'Zhu Chenggong' on extremely important occasions. He usually signed his name as 'National Surname Chenggong' instead. The same was true for subsequent Marquises of Yanping. After becoming Marquis of Yanping, they were given the national surname, but it wasn't written as Zhu, just Guoxingmou. I remember his student card back then had 'National Surname Zhe' written on it, and at first glance I thought his surname was Guo."

"Are you two familiar with each other?"

"We were classmates. It was a coincidence, though. We hadn't made any plans at the time, and only found ourselves bumping into each other after making our own independent decisions. I have a vision of using elixirs to heal everyone in the world, and he has his own wish. Ah Zhe, he doesn't have the talent for cultivation."

“Aren’t there a lot of people like that?”

"But there aren't many in Guoxing. There are dozens of Iron Man Corps members who can use the original Iron Man Armor. Surrounded by Qigong practitioners since childhood, he was exposed to their world too early, yet he himself lacks the slightest talent. He wanted to refine medicine for himself, but sadly, even the elixir ignored him. It went in as it was, and came out as it was. But this time, the concentrated immortal root might be useful to him, so he's willing to sponsor me some high-speed centrifuges, the cutting-edge equipment Lan Fang uses to purify bananas. With those centrifuges, I can contact my university classmates and have them mass-produce it at their factory. These... well, these 'bottled Qi Hai' are for you. You're the first to do this, so drink as much as you can. Let's celebrate first with one bottle each."

Chapter 118 Find a new way

Shangluo's mood at the moment was a little complicated.

Finally, he found a potion that worked for him. After he proposed the formula and it was completed by His Majesty the Holy Emperor, who graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Nanjing University, these "bottles" were indeed useful to him.

But going back to the beginning, the reason he wanted this formula was actually to provide Apollonia with phlogiston.

[The Emperor has already exceeded his mission. This bottle of concentrated phlogiston complex, named 'Bottled Qi Sea', has actually reached an abundance of 15.5%.]

Apollonia praised Zhu Xianxun's accomplishments.

"But it still doesn't seem to be working for me." He and Zhu Xianxin each drank a bottle. Zhu Xianxin felt refreshed, but he felt no different. Even if 15% phlogiston entered his stomach, it would be digested like ice in a furnace.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm Doraemon, and if there's some kind of atomic reactor in my stomach."

"No, no, no, I don't think it's as simple as a nuclear reactor. Even if it were a nuclear reactor, it would explode if it were filled with this level of concentrated phlogiston."

Zhu Xianxun, who was standing opposite him, looked at him with a strange expression: "How is it? Still no effect?"

He shook his head: "It's still not working. Will this affect my foundation building?"

"No. Because theoretically, there are only levels like Refining Essence into Qi and Refining Qi into Spirit, and the Qi Training Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage are artificial divisions. In other words, there's no difference between those below the Celestial Beings. And below the Immortals, there's only a difference between Celestial Beings and mortals. So no matter what you were like before Foundation Establishment, even if you didn't have any spiritual energy at all, it wouldn't affect your Foundation Establishment."

"That makes me feel relieved."

"But I'm still not reassured," Zhu Xianxun put down the test tube. "The golden armor in the Jinyiwei warehouse is still lying on the ground. When I went to check it out yesterday, it was almost digging a well. Do you have any solutions?"

Shangluo made a brief "inquiry" and gave the answer:

"That's not a problem. I can move it away with the bottled Qi Hai."

"Eh?" Zhu Xianxun thought for a moment. "What's your logic? After you take it, it has no effect on you, but you can mobilize the spiritual energy in the 'Bottled Qi Sea'?"

"Is this weird?"

"This is so strange! Because 'spiritual energy' is useless to humans, it is just an external object. You have to transform it into 'true energy' through your own body. These true energy are the 'true' that cultivators want to cultivate. So, Senior Fu pinched Wen Yuan's face before, right? He saw spiritual energy coming out of Wen Yuan's mouth, which means that the spiritual energy in Wen Yuan's stomach did not have time to be transformed into true energy, and it came out directly from her mouth. And here..."

He put the test tube aside, drew a little man on the blackboard, and used an arrow to indicate:

"The spiritual energy is outside, and the work is also outside. It feels like you are not controlling the spiritual energy with your body, but with your mind. Like an operating interface? Some kind of spell? Or a spiritual object?"

He guessed it.

"I guessed right? But don't worry, we're all cultivators, so we have to keep some little secrets. Because everyone's opportunities are different, we can't expect everyone to walk the same path. People are not potted plants, right? Why do we need to trim them neatly? In short, as long as they can be used, people should use tools. Even a swordsman needs a sword, right?"

Thinking about this, Zhu Xianxun suddenly remembered:

"Ah, maybe you're suited to being a swordsman!"

"Sword cultivator? Aren't we sword cultivators here?"

"The Taoist Patriarch is the Great Immortal Wu Lei. Of course, the Dao methods he taught are all about thunder cultivation. Although there are differences such as Xuan Lei and Lei Huo, the physical requirements for them are the highest among all the methods. Those without talent will not be able to master them even if they try their best. However, there are many ways to cultivate immortality. You don't need to stick to thunder methods like us."

"Are there other ways to cultivate immortality?"

"There are many schools of systematic magic, and there are also people practicing independently in Zhongnan Mountain or other famous mountains. So we haven't counted how many celestial beings there are in the world, but there are definitely more than just these four in the inner palace. In your case, wait a minute, I'll make a phone call and ask."

He took out his Fetion card, and then suddenly remembered:

"Ah, I forgot it's still early in the morning. Wait a moment, I'll get back to you this afternoon. After daybreak, I'll call Wudang Mountain and have them send someone to take a look. The position of the Chief Sword Master has been vacant for many years because we don't have a single sword cultivator here. If you can get started as a sword cultivator, you'll definitely be one of the Thirteen Guardians."

"Huh? Aren't the Thirteen Protectors from Beizhen?"

"To be more precise, they're the Thirteen Guards of the Imperial Palace, and the recruits aren't limited to the Jinyiwei. The Imperial Guards also participate, but in recent years, those chosen have all been from Northern Town. One of them was one of the four who screwed up the Guangzhou team back then. Sometimes I wonder if the Imperial Palace is too stingy, so no one wants to serve there. The Thirteen Guards are actually thirteen external positions. Although any Qigong practitioners who are interested in serving the Imperial Palace will be recruited, only the most outstanding among them will be selected as the Thirteen Guards, representing 4 different methods."

"Which rank is that sword cultivator?"

"Among all the methods, the sword is the most important, and sword cultivation is the best. Therefore, the sword master is also the role model for all the Qigong practitioners in the Imperial Palace, and the leader of the Thirteen Guardians - so if you enter the Imperial Palace as a sword cultivator, you will immediately become the leader of all the Qigong practitioners. The monthly salary of the Thirteen Guardians is quite good, 13 taels per month, and it also includes food and lodging."

"???" Shang Luo was stunned. "Is it so easy to become the leader of the inner court Qigong practitioners???"

"Because no one dares to take on the title of Sword Master. The top ranking for Sword Cultivator was won by General Dongshou when he was still a Qi Cultivator. After he ascended to Heavenly Man, the Sword Master position has remained vacant. Similarly, the second position for Thunder Cultivator was won by General Baifeng, and after his ascension, it remained vacant. Now someone wants to take the position, but they have to accept the challenge. So it's easy to take the position. As a Sword Cultivator, you will automatically become Sword Master. But whether you can hold on to it depends on your own level."

"Forget it then!" Shang Luo didn't care about the challenge. With Apollonia here, he had the confidence to challenge other Qigong practitioners one-on-one. However, revealing too many of his hidden cards in a challenge would be counterproductive. Qigong practitioners could have their own little secrets, but once exposed, they were no longer secrets.

"Ah, don't be so quick to refuse. It's actually because General Dongshou has made the position of sword cultivators too high. Later sword cultivators are afraid that they can't take it up, so no one has ever wanted to take over the position of the Grand Sword Master. If you can get the position, it will be a living signboard to recruit other sword cultivators, and then other sword cultivators will come to apply. Why don't you think about it again? We can discuss the salary later. You haven't become a sword cultivator yet, so you don't know. Sword cultivators are very powerful."

Chapter 119 Ouchi Sword Head

"Is there anyone as powerful as Lei Xiu?"

"Of all the dharmas, the dharma of thunder is closest to the dharma of heaven. While thunder cultivation is the easiest to achieve ascension, it's not actually that powerful in combat. Because thunder cultivation is so profound and difficult to master, you can consider it a practice specifically for ascension. However, sword cultivation is different. It tests your comprehension rather than your talent. I see that although your talent is too strange and elusive, your comprehension is quite good. Sword cultivation is also about mastering everything. General Dongshou once had a sudden enlightenment and cut off his past, ascending to heaven without even taking the foundation-building pill."

It seems to really work?

It seems to be possible.

"Then I'll give it a try?"

"Right, how can you know if you don't try? It's settled then. I'll call Wudang this morning to ask. You don't have to drink this bottle of Qi Hai. Many people in Wudang don't drink elixirs, but they want to nourish their swords. I think you can try using the bottle of Qi Hai to nourish your sword. It should be very useful. Who knows, you might be able to hold the position of Sword Master by force. After all, the formula you gave me is of course the most suitable for you."

Shangluo thought about it.

“Can I ask a question?” Apollonia asked in a low voice.

"Now that you've said that, how can I stop you from asking? Go ahead."

If you want to 'raise the sword', wouldn't that mean a spirit creature will have to live there?

"Moving in? Um, it seems so?"

[No! Don't move in! I'm enough, why do you want other living beings to move in? It's so crowded here!]

"Then you are quite useful!"

[Tsk, it's just a sword, wait.]

The phone suddenly began to vibrate violently and even became hot.

"Shangluo! Your pocket is glowing!"

"Hot, hot, hot!" Shangluo reached out to grab the phone, but the vibration stopped.

OK, done. Open the desktop. Is there a flashlight button? It's right next to the airplane mode button.

"Yes, there is one." Shangluo opened his phone to confirm.