Chapter 364: The idea of ​​refining equipment, another Tianyuan treasure lotus!

“Use!”

Lu Changsheng used the Tier 3 Artifact Refining skill from the System Space.

Instantly, knowledge regarding Artifact Refining surged into his mind like a tide.

“Fundamentals of Artifact Refining”

“Casting Process Engineering”

“Spells, Divine Abilities, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, and Materials”

“Design Principles for Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts, and Magic Treasures”

After a long while.

“Artifact Refining.”

Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes, digesting the knowledge about Artifact Refining in his mind.

It must be said, this Tier 3 Artifact Refining was extremely profound.

Not only did it allow him to grasp a lot of knowledge about Artifact Refining.

It also gave him a deep understanding of Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts, and Magic Treasures.

In the future, he could even analyze and deduce some potential weaknesses and flaws of a Cultivator by examining their Lifebound Treasure, and then target them accordingly.

Furthermore, when he crafted his own Lifebound Treasure in the future, he could make adjustments based on the original foundation, incorporating many of his own ideas to make the Magic Treasure more suited to him.

After all, whether it was a Cultivation Technique or a Magic Treasure, they could all be used.

But if they were tailor-made and perfectly suited, the effect would always be several times better.

“This Dao of Artifact Refining seems to have a few similarities with the Dao of Puppets, like different branches.”

Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes, feeling that Artifact Refining and Puppets had many similarities in principle.

If he had to differentiate them, Artifact Refining leaned towards mana manipulation, focusing on how to maximize its power in a Cultivator’s hands.

Puppets, on the other hand, were much more functional.

There was no need to consider the Cultivator’s Cultivation Technique or mana too much.

Moreover, the inscription aspect was much more intricate and complex than in Artifact Refining.

Now that he had acquired Tier 3 Artifact Refining, Lu Changsheng felt that if he calmly and thoroughly researched it, his Puppet crafting skills might truly have a chance to advance to Tier 3.

However, Lu Changsheng wasn’t very interested in Tier 3 Puppet crafting skills right now.

Instead, his interest and ideas for industrialization were rekindled.

Years ago, after acquiring Puppet crafting skills, Lu Changsheng had the idea of a Puppet factory and an assembly line.

Decades later, the Puppet workshop in Bihu Mountain had preliminarily achieved assembly line craftsmanship.

But this workshop was still very far from his initial idea.

In his initial vision, there would be not only manual assembly lines but also automated Puppets.

Some Puppet parts and components would be handled by Puppets themselves.

He even thought of building several large Puppets, similar to AI-controlled CNC machines.

However, imagination was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

The difficulty of crafting was one aspect.

In fact, what truly hindered Lu Changsheng was not a technical issue.

It was the crafting cost, daily consumption, and subsequent maintenance expenses.

Tier 2 Puppets, when operated for a long time, required the consumption of Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, or even High-Grade Spirit Stones.

Their efficiency was naturally a bit higher than Qi Refining Cultivators.

But the problem was, there was no shortage of anything else in the Cultivation World except Cultivators.

A Puppet apprentice in Bihu Mountain earned less than ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones per month.

In fact, due to Bihu Mountain’s reputation and standing, countless Cultivators, in order to learn a skill and have a backer, were willing to sign a servitude contract, as long as they were provided with food and lodging.

Under such circumstances, relying on Puppet automation would simply result in losses.

The appearance of the Thousand-Faced Fox Puppet, with no daily consumption or subsequent maintenance, could indeed realize Lu Changsheng’s idea of artificial intelligence.

But he currently couldn’t craft such a Tier 3 Puppet, and its cost and expenditure were too high to measure.

After all, trying to earn money by crafting Puppets through the Thousand-Faced Fox Puppet would likely take hundreds of years to break even.

At this moment, after acquiring Tier 3 Artifact Refining skills, Lu Changsheng suddenly gained many new ideas.

Although complete industrialization was not possible.

Partial industrialization was still feasible.

For example, whether it was Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Talismans, or Puppets, they all had a tedious step.

That was the processing of raw Materials.

The Materials for Artifact Refining and Puppets were mainly metal spirit Ores.

These spirit Ores required Cultivators to spend a lot of time refining them, purifying the Impurities within.

“The only problem during the spirit Ore refining process is quenching Impurities without losing the spiritual essence within.”

“If I can create a Spiritual Power furnace that automatically quenches Impurities and locks in the spiritual essence, it would completely eliminate the need for manual raw material refining, saving a lot of time.”

Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes, starting to ponder and calculate in his mind whether his idea could be realized.

After all, cost has always been an issue.

If the Spiritual Power furnace, once built, consumed too much, then it would not be worth the effort.

“This Spiritual Power furnace can be just like a Earth Fire formation, utilizing Earth Fire and connecting to a Spiritual Vein, so it wouldn’t rely on Spirit Stones for maintenance, only the crafting cost of the Magical Artifact furnace and subsequent maintenance costs.”

“Oh, and I also need to consider ease of operation, as this Spiritual Power furnace must be operable by Qi Refining Cultivators.”

Lu Changsheng continued to ponder the feasibility.

After a long while, Lu Changsheng felt that this idea could be attempted.

Not just for making money.

But also because he had long felt that the pure manual production methods in the Cultivation World were simply too inefficient.

As a Transmigrator, he should at least do something.

For example, start an industrial revolution.

To give the artisans in the Cultivation World, who were still in primitive workshops, a little shock through the industrial-agricultural price scissors.

Three months later.

Puppet Workshop.

Lu Changsheng looked at the furnace in front of him, which was entirely made of red copper, a zhang tall, and covered in runes, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

He then said to Lu Xianzhi, who was beside him: “Xianzhi, you try it.”

“Yes, Father.”

Lu Xianzhi, dressed in a loose robe, with a mustache on his lip and a composed face, nodded in response.

He stepped forward and embedded nine Mid-Grade Spirit Stones into the Earth Fire opening, then formed hand seals, igniting the Earth Fire formation connected to the furnace, and the blazing Earth Fire began to burn.

“Buzz buzz buzz!”

The red copper furnace also began to vibrate, its spiritual patterns glowing red, and the sound grew louder and gradually rumbled.

“Open!”

Lu Xianzhi continued to form hand seals, lightly shouted, and opened the feeding port of the furnace, stirring up a Rolling heatwave.

Then he slapped his Storage Pouch, and dozens of pieces of Wu Essence Ore flew into the red copper furnace.

“Bang!”

The furnace’s feeding port closed with a rumbling sound, and the temperature steadily rose.

Lu Changsheng observed the situation inside the furnace with his Divine Sense.

He could clearly see the Wu Essence Ore gradually turning into molten iron during the smelting process, and the Impurities within dissipating.

Although the spirituality in the Ore was incinerated during this process, it was firmly locked inside by the inscriptions within the furnace.

After a long while.

The furnace rumbled, flashing a golden spiritual light.

Seeing this, Lu Xianzhi quickly formed hand seals and cast a spell towards the furnace.

The red copper furnace’s discharge port opened, and hot waves rolled out, raising the temperature in the hall.

Lumps of Wu Essence molten iron flowed out, emitting a dark spiritual luster, and then quickly solidified.

“Father, this Wu Essence is refined very cleanly, but the spirituality is a bit uneven in some parts. If it’s used to refine Magical Artifacts or Puppet components, it might need a little further processing.”

Lu Xianzhi said after the molten iron solidified, as he stepped forward to inspect it.

“Alright, I generally know where the problem is.”

Lu Changsheng nodded.

He had observed the entire process and had already noticed some issues.

“What do you think of the effect of this Spirit Smelting Furnace?”

Lu Changsheng continued to inquire.

“Its efficiency is very high, but it cannot smelt multiple different spirit Ores separately.”

“And if it smelts too little spirit Ore, constantly running for long periods, it would be a net loss.”

Lu Xianzhi said.

“Hmm.”

Lu Changsheng nodded, also realizing these issues.

The Spirit Smelting Furnace he crafted was roughly a High Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Excluding his labor costs, the material cost alone was over ten thousand Spirit Stones.

Spending so much time, effort, and cost, only to achieve this effect, in Lu Changsheng’s opinion, was a complete failure.

“Father, currently we have several stable spirit mines in White Tiger Mountain. As long as these spirit mines are transported here for centralized smelting, we can still reduce a lot of costs and greatly improve efficiency.”

“Moreover, when the Family workshop expands further in the future, the effect of this Spirit Smelting Furnace will also greatly improve.”

Lu Xianzhi continued.

In his opinion, the effect of this Spirit Smelting Furnace was mediocre and somewhat useless.

But since his father had spent so much time and effort, he naturally couldn’t dampen his mood.

“Alright, I’ll find time to improve it later. You can observe it these days and see if there are any other issues that need improvement.”

Lu Changsheng nodded somewhat unenthusiastically and walked out of the Puppet workshop.

He now further understood how difficult it was to industrialize in the Cultivation World.

He, a dignified Tier 3 top-tier Artifact Refiner, found it so troublesome to craft a Spirit Smelting Furnace for refining Tier 1 and Tier 2 spirit Ores.

He also had to spend time and effort constantly optimizing and improving it.

And the final effect was merely to increase efficiency and save a little labor cost.

With this time and effort, whether he went to Alchemy, Artifact Refining, or Talismans, he would earn more than this.

For this, Lu Changsheng could only say it was a pure hobby, not something that could be entirely measured by profit.

“Yes, Father.”

Lu Xianzhi nodded in response.

After watching Lu Changsheng leave, he quietly gazed at the Melting Spirit Furnace before him.

He couldn’t help but marvel at his father’s ingenious ideas and practical abilities.

“If the Puppet Workshop could increase its output tenfold on its current foundation, and with a continuous supply of Spirit Ore, the effect of this Melting Spirit Furnace would probably become apparent.”

Lu Xianzhi murmured to himself.

Although the Bihu Mountain Puppet Workshop’s business was quite good now, it only covered the surrounding area and had not expanded further.

Therefore, the scale of the workshop had not increased in recent years; instead, they mainly focused on increasing the variety of Puppets and raising the production of Advanced Puppets.

However, the demand for Puppets was limited.

Unless their Family could expand their business to the entire Qingyun Territory, or even the Jiang Country Cultivation World.

At that time, the effect of a Magical Artifact like the Melting Spirit Furnace would truly manifest.

“Expanding the Family business to the entire Qingyun Territory and the Jiang Country Cultivation World is not without hope, but I wonder if I will live to see this moment…”

Lu Xianzhi thought of his father, several aunts in the Lu Family, and his younger brothers Lu Qingshan and Lu Quanzhen, as well as his younger sister Lu Wangshu.

With them, their Family would likely advance further in the future, becoming a top Family in the Qingyun Territory, or even a Core Formation Family!

However, with his Nine-Rank Spiritual Root, he was destined to have no chance of Foundation Establishment in this life, so he wondered if he would see this scene.

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

Lu Xianzhi thought of his son, and a smile appeared on his face.

He had a total of four children.

Although his second son, Lu Xuanyu, only had a 7th Grade Spiritual Root, his talent in Puppets was much better than his father’s.

In the future, he was expected to become a second-tier Puppet Master, and perhaps he would see the Family reach this stage.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, more than half a year passed.

After such a long period of diligent Cultivation, Xia Zhiyue finally began to attempt Foundation Establishment.

As for Xia Zhiyue, Lu Changsheng also brought her to the Xumi Grotto-heaven for her Breakthrough.

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

“Hmm, is this going to fail?”

Lu Changsheng frowned as he watched Xia Zhiyue, who was currently undergoing her Breakthrough.

With so many people in the Lu Family undergoing Foundation Establishment Breakthroughs, he was all too familiar with this situation.

At this moment, he keenly noticed that Xia Zhiyue was running out of steam and was about to fail her Breakthrough.

However, upon reflection, Xia Zhiyue only had a 7th Grade Spiritual Root and hadn’t undergone much tempering, so her Heart-Nature was average, making a failed Breakthrough normal.

After all, taking a Foundation Establishment Pill only increased the probability of Breakthrough, it wasn’t a 100% guarantee.

“Good thing I was prepared.”

Lu Changsheng naturally wouldn’t let Xia Zhiyue fail her Breakthrough.

He was there as a Protector precisely to prevent any accidents or a failed Breakthrough during her process.

He immediately stepped forward, embraced her, and transmitted his voice, saying, “Zhiyue, calm your mind. I will help you with Foundation Establishment.”

“Mmm~”

Xia Zhiyue, who was struggling to achieve Foundation Establishment, heard this and suddenly felt her lips being held, her delicate body going soft and weak, instinctively raising her jade arms to embrace Lu Changsheng’s neck.

Immediately after, accompanied by rustling sounds, the two figures gradually merged into one, and clear, soft, delicate cries rang out.

As Lu Changsheng continuously circulated the “Phoenix-Dragon Dual Cultivation Technique,” injecting his Magical Power and Yin-Yang Two Qi into Xia Zhiyue’s body.

Her Dao Foundation, which had been losing momentum and was difficult to condense, immediately continued to condense, slowly rising from her Dan Lake.

However, because it was forcibly condensed with external help, the entire Dao Foundation was covered in dense cracks, like a shattered jade plate.

This was precisely the worst type of Dao Foundation: Shattered Foundation!

But even with a Shattered Foundation, Xia Zhiyue still successfully achieved Foundation Establishment under these circumstances.

“Thank you, husband.”

After a long while, Xia Zhiyue’s face was flushed like a tide, and her eyes were enchanting as she spoke to Lu Changsheng, her voice trembling.

Other Cultivators, after just completing their Foundation Establishment Breakthrough, were in an unprecedentedly good state, full of strength.

But Xia Zhiyue’s Breakthrough process was different from the norm.

Not only did she have to endure the灌体 of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, but she also had to endure Lu Changsheng’s impact.

Moreover, during this process, she had to concentrate on condensing her Dao Foundation and cooperate with Lu Changsheng, which left her utterly exhausted, not wanting to move even a single finger at this moment.

“It’s alright, you rest well.”

Lu Changsheng said gently.

He felt that Dual Cultivation during her Foundation Establishment Breakthrough had a unique flavor.

“Mmm~”

Xia Zhiyue softly responded, quietly experiencing the transformation of her Breakthrough to Dao Foundation.

Although she only condensed the worst Shattered Foundation, there was still a baptism of rebirth.

At this moment, Xia Zhiyue still felt as if she was dreaming.

She never imagined that one day, she would actually be able to achieve Foundation Establishment.

“Father, your daughter has achieved Foundation Establishment.”

Xia Zhiyue softly said, thinking of her father.

She remembered that when she was young, her father’s greatest wish was to one day achieve Foundation Establishment.

He hoped that she and her younger brother would also be able to achieve Foundation Establishment in the future and become esteemed Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators!

At that time, this was just a father’s beautiful wish, hoping for his son to become a Dragon and his daughter a Phoenix, almost impossible to achieve.

And now, she had fulfilled this dream for her father.

Not long ago, her younger brother Xia Chaoyang had written to her, saying that he had gathered all the Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects, and was preparing to attempt Foundation Establishment soon.

He was different from her; he had a Fourth Grade Spiritual Root and was a Disciple of an Immortal Sect.

And over the years, relying on his own hard work and accumulated contributions for Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects, he had a high probability of achieving Foundation Establishment.

“I wonder what kind of expression Xiaoyang will have if he knows I achieved Foundation Establishment earlier than him.”

Xia Zhiyue thought of her younger brother Xia Chaoyang, and a smile appeared in her eyes.

Half a month later.

“Hmm, Xiao Xiyue is here?”

Lu Changsheng was instructing his daughter Lu Wangshu in Cultivation when he suddenly felt something, and a Yin-Yang Communication Talisman appeared in his hand.

He knew that Xiao Xiyue had arrived at Bihu Mountain.

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

The three met, filled with joy, and went straight back to Biyun Peak.

Lu Changsheng asked her if the matter in the Falling Cloud Mountain Range was over with her return this time.

He had taken Lu Wangshu to the Falling Cloud Mountain Range back then, and Xiao Xiyue had said that the Secret Realm was expected to end in half a year, but she only returned now.

“Hmm, there were some unexpected situations in the Secret Realm before…”

Xiao Xiyue softly replied.

She explained that there had been Demonic Path Cultivators in the Secret Realm before, causing delays.

It was precisely this incident that led Qingyun Sect to issue a Demon Extermination Order and share this Secret Realm with Heaven Sword Sect, Luoxia Sect, and Yu Ling Sect.

“Hmm? Demonic Path Cultivators appeared in the Secret Realm, and because of this, Qingyun Sect issued a Demon Extermination Order?”

Lu Changsheng heard this and thought of the Demonic Path Core Formation Cultivator he had killed earlier, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Yes.”

Xiao Xiyue nodded gently, taking out several jade boxes from her Storage Pouch and giving them to her daughter: “Wangshu, these are gifts from your mother.”

She then handed one jade box to Lu Changsheng: “Changsheng, I also brought you a gift this time.”

“Oh, I have one too?”

Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow slightly, a smile appearing on his face.

He hadn’t expected Xiao Xiyue to prepare gifts not only for his daughter Lu Wangshu but also for him.

He took the jade box and opened it.

Inside, a three-inch-sized, blue-white lotus with a crystalline luster lay quietly.

“heavenly essence treasure lotus!?”

Lu Changsheng’s eyes narrowed slightly when he saw this lotus, and he said with some surprise.

The lotus before him was about three inches wide, with crystalline petals that were blue and white.

Based on Honglian’s previous introduction, he recognized it as the heavenly essence treasure lotus!

“Eh?”

Lu Wangshu, who was nearby, looked at the heavenly essence treasure lotus and also found it somewhat familiar.

It was somewhat similar to the lotus her father had been cleaning and harvesting in the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Layer earlier.

However, this lotus was far smaller and less beautiful than the one her father had had in his hand before.

“Changsheng, you recognize it?”

Xiao Xiyue was a little surprised.

Her beautiful eyes were gentle, and she smiled, saying, “I know, Changsheng, you’ve always been looking for Spiritual Eye items and collecting lingyuan pearls from outside.”

“This time in the Secret Realm, I learned that this heavenly essence treasure lotus, once planted, has the effect of a lingyuan pearl, so I exchanged for one.”

Xiao Xiyue explained.

“Xiao Xiyue, come with me.”

Lu Changsheng exhaled a long breath and said to Xiao Xiyue.

Through Xiao Xiyue’s words and this heavenly essence treasure lotus, he had already guessed the general situation regarding Black Crow True Person.

He even suspected what the other party had done in the Secret Realm.