Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 287: Piecing Together

"Didn't you sever ties with the Zhang family? Why are you still speaking up for them?" Li Mubai, who had been unjustly ridiculed earlier, couldn't help but retaliate.

"That's true. I'm not deliberately looking down on other weapon refiners, because the two factions have been locked in a constant struggle for thousands of years. Why should they remain stagnant and act independently? Wouldn't it be better for the two factions to learn from each other and complement each other's strengths?"

Although the Refiners' Association's skills are not as advanced as those of Zhangjiabao, they possess many strengths and unique characteristics that the people of Zhangjiabao lack, making them all the more worthy of learning.

“That hits the nail on the head. Stagnation only leads to regression. This is one of the purposes of my founding the academy. In the future, the academy will hold lectures by renowned experts from time to time. Any expert with a certain reputation can give a lecture, exchange academic ideas, and improve together. Grandpa Tieqiao, why don’t you start? Let the weapon refiners of our Great Xia Empire broaden their horizons,” Mo Yuming said.

"No problem, let's exchange ideas and learn together! Improving the skills of the weapon-refining world has always been my philosophy. It's just that for so many years, each faction has been closed off, and no one is willing to share their insights. I proposed this idea back then, but apart from the people of Zhangjiabao who strongly opposed it, even the big shots in the Weapon Refiners Association said I had ulterior motives and scoffed at it. Now I will personally teach my own experience in weapon refining that I have gained over the years. It has nothing to do with the secrets between factions," Zhang Tieqiao said loudly.

"Good, well said. I wonder if the academy could offer a major in array formation? I'd like to share some of my insights with the younger generation then," Li Mubai said, clapping his hands.

"I don't have any special skills, all I have is my own ability, so I can only do my best to bring out as many disciples as possible!" Shi Potian, who hadn't said much until now, also spoke up.

"That couldn't be better! Apart from Grand Secretary Wang, no one else in the Great Xia Empire knew how to set up formations. However, he has been busy maintaining formations and military affairs in various places and has no time to teach at the academy. It's wonderful that Grandpa Li is willing! It's a blessing for the younger generation of the Great Xia Empire!" Mo Yuming clapped his hands and said.

After collecting the Soul Iron, it was already late, so everyone went to rest in the annex of the armory headquarters.

In the courtyard, Mo Yuming showed Tieqiao the blueprints for the Soul Jade used for communication and explained the current usage of the Soul Jade to everyone, hoping Tieqiao could make improvements to enhance its effectiveness.

"This Soul Jade originally only had the function of simply indicating location and calling for help. However, by adding this set of coded signals, its function has been greatly enhanced. This idea is brilliant and much better than using talisman messages. It can transmit messages without limit and does not require a high cost. A talisman message can only be transmitted once and is also very expensive, beyond the reach of ordinary people."

The drawback of this Soul Jade communication method is that the password is somewhat complex, the amount of information is large, and communication between two people requires a middleman, which makes it quite cumbersome. If a way could be found to gather all the mother jades in one space, allowing them to communicate with each other automatically, it would be much more convenient. However, such a process is too complex and almost impossible to implement.

The crafting process for this Soul Jade is relatively simple, and current production levels are already quite high. I can't improve it much. If I were to refine it, the only improvements I could make are a smaller size and a slight increase in transmission energy. I've heard that this Soul Jade has extremely strong transmission capabilities, even registering in another dimension. I think this characteristic has reached its limit; there's nothing more that can be improved.”

"Making it smaller is also an improvement, as it saves a lot of space. Currently, with manual labor as a transfer point, each person can only manage a maximum of ten Soul Jade pieces. The size of the pieces doesn't really matter, but if a machine manages them, the smaller the size, the more Soul Jade pieces can be placed. This allows for the use of more Soul Jade pieces to transmit information."

"Is it possible to manage so many Soul Jade with just one machine? Even innate spiritual artifacts that have given birth to a spirit don't have this capability!"

"Just because a primordial spiritual treasure isn't enough doesn't mean other tools won't work!" Mo Yuming smiled slyly.

Mo Yuming had already devised a plan for the centralized disposal of Soul Jade, and was just waiting for their arrival.

"Grandpa Mu Bai, could you possibly build a large-scale magic array that can shield an area of ​​a hundred feet in radius?"

“Any size magic array can be built. Our Maplefire Sky City's defensive array is several miles in size. The key is the materials used to build the array. Building a large array requires a lot of materials, and the better the quality of the materials, the higher the energy of the array. Don't you remember the Thunder Barrier and the Cloud Illusion Array above the Valley of Heartbreak? You should know very well how wide the area covered by those two arrays is and how strong their energy is!”

"How many materials would it take to build an array that can shield the spaceship inside the canyon? I need an array that can block heavenly lightning. That way I can activate the spaceship."

“Once the magic circle is established, it cannot be moved. It can only affect objects within the magic circle; it won’t work outside the magic circle,” Li Mubai said.

“I know I’m not starting the spaceship to fly, but to manage the Soul Jade. That way it’s somewhat useful; otherwise, it would just be a decoration.”

"Can that spaceship manage Soul Jade?" Tieqiao asked doubtfully.

“There are no other spaceships or similar machines on the Tianxuan Continent. If there were, they could transmit sound and images to each other, and even control each other. People on the spaceship could clearly see each other tens of thousands of miles away and talk to them. It can be said that its function is more powerful than the combination of a communication talisman, a spirit shadow bead, and a soul jade. Controlling the soul jade, a low-level communication device, is no problem at all.” Mo Yuming could only explain it to them like this. Whether they understood it or not was their business.

"Really? That spaceship has such powerful capabilities?" The people present were all skeptical.

“Alright, I’ll go and survey the area tomorrow to see how best to set up the formation. I’ll also give you a list of materials,” Li Mubai said.

“I also have a list here. One part is for the materials to build the Yin-Yang Furnace, and the other part is for the materials to refine the meteorite iron spirit treasure. The materials for building the furnace must be gathered in sufficient quantities as soon as possible, while the materials for refining the weapon can be collected slowly. I believe these old men have some stockpiled, which can be used to deal with any emergencies. Meteorite iron spirit treasures are not easy to refine; even refining a short sword takes three days. So let’s take it slow!” Tieqiao handed a list of materials to Mo Yuming.

Mo Yuming took a look and his scalp tingled. What kind of material was this? It was covered with descriptions of mountains of gold! There were hundreds of them, densely packed together. Mo Yuming didn't know how many gold coins the Great Xia Empire's treasury held, but he estimated that purchasing all of these materials would require at least several treasuries' worth of gold.

"Does refining a meteorite iron spirit treasure really require so many auxiliary materials?" Mo Yuming wondered.

“You don’t need this much to refine just one piece. This is the amount required for one hundred meteorite iron spirit treasures. One piece only needs one percent of that amount. We already have enough soul iron for thirty pieces, and the armory will continue to produce more, so there’s no need to buy more soul iron,” Tieqiao said.

"Why do you want to refine a hundred meteorite iron spirit treasures?" Mo Yuming asked.

"Didn't you prepare so much meteorite iron just so you could prepare one for each of us?"

"Well... actually, those meteorite iron pieces were indeed intended for forging meteorite iron magical artifacts for everyone, but these auxiliary materials..."

"Compared to meteorite iron, auxiliary materials are nothing, accounting for at most 10%, and soul iron accounts for two-tenths of that 10%, so it's not much at all!"

"This isn't even that much? Even if the other materials are priced the same as Soul Iron, one tael of refined Soul Iron is at least 20,000 gold coins. To forge a spiritual weapon, you'd need at least 80,000 gold coins to buy other materials. That's way too much! Don't you all want to chip in a little?" Mo Yuming originally thought that forging a meteorite weapon only required meteorite iron itself. He figured he could just use it however he wanted since he'd found it and it didn't cost any money. He never imagined he'd need so many auxiliary materials. But where could he find these materials? He had to buy them with real money, and even then, he wasn't guaranteed to find them. Now Mo Yuming was in a dilemma.

“I know these materials are scarce, but they are very expensive. We old men don’t usually save money, so we can’t afford even one of them. So you’ll have to think of a solution!” Dugu Xian knew this was a bit of a problem, but the meteorite artifact was something he had been longing for for over two hundred years. He was about to get it, so even though he felt a little guilty, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask Mo Yuming for help.

“I know how important spirit treasures are to everyone, but we can’t rely on me to provide all these auxiliary materials! That’s too difficult. How about we make a few for those who need them most?”

"Help me refine these first. Over the years, I've collected three Earth Spirit Pearls, two portions of Devouring Gold Turtle Bile, a piece of Soul Iron Ore weighing twenty catties, and three pieces of Void Gold." Dugu Xian said, reluctantly taking out the rare treasures he had collected over the years from his storage bag.

"You've only collected this much in over two hundred years, and you still have the nerve to show it off?" Li Mubai said disdainfully.

"You're a big shot in Maplefire Sky City, you must have quite a lot of stock, right?"

“I know that divine weapons are rare, so I never even thought about it before. I would be satisfied with just one fire-attribute soul weapon. If I were as persistent as you, I would at least prepare enough auxiliary materials even without meteorite iron! Although I didn’t specifically prepare materials for spirit treasures, these ten Fire Crystal Cores are enough for ten fire-attribute spirit treasures.”

After speaking, Li Mubai casually took out ten dark red crystal cores. Although each one was only the size of a pigeon egg and had little luster, just one glance at them gave one the feeling that even their gaze would set on fire.

"I have a piece of cold crystal here, will it be of any use?" Sikong Nong took out a piece of cold crystal ore about a foot in size from his pocket.

“I also have a piece of Void Gold. I snatched it from a bandit last year when I saw injustice on the road. I should have collected more.” Shi Potian took out a piece of Void Gold from his pocket. He was naturally carefree and didn’t usually hoard anything. It was already very rare for him to be able to collect a piece of Void Gold.

……

Soon, the stone table in the courtyard was piled high with all sorts of priceless treasures, which were the usual collections of a dozen or so old men.

"While all of these are usable, some are of lower quality for refining meteorite iron spirit treasures. Others, though of good quality, have conflicting attributes and cannot be used interchangeably. For example, Earth Spirit Pearls, Fire Cores, and Frost Crystals are all materials with incompatible attributes. Each spirit treasure can only use one of them. Furthermore, there are only two portions of the required Gold-Eating Turtle Bile and seven portions of the Void Gold. We don't have any of the three other materials: Thunder Concealment Stone, Fire Dragon Scales, or Earth Flame Crystals..."

Iron Bridge listed out the documents one by one.

"Although there are many materials, there are still a few indispensable ones that we don't even have a single one of, so we still can't refine it!"

"Where can I buy these materials? Does the Refiner's Association have them?" Mo Yuming asked.

"Yes, they exist, but these materials are essential for crafting high-grade spiritual weapons. Therefore, even if they're available, the price is extremely high. Furthermore, a large-scale acquisition would inevitably arouse suspicion. As far as I know, senior weapon refiners in the Refiner's Association prefer to use Thunder Concealment Stone to refine soul weapons. So, those who have joined the Refiner's Association can try buying them. If you have Fire Dragon Scales, you can also buy them, as they can be used to refine fire-attribute soft armor or whips. But you absolutely cannot buy all three at the same time. This is because only Meteorite Spiritual Treasure is needed for all three materials. Buying them would be tantamount to telling others that you have meteorite materials and are preparing to refine a Meteorite Spiritual Treasure!"

"That's easy. I'll inform Master Fu and have him arrange for the shopkeepers in each region to purchase the materials from their local supply stores. Each shopkeeper should only buy one or two of the materials. That way, it won't attract public attention. But these materials are too expensive; even the Great Xia Empire's treasury can't afford them! Gentlemen, you'll have to think of a solution yourselves!"

"Let's go all out, Lao Shi, let's go to Yingzhou again and see if those blind fools have any good stuff on them!" Dugu Xian said to Shi Potian.

“Brother, those bandits only have some low-grade stuff on them at most. A few pieces of Soul Iron Ore would be the best they could get. It’s already quite a coincidence that Brother Shi managed to get a piece of Void Gold. I’d say that even if you went out for ten years using your method, you’d hardly be able to collect more than a few of those things,” Ji Xianlin said.

"Alright then, I'll figure out a way to collect the Fire Dragon Scales. My grandson has been in the fur business for a long time, so he has more experience with these magical beasts than you do. I believe it will be easier for him to collect them."

“Collecting these treasures requires a lot of money. How about we auction off some meteorite iron? Anyway, even if we refine hundreds of meteorite iron treasures, we won’t need this much.”

Mo Yuming said.

“Absolutely not!” Zhang Tieqiao immediately objected.