by <unknown>
"That’s right. The crystal suit is an extremely complicated magical equipment system. Based on the level of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, they’re absolutely incapable of refining a true crystal suit, and yet, they recklessly and forcefully tried to refine it. You all have seen how the results went."
"It’s a lesson! A profound lesson!"
"Even if it is fine to defy the heavens when cultivating, one must wield an attitude of brandishing the sword, of slaughtering tigers and dragons, of slaying gods and annihilating buddhas when walking on the road of cultivation."
"However, sometimes, manpower is exhausted. In the end, this isn’t something that could be accomplished with recklessness. The consequences of overestimating one’s capabilities are as severe as you see!"
Someone raised his hand: "Teacher Jin, what’s the third thing?"
Jin Quan sneered as his eyes glanced with a hint of cold intent:
"The third thing isn’t a thing—it’s a person. An ignorant and fearless mad amateur who doesn’t know how high the heavens are and how deep the earth is. He is the sole student of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department."
The bold, visionary words spoken by Li Yao back in Floating Spear City had long spread to Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.
Even though Jin Quan had already graduated, he had also heard the rumors.
As a refiner who walked out of Deep Sea University, he naturally possessed extremely deep sentiments towards his alma mater and was brimming full of pride towards the four words "Holy Land of Refiners".
Therefore, even though he hadn’t personally met Li Yao, Jin Quan was already filled with loathing towards this mad amateur who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth.
As soon as he reiterated Li Yao’s bold and visionary words, every student became shocked.
"Way, way too egotistical, right?"
"He just got the top score in a city, it isn’t that amazing. There are many several thousands of major cities in the Federation!"
"He wants to challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department all by himself? That’s nothing more than a pipe dream!"
Everyone was a youngster with racing hot blood. They didn’t reject typical, lofty aspirations.
But looking at Li Yao’s declaration of war that seemed to break away from reality and juxtaposing it with unbearable, tragic scene of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, Li Yao was looking more like a gargantuan joke.
Jin Quan laughed:
"What do you think? Teacher Jin didn’t trick you guys, right?"
"A 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace still in operation, the remains of a crystal suit that resembles dregs, and add in an ignorant and fearless mad amateur to the mix. These are the three treasures of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, the only ones of its existence with no others like it!"
The students nodded their heads over and over; however, there was one student who couldn’t help lamenting:
"Fortunately, we’ve seen it with our own eyes. Otherwise, what if we carelessly applied for the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department after getting a poor score? Then we would be screwed!"
Jin Quan laughed loudly:
"Everyone, go ahead and relax. Something like that would never ever happen. That is because the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution will already be abolished when you fill out the matriculation form!"
The floating mountain slowly descended in the corner of the ruins while Jin Quan was talking.
Ahead was the warehouse for dangerous goods that had been remodeled into a refining workshop.
Elder Yongming of the Empyrean Terminus Sect had arrived a step earlier; he was already at the entrance of the warehouse discussing scientific topics with Yuan Manqiu. The two chatted, radiating with delight; they were in high spirits.
Jin Quan coughed lightly, winked his eye, and laughed:
"Everyone, fellow students! I’m not that far in age from you all. I only said these words because I consider everyone to be a friend. If Elder Lei hears of this, then I’m screwed! No one will tattle on me, right?"
Everyone exchanged smiles when these words were spoken.
Quite a few boys shook their heads on the spot:
"Of course not. We’re good friends with little Teacher Jin, so how would someone leak out everyone’s private conversation?"
Jin Quan graduated from a famous school. This young lad grew up to be quite handsome, and he also had a lively nature. He was rather popular back in high school and was the target of adoration of quite a few high school students. They all took him to be a big brother, so they talked rather casually.
Jin Quan nodded his head and spoke a few more words:
"Fellow students, even though the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution is incomparably crappy, I estimate that their modified crafting furnace will be baffling as well."
"Anyway, when truly meeting someone else face to face, you must still show a bit of respect. You must not, by all means, cause the Empyrean Terminus Sect to lose face."
"Stifle anything that’s funny inside your stomachs for me. Wait until we’re on the way back to slowly have a good laugh. Don’t embarrass the host in their faces."
"What’s more, this planned tour was still suggested by Elder Lei. If we really laugh on the spot, we wouldn’t be giving face to Elder Lei, right?"
"It’s true that Elder Lei is a man with a good temperament. He won’t bicker about with you babies, but when we get back to the Empyrean Terminus Sect, mommy and daddy will smack your butt till it’s mush!"
The students nodded their heads one after another:
"Understood, Teacher Jin. We will certainly bear it no matter what we see!"
"Excellent, everyone get off the vehicle. Let’s see what kind of modified 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution can produce!"
Jin Quan’s spirit was exploding. He brought the high school students to jump off the flying shuttle.
Lei Yongming was almost two hundred years old. He engaged in refining work year in and year out. His entire body was lean and swarthy. He looked like an old village farmer that had spent too much time outside exposed to the scorching sun.
But the silver hair that filled his head glistened and shone. It was impossible to find one that was dark, making him exhibit a somewhat supernatural presence.
Lei Yongming had quite a good mood. Chuckling, he asked:
"Jin Quan, have you gone over the customs with the students about entering the refining workshop?"
Jin Quan nodded his head:
"Everything has been explained clearly. I told them that they can’t touch and move willy-nilly within the refining workshop and that they need to listen before they act."
Lei Yongming was completely satisfied. He stroke his goat-like beard:
"That’s good. I talked a bit with Professor Yuan of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department just now. I discovered that the modifications done on their 1st Generation Tai’e furnace contain several novel ideas. It seems somewhat different than what I had imagined. Well, enough talk. Let’s ask Professor Yuan to bring us in for a look!"
"It is us who should be asking an Empyrean Terminus Sect’s elder of the older generation for guidance."
Yuan Manqiu had spoken with a smile. She waved her plump hands to the numerous youngsters: "Students of Empyrean Terminus Central High School, please follow me. A yellow line has been marked out on the ground. It will be fine for you all to just stand behind this yellow line."
Jin Quan looked back and mouthed to the students, indicating: "Bear with it. By all means, bear with it."
"Bang!"
The large door to the warehouse opened.
The group of people strutted inside.
Chapter 159: The Monster within a Jungle of Steel |
; "Whoa…"
When the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace modified by Li Yao appeared in front of everyone’s eyes, everyone from the Empyrean Terminus Sect, including the experienced and knowledgeable senior refiner Lei Yongming, took in a cold breath, sinking into a sluggish state.
What they saw was absolutely not a crafting furnace but a steel jungle!
The occupied space exceeded forty meters, and the height exceeded twenty meters. The crisscross steel structure formed a mysterious and profound maze. Countless crystal fibers climbed upon the steel frame like vines, while magical equipment units were like bird nests rigged up one after another in the depths of the steel jungle. The various rainbow colors of richness and diversity suddenly flickered between brightness and darkness from the crystals, emitting an elegant radiance. It made this steel jungle seem as if it possessed life and was breathing right now.
A rough scan would yield more than thirty magical equipment units, which far exceeded the design limits of the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace!
The refining styles between the various magical equipment units and components were as different as night and day; some were exquisite and delicate, while others were coarse and bold. Yet, they were forcibly entwined together by crystal fibers, manifesting a sort of unbridled ugliness.
Quite a few magical equipment units had radiator systems and gas conduction vents arranged around them that bubbled huge clouds of steam as it let out a humming cry. They pervaded the air like miasma, causing the steel jungle to look enigmatic. It seemed as if a monster could appear at any moment from within the depths of the miasma.
"This, what the heck is this!?"
"They took several dozen different styles of crafting furnaces and recklessly assembled them all together! It looks just like a mutated monster!"
Jin Quan recovered from his very initial period of shock. A feeling of absurdness to the extreme was born in Jin Quan’s mind.
"Even if the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution is the headquarters for grassroots refiners, this thing is way too grassroots!"
He took a peek behind him. Quite a few students looked like they were waking from a dream, all of them revealed odd expressions.
A plump boy was holding it in so much that his face flushed red, and his shoulders shook up and down; he wanted to laugh, but he didn’t dare to.
No one was unfamiliar with refining. They knew that things like magical equipment weren’t something that one could take several powerful functioning units and piece together to create a completed form that was even more powerful.
Inside laid the most important issue of compatibility and integration as a whole.
The monster level crafting furnace before their eyes was quite frightening at first glance and carried a lot of powerful magical equipment units.
But despite the style and even the operational principles of these magical equipment being as different as night and day, they still carelessly assembled together. How would compatibility be handled? What about the flow of operation? Wouldn’t a malfunction occur every three to five minutes?
The shock within Jin Quan and all the students’ eyes scattered when they tried to understand this point and was instead replaced by a faint hint of contempt.
Fortunately, the students still remembered the instruction given out by Jin Quan. There was no one who laughed on the spot; it’s just that their faces turned red one after another. They looked at each other in dismay, using gazes to exchange the ridicule they had in the depths of their minds.
Only Lei Yongming, this elder, was unable to take his eyes off of it. He gazed into the depths of the steel jungle, seeming rather pensive as he mumbled:
"Professor Yuan, this crafting furnace you all have altered… is rather complicated!"
Yuan Manqiu chuckled. She pulled up the performance parameters from a crystal processor and directed the hologram towards Lei Yongming and Jin Quan:
"Please look you two. After going through our modification, the final performance parameters of the 1st Generation Tai’e are as such."
Old Lei Yongming skimmed over it with his eyes. His expression was somewhat astonished, and the liver spots on his forehead suddenly flared.
Jin Quan’s sophistication didn’t run this deep. With just a glance of an eye, it was as if he was stung ferociously by a Hemorrhage Wasp. He shouted:
"What!? The furnace temperature increases from room temperature to above 6000 degrees in less than a minute!? The end limits of fluctuation in temperature reaches 500 degrees every second!? A single furnace can be divided into nine refining compartments of different temperatures!? It can simultaneously handle 180 jobs at once as its maximum!?"
"H-H-How the heck is this still a 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace? It simply matches a 6th Generation Tai’e crafting furnace in overall performance!"
"For some parameters, it’s even more powerful and ferocious than a 6th Generation Tai’e—no, more than a 7th Generation Tai’e!"
"There’s also this section. If you disregard the wear and tear and operate it at its extreme limits, even the hardest horn of the Mystic Steel-Bone Rhinoceros can be refined!?"
"Even if you really took so many remains of advanced crafting furnaces and pieced them together, forcefully reaching this kind of performance, it absolutely wouldn’t last long. It would be scrapped after a maximum use of one or two times, and it might even explode!"
Jin Quan’s face flushed red to his ears, his neck swelled out by a factor, and his speech grew faster and faster. He used chattering to mask the super-powerful shock in his heart.
And after hearing the series of magnificent performance parameters, the numerous youngsters behind him were even more stupefied; they were completely flabbergasted.
Just based on this pile of junk, some performance parameters actually overtook the newest generation of crafting furnace by the Empyrean Terminus Sect?
How! Is! This! Possible!?
Old Lei Yongming leaned close to the hologram, studying it in great seriousness:
"Professor Yuan, you are an expert of the refiner’s circle whose reputation has spread far and wide. This old man naturally wouldn’t suspect the crafting furnace that you have modified. It really does have such magnificent performance."
"However, when checking whether or not a crafting furnace meets standards, one aspect that needs to be looked at is the extreme performance limits. Another aspect that also needs to be looked at is its stability.
"Can you bring out the blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams out for everyone to study a bit? Let’s look at it from the perspective of theory and calculate the output of its performance. Let’s see whether or not it can maintain stability."
Yuan Manqiu laughed candidly:
"That much is obvious. Since we need to get the approval of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, the blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams will certainly be brought out for you two to examine. However, there’s one matter that Old Lei needs to know about… This crafting furnace wasn’t modified by me. I didn’t have a single hand in it from beginning to end. From the very initial proposal of modification to drawing the blueprints to tightening every single clamping bolt, it was solely all done by my disciple. It will be better to ask him to come and briefly explain it to you."
Old Lei Yongming didn’t respond for a time. His face revealed skepticism:
"I heard that your refining department only has one new student who just entered the school. Could it be that Professor Yuan has an even more outstanding disciple outside of school?"
Yuan Manqiu shook her head. She spoke without fooling around:
"Nope. I only have this one student. My heart will be perfectly content if I can finish teaching him. This crafting furnace was solely modified by my disciple, Li Yao, from beginning to end. I didn’t even touch a single nail. Li Yao? Li Yao!"
The two words "Li Yao" were like two vicious, heavy fists. They exploded against Jin Quan, causing him to be on the verg
e of collapse.
He forcefully shook his head to compose himself and yelled wildly in his heart:
‘The heck you talking big for? A new student who just entered the school for half a year can complete such a complicated modification? And can conjure out such magnificent performance? Yuan Manqiu must be giving him instructions from behind. A hands on teaching!’
In regards to Yuan Manqiu, this former Deep Sea Goddess, Yin Quan still didn’t dare to have contempt for her.
If performance such as this had conjured out from Yuan Mannequin's hands, then there was a 1% chance of its possibility.
But if it was just based on Li Yao, this ignorant and fearless mad amateur?
Not even a 0.01% possibility would exist!
‘H-Humph, I was originally going to give you all a bit of face by saying a few random words just for show and be done with it, but I never thought you all would make a pile of scrap metal such as this.You even dared to talk big, calling to attention such exaggerated performance parameters. And now you even say that it was modified by a new first-year student. Not to mention that it’s that Li Yao who doesn’t know how high the heavens are and how deep the earth runs!’
‘You think that can escape me!?’
‘When you take out those blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams out, I’ll randomly point out a few crucial areas. A kid such as yourself certainly wouldn’t have a clue of what’s going on. You’ll just disgrace yourself in front of everyone.’
‘You even want to wage war with our Deep Sea University’s Refining Department? Dream on!’
Jin Quan settled on his plan. His eyes flashed with a streak of light as the corner of his mouth hooked into a sneer.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Following Yuan Manqiu’s shout came the sound of footsteps that shook mountains and moved the earth from behind the steel jungle.
It was as if an enormous beast was slowly walking over from within the depths of the miasma.
"What the heck? Whose footsteps can be this heavy, liken to that of a demon beast?"
The students looked at each other in dismay. Their brain cells were a bit insufficient right now.