Chapter 704
He turned to Teacher Tian and said, "Teacher Tian, I need you to prepare some seeds. As soon as Team Leader Yang has results, you’ll need to start developing the experimental fields and try cultivating spiritual herbs."
Teacher Tian nodded gently and replied, "Understood."
After all, Zheng Fa had activated these spiritual veins primarily to cultivate spiritual herbs and harvest spiritual materials.
Currently, many projects in the nursing home were stuck at this point.
No matter how capable these scholars were, without various spiritual herbs and materials, it was indeed like a skilled cook unable to make a meal without rice.
...
What Zheng Fa didn’t expect was that these scholars, given a little rice, could whip up a full banquet.
"What’s this…?"
Zheng Fa stared blankly at the several iron lumps in front of him.
"Weren't we asked by the director to conduct some experiments with Xuanming Sha?"
Cheng Yun explained from the side.
Zheng Fa shot him a glance, thinking that he had been around the nursing home long enough, and now he was giving him a big surprise.
He certainly remembered Xuanming Sha:
It was a low-quality spiritual material discovered underwater, not particularly useful to Zheng Fa, so he had simply let the scholars at the nursing home brainstorm with it.
Unexpectedly...
They had created several machine tools!
These machine tools were not large, nor did they appear particularly complex, let alone advanced.
The only difference was that some of their components faintly radiated spiritual energy, even bearing some symbols.
"We thought, a magical tool is essentially an automatic spell-casting device," Cheng Yun explained. "In essence, a magical tool is just a high-density, solidified symbol."
Zheng Fa nodded.
This was a new perspective from the materials group at the nursing home.
They reexamined the relationship between spiritual materials and magical tools from the standpoint of symbols, proposing a rather interesting explanation:
Magical tools actually utilize the five elements of spiritual energy within the materials to form special spiritual energy circuits, which are essentially solidified symbols.
Moreover, because the spiritual energy in these materials is abundant, they can accommodate more symbols than talisman paper, resulting in greater and more lasting power.
It was somewhat akin to semiconductors and circuit boards.
This viewpoint garnered considerable support, and Zheng Fa didn’t see any major issues with it, though the various interactions of spiritual materials were still unclear, leading to ongoing debates about the essence of these spiritual energy circuits.
In other words, no one understood why this energy flowed in one direction rather than another.
Thus, this theory couldn’t be deemed complete; it could only be considered an explanation.
It was clear that Cheng Yun was a supporter of this theory.
"We thought, since magical tools can act as spellcasters, and spells can create magical tools," Cheng Yun pointed at the machine tool, "why can’t we create a magical tool that manufactures magical tools?"
This statement was a bit convoluted.
But everyone present understood.
Old Bai darted over to the machine tool, excitedly asking, "What can it make?"
Cheng Yun suddenly looked a bit embarrassed: "Streetlights."
"Huh?"
"Because... because of the limitations of Xuanming Sha, and some magical tools' manufacturing techniques are very complex," Cheng Yun stammered, "right now, we can only make the simplest spiritual tool: streetlights."
Old Bai’s expression fell a bit at this.
Zheng Fa, however, became even more interested: "How do you make it? Show me!"
The spiritual tool streetlight was originally designed in the Jiushan Realm, used in conjunction with the Shenxiao External Pill.
Now, in the Tiangong Jiudao, even in some mundane places of the Jiushan Realm, these things were common, indicating how low their cost and how simple their craftsmanship was.
Calling it the simplest magical tool wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Cheng Yun nodded to a few of his project team members.
A girl pressed a button, and the sound of machinery whirring filled the air.
Zheng Fa watched as a half-meter square piece of spiritual metal was melted, refined, and polished.
What intrigued him most was that during the manufacturing process, when a person placed their hand on one side of the machine, covering a certain symbol, the machine would automatically release the spell, refining the spiritual material.
A few minutes later, Zheng Fa held a small spiritual tool streetlight, examining it closely.
He understood immediately.
This production process couldn’t even be called automated—because magical tools always required a cultivator’s consciousness to operate, unless it was a sentient spiritual tool.
Thus, these machine tools would always rely on human involvement.
But that didn’t mean they were useless.
On the contrary, they only required consciousness, not manual spell-casting, which not only saved spiritual energy but, more importantly, reduced the skill requirements for workers!
Moreover, by eliminating the time spent casting spells, the manufacturing time would be significantly shortened.
Not to mention, the controllability of the machine tools meant that the quality control of Jiushan Sect’s magical tools would further improve.
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but think of all the benefits.
The spiritual tool streetlight he held was certainly nothing special.
Yet in his heart, this streetlight seemed to illuminate the future of Jiushan Sect’s industry.
He tucked the streetlight away and looked at Cheng Yun and the others, his admiration evident in his eyes: "Very good... You’ve given me a great surprise. I’ll have Professor Tang note your contributions."
Cheng Yun and the others exchanged glances, their smiles reaching their eyes.
The scene from earlier, when Zheng Fa had taken the day, was still vividly etched in their minds.
At that moment, Zheng Fa was like a deity in their eyes; a single compliment from him felt profoundly different.
Moreover, they all knew that within the Jiushan Sect, there was a contribution value system, and with Zheng Fa saying this, the benefits they would receive in the future would surely be substantial.
...
After leaving Cheng Yun’s workshop, Tang Lingwu looked at Zheng Fa curiously, as if asking why he was so happy.
Zheng Fa raised the streetlight in his hand and smiled, "This thing has immense future significance, not to mention it’s quite helpful to me right now."
Tang Lingwu tilted her head, seemingly puzzled.
"I’m currently short on manpower." In front of Tang Lingwu, Zheng Fa had little to hide, "This thing can only replace some basic steps, but it’s very useful for me."
After all, Cheng Yun’s idea was just taking shape, and many difficulties lay ahead:
The most obvious problem was that some magical tools’ manufacturing techniques were extremely complex. Trying to cast spells through a magical tool not only incurred high costs but also lacked direction.
The flexibility and precision of magical tools couldn’t match those of slightly more skilled cultivators.
To put it simply, some eighth-level workers could craft magical tools by hand, but the current machine tools would struggle to replicate that, and it would be even harder in the future.
This type of magical tool machine could only replace a portion of the relatively low-end magical tool manufacturing processes, at least for now.
But the problem was, Zheng Fa needed people!
He had gone to great lengths to capture the traitors of the Bai Xian Alliance, primarily to fill the manpower shortage in the Jiushan Realm.
In his vision, once these people arrived, if they didn’t know how to refine tools, they would need training first, at least to master one or two refining techniques.
Now, if they could produce some usable magical tool machines, those people wouldn’t need training; they could directly join the assembly line as power sources without affecting the quality of the magical tools.
Moreover, this technology itself could save a lot of manpower.
Tang Lingwu slowly nodded, as if coming to an understanding.
...
More than half a month later.
Zheng Fa stood in the spiritual field, looking at a magical tool resembling an automatic irrigation device, then glanced at Tang Lingwu, curiosity in his eyes.
"Teacher Tian thought of this!"
Tang Lingwu tugged at Teacher Tian beside her and said.
Teacher Tian’s mouth twitched slightly, seemingly helpless: "I thought of it."
"So what is it for?"
Teacher Tian suddenly laughed, turning to Tang Lingwu: "What is it for again?"
Tang Lingwu’s face flushed as she spoke, "It automatically casts the Little Cloud Rain Technique!"
"Oh, right, the Little Cloud Rain Technique."
Teacher Tian nodded slowly, as if suddenly enlightened.
"And there’s another version." Tang Lingwu tugged at Teacher Tian’s sleeve, anxious.
"Another version?" Teacher Tian’s face showed clear surprise, "Is there?"
"There is!" Tang Lingwu stomped her foot, speaking rapidly, "There’s a version that can cast the Evergreen Technique!"
"Right, right, right, I’m getting old and forgetting everything."
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but chuckle at their conversation. Tang Lingwu glanced at Zheng Fa, then at Teacher Tian, seeing both of them trying to suppress their laughter, she tossed her ponytail and ran off into the distance.
Watching her figure grow smaller, Teacher Tian shook his head and said, "These are very useful for cultivating spiritual herbs."
Zheng Fa nodded gently.
The Little Cloud Rain Technique and the Evergreen Technique were both simple, yet their utility was significant, especially beneficial for the growth of spiritual herbs.
"This was created by Little Lingwu, gathering resources from the Jiushan Grain Company and our agricultural group," Teacher Tian stated honestly, "On one hand, it’s naturally for planting spiritual herbs in various spiritual veins."
Zheng Fa nodded slightly.
Indeed, these small devices could effectively address urgent needs.
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