Wei Yuan still remembered the Weaponsmith Workshop's earliest days, when it had been nothing more than a humble blacksmith shop. Though it had three courtyards inside and out, Yu Zhizhuo had handled most of the labor all by himself. Back then, the original artifact-refining furnace had been brought over from the Palace of Grand Beginning, practically Yu Zhizhuo's personal property.
Wei Yuan tilted his head back, gazing up at the monumental characters carved upon the grand archway: *Weaponsmith Workshop*. Just one radical of the character *Duan* was now larger than that entire three-courtyard compound of the past!
This archway towered five thousand feet high. The three colossal characters were like vast lakes or oceans, shimmering with seven-colored celestial light that could be seen with the naked eye from hundreds of li around.
Wei Yuan focused his gaze and looked closer. Yes, it was indeed seven colors, but it was not true celestial light. Even so, it shone with the exact hue of celestial light. Any ordinary Scenery Command cultivator flying by would likely be scared out of their wits, convinced they had accidentally stumbled into an immortal's domain.
This archway, however, suited Wei Yuan's tastes wonderfully. He found himself wondering if he should seek out a Phenomenal Form divine ability to expand himself to a thousand feet tall. Standing atop this archway, he wouldn't seem so out of proportion, and passersby could sketch the scene to be admired by future generations.
Right then, a blast of soot, charcoal fumes, and sharp, acrid odors washed over him, completely dispelling his lovely daydream.
Yu Zhizhuo flashed into view wearing a snowy white robe. But as pristine and new as the garment was, it did nothing to hide his soot-blackened skin, singed hair, and half-bald eyebrows. Clearly, another accident had just occurred.
"What happened? Are you all right?" Wei Yuan asked with genuine concern. Yu Zhizhuo's resume currently contained only three lines: Master of the Qingming Weaponsmith Workshop, Academician of the Qingming Academy of Sciences, and Academician of the Qingming Academy of Engineering. He was an indispensable talent.
Yu Zhizhuo said, "I ran a small experiment. By using the profound power of the Four Symbols to constrain several specific immortal materials and compressing them to the absolute limit, they transform into a new immortal material. Although the process causes a massive loss of spiritual nature, it releases a rather impressive amount of energy—far more violent than an ordinary explosion."
It sounded familiar to Wei Yuan. "Isn't that just fusion from the foreign world?"
Yu Zhizhuo shook his head. "Superficially similar, but fundamentally distinct. The physical laws of the two realms differ, and the Great Daos cannot be generalized. Fusion in that foreign world disperses force that is difficult to gather; according to the records, its upper limit is at best on par with a restrained strike from a motley immortal. Yet that they managed, with mortal power and pure ingenuity, to harness that dissipated force—that truly is a marvel of divine craftsmanship."
Wei Yuan said, "Is our current template Dao... is our energy still sufficient? Do we already need to pursue this?"
"We have a massive surplus of energy—more than we could ever use! This year's Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony marks the full maturation of the first generation of children born in Qingming. The number of Dao Foundations will explode. On top of that, the new generation of the Xu family has reached the age for casting foundations; over a hundred thousand have signed up this year alone.
"Based on past ratios, at least sixty thousand of those hundred thousand Xu children will achieve a Dao Foundation. Factoring in the rest, this year's cohort will likely yield a hundred and twenty thousand Dao Foundations."
Wei Yuan's heart stirred. "By the twentieth year of Hongjing, we should have a million Dao Foundations."
"Will Hongjing last twenty years?" Yu Zhizhuo interjected out of nowhere.
Wei Yuan's thoughts raced again. "Senior Brother, what did you discover?"
"A while ago, I took on some traditional business—a massive order to forge a peerless Emperor Armament. To forge such a weapon, it's best to use ancient methods and draw down light from the Imperial Star as a catalyst. But after maintaining the array for days, even though the Imperial Star shone brightly in the sky, I couldn't draw down a single shred of starlight. I thought Qingming's Great Array of the Heavenly Starlight was blocking the heavenly secrets, so I made a special trip back to the Palace of Grand Beginning, but I still couldn't draw down any.
"The Imperial Star shines, yet has no vitality. I fear things will not go well for the Tang Son of Heaven."
Wei Yuan had little interest in the Tang Son of Heaven, but he was intrigued by the Emperor Armament. "What kind of Emperor Armament? What does it do, and who commissioned it?"
Yu Zhizhuo said, "The order came from the Four Sages Academy. It must be paired with the karmic luck of ancient human kings in their possession, with the minimum requirement that it can bear ancient luck. Naturally, it would be best if it can unleash that luck to its fullest."
"And the compensation?"
"The Four Sages Academy possesses several Mystic Star Cores refined from fragments of foreign worlds. They offered one as payment. If the Emperor Armament reaches the level of an immortal armament, the payment triples to three, upgraded from low-grade to mid-grade."
Mystic Star Cores were the most common foundation for grotto-heavens. When ordinary immortals could not cultivate a unique grotto-heaven, they used these cores to fashion one. The resulting grotto-heavens were steady and well-balanced, immensely popular among common immortals and practically functioning as hard currency in the immortal realm.
Under normal circumstances, the Emperor Armament Yu Zhizhuo was forging would be a peak-tier Scenery Command spirit treasure. Trading immortal materials for a peak-tier spirit treasure was a fair deal. That Yu Zhizhuo had attempted to draw upon the Imperial Star's power indicated he intended to refine it into an immortal weapon.
This was the first Wei Yuan had heard of the matter, but he did not mind. While the immortals of the Four Sages Academy had stood on the opposing side in several life-and-death encounters, Li Zhi remained among them.
As long as Li Zhi was there, and as long as the academy's immortals did not move against him directly, Wei Yuan would not treat the Four Sages Academy as an enemy—which was fundamentally different from his stance toward the Baohua Pure Land.
The academy's creed had always been to uphold the orthodoxy of human kings, assist the true Son of Heaven, and bring lasting peace and stability to the world. Those four words—lasting peace and stability—held common ground with Wei Yuan's own ideals. Thus, their desire to forge an Emperor Armament for a human king was merely part of their regular pursuits.
Wei Yuan's perspective and ambitions were entirely different now. "A single Emperor Armament cannot alter the general trend. Go ahead and forge it for them, and make it as good as you like—just make sure you charge them dearly."
Yu Zhizhuo chuckled heartily. "Don't worry, I'll hold those sanctimonious hypocrites over the fire!"
Neither gave the Emperor Armament much more thought. Pausing in his tracks, Wei Yuan gazed up at the archway. "The last time I came, this archway was only a thousand feet tall."
"A bunch of young disciples built this. They claimed to have developed a structural design capable of supporting colossal architecture, so I approved some silver and materials to let them have at it. Originally, I thought, what could a few dharma idols leading a group of Dao Foundations accomplish? Adding five hundred feet would have been the absolute limit. Who would've thought these rascals would shoot straight to five thousand!"
Scanning the archway, Wei Yuan observed, "This structure truly is remarkable. Given the strength of these materials, it shouldn't be able to reach such heights, should it?"
Yu Zhizhuo said, "The materials I gave them had an upper limit of two thousand feet, and that was assuming I refined the main components myself. But those youngsters developed unique refining techniques for every critical material, concocting over a hundred different refining methods. Then they broke new ground with the structure itself, achieving an ingenuity that leaves even me in awe.
"The structure evenly distributes all the stress across twelve primary pillars, producing this archway. It's surprisingly sturdy, if a bit gaudy. Personally, if it isn't real celestial light, they should stick to the two tones of yin and yang, and hang a portrait of the Realm Lord right on it..."
Wei Yuan's face darkened, utterly helpless against Yu Zhizhuo's aesthetic tastes.
Even so, as he looked at the archway again, he could not help but marvel. Any structure, once large enough, became a wonder—even if it was a little ugly and gaudy, it remained a wonder nonetheless.
Wei Yuan examined the structure closely. After a moment, he nodded in admiration. "The structural design is indeed ingenious. The younger generation has truly proven themselves."
Yu Zhizhuo nodded in agreement, sighing with emotion. "Indeed. Even I couldn't have designed a structure like this. Believe it or not, there are several mathematical geniuses among them. Heaven knows what's inside their heads—their cultivation is merely template Dao Foundation, yet their minds and ideas are far sharper than those of us at the peak of the Dharma Idol realm. I almost wondered if they were reincarnations of Patriarch Tinghai.
"If nothing else, over a dozen of them have already finished reading your *Preliminary Exploration of the Desolate Realm*."
Wei Yuan was startled!
Realizing he might have said too much, Yu Zhizhuo chuckled and waved a hand. "The archway's just a bit ugly. Later on, I'll have them study music, chess, calligraphy, and painting to polish their tastes!"
"It's actually quite good—magnificent and imposing, truly befitting such an immense Weaponsmith Workshop."
"Come on, let's head inside first."
"Follow me." Yu Zhizhuo led the way through the main entrance, and Wei Yuan followed. With unspoken understanding, neither brought up the archway's structure again, nor did they mention *Preliminary Exploration of the Desolate Realm*.
Once inside, Yu Zhizhuo remarked, "Now that the Weaponsmith Workshop spans nearly a hundred li, our facade can't be too shabby. Besides, the light on the archway penetrates thick clouds and mist, visible from hundreds of li away. It prevents incoming flying boats from straying off course, stops them from crashing into the archway, and serves as a beacon for vessels navigating nearby. All in all, it's quite practical, serving multiple purposes."
Wei Yuan nodded. "That makes good sense. Come, where is the loom we're here to see today?"
Passing beneath the archway meant stepping into the Weaponsmith Workshop's dedicated array. Built upon the foundation of the Great Array of the Heavenly Starlight, it added several extra layers of warding to protect the workshop, which stretched nearly a hundred li from north to south.
Yu Zhizhuo guided Wei Yuan to the Artisan Center, entering a colossal building several hundred feet high.
Hundreds of cultivators were bustling about inside the grand hall. At the center stood an enormous machine, its portal-shaped main frame rising over a hundred feet tall. Inexplicably, it reminded Wei Yuan of the gantry cranes from the foreign world. And this monstrous leviathan was... a loom?
At Yu Zhizhuo's command, more than a dozen template Dao Foundation cultivators took flight, hanging a gauze-like mesh upon the massive machine before activating the mechanism. Multiple nozzles extended from the overhead crossbeam, spraying a misty liquid base onto the fine mesh to form a layer as thin as a cicada's wing. Then, nine template Dao Foundation cultivators hovered in midair, each exhaling a breath of spiritual qi toward the mesh. The moment the thin liquid film met the spiritual qi, it solidified instantly, transforming into an immense sheet of spirit cloth.
With a flick of Yu Zhizhuo's finger, countless fine sword-qi beams shot out, instantly slicing the vast sheet of spirit cloth into eight hundred pieces—each one a standard bolt.
In less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, eight hundred bolts of spirit cloth lay before Wei Yuan!
Wei Yuan raised a hand, beckoning several bolts over to inspect them closely. The fabric was peculiar; it was an unbroken whole, with patterns and textures imprinted on it afterward by the fine mesh.
The quality was slightly inferior to genuine hand-woven spirit silk cloth. However, an ordinary Dao Foundation weaver could only produce a single bolt per day. The pile before him would have taken three years of manual labor, an astronomical difference in efficiency.
"How much does it cost to produce one bolt?" That was the question Wei Yuan cared about most.
Yu Zhizhuo said, "Formulating the liquid base requires some material expenses, but they're all common ingredients. The spiritual qi consumed during setting is even cheaper; it only takes nine Dao Foundation cultivators on a three-day rotation. That fine mesh is the real key—by hanging different meshes, the resulting cloth comes out pre-patterned and colored, with the designs and hues integrated into the material so they never fade."
"So, the cost is..." Wei Yuan had no patience for technical minutiae.
"One-fiftieth of the market price." Yu Zhizhuo finally delivered the answer Wei Yuan was waiting for.
A glint flared in Wei Yuan's eyes. "So to speak... will cultivators across the world soon be wearing cloth produced by us?"
A cold glint appeared in Yu Zhizhuo's eyes as well. "Only low-tier cultivators, to be precise. Fabrics for the Dharma Idol realm and above are still under development, but by our calculations, the demand isn't massive, so designing a dedicated machine might not be worthwhile."
Wei Yuan glanced at several Golden Core and Dharma Idol cultivators nearby. "No matter. Continue developing it; there will soon be many more Dharma Idols."
Yu Zhizhuo said, "That would be ideal. But what if certain factions in certain places don't want us stealing their business and refuse to let us sell our cloth? A single machine like this can clothe a hundred thousand cultivators. If we build a few more, we'll wipe out every spirit weaver under heaven."
Wei Yuan narrowed his eyes, uttering each word deliberately: "Then it's time for another 'Open Door'!"
"A splendid idea! The gates of every market under heaven ought to be thrown wide open to Qingming!" Yu Zhizhuo flashed his trademark honest smile, his snowy white teeth gleaming like freshly honed blades.
Chapter 1187