Creating Things

Ning Zhuo came to the pill furnace in the corner.

Raging flames burned within the furnace. A half-man-tall Mechanical Monkey stood upright amid the blaze, enduring the scorching heat at every moment.

The Mechanical Monkey's frame stood ramrod straight, its crimson fur lifelike in every detail. Only its muscles were slowly breaking down in the flames, flowing out through every seam.

The Magma Immortal Palace lay hidden within volcanic lava. Ning Zhuo needed to control the Fire Ape, have it carry the Thousand Jin Fire Essence through the dense magma, cling to the Immortal Palace's surface, and self-destruct.

But now, its muscles could no longer hold up.

"If Cloud Pattern Soft Silver won't work, then I'll switch to the next one."

Ning Zhuo sat down at the table. According to his plan, he would try using Soot Mud tonight.

The reddish-brown Soot Mud gave off a pungent smell.

Ning Zhuo fetched the Small Wooden Hammer and began pounding the mud.

Every strike of the Small Wooden Hammer against the mud produced a dull thump, shattering the clumps within. Whenever sparks appeared in the reddish-brown earth, the wooden hammer released a chill and promptly smothered them.

Ning Zhuo had specifically designed and developed the Small Wooden Hammer to process Soot Mud.

If the Grand Examination examiners saw this, they would immediately rate Ning Zhuo's Talismans Department score as Superior Grade.

Low grade, middle grade, and high grade were the three most commonly used evaluations.

Superior Grade was exceedingly rare. There might not even be one in an entire class. It meant that the usual standards of evaluation were no longer enough to describe a young cultivator's excellence!

By the time every lump in the Soot Mud had fully dissolved, a layer of fire oil had accumulated across the surface of the red mud.

Ning Zhuo then took a Square Scarf made of cotton cloth and laid it over the Soot Mud.

As he fed in magic power, the array on the Square Scarf activated and swiftly absorbed all the fire oil.

Ning Zhuo had designed this Square Scarf as well, but this time, he had not used talismans. Instead, he had arranged a miniature array.

The Array Formation skill displayed on this Square Scarf was likewise Superior Grade.

Ning Zhuo inspected it carefully. Once he confirmed that the Soot Mud had been properly treated, he began kneading it.

The processed fire oil mud had excellent adhesiveness. Under Ning Zhuo's kneading, it became supple and fine. The other impurities within the mud were all washed out under his Magic Power Infusion.

Ning Zhuo removed one arm from the Mechanical Monkey, took the processed Soot Mud, and attached it to the arm's skeletal frame.

Ning Zhuo's ten fingers were pale and fair. Beneath the Spirit Lamp's light, they moved swiftly and neatly. He was utterly absorbed, so focused that he had completely forgotten the passage of time. At that moment, the young man possessed the charm of utter earnestness.

Before long, he had molded the Soot Mud into shape. The bare arm frame gained full, blood-red muscles.

Naturally, Ning Zhuo was not merely shaping the exterior with his hands. Throughout the process, he continuously mobilized magic power and infused it into the mud, arranging its internal structure.

With just a light slice of a blade through the flesh, one could see that the red mud's interior had taken on the form of muscle as well.

Such astonishing mastery over material shaping was enough to make the School Elder cry out in amazement.

If Ning Zhuo revealed this ability, the School Elder would certainly make him the key subject of promotion for this year's class. Producing such an outstanding seedling in artifact refining would be more than enough to prove the School Elder's capability and hard work.

After completing the shaping, Ning Zhuo began conducting various tests on the arm.

No good.

The Soot Mud's fire resistance was excellent, but its adaptability to magic power was abysmal.

"It needs improvement."

Ning Zhuo began to recall what he knew.

"When Soot Mud is mixed with Thunder Sand, it can produce explosives. It is commonly used to blast apart mountains or fight demon beasts."

"When Soot Mud is combined with poisons, it can be refined into poison pills. Once a poison pill breaks apart, it releases a Fire Poison Smoke Barrier, used to obstruct enemies and defend oneself."

"Soot Mud can also be combined with Coal Stone and placed in the furnace of an artifact-refining room, where it can burn for a long time and maintain high temperatures."

Over the years, Ning Zhuo had done everything in his power to memorize every scrap of knowledge he could access.

During his ten-day breaks, he often immersed himself in the Lineage's Library Pavilion, staying there for an entire day. From dawn to dusk, he forgot food and sleep.

No one knew that beneath Ning Zhuo's ordinary appearance was, in truth, a human-shaped Library Pavilion!

Ning Zhuo recalled every piece of knowledge related to Soot Mud, yet he found no way to improve it.

"No matter. I'll design the pill formula myself!"

The youth possessed pride in his heart, and confident light gleamed in his eyes.

"Soot Mud has a warm nature and enters the heart and liver meridians. The qi of its fire oil can dispel dampness and cold evil from the bones. In small doses, it can treat abdominal pain caused by cold congealing."

"If it is mixed with Moonlight Water in Well, its fire nature and water nature may balance one another and perhaps reduce its weight."

"If I use the tail-tip wind feathers of a First Flying Bird as a guiding ingredient and refine them together... perhaps I can borrow the wind nature's lightness and its scattered mobility to let the primary ingredient, Soot Mud, perform at its best."

"Willow Catkins from the Hidden Spirit Willow might work as well. If Willow Catkins and Soot Mud are refined together, the proportions could perhaps follow pill formulas such as the Light Spirit Pill and Clear Turbidity Powder. The resulting product should be greatly reduced in weight."

Ning Zhuo's thoughts were quick and agile. Guided by medicinal principles and sound logic, he rapidly conceived several pill formulas.

On the strength of this performance alone, it would not merely be a Superior Grade score in the pill-refining subject. The Ning Lineage would certainly step in and firmly keep Ning Zhuo bound within the family.

Ning Zhuo began attempting to refine a new material.

He searched through his material stores and found that he could try at least seven different approaches.

Moonlight Water in Well?

Failure.

The finished mud was slightly less adhesive and slightly lighter, but its fire resistance had been greatly weakened.

First Flying Bird feathers?

A catastrophic failure.

What he obtained was no longer mud, but a pile of dust.

Yet Ning Zhuo felt joy instead. "The wind nature in the feathers is too strong. My understanding of this material has deepened another layer."

For his third attempt, he used Hidden Spirit Willow catkins.

The resulting clay bore Willow Catkin patterns. Its adhesiveness remained unchanged, its fire resistance decreased only slightly, while its weight plummeted. Every other test was passed one by one.

"I got lucky. I didn't expect to obtain the ideal result on my third attempt... uh."

Ning Zhuo had not been happy for long before he saw the Willow Catkin patterns on the clay float upward on their own. After a transformation in which the clear rose and the turbid sank, the clay's quality deteriorated drastically.

This new clay's form was unstable!

Ning Zhuo tried the fourth formula as well. Another catastrophic failure.

After considering it for a while, he did not hurry to move on to the next approach. Instead, he bent over the Hidden Spirit Willow formula and studied it intently.

"This approach is close to success. It is adaptable to all forms of magic power. All I need to do is stabilize its form."

"How should I do that?"

The old problem had been solved, but a new one had arisen.

Ning Zhuo was not discouraged in the slightest. Instead, he was eager to try, and his thoughts grew even more focused. He immersed himself in the design process. Thinking did not make him feel dry or bored; rather, it brought him heartfelt delight.

In this state of thought, he could feel his own existence and his own worth.

He knew that he was creating something that had never before existed in nature!

This anticipation, this sense of accomplishment, was something nothing else could give him.

What was torment to others was, to him, a beautiful pleasure—a joyous experience of the spirit.

Time slipped away soundlessly. Immersed in thought, Ning Zhuo felt none of it.

Who knew how long had passed before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"To solve this technical problem, I need to use a moving array."

But knowledge at this level was far beyond the curriculum. The Ning Lineage school had never taught it.

Ning Zhuo rose to his feet and paced several rounds through the Underground Workshop.

After thinking for a moment, he stopped, raised his head slightly, and made up his mind. "Chen Cha... she is known as the Living Array Master, and moving arrays are what she does best. More importantly, she is also a mechanical artificer."

"It is time to make contact with her."