At this moment, the wine rice had turned ink-black, translucent and as crystal-clear as glazed black jade. Even the plant's shadow had strangely vanished, making it seem exceedingly mystical.
Ning Zheng sensed the faint bloodline aura and smiled.
The odds had clearly been pitifully low, yet he had succeeded on his first attempt.
As expected, his luck was truly excellent.
Overnight, both the meat field and spirit rice had appeared.
He really wanted to thank those little blacksmiths. Having "money" was truly wonderful!
He silently sensed the bloodline aura. It was only at the level of a low-grade Spiritual Root. He exhaled a breath of turbid air. "It's still not enough. It's the lowest grade, and the bloodline concentration is too thin. But it can be used."
He would find a way to improve it into a second version and a third version later.
Even though it was currently only a low-grade Spiritual Root, it was the most suitable Shadow attribute spirit rice for Ning Zheng. Its absorption rate was even better than that of ordinary mid-grade Spirit Rice.
"We can start propagating a few plants. After all, planting and reproducing low-grade Spiritual Roots isn't difficult."
"Aren't they going to open the Three Flowers in the next few days? Find people with good aptitude and send them a few plants to become spirit farmers."
Ning Zheng kept pondering.
He had set his sights on the blacksmiths in the Mountain Villa. In any case, they weren't pursuing their proper occupations.
For them,
wouldn't becoming a spirit farmer earn more than jumping into a furnace?
Ning Zheng had also seen the wildflowers and weeds they were collecting.
Even if they used the spiritual energy in Magic Coins to forcibly nourish them and cross that threshold into spiritual objects, they would probably all have Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Roots.
This was the era now hailed as the greatest Prosperous Era of the Immortal Path!
It wasn't some Dharma-ending Immortal Path era. Even dogs didn't want things like Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Roots.
Yet they treated them as treasures and used them to open the Three Flowers!
The question was, how should he deliver these things into their hands?
Giving them away for free wasn't impossible.
But that would break the rules. It would be better to have them purchase them.
With beautiful plans for the future in mind, Ning Zheng gradually drifted off to sleep.
Morning came.
The iron window was pushed open, and a shaft of sunlight shone into the Blacksmith Shop.
The diligent blacksmiths, busy as little bees, began another day's work.
Heat roiled inside the room. Glowing-red iron ingots were hammered repeatedly, ringing out with endless clangs.
Although someone had immediately discovered the updated forum and Currency System, many restless people went straight to the new forum to complain:
"This is the most perfunctory development team in history!"
"They couldn't even be bothered to post an update announcement! Other people wish they could post several, to show how hard they worked fixing bugs."
"You don't understand. This is the official team doting on Jiu Cai Rong and leaving the update notes for him to write."
"Seriously? As expected of Green Hat Manor! Only the pure-love Jiu Cai Rong, who has been through it all, fits their spiritual mascot role!"
But that did not stop everyone from continuing to forge iron.
"Are these things forged well enough?"
Inside the Blacksmith Shop, "Floral Eyes" had received a mission from Dao Jiujiu the previous night and had worked through the night to make some mechanical parts. Handcrafted gears and chains now sat on the table.
"Good enough."
Dao Jiujiu looked quite satisfied. "Our Magic Coin-powered Power Hammer is almost complete. Forging magic copper ingots will be much more convenient from now on."
Using the most basic Spirit Pulse Array, they could generate impacts. Based on this principle, they could create a Power Hammer.
If a craftsman wished to do good work, he first needed the right tools.
Just like Ning Zheng's idea of creating three immortal-cultivation tools, they also intended to produce the Blacksmithing Tri-Set.
"The number of parts is just a little low." Dao Jiujiu frowned.
"Floral Eyes" scratched his head helplessly and sighed. "I stayed up playing games and didn't go to sleep until four in the morning. I've already worked really hard."
Dao Jiujiu understood.
So this kid didn't pull an all-nighter. With a CPU full of exasperation at the failure to live up to expectations, he said, "You're such a young man. How could you fall asleep at four in the morning?"
"I thought I could finish the mission this morning, then everyone could assemble the Power Hammer according to the blueprint."
"But you were slacking off all night and delayed everyone's progress!"
"Floral Eyes": ???
What do you mean, slacking off all night? If I don't sleep, I'll die.
Dao Jiujiu gave him a long look before finally sighing helplessly. He had miscalculated.
Ghosts did not need sleep.
But if he felt that he needed to sleep, there was nothing Dao Jiujiu could do to force him otherwise.
After all, he had retained his living habits and behavioral logic.
Seen this way, it was ultimately "Floral Eyes" himself whose Individual Aptitude panel was not outstanding enough—not exceptional enough.
That was why this "Floral Eyes" baby's potential was not high enough, saddled with the physiological defect of needing to sleep at night.
In the future, they would have to find a fierce blacksmith who could cultivate through several nights without sleep.
Once they turned into embers while retaining their habits from life, they ought to be able to work in the Blacksmith Shop twenty-four hours a day.
Through this, the blacksmiths could also gain a clearer understanding of this hidden setting:
The individual talents among blacksmiths meant that the differences between embers would be enormous!
Even their individual ability values could differ by an absurd tenfold or more!
The baby's "Individual Aptitude" setting was truly interesting.
By noon, they had finally finished forging all the parts for the Power Hammer.
During assembly, they fine-tuned the fit of the parts, dripped in some Number 95 gasoline, installed a Magic Coin, and began testing it.
Duang~
Duang~
With each strike, a copper ingot was repeatedly hammered flat.
A group of blacksmiths gathered around to watch, while the hairpin maidens in the distance did not even glance over. They were busy with their own affairs; after all, they had no interest in the so-called beauty of mechanical industry.
Dao Jiujiu recorded the results in a notebook beside it. "The force is average, but magic copper is soft, so the impact is sufficient."
"One Magic Coin exhausts its spiritual energy after ten strikes and needs to be set aside to recharge. Each Magic Coin can be recharged ten times, after which it shatters."
"So one Magic Coin can only strike a hundred times?"
Dao Jiujiu sighed. The cost-effectiveness was a little low.
The main issue was that no demonic beast materials had been incorporated, so the spiritual energy utilization rate was poor.
If it had a talent similar to "Impact," the Power Hammer would become practical.
"They're going to settle my mission reward now." "Floral Eyes," who had helped finish the work, hurriedly spoke up.
Dao Jiujiu did not renege on the payment. He took out Magic Coins and counted them. "Thirty-five parts. I'll settle fifteen Magic Coins with you in total. Seven of them weren't quite up to standard, so I'll deduct an appropriate amount and give you 14.5 Magic Coins."
Magic Coins could be divided into fractions.
For example, a full-value Magic Coin was equivalent to a one-yuan coin.
After one use, it was worth a ninety-fen coin.
After nine uses, it was worth a ten-fen coin.
Magic Coins with depleted recharge cycles could be used as change to make up the difference.
As the number of uses dwindled, the ten rice flowers on the rice stalk engraved on the Magic Coin would also fade away one by one, representing smaller denominations.
It had to be said that the Coin-Forging Magic Treasure, obtained at great expense, truly deserved its reputation. Its craftsmanship was nothing short of miraculous. To engrave such a delicate Energy Storage Spirit Array onto a tiny Magic Coin, while also enabling its denomination to change, was a realm that the other blacksmiths could only dream of reaching.
After settling "Floral Eyes'" mission reward, Dao Jiujiu led a group of blacksmiths back to forging.
However, after using the Power Hammer to forge a Bronze Sword and testing it for a while, Dao Jiujiu shook his head.
"The Power Hammer is only suitable for beginners. It's too stiff and lacks feel. No wonder this world, despite being so ancient, never had anyone clever enough to create such a magic artifact."
Dao Jiujiu had discovered it too.
The main function of the Power Hammer was to let a machine do the hammering and save physical strength.
But the top blacksmiths in this world were cultivators. Did they need to conserve physical strength?
Forging iron was as effortless as tapping a keyboard with one's fingers. Wielding the hammer personally also allowed one to control the force and weight.
"But we still need to make the Tri-Set. Most people here are beginners, after all. Our guiding principle is to give poor students lots of stationery." Dao Jiujiu poked fun at himself and continued leading people to work in the Blacksmith Shop.
Before you continue