A Plan

The worlds of fantasy and science fiction followed entirely different systems. Ye Yun understood that all too well. For example, in a science-fiction world, if you wanted to make steel, you first had to build a blast furnace, and only then could you start smelting. But in a fantasy world, that wasn't necessary. They could easily raise a flame to a terrifying temperature without a furnace—or even extract steel directly from ore without using fire. That was exactly what Ye Yun was doing now.

For the past three years, apart from cultivating, Ye Yun had spent most of his time studying the properties of various herbs and ores, as well as all kinds of talismans and formations. Most of his study had been through books rather than hands-on practice, but he had still amassed a great deal of knowledge. Extracting iron from ore was child's play for him.

In truth, Ye Yun hadn't studied all this merely to pass the time. He was also preparing for the path ahead. After all, he would be traveling through the myriad worlds. Without a discerning eye, he might not even recognize a treasure mountain if it were placed right before him. So besides cultivation, he planned to become an alchemist, an artificer, and a formation master.

Ye Yun had arrived at this decision only after careful consideration. He wouldn't remain in just one world, and every world among the myriad worlds had its own distinct characteristics. In other words, each world's treasures possessed unique qualities. Since he could travel between worlds, mixing spirit herbs and immortal treasures from different worlds to make pills would surely produce extraordinary effects. But to do that, he would have to rely on himself. He couldn't keep an alchemist or artificer at his side forever, and if he gave herbs and rare treasures to the alchemists or artificers of other worlds, they might not even understand what they were looking at. So he had no choice but to learn for himself.

There was another, even more important reason: cultivation was really about cultivating the heart and the Dao. But what was the Dao? In the Dao De Jing, Laozi wrote:

There was something formed in chaos, born before Heaven and Earth.

Silent and void, it stood alone and unchanged, moved in a cycle without ceasing, and could be the mother of all beneath Heaven.

I do not know its name; I force myself to call it the Dao. Forced to name it, I call it Great. Great means moving onward; moving onward means reaching far; reaching far means returning.

Thus the Dao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and humanity is great. In the realm, there are four great things, and humanity is one of them.

Humanity follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Dao, and the Dao follows what is so of itself.

This was how Ye Yun understood the passage:

There was something whole and undivided that existed before Heaven and Earth appeared.

Silent and soundless, empty and formless, it endured independently without changing. It moved in a cycle without stopping, and could serve as the mother of all things beneath Heaven.

I do not know its name, so I reluctantly call it the "Dao." Forced to name it, I call it "Great." It is vast and flows without end; flowing without end, it reaches far; reaching far, it returns to its source.

Thus, the Dao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and humanity is great. There are four great things in the realm, and humanity is one of them.

Humanity takes Earth as its model, Earth takes Heaven as its model, Heaven takes the Dao as its model, and the Dao takes what is so of itself as its model.

Laozi's words described the evolution of the universe as he saw it. In other words, the "Dao" referred to the changes and laws of the world, and cultivating the Dao meant understanding those laws and putting them to use.

And what did this have to do with Ye Yun becoming an alchemist and the like? Everything. At their core, alchemists and artificers studied and mastered the properties and transformations of herbs and crafting materials. That knowledge might well contain the "Dao" he needed, and could sometimes prove useful in ways he never expected. After all, the Dao gives rise to One, One gives rise to Two, Two gives rise to Three, and Three gives rise to all things. The myriad methods lead to the same destination. With enough paths to choose from, one of them was bound to lead to the summit. As for time, Ye Yun could travel through the myriad worlds, making him effectively an eternal existence beyond any single world. So he basically didn't need to worry about running out of time.

Back to the matter at hand.

He had managed to make steel, but it still contained plenty of impurities, and it wasn't hard enough. That was no problem for Ye Yun, though. He had learned quite a few formations recently. He formed hand seals, and beams of light flew from his hands, arranging themselves above the pile of refined steel according to a peculiar pattern. Before long, they had formed a mysterious hexagonal formation. It was designed specifically to remove impurities. Its rank wasn't particularly high, but it was more than enough for Ye Yun. He wasn't making divine weapons, after all—he just wanted to put together a few little things.

Ye Yun didn't know whether this world had storage items, but he guessed it didn't. In novels and TV dramas, everyone carried their weapons around in their hands. If storage items existed, surely they wouldn't do that. Ye Yun hated this situation, too. If he had a storage item, he wouldn't keep losing one thing today and another tomorrow.

"Looks like I'll have to find a world with storage items next time. Otherwise, I'll have to carry everything around with me. It's embarrassing for a transmigrator." As he thought, Ye Yun picked up a steel block about the size of an adult's fist, used the formation to divide it into smaller pieces, then smelted them into the shapes he wanted.

A little over an hour later, he had assembled something that looked seven or eight parts like a fan from the modern world. In fact, that was exactly what it was—a fan. The only difference was that a modern fan used electricity to power its motor, while this fantasy-style fan ran on spiritual energy.

Ye Yun looked at the fan, made entirely of steel and covered in mysterious patterns, with no plug but otherwise almost indistinguishable from a modern one. He nodded in satisfaction. A fan was simple enough, with little more than a motor and a few capacitors. Using the methods of a fantasy world made things even simpler: he didn't need capacitors or a motor at all. He only had to inscribe a few formations on the blades and axle, carve two or three miniature spirit-gathering formations into the base, and add a formation to the dial to control the flow of spiritual energy.

After admiring the silver fan he had made for a little while, Ye Yun set it on the ground and turned the dial. As it turned, the fan's silver metal blades whirred into motion, blowing his long hair back.

Looking at the fan, a fusion of science fiction and fantasy, Ye Yun's eyes reddened a little. "I can't believe I've been in this world for three years already. I wonder if all of you in the other world are doing well."

After taking a moment to reminisce, Ye Yun got back to work. He hadn't just planned to make a fan today—he also wanted to make a refrigerator. Food spoiled so easily in summer, and more importantly, he wanted ice pops. He missed the days when he used to freeze mung bean ice pops.