Ning Fengzhi stood at the back of the line, his posture straight.
He didn't move a muscle. There was even a gentle smile on his face, as if he weren't the sect master of one of the Upper Three Sects, but merely an ordinary merchant who had come to buy ironware.
But behind him, Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong looked utterly grim.
Chen Xin in particular kept one hand on his sword hilt. The killing intent of that cold machine locking onto him still made his skin prickle.
It was the second time in his life he had felt that his life was beyond his control.
The first time had been when he faced the hammer of that Clear Sky Douluo.
The second time was just now.
Ning Rongrong's little face flushed with anger. She tugged on Ning Fengzhi's sleeve and complained in a hushed voice, "Dad! Why do we have to line up with these smelly blacksmiths? Why don't Sword Grandpa and Bone Grandpa just tear this lousy building down?"
"Rongrong." Ning Fengzhi's voice remained gentle, but carried an undeniable authority. "Watch quietly."
Tear it down?
That automatic turret just now had been able to suppress even Chen Xin's sword intent. If it had actually opened fire, whether they could escape unharmed would have been anyone's guess.
Besides, someone capable of producing something like that surely had even more terrifying trump cards.
Ning Fengzhi knew perfectly well that today he wasn't facing an arrogant brat, but a kind of power he had never understood before—one powerful enough to overturn the rules.
Just then, the factory's side door creaked open.
A Guardian wearing Power Armor stepped out. He held a metal token marked with a number, and his voice was completely flat.
"Next, Ning Fengzhi."
The small merchants waiting in line nearby flinched and hurriedly stepped aside, making way for the wealthiest man on the continent.
Ning Fengzhi straightened his robe and walked inside.
Chen Xin and Gu Rong immediately followed.
"Stop." The Guardian extended a mechanical arm to block them. "The boss called for Ning Fengzhi alone."
"How dare you!" Gu Rong had a fiery temper. His Soul Power surged, and he was about to lash out.
"Gu Rong." Ning Fengzhi turned and gently shook his head.
He faced the Guardian and smiled. "These two are my guards. They never leave my side. If they can't come in, then I'll have no choice but to wait here."
The red light beneath the Guardian's helmet flickered several times, as if transmitting information.
A few seconds later, the mechanical voice sounded again. "Allowed. But you must remain ten meters away and are forbidden from using any Soul Power. Otherwise, you will be executed without mercy."
The cold threat made both Titled Douluo's eyelids twitch.
Once they entered the factory, Ning Rongrong's complaints grew louder.
There was no reception room, no tea, and not even a decent chair.
They were taken straight to a huge, roaring workshop.
The air was filled with the smell of machine oil and the distinctive scent of cooled metal. The floor was so clean it reflected the light. Row upon row of strange, silvery-white machines operated in orderly fashion, producing a rhythm that put one at ease.
Qin Feng stood at the end of the production line, wearing a white coat and holding a tablet as he recorded something.
Grey Wolf crouched at his feet, a wrench in his mouth, grumbling at one of the machines. "Which blacksmith made this lousy bearing? The tolerance is way off. It'll wear out sooner or later! Replace them all with ball bearings later!"
"Sect Master Ning, sorry for the wait." Qin Feng set down his tablet without looking up. "The place is a bit bare. Don't mind it."
Bare was hardly the word for it.
Ning Fengzhi gazed at the operating machines and the mechanical arms sweeping through the air. The light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had its own Hidden Weapon workshop, staffed by the finest craftsmen on the continent. But compared with this place, those workshops looked like primitive caves.
"You're too kind, Boss Qin." Ning Fengzhi got straight to the point. "I came here today to find out exactly what it is you sell."
"What do I sell?" Qin Feng smiled.
He didn't answer. He simply snapped his fingers.
"Brother Wolf, quit fixing that. Give Sect Master Ning a demonstration of our 'Production Line No. 1.'"
"Tch, I'm right in the middle of something." Grey Wolf grumbled, but still leaped onto the control console and slapped a red button.
RUMBLE!
The entire production line sprang to life!
Chunks of red-hot iron ore, each as big as a washbasin, rolled along a conveyor belt into the first workstation.
"BZZZT!"
A blue arc flashed—an ultra-high-temperature plasma jet. Under temperatures exceeding three thousand degrees, the hard ore instantly melted into a pool of red-hot iron, and its impurities vaporized in an instant.
Ning Fengzhi's pupils contracted.
Purification! Purification this efficient! It was even better than the results any Master Craftsman could get by smelting with Soul Flame for seven days and seven nights!
The molten iron flowed into a mold.
CLANG!
A gigantic hydraulic press slammed down. With tens of thousands of tons of pressure, it shaped the molten iron and squeezed out every last air bubble.
"This is... one-piece stamping?" Ning Fengzhi's voice was a little hoarse.
Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's finest Hidden Weapons had to be assembled from separate parts. Yet the thing before him had been made in a single piece!
What happened next left all three of them holding their breath.
A mechanical arm grabbed the metal component and spun it rapidly beneath a laser cutter, sending sparks flying. The barrel, receiver, spring, trigger... one precision part after another was cut out, with deviations no wider than a single strand of hair.
Finally, at the end of the production line, several mechanical arms—like the most nimble surgeons—assembled all the parts in less than two seconds.
"Click."
The crisp sound of a gun being cocked.
A pitch-black metal object that radiated an aura of death slid from the outlet and dropped into the iron box below.
CLANG.
The box already held nearly half a box of identical finished products.
Grey Wolf glanced at the timer and announced proudly, "This demonstration took 4.8 seconds. That's 0.2 seconds faster than last time. A hundred percent yield."
Ning Fengzhi stood rooted to the spot.
4.8 seconds.
A weapon with such a complicated structure.
He stepped forward and, with trembling hands, picked up one of the "iron pipes" from the box. It was still warm.
Cold. Heavy.
Every part fit perfectly, and the weapon possessed a stark, industrial beauty.
He had spent his whole life dealing with money and treasures, and considered himself to have seen eight hundred divine weapons, if not a thousand. Yet not a single one had ever shaken him like this.
That wasn't a weapon.
It was... death that could be mass-produced without end.
[ Ding! Detected that the worldview of Ning Fengzhi, Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, has collapsed and his outlook is being reformed! ] [ Ding! Detected that Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong are in a state of extreme shock and self-doubt! ] [ Ding! Shock value +10,000! ]
Qin Feng looked at the rapidly rising numbers on the system panel, unmoved.
Just routine.
"Sect Master Ning." Qin Feng's voice broke the stillness of the workshop. "Now do you know what I sell?"
Ning Fengzhi forcibly tamped down the turmoil in his heart.
He raised his head and looked at Qin Feng, his eyes brighter than ever.
"Boss Qin, name your price."
"The entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect wants to become your sole customer."
"No—your sole... partner."
"Dad!"
A shrill cry cut Ning Fengzhi off.
Ning Rongrong stared in disbelief. She rushed over and pointed at the machines still running.
"Have you gone crazy? It's just a pile of scrap metal! You must be using some kind of illusion!"
"Every Hidden Weapon of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is the painstaking work of a Grandmaster! How could such shoddy goods possibly compare?"
She couldn't accept it.
She couldn't accept her father looking at these "toys" with such seriousness.
To her, this was a complete insult to the craftsmanship of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!
"I don't believe it!"
The young lady's temper flared. She flipped her wrist, and a string of brilliantly gleaming beads appeared in her hand.
"Watch me use the 'Illusion Glazed Bead' to smash your trick!"
She urged her Soul Power and was about to hurl the Soul Tool, which could dispel illusions and disrupt the flow of energy, at the production line.
"Rongrong, stop!" Ning Fengzhi cried in alarm.
But it was already too late.
Before you continue