Wallfacer Yang Ning

As soon as Yang Ning returned to the dormitory, he headed straight for the study, spread out a sheet of paper, propped up his chin, and began to ponder.

Hobbies should not delay cultivation, but Yang Ning's situation had gone beyond whether it delayed him or not. For the sake of his hobby, he had completely abandoned cultivation.

Anyone who saw it would call it lying flat—thoroughly, utterly lying flat.

Yet Yang Ning's Black Tortoise Meditation Method ran constantly. The Meditation Method strengthened his spirit, the Breathing Technique stirred his qi and blood, the qi and blood generated a Qi-Blood Field, and the Qi-Blood Field continuously tempered his body.

So although he seemed utterly motionless, both his body and spirit were steadily growing stronger.

One could tell from his appetite alone—he had not been eating any less.

That was the charm of methodology.

It was like inventing the light bulb. If you did not understand the principles of electricity generation, you had to test materials one by one.

But if you understood those principles, you could directly choose the most suitable materials from among those resistant to high temperatures, greatly improving efficiency.

Methodology was not about taking shortcuts. It was about parting the mist and reaching the essence directly.

Of course, electric current activating his cells, along with the Spirit Realm's cell-level control, had also provided a tiny bit of help.

"Demon Beasts at the Fourth Level of Body Refinement have qi and blood coursing through their five viscera and six bowels. Their digestive abilities improve greatly, and their strength begins to rise by leaps and bounds. At that point, even a dog has the strength of an elephant. At the Fifth Level of Body Refinement, a Demon Beast's qi and blood reaches both arms, and its speed starts soaring. Even a turtle at this realm can sprint like the wind."

"So, to fight Fierce Beasts of this level, we need to focus on two things: deflecting force and restricting speed."

"For deflecting force, we can use shields, with long spears as weapons. To restrict their speed, concrete piles and wire mesh would be good choices, along with caltrops and animal traps."

"Facing such a disparity in strength, we also need weapons that can fully leverage our strength advantage. Magic swords clearly won't do; they aren't suited to slashing. We can make three Tang Blades."

"Also, give Ning Rong a bow. Poison the arrows so she can weaken the enemy from range before taking it down in close combat!"

Four people were a bit few, but one shield, two long spears, and an archer still made a complete tactical squad.

Humans were human because they excelled at using tools. A few ordinary people armed with spears could hunt beasts several times their size. Four cultivators working in perfect coordination taking down a Fierce Beast ten times stronger was naturally no problem.

Of course, the safest method would be to make a Gatling Bodhisattva, or break through to the Fifth Level of Body Refinement within two months. Then, even if their coordination failed, nothing would go wrong.

Yang Ning's control over his body was stronger. Others needed to clearly sense their qi and blood before guiding it into their five viscera and six bowels, limbs, and bones, but Yang Ning could sense it from the moment the Qi-Blood Field began as the faintest spark, then actively strengthen it.

Simply put, other people cultivated from one to ten, while Yang Ning cultivated from zero to ten. Reaching the Fifth Level of Body Refinement in two months was not impossible.

For the materials for two long spears, he needed two spare spearheads to prevent damage.

Hmm, he should equip them with a few extra spear shafts too.

Forget it, not just four spears. Each person should simply get five long spears. Look at that oil seller Chen—he brought a whole pile of red-tasseled spears whenever he fought. It was not as though they could not carry them. At worst, they could put the extras on the ground before fighting.

Su Bai was 1.54 meters tall, so he could have a 1.40-meter shield, with a stand attached and a place on the shield to hold a Magic Sword. If someone got separated, a shield alone would not do; they needed a weapon to survive too.

The material would be meteorite iron essence, two centimeters thick. Never mind whether he could carry it—just say whether its defense was strong or not!

Hmm, but a shield could only defend one side. What if Fierce Beasts rushed in from all directions?

Then he should make an iron shell, with people hiding inside and stabbing outward with spears!

But an iron shell could not be carried at all, so it needed four wheels underneath.

What about power? They could not possibly sit inside and walk with their legs, could they?

Hmm, he could add a gear disc, chain, and transmission, then pedal it forward.

They were all cultivators, so there was no need to worry about them being unable to pedal.

Yang Ning looked at the completed blueprint and the corner of his mouth twitched. Very good. He had built a tank from the cold-weapon era.

"Brother Yang?" Ning Rong knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Yang Ning said.

Ning Rong carefully opened the door, then curiously looked around.

Hmm, the living room was spotless, and the decorations had not shifted in the slightest. It was as if no one lived here at all.

Oh, right, he had spent a month in the library. Then it was fine.

"Brother Yang, where are you?"

"The study!" Yang Ning answered softly.

"Oh, oh!" Ning Rong hurried over at a trot. After opening the door, she saw Yang Ning sitting upright in his chair, dipping a brush in ink as he wrote.

His handwriting was crisp, neat, and square.

This was the Ning Style Font invented by Yang Ning. Because it was widely used in woodblock printing, it was also called print type.

At first, many scholars had not thought much of a newcomer inventing a typeface. So what if he was a genius?

But when print type spread across the land alongside printed books, and impoverished students who could not afford copybooks began imitating it, the Ning Style Font gradually became mainstream. Only then did those scholars realize something was wrong. By then, however, the self-styled lofty ones had already become a minority. They did not even know when they had been eliminated.

Ning Rong watched Yang Ning write intently in the candlelight, and for a moment, her gaze grew dazed.

"Can you shoot a bow?" Yang Ning suddenly asked.

"Ah, ah! Oh, I can, I can!" Ning Rong hurriedly withdrew her dazed gaze and replied, "My father is General of the Valiant Cavalry. I followed him from childhood to practice martial arts and archery. I can draw a powerful two-stone bow. I would not dare say I never miss, but my archery can still be called outstanding!"

"That's good!" Yang Ning said. "I've positioned you as an archer. I'll make a bow and crossbow specially for you. From now on, you need to pick your archery back up. Also, you can teach yourself some poison-related skills. If your strength is insufficient, coating arrows with poison is another way to increase your attack power!"

"Alright!" Ning Rong nodded heavily. She had never settled on her future anyway. If he wanted her to use a bow, then she would use a bow.

"That's all!" Yang Ning handed over the sheet listing the materials and said, "These are the materials I need. Have Xun Hu deliver them!"

Yang Ning felt no pain at all spending Xun Hu's money. After all, the Yue Kingdom had gained quite a bit of national strength thanks to Yang Ning.

Besides, these were all ordinary materials and not worth much money.

"Alright!" Ning Rong nodded, then looked at Yang Ning, who had already begun writing furiously again.

After a long while, Yang Ning raised his head. "Why are you still here?"

"Hmph!"

Ning Rong clenched her pearly teeth and stamped her foot. Couldn't he chat with her a little longer?

But when she saw Yang Ning spread out another sheet of paper and begin sketching again, she could only sigh helplessly.

Her mother had said boys this age did not understand love. It turned out she had been absolutely right!

Fine, she would leave!

Yang Ning drew for an hour and a half before Deep Blue's notification sounded, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

"This won't do. Being watched all the time means I can't do anything!" Yang Ning did not need to draw blueprints to refine artifacts, but that earlier surveillance had been detected again!

He had spent a month living in the library partly to reshape his image and read books, but also because being secretly watched in the dormitory was simply too disgusting.

They even watched him while he slept!

"Deep Blue, who are Kang Jinlong's dorm managers?" Yang Ning asked.

"There are two dorm managers. One is called Ma Longjiang, and the other is called Ma Longhe!" Deep Blue brought up photos of the two, taken when Yang Ning passed the entrance.

Both had triangular eyes, hooked noses, and expressionless faces. One sat in the sun by the entrance, while the other held a bamboo pole and knocked at the coconut melons in the tree beside the door.

One look at their faces was enough to tell that the pair were probably twins.

The Heavenly Eye of Insight did not have a long monitoring range, and it was still a divine ability that could only be cultivated at the Qi Refining Stage.

There could not possibly be Qi Refining Stage cultivators in the dormitory building.

So this surveillance must have come from the Ma twins.

"Both are at the Hundred Transformations Realm of the Fifth Level of Body Refinement!"

"Then they used an artifact, a Spirit Artifact inscribed with the Heavenly Eye of Insight? The Hundred Transformations Realm can alter one's appearance, so why haven't these two changed theirs? Do they have bad taste, or have they not reached the peak of Hundred Transformations?" Yang Ning guessed.

The "hundred transformations" of the Hundred Transformations Realm referred, first, to Divine Movement's hundred transformations. Qi and blood strengthened the limbs, greatly increasing speed.

Second, it referred to a hundred transformations of appearance. Qi and blood strengthened the skin, allowing one to adjust muscle positions and alter one's face.

The skin lay outside the muscles, so naturally it required more powerful qi and blood to control.

"Perhaps they have seen through the delusion of outward appearance?" Deep Blue said.

"This..." Yang Ning nodded. That was possible too.

There were few people who did not care about their own appearance, but they did exist.

"I just don't know whether this surveillance is demanded by those above, or something they want to do themselves. If it's private behavior, punishing them will be enough. But if it's required from above, killing them won't help. Whoever replaces them will still watch me."

Yang Ning suddenly understood the suffocating grievance of Earthlings in the world of The Three-Body Problem. A Sophon might be watching everything one did, leaving one without a single secret.

Wallfacer Yang Ning? That was not bad.

The next time he passed by, he needed to see what they were using to spy on him.

Back to the point.

"Over the past month, I read a huge number of books related to artifact refinement!" Yang Ning said. "The artifact refiners here rely on the inherent properties of metal materials and rarely use alloys. Their metal ratios are also extremely crude, using phrases like 'roughly' and 'more or less.' If they get lucky, they produce a top-grade item; if unlucky, a defective one. It is highly unstable. They think this is caused by differences in flame control and hammering force."

"And they prefer metal materials, but as we all know, many nonmetallic materials are no inferior to metals. Sometimes, they are even better, such as carbon fiber, gallium nitride materials, Darwin's bark spider silk, Kevlar fiber, oxide ceramics, and silicon crystals."

"The birth of a perfect alloy requires vast numbers of experiments and consumes enormous amounts of manpower and resources!" Deep Blue said. "Only a few major powers in this world possess the conditions for such experiments, and they may not be willing to make such a great investment!"

"More importantly, they don't know that this method can succeed!" Yang Ning added.

No one knew that doing things this way could create an alloy. When people could not see the road ahead, very few could keep walking without rest.

"And there are Spirit Minerals!" Deep Blue continued. "As well as runes and formations supplementing material properties!"

Yang Ning gave her a thumbs-up. "Your understanding of this world is already deeper than mine!"

That was right. Ordinary artifacts were useful only in the Body Refinement Realm. Once one reached the Qi Refining Stage, everyone used Spirit Artifacts.

And if material properties were insufficient, could runes and formations not supplement them? If engraving a sturdy formation solved the problem, why go through the trouble of researching harder materials?

Insufficient motivation for research naturally led to a shortage of superior materials.

"Their habitual laziness has given me an enormous business opportunity!" Yang Ning muttered.

Wasn't the Spirit Realm's effect the ability to conduct experiments endlessly without cost? It was perfectly suited to work such as finding alloy formulas. Yang Ning did not even need to do it himself; Deep Blue could handle it.

High-strength alloys were beneath the notice of immortals, while ordinary people could not refine them. Would they not make the perfect flagship product to sell externally?

At the same time, he could display his artifact-refining talent, making others lower their guard against him. Perfect!

"Using a grand plan to conceal one's true purpose—isn't that precisely what a Wallfacer does?" Yang Ning laughed inwardly. To struggle against heaven brings boundless joy; to struggle against earth brings boundless joy; to struggle against people brings boundless joy!

From this day onward, he was Wallfacer Yang Ning!