Differential Centrifugation Method

From Elder Duan's tone, it seemed that if you had no money, then you simply didn't get to cultivate immortality—like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Lu Li always felt that something was off. The fantasy novels he had read in his previous life hadn't written things this way.

Shaking his head, Lu Li sorted out his thoughts. If he wanted to sell the mixed ore for a higher price, then without question, the best method was to separate the various ores.

Under his control, gang qi circulated as the mixed ore rapidly dried. As its speed changed, the ore's color actually began to shift.

More precisely, a stream of reddish-brown spiritual ore separated from the original mixed ore under the effects of the gang qi.

Picking up a handful of the reddish-brown spiritual ore and examining it closely by the campfire, Lu Li quickly identified it as spirit-conducting copper. He had worked at the stamping workshop before, so he had seen this basic spiritual ore.

"Just as I thought..."

Lu Li nodded slightly.

What he had just used was the Differential Centrifugation Method from his previous life. The mixed ore existed in particulate form; because different spiritual ores had different densities, while particles of the same spiritual ore were of equal size, centrifugal force could be used to separate them.

Among this batch of mixed ore, the spirit-conducting copper particles were the largest, so they were separated first.

Elder Duan, however, was greatly surprised. It was not that she had never considered such a method—the centrifugal ore separator in Azure Sun Hall operated on precisely this principle.

What surprised her was this: with Lu Li's breadth of vision and knowledge, with his attainments in the Way of Yan, how had he thought of such a method?

Originally, she had thought Lu Li would be at his wits' end, allowing her to take the opportunity to offer a few pointers. She could let this junior, who disrespected immortal masters and knew neither heaven's height nor earth's depth, witness her capabilities. It would also make him much easier to discipline in the future.

Yet who would have thought that Lu Li had come up with a solution without needing her guidance at all?

Could it be... this kid was a genius?

After all, Wood Crow could only assess one's aptitude in physique, spiritual roots, and divine sense. It could not measure a person's comprehension or knowledge.

Lu Li continued operating the Qi-Combining Cauldron, accelerating the circulation of gang qi and successively separating five kinds of spiritual ore: darksteel, blue lead, gray silver, voidstone, and flowing-light sand.

Of course, this batch of mixed ore contained far more than six types of spiritual ore. Relying on his own control, Lu Li could only separate these six in the first round, and every portion of spiritual ore still contained mixed ore.

Lu Li was already quite satisfied with such a result.

If he carried out a second separation on these six kinds of spiritual ore, he could certainly obtain ore of even higher purity. But Lu Li felt there was no need.

For one thing, doing so would waste a great deal of time. With that time, he might as well dredge up more mixed ore and run another round.

For another, if the purity was a little lower, he could make excuses when selling it. If it was too pure, it would instead arouse suspicion and bring trouble down on his head.

He would mix in just a bit of impurity, lest those disciples fail to recognize that what Lu Li was selling was mixed ore.

The entire process took half an hour. Lu Li weighed the six types of spiritual ore one by one, then calculated according to their respective purchase prices and arrived at an astonishing figure.

One spirit stone!

By Lu Li's conservative estimate, these spiritual ores combined could sell for at least one spirit stone. That was equivalent to his yearly wages at the stamping workshop.

Earning a year's worth of money in just half an hour made Lu Li's heart burn with excitement.

At first, Lu Li had refused the loan, because he did not believe he could forge this First-Turn Yan artifact within a month. Neither his finances nor his ability allowed it.

Relying on himself alone, trying to scrape together two hundred spirit stones in a short time was no different from a fool's dream.

However, back then, he had only seen the pressure of debt and the risks of offering no collateral, while overlooking one point: this Yan artifact obtained through the loan was itself a lever—a lever that could make profit roll upon profit, upon profit.

Before the loan, he lacked initial capital and thus could not take a single step forward. But after borrowing the Qi-Combining Cauldron, the dead chessboard in his hands had been completely brought to life.

Could this be what people called startup capital?

"Half an hour per round, one spirit stone earned. There are twelve hours in a day. If I spend six hours panning for gold, that means twelve rounds—conservatively speaking, twelve spirit stones...

"No, no, I can't calculate it that way. I wasn't proficient in using the Qi-Combining Cauldron just now; I was still feeling my way around. Because I couldn't control the speed of the gang qi well enough... if I do it again, it should take less than half an hour."

The more Lu Li thought about it, the more excited he became. Since arriving in this world, when had he ever seen so much money? His father had once been an Earth-grade clampmaster and had also worked at the stamping workshop while alive, yet his monthly wages had not even reached one spirit stone.

However, Elder Duan poured a basin of cold water over him.

"Let me ask you: is your spiritual power infinite?"

"Spiritual power?"

Lu Li could vaguely sense the existence of spiritual power. After that round of operation just now, something had indeed diminished within the Qi-Combining Cauldron. At this rate, he could operate it at most one more time before the spiritual power inside the cauldron was completely exhausted.

"The Qi-Combining Cauldron has very low spiritual consumption, and even mortals can operate it, because it contains a First-Turn Four-Form Metal Spirit Core with a small amount of spiritual power within it. You are still a mortal, so you cannot supply it with spiritual power."

"So I need to meditate and recover?"

"Precisely."

Lu Li dredged up another batch of mixed ore and used the Qi-Combining Cauldron to separate it. Sure enough, the cauldron could no longer be activated. His chest rose and fell, growing faintly warm at the same time. He moored the boat by the shore, entered the cabin, sat cross-legged, and switched the Qi-Combining Cauldron's form.

[Qi-Combining Cauldron · Heavenly Cycle State]!

After entering the Heavenly Cycle State, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed steadily into his body along with his breathing. This spiritual energy circulated through Lu Li's body once before finally being drawn into the Qi-Combining Cauldron.

Nourished by spiritual power, Lu Li felt subtle changes occurring in his impoverished body as well. The changes were exceedingly faint, and their effects would only reveal themselves through the accumulation of days and months, but without doubt, everything was moving in a better direction.

Forging a First-Turn Yan artifact within a month might not be impossible after all.

What a joke. In his previous life, he could start learning a subject from scratch one night and take the exam the next day. With a whole month to build a Yan artifact, this battle was practically overflowing with resources.

After meditating and regulating his breath for three Heavenly Cycles, roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, and the spiritual power within the Qi-Combining Cauldron had been fully replenished.

Lu Li got back to his feet, braced the little boat, and entered the churning riverway, beginning his third and fourth rounds of gold panning.

As the cycle repeated, time quietly slipped away. It seemed like no time had passed before a sliver of fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon.

"Morning already."

Whether he had simply grown used to staying up late, meditation truly restored his energy, or he was too excited from making so much money overnight, Lu Li felt not the slightest bit sleepy—aside from his itchy scalp and somewhat abnormal heart rate.

Oh no, was he about to drop dead from overwork?