Puppetry was of little use to Mo Caihuan, but array formations were still very interesting. Array formations were precisely the transformation of spiritual qi, capable of converting spiritual qi into phenomena such as mist, lightning, illusionary realms, and so on.
Could array formations convert spiritual qi into kinetic energy, mechanical energy, thermal energy, electromagnetic energy...?
Most certainly, it was just that a massive amount of experimentation was needed.
Bidding farewell to her master, she did not return home immediately, but instead went to seek the materials for refining the Leftover Cauldron. According to Food Immortal, the required materials were not rare; only two kinds were relatively uncommon-one named "Breath Essence," and the other named "Iron-Palm Tree Mistletoe."
Forget having them, she had never even heard of them.
They were completely unavailable for purchase.
"I wonder if there are Storage Bags that mortals can use." Mo Caihuan had another goal, which was to find a Storage Bag that she herself could use.
The shopkeepers of various stores all shook their heads and said no. Storage Bags were opened either with magic power or with divine sense, belonging to the category of spells and remaining unusable by mortals.
She could only leave the marketplace helplessly, returning empty-handed.
"Hehe, I told you long ago that it is impossible for mortals to use Storage Bags. You'd better concentrate on collecting materials to help me forge the Leftover Cauldron." In the marketplace, Food Immortal was exceptionally quiet, avoiding drawing the attention of cultivators; upon leaving the marketplace, he resumed his old-fashioned attitude.
"The materials simply cannot be found," Mo Caihuan said.
"Heavenly South is still too small after all. One must still take a trip to Great Jin; that is truly the paradise of immortal cultivators," he said with yearning.
"Have you been?"
"I have. Back then there were still Teleportation Gates leading to Great Jin; one only needed to spend a few spirit stones to go. The fine wine of Great Jin was far beyond what Heavenly South could compare to."
"It feels like past cultivation was even more convenient than now."
"Isn't that because of the wars?" Food Immortal said with displeasure. "All they know is fighting over territory, truly laughable. It is as if grabbing territory would allow one's cultivation realm to rise, yet it always ends up like scooping water with a bamboo basket-empty. Who knows how many teleportation arrays were shattered because of wars, what a pity."
Yet Mo Caihuan stated, "I want to unify Heavenly South, and I will have to fight wars by then."
"Hehe, fight then, fight then, as long as you happy ones are content." Food Immortal stopped speaking.
Mo Caihuan boarded the airship, and it took off.
The hot-air balloon had already been upgraded into an airship, becoming much more comfortable and even safer. Without needing transfers, it could travel back and forth directly. The suspended light gas was a wisp of vapor from the failed artifact refining of a Qi Cultivator, named "Light Smoke."
The puppet portion of the "Puppet Technique" consisted entirely of content about collecting different materials to refine puppets. The array formation content was not extensive, but it involved a fair amount of transformation.
Array formations needed to be stimulated by spirit stones, converting spiritual qi into bizarre phenomena that trapped immortal cultivators.
"I must thoroughly study array formations." Speaking of array formations, Mo Caihuan thought of how Han Li had encountered a female cultivator who excelled at them; although her cultivation realm was not high, she specialized in magic arrays.
Had she not helped Han Li repair the Teleportation Gate, Han Li would have been hunted down and killed by the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect.
Pity that this female cultivator was low in realm; by the time Han Li reached Core Formation, she had already died.
However, Mo Caihuan did not know where that woman was, so she might as well research on her own first.
Taking quantification as the core for researching array formations, the result was a thousand-li advance. Mo Caihuan discovered that minor array formations were far too suited for quantification. She mastered the technology of converting spirit stones into other forms of energy.
Industrial development took a further step forward.
In the blink of an eye, five years passed. When Mo Caihuan turned twenty-five, the construction of Jia Yuan City's new urban district was complete. This was the otherworldly-first modernized city, with electricity, running water, a sewer system, and even telephones.
Let alone mortals being utterly astonished, even immortal cultivators had never seen such a city-mortals could actually transmit sound across a thousand miles? And even control electricity?
"Little sister is truly astonishing; this city is not a whit inferior to the palaces of sects," Daoist Wealth said with deep emotion. "It is impossible to imagine this is a city built by mortals."
"It is also thanks to the efforts of elder brother."
Daoist Wealth laughed and said, "I merely ran a few errands."
"That is also very important."
The wealthy people of Jia Yuan City had all moved to the new urban district, enjoying the convenience of industry. High-rises had elevators, stepping outside there were track-cars, completely different from any other city-the only one of its kind.
Boatmen and merchants traveling along the canal, before even reaching Jia Yuan City, saw the ten-story buildings on the horizon from afar. Marveling at the grandeur of the new urban district, they would ask if this city was the dwelling place of immortals.
At times like this, the common folk of Jia Yuan City would tell them this was not the abode of immortals, but a new city built by the Whale-Jiao Society.
Upon hearing that it was the Whale-Jiao Society, merchants felt it was unexpected yet completely reasonable. Over the past decade, the commodities of the Whale-Jiao Society had long since been distributed to other countries through Yue Kingdom, and more and more people knew of the Whale-Jiao Society.
The commodities of the Whale-Jiao Society were steadily infiltrating the lives of mortals.
Yet nobody knew that the surface city was merely a camouflage. Underground, there was still a massive space just as magnificent as the city, concealing Spirit Stone Mechanisms.
Aside from over a hundred talisman-printing machines, there was also an "array disk laboratory."
Mo Caihuan experimented with various array formations inside the laboratory, featuring air-conditioning array disks that could generate cold air, stove array disks that could also be used for cooking...
Array disks were circular stone disks engraved with magic arrays, one meter in diameter, which could be instantly activated as long as spirit stones were inserted.
Her goal was to refine a Body Tempering array disk, rapidly converting the spiritual qi of spirit stones into life energy that the body could absorb.
Previously she had hoped to rely on a power plant for cultivation, but it ended in failure. Slight electrical currents could indeed stimulate cells, but this stimulation was brief; once the electric shocks stopped, the cells rapidly returned to normal and could not be sustained long-term.
"You girl truly possess talent in array formations." Food Immortal expressed his appreciation for the various array disks Mo Caihuan cobbled together.
"It is merely minor craft." Mo Caihuan knew that the array formations she researched turned complexity into simplicity; they were of no small use to mortals, but entirely meaningless to immortal cultivators.
"Hehe, for a mortal to reach this step is already not easy," Food Immortal said. "However, your appetite is still too small. I propose that you engrave a teleportation magic array in your stomach."
"?? " Mo Caihuan was speechless.
"What, do you find it strange?" Food Immortal laughed heartily. "Girl, your horizons are far too narrow. Do you know that there is a heterodox path named the "Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art"?"
"Never heard of it."
"I knew you hadn't heard of it. The Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art involves immortal cultivators linking their own bodies and storehouses together, using magical treasures hidden within the storehouse during battles instead of spells. Taking and using them instantly, it is quite extraordinary."
"Since it's so good, why hasn't it been passed down? And how is it merely a heterodox path?" Mo Caihuan asked.
"Because the flaws are obvious. First, the power is entirely determined by the collected magical treasures; if the power of the magical treasures is insufficient, combat prowess is extremely dragging and awkward. The second flaw is distance. The "Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art" involves engraving a teleportation array within the body; although the Magic Array is not complex, it has strict distance limitations. Once the distance is too far, the Teleportation Gate fails. Moreover, the greater the distance, the more spirit stones are consumed, severely restricting combat range. When immortal cultivators fight, they habitually charge tens of thousands of li, while the combat range of the Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art might only be a few thousand li, or even a few hundred li, which is rather awkward. Still, it suits you nicely anyway, seeing as you possess no magic power and cannot even use basic Storage Bags. The Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art not only allows for combat, but is also equivalent to a portable storehouse."
"That is also terribly wasteful of spirit stones."
"Most certainly, but aren't you pursuing economically efficient array formations? You can calculate it carefully and figure out the most economical teleportation array."
"Teleportation arrays are not such convenient things. I had better manufacture the life energy magic array first; it is almost complete." She placed a white mouse on the array formation and let it run an experiment. If it exploded, further fine-tuning would be required.
She would rather the conversion efficiency be a bit lower and safer. She could not afford to be blown apart by life energy the moment she stepped up.
The progress of Body Tempering was extremely slow. After breaking through the bottleneck, her physique showed little change over the span of five years. Immortal cultivators could use spiritual power backflow for Body Tempering; although the process was painful, it could strip away the mortal frame and exchange the bones.
When Mo Caihuan underwent Body Tempering, she endured no shortage of hardship and suffered plenty of bitterness, yet the efficiency was exceedingly low.
She longed to immediately go to the Upper Realm, enjoy rich spiritual qi, and then have spiritual roots implanted on top of that-that would be even better.
"Alas, being a mortal is the same; reincarnation is also a skill. Mortals who are reincarnated into the Upper Realm simply possess greater room for development than those in the Lower Realm." Mo Caihuan truly envied environments with high concentrations of spiritual qi.
Since the Lower Realm lacked it, she could only reluctantly rely on technology to boost longevity. The average lifespan of Jia Yuan City's residents had already risen from thirty-six to fifty-three years, an obvious increase, but there was still room for growth.