Chapter 183: The Stabilizing Effect of Thunder Stone Mine
It had been a long time since Song Jiulai thought about the Old Sect Master.
It wasn’t that she was heartless, but that the Old Sect Master had croaked the moment she arrived.
She’d never even met him, so how could she have any feelings for him!
When she first arrived, the system had told her that the Old Sect Master had no lingering attachments in this world—except for A Wu, who was part of the Longevity Sect’s legacy.
Whether the Old Sect Master had old acquaintances wasn’t the crucial point. The Longevity Sect’s situation was just... special.
Although she had been dropped in out of nowhere, only Su Huanli and A Wu knew that she was the Daughter of Destiny.
Song Jiulai wasn’t particularly worried, she just questioned the system’s competence.
"You didn’t do a thorough background check before you came?"
The system replied with self-righteous confidence, "I’m only responsible for you, not anyone else."
Song Jiulai: "...What’s the situation over there now?"
System: "Han Tian is looking into it for you."
The female cultivator’s words had also confused Han Tian and his companions.
They had indeed heard about the Old Sect Master from A Wu, but the players had no idea how he had passed the position of Sect Master to Song Jiulai.
The players all assumed Song Jiulai taking over the Sect was just the natural course of events.
Since she was an old acquaintance of the Old Sect Master, Han Tian said, "Senior, you must be referring to the previous Sect Master. The Old Sect Master has already passed away."
He hadn’t realized it before, but now that she mentioned the Old Sect Master, and considering he couldn’t discern her cultivation level, she was almost certainly a senior.
The female cultivator froze for a moment upon hearing his reply.
Han Tian carefully observed the female cultivator’s expression before adding, "Senior, if you have any business, we can report it to our current Sect Master for you."
"It’s nothing of consequence, really. It’s just that he left something with me, and I had intended to give it to him in person on this trip... In that case, may I ask where your Sect Master is now?"
The moment he heard there was an item involved, Han Tian immediately said, "Our Sect Master isn’t here at the moment. If you’re willing to entrust it to us, Senior, we can pass it along to our Sect Master."
The female cultivator was clearly hesitant.
After a long pause, she said, "No, it’s better not. I must personally hand the item he left with me to the current Sect Master. I’ll make a trip to Wang’an County myself in a few days."
With that, she turned and left.
Ma Shaojie, who was standing nearby, immediately asked Han Tian, "This looks like a quest related to the Sect Master. Should we go investigate for clues?"
Han Tian bit his finger. "Probably not a good idea. The system is listening; it’ll tell the Sect Master on its own."
Song Jiulai was still quite a mysterious figure in the players’ minds.
She rarely appeared before the players, which had the benefit of maintaining her mystique.
The downside was that she communicated through the system so frequently that many of them now believed Song Jiulai *was* the system...
The problem was that the system’s style was too much like a shitty game dev’s.
Han Tian, however, didn’t think that was the case.
If the Sect Master were the system, a lot of things would seem redundant.
His guess was pretty accurate, but unfortunately, he hadn’t yet grasped Song Jiulai’s true nature.
Ma Shaojie looked thoughtful.
Song Jiulai also received the system’s message, learning that the female cultivator had something from the Old Sect Master to give her. ’I’ll have to come up with an excuse when the time comes,’ she thought, before saying aloud, "I’ll go back to the Sect and meet her once I’m out of the Secret Realm."
’For now, I’d better focus on getting through this Secret Realm.’
***
"Holy shit, it actually works?"
Inside a secret workshop of the Longevity Sect in Wang’an County, a player stared at four pieces of Thunder Stone fixed together in his hand. He channeled a trace of Spiritual Energy into them, and the Spiritual Energy within the Thunder Stone was stimulated and began to dissipate, but it didn’t explode.
Considering the known properties of Thunder Stone, this was an exhilarating success.
"You science guys are terrifying. How did you even discover that a Wooden Line soaked in Poison Blood could stabilize Thunder Stone?"
The player, Gu Yunxi, looked at the four chunks of Thunder Stone bound by a transparent Wooden Line. He held them up for closer inspection. "Even though it still needs a Cultivator to activate it manually, at least this proves it can be used normally."
And with its element stabilized, it wouldn’t explode. The ore was now like any other normal ore.
"But it still can’t be used for conventional Artifact Refining," said Shuang Xiahuai, a player who was conducting research with Zhen Weida. "Artifact Refining requires blending various spirit materials, and Thunder Stone doesn’t fit that model. Add any more elements, and it becomes unstable again. However, the Spiritual Energy from Thunder Stone can be used as a power source for machinery, weapons, or even Magic Treasures."
All the refined Magic Treasures currently on the market require a continuous drain on the user’s own Spiritual Energy.
The existence of Thunder Stone could perfectly solve this problem of Cultivators depleting their own Spiritual Energy.
Even with a Flying Magical Treasure, as long as you have enough Thunder Stone to swap out, you could fly indefinitely.
A thought struck Gu Yunxi. "Holy crap, does that mean we could even use multiple Magic Treasures at once in a fight? And we can start building the sky walkways?"
Shuang Xiahuai gave him a wry smile. "They all share a common problem: supply."
"You’re right, that’s the idea. But sky walkways and high-level Magic Treasures require too much Spiritual Energy. With our current construction methods, building a path all the way from Wang’an County to the other Sects would require far more energy than First Rank Thunder Stone can provide. We’d need at least Third Rank Thunder Stone for that. By the same token, right now we can only use this on Mortal Treasures. It’s a good day if a Mortal Treasure can even break the armor of a First-rank Demon Beast. At best, this technology can be used for non-combat Flying Magical Treasures."
Shuang Xiahuai subconsciously adjusted the glasses he wasn’t actually wearing in-game. "The Feique Sect’s Thunder Stone Ore Vein is mostly composed of First and Second Rank ore. We’ve only found a dozen or so pieces of Third Rank Thunder Stone, which is nowhere near enough. Not unless you can find an even higher-level ore vein."
Gu Yunxi clapped his hands. "But that’s still enough! Do you have any idea how expensive the Feique Sect’s Flying Magical Treasures are? If we can use them without worrying about the cost, we can use aerial pursuit tactics to wear down demon beasts when we go out hunting."
"The Thunder Stone requires specific Magic Treasures. In other words, they’ll need to be Magic Treasures refined by our own Sect members, designed or modified for Thunder Stone installation. The ones on the market won’t work yet, but that shouldn’t be too difficult to solve," Shuang Xiahuai mused. "Who in our Sect can consistently produce Mortal Treasures right now?"
"Only Xue Yao, Tianya’s brother. I’ll go talk to him. He’ll definitely be interested in this business."
Gu Yunxi was ecstatic. This was a massive breakthrough.
Artifact Refining was expensive, but it wasn’t a problem for every disciple of the Longevity Sect to have their own Mortal Treasure.
Even a non-combat Flying Magical Treasure could grant a person a sudden, drastic increase in their capabilities.
You just never knew what kind of methods today’s players would come up with.
Gu Yunxi patted Shuang Xiahuai’s shoulder admiringly. "Brother Shuang, you’re a genius! It’s a good thing Zhen Weida has a sharp eye for talent and recruited you. You must be a big-shot researcher in real life, right?"