Chapter 9
Do Not Let Your Ancestors Down, Do Not Let Your Descendants Down
Red Copper mountain range, inside the earth fire chamber…
Chen Xianhe stared at the huge object in front of him, which was dozens of feet tall and ten feet wide. He could not help but be stunned.
What was even more peculiar was that, judging from the faint spiritual light emitted by this huge object, it was actually a spiritual artifact.
Seeing this scene, Chen Xianhe turned around to look at Chen Daoxuan, who was beside him, and asked, “Did you just say that this thing called the spirit smelting furnace can help you refine spirit ores?”
“Yes!”
Chen Daoxuan nodded affirmatively. “To be precise, the spirit smelting furnace can not only help refiners refine spirit ore, but it also doesn’t require cultivators to operate it. A few mortals will be sufficient to operate this thing!”
Hearing this, Chen Xianhe lost his composure immediately.
It was already incredible enough that it could help refiners refine spirit ore, but this thing did not even need cultivators to operate it. It was no longer just incredible, but shocking beyond belief.
If what Chen Daoxuan said was true, then the significance of this spiritual artifact was too great.
Although Chen Xianhe did not manage to become a refiner, he had studied the clan’s artifact refining inheritance during his early years, so he still had some basic knowledge regarding artifact refining.
He knew that refining materials was often the most time-consuming and laborious process when refining some low-level spiritual artifacts.
If a few mortals and a furnace could solve the problem of refining spirit ore, then the refining speed of the refiner would be significantly accelerated.
Such a simple principle was naturally easily grasped given that he was the patriarch of the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island.
Chen Daoxuan saw the suspicious look on thirteenth uncle’s face. He did not waste any time and immediately operated it in front of him.
Six hours later.
“Due to the sealed nature of the spirit smelting furnace, the speed at which it refines spirit ores is faster than when refiners directly use the heat gathering array. Normally, it takes three days to refine red copper ores but, now, it only takes six hours to complete the refining process.”
Chen Daoxuan manipulated the second control lever and moved the red liquid lump out of the spirit smelting furnace as he spoke.
Although Chen Xianhe was not a refiner, he could still feel the rich spiritual essence emanating from the red liquid in front of him.
Then, he brought the red liquid in front of him and blinked his eyes. He looked at the red liquid, and then at the spirit smelting furnace; his old face turned redder and redder. Finally, he could not help but burst out into laughter.
“Hahaha!”
“Hahahaha!”
After the time it took to brew half a cup of tea passed, Chen Xianhe’s laughter finally died down.
Chen Xianhe seemed to realize that he had lost his composure in front of his nephew, and could not help but blush. However, he soon forgot about this little gaffe.
“Daoxuan, how much does it cost to refine this spirit smelting furnace?”
Seeing the serious expression on Chen Xianhe’s face, Chen Daoxuan could not help but speak seriously, “Clan leader, refining the spirit smelting furnace requires two materials, iron ore and silvermoon stone. Iron ore is not valuable, so the main cost of its production comes from the silvermoon stone.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “The furnace in front of us utilized a total of 39 jin of silvermoon stones. Converted to spirit stones, it would be around 195 spirit stones.”
Although silvermoon stones and red copper ores were both grade one spirit ores, the price of the former was much higher than the latter, costing about five spirit stones per jin. The main reason this was so was because the supply of silvermoon stones in the Myriad Sea of Stars was relatively scarce.
Of course, as the Qian Yuan Sword sect continued to wage war against the Izumo country over the years and plundered large amounts of the Izumo country’s resources, the price of the silvermoon stones continued to drop.
If one were to really count, the most widespread and cheapest spirit ore in the Myriad Sea of Stars was neither silvermoon stone nor red copper ore. Instead, it was a grade one spirit ore called black iron.
Not only could it be found abundantly in the Myriad Sea of Stars, it was even easier to find in the Immortal Cloud continent’s immortal cultivation world.
As a result, many low-level cultivators who did not know how to refine artifacts, and could not afford to buy spiritual artifacts, would often use black iron as a “spiritual artifact” after haphazardly refining it, which would only make people laugh.
“195 spirit stones. It’s actually cheap. Not expensive at all.”
Chen Xianhe stroked his goatee and said with a smile.
He knew clearly in his heart that, compared to how much it benefited artifact refiners, these 195 spirit stones were simply not worth mentioning.
When Chen Daoxuan heard this, he shook his head and then said, “Ahem, clan leader, 195 spirit stones is just the cost of this furnace. You haven’t calculated the cost of building the earth fire chamber yet?”
Hearing this, Chen Xianhe was stunned.
“Why do you want to build another earth fire chamber? Doesn’t the clan already have this earth fire chamber?”
Hearing that Chen Daoxuan wanted to build an earth fire chamber, Chen Xianhe could not remain calm.
Chen Xianhe knew very well how expensive it was to build an earth fire chamber because the earth fire chamber they were in had been built during his time.
Back then, it took more than two thousand spirit stones to build it.
Seeing Chen Xianhe’s expression, Chen Daoxuan had a thought… It seemed that the clan still had a lot of reserves!
Thinking this, Chen Daoxuan said without batting an eyelid, “Clan leader, although this earth fire chamber is good, it’s too small.”
“Moreover, there are many unreasonable aspects with regard to the original design and layout of the chamber. For example, the heat gathering array here. With the spirit smelting furnace, this heat gathering array would be useless, and this place…”
Chen Daoxuan started to point out the deficiencies of this earth fire chamber.
It was not until Chen Xianhe’s old face turned green that Chen Daoxuan finally stopped.
“Humph!”
Chen Xianhe snorted, “Is the earth fire chamber I built so bad?”
Seeing the unhappy expression on thirteenth uncle’s face, Chen Daoxuan immediately shook his head like a rattle and said, “It’s not like that. It’s just that, with the spirit smelting furnace, this earth fire chamber is indeed not very practical.”
“Moreover, thirteenth uncle, think carefully. If you want to maximize the efficiency and output of refining spiritual artifacts for artifact refiners, you have to provide each artifact refiner with at least four to five spirit smelting furnaces.”
“As it currently stands, we can barely squeeze into our earth fire chamber, but what if our clan produces more artifact refiners in the future? “Is this tiny space enough?”
Hearing this, Chen Xianhe said unhappily, “There are only two cultivators in the clan at the moment, and yet somehow you’re talking about producing a large number of artifact refiners. Even the Zhou clan doesn’t dare to dream like you do!”
“Hehe!”
Seeing Chen Daoxuan giggling foolishly, Chen Xianhe fell into deep thought.
After a long time, he looked at Chen Daoxuan solemnly and said, “Follow me.”
…
Chen Xianhe and Chen Daoxuan flew toward Chen Xianhe’s cave abode.
In less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the two of them landed in front of the cave abode.
On the way, Chen Xianhe did not say a word. Chen Daoxuan vaguely knew what Chen Xianhe was about to do, and he could not help but look forward to it.
They walked into the cave abode.
The two of them took many turns before stopping in front of a stone wall made of broken dragon stone.
Chen Xianhe looked at the broken dragon stone that was as smooth as jade on the surface. He said thoughtfully, “My Chen clan has been established on Shuanghu Island for 273 years since our ancestor Chen Dengyuan founded the clan. Do you know why our Chen clan was able to survive until now?”
Chen Xianhe turned around and looked at Chen Daoxuan.
Chen Daoxuan thought for a moment, and then shook his head.
“The reason why our Chen clan has survived for 300 years is because of our ancestors’ spirit of sacrificing themselves for the sake of our descendants! The inheritance we have today is all due to our ancestors’ sacrifices!”
Chen Xianhe raised his head slightly and said, “We have ascended to the immortal path and blessed our descendants. In these 300 years, our Chen clan… has done it!”
At this moment, Chen Xianhe thought of his big brother who had risked his life on the battlefield. He thought of his seventh brother who had risked his life to protect his youngest brother. He thought of his ancestors who had sacrificed their lives for their clan!
Chen Daoxuan was affected by Chen Xianhe’s sad mood. He could not help but fall silent.
Although he knew that the Chen clan had declined, Chen Xianhe had been doing his best to shield him from the wind and rain all these years. His body posture was hunched and his temples were white.
This kind of kindness would not be ignored by any individual.
“Thirteenth uncle, Daoxuan will carry on the legacy of our ancestors in this life. We will not let down our ancestors and future generations!” Chen Daoxuan said firmly.
Hearing this, Chen Xianhe stared at him with bloodshot eyes. In the end, he nodded heavily and said, “My Chen clan is very lucky to have a descendant like you!”