Chapter 342: Master Xu Visits America Three Times

Xu Jia sensed the crude Steam Engine Magic Tool; it was full of power, and with a Dragon soul and fire spirit, it was truly extraordinary, giving one a sense of visual shock.

The one who created this was a little eunuch from the Salt and Iron Bureau who was obsessed with the Materialization Path. He was the adopted son of the previous mining supervisor eunuch; that eunuch died, but he survived. Xu Jia sent people to take over this place and isolate it from the imperial court, so he remained here as well.

Later, he also learned Daoism. Perhaps because he was a broken person, he was very interested in mechanical objects, which was a different path from the Daoists of Shanju Guan who had extensive experience in refining firearms.

"What is your name?"

The little eunuch said shyly, "Replying to the Old Immortal, this servant is called Xiao Anzi."

Xu Jia praised him, "You are a talent. From now on, you will be responsible for everything regarding the Steam Engine. Select another twenty people to form a team and establish a separate Steam Laboratory. I hope steamships and steam trains can be built quickly."

Steamships and steam trains are transport capacity; they are the key to logistics and the foundation for the development of the era and the flow of people and materials.

Xu Jia at the very least needed to lay tracks in places like the coal mines, iron mines, and copper mines of Jiangnan West Circuit to transport more ore out.

"It is not just this servant's merit; there are others. For example, this Hundred-Forged Rune Steel is where the Daoists combine their own Dharma Power with iron ingots, repeatedly folding and forging them to form patterns, much like the growth rings of a tree, and even more like the human body's meridians."

"Like this Cylinder Pill Chamber, it was an idea given by a pill-refining Daoist. He believes that the true Qi of gathering herbs is heart-fire and kidney-water, and the Qi of this steam is the same—it is the transformation of water and fire. Thus, the cylinder is like the dantian's spiritual aperture, Drawing Kan and Filling Li; the water vapor turning into force is Qian, and the furnace slag is the turbid Qi descending, which is Kun."

Xu Jia listened to this theory, which was extremely unscientific and neither Xianxia nor fantasy, yet he found it made some sense. He evaluated it, "As the saying goes, 'Dao follows nature, man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, and Heaven follows the Dao.' This Instrument Path is imitating the path of living beings in the world; it is the instrument imitating man, and this 'man' is all of humanity and all sentient beings with spirits."

"This cylinder imitates the pulsating movement of the heart. Can it then imitate a bird flying in the sky, or a flood dragon diving into water? Can it be made into these mechanisms based on a fierce tiger?"

Xiao Anzi said, "This servant has heard that within the imperial Ministry of Works, there are many inheritances from the Hundred-Family schools of the pre-Qin era, such as the Mohist School and the Gongshu School. But most are mechanism arts used for guarding tombs. I have also heard of the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse, which can fly for half an hour. They also have some combinations of Magic Tools and mechanisms, but I have never seen this kind of creation. If it weren't for the Heavenly Craft Blueprints left by the Old Immortal, we wouldn't be able to make it. Simply refining it as a mundane object would never work; only by refining it into a Magic Tool and making slight modifications can it be completed."

Xu Jia could not give a specific reason either. Perhaps the rules of the world did not allow for something exactly the same and required innovation to pass, or perhaps it was inherently biased toward the cultivation side, and since it had not yet reached the End of Dharma Era, the power of the mind was still relatively strong.

Xu Jia nodded, "Then refine it according to the logic of a Magic Tool. This one is too small. When it can serve as power to drive a Bao Ship, then it will be considered a success. Ponder the blueprints more."

"Once this is made, the rest will not be difficult; it is nothing more than the difference between a single-cylinder, double-cylinder, or even four-cylinder engine."

Xiao Anzi thought about it and said, "After this model is made, scaling it up will definitely cause some problems, but they should not be hard to solve. If there are more than twenty people and enough money and materials, in half a year we should be able to produce a machine the size of a room."

The size of a room—that was not actually very big, just the size of a locomotive. "I await your good news." Xu Jia offered encouragement, then kneaded a wisp of Dandanqi from Anji Furen's Inner Elixir, added his own Green Yang Immortal Spirit Qi, and refined a Small Golden Pill: "This Golden Pill can slowly release Green Yang Qi to help you balance yin and yang. I will also pass on a set of techniques to you. This technique is transmitted from the Buddhist Yoga and is the Heavenly Human Reincarnation Technique. It can be called Feathered Ascension and rebirth; like a golden silkworm spinning a cocoon, if you cultivate it to a deep level, you can compensate for your deficiencies and become a whole person."

Xiao Anzi was incredulous, "Is this true?"

Xu Jia pointed a ray of spiritual light and performed a direct initiation. At Xu Jia's level, it was not difficult to fabricate a cultivation method for the Earth Immortal realm tailored to the individual.

Xiao Anzi received the method, his face flushing red; he was excited to death. Although he was a eunuch who had received a Register, his physiological defects had always been there, and his whole body had a faint smell of urine. Their castration involved eating egg yolks when they were young, then using a rope to tie that part, slowly pinching it until it became numb and had no feeling, at which point it could be crushed and left to rot; then came the castration. The pain endured was unimaginable.

People say the old society persecuted women, but men were persecuted just the same; as long as it was a living thing, it was persecuted. Oxen, horses, and livestock were often even more precious than human lives.

Xu Jia said softly, "You need not say more. In the future, do not refer to yourself as 'this servant,' and there is no need to call me 'Old Immortal.' Just call me Sect Master, Dao Lord, or True Person; any of these will do."

Having said this, Xu Jia turned into a breeze and left, leaving Xiao Anzi sobbing on the spot.

Xu Jia returned home and felt that the arrangements were mostly complete. His father was capable enough to sit firmly in charge of logistics, so he sat cross-legged under the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella, holding the Chaos Pearl, sensing this treasure and his own Body Temple space to see if he could anchor his previous life's world into this treasure.

Unfortunately, it could not be done. This treasure was the founding treasure of the Yellow Heaven Sect, and inside it connected to the thirty-six Desire Realm spaces. In Xu Jia's previous life's world, the Yellow Heaven faith was still in the Han Dynasty era, two thousand years away; anything after that did not follow the regulations, and one could only talk about the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, the slaying of the Yellow Turbans, and the oath of brotherhood.

Xu Jia only felt this thing was tasteless. Perhaps next time he met Huang Zhenren of the underworld, he could ask him how to refine this thing freely and make it helpful.

The next moment, his mind sank deep, and he wandered into Taixu.

In the Tongtian Temple opposite Saint John's Cathedral in San Francisco, America, the Incense Fire was flourishing at this time. Xu Jia's three thousand disciples from before his death, along with their disciples and grand-disciples, had previously scattered, but not long after, they had gathered together again, all very lively.

It could only be said that Xu Jia manifesting his spirit was far better than those Evil Sects that did not manifest and only held parties. Furthermore, those four great disciples were cultivating in a Blessed Land, purifying the Dharma Realm, and had achieved the status of Underground Lord Ghost Immortal, which already counted as "Spirit Recovery."

Although America itself was very magical—with vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters, and Demon Gods all interfering with reality—the energy absorbed by cultivating the Dao was light and ethereal, and it was similar yet different from their system. It was quite difficult to get started; one could cultivate, but it was hard. Now that they had achieved something, many people naturally flocked to them, especially after Xu Jia's last sacrifice and blessing, which rewarded them with some pills, as well as Dragon Horns and Dragon Pearls. In America, the spiritual energy of these things was like a torch reaching the sky, attracting many people of the same frequency, namely those who practiced Qi and cultivation.

(End of chapter)