Chapter 715

Drip... drip...

Inside the deep underground palace passage, cold water droplets fell one after another onto the brick floor.

Li Yan followed Elder Yuan Feng forward, his gaze scanning the surroundings from time to time.

The further they went inside, the heavier the cold, damp moisture seeping from the brick seams became.

Although Elder Yuan Feng was somewhat tipsy, he was extremely cautious in letting people through, allowing only him to go deep inside.

The guards along the way were strict, and they only arrived after passing through layer upon layer of checkpoints.

This massive domed underground cavern was clearly a natural cave in the mountain that had been renovated.

The huge bell-shaped steam engine prototype had been completely dismantled, and on the ten-meter-long old elm table beside it, the gear components were classified and arranged in an orderly manner.

In the center of the cavern, the scene was even more astonishing:

Twelve bare-chested Mo Sect craftsmen stood in the Eight Trigrams positions, using levers to suspend a massive bronze cylinder.

Several old Daoists held steel awls, carefully etching runes on its surface, and then carefully applying paint mixed with cinnabar... Li Yan suddenly stopped in his tracks, his face full of astonishment.

The steam engine had clearly been dismantled, but this massive cylinder seemed to still be operating independently!

Water vapor condensed on the thick metal outer skin, turning into beads of dew that rolled off.

Hiss—hiss—

The moment the dew hit the ground, it stirred up wisps of pungent white smoke, and thin, cold frost condensed on the ground.

This is...

Li Yan frowned, pinched an incantation, and focused his senses to sniff.

"Senior! This... is actually the Primordial Gang and Sha Qi?!"

He turned his head abruptly, looking at Elder Yuan Feng in shock.

An indescribable sensation came—inside the cylinder, the Gang and Sha Qi of Yin-Yang interaction circulated endlessly, naturally formed, like a living Taiji vortex.

This was clearly the aura of a spiritual aperture that only existed in a blessed land!

His arm guard "Thousand Thoughts" had also once used latitude and longitude lines to simulate a spiritual aperture, driven by the Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coin as the core, but what it produced was only ordinary, impure Gang and Sha Qi, and it had never been able to nurture spiritual charm.

Is this... still that clumsy steam engine?

When it was first assembled, he hadn't noticed such mystery at all!

"Hahaha..." Elder Yuan Feng stroked his beard and laughed, his expression unable to hide his pride and lament, "The Mohist leader Wang Su of that year was truly a heaven-sent talent! If it hadn't been dismantled and studied after being transported back, we would also have found it difficult to glimpse this mystery."

"What is the miraculous use of this object?" Li Yan's curiosity grew even stronger.

"It exerts the force of ten thousand jun, turning the mundane into the mystic!" Elder Yuan Feng spoke without reservation.

No wonder... Li Yan realized in his heart.

This had already transcended the scope of mundane machinery! It was a world of difference, as different as clouds and mud.

Steam engine... driving Gang and Sha Qi... what kind of wonder would it present?

If this kind of skill were widely spread...

Where would the civilization of this world head?

Thinking of this, Li Yan suddenly felt that the road ahead was shrouded in dense fog, and it was difficult to predict.

"This kind of method... how exactly was it achieved?" He hurriedly asked Elder Yuan Feng.

Elder Yuan Feng shook his head, his eyes filled with both admiration and regret: "This object was cast as a whole, seamless and without gaps. Under forced dismantling, the mystery within would collapse along with it... although we have some speculations, but—"

He changed the subject, "Ordinary restrictive formations would never have such power; it must have consumed extremely rare heavenly and earthly spiritual materials."

"In that case... the core secret... has not yet been cracked?" Li Yan frowned tightly.

Elder Yuan Feng's words were so certain that he had originally thought the other party had completely mastered it, but he hadn't expected that they hadn't even understood the principles.

If they were in a hurry to promote it without understanding the foundation, it would be a bit reckless.

"Haha, no need to worry."

Elder Yuan Feng couldn't help but laugh, seemingly not in a hurry, and led Li Yan closer to the massive cylinder, "Little Brother Li, do you know that there was a foreign national teacher named Matteo Ricci in the past?"

Li Yan nodded: "I have heard of him slightly; I heard that after he passed away, he was buried in the suburbs of the capital."

This person was very famous; according to the imperial court, he came from the Western country of Italy.

"Correct," Elder Yuan Feng walked to the cylinder, pointing at the gilded runes on it that were being carefully etched by the old Daoists, "Although National Teacher Ricci was a foreign missionary, he was flexible and adaptable, and he was not entirely opposed to the Mystic Sect of our Shenzhou. The 'Complete Map of All Nations' he drew is quite beneficial to the great cause of opening the seas."

"However, this person was naturally curious and often invited people to observe, but he didn't understand the taboos of our sect," Elder Yuan Feng's words revealed a trace of helplessness and mockery, "He actually put the secret techniques he saw into writing, authoring 'Ten Chapters of the Strange Man' and spreading them abroad..."

Li Yan didn't understand: "This... what does it have to do with this treasure?"

Elder Yuan Feng gently stroked the dense, cinnabar-filled gilded runes on the surface of the cylinder, his expression suddenly becoming incomparably solemn: "That day, you once said to me: 'Those orthodox Mystic Sect deities who sit high in the firmament and are ethereal and unpredictable are merely the gods of others. This object is the true human god of the land where our Mo Sect treads!'"

"When I first heard these words, it was like hearing a heavenly sound!"

Elder Yuan Feng's voice trembled slightly, as if recalling the excitement of that time, "Since then, I have devoutly followed the ancient rites of our sect, treating this treasure as a god. On the way to transport the treasure to the capital, regardless of wind, rain, or darkness, I performed incense offerings every morning and evening, not daring to be the least bit negligent."

"I originally thought it was just a rule of piety... who knew..."

He was so excited for a moment that his speech became somewhat choked.

Li Yan's pupils shrank, "It succeeded?"

"It succeeded!"

Elder Yuan Feng nodded heavily, and after his emotions calmed down slightly, he said, "Perhaps there was a feeling in the dark; even after entering the palace to study, the incense offerings never ceased. I felt as if I had divine help and heavenly enlightenment, and a year ago, I solved the structural principle of the steam engine! Several other disciples... also obtained this mystery."

"With such a heaven-shaking matter, how could the Mo Sect dare to keep it private?"

Elder Yuan Feng said solemnly, "I immediately reported it to His Majesty, and only then did we have the grand event of today's opening ceremony. That day, the Imperial Observatory reported: 'A guest star with red rays like a wheel appeared in the Taiwei Enclosure'! The celestial phenomena confirmed it, and His Majesty was overjoyed, personally bestowing the divine title: 'Erlang Zhenjun of Fire and Water of the Flint Wheel'!"

"Erlang Zhenjun... of the Flint Wheel?" Li Yan's Adam's apple bobbed, and he was speechless for a moment.

He looked again at the bronze cylinder that was still circulating Gang and Sha Qi: "Then this object...?"

"This is the 'heart' of the divine artifact!"

Elder Yuan Feng explained, "We will use the Mystic Sect secret method of 'organ installation' to enshrine it within the Erlang Zhenjun's golden body."

"His Majesty's holy decree has already established the Erlang Zhenjun's divine position in the ancestral temple of the state, enjoying the grand rites of national sacrifice! From now on, wherever a factory is established in a prefecture or county to cast machines, a 'Erlang Zhenjun Shrine' must be established. During solar term festivals, livestock and wine offerings must be made, and all people must worship together, not to be negligent!"

As he spoke, the fanatical light that was almost obsessive ignited in his eyes again:

"The great wheel of human transformation has started, and the general trend is vast and mighty! Rather than being timid, why not follow the mandate of heaven?! What harm is there in leaking the method of the divine artifact to the world?"

"If the vessel benefits the people, they will be wealthy; if the people are wealthy, the country will naturally prosper! From today on, on the territory of our Great Xuan, every roar of a steam engine will add a stick of incense to the Erlang Zhenjun—the labor of all people will be transformed into the luck of the Shenzhou... immortal firewood!"

Looking at Elder Yuan Feng's almost insane expression, Li Yan only felt a chill crawl up his spine to his scalp.

He inexplicably had a feeling that he had bent the timeline...

………………

"There's such a bizarre thing?!"

In the Rouyuan Post House, Sha Lifei grabbed his shiny bald head, his mouth stretching almost to the back of his head.

After returning to the post house, when the clamor of the opening ceremony had dissipated, Li Yan recounted what he had seen and heard.

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and pale.

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard, his face full of worry: "Fortune and misfortune are unpredictable, the danger... is unforeseeable..."

It was no wonder they were worried; even Li Yan felt that the road ahead was shrouded in fog.