Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said quickly, "I'm going to solve the problem with a drain valve that has been refined in a special way and my own combustion accelerant."
Master Jin Tianzong asked, "What kind of special way?"
"Like this."
Li Yao retrieved a metal cube the size of a baby's fist from his Cosmos Ring. The surface of the cube was uniform and smooth, and it was lead gray.
He held the metal cube in his palm and inputted a stream of spiritual energy into it. The metal cube immediately floated in midair and revolved slowly.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Li Yao's face had never been so solemn before. A drop of sweat the size of a bean was even leaking out of his temples. Dozens of electric arcs jumped out of his fingertips and condensed into five deep blue rays of light that disappeared into the cube. As his fingers bounced, they changed, cut, and engraved quickly.
White smoke was popping up. The surface of the metal cube had been engraved with complicated, delicate patterns by Li Yao, like six mazes that were embedded together.
One minute later, Li Yao took a long breath in relief and finished the engraving. Holding the glamorous metal cube, he delivered it to Master Jin Tianzong.
Ye Qingyun and the refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet were greatly confused. While Li Yao's technique of condensing spiritual energy into light blades to engrave the surface of the metal was beautiful, it was not exactly a rarely-seen skill. It could only be said that he was rather familiar with it.
Master Jin Tianzong, however, had unprecedented caution on his face. Holding his breath, he took over the metal cube in Li Yao's hands carefully.
He first wrapped a thin layer of psionic shield around the cube. Then, he sent a stream of psionic energy into the cube.
An incredible scene was played out again!
The seemingly whole metal cube turned into metal sheets that were as thin as cicada's wings and almost transparent, dancing softly in the air!
Every piece of metal looked like a translucent snowflake, engraved with dense patterns.
Some of them were rune arrays that involved combustion and power output, and some were diagrams of the complicated spiritual energy circulation. They were a hundred times more complicated than the patterns on the surface of the metal cube!
A small, delicate metal cube had been cut into hundreds of metal sheets by Li Yao with the blades of spiritual energy without a sound. Different rune arrays had been carved on every metal sheet!
Ye Qingyun and the other refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet were awed by Li Yao's marvelous skills again, but they were too shocked to even exclaim.
"Fellow Cultivator Jin —"
Li Yao had already realized that Master Jin Tianzong was a pure idiot. There was no need to pretend to be polite with such a pure technical expert. He had to communicate with him with his real skills in order to win his recognition and trust. "If I can carve more than twenty layers of protection and stabilization rune arrays inside the wall of the Crystal Suit in the same way, and then control the changes of the output with special drainage valves, is it possible to provide three levels of output power for the three different forms of the Crystal Suit with one crystal reactor?"
Master Jin Tianzong stared at the dancing metal sheets for a long time, wandering in the waves that Li Yao carved with his fascinated eyes. It was not until a long time later that he finally retreated his eyes unwillingly, but he focused his eyes on Li Yao's hands that were not eye-catching at all.
Master Jin Tianzong sighed vaguely. There was no telling whether he was envious of Li Yao's hands that were as fast as lightning, or he was lamenting that his hands were too damaged to carry out half of the refining skills that he had in his prime. He could never do what Li Yao did just now.
"May I ask what your school is, Fellow Cultivator Li?"
It was not until then that Master Jin Tianzong finally remembered that Li Yao had bowed to him a moment ago. He bowed back deeply and said sincerely, "Your skills in refining will certainly raise a lot of commotion even if you break into the circle of refiners in the capital of the Imperium!"
Li Yao said, "If I say that I accidentally received the heritage of refining from the age of the ancient Cultivators and grasped it on my own, would you believe me, Fellow Cultivator Jin?"
Master Jin Tianzong was slightly dazed. He said, "Just now, I was telling the queen that I absolutely did not believe that anybody could reach the peak of refining on their own. But now, after witnessing Fellow Cultivator Li's marvelous skills, I have to say that if it is you, I … seem to be somewhat suspicious!"
Looking at Master Jin Tianzong's hands, Li Yao changed the topic and asked abruptly, "Fellow Cultivator Jin's hands were heavily wounded in the past two years?"
After hearing that, Ye Qingyun and the other refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet looked embarrassed again. For a refiner, their hands were their life. It was too outrageous that Li Yao tore apart Master Jin Tianzong's scars while he was still alive.
Master Jin Tianzong slightly frowned, with intense bitterness flowing out of his eyes. It was not because he recalled the pain when his hands were wounded, but because he was helpless when he thought that he could no longer use his hands flexibly and carry out the arts of refining to the best. He said hoarsely, "Yes. My muscles have exploded, my bones are shattered, and my veins and nerves are a mess … Even with the most advanced flesh regeneration technology and the nourishment of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that the queen has found, it is not a problem for me to carry out my daily life or even regular refining. But when it comes to the production of certain complicated components or the ultra-tiny carving and precision processing that the queen has found, I am still 'short of breath' as you said.
"At our level of cultivation, you should be well aware that for our hands to be in such a state, to put it bluntly, it is as good as crippled!
"After I came to the Deep Sea Fleet, I summarized all the crystallization that I condensed on the arts of refining in the first half of my life, and I still believed that my theories were correct.
"I still had countless brand-new power rune arrays that I wanted to create, a hundred unique Crystal Suits that I wanted to produce, and I even developed an ancillary power unit that was specifically targeted at the Colossi, which could increase the speed and agility of the Colossi by more than 5%!
"But exactly because of my … crippled hands, all my experiments failed, and all my ideas could only lurk in my head!
"I told the queen many times that I could only serve as the 'brain' of the refining team and the entire magical equipment system of the Deep Sea Fleet and provide theoretical guidance at best. But if the Deep Sea Fleet really wants to boast the most powerful Crystal Suit and even the Colossi to compete with the other super fleets of the Imperium of True Human Beings, we have to find a pair of hands for the refining team and the entire magical equipment system that are both miracles and myths!
"I — I didn't know that the queen was so resourceful that she could find someone like Fellow Cultivator Li so quickly …"
Master Jin Tianzong couldn't have been more excited. He repeated himself three times, but he could not find any words to describe the shock that Li Yao brought to him.
"I'm told that Fellow Cultivator Jin has made breakthroughs in the studies of the 'Hybrid Crystal Suit'?" Li Yao said. "I was somewhat suspicious at the beginning, but after scanning the power system of the Crystal Suit just now, I began to believe it. I can't wait to start the exploration of the 'Hybrid Crystal Suit' together with Fellow Cultivator Jin."
His eyes glowing, Master Jin Tianzong said, "With Fellow Cultivator Li's participation, the magical equipment development team of the Deep Sea Fleet will be like a tiger that has grown wings. With enough time, it is possible that we will be able to surpass the refining teams of the Imperial University, the Imperial Polytechnical University, and the Imperial Advanced College of Metallurgy!"
To this moment, Master Jin Tianzong still thought that Li Yao was a pure refiner. At the very least, his main occupation was a refiner. He was even encouraging Li Yao with the logic of a refiner.
Li Yao smiled and shifted the topic back to Master Jin Tianzong's hands. "Fellow Cultivator Jin, it was rather presumptuous of me to ask about the wounds on your hands all of a sudden. However, I'm truly in a hurry to know whether your wounds are new or old, because in the heritage of refining that I received from the ancient Cultivators, there are several secret recipes that can be used to polish and train the hands.
"Although the ancient Cultivators were far behind the modern civilization of Immortal Cultivators in terms of the systematic development of various disciplines, there were still some effective approaches after tens of thousands of years of experience.
"My hands suffered a lot of serious wounds during the crazy training. Some of the training methods even required the flesh and blood of the hands to be gnawed up and regenerated nonstop in order to develop the keenest senses.
"Had it not been for the support of the secret techniques to nurture the hands, my hands would've been crippled a long time ago!
"Therefore, if you trust me, Fellow Cultivator Jin, you might as well have a try with my secret recipes. After all, I don't think the situation can get any worse, can't it?"
Master Jin Tianzong was immediately stunned.
The communication among the Immortal Cultivators had always been cold and distant. They often valued "fair deals". Few of them would be friendly to each other for no good reason.
In the past, when he was in the Refining Department of the Imperial Polytechnical University, he had pissed off too many refiners on his way to the development of the "Hybrid Crystal Suit".
Everybody was waiting to see him make a fool of himself. Nobody would give him a helping hand.
He even had a natural reaction, wondering if this "Vulture Li Yao" was up to something and wanted something from him.
But when he remembered that he was in the Deep Sea Fleet and that this Fellow Cultivator Li had been summoned by the queen in person, he was finally more or less relieved.
Besides, he had been reduced to what he was today from a professor of the Imperial Polytechnical University and one of the most popular masters in the circle of refiners. What did he have that was worth mentioning?
The only valuable things on him were the theories, concepts, and designs of the "Hybrid Crystal Suit".
If "Vulture Li Yao" wanted those things, he could've just taken them all away. Perhaps they would only be developed in the hands of the guy someday!
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