noffsinger Chapter 32 New Shuttle Anchor Point!
Chapter 32 New Shuttle Anchor Point!
Liu He drew a blueprint himself and handed it to Hong Jianxiong.
His design was very simple: a rectangular box that was three inches long, three inches wide, and two inches high.
Due to the limited availability of raw materials, the walls of such a box-shaped magical artifact would definitely be very thin on all six sides.
It is made of spiritual material, which is enough to protect against snakes, insects and rodents underground.
Next, he just had to patiently wait for his underground "cave" to be built.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
three days later.
Inside the ant nest, the new queen ant is fully mature and about to take her mating flight.
After more than ten days of growth, the new queen ant has grown even larger, almost catching up with the specialized soldier ants.
Her body was a deep blackish-brown, with two pairs of long wings on her back, and she exuded a strong aura of anticipation for mating.
Ant mound entrance.
The new queen ant lay prone, lowering her head to affectionately touch Liu He with her antennae.
"Make sure you get back to the nest. Be careful."
Liu He gave his heartfelt instructions.
The new queen ant seemed to understand him, gently nuzzling him before reluctantly turning to face the sky, flapping her wings and taking flight, stirring up a howling wind.
Liu He watched as his figure disappeared into the night sky.
It was the dead of night, the sky was clear and cloudless, and a huge full moon hung high in the sky.
The weather was perfect, with a pleasant temperature and no strong winds, making it the ideal breeding season for ants to take their mating flight. The air was filled with the reproductive pheromones released by the ants.
The nuptial flight of the new queen and male ants often takes place hundreds or even thousands of meters away from the original nest, and is completed at a height of tens of meters above the ground.
The male ant dies soon after completing its mission.
Liu He waited anxiously all night, and just before dawn, the new queen ant returned.
"Welcome back the new queen ant!"
His ant nest finally welcomed its second queen ant capable of laying eggs.
Many ants rushed forward and escorted the new queen ant deep into the nest.
For queen ants starting a new nest, the initial period is very difficult; 90% of new queen ants fail to develop a large-scale nest.
Because the queen ant will encounter various difficulties in the early stages of development, without the protection of a large number of ant soldiers, she will face various natural enemies that are difficult to resist, and it will be difficult to harvest enough food.
The queen ant that returns to the nest does not face these problems, and the difficulties of the initial development are skipped. This is why many ant colonies have evolved a "multiple queen" system, which is conducive to the reproduction of the species.
Another day passed, and the new queen ant began laying eggs in the newly dug nest chamber.
To Liu He's surprise, as the new queen ant laid her eggs, he and the new queen ant developed a telepathic connection!
This telepathic connection is consistent with the telepathic connection between Liu He and the first queen ant.
This change surprised Liu He and made him very curious.
He believed his telepathic connection with the first queen ant was a "contract," and it served as his anchor point for traversing the world.
He was able to enter the ant nest by sensing the queen ant.
"My telepathic connection with the second-generation queen ant allows me to travel through time?"
With this guess in mind, Liu He immediately put it into practice.
He sensed the second-generation ant queen in his mind and silently recited "shuttle".
They also ventured into the anthill!
"Great! This greatly increases the ant nest's resilience."
Liu He thought to himself.
He was always worried that the queen ant would encounter some danger, which would cause him to completely lose his contract with the ant nest and his ability to travel.
The second-generation queen ant now serves the same purpose.
"If the second-generation queen ant splits out of the nest, wouldn't I have two locations I can travel between?"
He had this idea.
In his view, the first queen ant is his anchor point, a special kind of spatiotemporal coordinate. No matter where he is, as long as he senses the queen ant, he can travel into the anthill with a single thought.
The second-generation queen ant becomes the new anchor point for travel, meaning that he can travel to one more coordinate.
"As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. If I send the second-generation queen ant to split the nest, my ability to deal with danger will be greatly enhanced."
"There's no need to swarm for now. Let the second-generation queen lay eggs and develop them for a while."
Liu He is now in the sect, and neither he nor the Ant Nest will encounter any insurmountable dangers.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Wanqifeng.
Forging Hall.
A forging room.
The forging furnace, fueled by the earth's ley lines, roared with intense heat.
Hong Jianxiong, shirtless, used a magical forging hammer to pound a lump of unknown material in front of him.
He was covered in sweat, which reflected the firelight as if he were coated with oil.
The temperature in this forging room is extremely high. Only Hong Jianxiong, with his Qi Refining Level 6 cultivation, can withstand the high temperature with his spiritual energy. Ordinary servants and disciples cannot last more than a quarter of an hour here.
"That's really strange."
Hong Jianxiong was forging the material from Liu He's broken sword.
He removed the rust, then melted and forged it to completely remove the impurities contained in the patterns, restoring it to its original material.
Logically speaking, he shouldn't have had to put in so much effort to forge such a small piece of material.
His forging and hammering techniques have been honed to perfection through countless trials.
"This material is not right; it's not a top-grade first-tier material."
After a while, Hung Kin-hung stopped what he was doing.
He sensed that the material in front of him wasn't intended for making a first-tier spiritual weapon; its material was much tougher than that of a first-tier spiritual weapon.
"Could it be a second-tier spiritual weapon?"
He was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining and didn't know much about second-tier spiritual weapons.
Second-tier spiritual artifacts are used by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Once the red-hot material cooled, it turned into a palm-sized, pitch-black lump of iron, which, upon closer inspection, contained evenly distributed specks of cold, silvery powder.
"Go ask the manager."
His supervisor is a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert.
To be able to serve as the manager of the Forging Hall, one must naturally be a blacksmith who is proficient in forging magical artifacts.
After careful examination, the blacksmith, who was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, used his divine sense and spiritual power to examine the weapon and concluded that it contained a second-tier spiritual ore called "Spirit Concealment Zinc". The original flying sword should have been a low-grade second-tier spiritual weapon, not a top-grade first-tier weapon.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Upon learning the result, Hong Jianxiong hesitated.
"That junior brother who just joined the sect as a handyman is too lucky. He actually bought a second-tier spiritual weapon from a discarded spiritual artifact that others didn't want."
"The steward said that the Spirit Hidden Zinc is not easy to detect, and it's such a small flying sword, so it's normal that no one noticed it. My eyesight isn't good enough to detect a second-tier spiritual weapon either."
"This lump of material containing Spirit Concealment Zinc is worth at least one hundred spirit stones."
One hundred spirit stones is only the value of the materials, and that's only because there are so few materials available; otherwise, the price could be doubled.
Lingyin zinc is best suited for forging miniature flying swords.
If this lump of material were forged into a flying sword and its engravings were completed, it would become a second-tier spiritual weapon, worth a high price of 1,800 spirit stones. Once it becomes a "second-tier" weapon, its price is at least several times higher than that of a first-tier spiritual weapon.
Should I change it for him?
Hong Jianxiong inevitably developed greed.
He spent twenty spirit stones to buy raw materials for Liu He to reforge, believing that Liu He's eyesight would be too good to tell the difference.
He can make a fortune.
He was tempted, but that wasn't in his nature.
"Forget it, it's his destiny, why should I covet it? If he becomes a Foundation Establishment cultivator or even a Golden Core cultivator in the future, I can still leave a good impression on him."
"I just want my thoughts to be clear."
Hong Jianxiong had heard from high-level cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage that the higher the cultivation level, the more important it is to have clear thoughts and not leave behind inner demons.