Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 216 Factory Area Cottage

The two arrived at the top of the mountain opposite the factory area. This small mountain was originally the living area of ​​the miners. The rows of stone houses with hundreds of years of history still stand there halfway up the mountain. The miners who have lived there for generations have transformed the front and back of the houses into small courtyards with their own characteristics. In the courtyards, some people plant flowers and grass, while others grow vegetables and raise poultry.

Some small courtyards have a large tree, under which there is a stone table and a few chairs. Sitting under the tree in one's leisure time is quite pleasant. Now, many small courtyards of different styles have been added around these stone houses, and the buildings extend all the way to the foot of the mountain, forming a sizable village.

A building also stands on the summit, constructed of local stone, but much more elaborate in scale and materials, and surrounded by a wall, resembling a small castle.

This is where the newly built factory headquarters is located, and where Mr. Huo and the factory's management personnel work and receive guests.

Behind the small hill was a larger complex of buildings that occupied the entire hillside in front, with outposts and fortifications built at intersections and along both sides of the road.

This is the military camp of an army of several thousand men stationed here. Their main duty is to guard the arsenal.

It was already night. Mo Yuming looked at the brightly lit factory area at the foot of the mountain and the blast furnaces that kept emitting white smoke. He felt a momentary daze and suddenly felt as if he had returned to that familiar yet strange planet. The roar of machinery and the billowing smoke from the chimneys were exactly the same as the scenery there.

Mo Yuming stared blankly for a moment, then gave a bitter smile and returned to reality. Almost ten years had passed. He wondered if time flowed the same on that planet in a different dimension; perhaps a thousand years had passed, or perhaps it was just yesterday. Who knew?

"Elder Huo, is it difficult to control the output of spiritual energy with mental power? I always feel like I can't figure it out. Am I not suited for weapon crafting?"

Mo Yuming paused for a moment and asked.

"Young Master, please don't make fun of me. If even someone as talented as you is not suited for weapon crafting, then we dullards would be utterly ashamed!"

Although the young master's profound skill cultivation is relatively high, how many days has the young master been practicing it? When I first picked up the Spirit Gathering Brush to begin refining the runes, did the young master know how long it took me to sense the Spirit Gathering Brush? It took me a full day and night to establish a connection with the Spirit Gathering Brush.

It seems that the young master didn't sense the Spirit Gathering Brush for more than an hour! As far as I know, the most powerful weapon-refining genius in the history of our Great Red Weapon Refiner Association took a full three hours to sense the spiritual power in the brush when he first practiced running runes.

Don't forget, we weapon refiners are already Level 1 weapon refiners when we first learn runes. Even that weapon-refining prodigy started learning weapon refining from a young age and didn't advance to the level of weapon refiner until he was fifteen. And young master, it seems you haven't even received any basic weapon-refining training yet!

"Oh? Is that so? Perhaps it's just that my cultivation level is higher, giving me an advantage. I'll practice some more and try to activate the spiritual power within the brush tonight."

After finishing his sentence, Mo Yuming took his leave of Elder Huo and excitedly took Elder Huo's Spirit Gathering Brush to his private room to cultivate.

Watching Mo Yuming leave, Old Master Huo sighed with emotion and went back to his room to cultivate.

Mo Yuming did not immediately begin practicing runes upon entering the room. Instead, he sat on the floor of the training room and began cultivating the Wu Clan's techniques.

The benefits of cultivating the 'Soul Wheel Guide' were obvious. After this period of cultivation, Mo Yuming could clearly feel the changes in his spiritual power.

Although his cultivation of profound arts had not improved, he was much more skilled in the allocation and use of spiritual energy than before, and the coordination between the five elements of spiritual energy was also much stronger. Therefore, Mo Yuming believed that the greatest credit for his ability to initially master the Spirit Gathering Brush within three hours was due to his cultivation of the 'Soul Power Guiding Technique', rather than his own genius.

The arsenal headquarters, built on the mountaintop, has an excellent location. Although this mountain peak is like a small hill compared to the surrounding mountains, it is a rare place where spiritual energy gathers. Perhaps it is because of the surrounding high mountains that the spiritual energy from all around converges here.

Back then, the Huo family patriarch chose this mountain peak as the site for the miners' dormitory, even though it was far away. He must have been drawn to this auspicious place where spiritual energy converged.

Besides the managers like Elder Huo and Huo Chengde who resided here, the factory also housed three Heavenly Rank experts: Lei, Dian, and Leopard. Although it was two or three miles from the factory area, the arsenal at the bottom of the valley was clearly visible from here, and the garrison's exit was located on the other side of the mountain. No matter what was happening there, they could reach it in a few breaths at the speed of a Heavenly Rank expert.

Offices and residences were built separately. The factory offices were located in the front center, while the residences were built in small courtyards in the back. Each courtyard consisted of a living room, a training room, and a bedroom, and was equipped with a washroom for washing and bathing.

The front yard of the houses is enclosed by a fence, simple and elegant, and planted with some herbs and plants. Although they are all of the same type, each house has its own unique characteristics and is not the same as the others.

Most of the ten or so small houses in front were the residences of Elder Huo and his entourage, while the innermost few were vacant, mainly for temporary accommodation of officials and distinguished guests. The house where Mo Yuming was currently staying was one of them.

The elegant environment, fresh air, and abundant spiritual energy allowed Mo Yuming to quickly enter a meditative state.

With slow, controlled breathing, the five elements of spiritual energy were rapidly drawn into Mo Yuming's body. Each element circulated through different acupoints and meridians for one cycle before converging into his dantian. This formed a five-colored vortex that rapidly rotated, merged, and compressed outside the dantian. The five colors then disappeared, transforming into a ring of gray soul power. This gray soul power continued to rotate, narrowing and shrinking until it finally condensed into a thin, transparent ring of soul power. This tiny ring of soul power rotated once outside the dantian before passing through it and reaching his brain.

In an instant, Mo Yuming felt a clearing in his mind and his spirits lifted. His whole body felt much more comfortable. What excited Mo Yuming the most was that his perception of his surroundings had become even stronger.

After cultivating for an hour, Mo Yuming got up to stretch his muscles and bones, and then, in high spirits, began to practice the Huo family's 'Blazing Sun Hammer,' a mid-level Earth-rank fire-type technique.

The weapon was a large iron hammer used by weapon refiners, and it was the hammer technique that made the Huo family patriarch famous. The patriarch used this hammer technique to cultivate to the peak of the Earth Rank and applied it to weapon refining, forming the Huo family's unique weapon refining technique. When the Huo family patriarch was seventy years old, his weapon refining level advanced to the seventh level, making him one of the few grandmaster-level weapon refiners in the Tianxuan Continent at that time.

As a result, the Huo family became famous throughout the Great Red Kingdom at that time. The Huo family patriarch was also granted official titles and honors by the King of Long Kingdom, who bestowed upon the Huo family the fiefdom of Wangxiang Town.

After the death of their patriarch, the Huo family gradually declined. Hundreds of years have passed, and not a single high-level weapon refiner has emerged from the family. Each generation of weapon refiners ultimately stops at the level of third-level weapon refiner.

If it weren't for this black iron mine being the pillar industry of the family, they might have declined many years ago.