737 Hi, We Meet Again! (1/2)
The crowd wasn't only shocked by the fact that Wang Baole had just refined supreme-grade Spirit Illusory Liquid, they were also shocked by how short a time it took him to accomplish it… the entire refinement process took but thirty counts!
The latter in itself would have blown anyone's mind. But he hadn't only managed to complete the refinement within a short period, he had managed to refine supreme-grade Spirit Illusory Liquid!
The feat had overthrown everything they had known about refinement. Amidst their incredulity, they had forgotten about Li Chen's presence and gasped aloud in shock.
Li Chen himself was placed in a rough spot of embarrassment. He was equally shocked as well. He too might have been able to refine Spirit Illusory Liquid with only a ten percent wastage, but he would've taken three days.
Long Nanzi, on the other hand, had managed to accomplish the feat within seconds. The level of their foundational abilities was worlds apart!
That was a hard pill to swallow and a burn to his pride. He found it hard to control his rage and humiliation. Before he could say anything though, Wang Baole shook his head.
”I'm still unfamiliar with this since it's my first time doing it. That's why I had ten percent wastage…” He sighed, appearing dissatisfied with his results. With a wave of his right hand, Wang Baole flung the Spirit Illusory Liquid to Li Chen. What others treated as precious, he seemed to treat as mere trash. Then, without sparing Li Chen a glance, he found an unoccupied chamber in a deserted area and went over.
Wang Baole's words were like a divine power, landing a direct hit on Li Chen. It was an attack that inflicted collateral damage, no one around him was spared. The area descended into sudden silence.
People parted as Wang Baole walked towards them. It was as if they were in the presence of a deity. They stepped back with utmost deference and cleared a path for Wang Baole. They had witnessed his refinement and heard his words, and he seemed to exude the aura of a mighty cultivator, a presence that everyone could sense distinctly, one that was immensely powerful.
Wang Baole disappeared as he entered the chamber, but the public square remained steeped in silence. It was a while before the sound of breathing was heard. As for Li Chen… his chest was heaving heavily, his face pale one moment and dark the next. He finally lifted his head and started yelling at everyone around him.
”What are you all doing? Get back to work!
”Someone, take this Illusory Theft Pillar… to Senior Brother Long Nanzi!”
”This Fallen Star Compass, and that Phoenix Feather, and that Stone Ink Beast… send them all to Senior Brother Long Nanzi!” Li Chen said with a thunderous look on his face. Exploiting his authority, he chose more than thirty components that were clearly the most challenging to repair and got them all sent over to Wang Baole. He thought viciously, So, you're great at this, aren't you? Fine, let's see whether you can repair these components then!
Everyone lowered their heads and went about carrying out the orders given. No one appeared to have any opinions about what was going on. In their view, this was a fight between two powerful cultivators and not something they should be involved in. They followed their orders and took the materials, as well as the Dharmic Artifacts requiring repair, to Wang Baole's chamber.
Other cultivators would have been extremely unhappy when faced with such bullying. Such repairs were considered part of their work and wouldn't earn any additional rewards. After all, additional rewards were only given for repairs done for components identified on the list, outside of one's normal scope of work.
Wang Baole wasn't displeased though. In fact, he was extremely willing to take on the work. What he lacked was practice. The repairs assigned to him ensured that he didn't need to worry about a lack of resources or materials for refinement. He welcomed each repair assigned to him and began repairing the parts at a furious pace.
His focus wasn't on the repairs though, it was on dismantling the components and studying their internal structure. With his rich knowledge and experience in refinement, he became a sponge that soaked up everything he learned swiftly. That continued for the next few days. He also joined a team, which gave him the added benefit of being able to access more knowledge on refining artifacts.
The restoration of the battleship was of the utmost priority to the Holy Crest Sect. However, the sect was constrained by their lack of manpower. In order to increase the speed of repair, certain literature on artifact refinement, which would've been restricted to blood relatives in the sect, was now being made partially accessible to the members of the nine repair teams.