Chapter 360: Change of Heart
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Xu Shenghua was bewildered and said, "Other than having the identity of the human emperor, you are also the cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult, so I have naturally heard of it before. Why did Brother Qin ask about that?"
Qin Mu beamed at him. "If Brother Xu is willing to join our Heavenly Saint Cult, you won't have to pay me back. Even though I'm the human emperor, I'm also the Heavenly Saint Cult Master. Hall of Human Emperors may have a deep grudge with High Heavens, but Heavenly Saint Cult doesn't, right? If Brother Xu joins Heavenly Saint Cult, it would be a win-win situation."
Yu Liu and Jing Yan had weird expressions. The actions of this human emperor were truly preposterous and unconstrained. High Heavens and Hall of Human Emperors were sworn enemies yet he still invited his sworn enemy to join Heavenly Saint Cult!
'This human emperor can't really think that nine bowls of noodles and a treatment could make Young Master Xu join his Heavenly Saint Cult, right? Should I say that he's innocent or scheming,' Jing Yan thought to herself.
Xu Shenghua was silent for a moment before saying, "Brother Qin, don't joke around. Don't worry, I'll pay you back as soon as possible."
Qin Mu hadn't pinned his hopes on him agreeing to join Heavenly Saint Cult. Even though Heavenly Saint Cult wasn't sworn enemies with High Heavens, Saint Woodcutter of Heavenly Saint Cult and First Generation Human Emperor of Hall of Human Emperors were both from Founding Emperor Era. They had the same goal, just that their methods were different.
Hall of Human Emperors relied on fighting to achieve their goal, while Heavenly Saint Cult relied on the philosophy of the common people to push the world to improve to reach their goal.
The ending point for both of the sacred grounds was to overthrow the rule of gods and build the world in their hearts.
And regarding this point, their philosophy was naturally conflicting with High Heavens.
Numerous divine arts practitioners flooded out from the manufacturing factory. They executed their vital qi and lifted up huge components. With them floating in the air, Qin Mu walked around in the sky to adjust their positions.
Even though it was only the base of Sunshot Divine Cannon, the formation markings were extremely complicated. Especially the fifty-six pill furnaces that Qin Mu had personally designed. Every one of them was huge and hard to forge it as a whole. They required the assembly of more than a hundred components, and the connection of the formation markings couldn't have any mistakes.
Qin Mu used tenon structure so there was no need for any hammering when piecing them together. As long as they were locked together, they would become incomparably sturdy and be able to withstand an extremely huge impact.
Furthermore, even if Sunshot Divine Cannon was damaged by the opponent and a portion of it stopped working, it could be removed and quickly replaced by new, working parts. After the replacement, the divine cannon could then be used once again without any decrease in power.
When connecting the base of the divine cannon, numerous officials gathered outside the manufacturing factory. Emperor Yanfeng had also come out; it was obvious that he placed a lot of importance on the divine cannon.
"Supervisor Qin's tenon structure could also be used for spirit weapons and flying ships on the battlefield." Emperor Yanfeng was full of praises when he spoke to the government minister of Ministry of Works. "I feel that we can promote this to the entire army. If the flying swords and flying ships were all made using tenon structure, we could reduce the losses during wartime drastically."
The government minister of Ministry of Works nodded. "However, it would be difficult to forge them."
"With the new manufacturing factory that Supervisor Qin designed, forging each and every component of a flying sword wouldn't be that difficult."
Emperor Yanfeng pondered over it for a moment more, then added, "If we had all the manufacturing factories produce a large number of components to replace the damaged parts of the spirit weapons, flying ships, and cloud chariots, then even with a large scale war, the losses wouldn't be too high! Your Ministry of Works should go and learn so you can popularize this kind of manufacturing factory."
Just as he was saying that, Qin Mu gave the order to piece everything together. The hundreds of divine arts practitioners connected the center components, and a circular plate with an area of six ares was formed.
After that, Chancellor Ba Shan who had returned from the frontlines in the north went to the bottom. With his both hands raised up, he used his dense magic power to lift up the huge and thick circular plate.
Several hundred divine arts practitioners walked out of the manufacturing factory again. Beside them, a person was continuously reading out numbers. With every number he read, a divine arts practitioner would come forward and add a component to the circulate plate.
The more components were added, the bigger and thicker the circular base became. When nearly ten thousand components were attached, the legs of Chancellor Ba Shan, this strong man, were starting to tremble. The weight on him made it hard for him to even straighten his waist.
Gu Linuan went forward, and the two of them raised this circular plate with their dense magic power. The circular plate by then had the area of twenty-seven hectare.
When the number read reached twenty-seven thousand, the circular plate that had an area of sixty-six hectares was finally formed. Below it was four strong practitioners of the cult master level using magic power to lift the base of the divine cannon in the sky.
On the circular plate, Qin Mu and numerous officials of Ministry of Works moved around rapidly to check on the runes of every meeting point between the components. When they were sure there were no problems, Qin Mu gave an order, and huge beasts pulled over large carts. The numerous apothecaries on the carts immediately jumped down and moved medicinal stones onto the circular base.
"Start the furnace," Qin Mu ordered.
"Start the furnace!"
Fifty-six pill furnaces were started as medicinal stones were poured into them. Each and every apothecary executed their vital qi to ignite them, and flames instantly blazed to life. The flames turned from red to white before changing to green, and then to blue.
This incomparably terrifying energy rapidly coursed through the formation markings and runes on the circular plate, activating the full formation!
Below the circular plate, the four strong practitioners of the cult master level immediately felt a decrease in pressure. The huge cannon battery actually didn't need them to lift it up anymore; it could float by itself!
The officials praised such a sight. "Supernaturally fine craft, truly a supernaturally fine craft!"
Emperor Yanfeng's expression wasn't too good. Qin Mu mainly wanted to piece the base of the divine cannon and test the operation of the pill furnaces and formation. However, just testing the pill furnace required the same amount of medicinal stones as medium scale war!
"It's not his money that's being spent…"
Emperor Yanfeng felt a pain in his heart.
Qin Mu finished the examination and jumped down from the base. He then said in a loud voice, "Extinguish the furnaces and lower the base."
The pill furnaces gradually extinguished, and the huge base that was floating in the sky also slowly landed on the ground. Even so, wind was raised and blew past everyone in gales. Their clothes fluttered, and their faces suffered from the air pressure.
The air currents quelled.
Qin Mu said loudly, "Apothecaries, prepare the medicinal stones, once the cannon's frame and the light gathering forks are done, we'll activate the pill furnaces again."
The apothecaries accepted the order.
Emperor Yanfeng's face paled, and he ordered someone to invite Qin Mu over. He asked him with a pleasant face, "Supervisor Qin, why do you still need to activate the pill furnaces?"
"Your Majesty, there are too many components in Sunshot Divine Cannon, so it's hard to prevent mistakes, thus after the cannon's frame and light gathering forks are done, I will need to activate it again to check if anything had gone wrong."
Emperor Yanfeng beamed at him and said, "How many more times do you need to activate it?"
"If there's no mistake, two-three times will be enough." Qin Mu calculated it for a moment and said, "If there's something wrong, we will need to check where the problem is and in that case, I can't say how many times we will have to activate it. Especially at the position of the divine eye, which uses tenon structure and three-dimensional pinion suspension structure. This leads to it being extremely complicated, so the chances of making a mistake are much higher.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, with so many algebra experts here, we will definitely find the mistake in the shortest amount of time. I will try to control the number of activations to not go over ten to not spend too much money. Your Majesty, the next time the furnace will be started shall be half a month later, may Your Majesty…"
"In that case, that's good, that's good, I won't be coming so you shall settle everything yourself… Government Minister, escort me back to the palace."
Qin Mu saw the emperor off as he got escorted back by a few officials while shaking. He was bewildered in his heart. 'Could the emperor have not healed yet? That's not right, Little Poison King and I had clearly cured him…'
Xu Shenghua looked at the huge circular plate with a grim face.
Qin Mu walked over to him with a smile and asked, "Brother Xu, what do you think about this cannon battery?"
"It's the work of gods, a supernaturally fine craft." Xu Shenghua took a glance at him and said, "Brother Qin spends all his energy on things like this, so I think that he will soon be defeated by me. You're a divine physician and also a heavenly worker at the same time, which makes it impossible for you to place all your energy on cultivation. As time goes by, your cultivation will be surpassed by mine and you'll suffer a crushing defeat!"
"Brother Xu knows how to use mind tactics." Qin Mu smiled and said, "You don't want me to forge this divine cannon and also want to beat down on my confidence. However to me, no matter if it's the art of healing or the heavenly works, they are both a kind of cultivation where I can apply my abilities. Actually, if I wanted to defeat you, it would be very simple for me to poison you or even forge a powerful weapon to blow you into smithereens, for these are also my abilities."
Xu Shenghua's heart sunk, and he said, "Those aren't true means."
Qin Mu laughed loudly and patted his shoulder. "We as the Overlord Bodies. Whatever we learn, we can't just focus on cultivation. The next time you challenge me, will you know if I decide to beat you with bare hands, poison you, or smash you with treasures? The fee for my treatment is a thousand great abundance coins, so pay them to me as soon as possible and don't owe me any favors. After that, you can challenge me again. I'll wait for you."
Xu Shenghua was stunned. Suddenly, a young girl came skipping over with three white tails swaying behind her. She quickly wrote down a certificate of debt before saying with a loud and crisp voice, "Young Master Xu, please sign!"
Xu Shenghua signed in a daze, and the girl put away that certificate of debt with utmost care before following Qin Mu to leave.
"I've come down from High Heavens and not only did I not kill the human emperor, I even got indebted to him, owing him a thousand great abundance coins…" Xu Shenghua shook his head and sighed ruefully in his heart. "How am I supposed to return like this? Yu Liu, Jing Yan, how can I earn money?"
Yu Liu and Jing Yan were also unable to find a solution. The fastest way to earn money was to sell treasures, and they had brought quite a number of them from High Heavens, so they were fine with selling a few pieces.
However, when Xu Shenghua had fallen ill, they had sold all they could sell. Only the jade vase and pipa were left. These two were Star Sovereign Qiao's treasures so they absolutely couldn't sell them.
"I'm proficient in music, can that be exchanged for money?" asked Xu Shenghua.
"Young Master wants to sell his singing service?" Jing Yan cried out. "How is this feasible? Besides, singing doesn't make much!"
"I also have some knowledge on forging spirit weapons. Maybe I can forge a few spirit weapons to exchange for money…"Xu Shenghua muttered.
"Young Master is planning to be a blacksmith?"
Xu Shenghua smiled and said, "I'm an Overlord Body, it's fine if I don't learn, but if I learn, I'll definitely be the best! Don't worry, even as a blacksmith, I'll definitely be the best. I'll definitely not be any inferior to that Human Emperor Qin, that Overlord Body!"
Jing Yan and Yu Liu revealed worried expressions when they looked at one another. They thought to themselves, 'Young Master Xu probably won't be going to High Heavens anymore. His heart is no longer the one he had when he was in High Heavens…"
When Qin Mu met Xu Shenghua again a month later, it was in a smithy. The most outstanding disciple of High Heavens no longer had the flawless and untainted image like in the past. He was currently wielding a huge hammer to deal with black gold.