The Flying Disc Workshop was a small, relatively unknown workshop.

In the简陋的工作室, Chen Tea frowned deeply as he looked at the half-finished mechanism on the table.

Chen Tea was an elderly man dressed in black robes, with a graying beard and deep-set eyes.

At the moment, he was sitting on a mechanical chair floating several feet off the ground, racking his brains, unable to come up with a solution.

His design had hit another snag.

"Who knows how long I'll be stuck this time!" Chen Tea sighed bitterly.

When it came to designing mechanisms, there was never a sure thing. Sometimes, an idea would come in a day or two; other times, it could take weeks or months. Once, when Chen Tea had tackled a difficult problem before, it had taken him a full year.

Chen Tea glanced up at the ledger in the top right corner of the desk, his expression growing even grimmer.

Outstanding mechanical creations always required inspiration and clever构思. Chen Tea had a very solid foundation, especially excelling in阵法, but his inspiration was extremely scarce; he lacked creativity.

Before, he hadn't realized this, so he had taken out loans to start this mechanism workshop.

Reality had slapped him hard, not only emptying his savings but also leaving him with a pile of debt. Now he was in a predicament; even selling the workshop wouldn't be enough to cover the debts.

Regret was too late. Chen Tea knew the only way out was to design an excellent mechanical creation himself, one that would become a hit in the market, allowing him to make a large profit and recover from this situation.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

A knocking sound came from the door.

Chen Tea frowned slightly: "What is it?"

A voice came from outside: "Workshop Master, there's a visitor seeking your advice."

Chen Tea nodded: "Bring him to me."

He was strapped for cash and desperate to repay his debts. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't take on this kind of consulting business, but he had no choice; he needed to make money from every possible angle.

A moment later.

Ning Zhuo walked slowly into the workshop: "This junior's surname is Ning, given name Zhuo. I pay my respects to Master Chen Tea, the Living Formation Master."

The old man grunted in acknowledgment, maintaining an air of authority, though his eyes quickly appraised Ning Zhuo.

He saw that Ning Zhuo wore a white robe, clean and well-starched. His eyes were calm and pure, his face youthful and稚嫩.

Chen Tea's gaze lingered for a moment on the jade pendant at Ning Zhuo's waist.

He saw the character "Ning" carved on the pendant.

"The Ning family?" A glint flashed deep in Chen Tea's eyes.

The Fire Persimmon Immortal City had four major powers. The foremost was the City Lord's Mansion; the current City Lord was a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Next were the Zhou family of formations, the Zheng family of weapons, and the Ning family of talismans.

He felt a slight joy in his heart: "He's from a major family; this young man before me might be quite wealthy. This business deal could potentially be substantial. Later, I should point out more areas of inadequacy to encourage him to ask more questions."

After signing the contract, which bound both parties to strict confidentiality regarding the questions and answers, Chen Tea invited Ning Zhuo to take a seat.

Chen Tea took a sip of bitter tea, his expression neutral as he asked Ning Zhuo for the specifics.

Ning Zhuo explained that he had designed a mechanical creation but encountered a design problem.

Chen Tea inwardly laughed: "So you're in the same situation as me?"

He was dismissive.

As a mechanism cultivator and workshop master who sold knowledge, he had encountered many cases like Ning Zhuo.

"Young people always think they are extraordinary."

"The mechanical creations they design are often unsightly, even appalling! Some even have internal contradictions within the mechanism itself; as soon as spiritual power is channeled, they collapse on their own."

Of course, this was only Chen Tea's private thought. Outwardly, he nodded slightly,示意Ning Zhuo to continue.

Ning Zhuo then said: "Every year during the Fire Persimmon Festival, there are casualties. I wanted to design a mechanical creation to harvest the fire persimmons."

"I've named it the Blaze Monkey. It's already designed, only the final hurdle remains…"

Chen Tea was growing impatient.

"Enough," Chen Tea waved his hand, "Let me see it first."

Ning Zhuo then took the mechanical monkey out of his storage bag.

Chen Tea was slightly taken aback, couldn't help but utter a silent "Huh?" in his heart.

The mechanical Blaze Monkey's fur was uniformly red, exquisite and华丽. At first glance, it firmly captured Chen Tea's attention.

Chen Tea was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator and possessed spiritual sense.

He eagerly released his spiritual sense to investigate.

The next moment, his eyebrows nearly shot up, but he managed to suppress the reaction just in time.

"This mechanical monkey is no simple matter!" Although his design skills were lacking, his discernment was sufficient. He immediately saw that the Blaze Monkey had many extraordinary aspects.

Chen Tea reached out and stroked the Blaze Monkey's fur. It felt smooth and comfortable. He marveled inwardly: "The stitching is seamless, as if it were one piece. The lining of the fur has talismans drawn in multiple places, increasing the fur's toughness. The workmanship is neat, the layout rigorous, comparable to an experienced master tailor."

He wanted to find faults but couldn't.

He had to offer a bland evaluation: "The basic skill in stitching the fur is... passable."

Ning Zhuo nodded,十分赞同: "Yes! I did it using the traditional method of spiritual power embroidery. I used fire-mink pelts. The pelts are small, the raw material too fragmented, so I had to use excessive thread for stitching. There are indeed many flaws; the fire resistance at the seams is significantly weakened."

"Oh? You made this?" Chen Tea looked up at Ning Zhuo, feeling surprised.

Designing a mechanism didn't necessarily mean fabricating it.

Ning Zhuo was so young. Could someone his age already possess such fine craftsmanship?

"Perhaps his strength lies here," Chen Tea thought to himself as he continued scanning with his spiritual sense.

He scanned the monkey's skeleton and felt a stir in his heart: "Sky Gold?"

"Sky Gold is both lightweight and tough, and has some spatial efficacy. Using it as the skeleton material... is it intended to have storage functionality?"

He continued looking.

"Indeed." Chen Tea thought. He saw the formation patterns on the skeleton.

"It's a storage formation. Laid out quite aptly, making full use of the skeleton, compressing the area occupied by the formation as much as possible."

"To compress a formation to this degree... the ability to set up formations is remarkable!"

"After doing this, this mechanical monkey still has room for upgrades. The maker has a great sense of the bigger picture."

Chen Tea inwardly admired. He looked up at Ning Zhuo again, then immediately fixed his gaze back on the mechanical monkey on the table.

Regarding the skeleton, there was also nothing to criticize.

Chen Tea thought for a moment and said: "The choice of Sky Gold as material is rather by-the-book, without any highlights. The formation is slightly adjusted. Such adjustments are all based on predecessors' work, not worthy of praise."

Chen Tea was mentally prepared for Ning Zhuo to refute him不服气.

But to his surprise, Ning Zhuo nodded,深以为然: "Actually, my first choice was Void Snail. Using snail powder mixed with a small amount of iron essence, fusing them together by burning, then pressing and consolidating to shape the skeleton would yield a storage capacity far exceeding Sky Gold. It's just a pity that this type of Void Snail is very rare in Fire Persimmon Immortal City."

Chen Tea was stunned for a moment, thinking: "So he knows about this too?"

Void Snail combined with iron essence was indeed superior and would cooperate better with fire-mink pelts.

Chen Tea coughed twice, looked deeply at Ning Zhuo, and said flatly: "It's good that you know."

He lowered his head and continued scanning with his spiritual sense.

He saw the monkey's muscles and guessed inwardly: "Is this musculature made from soot clay, further堆叠fire resistance?"

"No, similar but not quite... it should be a new material refined primarily from soot clay using alchemical methods."

"This... is probably an original creation."

"Did this young man before me also do this? What was his name again?"

"Ning Zhuo?"

Chen Tea couldn't help but feel somewhat doubtful.

Ning Zhuo was too young to have such attainments in the Dao of Alchemy?

One must know that being able to create alchemical formulas, even if not for a complete pill, but to pioneer such a new material, was quite remarkable.

Chen Tea suppressed his doubts and continued observing, sighing inwardly: "Leaving the material aside, the sculpting work on the monkey's body is truly well done."

"With just this skill in material sculpting, the maker is qualified to be the second hammer in a refining workshop. He might even serve as the main hammer for crafting some small magical instruments."

Seeing this, Chen Tea couldn't help but feel somewhat irritated.

This mechanical monkey was quite perfect, leaving Chen Tea unable to find any defects.

Without finding defects, how could he expand this business deal?

Many people had sought his advice before, and many ended up paying far more spirit stones than initially planned. This was because Chen Tea had pointed out more flaws, thereby guiding them to ask more questions.

Apart from complaining about the high cost, these people didn't have much else to埋怨.

Because Chen Tea's guidance was indeed correct and effective.

Chen Tea gritted his teeth secretly and continued examining.

He spread open the monkey's palm, and a gleam instantly flashed in his eyes.

He made a sound of admiration in his heart: "The design of this palm is exquisite."

"These several micro-formations are nested within each other, making the monkey's palm movements agile and lifelike, capable of quite complex finger actions."

"This method of combining formations is quite novel, not a common combination. The formation-setter is brilliantly talented!"

"Did Ning Zhuo do this too?"

"Who is this guy? A genius cultivator of the current Ning generation? Why haven't I heard of him?"

Chen Tea tried hard to maintain a calm expression until he scanned the monkey's skull.

Here, he finally couldn't conceal a trace of astonishment.

He discovered that the magical instrument arranged inside the skull was actually three Curve Bullets!

"Curve Bullets are originally an attack magical instrument that can be remotely controlled to change flight direction. But now they've been modified to fly around each other inside the monkey's skull, acting as spiritual sense receivers. This is the first time I've seen or heard of such a thing!"

"Ah, and there are numerous talismans carved inside the monkey's brain cooperating with them."

"This is a rather excellent original creation!"

Chen Tea did a quick推算 and knew this arrangement could work.

"What I lack is precisely this kind of inspiration and originality, isn't it?"

Chen Tea felt a pang of envy and couldn't resist asking Ning Zhuo: "How on earth did you come up with this idea?"

Ning Zhuo then said: "Regarding modifying the Curve Bullets to act as spiritual sense receivers, this junior was forced by necessity. Because this Blaze Monkey mechanism is meant to be sold for profit. If we equipped it with a formation disk, the cost would be much higher. That's why I adopted this design."

"I always feel this isn't the best solution. This design still has unexplored hidden dangers and unstable factors."

Chen Tea's eyes lit up.

"Cost!"

"Yes, without using a formation disk, the cost of this mechanical monkey is very low."

"Isn't this exactly the kind of excellent mechanism I've been pursuing?"

"Based on its performance, it's bound to sell like hotcakes in the market!"

"Wait a moment…"

Chen Tea looked at Ning Zhuo and suddenly felt a bit angry.

This mechanical creation had basically no defects, so what was he seeking advice for?

What was this young man's intention by bringing it here for consultation?

"Perhaps this genius is deliberately doing this to make a fool of me?"

After the anger, more doubts flooded his heart.

"Could such an excellent mechanical work really be created by this young man before me?"

"If I had designed such a mechanical creation at his age, I would have held my head high and proudly boasted about it everywhere."

"This is a reflection of one's own ability, not something an ordinary person can achieve!"

"But this young man is being a bit too humble, isn't he?"

"It's almost like he's lacking confidence,心虚about claiming credit for someone else's work."

(End of Chapter)