The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Work consumed my life since I gathered the villagers. Arranging for training people, calling for those who had touched upon Chi, and sending them to Yan Yun. Working with those that I thought would be able to work with spirit herbs and sending them to Granny Lang and Yin, and then coming up with the designs for the production line for the Qi crystals.

The days had flown by in a blur. It had been almost ten days since the tribulation had happened, and my work had only grown with time. Sleep was a thing of the past, and it was obvious to anyone that I needed some help.

“Lu Jie, you should rest,” Zhang said, as I scribbled on my notes, frustrated by the problem I was currently trying to work on.

“Can’t, I need to figure out how to develop cement so that we can build a wall in time for winter. Then I need to make some changes to the prototype Qi Crystal production setup as granny Lang pointed out more than a couple issues with our current one. Then—”

Zhang moved closer, closing my notes. “You need to rest,” he said, looking at me with a stern gaze.

I sighed. “I know. But there’s no one else who can do this. And I need to work this out in time or we won’t be ready for winter.”

“Working yourself to exhaustion will not accomplish this. You need to rest.”

“I’m not a mortal, I can function without sleep.”

“You’ve been working non-stop for almost two weeks. Even cultivators have limits,” Zhang said. “Which is why the Lord was informed of this as well, and he has sent someone to take the burden off of your shoulders.”

“You should come see for yourself. He arrived a few moments ago,” Zhang said, walking out.

I watched the boy, before looking at my unfinished work. Letting a sigh escape, I got up and followed behind him.

We walked to the entrance of the village where I noted a carriage standing. A young man was standing outside, carrying out bags of items and luggage. He wore a long hat and had a clean shaved face with sharp yellow eyes.

“Lord Jie,” the cultivator said, bowing as he stepped out of the carriage. I could sense him to be at the peak of the third realm.

“Who are you?” I asked, surprised.

“This one is Qiao Ying. A humble servant of the esteemed Lord Zhou. I am a scholar, and have been sent to you by the Lord to help you in your duties,” the man said, keeping his head bowed. I realized a moment later that he was waiting for my permission.

“You can raise your head,” I said. “No need to be so formal with me, please. I’m not used to this whole Lord business. Just call me Lu Jie.”

“I could never, sir. Etiquette must be followed at all times, or our civilization will be no better than the barbarians,” the man said.

I glanced at Zhang. “Qiao Ying has worked in the capital under the emperor. Unlike most scholars who deal with poetry and philosophy, he is an inventor and was responsible for crafting designs for various kinds of items.”

“You flatter me,” the man said. “But yes, that is indeed my speciality. I dealt primarily with formation arts, but I have worked with mechanical constructs as well.”

I hummed. “So you’re an engineer then?”

“Pardon?” he asked. “I’m not sure what an… what you said is, my sire.”

“It’s someone who creates things, builds items,” I said.

“Ah, not quite. I do not build. I design. The building is done by craftsmen, I help shape the ideas and bring them to life.”

“I see,” I said as I let the topic go, my interest taken by the scroll and bag he was carrying. “What’re those?”

“This is a letter from Lord Zhou to you,” Qiao Ying said, handing me the scroll.

I took the scroll for myself, sending a pulse of Chi to break open the seal before I began to read the contents.

Upon reaching the end, my eyes widened in surprise as I turned to look at Qiao Ying. “Is that the money?” I asked.

“Yes, sire, that is the sum provided to your barony by the Seventh Peak for this season,” Qiao Ying said, and I felt my heart rate jump up as the man opened the bag, revealing the large pile of gold pieces sitting inside.

Holy shit, I’m rich.

“Keep that closed, please,” I said, trying not to let my voice waver at seeing such a large sum. The letter had also contained other details and duties I needed to attend to as a Lord, alongside some information. Apparently it was Qiao Ying’s role to educate me on all that.

One particular point that caught my eye was the mention of a vassal. The scroll told me I could pick someone from the Lord’s manor, or assign my own person, but given my position, a vassal would be needed to represent my estate.

“I need to pick a vassal, it says,” I said, turning to look at Zhang.

“I would be honored, my lord,” he bowed, and I smiled.

“You know I hate that,” I told the boy, and he flashed me a smile.

Putting the scroll aside, I picked up the bag of money. “Wait here, I’ll be back.” I told the two of them, Stepping away rapidly to my home, before I hid the pile of gold in as secure a place as I could for now.

Which was under my bed.

I definitely need to find a better spot, or create a safe for this.

After making sure the bag was safe, I instructed the spirit beasts lounging around in the garden to keep an eye out and make sure no one entered. Just in case, I also put Sheldon to the task before I made my way back to Qiao Ying.

“Alright, so… will you be staying with us?” I asked.

“Given my role, it would make sense for me to reside in this village alongside you,” the man said.

I paused for a second. “Are you sure you’re happy with it? I can’t imagine a scholar like you being too pleased to be sent to a village,” I asked.

The man looked at me in surprise, likely not expecting the question. “Truthfully speaking, sire, I have my doubts, but I trust the Lord’s judgment. If he asks me to do this task, then I shall do it to the best of my abilities.”

I gave a nod to Qiao Ying, feeling pleased. I could see why the Lord had picked him.

“Very well. We will prepare a place for you to stay. In the meantime, you can live at my place, if you’d like.”

“I appreciate it, my sire,” the man said with a bow. “But if it may not be too presumptuous, I would like to get started on work if possible.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Quite eager, aren’t we?” I said.

“Yes. I have heard many things from the Lord, and my curiosity has been piqued. I was told… I was told you created something that lets mortals do alchemy?” the man asked.

“I do have something like that, yes,” I said.

“Can I see it?” Qiao Ying asked.

I thought over it for a moment, before deciding there wasn’t any harm in showing him.

We walked together, back to my place as I led Qiao Ying to my lab. “That’s the device. A distillation flask to separate pure Qi from the spirit herbs by dissolving it in water.”

The man looked on in fascination before glancing at my notes. “You’re using the heat to break down the Qi before the water boils?” He asked. “Fascinating. This chamber here only lets Qi vapors through, holding any water, and what remains will solidify because it has been mixed inseparably with water.”

“Yeah… yeah that’s what I’m doing,” I replied, surprised at the speed with which he was catching on.

“I’m trying to scale this up to be able to produce a bunch more crystals at once, but currently, the prototype has issues with capacity and maintaining enough pressure,” I said, walking over as I picked up my notes and showed it to the man.

“I thought about using Qi reinforced wood but the Qi in it will react with the spirit herb Qi, so that’s a no go,” I said.

Qiao Ying hummed, looking at my notes. He flipped through, reading what I had written, before glancing up at me.

“Why don’t you use spirit iron?”

“Spirit iron?” I asked in confusion.

“Normally it’s used in formation arts, but it is cured iron that is good at conducting heat and Qi. It will be perfect to make something at this scale. Then, instead of starting a fire from below you could carve heat formations onto the chamber, letting the heat distribute itself evenly,” Qiao Ying said.

I frowned, looking at my notes as I thought over it. “How will you manage the waste?” I asked him. “It’ll be a sealed chamber.”

“Spirit herbs will make for good fuel, they could be burned as residue, and if an alchemist is there, refined to be low grade pills. Leaving very minimal waste.”

I looked at the man in surprise, feeling stumped.

“Okay, then what about this?” I said, showing him the cement procedure.

“Hmm. This… I think I have seen the… the westerners use something. Perhaps we could find texts from their lands and search through them?” Qiao Ying said. “The Lord may have some, if you inquire. I could send the message for you, sire.”

“Please do,” I told him, and watched Qiao Ying set off to work.

I looked at the man, and found a smile creeping upon my face. I was going to enjoy having him around.

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