Looking at the desolate expressions on Huyan Li and the other man's faces, Ye Tian knew that they must have taken him for a fool, someone akin to the proverbial "why not eat meat porridge" idiot.
He wanted to explain the principles of water pumps and generators to the two men in front of him, but Ye Tian estimated that, given their level of understanding, even if he spoke for three days and three nights, they still wouldn't grasp it.
After some internal deliberation, Ye Tian decided to use a simple example.
"I wonder, is there a bellows in this workshop?"
A bellows is a common blowing device used in smelting workshops. It can send wind into a burning fire, thereby increasing the temperature inside the furnace.
"Bellows? Sir, are you referring to the leather air-blowing bag?"
Hearing Ye Tian's words, Huyan Lu immediately perked up.
He didn't know many techniques, but when it came to smelting, he was quite skilled.
As he spoke, Huyan Lu even gestured to Ye Tian, demonstrating how the leather air-blowing bag was used.
He then explained, "As long as you keep stretching the leather air-blowing bag, wind will blow into the smelting furnace."
Seeing that Huyan Lu was quite familiar with the device, Ye Tian pointed to the water pit in front of them and said, "If we place the leather air-blowing bag in water, could it push the water, like air, to another place?"
"If the air-blowing pipe is long enough, could we transport the water from here to the river?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Huyan Lu's expression froze.
He had just heard something extraordinary.
Truly, listening to a single conversation with you was worth more than ten years of study!
If they could drain the accumulated water in front of them, the amount of ore the Elephant Armor Sect could mine would likely double immediately.
And the price of iron had always been high on the continent.
Doubling the output would mean doubling the gold coins!
With such astonishing financial power, it wouldn't take twenty years for the Elephant Armor Sect to cultivate a Titled Douluo using rare treasures!
At this moment, Huyan Lu was completely captivated by the imagined future.
He could already see the future strength of the Elephant Armor Sect.
Meanwhile, Huyan Li, standing beside him, suppressed a laugh and patted Huyan Lu's shoulder:
"Uncle Lu, what are you thinking?"
"What Sir Ye just said does make some sense."
"But Uncle Lu, have you considered that to squeeze the water from this pit into the river to the west…"
"The strength required would likely need to be provided by a Spirit Emperor."
At this point, Huyan Li clicked his tongue and added thoughtfully, "And our Elephant Armor Sect only has a handful of Spirit Emperors."
"They're usually busy with their cultivation. If we called them over to deal with this stagnant water, they'd probably slap us on the spot."
"…That's true."
Huyan Lu's expression gradually returned to normal.
"I was being a bit too idealistic."
He turned to Ye Tian and smiled, "Although Sir Ye's plan isn't feasible, I still admire your imagination."
"Whether it's feasible or not depends on whether we have the right tools."
Ye Tian picked up a piece of magnetite and said with a smile, "The power within this is unimaginable."
Hearing Ye Tian's seemingly self-directed words, Huyan Li and Huyan Lu exchanged glances, puzzled.
They didn't understand what use the magnetite could have beyond smelting iron.
"Young Master, so you're here."
At that moment, a voice sounded from not far away.
Ye Tian, Huyan Li, and the others turned to look.
When Ye Tian saw the newcomer's face, a smile couldn't help but appear.
The person approaching was none other than Zhou Long and Thirteen.
The two walked up, and after Thirteen bowed, he said with a smile:
"These past few days, we've been hearing news about you, Young Master."
"When we heard that you had gone missing in the Star Dou Forest for over a month, we were all on edge."
"If it weren't for Elder Chen stopping me, I would have gone to look for you."
"Thank you for your concern, Thirteen."
Ye Tian waved his hand with a light smile.
The steady and experienced Zhou Long simply bowed without saying a word, hesitating as he glanced at Huyan Li.
Seeing this, Ye Tian gestured, "It's fine, they're all on our side."
The operation against the Qianjun Douluo would require the Elephant Armor Sect's assistance, so there was no need to hide things from Huyan Li.
Doing so would only hinder the operation.
With Ye Tian's permission, Zhou Long reported truthfully:
"As per your instructions, the five hundred members of the Polaris Squad have all arrived in the City."
"What? Five hundred people have arrived?" Huyan Li blurted out, his eyes wide.
"Are you sure they didn't go to the wrong city?"
Huyan Li couldn't help but confirm with Zhou Long.
In his understanding, Elephant Armour City had been so tightly controlled by his father that even the slightest movement would be immediately reported by the city's hidden sentinels.
For five hundred people to enter undetected was simply unbelievable.
"If the Elephant Armor Sect's sentinels had noticed us, we wouldn't be called the Polaris Squad."
Thirteen sneered and casually added, "On the outskirts of Elephant Armour City, you've arranged a total of 136 hidden sentinels. The strongest among them is a Spirit Saint, usually stationed at the East Gate."
"Occasionally, he visits a place called Yanliu Pavilion for a few hours."
"As for the inner city, there are thirteen patrol teams working around the clock, with a maximum interval of seventeen minutes. It seems quite tight."
"But for the Polaris Squad, it's enough to move through the city twice, assassinate a target, and then leave without a trace."
As soon as these words were spoken, the expression on Huyan Li's face could no longer be described as mere shock.
It was as if he had been utterly dumbfounded.
He stared wide-eyed and muttered, "How… how could you know all this?"
Huyan Li felt that this was simply too incredible.
Based on what the two had said earlier, they had only recently arrived in Elephant Armour City.
Yet, to have figured out the city's defense layout so thoroughly, Huyan Li thought it would take at least a month.
Beside him, Huyan Lu's face showed no less astonishment.
This raised his estimation of Ye Tian by another level.
To be able to infiltrate Elephant Armour City so stealthily, it seemed that if Ye Tian wanted someone dead, no one could survive until the next day.
This filled Huyan Lu with deep fear.
It had to be said that aligning with the Spirit Hall was an absolutely correct decision by the Sect Master.
To oppose such a force would be nothing short of suicide.
"Thirteen, stop scaring our friends."
Ye Tian laughed heartily and said to Thirteen, "Go and fetch two engineers from the Polaris Squad to help the Elephant Armor Sect solve their drainage problem."
As he spoke, Ye Tian pointed to the ore-filled water pit in front of them.
"The people are here, but we didn't bring the equipment."
Thirteen said with some difficulty.
"That's not a problem."
Ye Tian replied nonchalantly, pulling out a piece of paper and drawing a simple diagram of metal cutting through magnetic field lines.
The engineers of the Polaris Squad had all studied at the East Sea City Academy.
The concept of electromagnetic induction, which Huyan Li and Huyan Lu couldn't understand, was second nature to the North Star Team's engineers.
"Give this to them, and they'll understand."
Thirteen had been by Ye Tian's side for three years.
Although he hadn't formally studied electromagnetic induction, he had heard about it.
He glanced at the scattered magnetite around them, then looked at the drawing Ye Tian had handed him.
His eyes sparkled with excitement: "This is truly brilliant!"
However, Huyan Li and Huyan Lu, standing beside them, were completely baffled.
They leaned in and pointed at the magnetic field lines, which looked like arrows, and asked,
"Can these simple lines really solve the drainage problem in the mine?"
"Hmph, it's not just about solving the drainage problem!"
Seeing the clueless expressions on their faces, Thirteen didn't bother to hide his disdain:
"With this thing, the mining production speed will increase at least tenfold!"
"Tenfold?!"
Huyan Li was stunned. Could those arrows represent some kind of divine power?
"What kind of power is this?"
Huyan Lu, with a look of shock, voiced his confusion.
Thirteen glanced at Ye Tian with a smile, then casually crossed his arms and said, "We generally call it the power of science!"
...
Thirteen couldn't be bothered to explain the concept of science to Huyan Li and Huyan Lu, who clearly didn't understand it.
After briefly instructing Huyan Li to cooperate with the upcoming engineering team, Thirteen sent him away.
Once the mining area was cleared, leaving only Ye Tian and Zhou Long, Thirteen respectfully pulled out a well-preserved envelope from his chest.
He handed the envelope to Ye Tian with both hands and said, "Young Master, we haven't been able to contact you these past few days, so we couldn't report our progress to you."
"However, before coming here, I've compiled all our progress into this letter. Please take a look."
Ye Tian nodded lightly, took the envelope, opened it, and carefully read through its contents.
Zhou Long stepped forward and added:
"The general situation is this: The training of the newly recruited five thousand soldiers has been completed, and they are fully ready for combat."
"As for weapons and equipment, all workshops are operating in secret, and our warehouses are basically at full capacity."
"However, relocating the workshops to Pearl Island has run into some trouble."
Thirteen took over the explanation: "The main issue is that spring has arrived, and East Sea City has been hit by frequent typhoons recently."
"This has made it impossible for ships to operate normally."
Zhou Long chuckled and added:
"During this time, there was a small incident. A soul master named Tang Yin got lost during a typhoon and was blown onto Pearl Island."
Tang Yin?
Ye Tian raised an eyebrow.
Wasn't that Tang San's alias?
Could it be that due to the changes in the plot, Tang San had set off for Sea God Island earlier than expected?
Ye Tian looked up and asked, "Is that Tang Yin a soul master with blue hair and a Blue Silver Grass martial soul?"
Zhou Long was slightly surprised: "How did you know, Young Master? Is Tang Yin a friend of yours?"
"Friend? Not exactly. If anything, he's more of an enemy, though he barely qualifies as one."
Zhou Long's eyes narrowed slightly: "If I had known that, I would have detained him on Pearl Island and waited for your judgment, Young Master."
"So, he's already left?"
Ye Tian looked up.
"That's right." Zhou Long's face showed a hint of regret. "He saved Purple Pearl's younger brother and didn't discover any of our secrets on the island."
"To avoid damaging our reputation, I didn't take action against him and let him go."
"As expected of the Child of Destiny."
Ye Tian sighed as he gazed into the distance.
He hadn't expected that the first time he heard news of Tang San, it would be right under his nose.
"What's Tang Yin's current cultivation level?"
Zhou Long answered truthfully: "Level 31 Spirit Elder. Actually, part of the reason I let him go was because of that."
"Haha, it seems even you can misjudge someone, Uncle Zhou." Ye Tian's face showed a faint smile.
"Huh? Isn't that the case?" Zhou Long was puzzled.
Of course not!
"That Tang Yin's real name is Tang San. He's the champion leader of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament."
"He's one of only two people in the world with twin martial souls, and he's the son of the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao."
Ye Tian calmly revealed Tang San's background.
When Zhou Long heard the first part, he didn't think much of it.
After all, he had always believed that Spirit Hall wasn't a good organization.
Naturally, in Zhou Long's mind, any tournament hosted by Spirit Hall held little value.
But when he heard the words "Clear Sky Douluo," his expression couldn't hide his shock.
Even Thirteen couldn't help but interject: "Young Master, are you saying that Tang Yin, the one using an alias, is the son of the Clear Sky Douluo?"
The name Clear Sky Douluo was practically legendary in the soul master world, known by everyone.
"That's right." Ye Tian nodded lightly and smiled. "What, is the Clear Sky Douluo your idol?"
Thirteen straightened his expression and bowed slightly. "I won't hide it from you, Young Master. In my heart, I've always wanted to compare myself to the Clear Sky Douluo."
"When the Clear Sky Douluo crushed Spirit Hall back then, I was just a Spirit Grandmaster, about the same age as you are now."
Thirteen's face was filled with nostalgia, followed by a hint of regret:
"What a pity. A powerhouse like the Clear Sky Douluo only comes once in a thousand years."
"He became a Titled Douluo at the age of 34 and was capable of fighting multiple Titled Douluos at once."
"Now, at 35, I was only a Spirit Saint."
"Even with the cultivation techniques you've given me, which give me a chance to reach Titled Douluo, I'm still far behind the Clear Sky Douluo."
Hearing Thirteen's lament, Zhou Long also wore a look of admiration.
"The Clear Sky Douluo is truly a hero of the soul master world. I hope that one day, wielding the Sky Tungsten Sword, I can have a real battle with him."
Seeing Zhou Long's expression, Ye Tian said quietly, "The Clear Sky Douluo is already a Super Douluo now."
Hearing this, Zhou Long chuckled awkwardly and waved his hand:
"It seems I'm still not up to par."
"But Young Master, the secret weapon you possess should be able to deal with the Clear Sky Douluo."
At this point, Zhou Long's expression became serious.
Clearly, he regarded Tang Hao as an extremely important enemy.
But Ye Tian simply smiled:
"No matter how powerful the Clear Sky Douluo is, he's already a thing of the past."
"The continent is no longer an era where a single person can play the hero. Now, it's all about the power of the team."
Hearing this, Thirteen's smile widened:
"That means the most powerful one is still you, Young Master!"
"Once the Heavenly Strategy Army is unleashed, who on the continent could possibly stand against us?"
"Thirteen, that's going too far."
A glimmer of amusement flashed in Ye Tian's eyes.
He lightly raised his hand and said, "Our motto is to stay low-key."
"No matter how the winds of the continent shift or how turbulent the seas become, we'll remain steady as a rock."
"Young Master is right." Thirteen chuckled awkwardly.
Zhou Long also patted Thirteen's shoulder: "Don't worry, our Young Master has grand ambitions. We, as subordinates, don't need to worry about such things."
At this, the three of them exchanged glances.
The air was instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
(End of Chapter)