"You're right, it does make sense." Daniel's words immediately set Ma Xianhong deep in thought. Previously, Ma Xianhong had never considered there being any issues with the storage pouches.
Anyone who has read a novel knows that space rings are standard equipment. However, Ma Xianhong had never read such novels. Since childhood, he had been on the run, and after finally settling down, he had been entirely focused on mastering the Divine Machine Hundred Refinements.
For Daniel, using the Divine Machine Hundred Refinements to craft a space ring would take ages—it wasn't something that could be easily mastered. But Ma Xianhong was different. When it came to artifact forging, Ma Xianhong was a genius. With him working on it, it might not take long before a space ring could be created.
In fact, Ma Xianhong and Chou Rang had already crafted similar artifacts, such as the Jade Thumb Ring, a defensive treasure that automatically activated. It was one of the high-level artifacts Ma Xianhong had made, along with the offensive Gilded Ruyi, a wish-fulfilling artifact that could transform into various weapons.
However, this weapon was later stolen by Feng Baobao—credit goes to Xu Si's unorthodox education.
Although the artifacts made by Ma Xianhong were powerful, they were technically considered tools rather than treasures. Due to the era, there were hardly any true treasures left in modern society. Even the Old Heavenly Master, as powerful as he was, had not reached the Feathering Realm.
Artifacts like the storage pouches, Gilded Ruyi, and Jade Thumb Ring were considered high-level tools. Below them were the low-level tools, which were issued to the transformed individuals and some of the lesser top-tier members.
At present, New Biyou Village had an abundance of low-level tools—even Daniel had some on him. But the high-level tools, especially the Jade Thumb Ring and Gilded Ruyi, were only in the hands of a select few like Chou Rang, who had joined early on. The rest of the top-tier members carried only low-level defensive tools.
These low-level defensive tools, when activated, would cover the user's body in a layer of flowing qi. However, being low-level, the protection wasn't very strong. After multiple attacks or a powerful strike, the tool would shatter. But even so, these tools were impressive, given that they activated automatically in response to malicious attacks.
Xia Liuqing had fallen to one of the transformed individuals carrying a low-level defensive tool.
It wasn't that Ma Xianhong couldn't equip all the top-tier members with high-level tools. His tools could be mass-produced, but Ma Xianhong chose not to make more. Had he equipped all twelve top-tier members with high-level tools, the company's assault on New Biyou Village would have been much more difficult.
Naturally, Daniel didn't remind Ma Xianhong of this, as he didn't want to cause problems for the company or see the world descend into chaos due to his actions.
In fact, even Ma Xianhong's sister didn't agree with his ideals. But Ma Xianhong was stubborn, and his sister, helpless in the face of his obstinacy, was forced to clean up his messes after him.
Currently, in New Biyou Village, the most common high-level tools were storage pouches, as they were space equipment that everyone found useful. With them, there was no need to carry luggage.
The space within the pouches varied in size, but even the smallest one could hold several people. Jin Yong, one of the twelve top-tier members, had a pouch capable of holding dozens of Ru Hua puppets, which he planned to use in his fight against Wang Ye.
It was clear how modern society had influenced the extraordinary beings. Jin Yong, a burly man, had a fondness for maid costumes, and all his Ru Hua puppets were dressed as maids.
"There really isn't any defense here, is there? Ma Xianhong doesn't even mind others knowing about his White and Black Puppets." During his time learning from Ma Xianhong, Daniel had gained a deep understanding of the man. If not for resource limitations, Ma Xianhong might not have cared at all about sharing his powerful tools with others.
The stronger the tool, the rarer the materials required to make it. With the limited resources of New Biyou Village, it was impossible to gather what was needed to craft the powerful tools Ma Xianhong carried. Most of the materials for his artifacts likely came from his sister, Qu Tong.
"This Divine Machine Hundred Refinements can replicate even the techniques of extraordinary beings, and it can even duplicate innate abilities. It's truly overpowered." The more Daniel learned about the Divine Machine Hundred Refinements, the more he realized how absurdly powerful the Eight Great Arts were. They really shouldn't exist in the world—they were too game-changing. The technique could even use qi as an energy source.
Of course, for Daniel, the more overpowered the Eight Great Arts, the better.
The Ru Hua, White, and Black Puppets were all powered by qi pearls located at their cores, which could be manually recharged.
Naturally, Ma Xianhong wasn't entirely selfless. While the Life Refining Furnace had other purposes, his primary goal was to recover his lost memories.
"Qi really is omnipotent, isn't it? It can even give Ru Hua such intelligence." If Tony Stark had encountered such a phenomenon, he would have delved into research immediately. But Daniel wasn't as curious. In fact, he wasn't too surprised, either. In the Qin's Moon world, the Gongshu family's mechanism techniques produced similar results.
For example, the mechanical snake toy Gongshu Qiu had given Daniel could be controlled remotely, and one of Gongshu Qiu's trump cards, the Earthbreaker Seven.
While the Earthbreaker Seven had no combat abilities, the mechanism behind it was more advanced than both the Earthbreaker Three and the mechanical White Tiger. Gongshu Qiu used it to sabotage the Mohist mechanisms.
And like the Earthbreaker Seven, its control system relied on qi.
"This guy is a real genius." One day, Daniel finally encountered someone extraordinary—the one who, in his dreams, defeated the heavens, earth, and even the air itself. To be precise, it wasn't in a dream but within the inner scenery.
The cultivation system in Beneath One Man was incredibly diverse, far surpassing that of the Qin's Moon world. Although the Hundred Schools of Thought in Qin's Moon had their unique methods, they paled in comparison to the world of Beneath One Man, which had over two thousand years of development.
In this era, Taoism had splintered into numerous sects, with Zhengyi and Quanzhen being the most prominent. Each sect had distinct cultivation systems, and some even involved soul cultivation.
Quanzhen's dual cultivation of life and nature was especially formidable.
And then there was Longhu Mountain, where the Old Heavenly Master resided, along with the mysterious Heavenly Master's Degree.
Beyond Taoism, there were also Buddhist sects like Shaolin and Lingyin Temple, known for their extraordinary skills. For instance, the legendary Yi Jin Jing existed.
There was also the art of talismans. The Shangqing sect of Mount Mao was particularly skilled in this area. One of the twelve top-tier members, Zhao Guizhen, was a traitor from Mount Mao.
In modern society, people are often impatient, and Mount Mao's method of cultivating talismans required three years of labor. As a result, mastering talismans could take at least ten years, which was far too long for those eager for quick results.
This impatience led Zhao Guizhen to injure his fellow disciples, steal some talismans, and descend the mountain to begin his training in the Seven Malefic Body.
In modern society, with funeral homes and crematoriums, there were no longer any burial mounds, making it difficult for those practicing talisman arts. For example, the Corpse-driving Clan from Xiangxi. In big cities today, there's no concept of corpse-driving anymore, which made Liu Yanyan's desire to join Allheaven somewhat understandable.
Imagine being her age, with peers going to school and playing outside, while she was stuck dealing with rotting corpses. Anyone would be resentful. And after finally mastering the art of corpse-driving, only to be told she couldn't use it? It would drive anyone mad.
Daniel didn't take sides, though. After all, it was part of their cultural heritage. Liu Yanyan's parents didn't want to treat their daughter that way, but they had a tradition to uphold.
Luckily, modern society has careers like forensic pathology, which gives the Corpse-driving Clan some practical use for their skills.
Daniel was also curious about the Xiangxi corpse-driving techniques. After all, they could control corpses and zombies, much like Gecko Moria's ability to control zombies. He wondered what would happen if the two methods clashed.
He even considered pitting them against the Corpse-driving Demon from Qin's Moon. Daniel suspected that the Xiangxi techniques might have originated from the witchcraft traditions of the Baiyue people.
There were also those who could exhale qi, a technique that could expel a person's soul from their body. In mythology, this was a technique used by the legendary Hengha Gener
als.
In myths, the Hengha Generals were considered lower-tier figures, but even the weakest character in mythology still exceeded the Feathering Realm.
Of course, the people who could exhale qi in this world were nowhere near the level of the Hengha Generals.
With so many methods of cultivation, they could broadly be divided into two categories: martial and magical. While the Qin's Moon world didn't clearly distinguish between the two, in this world, the division was very clear.
The main difference lay in the inner scenery. However, being a practitioner wasn't easy. As the saying goes, "Nine out of ten practitioners go mad," which perfectly describes the risks of the profession. If a practitioner couldn't keep a firm grip on their mind, they could easily spiral into madness, especially if they got stuck in their inner scenery.
Whether one could escape the inner scenery had nothing to do with strength—it was all about mental fortitude. Even the elders of Wudang had been trapped in their inner scenery before.
The reason practitioners face such risks is because they are like scientists of the extraordinary world, seeking to uncover the secrets of the universe. This quest inevitably leads to existential questions: "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" "Where am I going?"
And then there's the question of reality: Is the world of the inner scenery truly false? Is the real world truly real? Is there such a thing as absolute reality?
Questions like these are impossible for even Daniel to answer. Some even theorized that the world Daniel had come from before his transmigration was merely a projection from a higher dimension, and that it wasn't real at all.
These kinds of questions could make anyone's head spin.
The genius Daniel referred to earlier was a practitioner named Zhao Nian. He had originally been a senior programmer at a tech company. By chance, he discovered the cultivation methods of practitioners and, relying on his programming skills, forcefully began cultivating through self-study of the Qimen Dunjia.
Perhaps because of his strong logical mindset, Zhao Nian successfully cultivated and entered the inner scenery. However, he never woke up and became a vegetative state.
Even though he became a vegetable, Daniel still admired him. Zhao Nian had managed to enter the inner scenery through self-study—if he had been born into a family of practitioners, the outcome would have been entirely different.
But unfortunately, Zhao Nian was just an ordinary person. After becoming comatose, his mother had tried everything to wake him, but nothing worked. If not for Ma Xianhong, Zhao Nian would have remained in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.
But that part of the story comes later, when Zhuge Qing arrives. As of now, Ma Xianhong had no solution for Zhao Nian. The Life Refining Furnace could allow others to enter Zhao Nian's inner scenery, but the practitioners in Ma Xianhong's camp were too weak to wake him.
Within his inner scenery, Zhao Nian's power was infinite—he was like the Creator God of that realm, able to manifest anything he desired. Only a practitioner with deep roots in a powerful family, like Zhuge Qing, or one of the Ten Elders, such as Chen Jinkui of the Artifice Sect, could wake him.
The Wuhou Qimen, the first family of practitioners, traced its roots back to the legendary Zhuge Liang, a practitioner who had reached the Feathering Realm. However, since the disappearance of the last Feathering Realm expert, Zhang Zhenren, no one had reached that level again.
Many speculated that the reason there hadn't been a Feathering Realm expert in hundreds of years was because of Liu Bowen, who had severed the dragon vein, cutting off the path to the Feathering Realm.
The appearance of the Eight Great Arts was likely a response to this severed path. After all, the thirty-six bandits who created them were once the elite of various sects. Had they survived, the heads of most sects and families today would be different.
Such figures could only have been drawn together by the prospect of the Feathering Realm. After all, given their status, they already had power and wealth—ordinary things wouldn't have tempted them.
While this theory was plausible, most people still viewed the thirty-six bandits as mere bandits. After learning more about the history, Daniel didn't have any objections, because it was their actions that had plunged the world into chaos back then.
Had the thirty-six bandits not caused internal strife in the extraordinary world, the later disgrace wouldn't have occurred. If they had truly wanted to form a brotherhood, they should have done so after driving out the foreign invaders.
Back then, the country was facing foreign invasion, yet the finest extraordinary warriors died at the hands of their own, leaving the country's extraordinary world vulnerable. No wonder many of the older generation still harbored deep resentment toward the thirty-six bandits.
"We need to find a powerful practitioner. The Life Refining Furnace also needs a practitioner to take it to the next level." Failing to wake Zhao Nian left Ma Xianhong disappointed, and Zhao Nian's mother heartbroken. Ma Xianhong tried to comfort her, promising that he was still working on a solution.
"How many people in this world are in a vegetative state because they came into contact with Qimen manuals?" Extraordinary talents have always emerged from the common people. But unfortunately, such manuals aren't easily found.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [www.p@treon.com/Mutter]
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]