The villagers at the foot of the mountain had varied reactions when they learned about the purpose of the Sect Bell.
Two more days passed.
In the Refining Hall of the Lingxian Sect, Lin Yun and the others finally heard movement from the small chamber that had been tightly shut for days.
"It worked!"
Three hours after Lin Yun heard the 156th muffled explosion, which seemed intentionally restrained, they finally heard Lin Xiao's triumphant shout from within the chamber.
Lin Yun couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Heaven knows how tense he had been these past few weeks, worried every day that his younger brother might accidentally blow up the entire Refining Hall with all the commotion.
He still didn't know what Lin Xiao had been working on, but it had clearly taken a lot of time and effort.
Usually, Lin Xiao was quick to master whatever he set his mind to, so this was the first time Lin Yun had seen his brother isolate himself for so long over something unrelated to a cultivation breakthrough.
Just as he was deep in thought, the long-closed door finally opened from the inside. Lin Xiao stepped out with a spring in his step, his face radiating pride and joy as if inviting everyone to shower him with praise.
Seeing him emerge, Lin Yun and Lin Lei, who had both been completing their monthly crafting tasks while waiting for news, immediately surrounded him.
"You're finally out!"
"What is it? What's been successful?"
With a mysterious smile, Lin Xiao slowly reached into his sleeve, dramatically drawing something out.
The others saw him produce a small white jade ring.
Lin Lei looked confused.
"What is this thing?"
Lin Xiao, full of pride, began explaining, "This is a very practical item I've been working on recently. I call it the Locking Ring."
He then went on to demonstrate and explain the Locking Ring's functions in detail.
The first feature of the Locking Ring was its storage function.
Lin Xiao had designed this ring with a storage capacity of about 100 cubic meters. Though not overly large, it far surpassed the standard storage bags in terms of volume.
The second feature of the ring was its ability to transmit sound across distances, allowing real-time communication with other Locking Rings.
For this, Lin Xiao had drawn inspiration from the concept of base stations from his past life.
However, in this world, constructing physical stations to transmit signals everywhere was unrealistic. Nonetheless, transmitting sound across distances required a medium; otherwise, using only personal spiritual energy to facilitate long-distance communication would demand an extraordinarily high cultivation level.
Since the Locking Ring allowed for directed communication, such a medium was essential.
Building countless signal stations was impossible, so Lin Xiao had instead thought of the teleportation function of the Qian-Kun Teleportation Disk.
Although he couldn't dismantle the precious teleportation disk for research, before entering seclusion, he had scoured the sect's library and gathered every book on teleportation arrays. He even studied all related system-provided materials thoroughly.
With a wealth of knowledge in his mind, he hadn't been able to reach any conclusive results before secluding himself to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. But now, after achieving that breakthrough, his understanding of the world had deepened.
Teleportation arrays, especially those dealing with spatial manipulation, were among the most complex and difficult types of formations. However, with his newfound insights, the difficulty had significantly decreased for Lin Xiao.
Those array patterns that once seemed obscure and challenging now felt clear to him. Through relentless effort and experimentation, he had successfully developed an ultra-miniature sound-transmission array, which he engraved onto the Locking Ring.
Despite being a miniature array and highly intricate, once successfully inscribed, the structure was incredibly stable.
Moreover, this array did more than just transmit sound across space; it also had a targeting function.
The sound transmission array had two types of inscriptions: primary and secondary. The primary inscription stabilized the ring's transmission capabilities. The secondary inscription allowed users to "tune" the ring to communicate with another.
To establish a connection with another ring, all one needed to do was channel a bit of spiritual energy to adjust the secondary inscription so that it matched the primary inscription on the other ring. Once aligned, a signal request would be sent, and if the other user accepted, the two could then communicate in real-time with minimal spiritual energy expenditure.
Of course, the amount of spiritual energy required would depend on the distance between the two rings.
Even though this was a form of teleportation array, it was far more convenient than standard sound-transmission talismans, and the distance it covered was far greater.
While "tuning" the ring's frequency might sound complicated, Lin Xiao had simplified the process. Each ring's secondary inscription only required minor adjustments, and cultivators with strong memories would easily recall a few subtle shifts in the array's patterns.
In addition to these features, the ring was also bound to its owner through a divine sense imprint. Unless the wearer's divine sense was shattered, the ring would never be removed or lost.
As Lin Xiao explained and demonstrated each feature, Lin Yun and the others were left in awe.
They had been involved in cultivation for three years now and were no longer the ignorant villagers they once were. Having delved into the Four Arts of Cultivation themselves, they fully understood how difficult it must have been to create this tiny ring from scratch.
The fact that Lin Xiao had not only designed but crafted such an intricate and functional item, complete with a miniature teleportation array, was mind-boggling.
Crafting such delicate inscriptions, so small they were nearly invisible to the naked eye, and ensuring the array's stability, was an incredibly difficult feat!
They could hardly believe that Lin Xiao had developed something so impressive in just the brief period between his seclusion and re-emergence.
A collective sense of admiration spread among the group, their eyes filled with awe as they looked at Lin Xiao.
"This is incredible, Xiao!"
"Yeah! With this Locking Ring, if anyone travels to the cultivation world again, we'll finally be able to stay in touch with the sect!"
Previously, due to the vast distance between the mortal and cultivation worlds, they hadn't been able to use their sect's sound-transmission talismans across realms.
Whenever the Financial Hall traveled to the cultivation world for trading or procurement, any unexpected events would go unreported until they returned. Communication was limited, and resolving issues often required waiting until the next trip.
Although nothing major had occurred during the past three years, minor inconveniences had certainly been felt, and these were often discussed at the dinner table by those in the Financial Hall.
Now, with Lin Xiao's Locking Ring, those troubles could finally be addressed.