Chapter 163: Petroleum Refining?

Li Xian was preparing to refine petroleum, while a group of people had journeyed a thousand miles to the Cloud Peak Mountain and the Imperial Tombs.

“Such a long way! Why build an imperial tomb in the deep mountains?” Yuan Zhao lamented. In order to meet his “brother Xian,” he had no choice but to bring over ten thousand taels of gold from his home in Dongyuan County and travel all the way to Cloud Peak Mountain, covering a total of two thousand six hundred miles. They finally arrived this morning.

Ge Zhengfeng happily moved the gold away.

Yuan Zhao turned his head and asked, “Mr. Ge, where’s Li Xian?”

Without turning his head, Ge Zhengfeng replied, “That kid left three days ago, in the middle of the night. If you want to find Li Xian, you’ll have to go to Anyang.”

“Ah…” Yuan Zhao was stunned for a moment, then muttered quietly, “Oh no, the ten thousand taels of gold just went down the drain!”

The gold that had been sent to the imperial tombs was, of course, impossible to retrieve. Yuan Zhao had no choice but to sigh, then led his team to the imperial capital, planning to visit Li Yulong first before heading to Anyang. Though Li Yulong and Kong Xiang had teamed up to drive the Yuan family away, Yuan Zhao was a clever man who had understood politics since he was young.

As long as the interests were the same, everyone was a friend; but when interests conflicted, everyone became an enemy!

————

Two thousand miles away, Li Xian officially announced the establishment of the Petroleum Department.

With Li Xian’s previous explanation, everyone was truly enthusiastic, so much so that even a fire extinguisher wouldn’t have been able to put out their excitement. After Li Xian announced the establishment of the Petroleum Department, Tang Rong was the first to speak up, unable to contain himself. “Young Master, how do we eliminate the dangers of petroleum? What method will we use to separate the useful components inside?”

In fact, there had been many people who had wanted to extract useful substances from petroleum for a long time, Zhou Likun being one of them, but no one had succeeded.

Not to mention, at this moment, even Zhou Likun was looking at Li Xian—this was the excuse Li Xian had used to “lure” Zhou Likun in.

Xu Ren was also filled with anticipation. If it was truly possible to extract useful substances from petroleum, then… the entire Brilliant Stars Group, the whole of Anyang, and the entire Li Xian Group would soar!

As for Li Xian, he turned to look at Song Xing beside him. “As for eliminating the dangers in petroleum, it was Song Xing who reminded me. Actually, the method is very simple—it’s called ‘Heavenly Tribulation!’ More precisely, it’s lightning.”

Whoosh! The senior executives within Brilliant Stars Group all had their eyes shine brightly. The executives all knew about generators, and using spiritual stones for charging involved lightning. The technology to control lightning had already been mastered by Brilliant Stars Group.

However, Li Xian then teased them by looking at Zhou Likun. “Senior Zhou, actually, I’m very curious about your method of refining the remnant souls.”

Zhou Likun chuckled awkwardly, a little unnatural—he had been taken aback by the situation in Brilliant Stars Group. “That was a clumsy method I stumbled upon. I found that under mild heat, the remnant souls are activated, absorbing the spiritual energy from the petroleum, even devouring and growing stronger by each other. But during this process, their danger gradually diminishes.

At the critical moment, using thunder magic to mimic Heavenly Tribulation will weaken these remnant souls to their limit, and then with a few low-level soul-binding talismans, talismans that aren’t even properly inscribed, we can suppress these remnant souls.

Finally, by roasting them with medicinal fire, these remnant souls will completely perish.”

Li Xian gave a very affirmative response, “A very good method, at least much better than those who can’t do anything at all.”

Li Xian’s affirmation made Zhou Likun finally smile proudly, “Of course, I can’t tarnish the glory left by my ancestors.”

Everyone’s gaze toward Zhou Likun changed when they heard that he was able to refine remnant souls for cultivation. People with abilities are always worth paying attention to.

Li Xian was pleased to see this change. If Zhou Likun wanted to start working, he needed to establish his own authority. With authority, he could better carry out his work. After a brief pause, Li Xian opened his notes, which he had prepared overnight, and began to speak:

“Before we research petroleum, we need to introduce a new piece of equipment. This equipment is called a… microscope. Its structure is relatively simple, similar to a telescope, but it is used for looking at things up close. The front consists of a spherical convex lens that has a super magnifying effect.

I discovered that our spiritual sense is just an extension of the eyes. What the eyes cannot see, spiritual sense also cannot detect. Therefore, to study the finer details of the world, we must rely on this new tool, the microscope.”

Needless to say, Li Xian’s sudden introduction of such an unfamiliar device left everyone confused—what exactly was this? And the microscopic world?

Li Xian had already anticipated this, “Everyone, let’s do an experiment. Please pluck a hair. Very well, now try cutting the hair in half. Take one half and continue cutting, repeating the process…”

A simple and useful experiment, and after several attempts, the smart ones stopped, having understood Li Xian’s meaning.

“Quite an interesting experiment, right? As we keep dividing, the hair becomes shorter and shorter, and in the end, it becomes so tiny that the eyes can no longer see it, smaller than dust. Yet the material that makes up the hair is even smaller, so small that the eyes can’t see it, and neither can spiritual sense.

Only with the help of a microscope will everyone have a chance to see that microscopic world.

Alright, let’s pause this topic for now. Once the microscope is developed, everyone will naturally understand. At that time, we will add a new department, the Microbial Department. The Microbial Department will have the potential to directly produce century-old medicinal liquids using microorganisms.”

Alright, Li Xian had learned to be clever, casually drawing a pie, and as a result, everyone’s eyes lit up again.

A trace of smugness flashed in Li Xian’s eyes: Hmph, with these big pies, you all better hurry up and build the industrial system for me! But it’s not enough, I need more big pies. I’ve figured it out—if I want to motivate you all in the future, I’ll focus on cultivation and ascension. I don’t believe you can escape from my grasp!

After looking up, Li Xian regained his confident smile, “Everyone, don’t rush. This thing needs to be done step by step. Let me sketch a diagram for refining petroleum.”

Li Xian took a piece of chalk and started drawing on the blackboard, explaining as he went: “Step one, use steel pipes to extend into the petroleum. Step two, create a pump to extract the petroleum, so people won’t have to directly deal with the dangerous petroleum.

The third step is crucial. We need to research the discharge device. The discharge device must be just right, maybe even slightly over the top. It needs to be capable of eliminating the remnant souls and lingering wills in the petroleum. This process must be done carefully. If one discharge isn’t enough, we’ll repeat the discharge three times, ten times if necessary.

Perhaps, we can also apply a little heat to wake up some dormant remnant souls.”

Step four, the initial separation requires a centrifuge. The goal of this step is simple: to perform a rough separation of the different components in the petroleum. How to separate them and how much material can be separated, that’s for you all to research.

Step five, fine separation. Based on the different properties of the substances, further separation will be done. This could include centrifugal separation, heating separation, distillation separation, dissolution extraction separation, or even simple methods like resting precipitation and filtration. In addition to physical separation, we can also try chemical reaction separation. The chemical reaction separation will be handled by the chemical and explosives sub-factory.

This process should separate the vast majority of materials. Make sure to classify them properly, ensure safety, and store them for the long term.

Step six, after completing the steps above, there might still be some components that can’t be separated. This is where microorganisms come into play. We’ll use bacteria to consume the essence in the residue, and then we’ll separate the bacteria. These bacteria will replace spiritual medicine; we can use them to refine pills and medicines!

Next, I will stay in the Qingyun Valley as much as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to come find me.

That’s all for today. Everyone, please go back and think about it. The Petroleum Department needs to be established as soon as possible, and we need to pull personnel from various departments. Go back and make arrangements.

Also, the Research Department, the Mechanical Sub-factory, the locomotive, shipbuilding, aircraft, and engine departments should stay behind. Now that we have petroleum, there’s something called the internal combustion engine, and we must develop it.”

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter