Kays Translations

Chapter 164: Bacteria for Alchemy?

When only a few people remained in the conference room, Li Xian was the first to look toward the head of the aircraft department, Yun Feihong, who was one of the only two women present— the other being Xia Qingqing.

Looking at Yun Feihong, Li Xian spoke slowly, “Yun Feihong, the aircraft department will face the greatest pressure in the future. You need to be prepared. Perhaps, you will bear more than half of the pressure from the Brilliant Star Group.”

Yun Feihong furrowed her brows slightly, “For now, it’s quite easy. I’m fully capable of handling it.”

Li Xian shook his head slightly, “If I asked you to cancel the Floating Cloud Formation now, would you be able to rely entirely on the propellers to send the aircraft into the sky? Do you have the ability to make the aircraft’s speed exceed the speed of sword flight by a Golden Core cultivator? Do you have the ability to make the aircraft’s speed exceed the speed of sword flight by a Nascent Soul cultivator?”

“Cancel the Floating Cloud Formation? How would the aircraft take off?” Yun Feihong was clearly taken aback by Li Xian’s seemingly “illogical” question.

Li Xian understood how this question would challenge Yun Feihong, as well as many cultivators’ traditional views: “Birds can fly, butterflies can fly, do they have the Floating Cloud Formation on them?”

“No!” Yun Feihong said seriously. Once she entered work mode, she became a very serious person.

“Then, have you considered how they fly into the sky?”

“Wings!”

Li Xian continued, “Do you remember the ‘closed-type aircraft’ concept I mentioned to you? I said that’s called an airplane, not a flying machine anymore.

I’ve thought about it for a long time, and we can’t take shortcuts in the development of flight technology. From now on, start studying aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, biomimicry, flight dynamics, and so on. You’ll need to lead a team of at least five hundred people and reorganize and develop the existing technological system.

The research into flight will be a very heavy task. In fact, more than half of the high-end research tasks of the Brilliant Star Group will be related to flight.”

Yun Feihong seemed to gradually realize the importance and the immense responsibility of her department, but being a strong woman, she thought for a moment before resolutely saying, “I want to give it a try!”

“Good. Then, the first task for the aircraft department is to study an airplane that doesn’t require the Floating Cloud Formation. I will give you some guidance, but much of it will need to be solved by you all.”

After that, Li Xian discussed the internal combustion engine. To be honest, he didn’t remember much about it—he only had a general idea. Anyway, the direction was set, and the rest would be handled by each person responsible.

In the following days, Li Xian became completely busy, mostly answering others’ questions about development directions and the like. Especially after the microscope was developed, everyone respected Li Xian even more—Young Master knows so much!

The petroleum department also gradually picked up, with elites gathered from various departments. This kept Fang Shijing busy; the old man hadn’t left the office for days.

After Zhou Likun saw bacteria, plant cells, and so on through the microscope, he truly bowed in respect. He then started pestering Li Xian with endless questions—using bacteria to consume petroleum residues, classifying bacteria, using bacteria for alchemy. This idea made Zhou Likun exclaim in admiration! If it succeeded, the Brilliant Star Group would never lack pills in the future!

With bacteria, even if spiritual herbs and rare treasures are gone, it wouldn’t matter!

Everything was thriving, except… many women, including Xia Qingqing, and some people who liked cleanliness, couldn’t stand it! Why? Bacteria!

Now that the microscope was available, it was inevitable that everyone would take a look at food and boiling water, and, unsurprisingly, they discovered bacteria.

As a result, Xia Qingqing didn’t eat or drink for two whole days.

This troubled Li Xian greatly.

In desperation, Li Xian had to hold a lecture: “These bacteria are beneficial. You see, our skin, saliva, and even blood all have bacteria. They are symbiotic organisms. The human body is like an alternative empire, and bacteria are the citizens of our body.”

Alright, Li Xian’s speech was so brilliant that people like Xu Ren, Fang Shijing, Zhou Likun, and others all benefited greatly.

However, when Xia Qingqing heard that there were bacteria in the body, her face turned pale. For a moment, there was a mini biochemical crisis in Qingyun Valley! Li Xian was so worried!

Fortunately, Xia Qingqing finally managed to stay determined and slowly adapted. However, from that point on, Xia Qingqing became almost obsessive about cleanliness.

On the bright side, there was good news as well. First and foremost, the electrical devices, pumps, centrifuges, distillation units, and so on were successful—whether they are effective or not remains unknown and will require on-site testing, which will need to be repeated multiple times. But the experiments with mud and alcohol were quite successful. Now, Zhou Likun has already led the first team and equipment to begin testing.

Additionally, all staff members are equipped with special protective suits, made of sea soul silk, even advanced spiritual silk, and black iron silk. Inside the suits, there are numerous formations, including heart-purification mantras, soul-lock formations, the supreme yang heavenly array, and green light formations that harm detached souls. Every useful formation, everything that can be deployed, has been used to effectively block the approach and harm of residual souls in petroleum.

Next, news came from the southern region, from Lüliang County. With the cooperation of Li Yuanming and Zhao Youdan, Lüliang County now has more than 700,000 households and approximately 3.5 million people willing to relocate to Anyang County! The prosperity of Anyang and the benefits promised by Li Yuanming have indeed attracted many people.

Of course, there’s also something that Li Xian and many of Anyang’s senior officials hadn’t anticipated—that is, when Anyang attacked Lüliang County in the past, the soldiers never harmed the common people in the slightest, which earned Anyang a lot of goodwill.

Moreover, Zhao Youdan, upon learning that the imperial edict had stripped him and his father of their noble status, became ruthless and almost emptied Lüliang County! The 3.5 million population mainly consists of people with a broad vision and remarkable abilities. It can be said that Lüliang County is now just a hollow shell!

Furthermore, there was news from Yan Ze’an, reporting that the Kong family’s military forces had completely withdrawn from Anyang County (formerly Zhongshan County). From now on, Li Xian would truly take control of this new Anyang. Of course, it would take a little more time to fully control and dominate Anyang.

Additionally, in external commercial exchanges, the textile dumping plan to Cai Kingdom has achieved an unprecedented victory, bringing enormous wealth back to Anyang, and efforts have already begun to try to monopolize the textile market of Cai Kingdom.

Within the Great Xia Kingdom, products from the Brilliant Stars Group have flooded the market. Even the four countries surrounding Cai Kingdom are fiercely vying for products from the Brilliant Stars Group, treating them as precious treasures.

Looking at these developments, Li Xian was overjoyed. Anyang had finally gotten on the right track, and he had now truly laid a solid foundation.

As Li Xian reviewed his achievements, Yuan Zhao finally arrived at the imperial capital, Wuyang City. According to plan, Yuan Zhao intended to first visit Uncle Li Yulong—after all, the Yuan and Li families had not severed their ties, and there was still a cooperative relationship with the “Brilliant Stars Trading Company.”

However, when Yuan Zhao arrived, the Crown Prince, also Second Prince Xia Shu, was preparing to head to Lüliang County for his new appointment. He was accompanied by only a “half” strategist—his uncle Yue Qingfeng. Xia Shu could be said to be the loneliest among the three princes.

Yuan Zhao encountered the Crown Prince at the gate of Wuyang City. Seeing Yuan Zhao, who appeared weary from travel, the Crown Prince was overjoyed, “Yuan Zhao, are you here to assist me?”

Yuan Zhao immediately froze. I didn’t even think of you, but of course, he couldn’t say that. He also couldn’t lie, as sometimes lying only makes things worse. How should he respond?

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