Kays Translations

Chapter 4: Dazzling

“What is that little fellow doing?” In the Li residence of Wuyang City, Li Yulong was inquiring about a shadow that flickered intermittently.

“All is here.” The shadow handed over a jade slip, which recorded all of Li Xian’s actions and performance.

After reading it, Li Yulong simply said, “Still not focusing on the main business, huh? Well, continue to protect him.”

The shadow vanished instantly, as if it had never existed.

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The next afternoon, Li Xian once again gathered everyone from the jade lamp workshop. There were almost sixty people, including those who procured jade, cut jade, managed tools, and so on.

Seeing these people, Li Xian felt a slight excitement; his grand endeavor was starting here. Initially, technology does not require sophisticated skills; what it needs most is a solid foundation—basic principles are the most important.

Although there is a brilliant cultivation civilization here, it does not mean it can be used directly; it must be fundamentally digested and absorbed. The development of technology needs to start from the most basic level, like building a skyscraper from the ground up.

Li Xian first took an oath, guaranteeing what he said yesterday; all the craftsmen also swore oaths. It seemed like everyone was happy. Other workshops came over to watch, and while many did not voice it, some still had a bit of mockery in their hearts—who doesn’t know Li Xian?

Li Xian looked at the other workshops with a smug smile. Look, look as much as you want. I believe it won’t be long before you’ll envy me. It’s precisely because you see it that you’ll be willing to join my team in the future.

That evening, Li Xian called everyone for a meeting. Looking at nearly sixty pairs of eager eyes and the pushy Li Youwei who squeezed in, Li Xian finally gave his formal speech.

“I know everyone has many questions, and I know some of you may feel uneasy. But some things are not explained through words, but by action. Please give me a month, and I will show you a different jade lamp workshop.

For now, the head of the jade lamp workshop will remain Teacher Sun Ming.

However, I will also be monitoring things closely and will reward, punish, or promote based on each person’s performance and abilities. From now on, your future is in your own hands.

Now, I will announce the first plan, which is divided into three parts.

First, we will incorporate sculpture and art into the colored lamps. This requires researching different colored lights, lights with different brightness levels, and also studying spiritual materials like jade and crystal for sculpture.

Second, we will research the craft of glazing. The main ingredients for glaze are actually just three: quartz, alkali, and lime. However, there are advanced formulas, such as quartz, alkali, and calcite, or adding fluorite, saltpeter, and others. We will discuss this later. Additionally, to make our glass more noble and unique, I’ve decided to rename it: glass (no laughing).

Third, we will establish a research group, responsible for studying formations, glass formulas, and so on.

The first and second parts will be implemented first. As for the third, I will personally oversee and select the participants. Anyone chosen to join the research group will be rewarded with one or two silver coins per day.”

Swoosh… Upon hearing about the silver coin reward, even Master Sun Ming’s eyes lit up.

On the third day, Li Xian personally took charge of the workshop operations. However, like every business, he encountered a challenge on the first day—formations. The original formations were engraved on both ends of the jade stone, and you could simply reverse them. But if you were to make a three-foot lotus lamp, you couldn’t exactly flip the lotus upside down—that would be too ridiculous.

The first obstacle in making colored lamps was the modification of the formation.

“Could we extend one of the formation’s circuits, making it into a switch that can be turned on and off at will?”

“That would damage the formation,” Sun Ming firmly criticized Li Xian’s impractical idea.

As expected, during the first test, Li Xian suffered an honorable failure.

Sun Ming shook his head, “Formations can be modified, but not arbitrarily. Every corner, every detail of a formation, including its length, thickness, and depth, is strictly regulated. The reason we made cylindrical jade lamps before was because the formation was a crucial part.

To alter a formation, a solid foundation in formations is required.”

Li Xian did not respond but was deep in thought: Everything has its foundation and rules, and formations must be the same. As long as the basic principles are understood, one should be able to design formations freely, just like software! But to summarize the rules of formations, one must start from the most fundamental elements: the One, the Two Principles, the Three Talents, the Four Symbols, the Five Elements, the Six Harmonies, the Seven Stars, the Eight Trigrams, the Nine Palaces, and the Ten Absolute Principles. This will be a very complex task.

“No, this jade lamp only involves a minor formation; there should be simpler methods!” Li Xian thought. “Yes, let’s do it this way!”

Acting on his thought, he dyed all the completed jade lamps with ink and rolled them on paper, leaving a series of marks. One after another, Li Xian and Sun Ming began comparing them.

“Here… and here… and here…” Li Xian became increasingly excited as he finally discovered a pattern. The formation could be altered, but not indiscriminately. Each formation has several “modules,” and there are connecting lines between the modules. The modules themselves cannot be changed, but the connecting lines can be adjusted appropriately.

“Only appropriate changes are allowed?” Li Xian frowned in thought. Sun Ming, observing Li Xian’s concentrated expression, couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional: This truly is a prodigal son returning!

At this point, Sun Ming suddenly drew two parallel lines extending from the center and edges of the formation. “Xian, this is a pattern I discovered by accident many years ago. These two lines will interfere with the formation and prevent it from functioning. But if any one of the lines is cut, the formation will recover. If both lines are cut simultaneously while the formation is operating, the entire formation will be destroyed.”

Li Xian suddenly froze, and after a long moment, he shouted, “Damn, this is a grounding line!”

“Grounding line? Where is it grounded?” Sun Ming was filled with confusion.

“Haha, let’s call it a grounding line from now on. One will be the positive terminal, and the other will be the negative terminal. Master, I can’t take advantage of you, so I’m announcing that I’ll give you 5% of my pure profit as a reward.”

Li Xian took 5% from his 80% profit to give to Sun Ming. This simple gesture allowed Li Xian to truly grasp the threshold of changing the world of formations. Most importantly, this small “switch” was of great significance; the entire technological system could not do without switches!

“This…” Sun Ming was momentarily stunned. As a master craftsman, he knew very well how much 5% of pure profit represented. That was at least 25 taels of gold, 250 taels of silver, and 250,000 copper coins! And two copper coins could buy one pound of japonica rice. This was a huge amount.

“Master, please accept it. If you don’t, others won’t dare to accept rewards in the future,” Li Xian said happily. Haha, with this reward, I don’t believe the others won’t work hard—examples are powerful.

With the fundamental problem solved, the jade lamps no longer needed to be inverted; they could be designed with a switch, as convenient as an electrical circuit. This would allow for more exquisite jade lamp designs, and the idea of a grounding line was also effective in other formations.

The glass technology was also quickly resolved with the help of Li Xian and the practitioners. Despite these practitioners only having levels three or four, or at most five or six, they were still practitioners with spiritual awareness. In just three days of effort, they managed to blow glassware.

The colorful glass products immediately impressed Sun Ming and the others; Li Youwei was also equally impressed.

The finished glass was not only beautiful, smooth, and transparent with rich colors, but its texture was seamless and could not be analyzed for composition or craftsmanship using spiritual awareness. Therefore, as long as the glass-making method remained confidential, wow, just thinking about it was exciting.

The only problem might be that, like stones, glass lacked spiritual essence and could not replace jade.

With the formation and glass issues resolved, only minor difficulties remained. Finally, two months after Li Xian arrived at the jade lamp workshop, it had completely transformed into a colorful lamp factory. The team produced over 500 colorful lamps of various sizes.

The 500 colorful lamps lit up the courtyard of the Li family workshop, leaving everyone stunned.

The large ones depicted stories of the Seven Fairies, each fairy holding a brilliantly colorful lotus lamp of different styles, standing on a dazzling jade pedestal. Each sculpture stood eight feet tall and ten feet wide, almost entirely made of glass, sparkling and transparent. The glass encased the jade, effectively concealing the formation patterns, and was non-dismantlable, which would keep it secret for a while.

The smaller artistic lamps were fist-sized, in the shapes of flowers, water droplets, little birds, and adorable squirrels, each one exquisitely crafted.

In addition to the artistic lamps, there was a great invention—a flashlight; well, it was called a “Night Light” here.

And, of course, with glass available, mirrors had to make a grand appearance! There was also a telescope, but that was stored away, as good things are best kept on high shelves.

Everyone at the jade lamp workshop was cheering; even a fool could see the business opportunities.

But, facing the excited Li Youwei, Li Xian said something surprising: “Uncle San, I’m planning to make a loss-making deal!”

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