Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 325 How did you manage to create a "flying boat"?

For three consecutive days, there was no peace and quiet at Xunmushang and the Immortal Alliance's headquarters.

From the details of various immortal alliance rules to the alliance's external affairs, the disputes never cease.

Fortunately, since all sects have received some favor from the White Stone Immortal Sect, any issue can be passed unanimously as long as Chang Ping'an has a preference and it does not absolutely harm everyone's interests.

While the Immortal Alliance was on the right track, the newly appointed lecturer "Zhijiang" in the White Stone Immortal Sect caused the disciples to wail incessantly.

There was no other reason than that after Chang Ping'an became the leader of the Immortal Alliance, he could no longer concurrently serve as the lecturer of the White Stone Immortal Sect, so this task fell to Murong Ruyan.

Murong Ruyan knew that these outer disciples were afraid of her, so her attitude when lecturing was much better than before, but not by much.

In addition, Tang Xiaoyu and Huang Wu were each assigned a class once a week, specifically on formations and weapon crafting.

However, both formation formations and weapon crafting are "elective courses," which was the course arrangement that Zhang Chengdao and Xu Ying, the sect leader, discussed and changed after Chang Ping'an left.

For novice students, there's really no need to take too many classes.

For example, when the first batch of outer disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect entered the sect, Zhang Chengdao was eager to train them into useful "oxen and horses," wishing they could be like modern high school students, working from morning till night.

But soon he discovered that, apart from some low-level spells and supernatural abilities, the real cultivation content did not require many courses to teach. Even if it was taught in great detail, it could be explained in a few hours at most. True cultivation still required giving disciples ample time to meditate and sense the Qi.

This is also why Zhang Chengdao later reduced the number of courses for his disciples. Of course, it also allowed them to have more time to take on commissions to earn money and serve as cheap "oxen and horses" in the sect.

Therefore, after discussing with Xu Ying, Zhang Chengdao decided to readjust the curriculum for the disciples. The disciples of the first year of the Immortal Yuan era would have their schedule changed from five days on, two days off to only two compulsory classes per week, which were the cultivation classes taught by Murong Ruyan. The next batch of disciples would have their schedule changed from two days on, five days off to only one compulsory class per week, also taught by Murong Ruyan.

In addition to this, there will be three elective courses each week: Tang Xiaoyu's array formation course, Huang Wu's weapon crafting course, and Xu Wen's general theory course.

This not only greatly reduced Murong Ruyan's workload, but also spurred Huang Wu to at least do something productive.

This guy has been obsessed with carpentry for several months now, and with his excellent carpentry skills, he has become the disciple with the most spirit stones in the entire sect.

Huang Wu was initially worried that he wouldn't be able to do the job well, but as he brought out an interesting little gadget for each class and taught his disciples how to make it step by step, he gradually found enjoyment in it after receiving enthusiastic praise from everyone. He would prepare for his lessons several days in advance each time, and even had to work hard to learn to read at the request of his junior brothers and sisters, searching for useful books in his library, which he had always avoided like the plague. He was so busy that he was grinning from ear to ear.

For example, during the recent weapon crafting class, many disciples asked Huang Wu to teach them how to craft Qiankun bags, saying that these things were too expensive at the sect market, and even Ye Chengyu was privately called a "black marketeer" by everyone. However, everyone couldn't live without Qiankun bags, so they turned to Huang Wu for help.

Huang Wu was easy to talk to. He didn't know how to make a Qiankun Bag at all, but he readily agreed to learn how and then teach everyone.

Therefore, Huang Wu has been spending a rare time in the library lately, reading all sorts of books on weapon crafting, and he has almost worn out a copy of "Heavenly Craftsmanship Weapon Crafting" from repeated reading!
While reading, his brows would furrow like a twisted rope, and he would have to close the book and catch his breath every now and then. In Huang Wu's words, "Reading is really too exhausting. The words on the book twist and turn like tadpoles in the water, and I get dizzy after reading for a while!"
The disciples were all busy with their own tasks, and Zhang Chengdao himself was not idle either.

In fact, after saving up for another 30 draws, he finally managed to draw a "Intermediate Out-of-Body Book".

Although this book is only of blue quality, in Zhang Chengdao's eyes it is equivalent to a treasure of red quality.

Because of this book, the cheat ability can continue to unlock the upgrade limit of its cultivation level, and at least unlock the sixth level of the Nascent Soul stage!
All things considered, he won't have to worry about being "limited" for the next few years!

Moreover, in a few years, there's no need to worry about not being able to collect all the cultivation manuals!
The appearance of this book caused Zhang Chengdao to "seclude himself" for quite some time. He only walked out of his room with a melancholy look on his face after playing Bubble Bobble to the point of almost throwing up.

Looking into the distance, the ice and snow at the foot of Baishi Mountain have melted, and the distant, layered mountains are all a tender green, with some scattered pink, white, and yellow spots—these are flowers that have almost finished blooming, burning with their last colors.

It's quite rare that no one has bothered me after being in seclusion for so long.

Zhang Chengdao was somewhat curious.

Didn't he used to have things come up to him every now and then, and we'd have to ask him to handle them?
While he was wondering what was going on, a large shadow suddenly fell over his head, startling Zhang Chengdao.

He looked up and discovered that it was flying in the sky...

Boat!?

Wait, isn't this an airship?!
Outsiders are attacking the martial arts cultivation world!?
In an instant, Zhang Chengdao's mind raced with all sorts of wild imaginings, until Huang Wu's head peeked out from the edge of the "flying boat," his signature silly grin instantly spreading across his face, his once yellowed front teeth seemingly turning noticeably whiter...

"Master! You've emerged from seclusion?"

Huang Wu grinned foolishly and said loudly, "Master, what do you think of the flying boat I made!"

Zhang Chengdao almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

I only went into seclusion for a month or so, and you've even managed to build a flying boat?!
The gold card is terrifyingly powerful!
Despite his shock, Zhang Chengdao calmly rode the wind and flew to the flying boat. He nodded to Huang Wu before carefully examining the "flying boat".

He couldn't see it clearly from a distance, but now that he was on the "flying boat," Zhang Chengdao realized that it was just a shape, unlike any other boat that floats on rivers, lakes, or seas, or any flying boat described in the various books in the library.

It wasn't very big, only a few feet long, and it had no cabin, only the shape of a boat. There was no "deck" on it, but a very deep pit. Huang Wu was standing in the pit, grinning foolishly. At the front of the pit was an unknown array that was faintly glowing with spiritual light. Tang Xiaoyu was standing in the array, with her eyes closed, holding her breath and concentrating on controlling the "flying boat".

She was probably being manipulated; at least when Zhang Chengdao came up, she didn't even have time to greet him.

Huang Wu scratched his head and said cheerfully, "What a coincidence, Master! Hehe, this is the first time we've tried to fly. We couldn't fly the first few times, but we finally succeeded this time, just in time to meet you when you come out of seclusion, Master!"

Zhang Chengdao glanced at the formation that made him feel dizzy and decided to give up observing this formation, which seemed to be the only power source for the "flying boat." He then turned to Huang Wu and asked, "This flying boat... did you figure it out yourself?"

"I suppose so," Huang Wu thought for a moment and replied, "I've almost memorized that book, 'Heavenly Craftsmanship Refinement,' but the part about refining flying boats wasn't very clear. Mainly, it lacked many of the spiritual materials needed for the 'furnace core,' and using spirit stones was quite wasteful. So I tried using a 'power array'... Since Senior Sister Xiaoyu has the most profound spiritual power, I asked her to help control it!" Zhang Chengdao was very surprised to hear this: "You've even learned a 'power array'?"

The term "power array" is a general term in the art of array formations, referring to a series of arrays that can provide power. For example, flying boats are described in the "Heavenly Crafting Refinement Manual." Currently, there are only two ways to make a flying boat fly. One is to refine a "furnace core" that consumes spirit stones or something with high spiritual energy content, equivalent to a car engine; the other is to use a "power array," where cultivators continuously input spiritual energy into the array to control and operate the flying boat.

In comparison, the former is definitely superior to the latter in terms of both flight speed and the sophistication of the flying boat. Moreover, even if the goal is to save spirit stones and rely on cultivators to provide spiritual power, most weapon refiners would specially craft flying boats with dual power sources. This way, the flying boat would not fall due to loss of power when cultivators are unable to provide spiritual power.

In some more advanced cultivation civilizations, the requirement for flying boats to retain a furnace core as one of their primary power sources is even enshrined in the laws of the cultivation world. This is to prevent unscrupulous and unethical weapon refiners from illegally producing substandard flying boats for profit, thus harming themselves and others...

"No, no," Huang Wu explained, "This magic array was set up by Senior Sister Xiaoyu. I don't understand that stuff!"

As he spoke, he spread his hands.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengdao felt much better.

After all, I can't understand it myself.

"Not bad, not bad. Although there is room for improvement overall, at least it was made and it took off successfully, which is progress."

As soon as he finished speaking, the flying boat shook and then "flew" towards the ground at an extremely fast speed.

Or rather, it's a "fall".

However, the speed of this "fall" is not a free fall acceleration, but a relatively uniform speed, just very fast.

Not long after, the "flying boat" landed on the ground with a thud, kicking up a high layer of dust as it crashed down.

"Senior Sister Xiaoyu!"

Huang Wu, being only in the Qi Refining stage, wasn't injured, but he still rolled a few times on the ground due to loss of balance upon landing. However, he quickly stood up and rushed to Tang Xiaoyu's side with a sense of responsibility: "Senior Sister Xiaoyu, are you alright?"

Tang Xiaoyu shook her head, but her tone was still tinged with fear: "It's alright, but this 'flying array' is still a bit off. When I was controlling it just now, its spiritual energy was being consumed more and more each time. Luckily, I reacted quickly and landed as soon as I sensed something was wrong, otherwise we would have fallen straight down from the sky, which would have been terrifying!"

Huang Wu comforted him, "It's alright. Anyway, I'm already at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Even if I fall, I shouldn't die!"

Tang Xiaoyu was about to say something when she looked up and saw Zhang Chengdao landing steadily from the air. She was startled and exclaimed, "Oh my, Master? What are you doing here?"

Zhang Chengdao had taken to the air the moment he sensed something was wrong, and even used his cloud-riding technique, preparing to catch his two foolish disciples with his "somersault cloud" if the flying boat encountered any trouble.

The test product wasn't even equipped with any security measures!
Zhang Chengdao's face turned dark.

Gold cards are so valuable! If something goes wrong, all the effort I put into developing these two gold cards will have been for nothing!

So Zhang Chengdao couldn't help but scold, "Next time, let your senior brother do it. Huang Wu, with your Qi Refining stage cultivation, you shouldn't do such dangerous things. This time, it was lucky that Xiaoyu reacted quickly and that I was there. If I hadn't been there and Xiaoyu hadn't reacted in time, it wouldn't have mattered if she could ride the wind, but you would have been in trouble."

"Actually, we didn't fly very high, just over the rooftop. Even if we crashed... ouch!"

Huang Wu scratched his head, trying to explain, but Tang Xiaoyu immediately reached out and pinched Huang Wu's arm. Huang Wu cried out in pain and stopped talking. Then she honestly admitted her mistake to Zhang Chengdao, saying, "Master is right. We didn't think things through. We definitely won't do it again next time. I'll keep an eye on Fifth Junior Brother and make sure he doesn't mess around. Don't worry!"

“Hmm,” Zhang Chengdao ignored Huang Wu’s somewhat aggrieved and shocked expression, nodded, and after swinging the big stick, gave the two of them a sweet treat: “However, this flying boat is indeed very necessary to study. How about this, later I will discuss it with Manager Xu and list this matter as a special ‘project’, just like the previous teleportation array, and let you, Xiao Wu, be in charge of it, to see if we can really forge a flying boat.”

"In this way, there is no need to worry about expenses. Spiritual materials and funds can be applied for from the sect. The flying boat also needs to be refined with a 'furnace core,' which is a safety issue and should not be underestimated."

"Hmm... I'll find you an advisor later. Perhaps you can consult him on the art of weapon crafting; you might find it rewarding..."

Huang Wu was stunned by this huge surprise, but Tang Xiaoyu pinched him again and urged, "What are you standing there for! Aren't you going to thank your master?"

"Ah! Ah! Oh, thank you, Master! This disciple, this disciple," Huang Wu scratched his head again, and after a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "This disciple will definitely live up to Master's expectations!"

"Ah."

Zhang Chengdao nodded in satisfaction, then turned and flew away on his "somersault cloud".

Even at this point, Huang Wu was still somewhat taken aback.

"Senior Sister Xiaoyu, what does Master mean by this? Is he giving me spiritual materials to play with? If he wants a flying boat, why doesn't he forge one himself?"

Master can craft all sorts of magical artifacts, so crafting a flying boat would be more than enough for him.

This specifically promises itself spiritual materials and money...

What a great trust and cultivation they have placed in me!
Huang Wu even vividly performed a scene of "tiger eyes filled with tears," and excitedly continued to Tang Xiaoyu, "What if I can't refine this in a short time!"

"What are you afraid of? Master has never scolded anyone. If you can't refine it, just keep refining it! Didn't you boast to those outer disciples before that you would definitely make a flying boat to show them? Why are you backing down now?"

Tang Xiaoyu rolled her eyes as she spoke: "And another thing, don't be so stubborn next time. Just listen to what Master says. Besides, we're in the wrong, so why are you being so stubborn!"

……

(End of this chapter)