Starting as a Son-in-law to Establish an immortal Family

"Use it!"

Lu Changsheng activated the Third Order Artifact Refinement Skill from the System Space.

Instantly, knowledge about artifact refining flooded into his mind like a tide.

"Basics of Artifact Refining"

"Foundry Craftsmanship"

"Techniques, Divine Skills, Natural Qi and Materials"

"Principles of Design for Magic Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts, and Magical Treasures"

...

After a long while.

"Artifact Refining..."

Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes, digesting the knowledge on artifact refining in his mind.

It had to be said that this Third Order Artifact Refinement Skill was quite profound.

It had not only provided him with a wealth of knowledge on artifact refining,

but also deepened his understanding of magic and spiritual artifacts, and magical treasures.

In the future, he could even deduce some potential weaknesses and flaws in an opponent's life-bound magic treasure based on its use, thereby devising targeted strategies.

Furthermore, when crafting his own life-bound magic treasure in the future, he could make adjustments based on the original design, incorporating many of his own concepts, making the magic treasure more suited to himself.

After all, whether it was cultivation techniques or magic treasures, they could be used by anyone.

But if something was custom-made and perfectly suited, the effect would inevitably be several times better.

"This path of artifact refining holds some similarities to puppet skills, with a touch of ingeniously shared wisdom between disparate branches..."

Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly, feeling that there were many similarities between the principles of artifact refining and puppet crafting.

If there was a distinction, it was that artifact refining leaned toward the control of mana, maximizing power and effect in a cultivator's hands.

On the other hand, puppets were more about functionality.

They didn't require much consideration of a cultivator's techniques or mana,

and the inscribing of runes on them was much more intricate and complex.

Now that he had acquired the Third Order Artifact Refining Skill, Lu Changsheng felt that if he could settle down and thoroughly study it, there might be hope of advancing his puppet skills to the third rank.

However, at the moment, Lu Changsheng wasn't greatly interested in Third-Order Puppet Skills.

Rather, his interest in industrialization had been rekindled, along with new ideas.

Years ago, after acquiring puppet skills, Lu Changsheng had the idea of a puppet factory with an assembly line.

Decades had passed, and the Puppet Workshop at Bi Lake Mountain had initially realized assembly line craftsmanship.

But this workshop was still far from his original vision.

In his initial concept, there was not only a manual assembly line but also puppet automation.

Some puppet components and parts would be crafted by puppets.

Even constructing several large-scale puppets, akin to CNC machine tools with artificial intelligence.

But as beautiful as the imagination was, reality was harsh.

The difficulty of construction was one thing,

but what really hindered Lu Changsheng was not a matter of craftsmanship,

but the cost of construction, daily consumption, and subsequent maintenance expenses.

Second Rank Puppets running for long periods required the consumption of Middle Grade Spirit Stones, or even Superior Grade Spirit Stones.

Naturally, their efficiency was slightly higher than that of Energy Refining Cultivators.

But in the Cultivation World, other things might be scarce, but there was no shortage of cultivators.

A puppet apprentice at Bi Lake Mountain earned less than ten Low-Quality Spirit Stones a month in wages.

Even due to the reputation and goodwill of Bi Lake Mountain, countless cultivators were willing to sign indenture contracts for the chance to learn a trade and have a backer, as long as they were provided with food and accommodation.

Under such circumstances, relying on puppet automation was simply a losing business.

The emergence of the Thousand Faces Puppet Fox, which required no daily consumption or subsequent maintenance, could potentially realize Lu Changsheng's idea of automation.

But he was currently unable to craft such Third-Order Puppets, and the cost was too high to consider.

After all, to make a profit from crafting puppets using the Thousand Faces Puppet Fox, it might take hundreds of years just to break even.

But now, having obtained the Third Order Artifact Refinement Skill, Lu Changsheng suddenly had many new ideas.

While full-scale industrialization might not be feasible,

partial industrialization was certainly possible.

For example, whether it was artifact refining, alchemy, talisman making, or puppets, there was one tedious step in common:

the processing of raw materials.

The materials for artifacts and puppets were mainly metal spirit ores,

which required cultivators to spend a great deal of time refining, purging them of impurities.

"The only issue in the process of refining spirit ores is the purging of impurities without losing the inherent spiritual essence."

"If I could construct a Spiritual Power Furnace that automatically purges impurities and locks in the spiritual essence, I could omit the manual refining step entirely, saving a significant amount of time."

Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed as he began to ponder and calculate in his mind to see if he could make this idea a reality.

After all, cost was always a concern.

If the Spiritual Power Furnace turned out to be too costly to operate, then it would be pointless.

"This Spiritual Power Furnace could operate like an Earthfire Array, tapping into Earth Fire, linking up with Spirit Veins, so that it wouldn't rely on Spirit Stones for power, just the construction and maintenance costs of the magic furnace."

"Right, I also need to consider the ease of operation because this kind of Spiritual Power Furnace must be controllable by an Energy Refining Cultivator."

Lu Changsheng continued to think about the feasibility.

After some time, Lu Changsheng felt this idea was worth a try.

Not only for making money,

but also because he had felt for years that the purely manual production methods of the Cultivation World were incredibly inefficient.

As a transmigrator, he felt compelled to do something,

like initiate an industrial revolution.

By exploiting the price scissors effect, he could give the artisan still stuck in primitive workshops of the Cultivation World a little shock.

...

Three months later.

Puppet Workshop.

Lu Changsheng looked at the furnace in front of him, a full ten feet tall and clad in red copper with runes all over, and showed a satisfied expression.

Then he turned to Lu Xianzhi beside him and said, "Xianzhi, give it a try."

"Yes, Father."

Lu Xianzhi, in a loose long robe with a mustache on his lip corners and a calm face, nodded in response.

He stepped forward and embedded nine Middle Grade Spirit Stones into the Earth Fire mouth, then made the Gesture Incantations, igniting the Earth Fire Array connected with the furnace. The roaring Earth Fire began to burn.