Chapter 00292: DIY Your Own Copper Man
# DIY Your Own Copper Man
Chapter 292
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 292: DIY Your Own Copper Man
But now, even cultivators seek to obtain a government position or a title.
How could common folk believe that their ancestors could once stand shoulder to shoulder with gods and demons?
"I understand."
He Lingchuan took out a vial from his pocket and poured five drops of potion into Elder Liang's empty bottle.
Elder Liang looked at his disciple, who quickly ran out of the tent.
A quarter of an hour later, he returned, holding a wooden bead in his arms.
This was a sea-bottom wooden bead that contained the soul of a beast.
He Lingchuan took it and looked closely; it seemed to be the soul of a giant ape.
Hmm, not bad.
No shoddy goods were exchanged, and the transaction was complete.
Elder Liang smiled at him, his expression steady, still somewhat indifferent.
Watching the figure of Elder Liang walking away, He Lingchuan shrugged.
Though the history spanning nearly three thousand years was complex, it could not solely be blamed on the deities and demons seducing people's hearts, nor could it all be blamed on the world forgetting its roots.
The celestial sects had also done many underhanded things; not only had they obliterated the tremendous achievements established by their ancestors, but they had also lost the goodwill of the common folk.
These were points that Elder Liang deliberately chose not to mention, but He Lingchuan had seen numerous writings on this in the Wenxuangue of the Dragon Dream Realm, so he was not simply misled.
See? Reading idle books really has its benefits!
Next, he hastily finished his breakfast and headed to the military camp to find someone.
After a brief fifteen minutes, he went to look for Lingguang.
The monkey had occupied a tent for intense research, prohibiting any intrusions.
Out of respect for Young Master He and recognizing its impressive ability to aid the sick, the quartermaster ignored the chaos it had caused in the camp the previous night.
As soon as He Lingchuan entered the tent, Lingguang turned around and glared, about to scold him, but upon seeing He, it quickly shrank back its monkey face.
"Did you come up with something?"
Lingguang immediately wilted, "It'll take more time."
He Lingchuan noticed its bloodshot eyes, aware that it hadn’t slept all night. “Even the great adept sages of the past couldn't find their way; how do you expect to pull something off in one night? Just rest for a bit, and by the way, lend me your alchemy furnace.”
The monkey suddenly got anxious.
As a medicinal ape, the alchemy furnace was its lifeblood. “What for?”
“I want to refine a treasure, and I don’t have a suitable furnace at hand. Just lend it to me; it’ll be quick.”
“What kind of medicine do you need? I can handle it.”
“I want to refine a device. Do you know how?” He Lingchuan surveyed the tent but saw no alchemy furnace.
The monkey looked astonished. “Refining a device? You?” Why would someone want to refine something in the frontline instead of going back to Dunyucheng to find Li Fubo?
"Hurry up, don’t drag your feet, you won't ruin your furnace!” He Lingchuan was getting impatient. “I’m just making a copper man, it’s incredibly simple!”
“A copper man?” Lingguang dazed for a moment. “My furnace can't hold it.”
"Small one."
He Lingchuan gestured, “Just the size of my palm.”
After much prompting, Lingguang reluctantly took out a tiny three-legged furnace from its pocket and placed it on the ground, casually reciting a few incantations.
The yellow-bronze furnace instantly grew larger, reaching about six feet tall, its entire body shining brightly like a mirror.
One could see how much care Lingguang usually took of it.
In the Dragon Dream Realm, He Lingchuan had been pondering the technique of refining the golden-armored copper man, scrutinizing every detail many times.
After all, the cost of refining was exceptionally high; even a slight mistake would be beyond his means to bear.
Fortunately, this secret technique had a characteristic:
The difficulty of the copper man technique lay in how the master manipulated it, while the refining process itself was relatively simple, with only four or five steps in total.
For someone like him, a beginner, that was remarkably friendly.
The furnace was already heated, with a temperature of three parts, and He Lingchuan followed the secret scroll’s illustration, adding materials like crafted gold and fine iron, one after another.
While examining the blueprints in his dreams, he found that for refining the copper man, surprisingly, he already had six out of the seven or eight required materials on hand!
Those were the leftover scraps from remaking the Floating Life Treasure Blade, and he hadn't had time to clean out his storage ring.
They came in handy at this moment.
Especially the crafted gold and fine iron were crucial; without them, the copper man would merely be copper sludge, lacking any structure.
As for the one or two missing materials, they would just mean the copper man’s outer shell wouldn’t be as tough and its movements not as agile.
The secret scroll also stated that if the maker had insights during the process, they could add extra materials to create a more distinctive DIY golden-armored copper man.
He Lingchuan, at this stage, didn’t need anything too special; he just wanted a copper skeleton with iron bones that could defend, attack, and assist.
He understood Lingguang’s surprise, but after last night's dream, Wenzhong Lun had once again reminded him that his strife would not be easily resolved, intensifying his sense of urgency.
Therefore, he decided to refine the copper man as quickly as possible.
In this world, there is no such thing as perfect preparation; the most suitable option at the moment is the best.
He kept urging Lingguang to raise the furnace's temperature; otherwise, the crafted gold wouldn’t melt.
Fortunately, Lingguang’s treasured furnace was powerful, and indeed some special medicinal pills needed to have metals and various hardwoods added; otherwise, a normal medicine furnace could only heat up to four or five hundred degrees, not even enough to melt iron.
As the furnace gradually heated up, Lingguang didn’t know its limits, becoming increasingly cautious.
Luckily, at this moment, the hardest-to-melt crafted gold also began to soften, and Lingguang carefully controlled the furnace temperature.
He Lingchuan then pulled out a set of molds from his pocket. “Pour it here.”
Lingguang didn’t dare to speak, his eyes clearly asking, “Where did you get those?”
The mold was about the size of both palms, with a human-shaped cavity in the center, divided into many layers and multiple parts.
It was a standard metal forming template.
This was the frontline of war; how did He Lingchuan so hastily procure an entire set of templates?
He smiled widely, “Yesterday someone summoned a Green Hooded Warrior to beat up a cow; do you remember?”
Lingguang nodded.
“He had one; I borrowed it for two taels of silver. We must return it after use.” That person wasn’t refining the golden-armored copper man, but the appearance of such large summoned creatures was generally similar, so borrowing a universal template was fine.
Inside, after all, one should focus on the interior!
The monkey rolled its eyes; what kind of person is this?
Next, they needed to pour casting layer by layer.
Luckily, the alchemist’s furnace already had dividers to prevent mixing the properties of the medicines.
At this moment, He Lingchuan guided Lingguang to pour the fine iron, red copper, frost silver, and crafted gold into their respective cavities, corresponding to the copper man’s bones, muscles, tendons, and vitality.
Lingguang’s hands were steady, and He Lingchuan chanted quickly, resulting in no mistakes.
The first layer of bones was laid, and while the iron liquid had not completely solidified, He Lingchuan cut his wrist, allowing a few drops of blood to flow, completing the recognition process.
He then dipped his blood in and inscribed runes on the iron bones.
Each rune was smaller than a fly's head and was written in the ancient language of the celestial beings.
At this moment, he had to thank Sun Fuling; the stern tutoring from the past few days had solidified his grasp of the ancient language to such an extent that he managed to not make a single mistake in these crucial moments—
If he had made even one mistake, the copper man would have to be refined all over again.
Before the bones solidified, he successfully etched all the runes.
The subsequent processes went smoothly, and once all the metallic liquid solidified completely, He Lingchuan obtained a complete set of components for the copper man…
After assembling this DIY copper man, he installed the beast soul he had just acquired inside it as an intelligence core, then placed a small piece of mysterious crystal in the back of its head and began to try chanting incantations to control it.
It was said that the first communication was critical; whether it could connect in harmony afterward depends on that initial contact.
After He Lingchuan experimented over and over again, perhaps due to the monotony, the little copper man finally tilted its head, looking at He Lingchuan, and then gave him the finger.
That was the action the master wanted it to perform.
However, He Lingchuan initially intended for it to raise its index finger.
“It's done, it's done!” He Lingchuan clapped his hands.
This kind of excitement was comparable only to when he received toys for the first time seventeen or eighteen years ago.
As for the tiny mistake of the wrong finger raised, with repeated control and adjustment, that should be fixed.
Or perhaps it was due to cutting corners during the refining process since two materials were missing.
Lingguang stared wide-eyed, freshly having controlled the fire until it was drenched in sweat. “How big can it get?”
“At least about ten feet tall, right?”
The man and the monkey exchanged glances and simultaneously said, “Let’s go outside and try it out!”
The guards outside the tent were filled with dread:
What kind of scheme were these ancestors planning again? Were they not finished having fun last night?
********
Deputy General Fu Xin of Bai Liqing led a dozen soldiers northward, traveling all day along mountain roads, finally arriving at the New Bridge Township.
Just before entering the township, two men suddenly jumped out from the bushes by the roadside.
Fu Xin was startled, instinctively reaching for his blade, only to realize they were his own people.
The other side said, “General Hong ordered us to wait here to escort General Bai Li.”
Fu Xin tightened his grip on the blade, “General Bai Li has already fallen. There’s only us from the mine.”
The two were shocked. “What about the others, the others?”
Fu Xin shook his head.
The two men looked sickened.
Fu Xin gritted his teeth, “You followed Hong Chenglue, tell me honestly, did you intercept any soldiers coming from the west?”
The two soldiers exchanged glances but remained silent.
Fu Xin had already come to the conclusion, gritting his teeth, “Lead the way.”
The two still had to go through the formality and asked, “Are there any pursuers behind?”
“No, we verified it several times!” Fu Xin’s cheek muscle twitched. “Hurry and lead the way!”
They then guided him deep into the mountains, heading northeast.
“General Hong isn’t in New Bridge Township?” Fu Xin spoke directly, dropping the formality.
“Not here; General Hong chose another location.”
After walking further into the remote area for several hours, Fu Xin noticed fresh horse tracks along the way.
It wasn't long before they climbed halfway up a hill, and the guide finally said, “We’re here.”
“Right here?” Fu Xin looked up at the stronghold above.
Wooden fences, obstacles, watchtowers, and hanging doors—everything was there, and it looked like it had been around for a while, unlike it had just been constructed.
Following the guide inside, he noticed the traces of blades and axes everywhere, as well as some uncleaned blood.
The stronghold had seventeen or eighteen row houses all interconnected, with thick earth walls, small doors and windows, and the window positions were notably high, revealing that it was a combination of watchtowers and houses.
Most importantly, there were signs that people had lived here for a long time.
“What was this place originally?”
“A bandit den,” the guiding soldier replied. “It’s called Jinyin Mountain around here. We just took down the bandits' nest last night. General Hong said we’d stay here for the time being.”
Yesterday, it was mentioned in the main text that He Lingchuan did not provide Wenzhong Lun with his birth date, as he came from over a hundred years later, and his actual birthday did not match.
We are talking about a birthday from over a hundred years later, not a birth date from over a hundred years later; these are entirely different matters.
Modern people are accustomed to the Gregorian calendar, and explaining this is complicated, so I’ll gloss over it briefly.
Usually, I don’t interpret the contents of the text to avoid affecting everyone’s reading enjoyment.
But since a reader specifically brought it up, let me explain why the protagonist refuses to speak.
The birth date corresponds to the year, month, day, and time, totaling four pillars of heaven and earth, with two characters per pillar, making a total of eight characters.
Every sixty years, a cyclic renewal occurs, the cycle begins anew.
There is nothing that can’t be discussed about the month, day, or time.
It essentially boils down to the year.
Let’s take an example:
Assuming you were born in 2000 (the year of Gengchen), you are now 22. If you travel back to 1750 and tell Qianlong you were born in the year of Gengchen, Qianlong would understand you to mean the year 1700.
Good grief, you were born 11 years before Qianlong, already fifty years old yet still with the face of a 22-year-old; there would be two possibilities:
One, you're deceiving him.
Two, you’re an ageless monster.
Neither situation would be good.
He Lingchuan thought similarly about Wenzhong Lun.
Just a simple note for reference; feel free to read it as you will.
(End of this chapter)