Chapter 35
Smooth-Flowing Production
The industrial zone planned by Chen Daoxuan was located in the vast plains to the east of Changping County. Traveling from here to the east, one could reach the only deep-water port of Shuanghu Island.
The reason why Chen Daoxuan situated the industrial zone here was not only to make advance preparations for the expansion of the industrial zone in the future, but also to facilitate the import and export of spiritual artifacts and spirit ores.
The only inconvenience was that this district was outside the main district of Changping County. It was surrounded by plains and wasteland and, other than a dilapidated official road leading straight to Changping County’s main district, there were no other buildings in sight.
Obviously, the environment here was not very conducive to the workers of the spiritual artifact factory who were about to work here.
However, these kinds of problems could not be completely solved even in the modern world, let alone the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island, whose conditions and resources were in an even worse state.
If they wanted to solve these problems, they had to do a good job in planning and building the surrounding infrastructure.
For example, in the industrial zone, in addition to the factory, they also had to build dormitories for employees, medical centers, and all kinds of ancillary structures for shopping and recreation.
After all, humans were not machines. Even if the Chen clansmen could endure hardship, Chen Daoxuan did not want to squeeze them too much.
Perhaps everyone would be able endure a painful and difficult environment when the conditions were tough, but when the clan grew stronger, if Chen Daoxuan still continued to work them to the bone, it would inevitably make the Chen clansmen unhappy.
Although ordinary mortals did not dare to resist the power of cultivators, they could not be faulted for slacking and cutting corners in such situations.
Therefore, Chen Daoxuan had to consider the various benefits and welfare of the workers in the spiritual artifact factory in advance, to prevent situations in which poor work quality or ethic in the production process caused unnecessary losses to the clan.
…
The moment Chen Daoxuan learned that the factory was completed, he rode the wind and rushed over.
When he arrived at the scene, everyone was already waiting in the factory area.
Chen Daoxuan hovered in the air and looked down from above. The factory area measured about 1,000 square meters, which was much more spacious than the clan’s old earth fire chamber.
Descending in front of everyone, Chen Daoxuan looked at Chen Beiwang, who had a tired expression on his face, and said, “Chen Beiwang, thank you for your hard work!”
Upon hearing this compliment, Chen Beiwang had an inexplicably excited expression on his face. He cupped his hands and said, “I am sixty-two years old this year and already have one foot in the grave. I did not expect to have the fortune to build such a wonderful spectacle for my clan. I am so happy even though it only happened this late in my life. How could I call it hard work?”
Hearing these words that came from the bottom of Chen Beiwang’s heart, Chen Daoxuan nodded and said, “However, those who are capable will still have to strive hard for the clan. I’m afraid that you will not be able to stay idle even after accomplishing this. Other than the factory, we also need to construct the dormitory area for the employees, various buildings in the factory area, and the road connecting Changping County to the industrial zone and deep-water port. All of these are waiting for you.”
As expected, Chen Beiwang’s face fell slightly when he heard this.
Then, his hunched body was filled with fighting spirit again. He said, “As long as my clan does not mind me being useless, I’m willing to die from exhaustion serving in my position!”
Hearing this, Chen Daoxuan could not help but respect this old man in front of him.
In the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island, even ordinary mortals were focused on developing and strengthening their clan.
Such a clan would not be worried about not being strong!
After encouraging the crowd, Chen Daoxuan stepped into the factory building under the adoring gazes of the crowd.
The internal structure of the factory building was exactly the same as the blueprint design he had given them. There were a total of ten separate sections and, measured by area, each section was about 100 square meters.
All the sections were connected to each other, making it easy for Chen Daoxuan to move from one section to the next.
After some inspection, Chen Daoxuan realized that all he needed to do now was to install the spirit smelting furnaces.
As for the array to guide the earth fire vein, which was the core array required to build an earth fire chamber, Chen Daoxuan had already finished setting it up not long after the outer structure of the factory was built.
Therefore, when everyone entered the factory, they felt waves of heat assaulting them, similar to the ones felt in the earth fire chamber.
Fortunately, both Chen Liangyu and the others, as well as Chen Beiwang and his team, were used to this kind of environment. No one complained about being tired.
After touring the factory, Chen Daoxuan nodded his head in satisfaction.
“Very good! I now announce that the first phase of the Chen spiritual artifact factory has been officially completed!”
After that, he took the lead in applauding.
Although they did not know what Chen Daoxuan meant by this action, they still imitated the applause.
Seeing everyone’s unfamiliar movements, Chen Daoxuan sighed in his heart. Somehow, it felt that, if he did not set off firecrackers or cut the opening ribbon, something was missing.
He shook his head and threw out the absurd thoughts clouding his mind.
Chen Liangyu, who had been standing at the side, came over at this time and asked in a low voice, “Young clan leader, what should we name our spiritual artifact factory? It isn’t called the Chen Clan’s Spiritual Artifact Refining Workshop, right?”
Hearing this, Chen Daoxuan glanced at him and pondered for a moment, before saying, “Let’s call it the Honyin Flying Sword Workshop. Our factory will only produce one type of spiritual artifact for a very long time, which is the flying sword!”
As for the Red Shadow flying sword, it was not just Chen Liangyu. The many workers and apprentices who had learned how to control the spirit smelting furnace from Chen Daoxuan had also seen the refining process of the Red Shadow flying sword many times.
Although they were all mortals and could not understand the engraving of the arrays, and the various refining methods, they were still very familiar with the Red Shadow flying sword itself.
Therefore, everyone felt that the name Chen Daoxuan gave the spiritual artifact factory was quite suitable given the type of product that was about to be produced.
The factory was finally completed.
Next up was the installation of the spirit smelting furnace.
This could only be done by Chen Daoxuan. After all, the spirit smelting furnace was about ten feet long and weighed dozens of tons. Even a Xiantian realm warrior would find it difficult to move the furnace.
Not to mention that the furnaces had to be moved from the earth fire chamber in the Red Copper mountain range.
After all, the straight-line distance between the two locations was at least dozens of kilometers.
It took him a day. Chen Daoxuan used his true Qi to lift each spirit smelting furnace. He made five trips back and forth between the earth fire chamber and the spiritual artifact factory. Finally, all the spirit smelting furnaces were installed in their respective refining workshops.
Next, it was time to prepare the raw materials and spirit ores and begin the long-awaited production process.
Chen Daoxuan spent a total of 6,721 spirit stones while he was in Guang’an Prefecture, which included the materials required to set up the earth fire chamber array.
Among them, the materials for setting up the array to guide the earth fire vein cost 3,000 spirit stones. The remaining 3,721 spirit stones were spent on the purchase of spirit ores.
As Chen Daoxuan was primarily planning to refine the Red Shadow flying sword, which was recorded in the clan’s refining inheritance, he bought a total of 1,200 jin of red copper ore, which was equivalent to 0.6 tons.
Compared to the tens of thousands of tons of metal ores in his previous life, 0.6 tons of red copper ore sounded like a tiny amount.
However, to the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island, this was the largest amount of spirit ores they could buy after emptying out all their savings.
Apart from the red copper ores, the remaining 121 spirit stones were used to buy black iron ores at a cheap price. As a supplementary material in the refining of Red Shadow flying swords, Chen Daoxuan also bought a total of 121 catties of the spirit ore.
According to Chen Daoxuan’s experience in refining the Red Shadow flying sword, refining a Red Shadow flying sword required ten jin of red copper ore and one jin of black iron ore. The cost of the raw materials for each flying sword was about 31 spirit stones.
It should be noted that the selling price of a low-grade first-grade flying sword in Guang’an Prefecture was around 50 spirit stones.
At first glance, the potential profits did not seem to be very promising.
However, it should not be forgotten that the spiritual artifacts sold at the itinerant cultivator market in Guang’an Prefecture were second-hand goods that had been used and replaced by the disciples of the large clans. They were all defective goods that had damaged spiritual essence and short lifespans.
If there was a brand-new high-quality flying sword listed for sale, it would definitely be sold for more than 50 spirit stones. Chen Daoxuan estimated that the price of brand-new flying swords would be at least 50% higher.
Moreover, it was very likely that, due to its rarity, its price on the market might even exceed that.
Given this calculation, the profits they could earn would be more than double the cost of the raw materials.
…
The next day, when Chen Daoxuan rushed to the Hongyin Flying Sword Workshop again, in less than the time it took for half an incense stick to burn, a lump of red liquid had already flowed out from the discharge port of the first spirit smelting furnace.
He scanned it with his spiritual sense.
The other four furnaces were either refining, or preparing to refine, spirit ores.
Seeing this scene, Chen Daoxuan could not help but think of the factory assembly lines of his previous life. Although the assembly line of the Hongyin Flying Sword Workshop was a little slow, it was more than ten times faster than that of an ordinary refiner.
Suppressing his excitement, Chen Daoxuan walked into the first refining workshop…