Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao was aware that Red Serpent Sect had also invented an MP crystal suit model and therefore was a competitor of his. Since Luo Jingang mentioned the name ‘Flying Flame Battlesuit’ in the conversation before, it was quite possible that his first customer had been to the Red Serpent Sect’s booth just now.

The disciple of Red Serpent Sect apparently had been irritated, since he had come and spoken so rudely.

Li Yao explained patiently, “Fellow Daoist, it’s true that our Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit has not been built up by Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. However, with the brand new high-pressure valve design and pressure system, the valve of the suit will automatically open and release the redundant spiritual energy when the spiritual energy pressure inside is too intense and surpasses the warning level.

“In the case of Leader Luo, we can add a set of large cooling system to the suit which is driven by the overflowing spiritual energy from the crystal reactor. It will be totally safe.”

Cao Huorong, disciple of Red Serpent Sect, sneered and said, “But wouldn’t that reduce the working time of the crystal suit?”

Li Yao nodded his head and admitted honestly, “Correct. In the worst-case scenario, the working time of the crystal suit might be reduced by half. However, we believe it’s a price that we have to pay. There is no perfect crystal suit in the world. With such a low budget, we must abandon something to ensure the performance of the critical parts of the suit.”

“Hehe. It’s because this is the first time that the Grand Desolate War Institution has ever refined any crystal suit that you’re talking about ‘a price you have to pay’.”

Cao Huorong smiled and proudly continued, “Red Serpent Sect boasts hundreds of years of experience in the refinement of crystal suits and has produced more than ten exceptional models. Take ‘Flying Flame Battlesuit’, our latest MP crystal suit model, for example. It is most suitable for scorching hot environments. Its specification in every regard is way better than that of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, not to mention that its working time is twice the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit’s. We won’t say that our crystal suit is perfect, but we never abandon anything!”

He intentionally raised his voice. Many visitors nearby saw the drama and came close to watch.

Li Yao’s eyes were twitching fast.

Competition between magical equipment providers, especially those whose products are of the same type, was not unusual. There was nothing wrong with bragging about one’s own magical equipment and belittling that of one’s competitor’s in one’s own booth.

Li Yao himself was comparing the crystal suits of ‘certain sects’ to be ‘seafood fried rice made from dead fish and lobster’, too.

But such words were best to be kept within one’s own territory.

‘You came to the Grand Desolate War Institution’s booth and nitpick the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and crow over your own crystal suit? Do you want some face slapping?’

Brutality shined in Li Yao’s eyes.

‘You are seeking your own death. Not my fault!’

“Fellow Daoist from Red Serpent Sect, we’ve visited your booth just now. Both ‘Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII’ and ‘Flying Flame Battlesuit’ are modern classics that we need to learn from.”

Li Yao squinted with a fake smile. “Especially the Flying Flame Battlesuit. It employs the same framework and spiritual energy flowing system as those of the Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII. Most of the characteristics of Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII can be found on it, too, which basically makes it a smaller-scale Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII. But its price is only 300 million, a fifth of the price of Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII. The price-performance ratio is really impressive.

“However, there is one thing that has been bothering me and I hope the fellow Daoist from Red Serpent Sect can enlighten me.

“As far as I know, the long working time of Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII in extremely hot environments boils down to the countless Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that it uses, including Heavenly Sun Stone and Phantom Snow Crystal, and is not because there is anything special about its structure design.

“Heavenly Sun Stone can absorb heat and transform it into the purest spiritual energy; Phantom Snow Crystal is a natural heat-resistant material that can block hot waves if it is smeared out of a magical equipment component.

“The two Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are very useful and very expensive. If we’re going to cover a medium crystal suit with Heavenly Sun Stone and Phantom Snow Crystal from head to toe, the total weight of the materials to be used can be hundreds of kilograms, the cost of which alone will be well above 500 million.

“It’s certainly fine to decorate the Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII this way.

“However, the price of the Flying Flame Battlesuit is 300 million. Its cost will only be lower than that. May I ask how many Heavenly Sun Stones and Phantom Snow Crystals are used on the Flying Flame Battlesuit?”

In a cold smile, Cao Huorong’s chin was protruding further and further as he heard Li Yao complimenting the Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII.

He didn’t expect that Li Yao had dug a big pit in the end waiting for him to jump in.

“Are you playing dumb? As a cheap MP crystal suit model, of course the Flying Flame Battlesuit does not use as many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures as the Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII.”

Li Yao smiled.

“Are you indicating that there is no Heavenly Sun Stone and Phantom Snow Crystal on the Flying Flame Battlesuit?”

Cao Huorong blushed.

“Although we didn’t use Heavenly Sun Stone or Phantom Snow Crystal, we have employed a new cooling technology by melting the powder of Heavenly Sun Stone and Phantom Snow Crystal into the icy moisture made of special materials which circulates among key magical equipment components. It is a very efficient way to reduce heat and bring down the temperature of the suit!”

“So, icy moisture,” Li Yao drawled, with a brutal smile.

When he was visiting Red Serpent Sect’s booth, he had watched the Flying Flame Battlesuit closely and guessed that it was made possible by a cooling liquid circulating system.

Icy moisture was a very rare liquid material that was barely used in the modern Cultivation world.

However, it shared the same drawback as many other liquid materials recorded in the books of the Hundred Smelting Clan, which was…

“A special cooling liquid by melting the powder of Heavenly Sun Stone and Phantom Snow Crystal into icy moisture can bring down the cost as well as maintaining the normal functions of the suit in high-temperature environments, which is indeed a marvelous design.”

Li Yao smiled.

“However, have you sorted out the biggest problem of the icy moisture, which is that it becomes extremely volatile?

“The Flying Flame Battlesuit of yours is designed according to the Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII, which uses Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to cool down and therefore is not distinguished for its airtightness.

“Now that the icy moisture needs to flow through all the circulation tubes in order to cool down the suit, the rate at which the icy moisture is used will increase.

“The Flying Flame Battlesuit that you are demonstrating does not carry a pot to store the icy moisture, which means its entire cooling system is based on the little icy moisture inside the circulation tubes. I wonder, how long can the icy moisture work before it is completely gone? Three to five days, isn’t it?

“Icy moisture is not expensive. But if you are going to refill it every three to five days, the long-term cost can be quite startling after a few years, which will not be much less than buying the Bursting Flame Battlesuit right now.

“Besides, if the crystal suit is to be used for a mission that lasts for more than five days, you’ll have to carry a pot filled with icy moisture. Not only will it be a huge nuisance, it will also cause major trouble if it is blown apart by the enemy in a battle, won’t it?

“If we take that into consideration, the working time of the Flying Flame Battlesuit might not be much longer than that of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. In fact, it could be even shorter!”

Everyone watching the scene nodded their heads approvingly and looked at Cao Huorong suspiciously.

Confused, Luo Jingang asked, “Fellow Daoist Cao, if the Flying Flame Battlesuit is to be used to patrol and fight in underground mines that are a thousand meters deep at a temperature of hundreds of degrees, how often will the suit need to be refilled with icy moisture and how much will it cost?

“Well…”

Cold sweat was dripping off Cao Huorong’s head. He felt his head was dizzy and his ears were humming, which made him unable to say anything.

Li Yao’s words had hit his critical part.

It was true that the rate of the icy moisture consumption was extremely fast. Otherwise, the Bursting Flame Battlesuit would’ve made use of it a long time ago, and they wouldn’t have waited until right now to put it into the Flying Flame Battlesuit.

Meanwhile, in order to compete with other MP crystal suit models, the price of the Flying Flame Battlesuit had been reduced to minimum, to the extent that there was barely any profit.

Red Serpent Sect had been planning to promote its product with a low initial price before making profits through post-sales services.

According to the plan, Red Serpent Sect would monopolize the components and the maintenance service of the Flying Flame Battlesuit.

For example, Red Serpent Sect could sell the icy moisture at a high price and gain income from it over time.

There wouldn’t be an option if the buyer wanted to switch to another kind of icy moisture provided by other sects, since Red Serpent Sect had added almost twenty micro-constituents into its own icy moisture.

Only with this particular icy moisture could the crystal suit function normally. Faults would occur if a different kind of icy moisture was to be used.

The repair fee would be a huge source of income, too.

Not just Red Serpent Sect. Quite a few other sects who had invented their own MP crystal suit models were actually planning the same thing.

Otherwise, it would be a miracle that almost twenty different MP crystal suit models could be produced within one year.

Cao Huorong never expected that Li Yao would be able to point out the biggest problem of the Flying Flame Battlesuit straight from the start.

‘How can the boy know the details of such a scarce material as the icy moisture?’

He was startled and knew that he had been caught in a dilemma.

If he was to go back just like that, when the news spread out, there was no chance that the Flying Flame Battlesuit would be sold, let alone the military order that his sect was trying to bid for.

His leader would tear him apart and eat him alive!

Hearing the louder and louder discussions around and seeing many other Cultivators shaking their heads, Cao Huorong’s face was flushed in embarrassment and anger as he gnashed, “Talk is cheap. If you are so confident in your crystal suit, I challenge you to a duel to see which one is more suitable for high-temperature combats, Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit or Flying Flame Battlesuit!”

The crowds gasped at his words.

A duel between two pieces of magical equipment was always in the repertoire of the Magical Equipment Exposition and often the most amazing part of it.

Generally speaking, if one party challenged someone else to a duel, the other party wouldn’t say no, because it concerned the pride of the refiner as well as the honor of the sect or university behind him.

Everybody was aware that the military was going to reveal the bidding plan at the Magical Equipment Exposition. At that time, more than twenty MP crystal suit models would be engaged in a tremendous fight!

But they did not anticipate that the first duel would take place so fast!

Li Yao looked back at Yuan Manqiu.

With a solemn expression, Yuan Manqiu bit her lips and nodded her head vigorously.