Setting the Gears into Place With a Heavenly Bowl

Fuzhen Junming Mining Group. A small mining corporation that held its share of fame and prosperity before the Cultural Revolution, before the locals tore the company down to express their desire for change. The founder and his family had their reputations tarnished and completely wiped during the Revolution, and as such, nobody dared affiliate themselves with a cursed lineage. The pitiful shareholders withdrew within a few months after the founder was sentenced to life in prison, and state support ceased shortly after.

It hadn't operated for more than fifty years by the time Xi Chen stepped off the taxi and inspected the area. The dilapidated mining equipment remained in place, accumulating dust and oxidizing under constant exposure to nature's unforgiving wrath.

The depot selected by Fuzhen's founder was a small ore vein cluster that contained only common minerals and materials; the state's best evaluation for the small, weaving veins was moderate coal output at best, and given the technology at that dismal era, it was inevitable for the corporate to flounder in the red for decades at a time. However, since it matched Xi Chen's requirements of a depot, vein, and foundation, the jewelry kings of Suzhou simply bought out the entire fossil for a measly 300,000 RMB before tossing the ownership deed and legal papers to Xi Chen to handle.

To them, the youth's demands were hardly any cost compared to the massive fortunes they could obtain with the Heavenly Animal Array of Imperial quality. Who would care about a mining group that didn't have a single employee or shareholder in the past fifty years?

The village within its vicinity had moved to a different, more prosperous region a few years after the mining group's decline. Fuzhen Junming was stranded in a barren patch of land spanning across a region of thirty square kilometers – not a single inhabitant was visible, and all Xi Chen could pay witness to was hilltop after hilltop of overgrown grasses.

Coincidentally, Fuzhen was comprised of three mining companies and four manufacturing companies that had attempted to unify together into a collective group, and easily satisfied the elders' conditions. As such, though he hadn't expected it at all, Xi Chen had gotten rid of his biggest problem.

Since all of the companies and their foundations that he had requested for were all in one place, he didn't have to worry about the risks of decentralized management. Particularly when he was about to attempt employing the mysteries of a certain heavenly bowl.

"Still, this place truly is devoid of anything. Even the thick steel walls have been thoroughly eaten out by corrosion," Xi Chen scrunched his nose, and toured through the respective factories.

"Well, from the specifications from fifty years ago, they were constructed with high carbon steel with lead as the supporting pillars. After so many years of disuse, this much is to be expected…"

The originally imposing dark walls of carbonized steel was mottled with a deep spiderweb of oxidation and cracks. Though he peered inside from one of the doors left open, Xi Chen didn't dare enter any of the buildings. The encompassing, suffocating darkness and the threat of any of the supporting overhead beams or the entire ceiling truss falling on him was not a risk he was willing to take, although…

"The definitions are all present… what would happen if I were to bring them to 'relive' their concept?" the youth mused, his finger rubbing at the base of his chin.

"Objects such as swords and pens are difficult to achieve, for they are universally applicable to some degree and don't have a specific process that I can rely upon. However, for the machines here including the refinery, drills, transport units in the context of mining – should be possible?"

Xi Chen squatted and searched the definitions of several words and processes on his phone, and the more he fleshed out the details in his mind, the more appealing and reasonable his conjecture seemed to be. The youth twirled his finger in the air as he conjured the wooden bowl in his mind, his lips fiercely muttering words of motivation and self-confidence.

"The Heavenly Animal Array was original twelve pieces of lapis and sapphire that I managed to transform into Imperial quality jadestones after a bit of researching the desired qualities, histories, and properties. However, in this case, since there's no need to transform anything, just maintaining their current purpose…"

"[The deposits, lodes, and veins assigned to Zone A are to contain the generic types of ores listed by OREAS in their catalogue of common mineral and ore deposits. Zone B is to contain high-density and purity iron ore and aluminum deposits. The deposits in Zone C are to contain high-purity silicate minerals.]"

The moment the last word flew from his lips, Xi Chen witnessed a waterfall of stones swirl down the curved surface within the heavenly bowl. The majority of the stones were small in size compared to his previous efforts – less than half the latter's sizes – and were engraved with the character of 'Saint'. The youth's ears lost count after three hundred; but the falling of stones continued without pause for several minutes, drumming against his thought with the strength and tenacity of an unyielding rain.

It was reasonable – the catalogue he had relied upon sourced over two hundred unique minerals and ores that could be excavated in 70% of the world's healthy mining deposits, albeit the quality wasn't as assured. Although, he was rather baffled how the sudden influx of heavenly stones seemed to have exceeded one thousand a long time ago; perhaps the bowl was relying on the defined concepts of the world, and thus he didn't have to provide any additional details?"

"I'm not attempting to invent anything, but rather forcing these series of veins and deposits to contain a higher concentration of minerals and ores that already exist in this world. Since the reference material is already present, I don't need to redefine the entire process?" Xi Chen frowned, and glanced at the vast, exposed crater that seemed not to change.

"If I want to enact on exploiting conditions already present – as long as I don't have to create a miracle, then it should work even with vague commands as these? Then… [All entities present in the region claimed by Fuzhen Junming will return to their peak condition.]"

It was even more vague, and Xi Chen dared this time to include everything within the region, not just the facilities before his eyes. It was a gamble without much hope nor preparation, and the youth was genuinely surprised when his mind caught onto the clattering of a new stone colliding with the base of the heavenly bowl.

Then, surprise morphed into shock, then transmuted into fear, and finally culminated at sheer awe.

The earth below him groaned and quaked as though an earthquake had awoken within the region. When the intensity of the trembling was enough for force Xi Chen to sit down to prevent himself from receiving injury, the blast doors of the factories and furnaces erupted open and expelled a long plume of black smog. The volcanic cloud rushed out of the twenty-meter high steel fortresses with great force, and created a massive shockwave that threatened to chop down any nearby budding trees.

From afar, it was likely that Fuzhen Junming was now entirely blotted out by an impenetrable cover of black smoke; the youth found it difficult to breathe, and had to cover his nose and mouth with his shirt and flee for a safer vantage point. The more Xi Chen pulled away, more of the numerous factories and refineries were captured in his gaze, and the awe and fear magnified with each passing breath.

The cracks, corrosion, and oxidation on the high-carbon steel walls were scraped off in their entirety and replaced with newly forged and cast beams and pillars of steel. The windows baked in grime and metal dust blew off their hinges to 'regrow' a fresh, clean set, and the lights sheathed in the iron grilles erupted with flood beams of golden radiance that penetrated even the scorching afternoon sun. With each belch of toxic black fumes, Fuzhen Junming restored itself to health from half a century of rotting in the grave.

The drill bits were sharpened and refitted with a fresh set of motors and lubricant; the hydraulic piping experienced a full replacement and refitting as the broken pipes crumbled into dust and were carried away by the accumulating gale, and the shattered tracks quickly reassembled themselves into a usable transport – to the extent of replacing any cavities in the foundation with solid metal. The exterior barricades and barbed fence repaired themselves and sharpened under an invisible blade, and the dust storm at the center of the mining depot gently evaporated.

And then, fifty meters away from the entrance, Xi Chen heard the most spectacular sound in the world.

"It's… really working. There's nobody inside, but the factory is active… hahaha!"

The youth clapped his hands, a truly exhilarated expression plastered on his countenance. As his ears stung with the clattering of metal pistons and bellows ripping apart the air to fuel the great, once-demolished furnaces, Xi Chen felt his heart restrain itself from bursting from the warmth coursing through his veins. Out of the corner of his eyes, he witnessed multiple carts and drillers travel down the three main railways and towards the mining blocks, and tears prickled from his tear ducts and dripped down his chin.

"It's come alive. Not a single employee, but the facilities run at peak capacity," the youth whispered, and immediately raced towards the entrance to inspect his newfound treasure.

"The processing plants are idle, but that can be left alone for now. Hahahaha – this is great! Very great!"

The decayed carcass of Fuzhen Junming had left him the perfect gift – general purpose processing facilities! Though they suffered from a lack of efficiency in handling specialized commissions due to their overly diversified arrangement of equipment with a finite workspace – it meant that he didn't have to commission any OEM companies for his future endeavors. More of all, he now held a perfect scapegoat!

"This will do very well, very well indeed! I wonder how happy those jewelry kings might be when they realize in the future…"