Chapter Two: The Light Curtain Device

Five hours later, as night fell.

"Chaoyang New Village," next to the 23rd Special Waste Disposal Site.

Although the name sounds pleasant, Chaoyang New Village is the most dilapidated low-rent residential area in Fugou City.

Due to its proximity to the Magical Treasure Tomb, the environment here is extremely harsh, with a pungent odor that hangs in the air all year round. Even if the main city area is clear and blue, this place is still shrouded in a gloomy haze. Among the nineteen low-rent residential areas in Fugou City, it is the lowest grade, and naturally, the rent is also the lowest.

No matter how low the rent is, not many people like to live next to a garbage dump. Many residential buildings are vacant, and coupled with long-term disrepair, the exterior walls are full of cracks, and the corridors are covered with cobwebs, which is simply a ghost city.

Li Yao is a permanent resident of this "ghost city."

He likes the quiet here, and repairing and transforming magical treasures at home will not disturb others. It is also close to the Magical Treasure Tomb, and the rent is cheap, which is simply a multi-purpose.

His home is a suite of more than 50 square meters, with two rooms inside and outside. The outer room is for eating, drinking, and living, while the inner bedroom has been transformed into a magical treasure repair workshop.

As soon as you enter the door, the first thing you see is hundreds of crystal brains hanging from the ceiling with ropes, like hundreds of small skulls.

Most of these crystal brains are old antiques from hundreds of years ago and have lost their computing power. They were picked up by Li Yao as a collection - he is a fan of crystal brains and is very interested in this kind of magical treasure that can imitate the brains of cultivators to calculate countless thoughts.

The small living room is filled with physical books that are very rare in this era, from "Summary of Magical Treasure Repair", "A Brief Course on Primary Flying Sword Refining", "Self-Cultivation of a Refiner" to "Black Mountain Demon Class Crystal Warship Repair Manual", "Ninety-Nine Ways to Blow Up a Planet", many of which are ancient books from hundreds of years ago, gray and yellow, and rotten.

Surrounded by books and crystal brains, there is a semi-old straw mat, which is Li Yao's dining table, chair, and bed.

In the inner magical treasure repair workshop, there are many treasures that he picked up from the garbage dump, such as cold flying swords, symbols that walk like dragons and snakes, and fragrant pills...

More magical treasures have been disassembled into the most basic components and are piled up in the corner, turning into several mini garbage mountains.

At this moment, Li Yao is holding a silver casket-shaped magical treasure, his eyes shining brightly, like a big bad wolf who has seen a little white rabbit, almost drooling from the corner of his mouth.

The flying sword with black wings is peeking behind him, like a curious fat snake.

"It turned out to be the latest generation of 'Stereoscopic Light Curtain Device' launched by Qianhuan Sect, with a market price of more than 20,000! If it can be repaired, it will be sold for at least 10,000 or 8,000, Xiao Hei, this time we are going to get rich!" Li Yao couldn't help whistling.

The black flying sword "squeaked" twice, and the two protective wings fluttered up and down, dancing, actually revealing a trace of "greed" similar to the owner.

Li Yao shook his hand, and seven or eight strange maintenance tools appeared between his fingers, some like screwdrivers, some like small tweezers, and there were long and thin silver needles and curved tools that couldn't be named.

"Xiao Hei, how many seconds do you guess?"

The black flying sword "squeaked" twice and mocked, using the sword tip to compare a "50" in the void.

"Fifty seconds? You look down on me!"

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, calm down for three seconds, and when you open your eyes again, the greed and excitement in your eyes are gone, leaving only the ancient well that is undisturbed and full of confidence.

Li Yao's hands suddenly started, and ten fingers turned into ten streams of light, completely covering the silver treasure, and you could still vaguely see the trajectory of the fingertips moving. Later, you could only see a dazzling white light, and a "rustling" sound came from the white light.

Half a minute later, the white light shook, and the "rustling" sound disappeared. The hundreds of afterimages returned to the original one by one, and Li Yao's hands were still in the original position, not moving a bit.

And the silver treasure "Stereoscopic Light Curtain Device" has been disassembled into 425 components by him.

"Thirty-nine seconds, done!"

Li Yao let out a cheer and playfully winked at the black flying sword, then began to study it with great concentration.

"Tsk, tsk, it really lives up to being the latest model of the 'Stereoscopic Light Curtain Device' refined by the 'Thousand Illusions Sect'. The structure is exquisite, and the balance of spiritual power is as natural as if it were born from one. The most impressive thing is this main chip, which is the size of a fingernail and is actually engraved with more than three hundred spiritual symbols. They are interconnected to form more than twenty talisman arrays, which is simply an art piece!"

Li Yao held a magnifying glass and carefully observed the disassembled main chip, his face full of a kind of ecstasy like a pilgrimage, the more he looked, the more serious his expression became.

"No, it's not just three hundred spiritual symbols. This main chip seems to use crystal folding technology, superimposing three chips together, storing thousands of spiritual symbols in total, forming hundreds of three-dimensional talisman arrays. It's incredible!"

The more he studied, the more he felt the depth and breadth of it. Li Yao was completely immersed in it, forgetting the passage of time. After more than three hours of study, he was not able to analyze a complete talisman array, but he made himself dizzy and dark in front of his eyes.

He is now only at the level of "Junior Magical Treasure Repairman", and the level of the refining master of the "Thousand Illusions Sect" is really too far away.

If there is a problem with this "main chip", he has no way and can only sell the stereoscopic light curtain device as waste.

Fortunately, after inputting a spiritual power with a "Spirit Storage Device", Li Yao found that the spiritual power of the main chip was smooth, the spiritual path was clear, and the talisman array was stable, and there was no abnormality.

Upon careful inspection, it was found that the problem was with the lowest-level crystal path tube, which was burned out due to the abnormal fluctuation of spiritual power.

This kind of crystal path tube is a standard part, and it is very convenient to replace. Li Yao quickly found a replacement from the stock at home.

He closed his eyes and silently reviewed the disassembly process just now. A detailed structural diagram emerged in his mind, and his hands naturally started, and in a whirlwind, the stereoscopic light curtain device was reassembled!

He used a storage device to input a spiritual energy, and the pure white shell glowed with a faint blue light, like a whole piece of crystal-clear jade, and like a spirit with life.

And when the blue light swept across his forehead, dozens of control runes naturally emerged in the depths of Li Yao's mind.

"Light curtain device, turn on!" Li Yao silently read in his heart, and a control rune in his mind immediately shone.

The blue light on the light curtain device gathered into a "back" shaped rune, like a whirlpool, spinning rapidly for two rounds, and a blue beam was shot from the center of the whirlpool, condensing into a huge light curtain in the air. The light curtain flickered and displayed the image of a middle-aged cultivator in a Taoist robe with eight trigrams, which was vivid and lifelike.

Behind this cultivator was an even larger light curtain, with red and green runes, numbers, and arrows on the light curtain, constantly changing.

The middle-aged cultivator said with a deadpan expression, "Now let's continue to broadcast financial news for everyone. The following is a summary of the stock market situation - today's biggest news is undoubtedly the 'Invisible Sword Sect' announcing the birth of the latest generation of flying sword drive talisman array 'Purple Electricity'. It is said that after applying 'Purple Electricity', the maximum speed of the flying sword can be increased by 9%, the instantaneous destructive power can be increased by 11%, and the spiritual power consumption can be reduced by 5%. The comprehensive performance of the flying sword has been greatly improved."

"Affected by this good news, the stock price of the Invisible Sword Sect has been rising all the way, and it was close to the daily limit before ten o'clock and has been maintained until the end of the trading day."

"And the entire sword repair plate, including 22 sects such as the Great Sword Sect, the Extreme North Sword Sect, and the South China Sea Sword Sect, the stock prices have also been rising all the way. As of the end of the trading day, the sword repair plate has risen by 5.42 percentage points as a whole."

"On the other hand, the stock prices of the sects that focus on defense, such as the 'Golden Armor Sect', have been falling all the way. Analysts generally believe that with the continuous emergence of new talisman arrays such as 'Purple Electricity', the flying sword technology will make a revolutionary leap, and the current mainstream armor cannot defend against the attack of the latest model of flying swords. As of the end of the trading day, the stock price of the Golden Armor Sect fell by more than 8%."

"After the market closed, the Golden Armor Sect held a press conference and the spokesperson for the Golden Armor Sect, Elder Black Rock, announced that the development of the latest 'Star Strike Shield' armor has made breakthrough progress, and the prototype will be released within the year, which can absolutely defend against all flying sword attacks."

"In the grassland area in the north of the Federation, the black line worm epidemic is still spreading and has spread to the spiritual beast breeding bases of several beast driving sects. More than 500,000 spiritual beasts have been affected. The rare disaster has caused the stock price of the beast driving plate to continue to run at a low level, and the stock prices of several beast driving sects have broken through the three-year low."

"Well, let's invite the famous stock commentator Tian Xingzi to comment on individual stocks for everyone."

"..."

Li Yao watched for a long time and found that the picture was stable, the sound was clear, and there were no snowflakes and mottles, especially the three-dimensional sense was very strong, which made people feel as if they were on the spot, and it should be repaired.

He thought about it and meditated again in his brain: "Switch to the entertainment channel."

With a flash of blue light, the middle-aged cultivator and the red and green light curtain disappeared in an instant, replaced by a fiery sports stadium.

The large stadium with a capacity of 100,000 people was full, with noisy voices and a boiling atmosphere. Under the shining colorful light, 100,000 passionate young men and women raised their hands and shouted a name together:

"Lu Yin Xi!"

"Lu Yin Xi!"

"Lu Yin Xi!"

Atop the main stage, which rose three stories high, stood dozens of jagged crystals like a field of sharp teeth. As the cheers of the young boys and girls reached a fever pitch, the thickest crystal suddenly shattered. Out sprang a girl in white, her appearance as cold and pure as snow, yet her eyes burned with a fervor hot as magma. Slung across her waist was an ancient zither that seemed made of crystal itself. Her delicate hands swept across the strings, unleashing a sound like the clash of spears and horses, a fierce and magical melody!

"Dreams in the heart should be flown with arrogance; the other side of the galaxy is our direction! This belongs to us, the new era of cultivation!"

Like all the young people there, Li Yao's blood began to boil as well.

The girl on stage, full of energetic heat, "Lu Yinxi," is a newly risen idol singer in the past two years. She attracted a large number of teenagers with her cold image and explosive singing style as soon as she made her debut. Her hit song "Cultivation 40000 Years" has become popular throughout the federation in just half a year, and countless teenagers have embarked on the road of cultivation inspired by this song.

Li Yao is also her fan, but for a different reason; he likes Lu Yinxi because they share the same background.

Both are orphans.

Li Yao was born in the 23rd special waste disposal site. Since he can remember, the sky has always been a grayish-yellow.

He ate rotten meat from the garbage pile, drank polluted and smelly water, and relied on the instinct of a wild animal and a little "secret" deep in his memory to survive hard. From being bullied at the beginning to becoming the most dangerous "vulture" in the treasure tomb of the treasure after more than ten years.

If it weren't for the appearance of "Dad," Li Yao might have been in the garbage dump all the time, becoming another "Fei Long" or "Wild Wolf."

But one day six years ago, a garbage ship threw Dad down with dozens of tons of garbage, and Li Yao took pity and dragged the scarred Dad home.

Since then, his fate has changed completely.

Dad never talks about his past, and Li Yao only knows that he must be a very powerful treasure transformation master. In just five years, Dad taught Li Yao tens of thousands of strange treasure transformation techniques and taught him various basic subjects. He also spent money to send him to a private high school in the city, making him integrate into normal society.

A year ago, Dad passed away due to an old injury, leaving Li Yao with a mysterious flying sword called "Black Wing." It is said that he had been studying it for most of his life but couldn't figure it out. There is also a passage:

"Xiao Yao, Dad has been to dozens of big thousand worlds in his life, and has seen tens of thousands of treasure transformation masters and refining masters, and your talent is the highest!"

"With just an ordinary person's hands, you can repair low-level treasures, and you are really amazing."

"But talent alone is not enough! With only talent, you will always only be able to repair low-level treasures, civilian treasures!"

"Promise Dad, study hard, strive to be admitted to university, and become a cultivator! Only by becoming a cultivator can you further improve in treasure repair, and even one day..."

"Become a real refining master!"

When Dad said this, his eyes were wide open, the brilliance in his eyes was dazzling, and the momentum was endless. Li Yao still remembers it vividly.

A refining master... That is one of the most respected professions in the circle of cultivators.

He doesn't know whether he will disappoint Dad.

The Black Wing Sword silently accompanied him, listening to the girl's singing in the light curtain instrument like a volcanic eruption, and the two protective wings were also constantly wriggling with the strong song and dance.

After a long time, the young man's eyes brightened, and a smile of indifference hooked the corners of his mouth again.

"What are you thinking so much for? No matter what, just fight!"

"Lu Yinxi can go from a little orphan girl to become the most popular female singer in the federation, why can't I become a real refining master from a little garbage insect?"

The young man thought of a sentence he heard a long time ago, in a place very far away:

"Dreams always have to have, in case they come true?"