Western outskirts of Heroic Spirit City.
It was the spring equinox, and the sunlight was pleasant.
Gu Feng leisurely strolled along a small path on the outskirts of the city, gently fanning himself.
Manager Wu followed closely behind, accompanied by two maids holding parasols high, attending to him along the way.
Jiu Long guarded by his side, silent throughout the journey. Gu Liantian had once again entered seclusion to break through a bottleneck, and he was concerned for Gu Feng's safety, instructing Jiu Long to stay by his side to ensure his well-being.
The western outskirts were remote, far from the Imperial City of Heroic Spirit City, and were home to mortals, with dozens of villages and towns scattered throughout.
Gu Feng had come here to inspect the progress of the Artifact Crafting Department.
Initially, Gu Feng had established the department here to avoid drawing attention and causing trouble. Now, the family was fully aware of his activities over the past six months, and there was no longer a need to keep a low profile.
Gu Feng considered whether to relocate the three thousand artifact refining cultivators closer to the Imperial City, but upon reflection, he decided against it.
After all, relocating would be a huge undertaking and would attract unwanted attention.
In the early stages of a venture, maintaining a low profile and minimizing costs are important principles!
The group walked for over an hour, still two or three miles away from the department's factory, mainly because Gu Feng's cultivation was too weak to fly on a sword.
Jiu Long, responsible for Gu Feng's safety, naturally couldn't fly either.
Manager Wu, who had been serving by Gu Feng's side since he was assigned his cave dwelling, dared not act disrespectfully.
They had no choice but to proceed step by step.
As Gu Feng admired the scenery of the western outskirts, he also contemplated his plans, not in a hurry.
A few days ago, he had obtained a strand of "destiny divine sense" from Gu Liantian, which he treasured greatly.
All his business plans and projects currently lacked what was referred to in his previous life as the "internet infrastructure"!
Without cloud servers, online connectivity couldn't be achieved.
Without the premise of online connectivity, the Sharing Flying Sword couldn't be launched conveniently and quickly.
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Not to mention that all his subsequent plans were related to this!
After going through numerous family records, Gu Feng noticed annotations about cultivators' divine sense.
He discovered that a cultivator's divine sense had many similarities to the cloud servers of his previous life.
Cultivators used divine sense to control cultivation artifacts!
They used divine sense to receive and send voice messages through sound transmission techniques.
Even when absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth or communicating with the Dao, they used divine sense to connect.
The stronger a cultivator's cultivation, the wider the area their divine sense could cover!
Gu Feng had a bold and crazy idea: if he could obtain a strand of a powerful cultivator's destiny divine sense, could he use it as a core terminal, linking it to the divine senses of other cultivators within its coverage area?
Once the divine sense was connected, other issues would be easily resolved.
Identity verification could utilize the unique characteristics of divine sense to distinguish individuals.
Video information could be transmitted using simple mystic light mirror formations.
Audio information could be replaced with sound transmission formations.
Once one method was mastered, all methods could be mastered!
In the entire Heroic Spirit City, whose destiny divine sense could surpass that of his father, the City Lord?
That would certainly cover the entire Heroic Spirit City in an instant!
The server issue had a theoretical solution, and Gu Feng was now focusing on solving the hardware mobile terminal, essentially the "cell phone" of his previous life.
His visit to the Artifact Crafting Department was not only for inspection but also to discuss with innovative artifact refining cultivators, hoping to brainstorm and design a "cultivation version of a cell phone!"
***
A few hundred meters from the department, Gu Feng and his group saw a row of pavilions in the distance, with numerous chimneys emitting black smoke.
"Young Master, up ahead is the base of the Artifact Crafting Department," Manager Wu hurriedly stepped forward to explain, "The black smoke is from the artifact refiners melting ordinary iron."
Nodding, Gu Feng thought that if this were in his previous life, someone would definitely accuse him of environmental destruction.
Under Gu Feng's lead, the group quickened their pace.
As they reached the entrance of the department, they heard a commotion inside, with constant shouting and cursing!
Bang! A loud noise!
A burly man, seven feet tall and shirtless, was thrown out of the pavilion, landing heavily in front of Gu Feng, motionless!
Jiu Long quickly shielded Gu Feng, his face full of vigilance.
"Young Master, he's not breathing!"
Manager Wu stepped forward, turning over the man's body, revealing a chest that had burst open, lifeless!
Frowning, Gu Feng hurried into the front courtyard of the department.
Inside, several furnaces had been overturned, and a large pile of various materials used for artifact refining was scattered all over the ground.
Two groups of people were in a tense standoff.
On one side, there were hundreds of angry artifact refiners, some disheveled, some shirtless, many with injuries of varying degrees.
On the other side, a female cultivator in purple, leading a team of about a hundred golden-armored cultivators, looked arrogantly at the artifact refiners.
Gu Feng focused his gaze and recognized the purple-clad female cultivator as none other than Xia Lengling, the daughter-in-law of Fifth Elder Gu Chunfeng and the mother of Sequence Second Gu Kun.
Xia Lengling hailed from the northern desert cultivation family, the Xia family. Early on, she was arranged by her family to marry Gu Feng's fifth cousin, Gu Yuan. Unfortunately, Gu Yuan was a romantic, already enamored with a female cultivator from a minor sect in Heroic Spirit City. Due to family pressure, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and marry Xia Lengling as his Dao companion.
A year after their marriage, Gu Kun was born. Gu Yuan felt he had fulfilled his family duty and secretly eloped with the female cultivator from the minor sect, disappearing without a trace.
Xia Lengling, raised delicately and with a fiery temper, couldn't bear such humiliation. In a fit of rage, she exterminated the entire minor sect to which the female cultivator belonged. Since then, she regarded Gu Kun as her last hope in life.
Her cultivation was at the first stage of the Elemental Infant, not exceptionally powerful, but the Gu family felt guilty towards her and gave her a position as an advisor in the Chen Long Army, allowing her to lead a squad of a hundred, responsible for the daily security of Heroic Spirit City.
Gu Feng sympathized with Gu Yuan. He had never met this fifth cousin, but political marriages were never well-received anywhere, especially since Gu Feng had blocked Gu Kun's path. Xia Lengling often made things difficult for him, with sarcastic remarks and cold treatment!
As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so Gu Feng naturally had some sympathy for Gu Yuan's actions.
"The family elder council has decreed that the Artifact Crafting Department is a rebellious private army and is to be disbanded immediately!" Xia Lengling sneered at the artifact refiners in front of her. "I advise you all to disperse quickly, or you'll end up like that guy!"
"We're not a private army! We're artifact refiners recruited by Young Master Gu Feng from the family sequence!" A burly man wiped the sweat from his face, protesting indignantly.
Seeing this, another artifact refiner chimed in, "That's right, you barged in without distinguishing right from wrong. Aren't you afraid Young Master Gu Feng will hold you accountable?"
Mentioning Gu Feng only made Xia Lengling more furious, gritting her teeth. Her father-in-law was still recuperating at home, and her beloved son was punished to suffer at the desolate Quiet Contemplation Cliff, all thanks to Gu Feng!