Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 162 - 162 0170 Heavenly Dao Engine Upgrade

Chapter 162: Chapter 0170: Heavenly Dao Engine Upgrade Chapter 162: Chapter 0170: Heavenly Dao Engine Upgrade The spirit militaries Xu Jialing showed Qi Tian were all of heavenly level, and the Heavenly Dao Engine’s reaction to them was tepid. This indirectly confirmed that the Red Hoop Stick which excited the Heavenly Dao Engine so much, must indeed be a great item, and likely an exceptional one at that.

Since the Heavenly Dao Engine’s response was neutral, Qi Tian decided to pick the inner armor on his own. He could consult Huang Liuyan, so he was not worried about buying something of poor quality.

Qi Tian made his selection carefully. Although he still had some spirit stones, he needed to keep some for his own cultivation, so the spirit stones he could spend on inner armor were very limited.

After much deliberation and consulting with Huang Liuyan, Qi Tian spent another eight hundred spirit stones to purchase a top-grade heavenly level inner armor. The inner armor he bought was of average standard among armors of the same level. It couldn’t be considered the best top-grade heavenly-level spirit military inner armor, let alone that there were even higher-grade heavenly-level spirit military inner armors. Each climb in rank meant doubling the price, and if so, the spirit stones in Qi Tian’s possession would be all but spent. In the Great Zhao cultivation world, obtaining spirit stones was no easy task, so Qi Tian had to make certain considerations for the future and not deplete his reserves rashly.

Qi Tian had bought two pieces of equipment in a row, both expensive, causing Xu Jialing to treat him as a rich young cultivator out on an adventure. She grew even more enthusiastic and tried to persuade Qi Tian to purchase more. Regardless of Xu Jialing’s persuasion, Qi Tian was determined not to buy anything else. Xu Jialing didn’t take offense. When she saw off Qi Tian and Huang Liuyan, she even gave Qi Tian a card, so that he could find her directly if he returned to the Qu Feng Equipment Store in the future.

“Mentor, should we go back now or continue to look around?” Qi Tian asked after leaving the Qu Feng Equipment Store.

Huang Liuyan appeared slightly hesitant. Despite having the Teleportation Array Disk that seemingly made coming here an easy task, in reality, it was not so simple. After each use of her Teleportation Array Disk, it required a long restorative period of up to half a year. If she returned now, she would have to wait half a year to return. A lot could happen in such a long period.

Although Qi Tian wasn’t aware of the flaw in the Teleportation Array Disk, from Huang Liuyan’s expression, he could more or less guess some issues. He said, “Mentor, if things warrant it, you can leave me in a hotel and let me wait there for your return. I can also accompany you; I promise not to cause you any trouble. Of course, if you’re not comfortable with that, you can send me back first and continue with your business in Wanjie City. I’m fine with that as well, it’s entirely up to you.”

“Alright then, I’ll find a safer hotel for you where you can rest. When I’m done with my business, I’ll come over and we can go back together,” Huang Liuyan said decisively with a plan.

Huang Liuyan was relatively familiar with Thirteenth Street in the Eastern District of Wanjie City. Shortly, she took Qi Tian to a high-end hotel known for its all-inclusive services and a good reputation among visiting cultivators.

“Mentor, I still have some spirit stones left, I’ll lend them all to you,” Qi Tian took out the rest of his spirit stones, over a thousand, and handed them to Huang Liuyan. “I reckon you might need to buy some things to take back. It’s definitely not convenient to not have enough spirit stones. Don’t decline; perhaps the items you need to buy are short of these thousand-odd spirit stones. Of course, if it’s not needed, you can return them to me later. I won’t charge you any interest.”

Initially, Huang Liuyan planned to decline. But after hearing Qi Tian’s reasoning, she retracted her objection, accepted the spirit stones he lent her without uttering thanks. Instead, she said, “Qi Tian, rest here for now. Eat if you’re hungry, play if you’re bored and sleep if you’re tired. Wait for me to come back… and don’t cause trouble.”

Huang Liuyan quickly left after giving her instructions to Qi Tian.

Qi Tian neither ate nor played around, he locked himself in his room. After inspecting the room with the Heavenly Dao Engine to ascertain that the hotel management hadn’t set up any monitoring arrays or anything of the sort, a smile emerged on his face. He decided to make use of the time to thoroughly inspect his gains from Wanjie City.

Qi Tian first took out the five raw spirit stones he bought from the used goods market. In addition, he also took out several other raw spirit stones. Among them, one conspicuously large one about the size of two grinding stones, which he had initially bid for at the Lianying Trade Union, costing him 23 million coins. Back then, the Heavenly Dao Engine sensed a strong response from this raw spirit stone which led Qi Tian to buy it despite the hefty price. As for the other raw spirit stones, they were bought from the black market in the Lianying Realm; some have been fed to the Heavenly Dao Engine already while he saved a few. Now, with nothing else to do, he decided to extract all these raw spirit stones and see what was inside them.

Qi Tian knew that he would surely be able to extract plenty of spirit stones from these raw spirit stones. In order to prevent the Spirit Qi from dissipating during extraction and alerting others, he set up some precautions in his room. The precautions he used were his spoils from the Lianying Realm. He set up three simple arrays inside the room, alongside some other fall backs.

Finally, Qi Tian shifted his gaze to the second largest raw spirit stone, the one he had won at the auction of the Lianying Trade Union.

Qi Tian pointed at the raw spirit stone, and the True Essence he channeled made the hardened crust that surrounded the stone crack continuously and fall off, finally revealing the encased spirit stone. Upon seeing it, Qi Tian took in a sharp breath. It was an irregularly shaped large spirit stone, estimated to be the size of a big watermelon, shining brilliantly with a vibrant red color, incredibly dazzling to the eyes.

This was a large piece of middle-grade spirit stone. If it were cut into the size of a regular middle-grade spirit stone, Qi Tian estimated that at least 1100 pieces could be obtained. Even at a bare minimum, one thousand pieces could be procured. It was indeed a substantial wealth.

Overwhelmed with joy, Qi Tian hastily put away this middle-grade spirit stone. His Heavenly Dao Engine’s hunger was set aside for now. He planned to keep this large one as a reserve, not intending to utilize it unless absolutely necessary.

Next, Qi Tian turned his attention to the largest raw spirit stone, one he had purchased at the second-hand market – it was the size of a boss’s desk. The moment he touched it, his internally generated True Essence shattered the stone’s hard outer shell, leading to the revelation of a large spirit stone the size of a pocket. The stone was not too translucent and its color was faint, clearly signifying it as a low-grade spirit stone. However, due to its substantial volume, it could be cut into approximately four or five thousand pieces of low-grade spirit stones.

The five raw spirit stones purchased by Qi Tian from the second-hand market cost him 1100 spirit stones in total. Merely this one stone was enough to recoup his investment and even make a substantial profit.

Qi Tian put away this giant, low-grade spirit stone too. He tried feeding it to the Heavenly Dao engine, but finding it uninterested, he decided to keep it for himself.

Afterward, Qi Tian unsealed the two watermelon-sized raw spirit stones and was pleasantly surprised to find middle-grade spirit stones inside both. One had two of different sizes, while the other had a larger middle-grade spirit stone. These three uncut spirit stones could likely provide around a hundred middle-grade spirit stones when cut.

Qi Tian promptly fed these middle-grade spirit stones to the Heavenly Dao engine, which then conveyed feelings of pleasure back to Qi Tian.

Subsequently, Qi Tian unsealed the remaining raw spirit stones, finding some to be low-grade and some middle-grade. None were duds. All were valuable. Qi Tian collected them, planning to use them in the future.

Finally, Qi Tian’s gaze landed on the last raw spirit stone. Only about the size of the fist of a seven- or eight-year-old child, it didn’t react at all when he touched it with his finger. After several failed attempts, Qi Tian had to reluctantly admit defeat. His right hand opened, and the Heavenly Dao engine, eager as ever, released a Transporting Whirlwind, swallowing up the remaining piece of raw spirit stone.

Then, Qi Tian noticed something peculiar happening. The Heavenly Dao Engine in his palm began to flicker. Initially, it did so rapidly, but it soon switched to intermittent flickers. His heart practically leapt into his mouth, fearing any malfunction in the Heavenly Dao engine.

This condition lasted for nearly ten minutes. Just when Qi Tian’s heartbeat seemed to have stopped, the Heavenly Dao Engine finally reappeared in his palm.

To his surprise, the Heavenly Dao engine had become clearer, with noticeable changes. A turbine blade appeared on one side of the Heavenly Dao Engine. He could clearly see two blade pieces. In the middle of the two pieces, there seemed to be a budding, miniaturized turbine blade.

What did this mean? Qi Tian was clueless for a moment. He was unsure if this change in the Heavenly Dao engine was good or bad. He wanted to test it, but feared causing trouble and decided to dismiss the idea.

Although a large-scale test was out of the question, a small-scale test was still possible. Upon initiative from Qi Tian, three Transporting Whirlwinds shot out from his hand and at the sight of this, Qi Tian’s eyes lit up.