“What kind of magical tool is this?” Several judges surrounded the incomparably delicate little crystal palace, full of ceaseless admiration. However, today’s theme was storage space, not sculpture.
“It’s a spatial magical tool, of course,” Mo Tianliao said with a smile.
“This kind of spatial magical tool is not practical.” Ding Hu frowned; he became even surer of his son’s magical tool’s chances of winning.
The other judges also nodded their heads, most spatial magical tools were used for storing things, so the space inside them should be large but they also needed to be portable. Therefore, they were usually made into storage bracelets and rings, the simpler ones were made into storage bags to hang around the waist. How would one be able to carry around this thing that needed to be held using both hands?
Mo Tianliao held the miniature crystal palace and secretly observed the reactions of the people around him. In his previous life as a craftsman, he had spent all day working inside his Mo Palace, and seldom gone out. Of the people who often got in contact with him, most of them were from the demonic path, very few of them were from the righteous path, those who knew him had all died at the Absolute Death Valley.
As he had expected, the people around him did not react to his appearance, most of them were staring at the magical tool in his hands, only one gaze kept sweeping over him, and he did not need to look to know who it was. Mo Tianliao lifted his head and looked at Ding Ziyu, staring straight at him before he had time to look away.
In Ding Ziyu’s eyes he could see shock, suspicion, but even stronger than those, he could see fear, he even pulled down his sleeve involuntarily to cover his wrist.
“The concept of “space” is not limited to inside and outside, it includes changes, called compression when it happens in an inward direction and expansion when it happens in an outward direction.” Mo Tianliao held the miniature palace in one hand, then glanced at Qingtong, who was sitting farther away on the stage, and winked at him.
Those cold beautiful eyes seemed to be smiling slightly, containing a hint of anticipation.
Mo Tianliao suddenly felt reluctant to show these people his cat’s house. He should have found a deserted place, covered his cat’s eyes and given him a surprise. Maybe he could have gotten a sweet kiss, maybe Lord Kitty would have been so happy that he would have taken him inside the house and then allowed him to heal him…
“What does that mean?” A craftsman with a quick temper saw that Mo Tianliao did not move to do anything and could not help but ask.
Mo Tianliao came back to his senses, swallowed his practically dripping drool, and threw the glittering and translucent mini palace.
“Ah!” The observing crowd was startled, some female disciples could not help but exclaim aloud. How could something that looked so delicate and fragile be thrown around like that?
But soon afterwards they became speechless, because they saw that when the thing that had been the size of an incense burner was thrown, it suddenly became bigger. It had become the size of a copper furnace, standing on the arena, and the furnishings inside it had also become bigger, the tiny bathtub had become the size of a wooden basin, and the bed was as big as a pillow, it was now just big enough for a cat to live in it.
The surroundings became loud with wave after wave of amazed exclamations, causing the people from the alchemy competition to glance over.
Mo Tianliao took out a lingshi and quickly extracted the qi inside, but he did not absorb it. Instead, it melted into a stream of light and directly entered the Crystal Palace.
With a loud noise, the palace the size of a copper furnace instantly turned into a real palace, three zhang high, fifteen zhang wide and divided into three stories. Through the crystalline walls, the furniture inside could be clearly seen. Everything was affixed to the floors or walls by the same translucent material, and everything was incomparably gorgeous. The people could even see the carved decorations on the low tables and the crackle patterns on the gorgeously decorated vases atop the tables.
The first floor was the main hall, which was filled with gorgeous tables and chairs, the second floor was the bedroom, its floor was covered with cushions, and it had a big wide bed hung with fine mermaid silk, the top floor was a terrace with rocking chairs and swings. The rocking chairs were fixed on tracks, because of the quaking brought about by the enlargement, they were still shaking back and forth.
All the people from the alchemist section had come over to watch the spectacle.
“This is…” Ding Hu and several Master craftsmen of the righteous path were stunned speechless, they remained silent for a long while.
“This is… a Moving Immortal Palace!” A craftsman whose hobby was studying ancient books turned red in excitement, he finally could not help but cry out and rush to the centre of the arena, quivering with the desire to touch a glossy wall.
Legend had it that in ancient times, immortals could craft spiritual tools that were Immortal Palaces, they could change size and be released to become dwellings at any time.
When Mo Tianliao saw that everyone wanted to rush in and touch, he immediately took back the spiritual power. The three-zhang-tall palace instantly disappeared and became the size of an incense burner once more, it returned to Mo Tianliao’s hand.
“Sorry, this special tool is unstable and often changes back into its original shape,” Mo Tianliao blatantly lied with a straight face.
Hearing that this special tool was still unstable, the people were somewhat disappointed but at the same time faintly relieved. The craftsman who liked to read ancient books sighed deeply in disappointment, the legendary Immortal Palace was an immortal tool, it was absolutely invaluable. Since the death of Duantian, there had been no new immortal tools in the Taixuan continent. People were eager to have another genius like Duantian, who could ceaselessly create treasure-like magical tools for everyone, even if the price was high, at least they could still be bought as long as one had the money.
Those powerhouses that were about to face divine tribulations were particularly disappointed, not just anyone could craft magical tools capable of repelling tribulation lighting.
“The theme this time was spatial magical tools. Although this Immortal Palace is something exceptional, it does not seem to fit the guidelines.” Ding Hu recovered from the shock and looked at his ashen youngest son, it seemed that the possibility of not obtaining first place had affected him greatly, so he quickly spoke to try to save the situation.
It was not surprising that Ding Hu thought so, Liuyun Sect had put Ding Ziyu on too high a pedestal, labelling him a genius and Lord Duantian’s direct disciple. He could really not afford to lose to a boy no one had heard of before.
When the people of Liuyun Sect heard Elder Ding say this, they went along with him. This kind of magical tool that could change size was not unprecedented, in a sense, it was the same as Ding Zijin’s shape-shifting storage bracelet. Strictly speaking, it could not be called a spatial magical tool, it should be called a transformable magical tool.
“If spatial magical tools can make things smaller, then spatial magical tools can also make things bigger,” said a white-bearded craftsman. He glanced at Ding Hu and snorted coldly, “Like a frog in a well.”
“What master Di said is reasonable.” The craftsman who read ancient books recovered a little from his excited state and immediately supported him. It was not clear whether he was agreeing with his theory on space or with his view of Ding Hu.
Ding Hu’s face instantly soured, but he could not afford to lose his temper.
The white-haired Master Di, though a rogue cultivator, had a tremendous status in the righteous path, and was not inferior to him in any respect. Had it not been for the fact that he was an Elder of a major sect and highly sought after by many people, this Master Di would have been the most famous craftsman of the righteous path.
“The younger generation will really surpass the older.” Master Di patted Mo Tianliao on the shoulder. “In this old man’s opinion, this boy fully deserves the first place.”
“I want to buy this special tool. Little friend, you might as well name a price.” The craftsman who liked to read ancient books could not wait to buy this Immortal Palace. Since it was just a special tool, it would not be too expensive, he was willing to pay the price of a spiritual weapon for it, he wanted to study it carefully.
“Woyun Sect has not had a master craftsman for many years, I wonder who fellow cultivator Mo is studying under?” Ding Ziyu suppressed the panic in his heart, he could see that the man in front of him had only reached the middle stage of the Golden Core level. If Duantian had possessed someone and was alive again, three hundred years would had been enough for the old demon who still retained his divine soul to once again reach the Half-Immortal level, it would be impossible for his cultivation to be so low. However, to possess such an amazing talent at crafting…
When these words were said, the faces of all people present changed. Woyun Sect really did not have a master craftsman, none of the judges here belonged to Woyun Sect. Who did this person learn his crafting technique from?
Mo Tianliao glanced at Ding Ziyu, then ignored him. He only looked at the man who wanted to buy the Immortal Palace and said, “This is a birthday gift for Master, it’s not for sale.” Once he said that, he walked slowly across the stage and held the glittering crystal palace in front of Qingtong.
Qingtong looked at him and slowly took it.
Mo Tianliao had promised to craft this cat house for him 300 years ago. It was easy to make large objects small, it only required one to add a few spatial arrays, but it was not easy to make small objects large, this required the very rare Profound Space Stone. This stone was a kind of immortal material, a tiny bit weighed more than a thousand pieces of gold, it could be used to make objects gigantic. Mo Tianliao spent decades refining the enormously heavy Profound Space Stone, so that when it became smaller its weight would also shrink.
The Profound Space Stone lying in his storage bracelet was already a half-immortal tool. This time, Mo Tianliao just glued in the small objects that had been carved for a long time and wrapped it in Profound Space Stone for refining. The miniature crystal palace in front of his eyes was actually an immortal tool! This immortal tool will be his house in the future.
“When I was young, I worked at the forges of Duantian’s Mo Palace, Lord Duantian used to instruct me, so I learnt some of the basics.” Seeing that his cat had obediently put the cat house in the storage bracelet, Mo Tianliao was in a good mood, he uttered that brief sentence then said no more.
The crowd erupted, Lord Duantian again?
Except Ding Hu, the other renowned master craftsmen all thought that Mo Tianliao’s Immortal Palace was superior. After all, Ding Ziyu’s freshness preservation function could still be achieved with jade boxes, but the Immortal Palace which grew from small to large was unique. Furthermore, a space that could hold living things was still just a theory, yet the Moving Immortal Palace was already a reality.
Therefore, Mo Tianliao won the very well deserved first place, and got a branch of the Wenyu tree and a large box of lingshi.
Ding Ziyu returned to his seat looking deathly pale. The way people looked at him could not help but change. Was this man not said to be Lord Duantian’s direct disciple? Some guy surnamed Mo said that he had only learnt some basic things and he was already so amazing, so how could the direct disciple have such minor skills? Thinking about the sort of things Ding Ziyu had made in the past, although he was better than an ordinary craftsman, it was not by much.
If that guy surnamed Mo had been a forge worker, what the hell did Ding Ziyu do in Duantian’s Mo Palace? Most probably he was merely a blacksmith!
Cultivator A: The forge worker is already so amazing
Cultivator B: Then doesn’t that mean that Lord Duantian is unbeatable?
Carpenter: He’s not only amazing, he is also graceful and outstandingly handsome. A man so singularly, incomparably perfect that you could search to the ends of the earth and not find his equal!
Carpenter: What’s wrong, baby?
Qingtong: I ate too much catnip; I felt a little queasy
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
OMG author! If a minor character like Master craftsman Di can get a name why is it that “the craftsman whose hobby was studying ancient books” can’t get one also?
The tittle made me picture this image the whole time I was translating it.