The dazzling high-bright blue light slowly burned on the dark golden metal block. Amidst the cutting sound that was denser than the buzzing, bright sparks sputtered out without stopping.
The beauty of the fiery trees and silver flowers on the workbench of the precision instrument stopped Lin Nian in his tracks. The glass-like phantom in his eyes only bloomed for a moment, and then turned into smoke.
The tip of his nose twitched, and he smelled the fragrance of fireworks and white jasmine.
Some images flashed through his mind for no reason. They were probably scenes of him and his sister squatting at the entrance of the corridor and lighting cold fireworks when he was a child. In the empty and cold corridor, only two figures sitting in the stairwell were projected on the wall. At the corner of the corridor Outside the window were the colorful fireworks that filled the city at midnight on New Year's Eve, but what really belonged to them were the cold fireworks exuding as white as flowers in their hands. Both of them couldn't help but fantasize about making the fuel on the metal wire burn even more. A little longer, a little longer...
A snap of fingers sounded in Lin Nian's ear, which was crisp and ear-catching. Lin Nian came back to his senses slightly and looked at Ange. In the other's sight, he lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes forcefully, then opened his eyes. His brows were slightly furrowed and he looked troubled, "I'm sorry."
"Did I say that the olfactory perversion and mental impact caused by the Bronze Purgatory have nothing to do with blood?" Angers asked without any blame, just seeing the noise, smoke, arc light and metal vapor when the instrument was operating.
"Principal, you didn't say that."
"The strength of the bloodline does not affect the temptation of "Bronze Purgatory". On the contrary, the greater the desire, the stronger the desire, the greater the impact in this environment. After research and analysis, We found that this is a good thing, because researchers whether orthodox or secret are generally not of the best descent, but they all have the strongest will."
Lin Nian silently glanced at Ange and the staff manipulating the instruments at the workbench not far away from him. The other person was completely engrossed in the work of manually cutting metal, and he didn't even notice that the two of them were approaching. They were so enthusiastic. It is estimated that if someone approaches and stabs him from behind, his reaction will not be too great. He will not realize that he has been stabbed until he is dizzy due to excessive blood loss.
"Back to business, this is what you are interested in. What did we do using the "Bronze Purgatory."
Anger led Lin Nian to the precision instrument and introduced it to him, "Do you still remember the imitation Seven Deadly Sins weapon you encountered in the FG-CHL-013 incident?"
FG represents the fourth generation, CHI represents the location, and 013 is the serial number. This is the numbering format that Norma has always used to file tasks. Lin Nian naturally knew that Angers was referring to the incident of Shao Nanyin and Shao Nanqin.
"Is that "Jealous" a work of the academy?" Lin Nian asked, looking at the dark gold metal that was being cut very slowly on the workbench.
"To be precise, it is the work of the orthodox "Tiangong Ministry". We are only responsible for the cutting and transportation of the original materials." Angers raised his hand and patted the operating cutting instrument, but it was this small movement that disturbed the work being performed. The staff member glanced dissatisfiedly. The former stopped and smiled apologetically. After successfully getting a roll of his eyes from the other person, he continued to explain.
"The simplest plasma cutting machine works by heating the plasma to an extremely high temperature and highly ionized gas, and then transferring the arc power to the material. The high heat of 30,000 degrees Celsius will melt the material and blow it away."
"Can I ask where these materials come from?" Although Lin Nian knew that this question was quite nonsense, he still asked.
"Don't worry. According to our observation of the "Bronze Purgatory", cutting off only a small part of the "side branches" will not affect the overall stability of the prison." Angers knew where Lin Nian's worries came from. "Although you are the first witness to the "Bronze Purgatory", your true understanding of this prison is not very deep. For example, you know that the "Bronze Purgatory" is a process that involves "metal, flesh," and "high-temperature gases." "And "Does plasma matter grow?"
"Growth?" Lin Nian was puzzled.
"The Bronze Purgatory is alive," Angers said. "The big tree we saw gave us the impression that it was alive. Most people would first mistakenly think that the living thing was the imprisoned Norton himself. ...But in fact we were wrong. The real active one is not the Dragon King, but the parasitic one.
The Seven Deadly Sins on the Dragon King. "
"The Bronze Purgatory of the Heart is a product born after His Highness Norton personally re-forged the Seven Deadly Sins. According to our long-term observation and testing, we found that it has a 'living spirit', and it is better to live in it than a lifeless cage. , we tend to describe it as a terrible parasite." Ange looked at the dark golden giant tree in the distance and said lightly,
"Living in or on another organism and obtaining nutrients from its body is the definition of a parasite. 'Bronze Inferno' does exactly what it does. It grows inside Norton's body and absorbs its anger. Flames and dragon blood will not kill the host easily, but will form a protective layer to allow the host to survive for a long time, thereby growing more nutrients and flesh to feed it back."
"It makes my head tingle just listening to it." Lin Nian whispered.
"When we first captured Constantine's cocoon, the treatment method was to put him in an environment without metal and flames, and control him in a magnetic levitation method so that he could not touch anything. This is because for this kind of Supreme, everything related to their authority will become food for them to become stronger." Angers said,
"Of course His Highness Norton is no exception, but due to the Bronze Hell, this parasite is entrenched in his body, nearly 99% of the nutrients he has grown by getting involved in metal, fire, and flesh will be lost to the Bronze Purgatory. , in itself, and the form it manifests is that the tree we see will continue to grow, and its branches will bloom, and then expand its influence in turn, attracting more food to be delivered to the mouth."
"—A living cage." Lin Nian's eyes were downcast. It was only now that he could truly feel the turbulent malice of the Supreme Being like a black tide and mud sea, which could not help but send an icy and chilling chill down the spine.
You must know that this instrument of torture was originally prepared for him. If Constantine's remains were not sent by the emperor to the outside of Baidi City, which caused the other party's moths to fly into the flames, then the person who is now locked up in this prison should be Changed.
"Since the cage is alive and has the ability to grow, we can naturally work on it." Angers looked at the long metal strips on the plasma cutting machine and said, "Through Norma, we are involved in the giant tree. We did statistical and mathematical modeling on the growth rate of the indefinite metal, and after calculating the ratio of the input metal to the growth rate of the big tree, we began to formulate periodic feeding and work. And our dangerous behavior of dismantling the cage has naturally become 'Pruning flowers and plants is a harmless job."
"You raised the former Supreme Being in the basement of your home and fed it blood food regularly, just like raising a pig in a pen to be slaughtered." Lin Nian said slowly.
"As far as the facts are concerned, we did do this." Angers admitted slowly without any quibbles;
"Don't let Lu Mingfei know about this." Lin Nian said calmly.
"In fact, the fewer people who should know about this, the better." Angers nodded.
"Is the jealousy in the hands of the execution department made of it?" Lin Nian asked, looking at the dark gold metal branches that were finally cut off after the plasma cutting machine had been working for who knows how long.
"This is just the first embryo. As a former user of the Seven Deadly Sins, you should know that even without the protection of the alchemical field, the material of the Seven Deadly Sins itself is extremely difficult to destroy. It represents the pinnacle of alchemical weapon forging technology. Initially we tried to use Various instruments tried to cut something from the giant tree, but they all failed. It was not until the equipment department launched a new generation of plasma cutting equipment that we completed the simplest and most difficult step, which was to replace the A big tree needs to be pruned."
"The high-temperature cutting process of 30,000°C even takes more than half an hour to cut off such a small piece of material less than three centimeters thick." Angers picked up a small piece of dark golden branch that broke on the workbench, "It's difficult Imagine the terrifying power Norton held in his heyday.
"If it's so difficult to just cut it off, how can we talk about further alchemical processing and reforging of the metal?" Lin Nian asked.
"This part is naturally not the work of the secret party." Angers said, "We are only responsible for cutting and secretly transporting raw materials. The further processing of the materials is the responsibility of Orthodoxy. In your hometown, the land on the other side of the ocean, Within the orthodox headquarters, there is a department called the Tiangong Department, which is closely related to the
The equipment department of the hospital is benchmarking. "
"Oh? Can they also make bombs?" Lin Nian asked subconsciously.
"They don't know how to make bombs, and they even have a big prejudice against modern thermal weapons, thinking they are 'evil heretics,'" Angers said. "The core members of the Ministry of Engineering are all real hybrids of the older generation. , they advocate the most traditional iron forging skills in their bones, and pursue the forging realm of 'cutting gold, breaking jade, seeing gods and not breaking,'. I heard that the orthodox 'Tiangong Ministry' has a serious inheritance of forging craftsmanship, so The legacy of casting that remains today can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and then flourished in the Qin and Han Dynasties. One generation follows another, and the history of thousands of years has never been interrupted."
"Did they create the counterfeit seven deadly sins?"
"Yes. The Ministry of Heavenly Engineering has an extremely mature and inimitable processing system for metals that we are helpless to deal with. This involves an ancient alchemical tool for casting called the 'Ruyi Bagua Furnace,' which corresponds to The casting tool of the 'Tai Qing Moral God' in Chinese mythology. Through this unique alchemical tool, combined with the casting skills inherited by the Ministry of Heavenly Works, it is impossible to melt the metal of the seven deadly sins and then create imitations. Maybe." Angers couldn't help but have a little strange look in his eyes when he mentioned these things. It seemed that when he first learned this information, he couldn't help but re-evaluate the true foundation of orthodoxy.
There are thousands of Chinese myths, and each one has a higher style than the last. This time, in order to cooperate to divide the property of the Dragon King, the Orthodox have exposed the real prototype of the "Ruyi Bagua Furnace" used by the immortals in the myth to melt all things in the world. So next time, will they be able to pay for it? Come up with the "Sacred Iron at the Bottom of the River", or go a little further and come up with a "Picture of the Mountains, Rivers and Sheji" or "The Chaos Axe that Created the World"?
How much orthodoxy has hitherto hidden, no one knows.
"But I have a question. Since only Orthodox can smelt and reforge this kind of metal, why is the 'Bronze Purgatory' in Kassel College?" Lin Nian frowned and asked, "Technology has been monopolized, and the leadership should not be in Orthodox In your hand?"
"There are actually many reasons for this..." Angers said after pondering for a moment, "For example, the safety of the Bronze Purgatory... Did you see the chain on that big tree?"
Lin Nian cast his eyes towards the dozens of iron chains on the giant dark gold tree that connected the four walls of the cave.
"That's a chain that the vice-principal excavated from the ruins of the Sumerian civilization. According to legend, its prototype is the 'Lock of the Sky' in Mesopotamian myths and legends. It has a strong effect on creatures with dragon blood." The concept of suppression and restraint, coupled with the alchemy matrix 'Yuktrasill's Vine' carved in the Yuanxu itself, which can be called the pinnacle of human alchemy, can be regarded as one of the few in the world that can be safely stored. Bronze Purgatory is the place."
"Principal, do you really think that the Orthodox, who have the skills to process metals, will not have the means to safely store the Bronze Purgatory?" Lin Nian asked in a low voice, "The Orthodox's Qingwu Technique is ahead of Kasai. Although we know nothing about Nibelungen, the other party already has its own system of use and countermeasures of 'small world'."
Ange was silent. After a long silence, he slowly said, "If you insist on saying why the Bronze Purgatory is in the academy instead of the orthodox one... probably the only answer I can give you that will convince you is: they have Please beg us."
"Can you help us?" Lin Nian looked at Ange.
"To be specific, I want to ask Master Flamel." Angers turned his head and looked at a red wine bottle on a table in the distance. No one knew who would put that bottle in such a serious working environment. A bottle of old Bordeaux wine was brought in, and work discipline was regarded as nothing.
"You mean the vice principal?" Lin Nian was stunned.
Leonardo Flamel.
The old cowboy who was humorous, had a big belly and liked to emphasize that he once had full abdominal muscles. At the same time, he was also the couch potato that everyone remembered lying drunk in the clock tower assistant school room all day long. Many people have been paralyzed by his superficial laziness, forgetting that he is also one of the few friends of Angers who is still alive today. He is a monster with blood no less than or even higher than Angers, and most importantly, he is also drunk all year round. The reason why he is still respected by the elders of the secret party and even the school boys' association despite being indifferent - he is also the true successor of "Flamel", the contemporary alchemy.
"
"The orthodoxy lies in Qingwu, that is, the research direction of alchemy is actually quite different from that of the secret party. The common feeling and longing for heaven and earth lead them to be more inclined to observe and utilize 'feng shui' and 'general trends'. But in our case Here, the main direction of alchemy usually tends to be the "reconstruction" and "reshaping the concept" of matter. In an easy-to-understand way, orthodox and secret party have special differences in different fields of "formation" and "technique". , the two paths of macro and micro, which also lead to different achievements of both of us on the path of alchemy." Angers said.
"One is engineering and the other is science." Lin Nian commented.
Having said this, Angers paused for a moment, looking a little incomprehensible under the protective suit. "...Actually, at the beginning, I didn't expect that the Bronze Purgatory would eventually belong to the secret party, although it was only temporary. The real problem lies in the negotiations. Orthodoxy made a very intriguing request - they want the vice-principal of Kassel College to come forward and have a short talk with the Orthodox contemporary 'commoners' to decide the direction of future cooperation."
"Buyi?"
"Similar to the name 'Flamel,' Buyi represents the true inheritance of Qingwu Shu. It can be traced back to the Song Huizong period in the Northern Song Dynasty. The man who painted with landscapes, looked for dragons and touched gold, had ' A prophet from the mountain, the founder of the taboo-named Kanyu." Angre said,
"In short, after the first meeting between the orthodox commoner and the secret party's Flamel, I saw the vice-principal looking at the fairy-like old man as if he was sorry to meet him so late, and He claimed that he had reached an agreement with Orthodoxy, and that the Bronze Purgatory would be temporarily under our custody, but in contrast, he would stay in Orthodoxy for a period of time for a month of friendly academic exchanges... But this is only half a year. It’s what happened before.”
"They reached some kind of ulterior deal." Lin Nian was keenly aware of the core of this matter.
"Yes, even I don't know the content of the transaction. The Night Watchman was very tight-lipped this time, and even my old friend didn't miss a word. But in short, the Bronze Purgatory is still in the ice cellar, and has passed We also got a lot of benefits from Orthodoxy during that negotiation, and the generosity of the other side this time is a bit unbelievable." Angers said slowly.
"Then Principal, does the fact that you brought me here this time also mean that I can also benefit from some of the so-called benefits you mentioned?" Lin Nian looked sideways at Ange with understanding.
The old guy looked at Lin Nian, smiled and nodded in reply.
Lin Nian sighed and said, "Don't laugh, tell me specifically what the benefits are. I've been a little tired recently and don't want to guess riddles."
The old guy paused, smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Young people today are increasingly ignorant of the art of language..."!
Finally, he calmed down his expression, looked at Lin Nian and asked slowly, "Lin Nian, if you are asked to face the King of Earth and Mountain again, what do you think your chances of winning are?"
Lin Nian was silent for a while, and then said, "Less than 40%, maybe even lower conservatively. Some of my trump cards have been used last time, but I still don't know anything about its true strength. Not to mention the current academy." The theory put forward by Pai that the four great monarchs are all twins means that we may have to face more than one supreme being in the future."
"Less than 40%... Very good, then how much do you know about the Nibelungen Plan and the Snartmo Sword Plan launched against you?" Angers turned his head and met Lin Nian's eyes, and then The person's eyes suddenly turned sharp.
