76: Chapter 76 Technology Empowers, Alliances Rise

The morning light had just pierced into the central workshop of the Eastern Wasteland Alliance's joint base, and night dew still dripped from the metal roof.

Chen Tiezhu crouched before a freshly produced "Portable Leyline Detector." He clamped a wrench onto the interface, gave it three turns, and yanked hard—with a soft click, the casing popped open, revealing a dense array of miniature runes inside.

"I only finished welding the last board in the middle of the night."

He wiped the grease from his face and grinned at the Zhao Clan technician standing nearby. "Don't be afraid, this thing doesn't bite. Take it apart once, and you'll see it's much more useful than your family's ancestral compass."

The man reached out hesitantly. Just as his fingertips touched the edge of the inner casing, the device suddenly lit up with a blue light and emitted a "beep," followed by an automated announcement: "Current area foundation stability: 87.6%. Recommended reinforcement depth: 3.2 meters."

The entire room went silent.

A young Cultivator from the Lin Family blurted out, "It... it can speak on its own?"

"It's not speaking," Chen Tiezhu said, tucking his wrench into his belt as he stood up. "It's feedback. You give it electricity, and it gives you your life—how many people have died in construction cave-ins? Now, as long as you carry this around for a walk, no one will have to fill those pits with their lives."

Before his voice had faded, the sound of footsteps came from the direction of the dispatch tower.

Chen Wuwang arrived, followed by the engineering supervisors sent by the Seven Clans.

He didn't spare a second glance for those staring blankly at the detector. He walked straight to the front, carrying three silver-grey boxes.

"Zhao Clan, Sun Clan, Li Family." His eyes swept across the crowd as he read the names. "The top three in progress yesterday. Prizes will be distributed on the spot."

The boxes were opened; each detector was encased in a shock-proof soft sheath, with the emblems of each clan engraved on the surface.

"The blueprints have been uploaded to the shared library."

Chen Tiezhu took one and disassembled it into parts on the table in front of everyone. "Production of the core components is limited, but feel free to copy the basic structure. Whoever wants to learn, I'll teach them personally. You'll finish your apprenticeship in three days and be able to repair them in five."

An old craftsman from the Sun Clan frowned. "Are you truly willing to share such a divine object with outsiders?"

"Divine object?" Chen Tiezhu sneered, picking up a circuit board and holding it high. "This is a coil made of copper wire, that's a chip ground from stone, and even the psionic batteries are made from powder we pressed ourselves! You call this 'divine'? Pfft! This is craftsmanship!"

He dumped the parts into a tray with a clatter and pushed it to the edge of the table. "Come on, get to work. Those who are afraid to touch it should hurry up and get back to worshiping their ancestral tablets."

No one moved.

A moment later, the youth from the Li Family, who was at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment, stepped forward. He picked up a pair of tweezers and, with a trembling hand, lifted a runic chip.

Applause rang out from the third row. It started with a few scattered claps, then grew into a roar.

Chen Wuwang did not applaud.

Standing in a corner, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye scanned the data stream—the honor roll updated in real-time, the contribution curves of the three rewarded clans spiked instantly, and the online learning modules for the other four clans were activated simultaneously.

The fire had been lit.

At high noon, when the sun was at its harshest, the south training field was as hot as a steamer.

The ground was paved with freshly poured Spirit-Conducting Cement, which felt slightly hot to the touch.

Chen Wuwang had each clan send representatives for a cross-clan combat drill.

One side of the opponents was the traditional faction, consisting entirely of old Golden Core Cultivators with refined techniques and thick Spiritual Qi.

The other side was fully equipped with "Psionic Amplification Armbands," assembled by Chen Tiezhu himself, featuring built-in miniature Spirit Gathering Arrays and buffer energy storage slots.

In the first round, the old Cultivators dominated the fight.

Thunder-fire talismans exploded upon release, and wind blades sliced across thirty feet, forcing the younger ones to retreat repeatedly.

"Flashy but useless!" A white-bearded Elder sneered with a flick of his sleeve. "Cultivation relies on one's innate talent, not on claiming combat power just because you're wearing an iron hoop!"

Before his words had even landed, the second round began.

This time, the rules changed: the battle must last more than fifteen minutes, and no Medicinal Pills could be consumed midway.

The first ten minutes remained a stalemate.

But by the twelfth minute, the traditional Cultivators were sweating, their spiritual power fluctuations visibly weakening. Meanwhile, the side wearing the armbands breathed steadily, and their movements actually became smoother.

In the final thirty breaths, the youth from the Li Family suddenly lunged forward. An ice spike spell accurately pierced through his opponent's Protective Aura and slammed into the sand, stopping only half an inch from the opponent's foot.

The entire field was silent.

Chen Tiezhu walked up holding a recording board and projected the combat data:

"See that? An ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator has a Spiritual Qi recovery rate of 0.3 units per minute. With the armband, it increases to 0.52. You can't see the difference in the first five minutes, but a battlefield never lasts only five minutes."

He pointed to the peaks on the chart. "They didn't win because of talent; they won because of endurance."

The crowd slowly parted to make a path. The Elder who had mocked them most harshly walked out with his head bowed and pulled an Armband Application Talisman from his robe.

"Give me a pair too," he said very softly, yet every word was clear. "I'm getting old; I can't afford to run out of steam."

As dusk approached, the last slant of light leaked through the window slits at the top of the resource dispatch tower.

Chen Wuwang leaned against the railing, watching the lights below flicker on one by one.

The contact Jade Slips of the Xu Family, Lin Family, and Sun Clan lit up one after another with the same message: requesting additional technical collaboration, willing to exchange labor or minerals for on-site guidance from Chen family technicians.

He didn't reply.

Instead, he turned to Chen Tiezhu, who was waiting nearby, and said, "Go and see them. Send one of our people to each clan on a seven-day rotation. Don't teach them the secret techniques, but teach them the methods."

Chen Tiezhu nodded and was about to leave when he was called back.

"Remember one thing." Chen Wuwang's gaze darkened. "It's not that we're giving charity; it's that they earned it themselves."

The clanging of hammers came from the workshop.

The evening wind blew the wind-vane flag under the eaves, making a snapping sound.

In the distance, the construction site was still working overtime. The sound of metal components colliding was crisp and powerful, like a steadily beating pulse.

As Chen Tiezhu walked out of the dispatch tower, he saw seven lanterns being quietly hung on the main pole of the joint operations area.

Red background with gold characters, they bore the surnames of each clan.

The one in the middle was the largest; it had no words, only a pattern of a gear intertwined with spirit runes.

He looked up for a long time, then suddenly raised a hand to rub his nose and muttered under his breath, "In my whole life, I've never had anyone offer me a toast..."

Before he could finish, footsteps approached from behind. The youth from the Li Family hurried over carrying a bowl of spiritual brew, offering it with both hands. "Engineer Chen! Our Master said... please have a drink."

Chen Tiezhu took the bowl and drained it in one gulp. It was so spicy it made him cough twice, but his eyes felt a bit warm.

He waved his hand and turned to dive into the workshop, his silhouette merging back into the clanging tide of the night shift.

At the top of the dispatch tower, Chen Wuwang remained where he was. His Mechanical Prosthetic Eye continued to receive reports from various areas:

Night training rate at the south training field: 91%.

Technical sharing access at the central workshop exceeded five thousand visits.

All seven clan lanterns lit, duration exceeding six hours.

He raised his right hand and tapped lightly on the hilt of his dagger.

The wind swept past the flagpole on the tower, and the Alliance flag unfurled completely. The emblems of the Seven Clans surrounded the four characters for "Eastern Wasteland Alliance," snapping in the twilight.

In the distance, a new batch of modular machine frames was being hoisted. The rhythmic and steady sounds of metal clashing rang out—once, and then again.