Chapter 33

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nWorker Training

n“Creak!”

nPushing open the heavy bronze door of the earth fire chamber, Chen Daoxuan turned around and said, “All of you, come in.”

nHearing that, everyone filed inside.

nWhen they approached the earth fire chamber, they felt a wave of heat wash over them.

nAfter a while, everyone was drenched in sweat.

nChen Daoxuan looked at this group of clansmen who were about the same age as him. Most of them were at the fourth or fifth level of the Houtian realm. Faced with the scorching heat of the earth fire chamber, it was inevitable that they would find the heat unbearable.

n“Is this the clan’s earth fire chamber?”

nChen Liangyu looked at the earth fire chamber, which was hundreds of square meters in size, and murmured.

nAs a location of vital importance to the Chen clan of Shuanghu Island, the earth fire chamber had never been open to ordinary people. Other than Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe, no one in the entire clan was qualified to enter this place.

nNow that Chen Daoxuan had brought them to this legendary place, how could they not be excited.

nChen Liangyu was handling it a little better. After all, he was once the manager of the red copper mine and could be considered to have seen a bit of the world.

nHowever, the group of sixteen or seventeen-year-olds that he had brought with him did not possess as much composure.

nEven though everyone restrained themselves over and over again, they still involuntarily let out intermittent whispers among one another.

nAfter glancing at the group, Chen Daoxuan walked straight to the silver-white spirit smelting furnace that had been placed at the center of the earth fire chamber.

n“Cough, cough.”

nHe coughed lightly to silence the group’s discussion.

nSeeing that they had quieted down, Chen Daoxuan continued, “This is one of the most important locations in the clan, the earth fire chamber.”

nThe attentive Chen Liangyu noticed Chen Daoxuan’s choice of words.

nIt was ‘one of’ the most important locations!

nHe restrained his curiosity and continued listening.

n“The earth fire chamber is where cultivators refine spiritual artifacts. Today, I’m going to teach you how to use this spirit smelting furnace to assist cultivators in refining spiritual artifacts.”

n“What’s a spiritual artifact?”

n“Are they treasures used by immortals?”

n“I don’t know. Do you know, Chen Yunsheng?”

nThe young man named Chen Yunsheng was the oldest among them at eighteen years old.

nJudging from his appearance, he looked somewhat similar to the former manager of the red copper mine, Chen Liangyu, who was standing in front of them.

nHearing his clansmen’s inquiry, Chen Yunsheng pondered for a moment and said, “Spiritual artifacts are weapons used by immortals. Did you hear about what the young clan leader did at the stone processing workshop yesterday? The young clan leader used a spiritual artifact that time!”

n“Ah? So that immortal sword was a spiritual artifact!”

n“Brother Yunsheng, you are really amazing. You know so much…”

n“…”

nHearing the discussions of the group again, Chen Daoxuan did not say anything, but Chen Liangyu’s face darkened.

n“What are you all arguing about? Listen carefully! And you, Chen Yunsheng, if you continue to talk, I will teach you a lesson when we return!”

nChen Liangyu lowered his voice and reprimanded the group.

nSeeing this scene, Chen Daoxuan did not care too much. After all, they were young men. If all the youngsters in his clan were as mature as him, then it would be unusual indeed.

nAfter Chen Liangyu reprimanded them, the scene once again became silent.

nSeeing that everyone had quieted down, Chen Daoxuan began to explain the operational principles of the spirit smelting furnace to everyone.

nFortunately, Chen Liangyu had chosen young people who were talented and intelligent, so the principles of the spirit smelting furnace were quickly understood by everyone.

nChen Daoxuan had just finished explaining the principles of the spirit smelting furnace when he saw a youth raise his hand.

nHe pointed at the youth who had raised his hand and said, “Do you have any questions?”

n“Young… Young clan leader.”

nAlthough he had already prepared himself mentally repeatedly, Chen Yunsheng still felt an inordinate amount of pressure when he was called out by the young clan leader.

nEnduring this pressure, Chen Yunsheng took a deep breath and said, “What you are trying to tell us is that we need to send the spirit ore into the furnace from this intake port and then use the control lever to manage the temperature of the furnace to refine the spirit ore, right?”

n“Your comprehension is not bad.” Chen Daoxuan nodded.

n“In that case, only two people at most would be needed to operate this spirit smelting furnace. Why do you need so many of us then?”

nThese words could be considered to represent the question in the hearts of all the youths present.

nThey were not the only ones who would receive honor by working under the young clan leader. Everyone also carried with them the expectations of the elders in their families. If they were eliminated in less than a day, they would not be able to raise their heads among their family members when they returned.

nSeeing everyone’s expressions, Chen Daoxuan knew everyone’s worries and reassured them, “Don’t worry. There will be more than just this one spirit smelting furnace. There will only be more and more spirit smelting furnaces in the clan in the future.”

n“However…”

nChen Daoxuan changed the topic. “Don’t think that you’ll be allowed to slack off just because we will have more spirit smelting furnaces in the future. If you don’t perform well, you will still be eliminated.”

nHearing this warning, everyone’s relaxed mood became nervous again.

nSeeing that everyone had regained their focus, Chen Daoxuan continued, “Just now, someone said that only two people are needed to operate a spirit smelting furnace. In a nutshell, what he said was correct.”

nHe paused for a moment. “A spirit smelting furnace will be operated by two workers. One will be the loader, and the other the operator.”

n“The loader is responsible for sifting, weighing, and portioning out the spirit ores before putting it into the intake port. The operator is responsible for controlling the temperature of the spirit smelting furnace, refining the spirit ores, and removing the finished product out of the furnace in time.”

n“Everyone can see from the operation process that the job of the loading worker is relatively simple. Basically anyone can become competent in that role, but the role of the operator is the difficult one.”

n“The furnace operator not only needs to adjust the temperature of the furnace according to the situation, but also needs to watch the timing and remove the finished products from the furnace. Otherwise, the spirit ores will turn into a waste product if they are refined in the furnace for too long.”

nAfter listening to Chen Daoxuan’s explanation, everyone immediately understood the importance of the furnace operators.

nAs expected, no one wanted to be a loading worker. Everyone clambered for the position of furnace operators, especially after hearing that the monthly salary of furnace operators was three taels of silver, which was twice that of the loading workers.

nSeeing that everyone was eager to give it a go, Chen Daoxuan smiled and said, “Don’t be too happy yet. Just watch me operate the furnace first. These three taels of silver are not that easy to get.”

nAfter saying that, Chen Daoxuan took out the two types of spirit ores used to refine the Red Shadow flying sword, which were black iron and red copper.

nAfter skillfully depositing the two types of spirit ores into the furnace, Chen Daoxuan began to operate the spirit smelting furnace.

nThe fifteen youths gathered together and asked Chen Daoxuan questions from time to time. Chen Daoxuan did not hide anything from them and answered each question one by one.

nTime flew by quickly and, in the blink of an eye, four hours had passed.

nAs a cultivator, Chen Daoxuan would not feel hunger, but these youths were different. They were all mortals and needed to eat.

nEven though their hearts were burning with passion, their stomachs were all rumbling with hunger.

nWhen they saw that the learning session was over, Chen Liangyu, who was acting as a temporary logistics staff, brought over the lunchboxes for everyone and said softly, “Young clan leader, shall we let everyone eat before you continue?”

n“Uh…”

nAfter hearing this, Chen Daoxuan finally came to a realization. Everyone had already been learning for a whole day.

nThen he said apologetically, “It was my mistake. Everyone, eat up first. After you finish eating, I will continue to teach you how to manage the furnace temperature using the control lever.”

nWhen the youths heard this, their eyes lit up and they hurriedly nodded.

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