Molting the Mortal Coil

‘Skyfire’ Jiang Hua wiped out his whole clan. Even if Sage didn’t have much of a connection to them, it was still hundreds of people that were murdered. Admittedly, many of them were not good people. They had killed Jiang Hua’s brother and so he repaid them in a similar fashion. It was exactly that practice of pulling up the roots that had irked Sage so much. Why did his Uncle Zhang have to die? Why were dozens of young children and women killed as well? Sage wasn’t foolish enough to think himself a saint, or even a ‘good guy’, but he found the practice of completely slaughtering so many innocents to be abhorrent.

Thankfully, he had the Inner World. When he was dealing with the Scyzur and the Flares it had made things a lot easier to simply capture them and send them away. It was also one of the reasons he focused so much on the Hypnotic Eye. It helped him deal with problems without having to resort to wide-scale slaughter of innocent people. That said, for those who sought his life, he wouldn’t hesitate to act first. This was a world of kill or be killed after all.

Sage spent a few days resting and catching up with Wan Ling and the Tiankong Siblings. They currently were taking turns, two of them left Lionheart Town at a time to go adventuring and exploring. Then when they returned the next two would go out. All except for poor Ruanfu, she had been staying in Lionheart Town this whole time to act as a deterrent. Now that Sage had returned and also advanced in rank, Ruanfu finally got the opportunity to go play. She took her fiance and climbed into an airship. Sage forced her to take along a thousand Dragoons just like the others, which also meant they brought a small fleet along with them. Unlike Sage, they didn’t have the Universe Ring. Instead they brought more airships along for the Dragoons to rest in. Even with the stronger and lighter materials of this world, an Airship could only carry about a hundred passengers.

Ruanfu and the blonde and blue eyed european kid, Wanqian Lei, left Lionheart Town with a small fleet of six airships. It wasn’t an uncommon sight in Lionheart Town since the other Tiankong Siblings had been doing the same thing for the last year or so once they had built enough airships. Wan Ling encouraged them to travel since it was a flying advertisement for their product. They were also somewhat safe as long as they didn’t cross any Nascent Souls. It would be surprising if another group could conduct an aerial battle at such a large scale. They had rapid firing Stumblebows on the airships, and a thousand Dragoons swarming through the air. While they flew, they constantly took turns doing flying patrols, the airships surrounded by a swarm of Dragoons made for quite the impressive sight.

Unfortunately, Sage wasn’t allowed to rest and relax for too long.

“Where’s my next product? You promised to supply me with new magic devices. The Airship is decades old, now!”

The tiny woman, Wan Ling, was glaring up at him. Sage bowed to her, “Please forgive me. Innovation and new inventions are not something that can be controlled.”

She walked closer to him and pointed her finger at his nose, “Don’t you try to fool me with that nonsense! That head of yours is full of weird ideas. Stop being lazy and make some new products!”

Sage found himself back in his workshop, forced to come up with some more money making inventions. Of course, none of his ideas were really new. He was always just adapting things from Earth to fit the strange rules of this world. With that in mind, he wondered what other wonders he should introduce to this world. His initial attempts had been aimed at improving the quality of life for the common folk, but unfortunately the Spirit Stones that powered magical tools were only owned by Cultivators.

Hmm, now that I run Lionheart Town I can make it into an example for how good things can be. Hah, perfect!

He was instantly inspired with dozens of changes he wanted to make, but he had to slow down. Wan Ling would also want something more immediate that did more than drain the city’s coffers. That was when he remembered what he was doing before Wan Ling arrived.

Pristine Fortune Coaches.

He laughed out loud and started making a sketch, using the previous design for Airship Engines and performing some modifications. Then he brought over the carriage he’d purchased from Golden Cricket Cove and used it as a reference for the new engine he’d just sketched out. With a plan sketched out, Sage started construction immediately. He sent a few Dragoons to get a carriage from Wan Ling and then he started modifying it, forging new parts to match his new plan and inscribing the necessary arrays to make up for his technical expertise.

By the time Ruanfu returned from her trip, two months later, Sage had finally worked out all the kinks in his design and called over the group to observe. Jiyao, Juzui, Baozhai, Tujiu, and Songji were all confused by the object before them. Ruanfu walked around the carriage, trying to figure out what it did, while Wan Ling was the only one that seemed to understand. The carriage, more a coach really, had improved suspension and looked somewhat normal for the most part with the exception of the front portion. Where there would normally be a high seat for the driver mounted on the outside, the inside of the carriage instead had an opening to the outside where an extra pair of seats were mounted. Additionally, there was no tongue protruding from the front of the carriage, nor were there any traces to attach to a beast for pulling.

Of course, what he’d built was a self-powered carriage. A very primitive version of an automobile. To better fit in with this world he tried to style it as similarly to the local carriages as possible. The driver’s seat had a steering wheel in front of it as well as two pedals on the floor and a lever to their side. It was quite simple in that it only had an accelerator, brakes, and a lever for forward or reverse. Glass wasn’t all that common in this society, nor was it very strong so he refrained from adding a windshield. It was truly a poor excuse for a car, but it was certainly a marvel to the people here.

He invited all the Tiankong Siblings inside while Wan Ling sat in the front passenger seat. She watched him powering up the steam engine before asking, “So, this is like those tanks you made?”

Sage was suddenly reminded that his tank had been smashed by those Slavers before he was betrayed by the Jade Horde. Since going on the run and then becoming a poison tester, he hadn’t had any time to replace it.

He nodded to Wan Ling, “Similar. The tank used two engines, one for each track while this only uses one. It doesn’t have to be as powerful since this doesn’t have any armor. We can also work with carriage makers to boost the popularity.”

While explaining to Wan Ling, he pushed the single lever forward and then pressed down on one of the pedals to get the steam engine going. The ‘carriage’ took off, rolling forward and driving in a slow circle around the large empty courtyard. After a few minutes, he ended the little display and hopped out. He walked back over to the nearby Lang Clan building and stepped up onto the porch with Wan Ling. Meanwhile, the Tiankong Siblings had not followed them, instead they were fighting over who got to drive next.

“It’s not really completely new, but it should do. Will the Holy Flame Sect allow you to share this idea?”

“This version is not strong enough to bring any armor along, and I assume you’ll be making a similar deal with Thousand Treasures, again, right? Also, this is only the first device. I have another great idea that will be far more impressive.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to use me as a test dummy for a new pill you just invented.”

“Haha, I would never! No, I have a proposal for you. I want to transform Lionheart Town with new amenities that will improve the quality of life for its citizens and act as a big advertisement for our products.”