Chapter 160: Tit For Tat

Are you kidding!?

Needless to say, the clamping bolt was already tightly secured and was absolutely impossible to loosen easily. What's more was that it was a clamping bolt for a radiator system, whose metal components were extremely hot!

Under the panic-stricken gazes of everyone, Li Yao formed a claw using his fingers and lightly grabbed onto the clamping bolt. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly applied force.

In the blink of an eye, everyone felt as if a needle was ruthlessly pricking their eardrums.

It was as though a demon beast had suddenly emerged from the darkness and released an oppressive aura.

Many students let out an "Ah!" as their face revealed a horrified look.

Li Yao's stature suddenly doubled in size. While his muscles bulged, his right arm, in particular, was simply double the size of just a moment ago, and his skin seemed to shine with a metallic gloss as though it was a rudimentary form of steel which had just taken out of the furnace after undergoing through repeated tempering!

One after another, thick green veins that were wrapped around his right arm bulged and slowly spread to his fingers. Li Yao's arm was akin to a metal claw; with just a light bit of force, it made the clamping bolt emit "Creak Creak!" sounds. Much to everyone's dismay, Li Yao had forcibly rotated the clamping bolt by one-third of a circle!

The unimaginable, ear-piercing sound of steam escaping from the radiator suddenly turned softer, as though the unruly, giant steel beast had been put to sleep and was now gently "breathing".

"This..."

If one was not watching with their own eyes, none of these teenagers would have believed that such a thing was possible.

This monster had actually tightened the clamping bolt by almost half a circle with just his hand?

Had he gone to the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine to learn some hand technique or grafted a demon beast's claw onto his shoulder?

"Professor Jin, this guy is very strong!"

A few of the students could not help but speak to Jin Quan in a low voice.

The corners of Jin Quan's eyes started to twitch as a grim look appeared on his face.

Elder Lie Yongming look at Yuan Manqiu with a bit of surprise as he said, "The clamping bolts are the foundation of a large-scale magical equipment system and one has to pay particular attention to them. Sometimes, just slight unwinding of the bolt would affect the stability of the entire crafting furnace."

"Of course, it would save effort to use a wrench, but it lacks a subtle feeling of touch through which you can determine whether the screw is in place or not."

"Using fingers, on the other hand, can let you feel the slightest bit of change, allowing you to screw the clamping bolts perfectly!"

The elder heaved a sigh and continued:

"This is the ideology of the older generation refiners. In contrast, the modern generation of refiners have mastered various advanced magical equipment which would display all kinds of data, so why would they even bother using their own fingers to get a feel?"

"Professor Yuan, your disciple is truly out of the norm."

Yuan Manqiu gave a smile as she shouted, "Li Yao, let me introduce you to everyone!"

Flinging his arm, Li Yao's stature, in the blink of an eye, returned to its normal form, completely devoid of any hints of the hideous appearance he had a moment ago.

He gave off the impression as though what he did was common practice. Very calmly and unperturbedly, he walked towards everyone.

He had hardly realized that his terrifying performance had already scared some of the teenagers and had caused their legs to go limp!

"Come here, let me introduce you to Elder Lie Yongming of the Empyrean Terminus Sect. He is a highly respected and prestigious senior in our refiners' community."

Yuan Manqiu said with a smile. Following that, she continued with emphasis: "This is Jin Quan, today's inspector. Not only is he a top student of Deep Sea University who had just graduated this year, but he is also a direct disciple of Supernova Jiang Shen. And as Jiang Sheng is my junior brother, in terms of seniority, you two are also related by senior brother and junior brother relation. Today is a good opportunity to let your Senior Brother Jin give you some pointers!"

Li Yao's eyes immediately lit up.

It was as though an utterly bored vulture gliding in the sky had suddenly found a prey that was grazing on the ground.

The disciple of Supernova Jiang Sheng!

Jiang Sheng was not only the leading figure among the younger generation in the elite faction of the refiners' community, but he was also the one who had acted unscrupulously during the memorial ceremony in the Grand Desolate War Institution, which had deeply hurt Li Yao, causing Li Yao to have an urge to have a showdown with him.

However, Jiang Sheng had already achieved fame and success and had a very high status, so naturally, he would not place Li Yao's challenge in his eyes.

Therefore, he was first going to use this so-called "Senior Brother Jin" to actually determine how big of a gap there was after his half year of painstaking study!

Li Yao's eyes were suddenly set ablaze, and all of his ten fingers were slighting twitching; he was completely excited.

Jin Quan squinted his eyes. A cold look which seemed to be congealed out of the essence of ice picks appeared in the depths of his eyes.

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"

When the two met eye-to-eye, sparks seemed to be shooting in all directions.

Even the teenagers from the Empyrean Terminus Central High School felt the oppressive atmosphere. It was as though two experts were in a confrontation, and murderous intentions seemed to be surging in the back.

"Wow, I wonder who is going to win between Professor Jin and this weirdo?!"

"Bullshit! Of course, it's going to be Professor Jin. Professor Jin was a top-grade student of Deep Sea University's Refining Department. No matter how powerful this weirdo is, this isn't some fight, so what's the use of being stronger?"

All the teenagers, one by one, broke into a discussion while secretly cheering for Professor Jin in their hearts.

In their eyes, Jin Quan was the most powerful refiner. No one was his opponent, not to mention some muscle-brained weirdo.

"Junior Brother Li, today, I, on behalf of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, am going to inspect the 1st Generation Tai'e furnace. Let us first talk about work, and as for chatting in regards to camaraderie, let's hold onto it for later. Can I trouble you to show us the blueprints and spiritual energy flow chart? Let your senior brother teach you a thing or two!"

Jin Quan could not wait to let Li Yao make a fool of himself.

Li Yao nodded as he frankly replied, "But of course. But I wonder which part's blueprint does Senior Brother Jin want to see first?"

"Which part?" Jin Quan scoffed.

The structure of the 1st Generation Tai'e Furnace was quite simple; it only had a total of a hundred or so blueprints, so even if it had gone through six or seven modifications, it could be no more than two to three hundred.

With Jin Quan's strength, simultaneously studying a couple dozen blueprints was simply nothing.

"It's alright for you to display all the blueprints and spiritual energy flow charts. I can look at them together, and it will also save some time," Jin Quan said in a slightly impatient tone.

"Are you sure?" Li Yao was surprised for a moment.

"What's there to be sure about? In my Deep Sea University's Refining Department, simultaneously studying a couple blueprints is a basic skill," Jin Quan sneered.

Li Yao nodded, and without saying another word, quickly entered a few keys on the crystal processor before he raised his wrist which pointed at the ceiling.

"Whoosh!"

As though a whole new world had burst forth from his crystal processor, over a thousand golden streams of light soared into the air and continued to spread before they interlaced with each other, mapping out thousands of abstruse and complex 3-dimensional blueprints as well as spiritual energy flow chart, giving off an impression of a golden sea of stars that was gradually revolving above everyone's head.

"..."

The visual impact of the hologram put everyone in a trance for a moment.

Everyone's face was glistening. Many students forcibly rubbed their eyes as if they had fallen into a magnificent dream.

"Senior Brother Jin, all 1,995 modification blueprints as well as the 1,786 spiritual energy flow charts of 1st Generation Tai'e furnace are here. Please give me pointers."

Li Yao said with bright and shining eyes.

He could not wait to seek a bit of advice from the direct disciple of Supernova Jiang Sheng.

Jin Quan was dumbfounded.

When he stretched his neck to look above, his mouth was wide open while his gaze became a bit blurry.

Soybean-sized cold sweat freely trickled down his forehead, and very soon, his entire face was drenched in sweat.

He felt like a lonely boat lost in an ocean of 3,000 or so 3-dimensional diagrams.

He felt like a mouse which had been placed deep within a maze facing a bunch of fork roads. Not to mention exiting, the mouse was not even aware of where east, west, south, and north was!

Jin Quan was crazily shouting in his heart:

"So shameless, and yet, he says he didn't receive any help from Yuan Manqiu?!"

"If not for Yuan Manqiu, then how could this muscle-brained idiot personally draw such blueprints!? Can a freshman who had not even been in the institute for over half a year draw 3,000 exquisite 3-dimensional diagrams?"

"Boasting also has a limit; otherwise, it is very easy to be trampled upon by others. Now let me bust you right here!"

In the blink of an eye, Jin Quan's countenance turned extremely serious.

Jin Quan started muttering some incantation while his pupils slightly dilated and an azure radiance gushed out from the depths of his eyes, forming ring after ring surrounding his pupils.

"Azure Ringed Iris" was a unique technique of the Deep Sea University's Refining Department which enhances the visual acuity as well as the analysis of complex 3-dimensional blueprints!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Five rings surrounding the pupils of Jin Quan appeared while his eyeball quickly turned as he took a fleeting glimpse at tens of blueprints before he got a complete view of them.

Gradually, the corner of his lips started to rise as a sliver of a confident smile appeared on them.

"Junior Brother Li!"

Jin Quan, with a face beaming with a smile, said while drawing out his tone, "Let's take a look at Blueprint No. 109, in which the cooling tank you have depicted had clearly used the Exquisite Star Structure proposed by Elder Binghe of Ice Dragon Castle as reference. There is too much deviation, the main cooling tank and the sub-cooling tank are too close, and the arrangement of the condensing tube is all also somewhat redundant. After all, a lot of coolants are highly toxic and corrosive, and different coolants will conflict with each other, so your arrangement is rather irregular. In the case the coolants of the two cooling tanks happen to mix together, then I am afraid a huge problem will follow!"

Jin Quang heaved a sigh and sincerely said, "Although the cooling tank in the crafting furnace is comparatively less important and not so dazzling when compared to magical equipment units, it can not be ignored. It is directly related to the success and failure of the quenching process. I think you should first think of improving the layout of the cooling tank. As for the other parts, there is no need to look further."

"Wow!"

A few high school students could not help but burst into praises. Professor Jin was too awesome—he had discovered such a huge problem so quickly!

After a moment of surprise, Li Yao said with a frown:

"Senior Brother Jin, my cooling tank layout did not use the Exquisite Star Arrangement at all, but rather the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement proposed by Daoist Master Scarlet Moon of Divine Magus Mountain 175 years ago. At first glance, the two arrangements indeed look somewhat similar, so it is pretty normal for even Senior Brother Jin to make a mistake."

"What?!"

Even before the triumphant look on Jin Quan's face could vanish, it was completely solidified from shock.

His first reaction was that it was absolutely impossible.

But when he recalled the structure of the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement from the depths of his memories and carefully reviewed it, only then did he realize that he was truly mistaken!

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, Jin Quan's face was completely flushed red.

Even the most basic layout had confused him; this mistake could not be more rudimentary than any other rudimentary mistake, and that too in front of so many students.

Jin Quan could already hear many students gasping in disbelief.

Hesitatingly, he was about to speak, but in the end, didn't. However, it was Elder Lie Yongming who came forward and fired a question with his pair eyes which were radiating in a strange brilliance:

"You actually know an unconventional layout like the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement? Then do you also know that this layout has very serious flaws and is therefore discarded after being used for a few years? How did you solve those flaws?"