Volume 16 Chapter 23: Rong Workshop

Lin Xi's gait seemed slow, but with each step, he moved much further than an ordinary person.

As he moved through Central Continent City, the crowd that followed him became more and more scattered, no longer as concentrated as before.

In his opinion, the things he did for this empire's people naturally still couldn't compare to Principal Zhang. Moreover, the things he did naturally couldn't replace the position Principal Zhang took in their hearts, which was why he didn't feel any feelings of defeat after failing to immediately quell these Yunqin people's hearts. He only quietly unfolded the paper scroll Zhen Kuai delivered into his hands.

The soul force power Yunqin Emperor released at the very end already left his mind a bit confused. He knew that apart from Yunqin Emperor wishing to make Yunqin's people lose confidence in some wonderful stories, the greatest use was to make him enter Heaven Ascension Mountain Range in search of an answer.

Meanwhile, now that Zhen Kuai stuffed a paper scroll into his hand at this type of time, it also made him realize that something abnormal was definitely about to happen.

There were only a few words on this scroll: City west's Rong Workshop.

Lin Xi silently crushed this paper scroll into fine powder, and then directly headed to the city's west.

Central Continent City's west had many workshops.

Lin Xi had never paid this place a visit before. He didn't know which one was Rong Workshop, but when he was still on the street quite far from these workshops, Lin Xi could already vaguely guess which one was Rong Workshop.

It was because right now, in those workshops along the river, there was a workshop that still had smoke rising from its chimneys.

Right now, there were still many people who followed Lin Xi, got closer and closer to Lin Xi and those workshops. Many people, especially some Central Continent City cultivators, also noticed this rather abrupt pillar of smoke.

They were even more certain that this was precisely Rong Workshop.

The city's west had a total of thirteen workshops. Twelve among them belonged to the royal court and only made various military equipment for them.

Rong Workshop wasn't the largest out of these workshops, but it was the workshop with the most master craftsmen. Moreover, it didn't make standard military equipment, it only made some special military equipment and soul weapons.

Right now, what raised the most suspicions was that Rong Workshop and several other high level workshops in Central Continent City were usually all managed by Rong Family.

After the Autumn Sacrifice, Rong Family and Leng Family were already absolute powerhouses in Central Continent City. Today's matters were closely related to Rong Family. Other workshops already closed down, so why was this workshop still running in a regular and thorough manner?

Lin Xi's footsteps still couldn't be considered especially fast.

Right now, most Central Continent City's people still didn't return to where they were before. The world behind him was restless, while the world before him was empty and silent.

In this type of empty silence, perhaps not even the smallest activity would escape his perception.

What made his mind more and more grave was that at this time, the people in the workshop should have all been aware of his arrival as well, yet those sky reaching pillars of smoke didn't seem to change at all.

This type of feeling made him feel that if this workshop was hiding some type of secret, then the one who was hiding this secret already wouldn't care when this secret was exposed at all.

...

There were still silver-armored Central Continent Guards patrolling outside the workshop.

These Yunqin soldiers who were still strictly guarding this place didn't know about the changes that happened in Yunqin Imperial Palace, but they all saw the thunderclouds above the Imperial Palace, as well as the heaven's wrath like lightning. When they saw Lin Xi appear in their line of sight at this time, these Yunqin soldiers who had already remained in extreme nervousness and unrest all went rigid.

"Yunqin Emperor has already died. The Imperial Princess will succeed the imperial throne."

Lin Xi who walked up to the entrance of this workshop spoke these words in a simple and direct manner. Then, he asked, "Who is your leader?"

A young silver-armored soldier's lips trembled for a long time, but he still didn't utter any sounds.

"Before I arrived, was there anything transported out?" Lin Xi looked at this Central Continent Guard Officer who didn't say anything, asking this.

This young silver-armored soldier forcefully swallowed his saliva, and only then did he subconsciously shake his head. "No."

Lin Xi nodded his head. He didn't say anything else. He passed these Yunqin soldiers, pushed open the workshop's heavy black iron doors, and then walked inside.

By relying only on his perception, he directly walked to a workshop closest to the river.

When he walked into this workshop that had several towering smelting furnaces, he saw that the dozens of people in the city already all stopped, all of their expressions pale as they looked at him.

Behind these monster-like furnaces was an exceptionally clean and tidy changing room separated by metal plates.

There were several fine metal and crystal components scattered across various racks.

However, right now, these monstrous furnaces weren't in Lin Xi's eyes at all, nor were there these craftsmen who all stopped because of his arrival. In his brain, there wasn't even the scene of this workshop's interior.

He didn't pay attention to just how many strange things were inside this workshop, just what kind of layout it had. The instant his eyes passed over these craftsmen, his gaze already stopped on a single thing in these workshops.

It was an extremely unique thick metal wheel.

On the wheel were many ancient patterns. By the center axis of rotation were many fine ring shaped metals and balance wheels.

Lin Xi's expression gradually became a bit pale.

He passed these craftsmen like air, arriving in front of this heavy metal wheel.

He really wished that what he was looking at was fake. However, when the tips of his toes made contact with the thick metal wheel, he knew that everything was real.

His breathing even somewhat stopped as he turned around. He looked at these craftsmen he previously treated like air and asked, "You all were creating this? Do you all know what this thing is?"

None of these craftsmen could understand Lin Xi's current emotions and words.

None of them spoke. Only the few aged master craftsmen at the front nodded.

"Who was it that made you all make these things?" Lin Xi looked at these master craftsmen, asking with difficulty.

"It was Sir Rong." A master craftsman maintained his composure while saying.

Lin Xi looked at this master craftsman dressed in Trade Sector uniform and asked, "Which Sir Rong?"

"Sir Rong Zongsheng." This master craftsman said.

Rong Zongsheng was not that elder behind the heavy layers of curtains. However, after the Autumn Sacrifice, he already became the one who managed everything in Central Continent City.

Lin Xi took a deep breath, and then he asked, "Where did the methods and materials for making these things come from? When were they brought over?"

"We were only in charge of making some components."

This master craftsman could tell that Lin Xi was only tracking down the source of these things, so he calmed down even more, explaining clearly, "The alloys of two items come from our workshop to begin with. Some of the other materials and already completed parts came from outside. We know that this is an extremely formidable soul weapon, but as for how it is truly equipped, we do not know. It is because we were only told the procedures for the creation of our parts."

After a slight pause, this master craftsman added, "These things were all delivered seven days ago."

Lin Xi looked at the thick metal wheel in front of his feet. From his current position, he could see that there were a total of three of these metal wheels. As such, he said quietly in a somewhat strained manner, "If all of you continued as prescribed... would you be able to quickly complete three components like these?"

"We should be able to complete them within five days." This master craftsman looked at Lin Xi and answered.

Lin Xi nodded. He didn't say anything else to these master craftsmen. It was to the extent where he didn't even mention how to handle these things.

He walked out of this workshop, stopping at this workshop's entrance.

The bright sunshine felt a bit blinding.

Right at this moment, Nangong Weiyang's figure appeared in his line of sight.

"The Imperial Princess didn't arrive at True Dragon Mountain." Nangong Weiyang already spoke before she arrived in front of him.

Lin Xi's hands trembled. He looked at Nangong Weiyang and asked, "Not even you were able to track down who kidnapped her?"

Nangong Weiyang nodded. She looked at Lin Xi and asked, "What is inside this workshop?"

"Single-wheeled metal puppets, sacred level single-wheeled metal puppets!"

Lin Xi looked at Nangong Weiyang and said, "Where is Zhang Ping right now?"

Nangong Weiyang's brows furrowed deeply. She thought for a bit and then looked at Lin Xi before saying, "Zhang Ping is in Central Continent City. Even if he is hiding, finding him shouldn't be too difficult. However, are you certain you don't want to go to Thunder Academy first?"

"I hope this matter doesn't have anything to do with him, that he doesn't have any other thoughts." Lin Xi looked at Nangong Weiyang. Only with great difficulty did he continue and say, "Moreover, if he really made the arrangements you are thinking of, even if we rush to Thunder Academy now, I fear that we won't make it at all."

"We should head to the southern outskirts."

Nangong Weiyang thought seriously to herself, and then she raised her head to look at Lin Xi. "We can check to see if Qin Xiyue is still there or not first."