34: Chapter 34 Blade's Edge

Inside the ancestral hall, the deathly silence lasted only three seconds.

Three seconds later, it was a frenzy like a volcanic eruption.

That line, "Replace this seat's coffin lid... with a golden one," was like a ladle of cold water poured into boiling oil, completely snapping the string of "reason" in every player's mind.

"Holy crap! The Ancestor is awesome!!"

"Did you hear that! Final quest! Replace the coffin with gold!"

"Industrial revolution, brothers! This is the blueprint for the Fourth Industrial Revolution!"

Demolition Office Director's eyes were bloodshot. He snatched the wooden board from in front of I Love Exploiting Loopholes and scraped his fingernails across it, making a harsh sound: "Shut the hell up, everyone! Listen to my arrangements! Production class, split into three shifts, get to work 24 hours a day! Where are the mines? Where is the newly discovered ore vein? Where is 'Miner Boss'? Get him to take people and dig through the mine tunnels! I want ore piled up like a mountain!"

He was spitting everywhere, acting like a madman, yet the person he was assigning was precisely the most critical figure at this moment.

A player who wasn't tall but was as sturdy as an iron block, covered in mud, squeezed out of the crowd. He was the evolved version of the "pioneer-type player," Miner Boss.

He chuckled, revealing two rows of white teeth: "Don't worry, Director. The brothers have been itching to go for ages! I guarantee the ore output will increase tenfold within three days! If it's not enough, I'll use my head as a pickaxe!"

"Good!" Demolition Office Director slapped his thigh.

Just then, a calm voice laced with a hint of excitement drowned out the entire hall.

"Assembly lines require standardized modules. Puppet cores require high-precision parts. Mass-producing pills requires unprecedented medicinal herb reserves."

Everyone looked toward the source of the voice. The person speaking was a player with the ID "Liver Emperor V87."

He wore a monocle, and the eyes behind the lens shimmered with an almost obsessive glow. He was the acknowledged chief engineer among the players, a madman who could go three days and three nights without closing his eyes for the sake of a perfect gear.

He reached out and tapped the empty air, as if touching those invisible blueprints. His voice trembled slightly with excitement: "What the Ancestor gave us is the final 'fruit.' But from 'blueprint' to 'fruit,' there is a hellish amount of engineering in between. I need absolute control over resource allocation, and... supreme command over all life-profession players."

His words made the noisy ancestral hall quiet down again.

I Love Exploiting Loopholes pushed up the non-existent glasses on the bridge of his nose and was the first to nod: "Reasonable. Leave professional matters to professional people."

Although Demolition Office Director was unwilling, he knew he was better at destruction than construction, so he said in a muffled voice: "Fine! 'Liver Emperor,' you direct production, and I'll take people to grab resources for you! Whoever dares to disobey orders, I'll twist their heads off!"

The basic framework was settled in just a few words.

Chaotic, yet terrifyingly efficient.

That was what players were like.

Outside the ancestral hall, the standoff between Shield Mountain and Charge to the End continued.

Listening to the roar inside the hall, Charge to the End's eyes burned even brighter: "Did you hear that? War! This is what men should be doing! Hiding behind a door panel won't forge a blade capable of slaughtering its way through the Heavenly Demon Sect!"

Shield Mountain did not retort; he simply lowered the broken giant shield slowly, making a "thud" sound.

Looking at the claw mark on the shield's surface that was deep enough to see bone, he said calmly: "The first batch of products from the assembly line should be shields. At least a thousand of them. The material must be the best black iron wood, lined with three layers of monster beast hide."

"Bullshit!" Charge to the End immediately bristled, "With limited resources, of course we must build weapons first! The best materials must be used on the blade's edge! Our Divine Wind Battalion needs to re-equip! One hundred-refined steel blade per person, plus three armor-piercing talismans!"

"No matter how fast your blade is, it's not faster than spells." Shield Mountain's voice remained steady. "Before you reach the enemy, you'll all be dead. We need a wall, a moving wall made of lives, to buy you the distance to charge."

"Coward's theory!"

"This is tactics."

The two's arguing grew louder and louder, almost coming to blows.

The surrounding players retreated, happy to watch the commotion.

This wasn't the first time the two had argued. From tactical concepts to resource allocation, they were like natural-born rivals.

"Enough!" A clear shout made both of them freeze.

Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet walked over with her arms crossed, her face cold. Behind her followed Skillful Hands Mending, Appearance is Justice, and a few other core female players.

"Argue! Keep arguing!" Little Trumpet's phoenix eyes widened. "By the time you two argue to a conclusion, the Demon Lord's army will have already trampled over our corpses and dismantled the Ancestor's spirit tablet!"

Her gaze swept over the two, finally landing on Charge to the End: "Brute, I ask you, where is the mountain gate of the Heavenly Demon Sect?"

"I..." Charge to the End was speechless.

Little Trumpet turned to Shield Mountain: "Turtle, I ask you, under the Demon Lord, besides that black-robed envoy, how many Foundation Establishment Stage existences are there? What cultivation techniques do they specialize in? What are their weaknesses?"

Shield Mountain was silent.

"Neither of you knows?" Little Trumpet sneered. "Then what the hell are you arguing about here! Just because you have a pile of blueprints, you think you can win? We don't even know where the enemy is, or who the enemy is! We are fighting a ghost!"

Her words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing everyone's fervor.

Indeed, who was the enemy?

That black-robed demon envoy who called himself Fierce Shadow—just one person—obliterated dozens of players with overwhelming force. That wasn't a battle; it was a cleanup.

And he was merely an "envoy." What kind of terrifying existence must the Blood Slaughter Demon Lord behind him be?

"Gossip Sister is right!" A weak voice sounded, belonging to the representative of the life-profession players, Skillful Hands Mending.

She was holding a piece of hide just peeled from a monster beast and said softly: "We don't even know where the 'Yin Iron Ore' and 'Blood-Veined Steel' needed to refine 'standardized magical artifacts' are, let alone mass-producing them."

"And! What material should be used for the Ancestor's golden coffin lid? What patterns should be carved on it? Should it be carved dragons or painted phoenixes? These all need to be figured out! Otherwise, what if it's ugly when it's made!" Appearance is Justice always had a unique focus, but her words reminded everyone that while the goal was clear, the path to achieving it was shrouded in fog.

"So," Little Trumpet summarized, "From now on, combat personnel will be divided into two parts. One part, led by Charge to the End and Shield Mountain, will be responsible for clearing out monster beasts in the known areas of the North Mountain, leveling up, and simultaneously collecting basic materials for Liver Emperor's industrial plan."

She paused, her eyes becoming sharp: "The other part, led by me personally, will form an elite reconnaissance team. We will go deep into the unknown areas of the North Mountain and dig out the Heavenly Demon Sect for me! I want to know every one of their strongholds, every leader, and even whether they are eating rice or steamed buns in their cafeteria today!"

Her plan was approved by everyone. The fervent passion finally found an outlet for release, transforming into concrete action.

The entire Lu Family Hollow had completely turned into a high-speed operating war machine.

Night fell, but it was brighter here than during the day. Dozens of simple furnaces, built by players with the spirit of the "Infrastructure Maniac," spewed raging flames, illuminating half the sky in a deep crimson.

Bare-chested players roared, swinging large hammers, smashing piece after piece of red-hot iron ore, sending sparks flying.

Liver Emperor V87 stood on a high platform, like a conductor, using his hoarse voice to coordinate every production link.

"Furnace Number Three! Higher temperature! Throw that piece of hundred-year iron wood in and burn it!"

"Alchemy room! We're short on herbs for 'Qi Recovery Powder'! Send the herb-gathering team to the Black Swamp! Tell them, if three of them die and come back, I'll give each of them a piece of blue equipment!"

"Talisman group! Don't you dare draw those flashy things for me! I only want 'Sharp Metal Talismans' and 'Thick Earth Talismans'! Print! Print them like newspapers!"

Farther away, deep in the North Mountain, the flames of battle rose and fell. The Divine Wind Battalion, led by Charge to the End, was like a sharp knife, frantically chiseling through the monster beasts' territory.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Contribution points! Equipment! Experience! It's all ours!"

He took the lead, his ghost-head broadsword stirring up a bloody storm. With every swing, a sharp-toothed wild boar comparable to the early Qi Refining stage was split in two.

Behind him were equally fervent players. They might die, even die many times, but every time they respawned, they would charge back with even greater killing intent until they completely tore their enemies apart.

On the other side, Shield Mountain's team was much steadier. They formed a huge circular formation, with the outer players holding large shields hastily made from hardwood and animal hide, advancing step by step.

Inside the formation were ranged attack players, using crude Flying Swords and talismans to precisely hunt down the monster beasts attempting to charge the front line.

They didn't advance fast, but every step was incredibly solid, like a moving steel behemoth, grinding everything in its path into dust.

These two teams with vastly different styles were, in their own ways, frantically accumulating capital for this impending war.

Meanwhile, a squad of over a dozen people, the fastest and best-equipped, had detached from the main force and, like ghosts, disappeared into the deeper darkness.

The leader was none other than Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet. Her target was not monster beasts, not materials, but that shadow belonging to the Heavenly Demon Sect, shrouded in death and the unknown.

Three days later. In the central square of Lu Family Hollow, a huge building wrapped in scaffolding and runes rose from the ground. This was the painstaking masterpiece of Liver Emperor V87—[Standardized Magical Artifact Assembly Line · 0.1 Beta Version].

Under the expectant gazes of hundreds of players, Liver Emperor V87 personally pressed the final node to activate the formation.

Hum—! The entire building emitted a huge roar, and a crude production line composed of gears, conveyor belts, and runes began to slowly operate.

Ore was fed into one end, and after a series of crude yet complete processes—smelting, hammering, quenching, engraving runes... amid a harsh sound of metal rubbing against metal, at the other end of the production line, with a "clang," a finished product dropped out.

It was a long blade. The entire body presented a dull iron-gray color, the blade body was covered with hammering marks, and the edge was not sharp; it looked like a crudely made, defective product.

"Just this?" Some players curled their lips in disappointment.

Charge to the End took a step forward and grabbed the long blade. The feeling in his hand was incredibly heavy. His eyes narrowed, and he infused his spiritual energy into it.

Hiss! A half-foot-long, faint white blade radiance flickered out from the edge of the blade.

Everyone present was stunned.

"Blade... Blade Radiance!!"

"Holy crap! This thing is actually a magical artifact?"

"Although it's the lowest-grade, first-tier, low-quality one, but... but this was produced on an assembly line!"

Charge to the End didn't speak. He walked to the edge of the square and, aiming at a piece of test granite half a meter thick, slashed down fiercely!

Crack! Accompanied by a crisp sound, the hard granite was actually split in two by a single strike! The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

"Good blade!" Charge to the End looked up to the sky and roared, his voice filled with irrepressible ecstasy and fighting spirit.

He turned his head sharply, looking toward the mountains in the north shrouded in darkness, his eyes like a hungry wolf about to be released from its cage.

"Heavenly Demon Sect..."

"Have you washed your necks clean!"