Striking Up an Acquaintance

After returning, Mu Xiang Li took out the documents on Fan Rong to examine.

Among the four bordering nations, Yun Lai and Ling An had relatively stable relations with Xi Yu, while You Qiu and Tong Qiu always sought to jointly annex Xi Yu's Southwest region, so relations were naturally not harmonious.

Fan Rong's grandfather had previously fled from Tong Qiu to Xi Yu as a refugee, then established himself through business, gradually becoming a wealthy household.

Fan Rong's grandfather, a poor refugee, came to Xi Yu and then, in just a few short years, quietly rose to prominence. It was hard not to arouse suspicion. However, due to Xi Yu's significant intelligence shortcomings in the past, no evidence was found. Now that the Night Patrol Division had just been established, with insufficient manpower, there wasn't enough energy and resources to investigate old matters from years ago; they could only observe for now.

Mu Xiang Li also understood the Night Patrol Division's suspicions. Coming as a refugee, then rising with behind-the-scenes assistance, this was a common trick used by long-term moles. It could even be three years, then another three years, gradually being forgotten by their organization, then taking root in Xi Yu.

Perhaps Fan Rong himself didn't even know he was a spy, and then one day, when he was needed, his grandfather or parents would call him into a secret chamber and tell him that the organization needed him...

A play was unfolding in Mu Xiang Li's mind, but the protagonist couldn't be Fan Rong; it had to be himself.

After understanding these documents, he went to find Fan Rong early the next morning.

After passing the assessment for the Qi Crafting department of Wenhua Academy, Fan Rong also received a leave of absence, but he did not leave Wenhua Academy. After all, there was no Qi Crafting workshop in the city with fully equipped facilities for him to use freely.

Qi Crafting had many research directions, roughly divisible into two types: one was weapons, a Qi-crafted weapon that felt right in hand would be much stronger than conventionally manufactured weapons. Other research not related to weapons was classified as Image Crafting.

Fan Rong had loved studying handicrafts since childhood. He initially planned to study Mechanical Crafting, but unexpectedly, at the age of ten, he opened his Qi Mansion and came into contact with Qi Crafting. He couldn't help but become completely engrossed in Qi Crafting. He didn't like weapons; he only wanted to satisfy the novel ideas in his mind.

After passing the assessment, Fan Rong had his own workshop. When Mu Xiang Li came to find him, he was engrossed in thought.

"Is Brother Fan here?" Mu Xiang Li knocked on the door.

There was no sound from inside the room.

But Mu Xiang Li heard people say that Fan Rong hadn't come out after entering, so he knocked again: "Brother Fan? Are you inside?"

Just as Mu Xiang Li was thinking, "Nothing's wrong, is he dead?" a voice came from inside: "Not here."

"Quite a personality," Mu Xiang Li muttered, continuing to knock, "Brother Fan, so you are here after all."

Fan Rong, annoyed by the disturbance, rushed out and opened the door: "Didn't I say that there would be nothing until the assessment was over, and I could act freely?"

Mu Xiang Li introduced himself: "Brother Fan, please forgive me. I am Mu Xiang Li, and I have passed the assessment for Longwu Academy. I wish to make your acquaintance."

Upon hearing this, Fan Rong immediately said: "I don't craft weapons."

Seeing him turn to close the door, Mu Xiang Li quickly stopped him. In that brief moment, combined with the information Zhou Yi had provided, he had gained a certain understanding of Fan Rong. This person had to be approached according to his preferences, appealing to his interests.

"Brother Fan, don't misunderstand. I didn't come to you to craft weapons."

"Then why?"

Mu Xiang Li explained: "I am also very interested in Qi Crafting. I have many miscellaneous ideas in my head and want to find a like-minded friend to exchange ideas with. I asked the examiners, and everyone else is still in the assessment period. Only you have passed, so I could only come to you."

Hearing about exchanging ideas with someone who shared his interests, Fan Rong finally showed some interest.

He was not a recluse; he enjoyed exchanging experiences with others. It was just that people with Qi Crafting talent were already few, and among those with talent, even more studied weapons. This led to him usually not being able to find anyone to exchange ideas with. This time, coming to Wenhua Academy for the assessment, his heart yearned greatly for like-minded friends.

"Do you have any ideas?" Fan Rong finally stepped away from the door. "Come in and talk."

Mu Xiang Li was very skilled at handling this type of person and immediately began "talking nonsense": "I have many ideas. I feel that carriages are too troublesome. How wonderful it would be if they could be controlled by qi.

Furthermore, qi can undergo attribute changes, so can qi, through Image Crafting, create a long-lasting cooling effect to replace ice?"

Mu Xiang Li completely treated qi as an energy source to fabricate stories, even bringing up refrigerators and cars.

He feared Fan Rong wouldn't take the bait. Seeing paper and a pen on the table, he picked them up: "Brother Fan, may I borrow your paper and pen for a moment?"

He took the pen, drew a conceptual sketch of a refrigerator on the paper, and began to explain: "Brother Fan, look. If qi can be stored at the back, then transformed into cold qi through Image Crafting and directed into the front compartment, this box would become a simple small ice cellar."

Fan Rong wasn't afraid of Mu Xiang Li's ideas being strange; he was only afraid of them lacking creativity. Now, looking at Mu Xiang Li's drawing, his eyes couldn't leave it.

Mu Xiang Li saw that he had taken the bait and secretly thought: "If this thing can be manufactured, then later when I review refrigerators, let's see who dares to ask if I know how to cool things."

Fan Rong thought for a while, grasped the key points, and his previous cold expression changed, becoming extremely enthusiastic: "Brother Mu, your idea is brilliant! It's not difficult for qi to change attributes, but your design has two very difficult points.

One is qi storage. It's a bit difficult to store qi long-term without it dissipating. The second is conversion efficiency. If qi storage is laborious and only maintains the effect for a very short time, it's completely meaningless."

Mu Xiang Li nodded, circulated qi within his body, and gathered a small wisp of qi on his fingertip: "Indeed. Suppose each time we can store a hundred wisps of qi like this. Then each wisp of qi must maintain its chill for at least a quarter of an hour."

Fan Rong calculated a bit. Twelve two-hour periods in a day, ninety-six quarters of an hour. This meant that one qi replenishment had to maintain the chill for one day. This was indeed the lowest standard.

"But how can we achieve this?" Fan Rong pondered.

Mu Xiang Li suggested from the side: "I think we can exchange ideas with our fellow disciples who craft Qi-crafted weapons."

"How so?" Fan Rong valued his opinion even more.

Mu Xiang Li said: "Because in Qi-crafted weapons, the attribute conversion of qi and how to amplify qi are two of the most important research directions. For martial artists, these are the foundations of a good Qi-crafted weapon. Therefore, in this regard, our fellow disciples who research Qi-crafted weapons might have a deeper understanding.

My knowledge of Qi Crafting is certainly not as good as yours, but I feel that Qi Crafting being divided into weapons and Image Crafting is merely a division of function; in reality, the principles of both are interconnected."

Mu Xiang Li's unintentional remark truly awakened Fan Rong after years of being immersed in trivial thoughts.

"Aiya!" Fan Rong annoyedly tapped his head, then stood up and cupped his hands in a salute towards Mu Xiang Li.

Mu Xiang Li watched, stunned. What was happening?

Fan Rong sincerely said: "I have always had no interest in Qi-crafted weapons and haven't exchanged ideas with those people. Arbitrarily dividing weapons and Image Crafting into two different paths was my narrow-mindedness. If Brother Mu hadn't enlightened me today, I fear I still wouldn't have seen through the underlying principle."

Mu Xiang Li was still a bit bewildered. *Did I really enlighten you?*