Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 247: Chapter 168: The Divine Sword is Restored: Heaven and Earth Can Be Slain

”Bro? When did you get back?” Sun Fan was surprised to see Sun Beixi, but her face quickly lit up with joy. ”Perfect timing! I’ll go buy groceries later. I’ll cook lunch!”

Sun Beixi smiled and stood up, taking the bag from her hands. ”You, cook? Don’t burn down the kitchen. Come on, let’s go eat out. My treat.”

”Really?” Sun Fan’s eyes lit up. She turned to Wan Ze. ”Wanna come with us?”

”Sure,” Wan Ze said, closing his book and standing up.

...

The best restaurant in the western district was an old establishment specializing in local cuisine. The trio found a table by the window and ordered a few of the house specialties.

While they waited for their food, Sun Beixi asked Sun Fan about her schoolwork. Sun Fan gave half-hearted replies, her eyes constantly darting toward Wan Ze.

’She was genuinely curious. How on earth did Wan Ze do it?’

’He had clearly started his Cultivation later than her, but now... rumor had it he was already past the Blood Tempering Realm.’

Sun Beixi noticed his sister’s gaze and smiled. He turned to Wan Ze. ”Master Wan, I’m heading abroad in a couple of days.”

Before Wan Ze could say a word, Sun Fan had already knit her brows. ”It’s so chaotic overseas right now, why would you go abroad? Bro, haven’t you been watching? It’s all over the news—they’ve started fighting again over there. What are you going at a time like this for?”

Sun Beixi waved a dismissive hand and smiled. ”My company is still overseas; I can’t just abandon it. But don’t worry, I’m already making arrangements. After the New Year, I’ll start the process of gradually shifting the business back home.”

”What kind of company do you run?” Wan Ze asked casually.

Sun Beixi gave a rare, bashful smile. ”Oh, just a tech company. It’s a small-scale operation, we do a little R&D.”

”What’s your focus?”

”Materials and new equipment, mostly. We focus on the overseas market.” As he spoke, something seemed to occur to Sun Beixi. ”Master Wan, why the sudden question? Are you interested in technology too?”

Wan Ze had read quite a few related books recently, giving him a more profound basis for comparing the technological level of this world to that of his past life... and a clearer understanding of what this world was missing. ”I’ve had an idea recently,” he said.

Sun Beixi immediately sat bolt upright. ”I’m listening.”

”Have you ever considered... heating food using a thermal effect?” Wan Ze mused, making a few gestures as he explained. ”To be specific, you’d use electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency to penetrate a non-metallic container and directly affect the water molecules within the food. Water is a polar molecule, with one end positively charged and the other negatively charged. In a high-frequency, alternating electromagnetic field, these molecules would flip back and forth billions of times per second... The intense friction between them would generate heat, warming the food from the inside.”

Sun Beixi was stunned.

Sun Fan was stunned, too.

”This heating method has several distinct characteristics,” Wan Ze continued. ”First, it’s fast, because the heat isn’t conducted from the outside—it’s generated directly inside the food. Second, there’s no open flame, so there’s no risk of a gas leak. Third, it only affects substances that contain water molecules. If the container itself is dry and doesn’t contain metal, it will barely heat up, which makes it safe to handle.”

He paused for a moment before adding, ”The core component is called a magnetron. Its purpose is to convert electrical energy into electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency. But this frequency is crucial. Water’s polar molecules have the best absorption rate for electromagnetic waves around 2450 megahertz; that’s where they vibrate most intensely, leading to the highest heating efficiency...”

Sun Beixi’s mouth hung open, but no words came out.

Sun Fan looked utterly lost.

’She was in high school, and her physics class had covered mechanics, but all this talk of polar molecules, electromagnetic field frequencies, and magnetrons... She knew each of the words individually, but strung together they were complete gibberish to her.’

”Master Wan...” Sun Beixi finally snapped out of it, his voice thick with disbelief. ”This... this idea of using electromagnetic waves to make water molecules vibrate and generate heat... I-I understand the principle, but how did you even come up with it? It’s just so...”

He trailed off, unable to continue. His mind was already racing, running through the possibilities.

’No open flame, no emissions, incredibly high heat efficiency, easy to use...’

’If this could be made into a commercial product, what kind of an earth-shattering innovation would it be?’

Seeing her brother’s reaction, Sun Fan was even more bewildered.

’In her mind, Sun Beixi had always been the type who succeeded at everything. He got good grades and had a keen eye for business. To the elders in their family, he was the proverbial ”other people’s kid” they always used as a benchmark for praise.’

’But right now, the look her brother was giving Wan Ze was that of a student gazing at his teacher, a follower at his leader.’

”Master Wan, you are... No, you are a genius!” Sun Beixi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. ”The technology you’re describing is perfectly sound in theory. I’ve heard of electromagnetic wave theory, and the concept of polar molecules is a relatively new area in classical physics, but no one has ever thought of applying it in the direction of ’heating food’!”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. ”What is traditional heating? Roasting, boiling, frying! The heat travels from the outside in; the outside gets burned while the inside is still raw. But your idea is to heat it directly from the inside! You’re making the food heat itself! This... this is completely subversive...”

Wan Ze held up a hand, gesturing for him to calm down. ”Don’t get excited too quickly. The scientific principle is one thing; turning it into a viable product is another entirely.”

As he spoke, he set down his water glass, his expression growing serious. ”The materials for the magnetron will require extensive testing. The cathode is the electron emitter—it’s essentially the heart of the entire system. The commonly used tungsten-based materials have issues with brittleness and can easily break during manufacturing, shipping, or operation. Moreover, some materials contain radioactive elements, like thorium... That element has a half-life of 13.9 billion years. Once it’s in a product, the environmental impact after it’s discarded would be permanent.”