This world had the technology level of an ancient civilization, mixed in with magical tools created and used by Cultivators. With their energy source being exclusive to those with great power, it meant the common folk had little to no access to them. Despite that, and unlike what many might think, basic types of plumbing were present. The common people here were very adept at digging wells and using bamboo to create pipes and plumbing. Unfortunately, that plumbing was mostly to supply water and a sewage system was essentially non-existent. People either kept large pots with special seat like lids, partially filled with water and cleaned every day, or they had latrines with pipes to collect their waste. Surprisingly, it was even a commodity, used for fertilizing fields along with many other uses for the… liquids, which meant they used different pots or facilities for each.

It certainly wasn’t as if it didn’t work, but it sure wasn’t fun. Sage had become used to quite a number of smells over the years. Sage didn’t think he could create a sewage system for this immense world, but he could look into improving their water transportation, heating, and hygiene devices. With so many marvelous magical tools out there, it was a shame that they were only available to the most powerful people. Of course, they usually required qi or spirit stones to operate which made them impossible to operate for normal folks, but that was only half the reason.

Powerful Cultivators could circumvent the normal bodily functions. As they became more powerful they would expel impurities from their bodies. With the ability to draw energy from thin air, they would of course become very efficient at processing the food and drink they consume. By the time they reach level fifty and form an inner core, they never again had to perform any of these bodily functions. They wouldn’t even need to sleep or breathe air if they didn’t wish to, gaining all they needed from their immense energy cores and from the world around them. Rank 5 is the level of Sect Elders in the largest Sects, just like in the Holy Flame Sect. That meant all the actual powerful people of the world couldn’t care less about such issues of hygiene and cleanliness.

Other powerful Cultivators, with levels in the thirties to forties were very much removed from such concerns as well. They would still need to eat and drink, and their sleeping and breathing needs were reduced, but their needs to use the bathroom were very much reduced. As long as they had a half decent Cultivation Technique the things they consumed wouldn’t be creating waste matter, they’d be broken down entirely to create more energy. This, along with an increased lifespan, was the reason that most rich people would purchase cultivation resources to force themselves into rank 3 and do away with such mundane and disgusting activities.

Sage had been in this world for more than forty years. When he was at the Lang Clan there were servants to draw them baths and he could sneak off to a nearby lake to swim. Later, when he was living as a caravan guard he woke everyday wishing he could take a shower. The times they passed a river or body of water became his favorite days as he could properly soak and clean off. It wasn’t until years later and he became a Blacksmith himself that he finally got a real shower. Sage used a very basic fire rune to heat up sealed tank of water. A bamboo pipe on top met up with another pipe from a cold water tank and with a set of spigots he was able to have a real shower. Both tanks sat up high in the air on top of a scaffold in the backyard and water had to be pumped up to fill them, but it was a success. Currently, the bathroom in his house was made entirely of stone with a drain in the floor and the water tanks in the attic. He even created a basic water pump to lift the water up to fill his shower tanks.

The problem of course being even those two simple devices required him to use qi to run them. As a Cultivator he thought it was worth it. He got to take a luxurious shower and an hour later the qi he expended would be recovered naturally. While the shower worked, it certainly wasn’t something a normal person could use, nor was it something the rich and powerful would care about. Sage knew there was something to his plan, but the hard part was figuring out just what the proper path would be. It was hard to find the right path until he changed his thinking. Instead of trying to create a solution to every problem he broke it down into smaller problems. It was the most simple form of programming after all. A computer at its base level only stored and manipulated ones and zeros. The most simple of actions on a modern computer required hundreds if not thousands of simple computations. Break a problem down into the simplest parts and solve them all individually.

First, water source. Second, clean water. Third, move water. Fourth, heat or cool water. Fifth, use the water. Sixth, collect wastewater. Seventh, handle the wastewater.

By aiming to create things that were wholly different than they were in the world now, instead of trying to do everything he would try to solve these different issues in new or novel ways. Whether it be for the rich or poor, every advancement he was sure could be used in some way. Rather than trying to turn a flat plain into a mountain he would just start piling up dirt little by little. He might just inspire others, and with help many people working together could accomplish anything.

A few months later.

Sage had already drawn up hundreds of different blueprints and even experimented and created a few dozen different prototypes. So far the most effective and usable design so far was essentially a water heater. Having seen the basic layout of a standard water heater before and with the proliferation of simple fire symbols and arrays, Sage found it the easiest thing to create. It was basically a pair of giant iron pots, one of them heavily insulated and sealed all around. The insulated one was the heating unit and it had a spigot at the top of it, while the bottom had a spigot and a thick insulated pipe that connected it to the other tank.

The main problem he found with plumbing in this world was the use of bamboo pipes instead of something more tough. It made it hard to create seals and in turn build up pressure. The majority of fluid systems on Earth were based on using pressure changes. In this situation he could only create workarounds. He wasn’t sure how a basic relief valve worked, nor did he know much about pressure systems. There was one thing he had learned about before and that was a basic check valve. Between the two water containers was a one way check valve. It was basically just a little flipper mounted at a tiny bit of t-shaped pipe. When water flowed one way the flip door was pushed open, when it moved the other direction it would close the door and seal itself up.

On the bottom of the hot water tank was a very simple array formation. Given the size of the tank, Sage chose to use the simplest array he could, a pair of concentric circles with fire symbols between the two rings. It was the first array symbol a Blacksmithing Apprentice learned, and because of the size of the huge water tanks it was very simple to inscribe and he could fit quite a few of them. In the center of the ring of fire symbols was a trio of symbols that were essentially a temperature check. When the water was cold it would activate the fire symbols, when it was too hot it would turn them off. Around the outside of the insulated tank was the most basic energy gathering array. It was far more complicated than the fire array, but it was put on a huge surface so the difficulty was greatly reduced. A second sheet had another array to protect against water, aiming to stop the corrosive effects of water on the iron pots. Sage had even inscribed the arrays on flat sheets of metal before reforging them and bending them into cylinders so the inscribing was as simple as possible.

The energy gathering arrays slowly accumulate from the world around them which they send into the fire array. The amount of energy gathered and the simple array meant that this combination of large arrays was barely as powerful as a campfire showed why it was ignored by Cultivators. The final important piece was the insulation. Sage was sure there was a better material, but for now he used a thick piece of leather and engraved another simple array formation. This fourth and final array was for heat resistance. By blocking heat it would keep it trapped inside the heating tank.

The way it worked was the left tank was filled with cold water. The water would flow through the check valve at the bottom and fill the insulated tank till they were about equal. The fire array heated from the bottom. As the water warmed it rose up towards the top of the insulated tank and the check valve kept it from flowing back into the cold water tank.

It took some testing with the water levels and size for the cold water tank, but eventually Sage got it working and he build a couple follow up units to test ways to reduce the costs and complexity. Finally, he had a way to solve one of the problems and he calculating costs he could build one without spending a single spirit stone, requiring only gold coins to purchase iron and the leather insulation. He even found a way to cut out half the iron and use a wooden barrel instead of a cold water tank, but it was prone to leakage and would have a much shorter lifespan. Either way, it was an option.

One of the problems was solved. There was all sorts of uses that on demand hot water could have. It would surely be able to revolutionize the ease of cooking, cleaning and especially bathing.