After you recruit Kang (you can't miss him), talk to him about what his windmaps reveal. He'll transport you to a place called "Lord Lao's Furnace." He'll walk you through how to use the furnace. You can return to this place at any time.
Lord Laos' Furnace has a variety of levers and machines you can operate. Essentially, each of the configurations you accumulate are "riddles" or "recipes" of sorts. You'll need to spend some time attempting to figure out what steps the configuration is asking for, then turn on the appropriate machines in the given order. So upon completing the steps the recipe is calling for, you'll receive various stat bonuses. Some configurations require special "fuels" which you can either buy from merchants or find in your travels.
Gamebanshee doesn't have a list of configurations yet, though I'm certain that is in the future. This
site has some of them outlined, if you need additional information.