Evolution - Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Once they were assigned to a peak, it was like they had gone from middle school to university. From then on, they were on a work-study program, choosing their own courses, taking professional certification exams, and occasionally joining seniors on missions to hunt demonic beasts and earn some money.
The six of them spent a symbolic number of contribution points to purchase a jade slip containing the basics of swordsmanship for the Qi Refinement stage, personally demonstrated by their Big Sister. They rose at dawn to practice their swords for a solid hour, supervised and prodded by senior brothers and sisters at the Foundation Establishment stage. After sword practice and breakfast, their time was their own to study or work.
Based on their chosen technical specializations, Lingyun Peak had been generous with resources. Each person received a basic set of tools for their respective profession, a related part-time job, and a spiritual acre of land to farm. In addition, Gu Jiawen was given a one-acre medicinal field where he could grow some low-level spiritual herbs.
For new disciples, the treatment at Lingyun Peak was unbelievably generous.
There were about thirty thousand new disciples this time. If distributed evenly, each of the 108 peaks would have taken in nearly three hundred. Lingyun Peak was a bit more modest, with close to two hundred disciples—a little less than half had chosen the peak themselves, while the majority were those who had been rejected by other peaks.
Relatively speaking, Ji Changqing’s group of six was of higher quality. The other four had decent spiritual roots. Ji Changqing and He Yi’s spiritual roots were lacking, but their brilliant minds as technicians more than made up for it. And in any case, sword cultivators and physique cultivators didn’t place as much importance on spiritual root aptitude; comprehension and resilience were far more critical. If talent was insufficient, one could always make up for it with diligence and hard work.
Everyone was essentially working two jobs: one farming for Lingyun Peak, and another as an apprentice at the peak specializing in their major, picking up skills while doing odd jobs. Once they saved enough money, they would enroll in carefully selected professional courses. Although their paths diverged, their study group remained intact—after all, even an obscure little technician needs an audience and applause, right? They gathered from time to time to report on their savings, academic progress, farming experiences, and cultivation insights. They would listen to their friends’ rainbow farts, vent their frustrations, and then, buoyed by the applause and encouragement of their audience, find the strength to carry on until their next gathering.
A year or so later, in this rich academic atmosphere created by the motto “Rainbow farts grant me strength,” all five technicians had obtained their first-rank professional certifications. Luo Mingsheng, with her slightly higher cultivation at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, had even become a second-rank Talisman Master. Ji Changqing, He Yi, Gu Jiawen, and Shen Guiqing had all failed their second-rank certification exams due to their cultivation being too low, resulting in insufficient spiritual energy.
Obtaining their professional certifications meant they could take on a third job: providing Lingyun Peak with low-level arrays, magical artifacts, talismans, spiritual food, and so on. In return, they could exchange these for the resources they needed, building a solid material foundation for their future endeavors.
Ji Changqing and He Yi’s path of invention and creation was still ongoing. They were confident they would soon pass the second-rank certification—since they couldn’t solve the problem of insufficient spiritual energy at its source, they would tackle it by reducing consumption. They had already made significant improvements. Through repeated verification, He Yi had found that both array formation and artifact refining currently suffered from low energy conversion rates and excessively high losses during the manufacturing process.
Logically, the higher one’s cultivation, the more precise their control and utilization of spiritual energy should be. When they attended classes or worked as apprentices, they had secretly used a testing device made by He Yi. They found that Core Formation cultivators wasted about thirty percent of their energy, Nascent Soul cultivators wasted around twenty percent, and Foundation Establishment cultivators wasted a staggering forty to fifty percent. It was baffling; there was no concept of refined management whatsoever.
At another study group meeting, Ji Changqing and He Yi mysteriously produced a small object. It was a palm-sized, grayish-black square box. They tried to restrain themselves, but the corners of their mouths kept turning up. “We did it. We’ve been testing it for the past few days, and the effect is this.” She gave a thumbs-up. “Two of these can manage three acres of land. They summon clouds and rain on a schedule, regulate the temperature, and repel insects around the clock. You just have to replace the spirit stones every three days and do some weeding.”
The other four’s eyes lit up in unison. They rubbed their hands together, eagerly firing off questions:
“Does it use one low-grade spirit stone at a time, replaced every three days?”
“It can really repel insects? We don’t have to catch them ourselves anymore?”
“So what used to take an hour every day now only takes an hour every three days?!”
“It’s even better than that! It used to be an hour for one spiritual acre, now it’s one hour for three spiritual acres every three days!”
“Wow, that’s such a huge savings in money and effort!” they all exclaimed in unison.
This was truly wonderful. The most annoying part of farming was catching insects. They hid exceptionally well, some at the roots, others in the core of the plant, and you had to be extremely careful not to damage the plant itself. It took a lot of time every day. But if you didn’t catch them, they would slowly eat everything in your field. The current standard array for summoning rain and regulating temperature only covered one acre and had to be changed every three days, to say nothing of an added insect-repelling function. That feature alone made it incredibly valuable!
“That’s amazing! How did you do it?!” Their eyes shone, and He Yi saw the brilliant light of “the pursuit of knowledge.” She began to explain the technology with great earnestness.
She was completely unaware that as she spouted one technical term after another, the light in her audience’s eyes slowly, slowly dimmed, flickered, and finally, gradually, went out.
But they remained strong, sitting upright and well-behaved, interjecting a few soulless “wows” at appropriate moments.
They had all taken the basic courses, whether it was basic arrays, basic artifact refining, or some other miscellaneous basics, but right now their minds were a chaotic mess of confusion. No, we really did study hard, and we passed the exams, so why is it that we understand every word He Yi is saying individually, but when strung together, our brains just short-circuit? We know what this array does and what that array does, but we can’t comprehend the leap from those concepts to this little gadget that’s about to bring us a steady stream of spirit stones and resources.
When the last glimmer of clarity in Luo Mingsheng’s mind was finally replaced by bewilderment, she guiltily glanced at her companions, only to find them equally soulless and deeply confused. A wave of relief washed over her heavy heart.
Phew, we’re all still on the same level.
Ji Changqing watched them with amusement. When He Yi finally paused, still eager to say more, Ji Changqing stepped in to rescue the others from their vortex of self-doubt. “I did some calculations. If we rent the maximum amount of spiritual land we’re allowed, in one year, after deducting the array’s operating costs and labor fees… hmm, you two could probably earn about 11,000 spirit stones a year.” She pointed at the two Luos; they were in the late stages of Qi Refinement and could rent up to fifty spiritual acres. Then she grouped herself with the other three. “We could probably make about 7,000.”
The previously listless group instantly perked up, their joy overflowing. The light in their eyes was almost blinding.
It was a craving for spirit stones, filled with the ecstasy of striking it rich overnight.
He Yi shot them a disapproving look. Vulgar! So utterly vulgar! Their enthusiasm for the scientific technology presented to them is far outstripped by their excitement for spirit stones they don’t even have yet. How decadent! It’s heartbreaking!
The other five, including Shen Guiqing, returned her gaze with innocent expressions. That’s right. As people who can only earn about two hundred spirit stones after a year of hard farming, and maybe five or six hundred in total with our other part-time jobs, we are madly in love with it! Madly! In! Love!
This was the unwavering conviction of the desperately poor. They were being shamelessly vulgar, and they weren’t the least bit ashamed!
He Yi was about to say more when Luo Gengjiu ruthlessly cut her off. “Alright, shut up. We can finally pay back the spirit stones Ji Changqing lent us!”
He Yi was momentarily speechless. She and Ji Changqing shared a grand dream of changing the world, and their division of labor was crystal clear: she handled the research, and Ji Changqing handled everything else. It was just that “everything else” included a rather long list of things.
As someone with more than enough intelligence, He Yi knew just how expensive research and development could be. She asked Ji Changqing in a low voice, “Exactly how much did we borrow?”
Ji Changqing wore a pained expression and held up six fingers.
He Yi’s eyes widened instantly, her own expression just as pained.
Luo Mingsheng chuckled. “She borrowed all our money, and she even borrowed from the Deacon’s Hall.”
To develop this little gadget, they had burned through materials like water. As the wealthiest member of the team, her spirit stones were the first to be borrowed—nearly thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones, which her family had given her to last until she reached Foundation Establishment. Ji Changqing had borrowed it all in less than a year, leaving her to live a miserable, impoverished life.
When Luo Gengjiu found out that Ji Changqing had taken all her sister’s spirit stones, she had nearly flown into a rage and killed her.
But in the end, she too had been won over, becoming Ji Changqing’s second creditor.
After that, Ji Changqing became completely shameless, borrowing even the pitifully small amounts Shen Guiqing and Gu Jiawen had. Eventually, she started borrowing from the Deacon’s Hall.
Speaking of which, everyone couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe for Ji Changqing. It was common knowledge that everyone on Lingyun Peak was dirt poor. Despite this, Ji Changqing had managed to use her eloquence to talk the Deacon’s Hall into investing twenty thousand spirit stones. They would cover the costs and handle sales for a thirty percent stake. It was an incredible deal!
The group cheerfully divided the spoils. The Deacon’s Hall took thirty percent. Of the remaining seventy percent, three-tenths would be distributed among them, and the other four-tenths would go into an R&D fund. In the end, it was decided that He Yi, the lead researcher, would get one-tenth; Ji Changqing, the all-rounder, would get one-tenth; the Luo sisters, who had contributed a total of thirty-five thousand spirit stones but did no work besides watch the fun, would also get one-tenth; Shen Guiqing and Gu Jiawen had each scraped together a thousand spirit stones over the past two years, which was too small a percentage, so they would split one-tenth taken from Ji Changqing’s share.
Everyone was very satisfied. Just thinking about how, starting next year, their farming income alone would be ten times what it used to be was enough to make them happy. Not to mention the profit-sharing from selling this little gadget. High-tech was a tough grind before the results came in, but once they did, the next few years would be an effortless win.
The Deacon’s Hall received the device and, after a brief calculation, decided to price the “Little Farming Helper,” which cost eight spirit stones to make, at sixty spirit stones. Using the old arrays cost 120 spirit stones a year. The new device only cost 40, and it even repelled insects. This meant it not only saved a great deal of time but also an additional 20 spirit stones in expenses.
The Deacon’s Hall was overjoyed. People who were previously unwilling to spend too much time farming now realized that for the same amount of effort, they could cultivate at least ten times the land. Why hesitate? Earning spirit stones was what mattered. In less than a month, disciples flocked to rent spiritual land. Many fields that had lain fallow due to a lack of manpower were now all snatched up.
Just thinking that in a year, Lingyun Peak’s output would increase by seven or eight times was enough to make one laugh out loud.
The Deacon’s Hall was even considering whether to open up some of the more distant lands to plant something, anything.
We’re about to be rich! With this beautiful hope, a joyous atmosphere spread throughout Lingyun Peak.
As the New Year approached, Big Sister, who had been out on missions earning money, rushed back, finally making it home before the year’s end. As a high-level player who had been carrying a team of newbies for thirty years, her nature had been twisted by poverty. On her way back, she mentally calculated her earnings, thinking that everyone should be able to afford an extra dish or two for the New Year’s feast this year.
But when she stepped into the main peak area of Lingyun Peak, she was a little stunned. She seriously wondered if she had taken a wrong turn, or if Lingyun Peak had been sponsored by some tycoon.
They were actually willing to spend money to decorate the peak this year? At a glance, it had a particularly festive New Year’s atmosphere.
Everyone she passed was beaming with joy. When they saw her from a distance, they would call out with saccharine sweetness, “Big Sister, you’re back!”
If the people at the Deacon’s Hall hadn’t looked so familiar, she would have drawn her sword!
The news that Big Sister, who hadn’t been back in three years, had returned spread through Lingyun Peak like wildfire.
Thus, shortly after her return, she received a short paper from He Yi and Ji Changqing on energy conservation, supported by the news that the two of them had passed the second-rank professional certification exam despite being only at the fourth level of Qi Refinement.
Receiving a paper like this for the first time, Big Sister fell into deep thought as she looked at the logically structured, data-rich document, which was clearly written in a style of its own. Just who are these junior sisters from my peak? Souls from another world?
Or are they simply people from another world who accidentally ended up here?
That’s right. The two of them had gotten so engrossed in their inventing that when they wrote the paper, they had subconsciously used the academic format from Blue Star, complete with an abstract, citations, experimental data, references, and so on.
The improvements they proposed weren’t actually world-shaking. With resources becoming increasingly scarce, everyone was trying to find ways to achieve greater utility with minimal loss. Take Big Sister, for example. How was she able to fight above her level and carve out a name for herself? Besides her supreme comprehension—cultivating sword will during the Qi Refinement stage, achieving sword heart at Foundation Establishment, and reaching the state of “I am the sword, the sword is me” during Core Formation, a realm other sword cultivators might not reach even at the Nascent Soul stage—it was, of course, because she constantly optimized her mastery and application of spiritual energy.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. No matter what, she should probably cover for them for now. She skipped over the analysis of principles and experimental data and went straight to the results. Her gaze froze.
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