Chapter 102: A Nation Rejuvenated by Misplaced Technology 17

Therefore, her first priority was to cultivate her supernatural ability to its utmost limit. The cultivation of life abilities relied either on primal energy or on the dual energies of space and time. Although other types of spiritual energy could be used, their effects were minimal. Thus, this secret realm was the best place for her to strengthen herself.

It was said that one could stay in the secret realm for a month, but those who emerged had varying accounts: some claimed to have stayed over a year, others only a day or two. Such discrepancies were understandable, given that the realm contained both spatial and temporal energies, making the flow of time inside different from that outside.

When the energy in this place was depleted, she would move to another location. By the time she left the secret realm, she had been there for over three years. Her supernatural ability had reached level five, thanks to the abundant energy. Besides that, she had not neglected to contemplate the meaning of the laws of life during these years.

What is life? Before her rebirth, Mu Yin would have said that humans are animals, plants, even single-celled organisms. After her rebirth and crossing over, she believed that life was defined by the presence of a soul. But it was only after acquiring life abilities that she understood life as a vessel for energy. “Living” signified vitality; “life” was the carrier. Any entity with vitality was alive, even if that vitality resided in a stone.

Of course, this was but a shallow understanding—just a brush with the edges of life’s laws through her supernatural abilities. The layers of life surely ran deeper. As one of the primary laws, the law of life was not something easily grasped. If she could not comprehend it fully, Mu Yin would have to cultivate her supernatural abilities to the highest level—level ten—and then extract the condensed core of her ability to merge into her soul. A level ten core would bear the mark of the law, though only a mark, not the law itself. Yet that would be sufficient.

Later, Mu Yin gathered vast amounts of energy and stored it within her key space. After all, she still aspired to reach level ten in her abilities. Upon leaving the secret realm, no matter how long she had stayed inside, only a month had passed outside. Everyone emerged together, but Mu Yin noticed that some were missing—including members of her own Illusory Immortal Sect.

After all, it was a secret realm. Even without fearsome beasts, one could not wield high levels of magic freely. Yet, the urge to kill and seize treasures was never absent. Moreover, dangerous spatial rifts lurked within the realm. Mu Yin had encountered such a rift—a kind that was invisible to the naked eye and imperceptible to ordinary people, but detectable by her. She wisely avoided it.

For others, walking unknowingly into such a rift could mean their head or body being split apart. Thus, even a seemingly harmless secret realm, a place designed for treasure hunting and quick exit, was fraught with peril.

Boarding the sect’s flying vessel to return home, Mu Yin sensed the female lead watching her intently, sometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertently. She paid no mind. Upon returning, she secluded herself, focusing on foundation-building cultivation. Within the sect, cultivating foundations could be done in a dedicated chamber filled with concentrated spiritual energy and protected by formations—providing a serene environment.

Mu Yin continued to cultivate a body-strengthening method, better suited for human cultivation. Her physical form had already reached the Nascent Soul level. Though she had primarily cultivated her supernatural ability—finally condensing a core in her heart—her cultivation method was fundamentally that of a demon cultivator emphasizing flesh and blood enhancement.

At this point, her foundation-building mainly required accumulating energy. Mu Yin felt that her spiritual root purity had improved significantly since entering the realm, though she was uncertain by how much. She knew that even a slight improvement would elevate her to a chaotic spiritual root. Why was a chaotic root considered such? Because chaos begets all things. When the five elements were balanced, the attributes nurtured each other, allowing spiritual energy to flow endlessly within—as if in chaos.

This meant she would never lack spiritual power. Of course, this was a jest; the spiritual energy generated by a chaotic root only allowed its owner greater endurance in battle, not faster cultivation. The work of cultivation still had to be done.

Mu Yin only took five days to break through to the foundation stage, then stabilized her cultivation. She could have pushed to the Golden Core stage immediately, but that would have been too abrupt. Despite her poor spiritual root, her innate constitution was exceptional, but body-strengthening cultivation demanded physical tempering, not just the presence of spiritual energy.

The so-called forging of the body was like martial arts—requiring continuous practice. Mu Yin had once tempered her body by striking forging materials daily. She continued this, further strengthening her constitution like tempered metal.

Several years passed. Cao Lihua remarried a servant. Mu Yin offered her blessings, as neither were main characters. Mi Shan had not been resurrected. Later, the couple had a child and quit their servant jobs, settling in Illusory Immortal City. Mu Yin sold them a small courtyard with a shop, placed the talismans she painted there on consignment, and even crafted two sales clerk puppets to ensure their livelihood.

Before reaching the Golden Core, Mu Yin traveled around, found a rare supernatural flame, and made every effort to tame it. Her cultivation advanced to the Golden Core stage. In all, only ten years had passed.

Mu Yin finally realized the source of the persistent sense of urgency she had felt: the world’s original story had changed. It had become a female-empowered cultivation and technology narrative. She did not understand why the plot shifted, but the female lead had already begun her inventions.

However, since the female lead had never forged magical devices before, what she produced under guidance were just slightly improved communication talismans—akin to upgraded phones, but lacking true understanding of forging.

Upon discovering this, Mu Yin began crafting various magical devices she desired. Unlike the female lead, she grasped both theory and the world’s deviations, though her creations were still few. Over these years, she had elevated her skills in forging, formation arrays, talisman crafting, and puppet arts to intermediate levels—allowing her to better integrate technology into the cultivation world.

Since the female lead researched phones, Mu Yin naturally focused on that area but chose to study networks, specifically the “breath network.” This stemmed from her discovery of the Void Stone—a unique spatial stone capable of transforming between the virtual and the real, and transporting consciousness into illusions.

She found this while forging her own space. This insight deepened her understanding of spatial laws: virtual and real were merely different definitions of space. Why such distinctions existed remained unclear.

Yet she managed to use the Void Stone to construct the legendary breath network. Even in her future world, such a network was still incomplete—only a prototype. Wearing a helmet felt like entering the network, but it was not truly the breath network.