Chapter 95: The Rise of a Nation through Misaligned Technology – Part 10

Mu Yin spent her first year in cultivation in this manner. By the end of that year, she still hadn’t succeeded in reaching the third layer of Qi Refinement. Whether it was because of her mixed spiritual roots or the five-element mixed spiritual roots, Mu Yin didn’t expect herself to be as extraordinarily lucky as the female lead.

Fortunately, her physical arts had already reached the fifth layer. The ambient spiritual energy here was richer, and the food contained ample spiritual energy, making it even more suitable for practicing physical arts. Moreover, combining physical techniques with the mind methods yielded better results. Having already trained in physical arts before, she naturally knew how to perform the movements correctly.

Similarly, physical arts were also taught in the laborers’ instruction hall. Compared to the Nourishing Qi Technique, physical arts were easier to grasp. Even if one could not comprehend the mind method, they could still achieve cultivation through the physical movements alone, making it a very practical skill.

Cao Lihua, having not yet drawn Qi into her body after a year, had nonetheless advanced to the third layer of physical arts. With Mu Yin’s extra tutoring, she learned much faster than the other students. She also appeared much younger than before, finally resembling a woman in her early thirties rather than someone in her fifties, which lifted her spirits considerably.

As for cultivation progress, it was to be taken slowly. However, in their second year, they would begin shouldering more responsibilities. For instance, they would have to manage some farmland themselves. The fields were planted with spiritual rice, spiritual wheat, spiritual vegetables, and spiritual fruits. Don’t assume cultivators don’t eat meals. In truth, very few cultivators endure hardship without nourishment.

Why would one seek immortality if not to enjoy a longer life? If it were to suffer, who would want to live forever? They were not masochists. Therefore, cultivators did not forbid themselves various indulgences, as long as they stayed within limits.

Perhaps because of this background, the cultivation world here embraced a wide variety of paths. Beyond the common sword cultivation, magic cultivation, Buddhist cultivation, Confucian cultivation, demon cultivation, monster cultivation, ghost cultivation, martial cultivation, physical cultivation, alchemy cultivation, artifact cultivation, and array cultivation, there were even culinary cultivation, food cultivation, music cultivation, calligraphy cultivation, Confucian arts cultivation, painting cultivation, chess cultivation, zither cultivation, and so on. Truly, every profession and art was a path to cultivation.

There were even cultivation paths based on emotion and desire — using love or lust as the way. In this world, there was nothing you couldn’t imagine and nothing that didn’t exist. Mu Yin found this cultivation world quite remarkable.

In this world, as long as one did not kill innocents or commit evil deeds, demon cultivators could walk openly on the streets. Mu Yin had heard that demon cultivators were not necessarily wicked, though some were, much like how in the modern world there were always a few psychopathic murderers.

Demon cultivators cultivated with a path guided by impulse, free from moral constraints and disregardful of cause and effect. They might fraternize with you when in a good mood and turn to kill you when displeased, hence their name. But in truth, those who truly became demons were monstrous beings that devoured humans.

Cultivators needed to eat as well, and the cooks were culinary cultivators. The difference between culinary cultivators and food cultivators lay in their focus: the former cultivated through culinary arts, while the latter cultivated through food itself. They might look similar, but one cooked, and the other consumed; how could they be the same?

However, the food cultivators’ fare was certainly different. Thus, the need to farm arose. Though cultivators had extraordinary abilities, low-level cultivators were only somewhat stronger than mortals. High-level cultivators disliked doing such laborious work, and at most grew spiritual herbs. They did not tend vegetables.

Therefore, farming was mostly done by laborers. Each laborer in the sect was assigned ten acres of land, with quotas on how much produce to submit. Laborers barely had time to cultivate themselves, mainly because their cultivation levels were too low. Once they reached the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, they could learn techniques like earth-turning and plowing to assist, otherwise relying on talismans.

Mu Yin, however, could draw talismans herself. Talismans were a form of drawing and writing, and with her rule-based enhancements, her talismans were more effective than others’. Still, other work had to be done manually. Suddenly, Mu Yin considered beginning to study artifact forging. If she could invent robots, at least they could help with weeding.

The cultivation world did have puppets, but those were expensive. Considering her tasks, Mu Yin felt she needed to quickly learn artifact forging. Thus, she went to the sect’s library for the first time to select materials for study.

She presented her identification token to the library steward and was granted entry. Only disciples with over 500 contribution points could enter, and each visit required five points.

The library had several floors, each demanding different contribution points for access. Mu Yin could reach the second floor at most, but since she was learning basics, the first floor sufficed. After searching, she selected the essentials: Basic Introduction to Formations, Basic Introduction to Talismans, Basic Introduction to Alchemy, and Basic Introduction to Puppet Techniques.

She also chose volumes on Major Spiritual Herbs, Major Artifact Forging Materials, and Qi Refinement Stage Spells. At the entrance, the steward helped with copying and engraving, costing her 350 contribution points. Every jade slip on the first floor cost 50 points, indicating how valuable these materials were.

Back in her quarters, she placed the jade slips on her forehead to read and store them in her memory. After just two, a headache struck—a symptom of her brain struggling to process so much information.

Though her mental strength was sufficient to absorb these materials, dumping them all at once was overwhelming. Mu Yin decided to study the “memory palace” technique mentioned earlier, to categorize and store memories systematically and avoid confusion.

For someone like her, who could control her mental energy outwardly, this was not difficult. After some experimentation, Mu Yin chose not to create a palace but instead organized her memories into folders, finding the computer file storage method most suitable.

Folders could contain subfolders, making things much more convenient. She reorganized her memories, feeling her mind lighten instantly. It was like tidying a chaotic closet—clothes tossed in a heap made it feel full, but neatly folded, half the space opened up.

She read the rest of the jade slips, sorted them into files, and stored everything in a grand folder titled “Cultivation.” For now, she had only a few memory folders: “Daily Life,” which contained memories of everyday skills like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting; “Science,” which held various scientific knowledge; and “Cultivation.”

More would be added in time. Her core memories—the essence of who she was—remained outside these folders, for they represented her very nature and personality.