Chapter 21 Spirit Foundation Network
The two acres of inferior spiritual soil that Li Chang'an previously possessed were obtained during his tribulation, while the few square meters were transformed after absorbing the spiritual power from the Tuangu Insect King.
With his next tribulation still a long way off, he kept thinking about finding any spiritual objects similar to the Tuangu Insect King and getting some more inferior spiritual soil.
He searched both the bamboo forest and the river, but apart from the black-scaled fish in the river, there were no other spiritual creatures.
Li Chang'an then set his sights on the area outside the immortal mountain.
If you could get some monster or spirit beast corpses, you could try...
Since we haven't obtained the corpses of the demons and spirit beasts, let's first observe the effects of this demon core.
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Overnight, two square meters of soil near the location where the demon core was buried turned into inferior spiritual soil.
Li Chang'an dug up the ground, but there was no trace of the demon core.
He slowly frowned: "Is that all the effect you've got?"
The sword spirit stood beside him and glanced at him upon hearing this: "A Foundation Establishment stage Great Perfection demon beast core doesn't store much spiritual power."
The Foundation Establishment stage is at its peak, which is also known as the False Core Formation stage.
Li Chang'an sighed: "So that's how it is."
But regardless, as long as it proves to be effective, that's enough.
Li Chang'an brought a hoe and filled the hole again.
The sword spirit looked at it and continued, "Six thousand years ago, this kind of demon beast core was the worst alchemy material."
Li Chang'an subconsciously replied, "Now that the Cangxuan Realm is in the Dharma-ending Age, there are not many demons, so this kind of demon core is already considered very rare."
"Wait, a demon beast core?" He suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Isn't it a demon core?" he asked.
The sword spirit said in a deep voice, "A demon beast core is not a true demon core."
Li Chang'an held the hoe upright, his arm supporting the bottom of the handle—a standard farmer's resting posture.
He stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked, "That monster isn't even a true demon?"
Only now did he realize what the difference he had noticed last night was.
The mantis demons he had seen possessed human-like self-awareness. But the demons he had seen last night were like wild beasts or zombies, incapable of thought, only knowing how to attack humans.
Seeing his bewildered expression, the sword spirit paused and explained, "Demonic beasts are low-level monsters in the wilderness of the demon realm, while the mantis demon you saw is a high-level monster."
"Low-level demons have no intelligence, eat people, and are ruled by high-level demons. High-level demons have intelligence and can cultivate human form."
Li Chang'an nodded knowingly.
He still knows too little about these areas.
Li Chang'an pursed his lips, gripped the hoe handle, and continued weeding.
After finishing a day's farm work, he would carry a stool to the entrance of the immortal mountain in the bamboo forest and climb the square inch to examine the history of the Cangxuan Realm in the scripture pavilion.
He found the information about monsters by following the directory index.
These monsters are actually alien species that came through the Chaos Rift.
Six thousand years ago, after the God of Boundless Space drove all the demon beasts to the wilderness, he set a prohibition against them from disturbing humans.
In the six thousand years that followed, demonic beasts would occasionally appear in the Cangxuan Realm through spatial rifts, but they were quickly dealt with by the cultivators.
Li Chang'an focused on the last sentence: On April 25, 5962 in the new calendar, a monster rift appeared in the Li Kingdom, but no casualties were reported.
5962, that was more than sixty years ago.
Li Chang'an refreshed the page and found another entry: On June 10, 6025 of the Gregorian calendar, two monster rifts appeared in the Xia Kingdom, causing no casualties.
There haven't been many monster rifts in the past six thousand years; in the previous records, there was only one each time.
The two posts from last night were quite eye-catching as soon as they appeared, and some cultivators have already started discussing them.
Just as Li Chang'an was about to go check, his phone vibrated; it was a call from his agent, Li Wei.
"Hello, Sister Wei." Li Chang'an answered quickly.
"Li Chang'an, I've negotiated with the higher-ups about the contract we talked about last time."
On the other end of the phone, Li Wei sounded tired.
Clearly, she has spent a lot of energy negotiating with those company executives over matters involving shared interests.
"Your artist activities for the next year will all be switched to live streaming. Based on your current commercial value, just make sure you earn 500,000 for the company."
"If you don't earn enough within a year, the contract will be automatically extended until you do."
Five hundred thousand doesn't sound like much.
However, on the largest music streaming platform today, the revenue from live streaming is split among the company, the platform, and the streamer. After the platform takes 40% of the gifts, the remaining 60% is split equally between the company and the streamer.
In other words, for Li Chang'an to earn 500,000 for the company, he would need to receive over 1.6 million in gifts and rewards.
But compared to paying a penalty for breach of contract, this change is already much better.
Li Chang'an nodded quickly: "Okay, thank you, Sister Wei."
He paused for a moment, then added, "But I don't have any special talents..."
His acting is terrible, and his singing and dancing are both awful. What can he possibly broadcast on live stream?
Li Wei said, "It doesn't matter what you stream, as long as it's legal and compliant. If all else fails, you can stream yourself farming."
Li Chang'an smiled sheepishly: "Okay, thank you, Sister Wei."
Li Wei coughed, and then his voice was no longer as tired as before: "Alright, kid, that Immortal Mountain Farm is yours, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's mine."
Li Wei chuckled: "I guessed it. There's been a lot of discussion about it lately. Some people here are even asking people from Ling'an City to help them buy things."
"Fortunately, those high-level officials were willing to soften their stance today. Otherwise, once they found out that Xianshan Farm was yours, it would have been really difficult to negotiate this 500,000 yuan for the live stream."
Previously, Li Chang'an's inheritance of Xuanling Immortal Mountain sparked a lot of discussion online, marking the peak of his popularity after so many years in the entertainment industry.
At that time, his commercial value also increased with the amount of discussion. Some people took the opportunity to ask him to endorse their products and do advertising, and the advertising fees they offered were higher than before. Naturally, the company's senior management was unwilling to let him go.
It wasn't until recently, when the discussions gradually subsided and Li Chang'an's name was no longer mentioned, as if he were about to be forgotten again, that the higher-ups began to get nervous, worried that if things dragged on any longer, the losses would outweigh the benefits. Only then did they agree to Li Wei's proposal.
"The company's senior management has already signed it. I've sent you the new contract via express mail, and it should arrive tomorrow. Sign it and send it over as soon as possible, before they find out you're the founder of Xianshan Farm."
Li Chang'an nodded quickly: "Okay, thank you, Sister Wei."
After saying that, the two hung up the phone.
-
The express delivery that Li Wei sent arrived early the next morning.
Xie Kuling brought it over to Li Chang'an, and they looked at the contract together.
There were no hidden clauses in the contract; it was basically as Li Wei said yesterday.
After signing the document, Li Chang'an went to the warehouse and took a large cabbage, intending to send it back to Li Wei along with the cabbage.
"I've already booked a courier for noon. I've filled in the visitor center address. Thank you for your help."
Xie Kuling waved his hand: "You're being too polite."
Li Chang'an smiled, carried the cabbage and the contract, and walked out of Xuanling Immortal Mountain with him before handing everything over to him.
"I have to go and connect the internet to Xianshan. Time is of the essence, so I must take my leave now."
Live streaming requires internet access, so he can't stay at the entrance of the fairy mountain to stream the whole time.
Li Chang'an bowed slightly to Xie Kuling, summoned the black sword, and flew away on it.
The Ling'an City branch of the Cultivation Alliance is located next to the Ling'an City Court and Procuratorate, and is not far from Qingfeng Mountain.
The black sword arrived in a few minutes.
Li Chang'an jumped off the black sword in a secluded alley and arrived at the entrance of the Cultivation Alliance's branch building.
The building is constructed entirely of wood, with an antique style. It has five floors and an old spirit boat is moored on the roof.
Li Chang'an let out a silent "wow".
Yuheng had been waiting at the entrance for a while.
Upon seeing him, Li Chang'an quickly ran over, clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, and said, "Lord Yuheng, I apologize for keeping you waiting. I'm sorry to trouble you again today."
Last night, after hanging up with Li Wei, he contacted Yuheng again and told him about wanting to connect Xuanling Immortal Mountain to the internet. The two agreed to meet at this time to resolve the issue.
Yuheng returned the greeting.
Straightening up, Yuheng said, "No need to be polite. Two monster rifts appeared in Ling'an City the night before last, and I happened to be here to investigate."
So helping Li Chang'an connect to the internet was just a side effect.
Upon hearing this, Li Chang'an smiled in relief.
The two walked together into the branch building.
Yuheng: "In Ling'an City, there are only three cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage now, including you. You should have gone there after the demonic beast appeared the night before last, right?"
Li Chang'an nodded: "We went, and we even got a demon core."
"Oh? Demon cores can aid cultivation. Have you absorbed them?"
"No." Li Chang'an chuckled. "I think it's more useful in the ground. After using it, the soil will actually turn into inferior spiritual soil."
Yuheng chuckled.
Demon cores are hard to come by, and no cultivator would choose to use them on the ground.
After all, no matter how good the inferior spiritual soil is, without the cultivation of spiritual plants, the spiritual energy will eventually disappear.
Therefore, cultivators choose to use them to aid their cultivation after obtaining them.
However, since Li Chang'an chose to farm and raise pigs in Xuanling Immortal Mountain, the inferior spiritual soil was the ultimate treasure to him.
"That's not bad either. Ultimately, the best use of a magical artifact or treasure depends on the user."
As they spoke, the two arrived at the branch's lobby.
Although the building of the Cultivation Alliance branch looks like a wooden structure from the outside, the interior is decorated in a very modern style.
There is also an elevator in the very center of the lobby.
Yuheng led Li Chang'an through the corridors and took the elevator to the top floor.
The top floor edge is lined with cabinets of varying sizes, containing various spiritual objects, some of which have talismans affixed to them.
Yuheng arrived in front of a grid that was as tall as a person.
This compartment contains a 1.7-meter-tall, dark stone.
"This is the Spirit Foundation Stone."
Before Li Chang'an could ask a question, Yuheng explained, "Six thousand years ago, people in the cultivation world inscribed runes on spirit foundation stones to achieve communication across vast distances. When the internet first appeared, spirit foundation stones were also used as base stations, and the original spiritual energy channels between each spirit foundation stone were used as transmission pathways."
"However... the spiritual energy gradually thinned out, and the spiritual foundation stone could no longer support the spiritual energy channels connecting the whole world, so it was decommissioned."
Ordinary people can build base stations and fiber optic cables for transmission, and no longer have to rely solely on spiritual energy.
Yuheng looked at the spirit foundation stone in front of him with a somewhat wistful expression.
This world has new possibilities thanks to the boundless creativity of ordinary people.
The only ones still relying on spiritual energy are these self-imposed limitations of the cultivators.
Li Chang'an looked at the spirit foundation stone and gently touched it.
He suddenly laughed and said, "Humans are really amazing; they can always find different ways to cope with different environments."
Yuheng looked over silently, his pupils trembling slightly.
Li Chang'an, unaware of his gaze, asked excitedly, "With this, we can connect to the internet?"
Yuheng remained silent for a long while.
Li Chang'an looked over in confusion.
Yuheng shifted his gaze: "At least two spirit foundation stones are needed."
“There’s only one in Ling’an City, but I can find another one for you in another city.”
Place one spirit foundation stone outside Xuanling Immortal Mountain and use spiritual power to guide the spiritual energy channels to connect to the nearby network base station. Place the other one inside Xuanling Immortal Mountain and connect it to the spirit foundation stone outside.
Li Chang'an's eyes lit up, and he quickly clasped his hands in a salute: "Then thank you very much, Lord Yuheng."
-
Spirit Foundation Stones are considered discarded spiritual items, and the price offered by the Cultivation Alliance is not high.
But it's not about monetary value; it's about spiritual objects.
Trades between cultivators have always been conducted through barter.
Six thousand years ago, spirit stones were still usable, but where can you find them now?
The two city branches of the cultivation alliance each requested five mid-level talismans with the strength of a first-class superior talisman.
Li Chang'an checked the basic manual and found that fire talismans were among the intermediate-level talismans.
To draw a painting of superior quality, one only needs a cultivation level of the late stage of Qi Refining.
He can draw ten fire talismans and hand them over.
Since there were no talisman paper or spirit brushes in Xuanling Immortal Mountain, Li Chang'an borrowed the talisman paper and spirit brushes from the Ling'an City branch when he went to retrieve the two spirit foundation stones, and drew ten fire talismans.
As he drew the talisman, the monk in charge of receiving him gradually widened his eyes.
The writing is so smooth, without the slightest hesitation, and he doesn't even need to stop to replenish his spiritual energy. Li Chang'an is simply a gifted genius!
A note from the author:
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A gifted individual! (Sound of excitement)
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