"So we are indeed a labor factory, while those merchant shops make the big bucks?"
Jiucai Rong was not surprised; this primitive business model was common.
Running a game, after all, starts with a small workshop. Perhaps in the future, when it develops, branches can be opened outside, with each shop operating independently, no middlemen to make a profit from the price difference.
Only when the shops open can a network of connections among powerful cultivators be established!
The customers who come shopping are the real resources, like Saint Child, Saintess, and divorced youth who refuse to let hardship break them...
Only by thoroughly squeezing them can the business grow strong and chain stores span across the land!
Jiucai Rong asked again, "Sir, can the blacksmiths in our manor cultivate? After all, if external enemies attack again, how can we defend the manor?"
"All things under heaven can cultivate."
Ning Zheng replied without hesitation, "However, the resources for cultivating the Immortal Path are unimaginably vast and it's a nine in ten chance of death, not a path you can take."
"Why?" Jiucai Rong asked.
"To cultivate immortality, one must first cultivate the heart; children generally go to private schools, reading extensively from a young age, nurturing good conscience and embracing natural order to become Confucian scholars, only then having the chance to step into the door."
"To cultivate immortality, one must have a Spiritual Root, mainly divided into five large categories: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth."
"Choosing the Spiritual Root suitable for oneself is necessary."
Jiucai Rong, upon hearing this, was finally a bit baffled: "Wait a minute, do Spiritual Roots even need selecting?"
"Without selecting Spiritual Roots, would they naturally appear?"
Ning Zheng was speechless, "Planting Spirit Grass or Spirit Flower is equivalent to having a Spiritual Root."
"The world of Nine-State, full of flower names, our continent is Xinyi Continent, rich in Xinyi, vast sea of flowers everywhere, stunningly beautiful. Most cultivators in this continent can only choose Xinyi Grass as their Spiritual Root... which is a local trait."
He paused,
"Each Spiritual Root corresponds to an Innate Divine Technique, rooted on top, Three Flowers Gathering at the Top.... In short, the reasoning within is vast."
Ning Zheng reflected on his previous cultivation exploration experiences.
He was "lucky" enough to obtain an introductory book that introduced cultivation practices, thus gaining some basic knowledge of cultivation.
"This worldview defies understanding..." Jiucai Rong listened, feeling his heart mind unsettled.
First becoming a scholar, which is somewhat like the ancient Taoist concept of meditating, studying, and cultivating the heart.
Your Spiritual Root seems a bit special...
Is it literally the Three Flowers on the Top, a Heavenly Spiritual Root?
"May I ask, what are the Nine-State like..." Jiucai Rong was curious.
Ning Zheng said, "Jasmine, Man Tianxing, Pansy, Begonia, Xinyi, Rose, Sacred Rice, Doukou, Other Shore."
Jiucai Rong thought that every continent has its own characteristic local Spiritual Root? He chuckled, looking ambitious and bold, eyebrows dancing, saying:
"To be honest! We in this group of refugees, have peculiar identities, as members of the special Undead Race. It's really a waste having us work as blacksmiths in our manor."
"We are known as the Fourth Calamity, valiant and fearless in battle, why bother forging weapons? We wish to worship the Sword Casting Manor Master as our adoptive father, and help conquer vast lands! Crush the world's sects!"
Although he did not understand why this game was so realistic.
But in his eyes, this business simulation game should only have the manor-sized map.
When I say we must venture forth to conquer the world for the manor, step beyond the map boundaries, change the business simulation game to a massive sandbox combat upgrade game, how would you respond?
AI would crash, wouldn't it?
Ning Zheng, hearing this, didn't understand what the Fourth Calamity referred to, secretly asked Ai.
After Ai explained briefly, it was a term appearing in network vocabulary during his few years of his prevalent internet after crossing over.
It probably referred to players relying on resurrection points to revive, using sheer numbers to overwhelm enemies.
His expression became strange on the spot, "You kids have shallow insight, there's nothing special about that, just common refugees with mundane abilities."
"In the cultivator circles, creating spirits and ghosts as slaves, undying battalions are not very rare, they are everywhere and even more practical."
"And as for cultivators themselves, their undying abilities surpass by a margin, more than say, myself who had just achieved the door entry basic realm, the first body of Five-Body Realm."
With that, Ning Zheng chopped off his own head with a sword, then reattached it, "Not dying, that's not strange."
Jiucai Rong: "..."
Oh my.
This old steward just chopped off his own damn head on the spot.
Are you telling me this is merely the first entry-level small realm?
Five-Body Realm, could it mean literally, the first body cultivated is the head, hence it's so mighty?
Ning Zheng found Jiucai Rong's wide-eyed expression quite amusing.
This is an era of personal valor, where a single powerhouse dominates the present world, dazzling throughout eternity, what is quantity useful for?
Ning Zheng was gentle by nature, has not conversed with normal people for a long time, and delightedly chatted, pointing to the heavens, "Do you see those stars?"
Jiucai Rong nodded.
This world is truly strange, the stars are still bright during the day, sparkling everywhere, they are quite pleasant to look at.
Ning Zheng said: "Those are pairs of eyes, they are the largest sect in Nine-State, Jiu Shui, which is the current court, overseeing its governed prefectures!"
"What?" Jiucai Rong was stunned.
Seeing his shock, Ning Zheng also secretly smiled, inexplicably feeling proud.
This was something Ning Zheng occasionally heard from demon man's talk, in reality knowing little about it.
At that time, Ning Zheng was also greatly shaken.
They flash so fiercely from afar, how large must those eyeballs be?
How large must the bodies of those truly powerful cultivators be?
This question, Ning Zheng mulled over daily.
He had two guesses in mind.
1. Perhaps their bodies are indeed that large, bearing heaven and earth, truly viewing the world with their eyes, mortals are as small as ants on the ground, grazing through the ages.
2. Perhaps their bodies aren't that large, they pluck their own eyes out, hang them in the sky to watch.
Whatever the possibility, the powerhouses of this world are beyond imagination.
Jiucai Rong murmured: "Pairs of stars are court ministers, then the moon and sun must be..."
Ning Zheng nodded, "They are the current Saints who founded the Jiushu Dynasty."
Jiucai Rong suddenly fell silent, his ambition instantly diminishing, his whole being numbed:
"Haha, we are really a bunch of small fry! Fourth Calamity and such... perhaps better as simple blacksmiths, foolish paying pigs."
Jiucai Rong was deeply shocked inside, ripples consistently rising in his heart.
This old steward is genuinely kind and gentle, wonderfully talkative, clearly sincerely good to them, justly earning the title of Newbie Village Chief.
Though this was supposed to be an enclosed small manor management game, the expansive world outside was surprisingly absurd, with gods and demons everywhere.
This was a living extraordinary otherworld, they received no special treatment, no fabled in-game monster fighting for experience bonuses.
The little blacksmiths honestly cultivating, only to advance every few years at most, within a realm.
But realistically, who could play a game for years and decades?
Moreover, breaking through was merely a small realm.
Everyone came to play games, not to sit cross-legged in meditation!
If you command someone to endure this confinement for half a year as an experiment?
They'll quit the habit entirely.
According to present information, rather than tediously cultivating for decades, centuries to become a great cultivator, it might be more fun to forge iron, farm, and research manufacturing magical treasures and weapons.
Precisely due to this, Jiucai Rong instead found this realistic worldview quite interesting.
Not so much like Long Aotian, devoid of OP buffs falling from the sky, treated equally as natives, emphasizing realism and hardcore gameplay.
"I understand now, cultivating is too much to dream about, I aim to become the King of Blacksmiths!!"
Jiucai Rong's face resolute, nails painfully pressed into flesh.
Though Ning Zheng didn't know why he had the need to squeeze his fingers into his meat with such righteousness, he appreciatively nodded, a child who could be taught, successfully dissuading that notion.