Li Qi and Changqiao strolled across the terraced fields.
Li Qi had seen many different kinds of automated equipment—large automatic seeders, small cultivation formations, transplanting machines, and the like.
Yet none of them worked here.
The land here was extremely strange. Nearly every inch of soil had different properties, and with the demon beasts born from it and the surging earth veins, ordinary automated facilities simply could not function.
Only automated facilities possessing "intelligence" could operate normally here.
Only with "intelligence" could they judge among these tangled and complex branches of choice and determine what needed to be done. Ordinary automated facilities would only make a mess of things or get damaged.
Thus, "intelligence" was also used for farming nearby.
It seemed that the wealthier people used artificial intelligence—formation spirits akin to strong AI—while the poorer ones naturally used intelligent life itself.
After all, intelligent life itself was actually the cheapest form of "strong intelligence."
But by the same token, intelligent life was also the most precious wealth in the universe. It merely depended on the angle from which one looked at it.
Just like trees.
In this universe, timber reserves were far lower than gold. Trees were the true rare treasure of this universe, while gold was merely an element.
But on Earth, a single gram of gold could buy vast quantities of wood. It was all a matter of perspective.
After Li Qi and Changqiao walked for a while, they could see the terraces narrowing, widening, sinking, and rising with the slope of the mountain and the boundaries of cultivation.
These small terraces had to grow many different crops, never resting throughout the four seasons. The people here had long developed methods for year-round cultivation; only this could feed so many people in the city.
Naturally, this required