All scrolls are not me, only then do I know I am me!

At that moment, the blacksmiths were still gathered in small clusters, discussing Jiu Cai Rong's case in hushed tones.

Su Yu Niang was speechless. She ran over and kicked one of them, saying, "Stop chatting and get to work. They'll probably log in soon. What, are you all clocking in for the game like it's a job?"

The blacksmiths didn't react much to Su Yu Niang's promotion.

Her prestige was enough, especially after that conversation with Jiu Cai Rong yesterday.

The murderer was her!

Sure enough, the Stormy Mountain Villa detective plot had arrived!

But everyone just grumbled inwardly and started working. Yet no sooner had they begun than they couldn't help gossiping about today's hot topic.

"8:05, why hasn't he logged in? He's five minutes late. If he were running a guild event and the guild leader didn't show up like this, wouldn't the guild collapse?"

"I don't get it. This isn't a character collapse, is it? He's clearly the victim."

"You don't understand a thing. This is social death. His dark history got dug up."

"Right, right. You think it's easy. Some people would rather die than face social death. If you got in a car accident, you'd format your phone first thing! How about you make your browser history public to your relatives and friends and see how that goes?"

"Damn, hahahaha, I get it now."

"You're still laughing? That's too tragic. Just thinking about my parents and siblings giving me that weird look for being a simp makes me want to shove my head up my ass and hide indoors."

"By the way, what do you all think about the Copper of Shou Mountain mentioned yesterday?"

"Yeah, I think it's interesting. Even if it's not real, the Dog Planner watching from the shadows will definitely plagiarize it in secret, tweak the setting, and turn it into real Copper of Shou Mountain."

"Because it's a Golden Skull? So Magic Copper is formed from the Sea of Consciousness, meaning it can store infinite mana? The planner actually had that kind of foreshadowing!"

"This one is brass-colored."

"Maybe their skull's paint peeled off and faded!"

Everyone chatted happily while moving bricks, clearly treating it like a chatroom.

Su Yu Niang had been promoted to management, so she didn't have to haul bricks anymore. While supervising these leek laborers, she took the chance to sneak over to the Old Steward's side, planning to ask him some questions.

She was different from Jiu Cai Rong.

Jiu Cai Rong loved management; he was a business talent.

She, on the other hand, was a competitive player who craved excitement, adventure, monster-slaying, and leveling up. She was very interested in cultivation.

But cultivation wasn't the mainstream in this game. If she trained like a native, it would take ten or twenty years. That was way too slow.

A Spiritual Root, huh?

It looked super interesting!

But she had to give it a try.

"Old Steward, sir, if I want to cultivate, what should I do?"

Su Yu Niang's eyes sparkled. She flexed her bicep, her whole face screaming "give me a hidden quest," and boasted, "To be honest, among my kind, I'm the one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy!"

Ning Zheng looked up at her and understood that expectant tone well.

He had been the same back then.

But reality had dealt him a harsh blow.

That Fat Steward had looked at him with contempt and disdain, saying, "A waste like you wants to cultivate?" as if he were a dog on the street.

After all.

To put it nicely, the Dao is not lightly passed on. To put it bluntly, who wants someone else competing for resources?

Even though cultivation methods were now widespread and everyone in the world had a chance at transcendence, that only applied after reaching the standard of a Confucian Scholar, when the methods would be taught.

But before that, did a slave deserve to read? To cultivate?

"Cultivation is an extremely difficult matter. Fortunately, you've met me. I can help pave the path to seeking immortality, saving you some detours and hardship."

Ning Zheng sighed, stood up, and unlocked the door. A moment later, he brought out a few books from the steward's study:

"Cultivation begins with cultivating the heart. If you can understand these, you'll be qualified to cultivate. If you're still not convinced, you can give it a try."

Su Yu Niang stared blankly at "Understanding True Heart Studies," "Investigating Things to Know Oneself," and "Calming the Heart to Discuss Oneself." She opened the first page, and a wave of Taoist philosophical vibes hit her—all about self-cultivation.

So it was a health-preserving game after all.

Soon, Su Yu Niang was immersed in it.

She was a top student, after all. She wanted to see what kind of monsters and ghosts were in these books. Hopefully, they weren't some mishmash plagiarizing real-world classic philosophies.

A moment later.

She gradually felt something was off. "This book... it's incredible. It has its own system? The classics in it, at first glance, even surpass some ancient sayings. Making a game, and even the books are this interesting."

Her excitement grew, and she quickly gained an understanding of this world's system.

Why was reading so necessary?

The first step in cultivation is Opening the Three Flowers—the three flowers being essence, energy, and spirit. Opening these three windows is the key to unlocking the Heaven and Earth Bridge.

In essence, it requires self-examination, seeing one's true nature.

But even most modern people who have studied since childhood cannot achieve this.

Many modern people drift through life, clocking in and out, muddling along without dreams or firm convictions.

Let alone the ancients, who never even learned to read?

Without reading, they cannot even understand the world!

Some trap themselves within their own boundaries, never leaving their village in their entire lives, guarding their small plot of land, their eyes carrying a simple, foolish innocence.

So they must read, or they cannot endure that trial of self-examination, that barrier of opening the Heaven and Earth Bridge.

To put it in more elevated terms:

You may not have enough time to travel the land, to weather the dust of the world, to witness its splendor.

But when you read ten thousand scrolls, perusing the biographies, philosophies, lives, paths, and faiths of other ancients, experiencing their sorrows and great loves through their stories...

Finally, one morning, you set down the book and let out a long sigh: "All scrolls are not me; only then do I know I am me."

Thus, it is done. At last, you see the vast world within heaven and earth.

"This game's depth... is something else."

Su Yu Niang suddenly froze, tilting her head back to gaze at the vast sky above the Mountain Villa, her face full of awe: "This is cultivation. This is the Dao."

Ning Zheng looked at her and shook his head.

Cultivation is far too difficult. It cannot be achieved in a single month or day.

Still, their cultivation was a good thing. They probably wouldn't succeed anyway, but there were two major benefits.

First, the wages they earned—Magic Coins—would have somewhere to be spent.

Second, even if they gained no real cultivation, their bodies would be refined by spiritual energy, becoming high-quality forging materials. Their bodies would become quite tempting.

Wasn't this just like a Blacksmith forging iron to earn money, using it to strengthen his own body, and then after death, his body becoming forging material again? The money would just flow back to the Mountain Villa?

"Earn it here, spend it here, not a single coin leaves?"

Ning Zheng rubbed his chin, secretly doing the math.

Besides, while breaking through to higher realms might take years or even decades, entering the lower realms was still possible for them! They could become the lowest-tier support-class cultivators and still be useful.

One must know that the cultivation world has many non-combat sub-professions.

Their Mountain Villa followed the path of the Artifact Refiner, but there were also Spirit Farmers and Alchemists.

Spirit Farmers were the most common in cultivation circles.

Their main job was planting Spirit Rice.

But even that required reaching the First Body of the Five Bodies Realm, Opening the Three Flowers on the Crown, and becoming an entry-level cultivator before one could qualify as a Spirit Farmer.

Because different types of rice seeds produced different kinds of Spirit Rice.

Their region belonged to the minority Rice Miao Tribe, which practiced witchcraft and shamanism, with strong local customs. The local specialty was a Spirit Rice called [Wine Rice].

This Wood Spirit Root would manifest a corresponding [Innate Divine Ability: Top Rice Flower], growing golden wheat-like hair that resembled delicate braids, giving them a distinctly ethnic appearance.

This was the specialization of Spirit Roots—some Spirit Roots only existed in specific regions.

Spirit Farmers had to meditate daily, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, using their spiritual wisdom to nurture the [Top Rice Flower], then wash their hair with spiritual water to moisturize it, fertilize and care for it, and remove pests and mites.

It was said that some low-level Spirit Farmer couples, when the first rays of sunlight rose each morning, would have breakfast by gnawing on each other's hair, not even bothering to peel the husks.

All in the name of frugality.

Clearly, the life of a Spirit Farmer was also hard.

Moreover, once someone became a Spirit Farmer, their Spirit Root could not be changed. They would be a non-combat Spirit Farmer for life.

When other cultivators passed through this region, they would also be greatly astonished, saying things like, "The natives here are truly savage—they grow Spirit Rice on their heads," "Others open the three flowers of essence, energy, and spirit; they open rice flowers," "We must respect local customs," and "Let's take two catties of their specialty rice back."

Regardless.

Spirit Rice, Magic Coins, and Meat Fields were known as the three basic cultivation resources.

Ning Zheng had never eaten Spirit Rice or Meat Fields. He only used Magic Coins for cultivation, so his progress was truly slow.

In other words, aside from his special Luck Value ability, his realm was equivalent to that of any common Spirit Farmer wandering the outside world.

Ning Zheng looked at Su Yu Niang, who was struggling to read and understand, and sighed:

"Although the chances are slim, if it really might work, perhaps I could find a Spirit Root for her and let her try cultivating this kind of non-combat Spirit Farmer root. She could grow a head of golden Twin Tails rice-flower braids."