The Nature of the Spirit Machine

In the Sea of Consciousness, the White Jade Wine Pot floated as it always had.

But this time, what hovered at its mouth was no longer a ball of liquid spiritual force, but a miniature planet formed from Chu He's Planetary Level spiritual force.

Chu He was currently at the first level of the Star Traveler Stage, with only one miniature planet, which sat squarely in the center.

For every additional level he advanced at the Planetary Level, another miniature planet would appear in his Sea of Consciousness.

At that moment, besides the White Jade Wine Pot and the miniature planet, three Seeds of Divine Ability had appeared in Chu He's Sea of Consciousness. They revolved in an equilateral triangle around the miniature planet at its center.

"Whoosh!"

A burst of white mist suddenly spread from the miniature planet, enveloping one of the Seeds of Divine Ability.

The Seed of Divine Ability looked tiny, but when Chu He sent his Spiritual Force into it, he was instantly immersed in its depths.

"Too... too...!" Chu He was utterly stunned.

With his Planetary Level willpower and Spiritual Force, fully comprehending even one Seed of Divine Ability was clearly too difficult. He simply wasn't up to it.

The Seed of Divine Ability for the Spirit Guiding Technique was formed from countless tiny runes. Together, they coalesced into an oval seed.

Inside, the tiny runes linked and intertwined with one another, while Secret Pattern Circuits crossed and curled back.

In a daze, countless profound mysteries of the Spirit Machine burst forth.

"So... this is the Spirit Machine?"

After a long while, Chu He opened his eyes, a glint flashing briefly in them.

The so-called Spirit Machine was, in truth, the name used in the Wine God's universe for a mixture of different elements.

The two universes viewed things differently, but their worlds and matter were, in the end, more or less alike.

What the Wine God's universe called a Spirit Machine was, in this universe, a fusion of several things.

First, everything in the universe, no matter how abundant, contained a trace of the Cosmic Origin. The more Cosmic Origin an object contained, the more precious it was; the less it contained, the inferior it was.

Second, there were the various Cosmic Energy fluctuations emitted by things themselves. In the Wine God World, these were also called Qi Energy.

Third, there was the intelligence that gradually accumulated.

Everything in the universe had the potential to develop intelligence, nourished by the Cosmic Origin.

However, intelligence did not arise all at once. It accumulated little by little over the passage of time.

And before intelligence manifested, there was no doubt that these things possessed some degree of "spirit."

The Cosmic Origin was the foundation on which "spirit" existed.

The difference was that things containing more Cosmic Origin accumulated "spirit" faster, while those containing less accumulated it more slowly.

The Cosmic Origin, Qi Energy, and spirit combined to form what the Wine God called a "Spirit Machine."

Since the three differed in essence from one thing to another, they formed Spirit Machines with all kinds of different functions.

These three elements had counterparts in the Swallowed Star universe, too.

There was no need to mention the Cosmic Origin and energy fluctuations; every world had those.

"Spirit," however, was somewhat different.

In the Swallowed Star universe, the "Special Lifeforms" born when all kinds of things developed intelligence were countless in number. There was even more than one kind of "Energy Lifeform."

Compared with the Wine God universe, this universe clearly had a far richer abundance of "spirit."

That meant Spirit Machines could arise even within pure Cosmic Energy in this world.

"So... the upper limit of the Wine God Inheritance in this world might be even higher?" Chu He felt as if a fortune had dropped from the sky, and his heart began pounding.

"What an inheritance! What an incredible inheritance!" Unrestrained, cheerful laughter echoed through the Martial Arts Hall.

At the dinner table, Chu Tianxiong looked at his beaming, delighted eldest son, who had even eaten two more bowls of rice than usual, and couldn't help asking, "Son, what's gotten into you today?"

"Did something good happen? Why can't you stop grinning?"

"Exactly! You look like an idiot!" Chu Xi held both hands in front of her eyes, leaving gaps between her fingers wider than the fingers themselves. "You're even dumber than that big yellow dog from someone's house in our neighborhood. It's painful to look at you."

"Come on, cut it out!" Xu Qingqing pulled Chu Xi's hands down and put the chopsticks back in her hands. "What kind of thing is that for a young girl to say? Can't you learn something decent?"

"Oh, it's nothing major. I just found a great way to expand the sources of raw materials for our winery."

Chu He wasn't making that up.

Although Chu He still couldn't understand the Seed of Divine Ability as a whole, he could study its tiny runes individually.

He had spent nearly two hours that morning studying the Seed of Divine Ability for the Spirit Guiding Technique and had managed to gain a little insight.

After inscribing one simple, three-dimensional rune inside a Flying Dagger with his Spiritual Force, he sensed the nearest Spirit Machine when he activated the dagger with his Spiritual Force.

It was the Lingzhi body that remained after he had removed the Purple Bead.

The discovery delighted Chu He. He quickly found a smaller, thinner Embroidery Needle.

He inscribed the rune inside the needle as before. After several failed attempts, he finally managed to complete one.

He placed the successful needle on the smooth oak floor. Without Chu He even having to activate it, its point turned toward the Lingzhi nearby.

Seeing that, Chu He immediately understood. As long as he placed the Embroidery Needle on a smooth surface to minimize friction, it was essentially a Spirit-Pointing Needle!

A trinket like this didn't involve artifact refining at all. As long as the three-dimensional rune inside the Embroidery Needle was accurate, there was no difference between one Chu He inscribed with his Spiritual Force and one printed by any ordinary factory with a 3D printer.

Since the Great Nirvana, human technology had also advanced by leaps and bounds. 3D printers had long since become standard equipment in toy factories.

That meant all he needed to do was acquire a Toy Factory; its output would be enough to supply the entire world.

Then, to acquire materials containing Spirit Machines, he would only need to sell the Spirit-Pointing Needles.

He could also compile an e-book listing pictures and values for every herb and pair it with the needles. That would not only solve the problem of posting bounties, but would also let him update the book whenever he wanted.

The only question was what to call the book...

From the moment he had made the Spirit-Pointing Needle until breakfast, Chu He had been thinking about it. Compendium of Materia Medica, Illustrated Herbal Manual, True Explanation of Spirit Herbs... He had considered a whole host of names, but couldn't decide which one to use.

The problem was that each had something about it that didn't quite fit.

For now, he set the matter aside. He could decide once the book was complete.

Of course, if he wanted to acquire materials worldwide, he would first need to grow his own Jiuzhou Group into a major enterprise. At the very least, it would need a skyscraper in every Base City around the world.

"By the way, Dad..." When it came to business, Chu He's expression cleared and turned serious. "How is our Jiuzhou Group doing in the Six Great Base Cities?"