A handful of Rogue Cultivators discovered by chance that they had spiritual roots. Han Li, for instance, only learned that he had a spiritual root because of Mo Juren. Otherwise, he might have gone his whole life without knowing.
Very few children from ordinary families discovered that they had spiritual roots, so the Mo Kingdom used compulsory education to identify those who did.
Of course, the Mo Kingdom currently had no Foundation Establishment Pills, so it could not help them reach Foundation Establishment. They could therefore graduate upon reaching the tenth level of Qi Refining, with two paths available: find a master on their own and continue cultivating, or join the Mo Kingdom's research teams.
Researchers with spiritual roots were certainly more welcome than mortals.
Finding a master on their own was difficult, because Rogue Cultivators had to attend the Ascension Conference and carve a path to survival through life-and-death combat. Only the victors qualified to enter a sect.
That had been true under the Seven Great Sects, and it remained true under the Ghost Spirit Sect. The Demonic Path did not have enough Foundation Establishment Pills either, so it could only recruit a small number of Rogue Cultivators at the Qi Refining stage.
The Mo Kingdom's research institutes gave Qi Refining Stage cultivators an entirely new choice.
Of course, the Mo Kingdom's technology also left the cultivators from Great Jin clicking their tongues in wonder. Machines could actually be driven by mechanical force alone. It was truly remarkable.
The two Nascent Soul cultivators did not need to mingle with the common people. Standing in midair, they could release their divine sense and gain a general understanding of Capital City. There was no need to go down among the populace when their divine sense could probe every last detail.
Although they had not specifically trained their divine sense, their cultivation had reached that level, so it could hardly be weak.
"The Mo Kingdom, the Mo Kingdom, the Mo Kingdom," Moon Worshipper repeated, a keen light flashing in his eyes.
Wine Butterfly Fairy said nothing, but she too was astonished by this extraordinary mortal nation.
"There's no mistaking it." Moon Worshipper seemed to have made up his mind about something.
"Do you really think it's her?"
"Who else could it be?" Moon Worshipper said. "Ever since I reached Nascent Soul, I've been searching for a way to ascend. I never imagined the truth would be so cruel. Even Deity Transformation experts are helpless. I know this world no longer has a future." At this point, his expression grew more somber than ever before.
"So you stopped working hard at cultivation, cast off all restraint, and started enjoying life while you could? You even wanted to find a Dao Companion?"
"That's right," Moon Worshipper said sheepishly. "Since there was no future, I might as well enjoy the present. I started cultivating at three. My aptitude was average, so I could only work twice as hard. In a thousand years, I've never even held a woman's hand. If I'm doomed to die, I want to die without regrets. I want to indulge myself, drink, practice dual cultivation, and live to my heart's content!"
Wine Butterfly Fairy found Moon Worshipper rather pitiful. His idea of indulgence amounted to drinking and dual cultivation. He really was a man with nothing but cultivation in his head.
"But after you met Mo Caihuan, you changed your mind again," she said.
"That's right, because I thought of a new future."
"Stellar power?"
"The spiritual energy in the Lower Realm is too thin to allow Deity Transformation cultivators to ascend anymore. It will only grow thinner, until cultivators face the predicament of having no spiritual energy to use. We need to find something else to replace it. Stellar power is unquestionably the first choice," Moon Worshipper said.
Yet Wine Butterfly Fairy said, "Those Deity Transformation experts aren't doing anything. How is it our place as Nascent Soul cultivators to worry about the future? If there's no spiritual energy, then there's no spiritual energy. It's not happening now, anyway."
"If everyone thinks that way, the Human Realm will have no future," Moon Worshipper said earnestly.
"But I don't see anything special about Mo Caihuan. She can absorb stellar power, but so what? In the end, she's only a mortal."
"Without spiritual energy, what good is a spiritual root? Wouldn't you still be a mortal? When we cultivators have no spiritual energy to use, we'll have to turn around and beg the Mo Kingdom to look after us." Moon Worshipper said solemnly, "I've already decided to help her cultivate stellar power. If she succeeds, she can establish a sect devoted to cultivating it."
Wine Butterfly Fairy could not help saying, "You don't act like a cultivator at all. Cultivators only need to think about their own cultivation. What does something like the future have to do with us?"
"If there's no future, what meaning is there in a cultivator's long lifespan?"
Neither would yield.
"How do you intend to help her cultivate stellar power? You know there isn't a single Stellar Power Cultivation Method in the Lower Realm."
Moon Worshipper frowned. That was indeed true. Stellar power was far too remote; merely drawing it down was already a difficult problem. But he believed there would be a way.
Mo Caihuan knew nothing of the changes in Moon Worshipper's thinking. She did not know that, during his travels through the mortal world, he had discovered the secret that ascension from the Lower Realm was no longer possible, and had begun worrying about its future.
Right now, she needed to save someone. Although two Nascent Soul cultivators were present, Mo Caihuan could not persuade them to help. She still followed Food Immortal's treatment plan: refining a Soul-Washing Pill.
Pill refinement was another highly difficult undertaking. Mo Caihuan repeatedly asked about the process, including the condition of the medicinal ingredients, the temperature of the flames, and changes in smell and color...
Food Immortal knew how to refine pills, but his knowledge consisted purely of experience. He had no data on temperature, humidity, duration, or anything else.
With enough data, one could simply follow the steps to refine a pill. Unfortunately, there was only experience to go on. It was just like cooking: add a little salt-but how much was "a little"? Everyone had their own experience.
Pill refinement therefore required trial and error, as well as considerable funding. Only by accumulating experience could skilled pill-refining cultivators be trained.
Mo Caihuan entrusted the task of tackling these difficulties to her second elder sister. Her sister oversaw a Pill Research Institute dedicated to solving the problems of pill refinement, with the goal of unraveling the secrets of the Foundation Establishment Pill and producing inexpensive, high-quality pills.
For now, it was only a beginning, and they produced nothing more than ordinary mortal pills. The Pill Research Institute hoped to use chemical synthesis to replace rare medicinal ingredients, and even those that had grown for decades or centuries.
Food Immortal also stayed at the institute. In his words, remaining by Mo Caihuan's side was too dangerous; he would rather stay in the laboratory and save people.
Back in Great Jin, he had asked Mo Caihuan to buy a piece of soul-nurturing wood. That way, he could inhabit it and remain at the institute.
He could sense that Mo Caihuan's fateful opportunity was approaching. He had already noticed that Moon Worshipper, a Nascent Soul cultivator, was constantly observing her. Something was certainly afoot, and continuing to stay inside her spirit altar would surely be dangerous.
Cultivators who could reach Nascent Soul all possessed an intuition for seeking fortune and avoiding disaster. Food Immortal's judgment was entirely correct. Moon Worshipper had been testing Mo Caihuan's character and was only waiting to make his final decision.
Once Food Immortal left, Mo Caihuan found herself reluctant to part with him. He had stayed in her spirit altar for thirty years. Though they bickered from time to time, he had given her a great deal of help.
She was deeply grateful to Food Immortal. If the opportunity arose, she would certainly find him a body.
Meanwhile, Moon Worshipper was still pondering how to help Mo Caihuan cultivate, and he found it difficult. Her lifespan alone was a thorny problem. She had fifty years left at most, and even that was a generous estimate.
He first had to find a way to extend her life before considering stellar power.
Methods of extending life existed, but there were not many, and most treated the symptoms rather than the root cause. For example, pills that prolonged life could increase one's lifespan, but the body would still deteriorate.
"Thinking about it now, Possession is the only option." After turning it over in his mind, Moon Worshipper could find no solution except to give Mo Caihuan a different body.
"Heh. Slaughtering the innocent for your so-called future? I don't think you're all that noble," Wine Butterfly Fairy said with a cold chuckle. "We cultivators shouldn't concern ourselves with the future. Thinking of ourselves is enough. Seizing resources for ourselves-that is what it means to say that what Heaven ordains is called nature, and following one's nature is called the Dao. Don't you find it ridiculous to dress up murder and plunder in such a grand, high-sounding excuse?"
Moon Worshipper was not angry in the slightest. He said with utter seriousness, "If I fail to open a path to the future, then it is indeed a grand, high-sounding excuse. But if I succeed, it will be a sacrifice made for the future. Those who give no thought to distant troubles will find worry close at hand. Someone has to consider the future, whether we like it or not."
In the past, cultivators could reach late Deity Transformation and ascend to the Upper Realm. Now, spiritual energy was so thin that they could no longer reach the realm required for ascension through their own efforts. In the future, it would grow thinner still, so preparations had to be made in advance. If no one prepared, then as spiritual energy continued to dwindle, they would all simply wait to die together.
Moon Worshipper did not want to wait for death. He wanted to do something for the future.