Everyone Can Cultivate!

In his previous life, Lin Ke had spent some time pondering this question.

Why were some people willing to die for their ideals and convictions, while others clung to life and feared death so much that they abandoned their wives and children, along with everything they believed in?

After transmigrating here, he had gained some insight.

Cultivators here could live for ten thousand years-a literal ten thousand years.

But was living ten thousand years the way you wanted really the same as merely remaining biologically alive for ten thousand years?

Living for countless millennia as a vegetable, a human swine stripped of limbs, or a slave.

Living for a hundred years as a Celestial Emperor, an Immortal Venerable, or a king.

Which would you choose?

That was why Lin Ke had a very clear understanding of himself.

He could retire to the countryside, "picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, leisurely gazing upon the southern mountains."

Or he could choose "ten thousand years is too long; seize only the day." That day could be the one in "having heard the Dao at dawn, one may die content at dusk," or the fleeting moment of "choosing a death weightier than Mount Tai."

Of course, whichever life he chose, he needed to possess power. Only with power would he have the right to choose.

Having a sword and not using it was different from having no sword at all.

"Life and death, a life worth living... I understand, Exalted Immortal Lin." Fang Tong gained some insight, then looked at his son.

His son, Fang Mang, nodded with only a hazy understanding, then said, "Exalted Immortal Lin, I want to learn to fly."

Fly?

Lin Ke nodded. "Once you cultivate, you can feast on astral winds at dawn and drink from the Yellow Springs at dusk. You can soar into the heavens and delve beneath the earth. Nothing will be beyond you."

As soon as he said this, envy appeared on everyone's faces.

But they also knew that crossing the divide between immortal and mortal was like crossing a heavenly chasm.

Had Fang Tong not served Lin Ke so capably, his son would never have received such an opportunity.

Sometimes, what people of one class could obtain with a mere reach of the hand was an opportunity others could not secure despite generations of striving.

"Then thank you very much, Exalted Immortal Lin." Fang Tong bowed respectfully.

Had he not known that Lin Ke disliked such formalities, he probably would have wanted to perform three kneelings and nine kowtows.

This was a chance to change his family's fate after generations spent as mortals at the very bottom!

"But the Transmission Elder is probably busy these next couple of days. We'll have to wait a few days," Lin Ke said.

Naturally, Fang Tong and the others had no objections.

They then waited where they were for Zong Ya to return, while Lin Ke continued opening up the underground world.

By the time Zong Ya returned, Lin Ke had more or less finished excavating it.

He had no experience building an underground city like this. He had simply followed the layout of buildings aboveground and built downward in reverse.

He could only modify it later as their needs arose.

They did not wait long before Zong Ya flew in alone from afar, her expression grave.

"Senior Sister, how are things outside?" Seeing her, Lin Ke went forward to meet her.

"Everyone fears for their own safety!" Zong Ya shook her head. "Almost everyone in the Yi-Wa Market has fled..."

Many people merely had lower cultivation levels. Cultivation did not determine intelligence.

Even setting everything else aside, the Golden Wing Sect had lost a Nascent Soul elder. If it failed to settle the score, it would probably never be able to hold its head high anywhere in the Poison Tempering Mountains again.

And as for the Poison Tempering Mountains, how could anyone have incited a mass uprising of demons and then slain a Nascent Soul elder of the Golden Wing Sect without planning and preparation behind it?

Thus, anyone with discerning eyes could see that war was about to break out.

Countless wars had broken out in the cultivation world. Almost all dragged on for years and devastated heaven and earth, only ending when the will of the highest authorities on both sides-or even several sides-changed.

Now, the Cloud Frontier had gone thousands of years without war.

The most recent war to engulf the entire Cloud Frontier had taken place in ancient times, when cultivators arrived from beyond its borders and fought the various local ethnic tribes.

The result was that fewer than one in ten of the various peoples' Great Shamans and Old Hans survived, while the cultivation sects grew and flourished in the Cloud Frontier.

As for the Demon Race, which had always lived in the Cloud Frontier?

They had probably fought wars against the various ethnic groups before, but those events had long since vanished beneath the river of history.

No one knew, nor did it matter.

They had, however, never fought a major war against the cultivation sects.

Now, just a month earlier, the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable had let out an enraged roar. Even the Golden Wing Sect's sect master had been alarmed and had to travel to the Dali Domain to discuss important matters with the leaders of other sects.

That was proof enough that war was approaching!

Clever people would certainly prepare early.

Not to mention the Nascent Soul elder's earlier scream, which had echoed throughout the entire sect.

"Then did you manage to buy anything, Senior Sister?"

What concerned Lin Ke were consumables such as formations and cultivation pills, including the glowshrooms they had discussed earlier.

"I did buy a few things." Zong Ya nodded slightly, then walked to an empty patch of ground nearby and waved her hand.

The next instant, a large pile of items appeared on the ground.

"These are seeds you can use for farming." Zong Ya looked at Fang Tong beside them. "You have yet to attain grain abstinence and still need to eat. These will meet that need."

"Thank you for keeping us in mind, Exalted Immortal." Naturally, Fang Tong hurriedly bowed with a smile.

Lin Ke could not help smiling as well. "You thought of everything, Senior Sister. I really did nearly forget."

To many cultivators, the mortals of the Green Mulberry Garden were of little use-nothing but burdens.

For the people of the Golden Wing Sect, things were different.

The Golden Wing Sect was famed for its many businesses, with monthly flows of spirit stones as vast as mountains and seas.

Mortals in the Golden Wing Sect could tend and raise spirit insects or spirit herbs, giving the sect's disciples more time to cultivate or pursue side occupations.

And to Lin Ke, mortals meant something even more different.

After all, the Green Mulberry Garden he maintained openly fulfilled only one of his needs. His other need involved Lin Can and the Niwan Palace!

Only by fusing different kinds of spirit insects through his Niwan Palace could he possibly create, by chance, spirit insects that were unusual, powerful, and useful.

That required him to possess a great many spirit insects, with as many varieties as possible.

Naturally, so many spirit insects needed people to manage and raise them.

Mortals were the best choice.

And what about Lin Can?

Lin Can could "duplicate" things for him!

But only if she had enough food!

Moreover, probably because Lin Can had been formed from the combination of the Mysterious Tree Seed and a Blackgold Silkworm egg, she could only eat insects and had no interest in pigs, cattle, sheep, fish, or the like.

Raising insects was therefore imperative.

So, with all these factors combined, the farmers of the Green Mulberry Garden, who had raised insects for the Golden Wing Sect for generations, were precisely the best helpers Lin Ke could have.

"But in that case, moving all of them underground leaves you with a great deal to consider." A trace of worry seemed to linger stubbornly between Zong Ya's brows.

"I know you must have your reasons for doing this. If you need my help, just say the word."

Zong Ya did not know why Lin Ke wanted to bring so many burdens down with him.

After all, although the Golden Wing Sect had many businesses and claimed to occupy the hundred thousand mountains of the Poison Tempering Mountains, not every disciple's holdings were doing well.

But she trusted Lin Ke, so rather than asking more questions, she simply helped.

"Don't worry, Senior Sister. I know what I'm doing." Lin Ke felt warmth welling up within him.

Zong Ya was worthy of trust. He could trust her.

No matter the era, trustworthy people were few and far between. Usually, they were one's parents or children.

A cultivator he could trust was an enormous help to Lin Ke.

With that thought, Lin Ke said to Fang Tong and the others, "In the future, if the opportunity arises, I'll make it possible for everyone to cultivate!"

Sects stood in great numbers throughout this world, but they valued the "intellectual property" of cultivation methods, legacies, and other knowledge far more than people had in his previous life.

For the sake of a legacy, two sects might even fight until one was utterly destroyed!

This was also why Fang Tong and the others had never had a chance to cultivate, generation after generation.

Sectarian prejudice!

Bloodline prejudice!

It was just like ancient times in his previous life, when powerful aristocratic clans would rather leave their books in storerooms to be eaten by insects than lend them to poor scholars or let commoners so much as glance at them.

Knowledge was precious.

Some people from the internet age, the age of exploding information, struggled to appreciate just how precious it was.

But Lin Ke knew that if you wanted a horse to run fast, you had to feed it grass-and good grass at that.

So, if it became possible in the future, he wanted to cultivate his own core group.

He harbored little sectarian prejudice.

Thus, as soon as he finished speaking, the breathing of every Green Mulberry Garden farmer before him grew heavy.

"C-cultivate?!"