Although he had formed his Golden Core, Li Xingkong's life remained largely unchanged after returning to Earth Star.
I spend most of my time at home, either pondering matters of spiritual practice or playing games.
With the promotion of cultivation, modern blockbuster games have also incorporated cultivation methods. While they may not offer an immersive experience, they still boast a 70-80% level of realism.
Moreover, modern games are no longer limited by device. As long as you know some magic and have a game disc, you can play anywhere.
After cultivating for so long, Li Xingkong finally got to relax for a few days.
However, judging from his current thinking speed, these games are still somewhat crude and not enough for him to play.
After only a few days, Li Xingkong found it rather boring.
Moreover, because his physical strength has increased several levels, he can now eat anything as easily as eating compressed biscuits; it turns into crumbs as soon as he puts his mouth to it, without any enjoyment whatsoever.
Having cultivated for so long, Li Xingkong felt that entertainment for an ordinary person was becoming less and less effective for him.
Although his need for entertainment has indeed decreased considerably after cultivating for so long, and he could sit still for hundreds of years doing nothing, it doesn't mean that Li Xingkong has no need for entertainment at all.
Humans have a need for entertainment, and immortals are no exception. After all, the purpose of cultivation is to achieve freedom, and most of the time spent in freedom is to please oneself.
After a few more days, Li Xingkong felt increasingly bored, so bored that he wanted to find something to do.
"System, how did those great cultivators entertain themselves before? I feel like the entertainment methods from my ordinary life have no appeal to me at all now."
With nothing to do, Li Xingkong turned to the system.
"You've come to the right person. There are countless ways for cultivators to entertain themselves."
Speaking of this, the system perked up. The current entertainment options on Earth Star are too rudimentary, like children playing games, and they really don't pique any interest.
For example?
Li Xingkong a few tricks from the book.
"For example, clearing out a vacuum zone in space that's a dozen light-years in diameter, then having each person create a planet and play marbles~"
The system thought for a moment and gave an example.
"Hey, isn't this just playing marbles? What's the difference between this and the ones we played with as kids?"
Li Xingkong chuckled.
"You don't know anything! Does the game matter? What matters is the people you play with. Other people can invite dozens of powerful cultivators to play together, while you have to use your Divine Sense to play with yourself even for a It Takes Two -player game."
The system also looked down on Li Xingkong; what kind of cultivator stays at home all day and never goes out to socialize?
"Is that even playing games? It's all about socializing with an ulterior motive; it's pointless. Is there anything else?"
Li Xingkong shook his head. He wanted to play games, and there were plenty of people eager to play with him. What did it matter if there were many people?
"Yes, there are. Like live-action RTS, where you randomly pick a Death Star, modify it, and then release various species into it to fight each other, seeing who comes out on top. Or there are things like God games. Actually, many game genres already have their prototypes in the world of ordinary people, it's just that great cultivators play on a much larger scale."
Well, the essence remains the same no matter how things change; the games cultivators play are pretty much the same.
"However, now that you've reached the Golden Core stage, you can still handle a larger game if you want."
Perhaps it was the mention of games that piqued the system's interest, as it started making recommendations for the first time ever.
What game?
Li Xingkong became interested; since he was bored anyway, having a little something to do wouldn't hurt.
Have you PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds?
Suddenly, the system uttered an old-fashioned game name.
"Yeah, I've played it, PUBG, it's a classic."
Li Xingkong answered instinctively.
"What, you want me to make a real-life PUBG game? That's way too anti-human."
"Hey, that's exactly what I was thinking."
The system was delighted.
"That would be pure demonic behavior! What kind of lousy idea is that?"
Li Xingkong was speechless.
"Of course we're not going to have real people fight each other directly. You're thinking way too far ahead."
The system rolled its eyes at Li Xingkong.
"I ask you, what do you think life, in human beings or any other living thing, is?"
"Life? That's too abstract a question. Isn't living just having life, and dying means you're gone?"
Li Xingkong scratched his head.
"If I said that life, like other natural creations, simply follows the laws of nature and has nothing special about it, would you agree?"
The system continued to ask follow-up questions.
"That's true, but life itself has thoughts, right? It's different from some inanimate objects."
"So what are you trying to say? That the total amount of matter doesn't change whether a person is alive or dead, so killing them is the same as not killing them?"
It's a shame Li Xingkong isn't a heretical cultivator with that kind of thought process; if he actually put his idea into practice, he'd truly be inhuman.
"Pah, pah, pah, what kind of weird logic is that?"
Even the system couldn't take it anymore.
"What I mean is, after you reach the Golden Core, the physical structure of ordinary people, even some low-level cultivators, and even their entire bodies, will no longer be any secret to you."
"In the eyes of Golden Core cultivator, an ordinary person is almost the same as a mobile phone or a computer. I ask you, if your mobile phone breaks, can you fix it?"
Li Xingkong nodded. Of course, he could repair a cell phone just by looking at it, and even restore it to its original state without any problem.
"Right, so you can fix cell phones, but if an ordinary person dies, why can't you fix them?"
Li Xingkong was somewhat shocked by the system's statement; he had never really thought about this.
In Li Xingkong's eyes, human life is still precious and irreplaceable.
But then the system suddenly told him that he now had the ability to experience a final burst of energy, to bring the dead back to life, and to White Bone. Naturally, he was a little confused.
Huh? Is this something I can do?
"Think about it, where is a person's most essential nature?"
The system has begun booting.
"Hmm, the brain."
This is beyond doubt; let alone Li Xingkong, this point was already proven as early as the Middle Ages.
Lavoisier, the "father of modern chemistry," was an extremely great chemist who was beheaded.
Before he was put on the execution platform, he was still studying whether he would retain consciousness briefly after his head was cut off.
He conducted a simple experiment. He told the executioner that after he died, if his consciousness was still in his brain, he would control his blinking and have the executioner record the number and duration of his blinks.
Finally, after the head was severed, the executioner watched him blink 11 times before finally dying.
"Yes, although the human body is incredibly complex, the core of a person's consciousness, memory, and personality are all located in the brain. A person's control over the whole body also benefits from processing through the nervous system in the brain. Therefore, as long as the brain doesn't die, the whole person can still be saved."
"And for a Golden Core cultivator, this is even more pronounced. As long as your memory structure is intact, you can resurrect on the spot without losing anything."
"So, even if I play a real-life PUBG game, I can still end up with zero casualties?"
Li Xingkong looked at his hands. Nothing special. He really didn't know that Golden Core Stage cultivators were this powerful.