"I actually brought it back?"
Su Wen was somewhat stunned, but on second thought, it seemed perfectly reasonable.
He had already traveled to the future, so what was so strange about bringing something back from it?
Besides, during his run in the future, he had tucked the jade slip into his robes.
So Wealth Disrupts Space-Time means spending wealth to travel to the future.
Then, when I die in the future, that's the end of it for me.
Since I don't belong to that future space-time, I'll be rejected by the long river of space-time.
Hmm... does that mean my future self is dead or not?
Su Wen couldn't help wondering what would happen if his future self were doing something somewhere while his past self was judged dead by the long river of space-time.
If his past self was dead, could his future self still live?
Without a past, where would the future come from?
He shook his head slightly, casting the jumble of thoughts out of his mind.
Why was he thinking so much about it?
Wasn't the point of Wealth Disrupts Space-Time to let him travel into the future?
Even if it really would have side effects on his future, would he abandon the talent and leave it unused?
Ultimately, the long river of space-time rejecting the soul of his past self was effectively a way for him to revive, wasn't it?
Otherwise, he shouldn't have been able to walk out of the police station. His corpse might have been nearly cold by now.
Buzz!
Just then, the bloodstained jade slip suddenly trembled.
The next instant, a stream of information appeared in Su Wen's mind.
A moment later, Su Wen's eyes cleared, and his gaze was somewhat complicated.
It turned out that the bloodstained jade slip was a technique-transmission talisman that would only begin to see widespread use seven years in the future.
The cultivation technique within the jade slip was called the Body Refining Art, a method anyone could practice to strengthen their body and improve their health.
The technique had been developed by the future Huaxia at a great cost in manpower, materials, and money, drawing on certain theories and ideas from the cultivation techniques and divine abilities that the Heavenly Mandate Bearers had brought out of the Rule Vector Mirror.
Finally, it had been created as a foundation-building technique based on an analysis of ordinary people's physical constitutions.
The Body Refining Art contained eighteen body-strengthening forms in total, each with its own breathing method.
If ordinary people practiced diligently every day and had a sufficient supply of medicinal resources, their physical constitutions would undergo a qualitative leap within a few months.
With their strength increased and the difficulty of the Rule Vector Mirror unchanged, the number of Heavenly Mandate Bearers in Huaxia would leap.
Those who practiced the Body Refining Art while they were still ordinary people would even become stronger after becoming Heavenly Mandate Bearers.
Thus, the Body Refining Art could be called an epoch-making divine art!
Crack!
Cracks began to appear on the bloodstained jade slip, and it rapidly crumbled at a speed visible to the naked eye. As if some force were acting upon it, it turned into a handful of dust in the blink of an eye.
"Alas!"
Su Wen sighed softly. It was somewhat unexpected that the technique-transmission talisman could only pass on its technique once.
What truly left him with complicated feelings, however, was the concluding reflection he had seen on the final page after receiving the eighteen body-strengthening forms of the Body Refining Art. It had been left by the leader of Huaxia's Cultivation Technique Research Group.
"Postscript.
Seven years ago, the Rule Vector Mirror suddenly shattered. Alien races emerged from the Arrow Mirror, kindling the flames of war and unleashing conflict across the world. Our nation and people faced a grave crisis.
I was entrusted with this task in a time of peril, and led the group members in fear and trepidation as we gnawed our way through theories of cultivation, the fundamentals of cultivation techniques, and research materials on divine abilities. With the Star God's help, the group members soon gained some understanding of the study of cultivation techniques.
Through constant trial and error and repeated failures, we finally succeeded in compiling a foundation-building technique suited to the physical meridians of our Huaxia people.
The Star God made an indelible contribution to the creation of this technique.
During the technique's testing, the Star God's divine implements were almost entirely destroyed in support of the group members' hypotheses.
All of us should pay tribute to the Star God!
This technique is intended primarily for ordinary people undergoing the Heavenly Mandate Bearer trial. A normal person can practice safely up to the twelfth form. Please determine the length of your practice sessions according to your own physical condition.
The advent of the Body Refining Art should have been a cause for universal celebration, yet over half our territory has been lost. I truly do not know where joy could be found.
I hope you will all fight on!
We of the cultivation technique group will also fight on the front lines of cultivation technique invention and improvement, joining you all in the struggle against the alien races!
September 2031, Xu Zimin."
Su Wen picked up his cup and took a sip of water, thoughts passing through his mind.
It was 2022 now, so ten years later would be 2032.
In other words, the Body Refining Art would not be compiled until nine years from now.
The Body Refining Art was indeed a divine foundation-building art, but it required a great deal of time to lay the groundwork before its potential could burst forth.
How many more years could the Huaxia of the future hold out?
"So, the Rule Vector Mirror will shatter in two years?"
"Then the alien races will invade, war will break out, and all living beings will be plunged into misery."
"The state sent Xu Zimin to lead the Cultivation Technique Research Group in developing the Body Refining Art. If it were made widely available ten years early, the situation in the future would definitely be different."
"The potential of the Heavenly Mandate Bearers would be brought out, and their numbers would also increase explosively."
"And in ten years, the Body Refining Art... would surely be revised and improved, wouldn't it?"
"So the God of Wealth's Wealth Disrupts Space-Time is basically a way to exploit a bug?"
"Travel to the future, search for future cultivation techniques, bring them back to the present and hand them over to the state to make widely available, then travel forward again and search for brand-new cultivation techniques developed over those ten years."
"..."
A moment later, Su Wen looked up at the ceiling and let out a breath of foul air.
From the words Xu Zimin had left behind, he roughly understood that the God of Wealth class was probably extremely special.
His earlier assumption that everyone had a talent comparable to Wealth Flows In might have been wrong.
Wealth Flows In!
Wealth Disrupts Space-Time!
These two talents were highly unusual!
And thinking back on what Li Wenze had said while collecting his information...
He would wait until the Arrow Realm trial was over and he had met the professional who would assess his abilities before considering anything else!
For some reason, he kept feeling that he needed to be a little careful.
It was the first time he had ever felt this way, but now that he had become a Heavenly Mandate Bearer, he felt he should trust this mysterious, inexplicable feeling.
"Star God..."
Su Wen murmured softly. For the Body Refining Art to come into being, the Star God's divine implements had been almost entirely destroyed.
Star God was probably a Heavenly Mandate Bearer's class.
Although he did not know what divine implements were, that did not stop him from seeing how precious they were between the lines of Xu Zimin's words.
And judging from Xu Zimin's high regard for the Star God, the Star God probably had the most extensive theoretical knowledge of cultivation techniques.
Having given everything to the research of cultivation techniques, the Star God's character probably wasn't too bad.
"You know me?"
Suddenly, a cool, clear voice reached Su Wen's ears from beside him.
The next moment, a black-clad figure wearing a star-patterned mask appeared in the rented room, looking at Su Wen with great interest.