Returning, Ding Yun, following past practice, sold off partial control over world origins and intended to seize the opportunity to continue her exploration missions.
However, when she opened the mission page, she discovered that the new universe exploration mission had already concluded.
[The New Technology Universe Exploration Mission has been successfully completed. Technology Universe Z7546 has officially been incorporated into the rule of the Origin Universe and is now managed by the Origin Universe Civilization Bureau.
Three standard universe days ago, the Origin Universe captured a Yuanqi Universe in its energy prosperity phase. If personnel wish to continue this work, they may click the button to register for Yuanqi Universe exploration.]
As this information clarified the situation, a button appeared in Ding Yun's mind.
A button to register for Yuanqi Universe exploration.
“It’s over so quickly. High-paying jobs with little risk are indeed appealing. A Yuanqi Universe in its energy prosperity phase is much more dangerous than an ordinary technology universe. Oh well, fortune favors the bold. I’ll register anyway.
After all, death only means losing some origin.
My true spirit won’t be extinguished.”
After experiencing the high reward of completing one mission and gaining so many origin coins, Ding Yun could no longer look down on her previous troublesome and low-earning tasks.
Therefore, upon discovering that the new technology universe exploration had concluded with no new missions, but that she could participate in the exploration of another universe, she clicked the button to register without much hesitation.
Next came the review, which was passed,
followed by a perusal of work guidelines and important notices.
Finally, there was the signing of the contract.
Upon completion of the signing, her consciousness chip’s work schedule immediately updated. Her work objectives and tasks were now designated for the Yuanqi Universe Exploration Team.
The rest was largely similar to before.
The same process of task handover.
The most significant difference was the worlds they would be responsible for exploring and inscribing. A Yuanqi Universe in its energy prosperity phase would not be devoid of purely technological worlds; there would inevitably be individuals with special abilities.
Espers, sorcerers, mages.
Cultivators, demons, and the like could all appear.
With bad luck, even true immortals, gods, Buddhas, and demons might show up, making the inscription extremely difficult.
It was a situation where danger and opportunity coexisted.
After signing the contract, and considering she had little to prepare, Ding Yun quickly randomized a new world and a new golden finger, and with that golden finger, she began the Yuanqi Universe exploration mission.
Considering it was a new universe and a new world,
Ding Yun specially sacrificed three hundred origin coins.
To ensure a slightly better start.
——————————————
The moment she entered the original body, Ding Yun hurriedly used her mental power to suppress the surging True Essence within the body. While doing so, she meticulously combed through the True Essence with her mental power, repairing the damaged meridians inside the body,
and simultaneously read through the original body’s memories.
This was a cultivation world. Some cultivators were aloof, dwelling in immortal caves and blessed lands, untainted by the mortal realm. Some cultivators established sects and expanded their influence. Others supported mortal dynasties, helping them to gather spiritual resources.
Beyond that, scattered here and there were countless cultivation families, large and small, appearing endlessly.
The weak became local overlords.
The strong could even disregard royalty or major sects.
The Liu family, where the original body belonged, was one of the eight major local overlords of Jiyun City in Beihai Commandery of the Great Gan Dynasty.
It was a standard Foundation Establishment family.
That is, it was a cultivation family whose strongest cultivator was at the Foundation Establishment realm. Their Great Gan Dynasty was not particularly powerful, and Jiyun City was considered a poor, remote region.
Their strength was somewhat lacking.
Being an overlord at the Foundation Establishment realm was also normal.
Six of the eight local overlords were at this level. The other two were martial arts families. Although they did not cultivate immortality, they had several Grandmaster level martial artists.
A Grandmaster level martial artist was comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Thus, they were naturally qualified to stand alongside them.
The original body was a legitimate concubine’s daughter of the Liu family. This meant her grandfather was the current patriarch of the Liu family, a Foundation Establishment expert. Her father was the second son of the main wife, and her mother was a concubine.
As her father’s cultivation was not high and he was not diligent,
his main responsibility was to procreate.
This was typical for smaller cultivation families. Those with good spiritual root aptitude would diligently cultivate. Those with spiritual roots but poor aptitude would have more children, hoping for more offspring with spiritual roots. While spiritual roots could not be inherited and their appearance was unpredictable, couples with spiritual roots were indeed more likely to give birth to children with spiritual roots.
If they had poor aptitude and cultivation, but possessed spiritual roots, they couldn’t just eat at home. So, they had more children.
However, those with spiritual roots were a minority. Thus, the original body’s father’s main wife was hired from another overlord family and was a legitimate daughter with spiritual roots. The remaining concubines were ordinary people with good looks but no spiritual roots.
After all, when gambling on luck, one had to cast a wide net.
Finding several was better than relying on just one for offspring.
Because of this, the original body had many siblings. Excluding legitimate and illegitimate children, she had six elder brothers and nine elder sisters above her, and thirteen younger brothers and twenty-seven younger sisters below her. However, these siblings were not all ranked. At the age of three, the family would test for spiritual roots.
Only those with spiritual roots would be given names and entered into the family registry. Those without spiritual roots were demoted to collateral branches and sent away to be raised.
After this screening, the original body was left with only one legitimate elder sister and one illegitimate elder brother. Below her, there was only one younger brother, and four younger siblings who had not yet reached the age.
They could not yet be tested for spiritual roots.
Even this was considered good luck, as another family in the clan had given birth to over seventy children, none of whom had spiritual roots. The patriarch had ordered them to stop having children.
He also instructed them to raise those children themselves.
And this was still not the end of the screening.
After testing for spiritual roots, the family would uniformly provide enlightenment for all children. When the children reached seven years old, they would begin teaching them the most basic Qi Refining techniques.
To accurately determine the quality and attribute of a child’s spiritual roots, one would need at least the Golden Core realm,
or a relatively good spiritual root testing artifact.
They possessed neither of these, so their family’s so-called spiritual root testing only confirmed that a child had spiritual roots, but their quality and attribute were unknown.
To differentiate accurately, they could only have all children practice the most basic Qi Refining techniques. By observing their time to entry, they could somewhat accurately identify who had better spiritual roots and who had worse.
At the same time, when their spiritual energy entered their bodies,
they would be asked to sense which attribute of spiritual energy they felt most drawn to, thus roughly inferring their spiritual root attributes and then switching to corresponding attribute cultivation methods.
After entering cultivation, the Liu family had another screening criterion: if a child could not reach the fourth layer of Qi Refining, meaning the mid-Qi Refining stage, before reaching adulthood,
then they would be deemed to have poor aptitude.
The family would not only stop supplying resources but would also intervene to arrange marriages for them. For males, it meant quickly marrying a legitimate wife with spiritual roots from another family and taking many ordinary mortal concubines to produce more offspring for the family.
For females, it meant marrying the similarly abandoned, spiritual-rooted descendants of other families, serving as tools for procreation.
If you didn't marry off your daughters with spiritual roots, why would others send their daughters with spiritual roots to be daughters-in-law?
Intermarriage among local overlords was common.
It had even become a tradition.
The original body’s aptitude was poor, and she was to reach adulthood in six months. However, she absolutely did not want to marry someone and spend the rest of her life giving birth and serving her husband.
Therefore, she had fiercely decided to go into seclusion to break through.
Hoping to advance from the third layer of Qi Refining to the fourth sooner.
Unfortunately, her breakthrough failed, she suffered qi deviation, and died.
As the memories were processed, Ding Yun’s mental power finally managed to subdue the violent True Essence within the original body. Leveraging the cultivation technique from the memories, she successfully broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.
However, since she was not in a hurry to exit seclusion, after stabilizing her True Essence, she quickly took out her golden finger.
[Life-Consuming Immortal Cultivation Artifact]
Host: Liu Yan (Ding Yun)
Lifespan: 89 (Qi deviation, origin damaged)
Cultivation Method: Water-Wood Art, Layer 4 (+)
Skill: Spring Rain Technique, Minor Accomplishment (+)
"Consume lifespan to upgrade cultivation methods and skills."
“The original body’s spiritual root was most likely of the Water-Wood attribute, and the cultivation method was also geared towards extending lifespan. Therefore, her theoretical lifespan should have exceeded one hundred years.
However, she recently suffered qi deviation and her foundation was damaged.
So, this data is not problematic. But is life-consuming immortal cultivation necessary? Never mind, I’ll try it first. I still have plenty of Fire Dates obtained from Ma Gu in my soul space.
Both Jiaoli and Fire Dates are gifts from the God of Longevity.
Each can extend life by ten years. A slight loss of lifespan should not be a concern. Let’s see how much life it consumes!”
After reviewing the newly acquired golden finger, Ding Yun’s mind quickly decided to give it a try. The next moment, she used her mental power to click the plus sign behind the cultivation method "Water-Wood Art." She then felt some of the body’s lifespan and vitality being drawn away and converted within the Life-Consuming Immortal Cultivation Artifact before transforming into pure Water-Wood True Essence and integrating into her current body.
As this True Essence surged in, and the cultivation method automatically operated, Ding Yun soon achieved another breakthrough.
She reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
Her lifespan decreased by one year.
This speed and lifespan consumption were quite worthwhile compared to the original body’s cultivation speed. After all, the original body began cultivating at seven years old and cultivated for ten years to reach the third layer of Qi Refining. Furthermore, her breakthrough to the fourth layer failed due to qi deviation. Now, in just one year of lifespan, she had directly advanced one realm. If calculated carefully, it saved her two to three years of cultivation time compared to her own cultivation.
After all, she had no confidence in successfully breaking through to the fifth layer of Qi Refining within two to three years.
Out of curiosity and her own long lifespan, Ding Yun continued to tap the plus sign several more times, directly upgrading the "Water-Wood Art" through life-consumption to its maximum level, twelve.
Her own cultivation also reached the twelfth layer of Qi Refining.
The theoretical perfect completion of the Qi Refining stage.
The next realm was Foundation Establishment. However, the original body’s cultivation method did not include the Foundation Establishment portion. The Foundation Establishment part required her to reach the perfect completion of Qi Refining and then collect it from the family patriarch.
Therefore, the plus sign behind the cultivation method disappeared.
It could no longer be upgraded.
The interface of the Life-Consuming Immortal Cultivation Artifact also changed –
[Host: Liu Yan (Ding Yun)
Lifespan: 81 (Qi deviation, origin damaged)
Cultivation Method: Water-Wood Art, Layer 12
Skill: Spring Rain Technique, Minor Accomplishment (+)]
“Wait, there’s a problem. Is it that each advancement in the Qi Refining realm fixedly consumes one year of lifespan, or is one year the system’s minimum consumption?
Just like phone calls are charged by the minute even if they are less than a minute, is less than a year charged as one year of lifespan?”
Seeing that she had only lost eight years of lifespan in total, Ding Yun became suspicious of the golden finger's fairness, wondering if it had a minimum charge.
After all, even in games, the experience points required for each advancement in the Qi Refining stage were different.
How could it be such a coincidence that it only required one year of lifespan each time?