The reply, of course, was an affirmative one.
Based on the information obtained so far, even just the process of Qi gathering produces an improvement in physique. Take An Jin, who was in a vegetative state—he woke up because he cultivated, and in a short time, recovered to a normal human condition. As his cultivation improved, he even surpassed the standard of an ordinary person. With such an example before them, why wouldn’t they cultivate if given the chance?
After swiftly coming to an agreement, the two sides continued chatting for another half an hour before finally ending the call.
Qin Jingzhou had already made his plans; during the second and third waves of expansion, he would increase the ratio of personnel from the Officials.
The second wave would total five hundred players. He gave the Elders a quota of a hundred and fifty, the remaining three hundred and fifty "slots" mostly selected from the list compiled by the System. For the rest, he took Ling Jing’s advice and specifically chose some patients whose nervous systems had been severely damaged but whose souls remained intact—including vegetative patients and those with partial or complete paralysis.
When the five hundred players arrived in the other world, aside from a handful who were well informed, the rest were obvious newbies. Some rolled around on the spot, some bent over and stuffed grass into their mouths, some stomped the ground with all their might, some jumped, laughed, and dashed about in every direction… Only when they spotted the celebrities who often appeared on the news did they quickly calm down and form lines on their own.
Qin Jingzhou waited for the newbies to finish embarrassing themselves in a hundred different ways before simply introducing himself. Then, smiling, he announced, "You have half a day to learn from the veteran players and get a grasp on this game, or rather, the background and basic rules of this cultivation school. I’ll post the mission this afternoon."
With that, Qin Jingzhou took Ling Jing with him to inspect the results from the furry ones who had been assigned to labor reform—farming and mining. Xuan Qing volunteered to stay behind and answer questions, remarking that he actually enjoyed watching newbies with no experience of the world.
When all the star-level powers saw Qin Jingzhou solo burning a mid-level Zerg Hive to cinders—ten billion Zerg, from the Queen down to the lowest minion, wiped out without a chance to fight back—they became extremely friendly and generous, each expressing a willingness to cooperate.
Since this world included Divine Transformation Stage cultivators—even those State-Guardian Experts who reached this level through legendary mecha counted—Qin Jingzhou was transparent with the leadership of the interstellar powers about who had hired him, who was paying his fees, and now those powers could even accept becoming vassals.
These powers could be persuaded. As for the furries, they had no choice but to redeem themselves through labor.
One irony of the interstellar era: robots that farmed and mined were widespread, yet cultivating spiritual plants and mining spiritual stones still required cultivators who had properly gathered Qi. Everything had to be done by hand.
Without homegrown cultivators, Qin Jingzhou had to put the furries on the job. The labor was everything one might call "blessed with reward," and not at all easy.
If any of the furries used this chance to learn in secret, he couldn't care less—if they picked up a trick or two for elementary school homework, then let them.
Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing made a circuit together, inspecting the growth of spiritual plants and the yield of spiritual stones. He had a firm idea of both. "Once the first batch of players reach Foundation Establishment, we can start mass-producing Liqi Pills for market."
Ling Jing continued, "Gather a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, drill them hard in battle formation, and they’ll be able to farm the Zerg Hives for technique and experience—war to fuel war. Eventually, even the Zerg will understand the terror of the Fourth Calamity."
Through his divine sense, Qin Jingzhou saw that Xuan Qing was teaching the Xiao Family practical combat tricks. He nodded with a smile. "Let’s hope the players can… grow strong quickly."
He looked like a farmer gazing out over a field of chives. Ling Jing folded her arms and smiled without a word.
By afternoon, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing appeared before the players again; the Elders sought them out proactively.
When he understood what they wanted, Qin Jingzhou said, "Basic technical knowledge is all on the StarNet. Anyone can look it up with a terminal. For things like warp drive, you’ll have to negotiate with the big powers on your own. I won’t get involved."
Once they had a straight answer, the Elders held an imperial meeting on the spot and figured out a strategy.
The next year passed without any major events. Qin Jingzhou’s cultivation school expanded several times, and the student body finally topped ten thousand, though there were still fewer than two hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators.
On another front, Su Huaizhen was secretly establishing his own sect and power. Using seized resources, he trained and promoted more than a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, surpassing even Qin Jingzhou in efficiency.
However, most of the cultivators around him were fiend or heretic cultivators—Su Huaizhen himself was a fiend cultivator, yet hated his subordinates’ endless infighting and suicidal stunts. Well, what did he expect from people willing to do anything for a breakthrough?
In the end, their chaos drove Su Huaizhen to the edge. Ruthless, he siphoned off a wave of his unruly followers’ fortune, kicked them out of his territory, and let them cause trouble elsewhere as they pleased.
As soon as the fiend and heretic cultivators Su Huaizhen trained were unleashed, "urban legends" sprang up everywhere. With photos, audio, and video evidence in hand, the story exploded onto the hot search.
The Officials had previously set up the Special Affairs Bureau, which received an emergency call to action. The An siblings, stationed in the bureau, discussed the matter and decided they’d better get the Xiao siblings involved as well.
An Qi was direct, "Bro, I have a bad feeling about this. If it’s just the two of us, we might not be able to handle it."
An Jin replied seriously, "I’ll call them right now."
An Qi did have a bit of a crush on Xuan Qing, so she wasn’t particularly close to Xiao Wan. But An Jin and Xiao Jin actually got along very well.
He called and the line connected instantly. At a moment like this, there was no room for small talk. "Something’s happened. Can you come help? A heretic cultivator has killed several girls…"
Before An Jin could finish, Xiao Jin agreed. "My dad told us to come back and broaden our horizons—practice as much as we can."
This was also Xiao Jin’s first time facing outright vicious heretic cultivators. Just looking at the pictures made him suck in a breath. "Will Brother Xuan—Teacher Xuan be coming too?"
Xiao Jin glanced at his elder brother, who was learning to make talismans from their father. "He’s not coming."
An Jin couldn’t hide his disappointment, but still arranged a time and place with Xiao Jin. "See you soon."
Xiao Jin and Xiao Wan packed up, and the chauffeured car was already waiting outside the door.
It was quite a while after the siblings departed that Qin Jingzhou spoke up. "They’re in for a rough time."
Ling Jing deliberately asked, "You’re not worried?"
"They’re bound to experience a scare, but come through all right. What is there to worry about?"
Ling Jing glanced at Xuan Qing, who was balling up another failed talisman in irritation. "You trailed along behind Xuan Qing when he was dueling, didn’t you?"
Xuan Qing jerked his head up. "Did I?"
Qin Jingzhou ruffled his son’s hair and changed the subject. "I can’t train a bunch of hot-house flowers—learning to weather storms is good for them."
Xuan Qing squinted, saying nothing.
The Xiao siblings, having long experienced the world’s warmth and chill, now found themselves again embraced by family love. Even so, they weren’t martyrs at heart: they’d been caught in the rain, so they didn’t mind holding out an umbrella for someone else, but only if the other party deserved it.
The An siblings were a different story.
It’s not that the privileged An siblings were bad judges of character. They just hungered for achievement, and when forced to choose between caution and efficiency, they opted for the latter. Which, as a saying goes, doomed them to haste and failure.
The girls being targeted by heretic cultivators... It was actually both boys and girls; apart from two who were genuinely innocent, the rest could kindly be called greedy. One was willing to bait, the other willing to fall for it.
An Qi was too trusting, An Jin failed to act in time, and all four found themselves trapped in a ritual formation built from the bodies of heretic cultivators’ victims.
Yet these four Foundation Establishment cultivators, inexperienced as they were, learned cooperation after suffering a painful lesson. Risking everything, four against one, how could they lose?
They paid for their victory with depleted essence and a slump in cultivation level, but they annihilated all the vengeful spirits summoned by the heretic cultivator and left half his body behind.
Just as Qin Jingzhou predicted: a scare, but no real danger.
The Xiao siblings dragged themselves home in a sorry state. Qin Jingzhou just shook his head. "Your combat capability is less than your cultivation level would suggest." Seeing the familiar gray-black speckles on their shoulders, he brushed them off. "Interesting. This time, I don’t blame you."
Ling Jing heard something amiss and signaled with her eyes. "What is it?"
Qin Jingzhou vanished on the spot, but his voice still echoed in the study. "I’ll go check it out."
Three days later, at Qin Jingzhou’s direction, the full story and outcome of the battle spread like wildfire through the cultivation world. Not only were the students of the school stunned, but even the hidden sects and family members springing up with Spiritual Energy Revival were caught off guard.
A decent number of these groups went right to the Special Affairs Bureau after going public.
They didn’t see the Xiao siblings as incompetent. In fact, it was often the case that those with academic training couldn’t beat those with street smarts. But for four against one to still allow the enemy to escape… This rogue truly was powerful.
Despite seeming new to the scene, this crowd was actually just as well-informed as the Officials. Having learned that the heretic cultivator’s exploits stemmed from Su Huaizhen’s sect, they immediately approached the Officials and urged action: Su Huaizhen was definitely up to no good!
In the original plotline, these hidden sects and noble families also sounded the alarm, only that by then Su Huaizhen was already dominant, and none could turn the tide.
Qin Jingzhou let the situation ferment for a few days before facing the players in the other world and revealing the truth. "That heretic cultivator was able to escape even with only half his body because he triggered a protective talisman from Su Huaizhen, allowing Su Huaizhen to possess him for a moment and personally lead him away. That guy’s already been recovered by Su Huaizhen—call it green, eco-friendly, and the cycle of life."
After some thought, Xun Qiushui carefully asked, "So, he could possess any of us too?"
Qin Jingzhou smiled. "That’s right."
Only after seeing his own children suffer a loss did Qin Jingzhou monitor Su Huaizhen for several days, at last discerning his true method: in the original plotline, Su Huaizhen’s domination was based on the infinite soul splitting technique. Which meant that most of Su Huaizhen’s lovers and subordinates were just himself. Compared to that, real-world multiple personality disorder was junior level stuff.
Of course, the soul splitting technique was useful for running rampant on Blue Star, but up against true power, there was nothing to expect but utter crushing defeat.
Ling Jing and Xuan Qing had been shocked at the news, and the players who more or less grasped what soul splitting meant were even more stunned: couldn’t that mean they’d be replaced without ever knowing how?
Xun Qiushui’s heart lurched, but he still managed to ask again. "Principal, what should we do?"
"I’d hoped to go from easy to difficult..." Qin Jingzhou looked at Xuan Qing, "but I think it’s time for practical combat classes."
To strengthen the spirit, aside from relying on talent and cultivation techniques, there was also a stupid way—subjecting oneself to repeated spiritual impact. And who was best suited to deliver this kind of impact, over and over, leaving the players almost powerless to fight back?
Of course, it was the Zerg.
Only, what Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing had envisioned as groups of players farming the Zerg quickly became groups of players being farmed by Zerg… Not that the players could die for real. For Qin Jingzhou, it was just a loss of the biomass composing their synthetic bodies.
By the look of it, both the Zerg and the players were making out like bandits; only Qin Jingzhou was getting the short end of the stick.
He didn’t mind in the least, and even joked with Ling Jing, "I always said this would be a loss worth taking—and I turned out to be spot on."
Ling Jing: ...money really does make you fearless.