Detailed Explanation

He had only just managed to gain a foothold in the mortal world, and now, at the slightest disagreement, the system wanted him to run off to the cultivation world and establish a branch there?

The system’s heart was truly impossible to understand.

Fortunately, he had ten years to do it.

Although ten years was not a particularly long time for cultivators, most of whom had to spend nearly all their time cultivating, Lin Xiao could accomplish a great deal in that span with his cheat.

For example, he could activate his cultivation cheat, disguise himself with a casual transformation, and then wander through the streets and alleys of Xiushui City, eating, drinking, and having fun.

Of course, Lin Xiao was very poor at the moment. The sect was still saddled with a massive debt of one hundred thousand spirit stones, and with his current cultivation, leaving the cultivation cheat running for too long made the spirit stones burn painfully fast.

Eating, drinking, and having fun was ultimately no long-term solution.

He still had to do something productive…

Although the Lingxian Sect had earned a great deal of spirit stones over the past two or three years, its expenses were no small matter either. After all, the benefits currently offered to Lingxian Sect disciples were beyond what other sects could imagine. Moreover, Lingxian Sect had always followed a strategy of small profits and high volume. Since they did not make much of a margin as middlemen, their overall cash flow might look enormous, but their actual surplus was not all that impressive.

Liao Pantu had been rather anxious about this at first. He felt that, at this rate, repaying the Yuan family’s one hundred thousand spirit stones in five years would be extremely difficult. Even if they managed to pay it back, it would probably drain the sect’s entire treasury. As someone who loved hoarding wealth, he could not bear to see the sect empty its coffers.

What infuriated him most was that Lin Xiao always had some excuse for refusing to contribute spirit stones. Otherwise, where would all these troubles have come from?

He was a dignified Deity Transformation cultivator. Could he really urge the sect to repay a mere one hundred thousand spirit stones?

However, as the mortal world continued to develop, the various sects and royal families were becoming wealthier with each passing year, and their spending power was rising accordingly. Thus, even though Lingxian Sect had barely raised its prices in any area, its total revenue was still climbing bit by bit.

All of this was reflected in Lingxian Sect’s quarterly financial reports.

Liao Pantu was extremely invested in the sect’s financial statements and often snatched the reports from Qin Jianghe to read them. The more he looked, the less worried he became.

The financial reports alone made it clear that the other sects in the mortal world had truly been revitalized across the board.

Liao Pantu had originally been the strongest opponent of opening their secret realms to other sects. In his view, if they could not obtain the key or exclusive rights to a secret realm, then so be it—but how could they share a secret realm completely controlled by their own sect?

As far as Liao Pantu was concerned, Lin Xiao acting as the middleman between the cultivation world and the mortal world, insisting on making only a small profit and refusing to raise their prices, was understandable. The mortal world really was poor, after all. But sharing their exclusive secret realms was entirely different. That was simply an irrational act that weakened their sect’s own interests.

However, after seeing the annual financial summary at the end of last year, Liao Pantu’s opinion underwent a tremendous shift.

In the end, after that Lin Xiao kid wore him down with relentless persuasion, he finally relented and approved the sect’s proposal to open access to some of their secret realms.

Under Lin Xiao’s leadership, practically no one besides Liao Pantu had opposed the proposal. According to the principle that the minority should follow the majority, the decision did not require Liao Pantu’s personal approval. Even so, Lin Xiao had still patiently reasoned with him and appealed to his emotions, grinding away at him until he stopped objecting before making arrangements to implement the plan.

Now that everything in the sect was progressing smoothly, and Liao Pantu had successfully reached the Deity Transformation realm, his cultivation had stabilized over the past two years. He was in no rush to cultivate in the short term, so recently he had begun following Lin Xiao’s example, eating, drinking, and enjoying a carefree life in the mortal world.

Yet after only a few days of having fun, the very person he had been imitating came rushing to find him, looking as if some major undertaking was about to begin.

“Senior Liao, do you know what a steam engine is? And what a turbine is?” Lin Xiao found Liao Pantu on an antique treasure-hunting street in Xiushui City.

Inside a private room at a teahouse on the street, Liao Pantu, whose enjoyment of browsing the shops had been interrupted, shot Lin Xiao an unhappy sideways glance.

“If you have something to say, spit it out.”

Lin Xiao smiled and poured him a cup of tea. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been rather free lately. Would you be interested in taking on a research project?”

At the words “research project,” Liao Pantu finally swallowed the retort that had been about to leave his mouth. He pursed his lips and remained silent for a while before speaking.

“Stop beating around the bush. Explain.”

He really had been a little bored lately. Otherwise, he would not have come to browse an antique street where there was practically nothing worth his attention.

Seeing that he was interested, Lin Xiao’s eyes immediately lit up. He pulled out a stack of blueprints, spread them across the table, and began explaining his idea in detail.

Among the blueprints were an overview map of all the countries in the mortal world, a detailed topographical map of the Pusi Kingdom, maps showing the routes connecting every province, prefecture, county, and even town, as well as…

“You’re saying that you want to build a great many vehicles called ‘trains,’ have them pass through various regions on a fixed schedule, and use them to transport people and goods reliably?”

“That’s right!” Lin Xiao was delighted that he had understood so quickly.

Liao Pantu stared silently at Lin Xiao for several breaths, then lowered his head and glanced at the blueprints spread across the table.

“Why have you suddenly started tinkering with things meant for mortals?” he asked, utterly puzzled.

By now, thanks to the existence of Xiushui City, the living standards of ordinary people had improved along with those of the residents of Xiushui City—not just throughout the Pusi Kingdom, but at least in Hufang Province and the surrounding provinces.

Although the cultivator community in the mortal world was developing extremely well, surely it had not yet reached the point where they had nothing better to do and could begin devoting themselves to developing inventions for mortals?

At least, that was what he thought.

Still, remembering that Lin Xiao had always refused to follow convention, he did not reject the idea outright.

When he asked about it, Lin Xiao seemed to have prepared his answer long ago and immediately replied with great fluency.

“Not so, Senior Liao. We have to take the long view. Tell me, if we mortals want to continue developing for the long term, don’t we need a constant stream of talented people to take up cultivation?”

Liao Pantu considered this. There was nothing wrong with that statement, so he nodded.

“Mm. True enough. Continue.”

Lin Xiao went on. “If we want a constant stream of talented people, relying solely on those who are wealthy and have plenty of free time certainly won’t be enough. There are far too few of them. Although most sects occasionally open their gates to accept disciples, and the number of recruits will continue to increase as things develop, how can we guarantee that so many people will be able to cultivate without any worries?

“After all, in the mortal world today, the poor make up the overwhelming majority. If we recruit every talented child from poor families, won’t those families lose their hope?”

“That’s not right. What you’re saying is wrong.” Liao Pantu hurriedly waved his hand. “How would they have no hope? For many poor families, becoming a cultivator is no less than studying, becoming an official, and making something of oneself. Cultivators can also save something from their cultivation and use it to support their families. Aren’t many of our sect’s disciples like that?”