Chapter 92: The Misaligned Tech-Revival Tale, Part 7

Mu Yin did not read anything untoward into it. She naturally knew that the technique would certainly spread throughout the sect in time, so she did not mind the question. “It’s a cultivation method for strengthening the body, but I can’t say more for now. You can exchange for it later and see for yourself. Oh, and it can be cultivated even without a spirit root.”

“Really? That’s wonderful.” Shui Yueran was delighted at once. Looking at her younger sister, Shui Yueyan was smiling too. After all, being able to cultivate was surely a good thing.

After that, she did not ask any more, and instead chatted with Mu Yin, speaking of her curiosity about the cultivation world and the things she imagined it might be like.

Mu Yin listened as well, and when she heard the other girl begin explaining things with mechanical principles, she was instantly stunned. She felt she might have relaxed far too early; perhaps after learning arrays and artifact refining, this girl could even come up with something even more advanced.

Then what should she do? Killing the heroine before the plot began was not an option, because the heroine was merely part of the system’s design. If one disappeared, the plot would only search for another. Unless she broke the original structure of the plot itself.

That left only one approach. So she pretended to be interested, leaned in to ask about the basis of those ideas, and then, as if she were exceptionally clever, expanded on them and drew further conclusions. The heroine had come from a technological society equivalent to the twenty-first century, while Mu Yin possessed the technological knowledge of the twenty-second century. Naturally, she knew more than the heroine did, and before long she had made the heroine look at her in a new light.

In this way, she could research various products that combined technology and cultivation ahead of time without arousing the heroine’s suspicion, and at the same time complete the main quest, enough to reach the point of disrupting the plot.

Do not think that even a high-level world was helpless before a plot. So long as the main storyline was not thoroughly destroyed, the plot would simply loop again and again. For example, after this heroine completed her task, another heroine would appear and continue the same course of events.

Repeated over and over, even the laws of the highest worlds would be assimilated by the plot, until the world was completely reduced to one controlled by it.

That was a terrifying thing. In a normal world, there might be children of destiny, but they were only a little more fortunate than others. Male and female leads, however, were different. They were the pillars of the world. Once a world became like that, and something went wrong with those pillars, the direct result would be the collapse of the world itself.

In the past, if the children of destiny died, others could replace them or protect them. But once the world became a plot-bound world, it would no longer be so easy to protect anyone, because the constraints of such a world’s laws were far stricter than those of the Heavenly Dao now.

Therefore, if she wanted to complete her mission, then unless the target was someone who had to be eliminated from the start, simply killing the protagonist would be useless. So when she discovered the heroine’s interests and ambitions, she immediately showed interest as well and began learning from her, learning quickly. Only then could she produce those things in advance without revealing that she was a transmigrator.

Why did she dare to tell the heroine in the entertainment-industry world, but not in this one? Of course it was because in that world, even if she said it and the other girl truly changed, what could that girl possibly do to her? This world was different. Mu Yin was only a mixed-spirit-root disciple, while the other girl possessed a celestial spirit root.

The difference between them was obvious from the beginning. The other girl was destined to be either an inner-sect disciple or even a direct disciple, while Mu Yin had started out as nothing but a servant. What could she use to compare with her?

“You’re so smart. If only...” Shui Yueran looked at Mu Yin with envy, almost blurting something out, but fortunately she held herself back in time.

Time passed in their conversation, and soon they had flown over the mountain range that separated the two realms. It was truly a vast and endless range, though the monsters within it were numerous, their levels were all relatively low.

The moment Mu Yin entered the cultivation world, she felt a rich spiritual energy rushing toward her face. It was truly ten times denser than in the mortal world. She could not help beginning to circulate her body-refining mental art. In truth, she had not lacked energy before; primal energy was of a higher grade, but she did not dare absorb it recklessly. Even a trace would take her a long time to refine. Spiritual energy was far easier to absorb, though for special abilities, primal energy was still better.

Because she was already used to cultivation, even though it was only in the previous world that she had truly understood the meaning of the mental art, cultivating now was as natural as breathing. She did not worry about being disturbed by others and suffering qi deviation or anything of the sort.

After flying for about another day, they finally arrived at the mountain gate where the Illusory Immortal Sect was located. It was a mountain range, with the sect built upon several main peaks. Beneath the sect lay a city, quite large. They flew around it directly, then landed before the gate.

Seeing the towering plaque bearing the three characters of the Illusory Immortal Sect, it was clearly made of stone, though it certainly was not ordinary stone. Behind the gate stood a long staircase, looking much like the legendary Stairway to Immortality.

They had to climb the steps to officially determine their placement. Of course, this referred to everyone except those with mixed spirit roots. It was not that mixed-spirit-root disciples did not have to take part; rather, even if they did, they would not become outer-sect or inner-sect disciples because of their aptitude. Only after reaching Foundation Establishment could they change their fate.

There was one more thing: although Madam Cao and Shui Yueyan had been brought here by them, if they did not want to live in the city, then they would likewise have to become servant disciples. So they too had to participate in climbing the Stairway to Immortality.

Mu Yin led Madam Cao and followed the others as they began to climb. “Mother, all you need to do is keep going to the top. No matter how tired you are, or what happens, you must keep going,” Mu Yin warned her.

“I know.” Madam Cao naturally did not want to leave her daughter, and even less did she want to hold her back.

At first, Mu Yin thought this so-called Stairway to Immortality was probably some illusion testing one’s willpower or something similar. But halfway up, when she felt the increasing gravity, she realized it actually included a test of physical endurance as well.

After walking for a long time, her surroundings began to blur. She shook her head, and suddenly found herself in a place engulfed in war and fire.

“What are you standing there dazed for? Don’t you know how dangerous this is!”

Just as she was nearly struck by an enemy weapon, someone pulled her sideways and helped her avoid it.

“Chi Shen?” Seeing the person, Mu Yin froze. For some reason, she felt as though it had been a very long time since she had seen him. But that made no sense. They had been on the battlefield together these past few days. How could it have been a long time? And why did she suddenly feel like crying?

“Why are you crying? Don’t tell me you got scared to tears?” Chi Shen was startled. Though his words were full of disdain, his hands were flustered as he wiped her tears away.

“I cried? I don’t know why... I just feel... very sad...” Mu Yin wiped her face, still rather dazed. Why was she crying? She only felt that her heart ached terribly.

“Fool, what’s there to be sad about? Are you afraid of dying? There’s nothing to fear. In any case, if we’re going to die, then we’ll all die together, and we’ll have company,” Chi Shen said with a laugh.