Mythological origin

This is a test measured in centuries. A test of her stance, a test of whether she is a pawn sent by the Divine Ruins, or an individual seeking to break free from the Divine Ruins' constraints and find a new path.

After all, Terra had some understanding of the Divine Ruins. That place prohibited illegal advancement. Whether it was advancing from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core or refining Void to become an immortal, one had to obtain a preliminary advancement certificate first. Ascending without a certificate was a serious crime. For the sake of one's cultivation path, it was a reasonable thing to join another force.

The subsequent wars against the Divine Ruins mostly started from here.

……

"Please sit down," Bai Mo said.

His tone remained flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

He did not inquire about Ji Qingxuan's specific experiences in the Divine Ruins, nor did he ask about her motives for coming to Terra, nor did he make any value judgments about her identity.

Because it doesn't matter at all.

Ji Qingxuan was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered and sat down as instructed.

But just as she sat down, something appeared beside her.

It wasn't a physical object, but rather an extremely fine, almost transparent stream of information, which escaped from her fingertips like mist and condensed into a faintly glowing rune above the table.

The rune was only the size of a fingernail, and its shape was extremely complex, as if it were made up of countless layers of geometric shapes. Every time you looked at it, you would have a different feeling.

“These are spirit coins,” Ji Qingxuan’s voice rang out beside the round table.

She didn't offer any further explanation, simply letting the rune float above the table and slowly rotate.

Inside the rune, countless extremely fine threads of light could be faintly seen flowing and intertwining.

Around the round table, many immortals' gazes fell upon that small symbol.

Some people's eyebrows twitched slightly, some people's eyes flashed with a strange light, and some people remained expressionless, but their senses had already quietly extended to investigate carefully.

Bai Mo also glanced at it.

Just one glance.

Then, his gaze froze for a moment.

……

"A specialty of the Divine Ruins." Ji Qingxuan's voice rang out at the right moment, with a hint of a smile.

"As you all have probably heard, this is something that everyone in the Divine Ruins tirelessly pursues: Spirit Coins."

As she spoke, she tapped her fingertip again, and several more streams of information flowed out, transforming into the same symbols that lined up in a row above the desktop.

The symbols rotated slightly, and the light threads flowed, like a group of tamed stars.

"Please." Ji Qingxuan gestured.

A brief silence fell around the round table.

Then, a True Immortal sitting diagonally opposite Bai Mo reached out and touched one of the symbols.

That was Kirkov, the first Speaker of Terra. After being defeated by Komo, he disappeared for decades before reappearing. It seemed that he had not only fully recovered from his injuries, but his cultivation had also improved somewhat.

The moment his fingertips touched the symbol, it suddenly transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into his palm.

Kirkov closed his eyes, sensed it carefully, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

"interesting."

Then he opened his eyes, flicked his fingertips, and the symbol escaped from his palm again, hovering above the table as before, as if it had never left.

He passed the symbol to the next person.

Symbols were passed around the round table.

True immortals either use their divine sense to investigate or their magical power to sense.

Some people remained calm, some nodded slightly, and others frowned, as if they had discovered something incomprehensible.

……

When a symbol was passed to Bai Mo.

Bai Mo reached out his hand, his fingertips touching the small symbol.

It felt cool to the touch, yet seemed intangible—it wasn't a physical object, but rather a solidified mass of information. The moment he touched it, the symbol suddenly dispersed, transforming into countless threads of light that surged into his senses.

The next instant, he "saw" the inside of the spirit coin.

It was a complex structure made up of pure information. Countless layers of data were superimposed, intertwined, and nested, forming a complex three-dimensional network.

Every node in the network was flickering slightly, emanating an extremely pure aura, almost without any impurities.

It is an existence that exists between energy and rules.

But what Bai Mo really cared about was not the structure itself.

Rather, he recognized the structure.

This has many similarities to the underlying logic of the Psychic Treasure he designed in the parallel world where he fought against the Kamikaze.

The essence of the Spirit Power Treasure is not currency, nor physical object, but a concept.

It is the product of the concept of "money" itself being concretized, algorithmized, and regulated.

A concept god named after "money".

However, plans can't keep up with changes. The psionic treasure in that world had only just begun to sprout. Bai Mo originally thought that the two sides would engage in a protracted tug-of-war, but the decisive battle began immediately, and the seed was left behind.

But now, the spirit coin before him—

Its underlying structure is very similar to that of the Spirit Energy Treasure.

That is "capital" itself.

The greed of hundreds of millions of people is gathered, refined, and condensed into a near-rule-like existence with a self-sustaining instinct...

It has no consciousness, no self, and no purpose.

But it has an instinct—the instinct to multiply.

It needs the greed of more people to sustain its proliferation, just as a flame needs more oxygen to burn.

It drives everyone in the Divine Ruins to earn Spirit Coins, to crave Spirit Coins, and to go crazy for Spirit Coins—and in the process, it itself is constantly growing stronger.

This is no longer currency.

These are offerings.

The entire economic system of the Divine Ruins is a huge altar.

Everyone is sacrificing their greed to it, and they don't even know they are sacrificing.

They thought they were making money, that they were trading, that they were working hard for a better life.

But in the underlying logic of this system, every effort, every desire, and every act of greed they make feeds this concept god known as "spiritual currency."

A complex look flashed in Bai Mo's eyes.

He got it.

He could understand why the cultivators of the Divine Ruins would frantically pursue spirit coins, would stop at nothing to make money, and would willingly be transformed into pure economic animals.

It's not because they were born that way.

Rather, it's because they have been subtly influenced by this concept.

Every cultivator in the Divine Ruins lives in a society centered around spirit coins from the moment they embark on their cultivation journey.

They need to earn money to cultivate, to break through barriers, and to survive.

This pressure to survive doesn't come from any specific oppressor; no one is holding a knife to their throats and forcing them to make money. Instead, it comes from an invisible, omnipresent "God" whom everyone shares the same belief in.

This god has no temple, no priests, and no scriptures.

They don't even know they have a faith.

They simply believed that this was how the world worked.

Just like a fish that doesn't know what water is. (End of Chapter)