Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Daotian's efficiency is astonishing. His work logs are all traceable, and there's also CCTV footage as evidence. With so much evidence, it's entirely possible to review the footage and confirm whether such a large project was truly completed systematically in just a few days.

Checking the video footage wouldn't take long. After carefully reviewing the surveillance footage at high speed, the "Troubleshooting Saint" had to admire Dao Tian's abilities. Even he himself probably couldn't have done better. He hadn't even considered many of the details.

Of course, Dao Tian couldn't be perfect in every aspect, considering every detail. He wasn't familiar with every single task in every position, but that didn't matter. The people who had previously held these positions were familiar enough with the potential problems. Once a rigorous system was established, newcomers only needed to follow it and promptly report any issues they encountered. These minor problems could then be resolved quickly.

"Have we struck gold? This guy might have the potential to become a Level 4 Mechanic. Looks like we'll have to submit a special application." As a Level 3 Mechanic, the Malfunction Saint is already considered high-ranking on the ship. He's even considered high-ranking in the entire city, since there's a significant barrier between Level 2 and Level 3. Although this barrier is largely artificially created, it undeniably selects the most outstanding individuals.

至于3级到4级的门槛，那可就不是人为设置的了。即便是敞开了供应资源。也未必能有一位3级机械师晋升到4级。所以碰到这种一看就很有天赋，有希望晋升4级的。没有人会想着主动压制他的晋升。除非是同时诞生了两三个有潜力晋升到4级的种子，但那种好事目前几乎没有出现过。

The entire city currently lacks Level 4 mechanics. It's fair to say that the emergence of even one Level 4 mechanic would bring revolutionary changes to the entire city-state. On a strategic ocean-going vessel like theirs, only the captain has reached Level 4. This soon-to-be-completed ocean-going ship is absolutely a national treasure for the city, its importance surpassing even the significance of a top-tier aircraft carrier to a nation in the 21st century.

Considering that such an important facility can only be guarded by one level 4 mechanic, one can imagine how scarce level 4 mechanics are.
If someone has the potential to advance to level 4, no one will suppress them.

To advance in cultivation, one needs more than just technical potential and management skills. Luck is also crucial, as cultivation itself requires a certain amount of luck; resources alone cannot guarantee advancement. While a level 4 mechanic can use various Gu worms to compensate for their cultivation level, breaking through cultivation bottlenecks is not easy. Someone with a grade C aptitude might never reach the third rank in their entire life. The Human-Beast Burial Gu is not easy to refine, let alone the Blood Skull Gu. At least in the mortal realm, Gu worms that enhance human aptitude are extremely rare and highly sought after—a top-tier fortuitous encounter.

A person with Grade B aptitude can stably cultivate to the third rank, but breaking through to the fourth rank is no easier than breaking through to the third rank with equal aptitude; it's equally difficult. In other words, to stably cultivate to the fourth rank, one needs at least Grade A aptitude. Even if a Level 4 Mechanic doesn't require much cultivation, they still need to reach the fourth rank. Among mortals, perhaps only one in ten thousand can reach this level. And even this one-in-ten-thousand genius isn't necessarily a genius on the path of a Mechanic. The mechanical talent required to reach Level 4 Mechanic is far more than one in ten thousand. Perhaps only one in a hundred thousand, a million. This is why, despite hundreds of millions of people in this city, Level 4 Mechanics are still extremely rare. The vast majority didn't reach Level 4 due to innate talent; most either displayed exceptional Mechanic talent and were forcibly pushed to the fourth rank using precious Gu worms, thus becoming Level 4 Mechanics. Legend has it that this city-state is comparable to a sixth-rank immortal. This is because a legendary Level 5 Mechanic resides within the city-state, and even the current Saint of Malfunctions has no right to inquire about this person's existence. He is not even entirely sure whether a Level 5 Mechanic truly exists.

Regardless, he needed to start preparing his special application report. Although being promoted to a Level 4 Mechanic meant gaining another superior, as a beneficiary of the group, he still hoped the city-state's strength would increase further. Increased city-state strength meant a longer period of rapid development for the city, allowing them, the elite, to further enrich themselves.

At his level, he could more or less see that the city-state's development had reached a bottleneck. If they couldn't rapidly increase their talent pool and launch a technological explosion, the enormous strain on their social mechanisms would soon become a massive burden that the city-state's lower classes couldn't bear. At that point, even without external enemies, they might collapse internally.

After all, compared to immortals who are the entirety of the individual, their strength is built upon the social division of labor. Once the hearts of the people are corrupted, this system of division of labor can no longer function, and collapse is imminent.

As Dao Tian faced his superior's arm around his shoulder, the flattery was not arrogant. Instead, he kept asking about the information he wanted to know during the conversation and gradually learned that the city-state was indeed falling into a crisis, just as he had imagined.

Dao Tian wasn't without a solution to this problem. Overthrowing the city's original ruling class at its root was one way. But that was obviously too difficult. The oppressed lower classes had neither military power nor knowledge. The city-state's weapons might be troublesome to use against the mysterious and elusive immortals, but when it came to suppressing ordinary people, they were far more effective than the immortals.

But no amount of suppression can stop them. They're so greedy, and we've unknowingly entered the information age. Don't expect to coerce workers into labor with force; after all, every industry requires mental effort. Moreover, the proportion of mental labor is constantly increasing with technological advancements, and the brain, without sufficient positive stimulation, simply won't work. Holding a gun to your head won't inspire you; you still won't have inspiration.

If it really comes to that, even with a large number of level 3 and level 2 mechanics to hold things together, it will inevitably face decline.

As for a solution, it's quite simple. And he estimates that the true, behind-the-scenes ruler would definitely choose the second option: to find a powerful enemy for the city-state. Or, to put it another way, to directly kill an immortal or destroy another city-state.

A unified external enemy can undoubtedly reunite the internal forces and divert all internal conflicts. History has proven this countless times. And the wealth gained from slaying a single immortal is enough to keep this vast system running.

He also inquired about the other city-states nearby. The city-state he was currently in wasn't the largest; the largest was located in the middle of a river hundreds of miles wide, on an island. It was precisely because of the river's natural defenses that they had reclaimed land from the river, creating a long, narrow river city. Relying on the river, they could easily trade with the East Sea, while also enjoying natural protection. It even served as a checkpoint for smuggling ships. As they continued eastward, they would need to pass through their territory when crossing the Five Domains Boundary Wall. They would even have to pay hefty customs duties. That's right, their massive smuggling ship actually had to pay taxes to a border city.

Because that city-state was built between the Central Continent and the Five Domains Boundary, half of it was in the normal world, while the other half was in a special space where no deadly moves could be used. This gave them a natural advantage in terms of strategic depth. If they could not resist an invasion from the outside, they could immediately retreat into the Five Domains Boundary. It was even said that they possessed special technology that could temporarily increase the influence range of the Five Domains Boundary and that they had manufactured a large number of weapons that could exert great power even inside the Five Domains Boundary.

From any perspective, this city-state's overall strength is a level above that of Tihu Town. However, based on the intelligence exchanged between the various city-states, Dao Tian roughly judged that these city-states were probably in similar situations. After passing through the stage of rapid development brought about by the technology flowing out of the Mountain and River Republic, they had all entered a bottleneck period. After exhausting the benefits brought by their internal technological progress, their greedy eyes were all turned to other city-states in the surrounding area and the nearby immortals.

Rather than targeting the immortals, they preferred to attack other city-states. Although city-states, with their defensive systems, were far more formidable than the immortals, the losses incurred in attacking them might be far greater than those in killing the immortals.

However, since immortals can't defeat the enemy, they can run away. There's no such thing as a monk who can run away but his temple can't. In this situation, if someone really tries to escape at all costs, most city-states don't have a good way to stop them.

The neighbor's tortoise may be a tough nut to crack, but it can't escape. If it does, the infrastructure it leaves behind will just benefit the invaders; simply losing a group of upper echelons is pointless.

Dao Tian estimated that peace along this long border would last at most three years before a chaotic war inevitably broke out, at which point the eastern border of Zhongzhou would likely enter a Warring States period. Although war would inevitably bring heavy casualties, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for the civilizations represented by the various city-states. Many city-states would be wiped out, or even collectively reduced to slavery or lower classes, but war itself is the best catalyst for technological development. Both sides would use every means possible to integrate their previously scattered technologies. As the fighting progressed, one side might experience a technological explosion, and as long as others weren't all killed, the technology would spread, causing the winner to expand rapidly for a period before falling into a stalemate. Through repeated back-and-forth battles, several extremely powerful city-states might emerge along the eastern border. However, that was largely irrelevant to his mission.

Even if some large city-states were to emerge here, or even super-cities capable of confronting eighth-rank experts, it probably wouldn't have much impact on his upcoming mission.

However, considering the potential of this region, as a former Venerable One, he also planned to place a piece here.

The piece he was about to place was a clone he had left behind, or more precisely, a dead person whose body, identity, and fate he had stolen.

The other party possessed a legal identity, but died in an accident. However, in this cyber city, medical miracles are not uncommon, and even his resurrection in the morgue did not cause any sensation.

Dao Tian chose this dead man's body as his clone because among all the suitable targets for stealing destiny that he had recently investigated, this guy had the best physical condition. Not only did he possess first-class aptitude, but more importantly, he had never cultivated and his body was like a blank sheet of paper, which he could draw on at will.

In this relatively good era, some people are still allowed to stay at home, live a secluded life, and just wait to die. This guy is so lazy that he has never even had a talent test and doesn't even know that he has extraordinary talent.

This was the perfect body for Dao Tian. He left a wisp of his own thought to control the body, encouraging him to cultivate diligently. After that, he would leave it alone for the time being.

This body will cultivate very quickly; given his experience, guiding him to become an immortal in a short time wouldn't be a problem. However, the immortals of this world, influenced by millions of years of traditional thought and the ideology of the Heavenly Court, will find it difficult to coexist harmoniously with the unique system of city-states in a short period. For a considerable time, traditional immortals will view these special city-states as heretical and wish to eliminate them at all costs.

The era is changing too rapidly, leaving most immortals unaware. If they were willing to integrate into this system, relying on their own abilities, it would be easy to become the rulers of a city-state. If they chose not to fight against the city-state, but instead infiltrated as ordinary citizens, relying on their extraordinary abilities to quickly rise through the ranks and build a reputation among the people, it wouldn't be long before they could usurp power, ousting the high-level mechanics or other powerful figures who previously ruled the city from their positions and becoming the rulers of the city-state themselves, while simultaneously gaining terrifying technological advantages. The pawns left behind by Dao Tian are prepared to follow this path. His status and position within the city-state will be inherited by these pawns in the future. He also wants to see how his strategy will play out in the upcoming Warring States period.
[To be continued]

Please add this to your favorites and vote for it! (End of Chapter)