Yefutidaolu

Chapter 287 The Reasons for the Current State of the Divine Dynasty?
It can be said that all the systems of the entire Divine Dynasty are rooted in the high-level cultivators themselves.

High-level cultivators do not need to cooperate; they themselves represent advanced productivity. Their cultivation is about constantly making themselves 'independent' and enabling them to live independently of others.

Think about it, can a wealthy peasant live independently?

Of course not. He needs someone to serve him, someone to do the farm work, and someone to wash his clothes. He's just reaping the benefits without working. But ultimately, he can't live without other people.

If the farmhands stop working, the maids stop serving, and the stewards and servants go elsewhere, the landlord can instantly become worthless. He can instantly go from being a landlord to a poor man, because his power comes from the support of these people. Without the support of others, he is nothing and can do nothing.

However, this is not the case for high-level cultivators.

High-level cultivators can live independently, and in fact... they are more accustomed to living independently.

You can't help him much. He can do everything he needs on his own. The only thing he depends on is his own cultivation. Of course, he can also have maids and farmhands to help him with chores...

But even without farmhands or maids, his status would not change. He could accomplish everything he needed independently without relying on anyone else; this is the 'unique self'.

They don't need any cooperation. As long as they are willing to learn, they are their own factories, their own farms, their own mines. They can accomplish everything that a complete society should be able to do all by themselves.

High-level cultivators, possessing the essence of civilization, do not require the existence of others for their continued existence.

The need for others is simply because it is more convenient, not because it is 'necessary', while the need for others by ordinary people is 'necessary'. This is a fundamental difference in logic.

Therefore, under this logic, it is natural for wars to arise where everyone opposes everyone, and every force opposes every force.

Because all of this is simply the complete realization of the principles inherent in free competition.

In a completely free competition, there is no 'necessity of cooperation'. Everyone's cooperation has nothing to do with survival. Ordinary people cannot survive without cooperation, while high-level cultivators will not suffer any consequences for not cooperating. Therefore, if you want these high-level cultivators to put down their guard and cooperate completely, it is probably only under the pressure of survival, such as in a dangerous secret realm, where everyone joins hands to rush out. At that time, perhaps that is when they will truly trust each other.

Thinking of this, Gao Jian took a deep breath and looked at Jin Dafu in front of him.

So he said, “Lord Jin, don’t worry, I just went to Yongning to take a look at the border. It’s quite cold there. Come, let’s talk as we walk.”

Upon hearing Gao Jian's words, Jin Dafu's anxiety quickly subsided. He then took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his sweat, and said, "Lord Gao has truly put in a lot of effort. Even among the Imperial Academy students, only a few are willing to go to those places specifically. So, have you noticed anything, sir?"

“Building a fortress there will be extremely expensive, probably costing more than a million gold coins. What do you think, Lord Jin?” Gao Jian said as he walked.

"Lord Gao, you don't need to worry about the money. Just leave it to us. When the imperial order comes down, we will definitely get it done even if we have to sell our pots and pans," Jin Dafu immediately assured him.

"Haha, I'm not worried about that. It's just that I saw some wild dogs over there, like mutated beasts. I think the fortress probably won't be built anytime soon. We'll have to do some more surveying. Otherwise, spending money is a small matter, but if a bunch of people die and we still can't get this done, then I won't pass the test, and that would be a big problem." Gao Jian smiled and told Jin Dafu his concerns.

These words are actually an implication that the other party should demonstrate their strength.

The construction of the fortress and the availability of sufficient manpower must be demonstrated to Gao Jian; otherwise, Gao Jian would not have entrusted the task to them so easily.

“So that’s what Lord Gao was worried about, haha, then there’s no need to worry. Did you see the rain today, Lord Gao?” Jin Dafu pointed to the dark clouds and rain in the sky.

"Hmm, this rain should belong to a fifth-realm lineage specializing in Qi cultivation, capable of summoning wind and rain, or a fourth-realm lineage specializing in Divine cultivation," Gao Jian concluded.

The shaman is indeed a specialist in summoning wind and rain, so the required cultivation level is also lower.

Liangzhou is a place rich in metal energy, which is why it looks so desolate. It has been called 'desolate' since ancient times, which shows the meaning of Liangzhou. Therefore, such a place naturally produces many martial artists.

Cultivators of other lineages consume too many resources, while martial artists are much cheaper to train, requiring only the right people.

Of course, insufficient resources will definitely affect the level of martial artists, but martial artists already have the lowest cultivation cost. Compared to the money-devouring beast that is Qi Refiner, martial artists are really economical and affordable.

"Lord Gao is truly astute; your judgment is spot on. Under normal circumstances, that would indeed be the case. However… this time you have misjudged the situation. These things are the work of martial artists!"

"A martial artist? One who can command the wind and rain?" Gao Jian raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

As everyone knows, martial artists don't have the ability to summon wind and rain, so how could they possibly create such a scene? What exactly is going on?
"That's not the case. You'll see when you get there. I anticipated that you would want to see the capabilities of the many powerful families in Liangzhou and know how we plan to build up the border, so I specially chose this time and had a rain shower, which can be considered a blessing for all people," Jin Dafu said with a smile.

This alerted Gao Jian.

Jin Dafu specifically mentioned "I expected it", which means that they actually knew when Gao Jian would return, but Gao Jian was certain that the other party did not follow him to Yongning, meaning that the other party had another way to find out his whereabouts.

Furthermore, he also mentioned "praying for the people," which means that Gao Jian's story of saving people in the capital should have been collected in the past few days.

Jin Dafu's words were a reminder to Gao Jian, a demonstration of goodwill, and an expression of his knowledge of certain matters. It also showed that he had no hostility and hoped that Gao Jian would "follow his advice."

"To readily accept good advice"—what wonderful four words.

Gao Jian felt a sudden headache.

Sigh, dealing with these powerful families is such a hassle. They have specialists to collect all sorts of intelligence, making it incredibly difficult to exploit information gaps.

Fortunately, I still have a lot of things hidden. At that time... the situation in Liangzhou may not be what the other side thinks.

Gao Jian then replied with a smile, "I see. Then, Lord Jin, why did you specifically choose the matter of rain?"

Jin Dafu pointed to the sky, his tone suddenly becoming bold and unrestrained, and said in a high-spirited voice: "Throughout the world, on the ridges and banks of the fields, simple men and women toil day and night, all they ask for is favorable weather and abundant harvests. I am doing this not only to demonstrate the power of the Liangzhou gentry in front of Lord Gao, but also to make their work a little easier. Lord Gao, please look, the details of this rain are right there above."

As the two walked, they came to an open space. From here, they could see the center of the storm. So, it was in this place that Jin Dafu asked Gao Jian to look up.

Gao Jian then looked up.

Above them, a flock of iron birds appeared. The birds were wrapped in strings, like a flock of kites. Below them hung an iron cage, and a group of martial artists were pulling on the birds' wings. The birds then circled in the sky at an extremely fast speed.

No matter how you look at it, it seems so familiar.

This thing is...

airplane?

That's right. If you ask Gao Jian, this is an airplane, but the difference is that the engine is not an internal combustion engine, but a warrior below.

Holy crap, a human-powered airplane?!

Gao Jian was somewhat taken aback. He was quite certain that the iron birds in the sky were not magical treasures, because magical treasures were not something that martial artists could create. Martial arts internal energy naturally did not have the ability to forge magical treasures, but it had a unique advantage in destroying them. For example, a martial artist could knead a magical treasure into a lump of scrap iron with a single rub of his hand, which was a classic method.

If it's not a magic weapon, then how did these people do it?

How did they manage to gain such power and influence?

Gao Jian then held his breath and focused intently on observing the situation, wanting to see just how much strength his opponent was displaying.

After watching for a while, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and felt a chill run down his spine!

Those iron birds weren't flying around randomly in the sky; they were stirring up the wind and clouds.

Besides manually controlling the iron bird, the warriors above were also constantly firing sword energy or bombarding the clouds, and sprinkling a lot of powder on the sky to make the clouds look special.

Logically speaking, this kind of thing could be called a 'formation', but what we see here is clearly not a formation. If we have to call it something... it's a weather missile!

These bastards are using weather phenomena, and not the kind of thing commonly found in the Divine Dynasty called 'Five Elements Qi'!

They are using the knowledge that is so familiar to them in their minds!
The powder they sprinkled was a catalyst, designed to increase rainfall from the clouds!
Then, they would use human-powered aircraft to fly up and stir up the wind and clouds. Anyway, the martial artist's body is strong enough. A mere dozen or so Gs of acceleration is as easy as eating. Dozens of Gs are not a big problem!

Then, the martial artists used their sword energy, saber energy, or fist energy to blast the clouds down!

As long as those iron birds, that is, those human-powered airplanes, are used by martial artists to ride bicycles to create vortexes that suck in clouds from hundreds of miles around, the current landscape can be created!
Jin Dafu looked at Gao Jian's expression and seemed very satisfied and happy.

Every important figure from the capital city had roughly the same expression when they saw these scenes.

The capital city of Yangjing is a place that has everything when it comes to cultivation resources. It gathers all the cultivation techniques, geniuses, and all the materials needed for cultivation in the entire capital. They are good at using formations and the effects of various cultivation techniques. They disdain using any strange or ingenious tricks, because the cultivation techniques themselves are enough to create everything.

However, in many places, the practice is not so convenient because many things are missing.

The formation is set up, but there is no base for it.

Magical artifacts cannot be created.

A practitioner cannot achieve anything without sufficient resources, and even if they do, the quantity will be limited.

What should I do?
Of course... I'll figure it out myself.

Life always finds a way; if it doesn't, then die.

As long as enough people die, there will always be one who can find a way to survive. That's what filtering is, that's... natural selection.

If they all die, then there's nothing we can do.

If everyone dies, that's called a mass extinction, and it's not anything particularly unusual.

The fact that a place like Liangzhou has been able to survive and develop to this point clearly shows that it has its own unique skills. These unique skills may not be so effective in other places, but in Liangzhou, a 'desolate' region, these skills are exactly where they come into play.

"Liangzhou is a rather desolate place, so there are some ingenious and skillful techniques. This is one of them. All of this was accomplished with only two hundred second-realm martial artists."

"We also used these methods to build the border passes. With martial artists and these ingenious techniques, do you think it's possible to carry out large-scale construction in that place? Can the physical bodies of martial artists withstand the cold air of that border pass?" Jin Dafu proudly introduced.

Gao Jian stared in astonishment at everything before him.

Human-powered... excavators? Human-powered weather missiles? Utilizing the martial artist's super-strong energy storage, after all, the martial artist's physical body is strong enough, not only for personal use, but also more than enough to drive those 'strange and ingenious techniques,' that is, purely mechanical mechanisms.

From the perspective of the people of the Divine Dynasty, this might seem incredibly foolish, a mere expedient measure, far too foolish compared to the existence of cultivators. For instance, a human excavator could be easily overturned by a cultivator who can control the earth; there's no need for such a thing.

He had just concluded that the main foundation of the Divine Dynasty was built upon high-level cultivators, which was why high-level cultivators were in charge of everything.

Then I slapped him hard in the face.

The people of the Divine Dynasty are not incapable of using these things!
Not only did they know how, they also developed their own unique system, utilizing the martial artists abundant in Liangzhou, and using human power as the driving force, completely ignoring things like internal combustion engines or steam engines, they made the plane fly purely with their bodies!

Martial artists certainly cannot fly, nor can they influence the weather. However, by using this kind of machinery to create high-performance weather aircraft and weather missiles, they can temporarily summon wind and rain!
Anyway, a martial artist's physical body is sufficient. Acceleration of tens of Gs is as easy as eating. They can perform maneuvers that are completely impossible for normal airplanes, such as dozens of airplanes spiraling out of a tornado and sucking in the surrounding clouds.

Jin Dafu continued, “Master Gao, as the sage said, a gentleman makes good use of things. Although the strength of a martial artist may be somewhat simple and straightforward, as long as it is used properly, although it cannot compare to supernatural powers, it can still play a remarkable role in these areas.”

"With such abilities, can we trust you?"

(End of this chapter)