My cultivation is too warm

The spirit of the secret realm couldn't understand Jiang Nian's profound words. He was simply judging from his personal feelings. If Jiang Nian were to become a god, he would prefer that the other party obtain endless lifespan and achieve immortality. As for the ability to move mountains and fill seas, he didn't think it was that important. Having Grandpa Jiang Nian by his side was the most important thing.

Faced with the words of the spirit of the secret realm, Jiang Nian did not refute them, but just smiled and said, "Xiao Rui, you have not experienced the hardships that our human race has gone through in order to survive, so it is normal for you to think this way."

"But for me, if one day we humans really possess the abilities of those legendary gods, we will definitely pursue the ability to 'move mountains and fill seas' to create a better living environment for our human race."

Xu Mo and the others, who had been following the vision of the spirit of the secret realm, all showed thoughtful expressions after hearing this conversation, and a mysterious feeling arose in their hearts.

Although they were somewhat confused, they had a feeling that they had witnessed the essence and philosophy of the birth of the first cultivators.

However, they still didn't understand it very well at this time, and Shennong Yandi Jiang Nian was not yet a cultivator. They had not yet witnessed the birth of the first cultivator, so they could not be sure of their guesses. Therefore, they suppressed their impatience and continued to watch the memories of the spirit of the secret realm.

After that conversation, Jiang Nian, just as he had said, continued to teach the spirit of the secret realm various kinds of knowledge.

It includes not only medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, but also various life and survival skills, including building houses, making clothes, weaving nets for fishing, hunting, and various tool-making methods that Jiang Nian has observed and summarized over the years.

This puzzled the spirit of the secret realm. He couldn't understand why he was just a "potion furnace." Of course, "potion furnace" is a later term. At this time, Jiang Nian had not yet created the method of alchemy, and there was no such thing as alchemy in the world. The spirit of the secret realm should be called a "medicine furnace" because his main function was to brew medicine.

However, as a medicine furnace, it has to learn so much knowledge. Even if it learns all of this knowledge, it can't use it. It's not like a medicine furnace has to build houses for people, weave nets to catch fish, or make all kinds of tools, right?

Even if he wanted to do it, he has no hands or feet, so he simply couldn't do it.

Faced with his doubts, Jiang Nian smiled and explained, "I'm teaching you these things not so that you can do them, but so that you can remember this knowledge. If one day something happens to me or the tribe and this knowledge is lost, then I hope that when you meet someone who comes after you, you can pass on this knowledge."

"An accident? What kind of accident?" the spirit of the secret realm asked in surprise.

In response, Jiang Nian explained with a very serious expression:
“I don’t know what kind of accident it might happen, or if any accident will occur, but I need to take precautions.”

"Xiao Rui, you must remember that our human race is not a powerful race in this world. On the contrary, we are very weak. Any natural disaster can cause us heavy losses, and we may even be wiped out. We have no means to resist those disasters."

"Moreover, it's not just natural disasters; anything in the world, whether it's living or non-living, can threaten the lives of our human race."

“From ferocious giant beasts and wild animals to ants, insects, and even weeds, wildflowers, and wild fruits, anything can cause our human race to lose its life.”

"Therefore, we humans are really, really fragile. In this world, we could be wiped out at any time."

"But Xiao Rui, you are different. You are a treasure I created, with an endless lifespan. Even if you face natural disasters, calamities, poisonous creatures, or ferocious beasts, they will not cause you any harm."

"I'm having you learn these things so that you can remember them firmly and pass them on to future generations."

"Not only that, but if any new knowledge is created by future generations, I hope you will be able to learn it as well."

"In this way, as long as you study diligently, Xiao Rui, and accumulate knowledge generation after generation, you will become the most knowledgeable person in our human race. All humans will respect and admire you. You will be a sage and a teacher of all humans."

The spirit of the secret realm, who had been feeling melancholic about Jiang Nian's words about the fragility of the human race, immediately abandoned all his thoughts upon hearing Jiang Nian's last words. His expression brightened as he stared at Jiang Nian and asked:

"Grandpa, are you telling the truth? Everyone will respect Xiaorui?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian burst into laughter, his tone teasing, "Of course it's true. What? Tempted?"

The face conjured by the spirit of the secret realm nodded with absolute certainty, "Xiao Rui wants to be respected." Then, suppressing his excitement, he continued, "Will they respect Xiao Rui as much as they respect Grandpa?"

The spirit of the secret realm laughed heartily, then shook its head and said in an extremely serious tone, "No, no, no, they will treat you with more respect than they treat me."

The spirit of the secret realm was stunned upon hearing this, then stared wide-eyed and said in disbelief, "More respectful than Grandpa? How is that possible? Grandpa is so powerful, how could Xiaorui possibly compare to him?"

In the heart of the spirit of the secret realm at this time, Jiang Nian was the most powerful person in the world. Like the people in the tribe, he liked and respected Jiang Nian the most.

Jiang Nian reached out and touched the furnace body, saying in a kind tone, "Why is it impossible? No matter how powerful I am, I can't live for endless years. Besides, haven't I taught all my skills to Xiao Rui? And Xiao Rui, you have endless time to create and learn more knowledge. Sooner or later, Xiao Rui, you will surpass your grandfather and become the most knowledgeable and capable being in the world."

"At that time, everyone will naturally respect you the most, but the premise is that Xiao Rui must study hard."

Upon hearing this, the spirit of the secret realm imagined the scene of being looked at with respect by countless people, and immediately showed a heart-stirring expression. He replied very seriously, "Grandpa, don't worry, Xiaorui will definitely study hard."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian nodded slightly, a genuine smile of happiness on her face, and praised, "I'm relieved that Xiao Rui thinks this way."

For a long time afterward, the Spirit of the Secret Realm's memories were filled only with images of Jiang Nian teaching him.

However, during this learning process, Xu Mo and the others who were watching this scene also discovered that their ancestor, Shennong Yandi, was truly a person who was very good at observation and summarization.

His daily routine consisted mostly of observing everything in the world, from flowers and beasts to insects and birds, even the wind, rain, lightning, and thunder. He would meticulously observe every detail of the world, pondering what he could learn that would be useful for the survival of humanity. In this process of learning, the snow soon gave way to spring. At the beginning of spring, Jiang Nian, carrying the Spirit of the Secret Realm, excitedly arrived at an open space, where he saw a group of people using stone tools, bronze tools, and wood to cultivate the wasteland.

Seeing what those people were doing, Jiang Nian smiled warmly and personally went down to help and guide them on how to cultivate the land.

Seeing Jiang Nian's demeanor, after finishing their work in the evening, the spirit of the secret realm couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa, what are you all doing? Why do you look so happy?"

Faced with this question, Jiang Nian replied with a smile: "Xiao Rui, Grandpa is doing something very important right now. If this is done, then our human race will never have to worry about food again in the future."

Seeing the puzzled look on the spirit of the secret realm, he further explained, "When we were picking those wild grass seeds before, I discovered that the reason those wild grasses grew there was largely because the birds in the sky pecked their seeds and planted them in the ground."

“I observed those birds that were farming for a long time, and I thought to myself, if we don’t eat all the grass seeds after we pick them, but leave some as seeds, and plant them in the ground the following year, then we won’t have to go out to find those wild grass seeds anymore.”

After hearing Jiang Nian's answer, the spirit of the secret realm understood and exclaimed, "So that's how it is! As expected of Grandpa, Grandpa is amazing!"

However, faced with the praise from the spirit of the secret realm, Jiang Nian did not show a happy expression this time. Instead, he said with some sadness and melancholy:
“Xiao Rui, you’re wrong. It’s not that I’m so great, but as I told you before, our human race is too fragile. If we want to survive in this world, we can only strive to improve ourselves and learn all the survival skills we can. Even if we can’t learn survival skills, we have to find ways to achieve them through all sorts of tools.”

“You’ve seen what happened before, with elderly people and children in the tribe getting stomach aches. This kind of thing happens frequently in the tribe. Getting a stomach aches is actually a good thing. More often than not, people are hungry and can’t find anything to eat, so they just eat whatever they see. If they’re lucky, they can survive, but if they’re unlucky, they will lose their lives.”

"For any life in this world, food is the most important thing. Whether it is flying insects or running beasts, the most important thing every day is to find food. Even wildflowers and weeds will wither and die if it doesn't rain for a period of time."

"Life requires food. I told you before, Xiaorui, that our human race must be self-reliant. Something as important as food must be in our own hands. We must be able to grow it ourselves, instead of relying on the heavens and the earth and luck. If we run out of food today, we don't know where tomorrow's food will be. Relying on luck to hunt and gather grass seeds and wild fruits is definitely not going to work. There is no way to control our own destiny."

"Only when we are hungry and have enough food at any time, without having to rely on luck to find grass seeds and wild fruits, or risk fighting those ferocious beasts, can we survive in this world."

Hearing this, the spirit of the secret realm was confused and didn't quite understand, but Xu Mo and the others, who had been watching all this, felt endless emotion and sorrow.

These are their ancestors, the ancestors of the human race. They considered such far-reaching matters so long ago. It is their good fortune to have such a fascinating and wise ancestor.

However, our ancestors lived a very hard life back then. They were always on the verge of death, just as Shennong said, relying on heaven, earth, and luck. They didn't know what they would eat next.

Unlike the era Xu Mo and his friends live in, where people don't need to worry about whether they'll have food for the next meal or whether they'll go hungry, the ancient world is now rich in resources. The only reason they might go hungry is definitely not because there's no food, but because they're tired of everything, have no appetite, and don't know what to eat.

They owe their good life to their ancestors, who endured hardship and learned from their experiences. They created various tools and knowledge to improve the quality of life, ensuring material abundance for future generations and leading to their current sweet life.

It's a pity that our ancestors and forefathers suffered throughout their lives, never having had a chance to enjoy life themselves, yet they received all the sweetness of life from us.

This is also why Xu Mo and the others felt sad.

The spirit of the secret realm could not comprehend this kind of feeling, but even so, he studied very seriously under Jiang Nian's guidance, more seriously than ever before.

His grandfather told him that this was the most important knowledge for humanity, concerning the future survival of the human race, so he dared not be careless in the slightest.

Seeing the spirit of the secret realm studying so diligently, Jiang Nian was also very pleased.

So for the next period of time, Jiang Nian would bring the spirit of the secret realm to the fields that everyone had cultivated every day to observe the growth of the crops.

There were more than a dozen plots of land that had been cultivated. Jiang Nian separated them, and on some of the plots, they simply observed them without doing anything. They did not interfere with the land, whether it was windy or rainy, or whether there were weeds or insects.

Then there are a few fields where everything is intervened, and a few fields where only a part is intervened, such as only weeding or only catching insects.

The spirit of the secret realm was puzzled as to why this was done, but Jiang Nian explained with a smile: "In this way, when it's harvest time, we can know how to plant according to how much food we harvest. With this experience, next time we can plant in the way that maximizes the harvest."

Upon hearing Jiang Nian's answer, the spirit of the secret realm suddenly understood and praised him with admiration, "Grandpa is so amazing, Grandpa knows so much."

Xu Mo and his group already knew the outcome of their farming project—it was bound to be successful. However, what they initially grew wasn't rice, wheat, corn, or sorghum; it was just ordinary weeds.

The first batch of wheat and rice was planted more than 20 years later, when Jiang Nian had already grown some gray hair.

During this time, in addition to selecting seeds for cultivating food and teaching the spirits of the secret realm, Jiang Nian also worked hard to compile the experience he had gained from observing all things in heaven and earth into a book to pass on to future generations.

After Jiang Nian completed compiling all the contents of the "Compendium of Materia Medica," he gave the work a name.

When Xu Mo saw Jiang Nian write the title of his book, he was stunned. He was very confused. Wasn't it supposed to be "The Classic of Herbs"? Why was it "The Classic of Materia Medica"?
If that's the case, then where did the "Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica" come from? Could it be a fake? But that shouldn't be the case, since it's clearly a legacy obtained from the Shennong Secret Realm, how could it be fake?

(End of this chapter)