Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 296 He Yu's Doubts

As the saying goes, the world is vast and full of wonders, so encountering a "sage" is not actually a rare occurrence.

But it would be very interesting if a civilization were full of such "saints".

Putting aside other factors, looking at the history of the time and space before Zhang Chengdao's time travel and the civilizations of various continents, it is not difficult to find that the constraints of natural resources will force civilizations to innovate and reform their systems to a certain extent, which is particularly evident in terms of food resources.

The simplest examples are Africa and the Americas.

The latter were geographically isolated for a long time, while the former, although able to communicate, did so only to a limited extent. Moreover, their civilization developed very slowly over the past few thousand years, largely because food was not difficult to obtain.

This may sound different from many people's stereotypes, but in fact, before the Industrial Revolution, ancient Africa was rich in natural resources.

This vast land is teeming with wild animals, edible roots, vegetables, and fruits. It has even bestowed upon its inhabitants the greatest kindness—a climate suitable for food growth year-round, with no distinct winter. This allows the people living here to rely on hunting and gathering for sustenance year-round, without the need to worry about storing food or surviving long, harsh winters.

This is why many businesspeople working in Africa often complain that locals lack a savings mentality, always spending everything they earn before returning to work. This is closely related to climate, geographical conditions, and natural resource availability. Even in modern times, many remote tribes still rely to some extent on hunting and gathering for survival.

The situation in Europe at the same time was quite different.

Because of the abundance of glacial deposits, sandy soil (in Northern Europe), mountains, hills (in Southern Europe), and islands, arable land is extremely limited and infertile. As a result, the region radiating westward from the Mediterranean gradually gave rise to a "pirate civilization" that relied on fishing and commerce, namely, survival strategies, economic means, and military expansion methods with pirate behavior.

Although calling it a "pirate civilization" is somewhat biased, and this term is not used in formal academic circles, the habits of this civilization are deeply embedded in the social, economic, and cultural structure of this land. The underlying logic is very simple: since they cannot reliably obtain natural resources, they will plunder them.

Similar to East Asia, the scarcity of natural resources, food shortages, and long, harsh winters have put greater pressure on people's survival. They have had to band together to fight against nature and try to increase food production, which has led to the relentless pursuit of innovation in these civilizations.

Of course, East Asia is different from Europe. The stability pursued by East Asia's small-scale peasant economy system has, to some extent, curbed ideological changes (before the Industrial Revolution, innovation in the means of production in East Asia never stopped, and it was always far ahead).

In contrast, neighboring South Asia and Southeast Asia, with their climates similar to Africa—lacking long, harsh winters where food cannot grow—and possessing abundant natural food resources, have fostered a similar culture in their people, with little emphasis on saving or a sense of crisis, both in terms of lifestyle and cultural trends.

In conclusion, this logic can actually be applied to the vast majority of civilizations and the vast majority of the world.

In a world where extraordinary powers objectively exist, as long as the group that controls these powers ensures an abundance of food for the lower-level "slaves," civilization will develop slowly, much like the civilizations that arose in typical Africa and the Americas (ancient America). They might even maintain slash-and-burn agriculture for much of the time. Even on Earth, where extraordinary powers do not exist, many civilizations still retain slash-and-burn farming methods in modern times. Not to mention those "extraordinary worlds" where the superiors can feed their inferiors for years with a mere shower of spiritual rain or a handful of spiritual soil.

A society (or civilization) formed by a minority group is ultimately limited. This is not to say that whoever has more people is more developed and advanced (India has the most people, so why isn't it number one in the world?), but rather that the structural richness of a civilization greatly affects its stability and level of development.

In other words, a civilization consisting entirely of cultivators, with only tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or at most tens of millions of people, will inevitably have relatively closed exchanges of means of production, and its development speed will be increasingly slow.

Barring exceptional circumstances, significant changes may not occur for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is why many novels and fantasy works depict various extraordinary civilizations as existing for thousands or tens of thousands of years, yet the lifestyles of these extraordinary individuals remain largely unchanged.

Because it is not needed.

There is no need for development or change.

Cultivators do not need to rely on food to sustain their lives, nor do they need any essential survival resources. The only resource they compete for is the spiritual resources required for cultivation. Many of these resources have been around for tens of millions of years, so cultivators naturally do not need to consider rapid changes.

Time has become the cheapest thing.

In this extremely unequal and distorted state of civilization, cultivators and mortals are actually two completely different "beings," except that there is no reproductive isolation between them.

Just like humans and gorillas, the former never considers gorillas to be part of the same group as themselves.

Of course, the conflict between cultivators and mortals cannot be hastily equated with that between humans and gorillas, but the seemingly insurmountable differences between them are not so different.

Therefore, to fundamentally change this situation, we must address the root cause of the problem.

Turn all the "gorillas" into "humans".

In other words, it means making everyone start cultivating immortality.

This was Zhang Chengdao's original intention when he first conceived of "upgrading" the world as a whole, and it was also the result of inheriting the will of the civilization that nurtured him before he transmigrated.

While separating cultivators from ordinary people may seem to allow a minority to access more spiritual resources in the short term, in the long run, this near-"foolproof" ideology will inevitably lead to the stagnation or even regression of civilization's development.

Just as Zhang Chengdao tries to give the best resources to his few close disciples, the "gold card" represents talents who can drive the entire civilization forward. Of course, he should prioritize feeding these important talents in order to maximize his benefits.

This logic is easy to understand, but understanding it is one thing, and when it comes to one's own interests, it's another matter entirely.

Therefore, in many objectively existing extraordinary systems, this kind of logic has little fertile ground to survive.

In these worlds, ordinary people are truly nothing more than slaves, property, livestock, and resources.

Even in He Yu's original world, which is already considered to be extremely "advanced", the concept of "civilization cultivation for all" does not exist. It simply binds mortals and cultivators together through a system of incense offerings. Within this system, there are also small-scale channels for communication – meaning that mortals also have many ways to join the immortal sect.

The mortals under this system actually live quite well; at least they have enough to eat and wear, and they are not easily harmed by cultivators—because the system of offering incense and sacrifices makes them "property" under the rule of the corresponding cultivators (or immortals), and damaging "property" is obviously unwise. Therefore, even if the mortals live well, they are still essentially unequal, which means that, in essence, He Yu has never heard of, let alone considered, the logic and concept proposed by Zhang Chengdao.

The idea of ​​making things "understandable" and "comprehensible" to all ordinary people, which means serving more ordinary people, is a logic of "equal perspective" that He Yu had never heard of before.

This isn't absurd; it's quite reasonable. He Yu fully understands the underlying reasons and logic, but...

Too unfamiliar.

It was so unfamiliar that it was as if no cultivator had ever considered it before.

So, he was stunned for a while before he sighed, "If one day I could visit your original world, fellow Daoist, then all the hardships I have endured will have been worthwhile!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengdao didn't think too much about it. He just laughed heartily and said, "Hahaha, if that day ever comes, I will definitely welcome you with open arms!"

As they were talking, Zhang Chengdao had already set up the ceremonial hall.

Compared to the brick and stone structure of the Farmhouse, the Hall of Ceremonies looks much simpler. The whole structure is made of bamboo frame, and the foundation and floor are made of stone, but the walls are made of adobe and the roof is covered with a layer of thatch. If it weren't for the clean and tidy appearance, the building materials alone would make it look like a "refugee house"!

However, its advantage is that its overall structure is very well suited to the function of a "courier station".

In the original game, the Gift Hall is actually a "delivery station" used to store gifts sent to players by various villages and towns. It has everything from food and daily necessities to various seeds and materials. So the house is actually a large "warehouse", and it is a "warehouse" with different categories. There are even many wooden shelves written as "antique shelves" and read as "delivery shelves", which can be used to store items.

Of course, such a house is definitely not enough to hold all the "offerings" for all the future residents of the "ghost town". When there are more residents, it will be necessary to manage them in different areas. Even if it is just a "station" in an area, such a house is definitely not enough. So it is actually a temporary storage place. The warehouse at the back will be used to store more things. However, the overall courtyard needs to be planned properly.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, actually... I've always had a question."

Looking at the houses that had suddenly appeared before him, He Yu hesitated for a long time before finally speaking: "I wonder why Fellow Daoist Zhang can always conjure up so many houses and buildings so quickly? These don't seem to have been created on a whim, nor do they seem to be illusions..."

The so-called "refining" refers to the process by which many cultivators, when they need a dwelling, specifically assemble and refine a "house" in the same way they would refine a magical artifact, so that it would be sturdy enough to withstand the power of certain magical spells and supernatural abilities.

These "houses" have no foundation and can be made large or small, making them truly magical artifacts. Many cultivators, for practicality, would even modify them into flying boats or other flying vehicles, some of which were even "amphibious," with a wide range of functions.

However, the spiritual materials used in these house-like magical treasures are all extremely valuable. Each one requires emptying half of an ordinary cultivator's savings, but this fellow Daoist Zhang...

It's like they can't finish collecting everything! They can even make things like city gates and city walls!

As for "transformation," that's completely impossible.

"Illusion," as the name suggests, refers to things that are "transformed" or "transformed," and ultimately, they are "false."

The illusions conjured by a powerful magician might last for hundreds of years, but a fake is still a fake. Based on my understanding of Zhang Chengdao, I doubt he would use such deceptive methods in such an important place.

These houses and buildings appeared very suddenly. Where did they come from?

Or, to delve deeper, what if these buildings were already crafted by Zhang Chengdao long ago...?

How did Fellow Daoist Zhang know that he would need them?

He Yu was completely baffled.

He didn't think about it as a game system, mainly because that angle was too abstract. His original world didn't have such a rich literary development at all. Concepts like "game" and "system" would take a long time to understand, let alone guess.

He was genuinely puzzled as to why Fellow Daoist Zhang could always produce exactly the houses and buildings he needed.
Zhang Chengdao, standing to the side, felt a sudden tightness in his heart at He Yu's simple question.

He chuckled and said, half-jokingly, "To be honest, fellow Daoist, although I haven't been cultivating for very long, I have quite a lot of resources. Although I can't reveal my lineage, I did bring a lot of things with me this time. For example, I have a treasure that allows me to quickly refine some magic weapons as long as I have enough spiritual materials. These houses were also 'refined' in this way."

He Yu's eyes widened in astonishment, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "There are such treasures! Fellow Daoist's lineage is truly remarkable! Your origin world must have an extremely high concentration of spiritual energy and be rich in spiritual materials!"

"Haha, not bad, not bad,"

Zhang Chengdao was too embarrassed to admit that his original world had no spiritual energy at all, so he could only gloss over it and then added, "However, although this treasure of mine is convenient, it can only be used to refine low-grade items. Otherwise, my sect wouldn't have asked ordinary people to build courtyard walls and some houses!"

He Yu's eyes were filled with envy as he said, "Even so, it is still an extremely rare treasure. It must be a Heaven-rank magic weapon to have such power!"

Even with all his resources in his own original world, he didn't have any Heaven-rank magic treasures!
Zhang Chengdao shook his head again and said, "Alas, there are limitations. The things I refine must be things I know how to refine, or things I have refined before. As for things like your 'Soul-Guiding Hook,' 'Soul-Binding Rope,' and 'Soul-Fixing Shackle,' I am powerless to make them. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to trouble you in the first place!"

He Yu quickly waved his hand: "Fellow Daoist, you flatter me! This is simply my duty, how can it be considered hard work!"

(End of this chapter)