Ling Cage: I am a spiritual master, devouring source matter to become a god.

The first generation of villagers numbered nearly 200, the second generation 93, and the third generation 46, showing a clear decreasing trend.

If it's not due to human intervention, then there's a problem with the environment.

“My wife was pregnant twice, but both times the babies were stillborn due to lack of vital essence. So we gave up.” Qin Bohan patted Jing Yuan on the shoulder and said, “If you’re planning to have children, you need to be mentally prepared!”

At this moment, Jingyuan was thinking about something else.

"So, the number of people living in this world is destined to decrease, right?"

Qin Bohan nodded. "Our generation is still willing to take a gamble on the odds. But the younger generation isn't even willing to take that gamble! They feel that living in this kind of world is already hard enough, and they don't want their children to suffer like that, so they just give up."

Jingyuan thought of Xiaoyu, "If there are no newborn children in this village, then in the future, Xiaoyu will live alone in this world."

"Yes. It's cruel!"

Qin Bohan patted Jing Yuan on the shoulder and then left.

No wonder he felt that Qin Bohan had no vitality at all.

Qin Bohan and Xu Wen are both very good people.

Yet it always gives people a strange feeling.

Jingyuan now understands that when a person loses hope for the future, they will live like a walking corpse.

Although the people living here lead monotonous lives, they are at least a little happier if they have children.

After returning home, Jingyuan told Penny the news.

Penny also slumped helplessly on the bed.

"If we gamble on this opportunity and fail, we will suffer a heavy blow to both our physical and mental health."

Jingyuan knew very well that women were the ones who suffered the most during pregnancy.

If, after ten months of pregnancy, she were to give birth to a body devoid of life essence, it would be a devastating blow to Penny.

That night, Penny thought about many things.

At night, he grabbed Jingyuan's hand and said, "If we have the chance, let's try to escape this world!"

After that day, Penny adjusted her lifestyle.

She began to frequently visit Qin Bohan's home to consult Qin Yufeng about theoretical knowledge of space physics.

After her potential was unlocked, Penny learned some related theoretical knowledge from Tasia.

For them, mastering some theories can also help them understand their potential.

Qin Yufeng understood Penny's thoughts very well. Although he knew it was impossible, he still spared no effort to impart all his knowledge to her.

They later learned that Qin Yufeng was a very famous figure in the old world.

He was a child prodigy who made a major theoretical breakthrough before he was 30 years old.

Now 90 years old, his mind is still clear, which is incredible for an ordinary person.

Jingyuan went to study the runes on the stone wall every day, but still gained nothing.

That day, Xiao Wu brought several children from the village to play with Jing Yuan.

Because Jingyuan can fly, and he is willing to fly with the children, the children in the village especially like him.

Seeing that Jingyuan was observing the symbols, the children did not disturb him.

When Jingyuan came down from the mountaintop after reading the runes, he found several children bored and using twigs to carve along the grooves of the runes.

Jingyuan didn't pay much attention and called the children over to play flying games with them.

When taking Xiao Wu home that evening, Xiao Wu's father insisted that Jing Yuan stay for drinks.

Jingyuan couldn't refuse.

To create some atmosphere, Xiao Wu's father even brought out his family's heirloom phonograph to play music.

He placed the stylus on the vinyl record, and as the stylus traced the grooves on the record, different vibration frequencies produced different sounds. The sounds of various frequencies intertwined to create beautiful music.

Jingyuan stared at the phonograph, and the image of a child using a twig to carve along the grooves of the runes floated into his mind.

Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered the secret of the runes on the mountain!

Chapter 233 Deciphering the Stone Carvings

"Brother Wu, I suddenly remembered something. You can drink this wine slowly by yourself!"

After Jing Yuan finished speaking, he flew away directly from the Wu family's courtyard.

"What's the rush?" Old Wu looked at Jing Yuan's departing figure with great confusion, but after drinking a glass of wine, he didn't care anymore.

Jingyuan flew directly to the mountainside, his mind racing with thoughts.

In this pocket world, there is no sun, yet there is daytime. There is no moon at night, yet there is still a faint light.

Even now, Jingyuan could still see the runes on the stone wall by the faint light.

He used his telekinesis to control a small stone and began to carve along the runes on the mountainside.

Because there were many runes on the mountain, Jing Yuan even used twelve strands of mental energy to simultaneously control twelve stones to copy and carve these runes.

Jingyuan had already discovered some patterns in these runes when he was observing them before.

He felt that these continuous runes resembled the attack method of a telekinetic weapon.

Jingyuan recalled that in the "Mind Power Cultivation Method," there was a cultivation method that improved one's mind power attack methods by imitating the weapon's movement path within the cultivation method.

If you insist on interpreting these runes using the meaning of the words, you will never understand them.

However, if we understand it through the lens of telekinetic weapons, the logic behind many of the symbols becomes clear.

After copying it several times, Jingyuan gradually confirmed that this was a method of mental cultivation.

However, Jingyuan's mental power is not strong enough!

To completely replicate this cultivation method, one needs to simultaneously replicate it with thirty-six strands of mental energy.

However, Jingyuan can only use twelve strands of mental power now.

Jingyuan patiently copied the text again and again until dawn.

Penny cultivated all night but didn't notice that Jingyuan hadn't come home.

Penny guessed that Jingyuan must be behind the mountain, so she came to find him.

Sure enough, Jing Yuan was there, and he was controlling the stones to carve into the mountainside, as if he had entered a state of madness.

"Jingyuan!"

Penny was a little worried, so she called out.

Jingyuan heard the sound and landed on the ground.

"what happened?"

"You haven't come home all night, so I came to check on you!"

Jingyuan then realized that it was already dawn, and it was the next day.

"What are you doing?"

"I think I've figured out the secret of these symbols! Are they a method of cultivating mental power?"

"Cultivation methods?" Penny looked at the mountain and asked in confusion, "These are cultivation methods?"

Jingyuan nodded. He hadn't paid any attention to the time when he was focused on copying the calligraphy, and he didn't expect it to pass so quickly!

Jingyuan looked at Penny and asked in confusion, "I didn't go home last night, why are you only coming to find me now?"

Penny smiled awkwardly and said, "I was practicing energy cultivation last night and got into a trance before I woke up."

Why do you want to cultivate source energy?

Penny said, "I've discovered that Source Energy training seems to enhance my abilities. If I continue to strengthen them, I'll be able to control my body's transformations at will, and then we'll have hope of leaving this place!"

Jing Yuan nodded and said, "Indeed, Source Energy cultivation can improve physical fitness in all aspects."

After saying that, Jing Yuan suddenly looked at Penny and asked, "Can one also cultivate source energy in this place?"

"Of course, haven't you tried it yet?"

Jing Yuan shook his head. For him, cultivating source energy was far less effective than killing beasts for improvement.

Therefore, he usually only practices sword techniques and rarely cultivates source energy.

"I feel that absorbing energy here is much faster than outside!"

"what?"

Jingyuan was quite surprised to hear this.

“I’m telling you, cultivation here is much faster than outside!” Penny waved her hands and said, “I’ve only cultivated for one night, and I feel like I’ve improved a lot!”

Jing Yuan didn't ask any more questions. He immediately sat down cross-legged and began cultivating his source energy.

Jing Yuan quickly entered the Inner Observation Realm and arrived at the void space belonging to the Source Energy.

In this void, the source energy is like twinkling starlight.