Lu Yin said slowly, "I'm very happy about the appearance of thirteen rings, but it's still not enough. I need more. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen rings. You said it yourself, that technology has no limits. I want to see if it really has no limits."
He looked at Elder Huan. "In the Core, I encountered a technological civilization, a technological fishing civilization."
Elder Huan and the others were shocked. "A technological fishing civilization?"
Originally, only a few people knew about this. Although it wasn't a secret, there was no need to publicize it.
Now, Lu Yin told Elder Huan and the others that Limitless Empire was at the forefront of human technology.
Lu Yin didn't know if mechas could represent the future of human technology, but at least there was nothing that could surpass it.
While Lu Yin and the others were shocked by the technological fishing civilization, Elder Huan and the others were even more shocked. Only those who studied technology knew how ridiculous it was to make technological weapons reach the level of eternal life. They didn't even dare to think about it.
However, there were already civilizations in the Core that had achieved it.
Lu Yin was envious of the technological civilization's unrestrained attack methods. He had plenty of time anyway, so he let Limitless Empire study it. If they really did succeed one day, human civilization would truly transform.
During this time, he would also think of ways to find information about technological civilizations in the Core and provide it to Limitless Empire.
Lu Yin had painted a big picture for the Limitless Empire, allowing Elder Huan and the others to walk away from their excitement over the Thirteen Rings and continue to invest more energy into their research. In the end, no one knew how much of this picture they would be able to paint.
Lu Yin's biggest sigh was, "Countless people can't cultivate to the Primordial Realm in their entire lives. Here, it's very likely that they'll become assembly line products."
This was what he said, Elder Huan, and everyone else in Limitless Empire wanted to say.
The success of thirteen rings made the people of Limitless Empire reveal different things in their eyes, especially those of Shang Tianshi's generation. Their eyes were filled with pride and disdain for cultivators. This was also one of the reasons why Lu Yin made them feel the difference.
Cultivators would never be assembly line products. He could laugh at himself, but he couldn't be insulted by others.
Technology had its advantages, and so did cultivation. No one could look down on the other. The best thing was to complement each other.
He could see it clearly because he stood above Limitless Empire. But what about the ordinary cultivators?
What would they do if they knew that an assembly line product could surpass their lifetime of hard work and reach a realm that they didn't even dare to imagine?
With these thoughts in mind, he forgot about his current status, realm, power, and everything else. He was just like an ordinary cultivator, reconstructing his cultivation process. This process had increased the fact that he knew about the thirteenth ring, and he wanted to know what he would think of it.
The starry sky was very deep. To ordinary cultivators, it was very, very big. They would not be able to reach the end in their lifetime, not to mention that there were so many parallel spaces.
Lu Yin sat cross-legged on top of the meteorite and allowed it to carry him into the distance. His mind was reconstructing the cultivation process. He did not need to move, but his consciousness was experiencing it.
This experience lasted for two years. Two years later, the meteorite was still flying into the distance. No one knew where it was going.
During this period of time, he had met other cultivators, spaceships, and astrological phenomena, but he had ignored them all. After two years of experience, he had gained some insights.
The first half of the year was spent in a state of confusion. When a cultivator knew that he would be replaced by an assembly line product and would never be able to reach the level of an assembly line product, the confusion made him give up.
He gave up time and time again, but he remained clear-headed and continued to experience it. He gave up decisively because he could not see the path ahead.
Just as Qinglian Yu had said, once you were told what was beyond the fog, every step you took would be meaningless.
The spiritualized cultivators knew that they would only be a resource for the cultivators of the Ninefirmaments Universe for the rest of their lives. They could not see the path ahead, so they had to fight to the death.
This kind of despair was suffocating.
But after half a year, after countless failed attempts, Lu Yin no longer resisted from the perspective of an ordinary cultivator. Instead, he relaxed and did not fuss about it. There were no gains or losses, and for the next year or so, his heart was very calm.
This was a kind of man-made suffering and shackles on one's thoughts. After breaking through these shackles, one would realize that the world was very tall, very wide, and boundless.
What did the assembly line product have to do with him?
When a person lost everything, no matter how small the gains were, they were still gains.
Lu Yin teleported away and reappeared in the Ninefirmaments Universe. He looked at the river in front of him, which he was very familiar with. Back when he had broken through to the Boundary of Heart, he had followed the flow and divined the karma of the mortals. At that time, his heart had been very calm and comfortable.
He had let go. At that moment, he had let go of a lot of things. Those mortals had been very satisfied. Every one of them had died of old age and had a kind mother and a filial son. They all had dreams that Eternal Realm cultivators could not pursue. That kind of dream was peace, calmness, and letting go of everything.
Lu Yin took a deep breath, and a bamboo raft appeared above the river. He sat on it again, but this time, he did not want to read his fortune. He wanted to follow the river and see the past, to see the lives of the mortals.
He did not pursue anything else, and he simply wanted to see. There were no longer any old friends among these mortals. Hundreds of years had passed, and they had long since turned to bones. But even if they were not old friends, they were still old friends. Every mortal was an old friend.
Lu Yin could see the end of the river, but he did not want to see or know. He just wanted to follow the flow and listen to the sound of fish hitting the raft. He had heard this sound many times.
Actually, he could walk on the ground, but he was too lazy to do so.
The river passed through many cities. Many of the cities that Lu Yin had seen had changed. Some were flourishing, while others had completely disappeared. After the war between civilizations, were the descendants of those old friends still around?
There was no need to search for them. Just as he had thought, everyone was an old friend because they all recognized him.
Martial City was a mortal city that Lu Yin had passed by when he had been reading someone's fortune.
Back then, Martial City had been very lively, but now, it was much more desolate. There were traces of war everywhere, and there was even a new profession: bug-diggers.
Bug-Diggers, as the name implied, were people who dug up bugs. These bugs were not ordinary bugs, but bugs from the Insectoid Nest Civilization. As for these bug-diggers, they were naturally cultivators.
When the Insectoid Nest Civilization had attacked the Nine Firmaments Universe, Martial City had been destroyed by a type of bug that had descended and become its nest. After the Insectoid Nest Civilization had been defeated, the cultivators had exterminated the bugs and taken back the city.
However, decades later, someone discovered that after being buried and fermented, the corpses of these insects would become extremely valuable ingredients for medicine. Furthermore, it was not just one type of medicine, but many types of medicine could be replaced by the fermented corpses of these insects. From then on, this place became a treasure hunting ground for many cultivators. Those cultivators would go all over Martial Yang City to dig up the corpses of the insects.
Logically speaking, after so many years, the corpses of the insects should have been dug up long ago. However, the older the corpses of the insects used to be used as medicine, the better. Moreover, they had to be buried in this city because this city used to be the nest of the insects. Many people had dug up the corpses of the insects and brought them back to bury them again. The older they were, the more valuable they would be.
Even more people were looking for opportunities to dig up the bug corpses that had been buried by others.
As a result, Martial City was not exactly desolate. There were many cultivators, but it was definitely not lively. Everyone here looked at each other with hostility.
Under an arch bridge in Martial City, a woman was surrounded by more than ten people. Under the shadow, the woman's face was pale, and she was panting heavily. She held a bug's corpse tightly in her hand and looked at these people vigilantly.
"How dare you dig up the bugs that Grand Daddy Li buried? I'm curious, how did you know where Grand Daddy Li buried the bugs?" someone asked in a cold and murderous tone.
The woman's eyelids were drooping, and there was a knife scar that connected to her forehead. She listened to this person and did not answer. Her eyes were moving, looking for an escape route.
"Hmph, fine. You don't want to talk, right? Take her back and let Grand Daddy Li interrogate her personally," that person said, and the people around him were about to attack.
Just then, the water suddenly became turbulent. It was only a small river, but it swept over like a wave, scaring the people away.
They didn't know why they had to back off. How could a wave be a threat to them, let alone a small river?
They were all cultivators, but they had just backed off. They had an inexplicable feeling that came from their instinct to back off.
The woman also backed off subconsciously and looked into the distance. Fear, the instinctive fear of life. Who was it?
A small boat floated down the river. There was a pot of wine and a few small dishes. A person appeared in the eyes of the people under the arch bridge. They stared at the person and blinked hard. They couldn't see clearly. It was as if there was a cloud of fog blocking the person's face. But where did the fog come from?
The leader's heart sank. He knew he had met a master. He bowed slowly and said, "I am."
"Not interested."
The leader's eyes turned cold. "Have you heard of Grand Daddy North Mountain Feng?"
"Not interested."
"Let's go." The leader left decisively. They couldn't afford to offend this person.
Someone beside him reminded in a low voice, "Boss, the bug."
The leader looked at the woman.
The woman's eyes were stubborn. She took a step back and didn't hand over the bug in her hand.
The leader glanced at the boat again and turned to leave.
More than ten people left one after another, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Seeing them leave, the woman didn't feel relieved. She looked at the boat and the person. She couldn't see him clearly either.
He was definitely a master.
"They can't beat you." The voice came from the person on the boat.
The woman frowned. "I don't want to fight."
"Why?"
"Once you fight, things will be difficult."
"But you stole from them. Things are still difficult."
The woman said, "It's just an external object. There's no need to be so extreme. There are rules in the cultivation world."
"I don't know about rules. I only know that your patience will bring you more trouble." Then, she looked at the arch bridge.