Chapter 137: The Gap Imposed by Time
Chapter 137: The Gap Imposed by Time
Chen Xiyi sat in the Void Heaven Library Repository, feeling a bit dizzy. He had previously thought books were just for reading. But now, he realized the Qi Refiners had long ago developed a whole new method for devouring knowledge.
You didn’t need to read. Once you selected a book, it was simply shoved into your head. The rest was just learning it yourself.
This bypassed the entire process of reading and eliminated any worry about forgetting. The existence of the Primordial Spirit gave every Qi Refiner the basic ability of photographic memory.
Chen Xiyi certainly had this ability too. However, the sheer scale of stuffing books into his mind like this was too much for him to handle.
Even his Status Bar had displayed a negative status effect called “Dizzy Brain.”
His Primordial Spirit was too weak to withstand such massive tides of information. Luckily, Chen Xiyi was shoving the books in one at a time. It was a bit slower in terms of speed, but it was safer and let him test his limits.
The idea that forcibly pushing his limits with intense, concentrated impact could trigger a breakthrough for his Primordial Spirit simply didn’t work. Not suffering damage counted as good luck. Hoping for a breakthrough? That was the Protagonist’s treatment. Forget him – even that Ji Shan hadn’t managed it.
Chen Xiyi had been holed up in this Void Heaven Library Repository for over a month now. He’d managed to cram roughly one-tenth of the repository’s books into his head.
He probably still needed another half a year at this rate. During this time, only a handful had visited the library. And they weren’t there to read; they just came to upload their latest works for that year.
For the Qi Refiners, this library repository served more as a place to shorten distances and tutor juniors. For Chen Xiyi, struggling book by book, it was a pain. But for these powerful Qi Refiners, it was merely glancing through with a single thought.
As for Chen Xiyi acting like a locust hoarding books into his skull – the Qi Refiners saw nothing odd about it. Doing this showed ambition. It was the ones pretending to read or acting aloof who landed on the watch list.
They’d done the same thing themselves when they first entered. When resources to strengthen yourself were easily available, practically within your grasp, refusing to take any suggested a lack of potential.
Qi Refiners weren’t necessarily defined by competition, but they did demand effort.
Chen Xiyi sorted through the newly acquired knowledge flooding his mind. The volume was enormous; the content ranged from utterly profound to stunningly simple. Not all Qi Refiners were skilled authors, so some simply logged their experiences and insights like personal journals. These inevitably included specialized terms requiring further study.
Of course, there were also many fundamental texts, likely provided free of charge and specifically set aside for newcomers like Chen Xiyi.
Starting as a blank slate Primordial Spirit, a new Qi Refiner had no inherited legacy. They absolutely needed systematic foundational learning first.
Chen Xiyi was doing exactly that. He hoarded all the basics first, then progressed systematically through more advanced texts. He wasn’t foolish enough to grab those legendary secret techniques first. He knew a tall building needed a deep foundation. Trying to build a hundred floors without solid groundwork? Forget the impracticality – he wouldn’t understand even if handed a celestial scripture!
To practice required sufficient theoretical grounding.
Rushing in blindly, knowing nothing? He’d only end up battered and bruised.
Chen Xiyi understood this well. High-level knowledge he could skip for now; without the necessary basics, it was just gibberish anyway. So the order for his mental book-hoarding was something he had firmly mapped out.
“Managed to grab how many?” Ji Shan walked over and casually tossed Chen Xiyi a crystalline fruit.
Chen Xiyi listlessly caught the fruit, wiped it off, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing. As the fruit touched his tongue, a soothing coolness washed away the brain fog.
“Almost one tenth. The Void Heaven Library Repository just has too many books. Memorizing it all just with my brain… feels slightly impossible.” Chen Xiyi stumbled slightly as he stood up after eating the fruit.
He didn’t know what the fruit was, but he knew its effect. He’d eaten it several times now.
As the undisputed leader among the Qi Refiners, Ji Shan took a special interest in Chen Xiyi. Every Qi Refiner who grew strong brought benefits that propelled the entire group forward.
The number of Qi Refiners was shockingly small. That was what made each one precious.
As for Nourishment Resource Refiners? They didn’t count as Qi Refiners. Their identity was solely “nourishment resources.” This wasn’t contradictory because no matter how much these Nourishment Resource Refiners advanced, their final destiny was simply becoming the resources consumed by the Qi Refiner who had originally dropped the bait lure.
“So, any thoughts or suggestions brewing on this?” Ji Shan asked pointedly.
Chen Xiyi snapped out of his daze. What thoughts could he possibly have?
“A few, sort of. But it’s just a rough draft. Needs more time to bake.” Chen Xiyi spoke without hesitation. He couldn’t admit he had nothing.
“Let’s hear it. Maybe I can help.” Ji Shan seized the opening.
Chen Xiyi rolled the idea around in his still-dazed mind and responded instantly: “My Primordial Spirit has its limits. I can’t hold this much knowledge all at once; I’m brushing against the barrier now. But… if I could carve off a section and convert it into a special technique purely for storing knowledge… then, even if that technique had capacity limits, I could hoard stacks of them and slowly learn and digest the contents.”
A sharp gleam flashed in Ji Shan’s eyes. “That idea has merit. To think about using a Divine Ability specifically for knowledge storage in such a short time is impressive. Sima Mei, who brought you here, only thought of it after emptying the entire repository. But your concept… it’s a bit conservative.”
“Using a Divine Ability as the storage vessel is a sound approach. However, Divine Abilities can fade or become corrupted due to Qi Mechanism leakage, energy decay, or external interference. That unavoidably risks losing stored content. But what about… storing it within the Primordial Spirit itself? That would be vastly superior.”
Hearing this, Chen Xiyi understood what Ji Shan was implying.
“Innate Divine Ability?”
Ji Shan glanced at Chen Xiyi but didn’t answer. Instead, he simply walked away.
Ji Shan was clearly pleased by Chen Xiyi’s quick deduction. It demonstrated flexible and dynamic thinking.
Back when Sima Mei first arrived here, he too had plunged deep into the repository. Ji Shan had offered similar hints then. But constrained by rigid thinking patterns, Sima Mei never conceived of this alternative approach.
Chen Xiyi also pondered this new idea.
‘So it seems every Qi Refiner has a similar Innate Divine Ability to store knowledge… what is this? A built-in notebook? A personal computer?’
Innate Divine Ability. It sounded potent, but at its core, it was programing a permanent capability directly onto the Primordial Spirit itself.
Generally, there were two paths. One involved understanding the soul and programming it yourself, similar to practicing an advanced Divine Ability. This was significantly more difficult and carried inherent dangers.
The other path? Naturally, that was the Nourishment Resource Refiners. Their entire “refining” journey was about preparing them as resources. In the end, not only would they become nourishment, but the Innate Divine Power developed upon their Primordial Spirit was also harvested and integrated by the predatory Qi Refiner.
Zero waste. Peak efficiency.
As for crafting bait inheritances (Guidance Texts) capable of spawning these resource paths? That required reaching at least the Qi Manipulation and Spirit Wandering stage.
Once there, a Qi Refiner could easily cordon off land, establishing mass farming and harvesting zones. But typically, this only happened once Ji Shan’s “feeding” phase wrapped up and his fostered dynasty settled into a development phase.
On one front, they used this system to cultivate talent useful for expanding Ji Shan’s maintained empire. On the other, with the chaos of warfare and demonic incursions suppressed, and relative stability achieved, the Nourishment Resource Refiners flourished in the improved conditions.
Seeing this, Chen Xiyi concluded this group was full of scheming old foxes; every step promised tangible benefits for them.
Even Chen Xiyi’s inclusion offered substantial benefit to the Qi Refiners; otherwise, he wouldn’t enjoy such favorable treatment.
‘Ji Shan really did remind me. I do need such Divine Ability capacity… But isn’t this basically the embryonic chip or data module template found in arcane cultivation paths?’
Chen Xiyi felt the description fitted strangely well.
‘Exactly. It seems wasteful to craft an Innate Divine Ability purely as passive knowledge storage. Why not design one capable of numerical calculation and logical computation, while also serving memory storage? It would be an Innate Divine Ability that operated by dataflow program, capable of automated, high-speed processing of vast quantities of data. The modern System of the mind.’
‘It would assist me in all manner of tasks. Forget dreaming of supernatural all-knowing Interfaces or Divine Knowledge Arrays right away; that’s ridiculously overambitious. Better to keep it grounded. Build it step by step, upgrading slowly later.’
Chen Xiyi knew his limits. Step One: Storage functionality powerful enough to snatch the entire Void Heaven Repository. Step Two: Gradually add features like search tools, classification systems, and others.
A suspicion grew: perhaps every established Qi Refiner had an Innate Divine Ability of this specific class. Ji Shan’s willingness to hint at the path suggested it was probably a core necessity.
‘The version Ji Shan possesses… its calculation power probably eclipses the theoretical limits of mortal Computation Engines.’
Chen Xiyi wasn’t exceptionally intelligent. Anything he could conceive, these ancient Qi Refiners, with aeons of study and discourse, certainly could too – they’d transcended rigid feudal ideologies eons ago.
From Ji Shan, Chen Xiyi saw no trace of feudal secret-hoarding mindsets. Instead, Ji Shan exuded a modern understanding of shared advancement, though naturally, this mindset remained confined solely within the Qi Refiner caste.
Probably acquired from worlds ultimately devoured… Though notably, the library contents offered zero trace of information from genuine modern global civilizations. Had the Qi Refiners ever succeeded in reeling one of those in? Upon gaining comprehensive modern theoretical frameworks, their societal tiers would likely freeze solid.
‘The gap between me and them isn’t just Primordial Spirit capacity or knowledge reserves; it’s also the gulf in developed Innate Divine Abilities. The former represents accumulation; the latter, actual combat and utility.’
As for magical Divine Abilities? Don’t even bring it up. Chen Xiyi couldn’t possibly catch up even if covered in boosting talismans.
The gap at play here wasn’t something mere talent and relentless effort could demolish.
After all—why assume they lacked talent or slacked on training? They possessed talent and diligence, plus seemingly infinite resource streams. How could any burst of frantic exertion over simply erase a gap spanning countless thousand years of similar effort? Utterly impossible.
Yet, despite the despair-inducing scope of the gap, Chen Xiyi believed fighting and pushing remained essential. He did this for his own strength, not to overtake others for showmanship or cheap victories. Empty hype held no meaning. Being authentically powerful meant simply existing commanded respect. No petty displays were needed; when your might was real, undermining fools felt beneath you.
‘Priority one: return to the Shu King Palace Shelter to research and design the Innate Divine Ability I need. Honing the blade doesn’t slow the woodcutter. Staying here just grinding mindlessly would take me weeks longer to finish grabbing the library… terrible efficiency.’
Decision solidified, Chen Xiyi’s Primordial Spirit withdrew itself from the Void Heaven dimension effortlessly, returning to his physical body located within the safety of the Shu King Palace Shelter.
Elsewhere, Ji Shan sensed the precise moment Chen Xiyi exited the Void Heaven. A satisfied smile touched his lips. Had Chen Xiyi stubbornly persisted in brute-forcing the library, Ji Shan would have known his supposed insights were mere placating talk.