Chapter 227: 226. What Do You Think I Am?

After staying in White Serpent City for almost three months and taking three months of courses, Wang Wu finally got a chance for a vacation.

During those three months his strength surged, and now he is not far from being a Third‑rank Warrior.

Of course, closing that gap may still require half a year to a year, but that's already good given his current talent.

Even though the body reshaped after reaching the Complete Realm grants him a stronger talent than before, attaining the Third rank still takes time.

Half a year, or a year, is already a brief span, negligible compared to his current lifespan.

The Yinji Divine Sect's cultivation method has longevity traits, and when a warrior reaches the Fourth‑rank Complete Realm, the method they practice enhances that stage during body and brain reshaping.

And the boost is quite substantial.

Each sect's method provides its own unique amplification when reshaping the body to achieve the Complete Realm.

For those who practice the Yinji Divine Sect's method, the body attained at the Complete Realm can be called a Yin God True Body.

It has many effects, and one less important effect is a massive extension of the cultivator's lifespan.

Why it's considered unimportant is that, in general, once one reaches the upper Third‑rank realm, lifespan is already greatly extended.

Of course, that extension reaches the Second‑rank realm, whereas at the Third rank the lifespan is not as long—perhaps a few tens of thousands of years.

But if one practices the Yinji Divine Sect's method, its Yin God True Body can further lengthen the user's lifespan; after all, the name contains "Divine," so it must live longer.

Moreover, it's not just a little longer—it's nearly a tenfold increase, boosting lifespan from fifty thousand years to almost five hundred thousand years.

Five hundred thousand years is a vast span; in Wang Wu's hometown, anatomically modern Homo sapiens only appeared about three hundred thousand years ago.

Before that was the era of Homo erectus, the late hominids.

They knew how to wield fire and use tools.

Evolution proceeds slowly and is not optimal; as long as it works. As a species, humanity naturally accumulated many flaws during its evolution.

But the martial path, the Transcendent Path, can push humanity's evolutionary speed to its limit.

From the first ground‑walking ancient ape to the first late ape that sparked fire, the span was over a million years.

Yet from an ordinary modern human to a Transcendent who can conjure fire from the palm, the span is no more than ten years.

Compressing millions, even tens of millions of years into just a few short years—that is the Transcendent Path.

And a hundred thousand years is an extremely long time for a Transcendent.

Of course, for some worlds' Transcendents it may still be too brief; their talent and development of the Transcendent Dao are limited, causing them to spend those hundreds of thousands of years on a dead‑end and still possibly fail to breakthrough.

In the end, amid endless anxiety and fear, they march toward the end of life, turning into a speck of dust in the cosmos, and before dying sigh:

"Alas! How arduous the Transcendent Path!"

But this problem doesn't exist on Earth's martial path, because even with poor talent, as long as you aren't afraid of death you will surely have a chance to reach the summit.

That's the value of the born‑god lineage; Earthlings are like that.

As for why Wang Wu can also enjoy this treatment, the answer is that Wang Wu is also an Earthling; of course he can enjoy Earthlings' privileges—how normal is that?

"This is the capital of Great Chu, Yingdu."

After three months of "devil training," Wang Wu spent his vacation traveling to the Chu region on the surface to observe its customs.

He arrived alone in Yingdu, Chu, without First‑day Warrior or his master Yin Shenli, who has been fully immersed in the great joy of power advancement during this period.

Every day is nothing but deadly fights, and his progress speed is as fast as flying.

As for Wang Wu, he of course works hard; his progress is tremendous, and First‑day Warrior is very satisfied with his pace.

Of course, if this speed were seen by Yin Shenli or Qin Xiang, they would surely scold Wang Wu a couple of times; Qin Xiang might be lenient, at most urging Wang Wu to try harder.

But Yin Shenli is different; she would only hurl the harshest insults at Wang Wu, then use his tongue as a towel, until… ahem.

In short, Yin Shenli is extremely strict with Wang Wu, to the point that he finds it unbearable and humiliating.

Now in Yingdu, he is only accompanied by a Chu native he met a few days ago; she is not a noble lady but an ordinary villager.

Of course, this villager isn't that ordinary; she has great talent and was spotted by a sect monk who recruited disciples when she was young, bringing her into the sect for cultivation.

For most ordinary people in this world, entering a sect is indeed a good path. Of course, those without talent can choose to serve the court and become a clerk.

Like the ancient society back home, officials and clerks here are quite distinct. Moreover, unlike back home, clerks must also pass exams to be appointed, and clerks are a prerequisite for officials.

Indeed, this resembles the civil service system of his previous life's modern society.

There is no imperial examination here, but there is a recruitment exam; it's harder, yet passing guarantees placement. One starts as a junior clerk and climbs step by step to become a general and eventually a prime minister.

But calling this society a modern one merely cloaked in an ancient veneer would be inaccurate, as there are genuine differences.

Noble families and the royal house control the most critical departments, while the highest office an ordinary person can attain is usually as their deputy; only a few commoner officials can reach the prime ministerial rank.

Moreover, the prime minister here wields limited power; although the compensation is top‑tier, it's merely a… ahem… digression.

Nevertheless, it does provide a ladder for commoners and gives them hope for a better life.

At the same time, the great families here don't mind a child's spouse's background when arranging marriages; in this polygamous society, marrying as many as you wish isn't an issue.

As for internal strife after joining? Just say whether you married or not, whether lovers became family.

Nothing has happened between Wang Wu and this female cultivator; they just happened to meet on the road, and their relationship is merely that of acquainted passersby.

"This place is really huge," Wang Wu said, following her words as he looked ahead at the towering city walls.

Yingdu covers an area of twenty thousand square kilometers, with the entire city encircled by a hundred‑meter‑tall massive wall.

If you fly up and look down, you'll see an extremely vast plain inside the city, crossed by a huge river that runs through it.

The whole city sits on another great river of Chu, the Chu River, whose width is slightly less than the Li River by White Serpent City, and its length is also a bit shorter.

Of course, it is still wider than any river on Earth back in Wang Wu's hometown.

Yingdu lies on this great river, spanning both banks. On the east and west sides of the massive city wall are two huge ports.

In the two massive ports, Wang Wu saw something familiar; if he wasn't mistaken, they were shore‑defense cannons.

And they were enormous, with calibers likely around a thousand millimeters; by contrast, the Gustav cannon back home was only eight hundred millimeters.

As for why Wang Wu, from dozens of kilometers away, could see the cannon's caliber clearly, he simply could; if he couldn't even see that close, his upgrade would be pointless, after all he's a Fourth‑rank Complete Realm cultivator.

"Once you enter the city proper, you'll see even more splendor, Dao‑friend Wang," Wei Yiyi said with a smile to Wang Wu.

Wei Yiyi's strength is also not very strong, only at the True Realm level, but that doesn't stop her from flying up, since Wang Wu lifted her there.

"Alright, let's go down." After staring at the city over there for a while, Wang Wu brought Wei Yiyi back to the ground. As they touched down, Wei Yiyi's face still showed a hint of reluctance, clearly still savoring the feeling they just experienced.

After all, she had just been held in Wang Wu's arms.

A monster's appearance is extremely lethal; even a sect cultivator like Wei Yiyi would find it hard to endure. She is merely an ordinary True Realm cultivator within the sect—while she would be considered a winner among common folk, within the sect she can only be called middle class.

Or rather the high‑income class; "middle class" doesn't fit. In fact, there is no middle class, and even the True Realm is not a trivial matter now—it is the backbone level of strength within the sect.

Yet even so, Wei Yiyi has no chance—or rather no spare money—to experience a monster. All the money she has earned over the years has been spent on building her family.

She was originally just an ordinary farmer's daughter; after entering the sect and attaining the True Realm, she naturally received abundant sect resources, and her income surged dramatically.

Since she became prosperous, she naturally began to develop her own family—first buying farmland, then venturing into commerce; most civilian True Realm cultivators follow this path.

Then she helped her parents enjoy a second spring, encouraging them to have more children; siblings who already had children were urged to have many more, and the unmarried were set up with marriages.

After all, cultivators' fertility drops sharply, but ordinary people are not lacking in that regard.

In this way, with a True Realm cultivator as the foundation, a burgeoning local great clan can be established.

Population is resource, population is power; the more offspring, the higher the chance that another True Realm cultivator will emerge in the family.

Yet building a family is inevitably a long process; Wei Yiyi is already 120 years old, entered the True Realm at 70, and began developing her family at 75.

Up to today, her Wei family has grown from the original three‑person household—her father, mother, and herself—to a full‑fledged local clan of seventy members.

Yes, only seventy, because her parents are deeply attached and only wish to have children with each other; even with Wei Yiyi's help they enjoyed a second spring and produced a few litters, but their efficiency can only go so far.

Her younger brothers and sisters are quite industrious; now each of them has established a family, and the eldest brother added three sons and four daughters to the clan last year, delighting Wei Yiyi for a long time.

It also made her work harder when carrying out sect missions and serving as an offering.

This is the life of ordinary people and ordinary cultivators in this world. Wei Yiyi is a microcosm of a typical rural practitioner... ah no, a cultivation family.

She showed promise in childhood, was noticed by sect cultivators, and was taken into the sect for training. At seventy she attained the True Realm and began expanding her family, laying bricks for its development.

Now, at 120, although she has made the family very prosperous, she has neglected her own personal life.

Still, she does relax occasionally, but she has little time for romance.

She is not only not ugly but quite beautiful; she has suitors within the sect and is even known by the flattering title "Wei Yi Fairy."

The True Realm is the ceiling most "ordinary people" in this world can reach.

Of course, with the techniques passed down by the Extreme Heaven Divine Sect, the True Realm will soon be surpassed, and ordinary people will be able to reach higher realms.

But that clearly won't happen within the next few years; it will take a period measured in decades before the effects manifest.

Looking at the handsome man beside her—not just handsome, but with monster‑level looks.

Wei Yiyi's gaze almost stretched into threads, but she quickly regained composure and suppressed the agitation inside her.

Because she knows clearly that a man so outstanding and powerful is beyond the reach of an ordinary True Realm cultivator like herself.

Being able to travel with him for this stretch is already great; as for anything else, she dares not hope for more.

"Ah! Such a handsome young master! How about joining me for a chat in my carriage?"

Back on the road, the two continued forward, but after a short while, a flippant voice caught their attention.

Wang Wu followed the voice and saw an exposed thigh and a delicate face half hidden behind the carriage window.

"Hmph." Wang Wu looked at the other, letting out a cold snort, "What do you think I am?"

"Hehe, young master, if you're willing to serve this lady, I can give you some unexpected benefits."

"Besides, my looks and figure far surpass the tightly wrapped female cultivator beside you; why not give it a try?"

As she spoke, the woman kicked her foot forward, and a scented cloth shoe flew from her foot, striking Wang Wu's face.

(End of chapter)