Chapter 530: Yu Gong Moved the Mountains—And Touched Jiang Renhuang
“Master, can this thing really be considered a weapon?” The young cultivator looked at Jiang Li with confusion, unable to understand what use the object in his hand could possibly serve.
“Of course. As the saying goes, the supreme art of war is to attack the enemy’s strategy; the next best is to attack their mind. This is precisely a psychological tactic. Go ahead, and remember – in the competition, mental state comes first. Only by maintaining composure can victory be possible.”
“What about your weapon?” The opposing young cultivator asked, puzzled.
The young cultivator braced himself and said: “You’ll find out when we start fighting.”
The two began their battle.
During the fight, when the young cultivator felt it difficult to gain an advantage, he followed Jiang Li’s instructions and took out a small metal box, pressing the black button.
The small metal box emitted an emotionless voice: “I surrender, I surrender, I surrender…”
The opponent thought this meant surrender and unconsciously slowed his attacks.
The young cultivator seized the opportunity and gained the upper hand.
“Referee, he already surrendered but he’s still attacking me!” The opponent shouted angrily.
The referee came to check the situation and discovered it was the weapon speaking, which couldn’t represent the young cultivator’s intention, so he allowed them to continue fighting.
“I surrender, I surrender…”
The emotionless, repetitive voice infuriated the opponent, making it impossible to concentrate during the fight. He remained at a disadvantage and couldn’t turn the situation around.
The young cultivator on Jiang Li’s side silently recited calming mantras, maintaining inner peace.
He discovered that when his mind was calm, it truly felt different from before – his thinking became much more agile, and his opponent’s movements became clearly visible.
“Everywhere is a weak point.”
He found an opening and struck decisively.
With both fighters having equal combat power, one side mentally unbalanced while the other remained calm as still water – the outcome was already determined.
The young cultivator representing Jiang Li won.
The second round ended, eliminating half the participants.
Yu Yin saw that Jiang Li and his two companions had successfully advanced and quietly muttered, “What a pity.”
“The third test will be held in another location.”
Yu Yin waved her hand grandly, enveloping everyone and flying them to a remote small area within the Tianyuan Dynasty.
After a day of competition, it was already night.
Everyone found themselves before a small village where people lived simple lives, surrounded by mountains on all sides.
Yu Yin said calmly: “The villagers are all ordinary mortals facing various difficulties in their daily lives. Considering the varying cultivation levels of artifact smiths participating in the third round, you must use artifact crafting techniques that don’t exceed Foundation Establishment level to help solve their problems. You cannot use magical power. The one who solves the most problems will be the final winner.”
“You may form teams freely for this competition.”
“The time limit is five days.”
After announcing the competition rules, Yu Yin disappeared.
“Shall the three of us form a team?” Jiang Li suggested.
Bai Hongtu and Ji Zhi reluctantly agreed.
“Where are you people from?” Seeing Jiang Li’s large group approaching, the village chief frowned and asked, growing wary.
“Village Chief, we come from the Great Zhou Dynasty. We’re cultivators passing through and would like to stay here for a few days. We’ll pay for our accommodation.”
Hearing they were cultivators from the Great Zhou Dynasty, the village chief relaxed his guard. Cultivators from the Great Zhou Dynasty were trustworthy. He waved his hand: “No need for payment. Even if you gave money, there’s nowhere to spend it. The village can certainly support you all.”
Jiang Li and the others thanked the village chief.
“Village Chief, do you have any problems that need solving?”
“Recently the weather has been extremely hot. Even wiping ourselves with towels doesn’t help – we can’t sleep at night. Without sleep at night, we have no energy during the day and can’t work properly.”
Bai Hongtu rushed to say: “That’s simple. I’ll tell you ghost stories. After hearing them, you’ll feel chills all over and be able to sleep.”
“I’m absolutely exceptional at telling ghost stories.”
Jiang Li kicked Bai Hongtu aside: “Logically, the first solution that comes to mind should be crafting air conditioners and electric fans. Why is your first thought telling ghost stories?”
Fortunately, Ji Zhi was reliable and crafted an air conditioner powered by spiritual energy, presenting it to the village chief.
The integration of cultivation and technology was currently in an exploratory phase, and this air conditioner was one such product of that exploration.
“It seems we can sleep well tonight.” The village chief was very pleased.
“This air conditioner is only useful in this small village. Anywhere else, who would need air conditioners? Cooling talismans could solve the problem.” Bai Hongtu complained, feeling this test restricted his talents.
Cooling talismans were elementary-level talismans. Nowadays, automated production of elementary talismans had reached considerable scale, making them affordable even for ordinary mortals.
After bidding farewell to the village chief, Jiang Li’s group of three went to deliver air conditioners to the next household.
“Ma’am, besides the hot weather, have you encountered any other problems recently?”
“Yes, my child doesn’t like exercise. He won’t listen when I tell him to lose weight.”
“A good beating will make him obedient.” Bai Hongtu leaned in and said.
Ji Zhi glanced at him: “How many times has Jiang Li beaten you? I haven’t seen you become any more well-behaved.”
Bai Hongtu argued confidently: “This shows I have strong willpower and won’t be influenced by external forces.”
“…Impressive.”
“I have an idea.” Bai Hongtu rolled up his sleeves and began crafting a spiritual treasure on the spot.
“What in the world are you making?”
Jiang Li watched as Bai Hongtu crafted a large iron cage with moving treads underneath.
“Put their child in the iron cage, lock the door, and the treads will move, forcing him to exercise. He won’t be let out until he completes today’s goal.”
Bai Hongtu seemed somewhat dissatisfied with his crafted spiritual treasure.
“I should electrify the iron cage so the child won’t be able to lie down and slack off inside.”
“If this iron cage appeared in our Great Zhou, I’d definitely charge you with abuse.”
“Why doesn’t the child want to exercise?” Jiang Li felt they needed to come up with their own solution.
The woman sighed: “He thinks losing weight doesn’t matter. There are more girls than boys in the village, so even if he’s fat, he’s not worried about finding a wife.”
“Isn’t he afraid the village girls might go outside?”
“They won’t. Our village is isolated from the world. Even if they went outside, they’d be completely lost and confused, eventually having to return to the village.”
“I once thought about venturing outside, but as soon as I arrived, I was cheated out of all my money, sold off, and worked as labor for three months. I found an opportunity to escape and returned here, giving up any thought of leaving the village.”
Ji Zhi facepalmed – the public security situation in the Tianyuan Dynasty was truly lamentable.
“Actually, everyone in the village is discussing whether we should move the mountains away to build roads for communication with the outside world.”
“Move the mountains away?” Jiang Li found this amusing.
“Haven’t you heard the story of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains? Human Sovereign Jiang told this story – I thought everyone in the outside world knew about it.”
“Human Sovereign Jiang said that the Foolish Old Man kept moving mountains, generation after generation, believing the mountains would eventually be moved away. The Immortal Emperor was deeply moved by this and sent immortals to move the mountains away.”
“Nowadays, although there’s no Immortal Emperor, we have Human Sovereign Jiang.”
“As long as we keep moving mountains with perseverance and move Human Sovereign Jiang with our determination, he will send cultivators to help us move the mountains away.”
“By the way, could you help us move the mountains away?”