Chapter 1302: Welcome to the Cultivation World
An unremarkable little boat raced through the cosmos at astonishing speed. It was hard to imagine that such a tiny boat carried hundreds of passengers.
The star region ahead appeared to have been compressed into a thin line, while everything behind them had disappeared from view. The stars on the sides seemed to tilt toward the direction of the boat’s movement. It was as though the wupeng boat had become the center of the universe, with all things revolving around it.
Dean Gao swallowed hard. This is a scene that had existed only in theory, suggesting that the boat is traveling at nearly the speed of light.
The next moment, the wupeng boat vanished without warning, leaping far ahead.
“Space jump technology...”
On his last voyage from the Eternal Galaxy to the Sagittarius Galaxy, the journey was over in the blink of an eye, giving him no time to observe how the wupeng boat operated. This time, with a longer route, he could watch to his heart’s content, yet all he could discern was that the boat could travel at the speed of light and perform space jumps simultaneously.
As for the underlying principles, he was utterly clueless. The Interstellar Alliance’s spaceships could theoretically reach light speed, but material limitations kept this confined to theory. Their most common method of long-distance travel was to construct artificial wormholes between galaxies and travel through them.
After obtaining Lu Yang’s permission, two scientists emerged from the Qingfeng Sword’s small world, carrying unfamiliar instruments to measure data they couldn’t make sense of. It was their first time experiencing light-speed travel. Every dataset was invaluable; any single one would be enough for a doctoral student to graduate multiple times over.
“Mr. Lu, may I ask who built this spaceship?”
“My founding ancestor and an elder. They happened to build it not long ago. One made it sturdy, and the other made it fast.”
“Founding ancestor?” Dean Gao’s curiosity was piqued. Typically, someone who can become a founding ancestor is already extremely old. At that age, it’s difficult to make any major breakthroughs in research.
“How old is your founding ancestor, Mr. Lu?”
Lu Yang tilted his head and calculated. “About a hundred thousand years old, I suppose.” Founding Ancestor Primordial was indeed born a hundred thousand years ago, but he had spent eighty thousand years inside the Epoch Immortal’s small box, where one day inside equated to one year outside. It’s hard to say exactly how old he really is.
Dean Gao broke into a violent coughing fit, nearly toppling over. Lu Yang had to quickly catch him.
“Are you alright?”
Dean Gao was too busy coughing to speak. A hundred thousand years? How is that any different from eternal life?! Thank goodness Mr. Lu hadn’t told the High Council everything about the Cultivation World. If they learned of this, they would be desperate to move their entire families here.
Wait, does this mean that Mr. Lu isn’t as young as he appears either?
The aid team within the small world overheard every word of the conversation. Their minds reeled as they wondered if they were experiencing auditory hallucinations because they weren’t accustomed to the environment in space.
This Cultivation World doesn’t seem quite as backward as the alliance has described...
~~~
After over twenty days of travel, the wupeng boat arrived near the Cultivation World.
The journey from the Cultivation World to the Interstellar Alliance had taken over a month. Lu Yang had stopped frequently along the way to sketch star charts, but there was no need for such hassle during the return trip.
Dean Gao stared at the sight before him in a daze.
Countless wupeng boats similar to Lu Yang’s sailed through the cosmos. Many figures, clad in ancient clothing and without spacesuits, moved freely through space. They casually greeted those aboard the boats, sharing drinks and chatting merrily. Evidently, they were cultivators like Lu Yang.
𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Whether wupeng boats or cultivators, whenever they reached a certain point in space, they would vanish into thin air, or new wupeng boats and cultivators would emerge from that same spot. It was as though an invisible door was there, connected to another space, with people passing through it constantly.
“Artificial wormhole?” Dean Gao mused. The mechanism resembles that of artificial wormholes, but the appearance is completely different. “Mr. Lu, what is this?”
Lu Yang realized that a spatial passage had been built. It hadn’t been there when he left. “This should be a passage built by another one of my founding ancestors using his Space Incipient Dao Fruit?”
The Vast Sea Daoist Lord had constructed many such spatial passages near the Cultivation World to facilitate exploration of the outer world.
“Space... Dao ...what?”
“Space Incipient Dao Fruit. It basically means that he’s deeply knowledgeable about space.” Finally back in the Cultivation World, Lu Yang’s voice grew more upbeat as he urged the wupeng boat to hurry.
Dean Gao vaguely noticed a cube-shaped object in the distance. Strange. Did someone drop a Rubik’s Cube out here?
But after the wupeng boat performed several space jumps, the cube grew larger. Its true appearance came into view, and its shadow fell across Dean Gao’s stunned face. The aid team within the small world saw it too and were just as incredulous, murmuring to themselves.
“Heavens, what is that thing?!”
“How can such a celestial object exist in the universe?!”
“It’s a perfect cube! This is unscientific, totally unscientific!”
In that moment, they forgot everything they had ever learned, their minds overwhelmed by the cube’s existence.
Ether’s avatar habitually calculated the cube’s dimensions and nearly crashed when it computed the result. Its stored knowledge insisted that such an object could never exist in the universe. Yet there it was right before them.
What is that cube?
Lu Yang stood at the boat’s bow, arms wide, presenting the view to the group. “Everyone, welcome to the Cultivation World.”
This is the Cultivation World Lu Yang had spoken of?!
It completely overturned everyone’s understanding. Previously, they had assumed the Cultivation World was a planet, at most a larger one with high gravity to give rise to beings like Lu Yang.
But how is this a planet? No matter how big a planet is, it’s as insignificant as a speck of dust compared to this entity!
Lu Yang piloted the boat to the Cultivation World’s entrance—the box’s opening.
Dean Gao noticed that a nearby planet near the box’s opening was moving at astonishing speed, utterly defying natural laws. No planet’s orbital velocity could be that fast. But as they drew closer, he saw clearly that cultivators were physically pushing the planet.
The aid team erupted into an uproar.
“Am I seeing things? A single person altering a planet’s orbit?!”
“So those are cultivators?”
“Could these even be stronger than Mr. Lu, the Cultivation World’s strongest?”
“Look at Mr. Lu’s expression. They don’t seem to be the strongest.”
Lu Yang was also curious about these cultivators, particularly their official robes. “What are you all doing?”
Those cultivators recognized Lu Yang and paused their work. “Ah, it’s Lu Yang.”
“Isn’t it almost the New Year? The imperial court wants to arrange the stars into a few shapes, like the Qinglong, Zhuque, Baihu, and Xuanwu.[1] It looks better that way.”
“Who’s that behind you?”
The Great Xia official cultivators noticed Dean Gao’s unusual attire.
“This is the Chief Scientist I specifically invited from another civilization. He knows everything from astronomy to geography and is extremely knowledgeable. He has come to help develop our Cultivation World.”
The Great Xia official cultivators smiled warmly. “So he's a great scientist. Welcome, welcome!”
Dean Gao responded with a hollow laugh. Chief Scientist?
Knows everything from astronomy to geography?
Extremely knowledgeable?
Heh, what do I even know?
1. Just a refresher, these are the Four Symbols—Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise. ☜