Chapter 54: A Win-Win Cooperation

While Shi Chan was studying the ancient martial arts technique, Xi Ming used the time during his daily treatments to carefully analyze the energy known as “spiritual power,” hoping to find a way to integrate technology with it.

To refine the ancient martial arts, Shi Chan combined his own techniques with others he had learned before but found unsuitable for himself. After two months of effort, he developed two upgraded versions of ancient martial arts.

The first version was more accessible, allowing most people to attempt cultivation. The second version was more specialized, enhancing physical fitness significantly but suited only for those with some foundation in ancient martial arts.

After understanding the details, Xi Ming placed these two versions of ancient martial arts on the negotiation table, discussing cooperation with Jugu on finding spiritual materials.

“I’ve already explained the functions of these two versions of ancient martial arts. Now, you need to decide whether you want to cooperate.” Though Xi Ming was in a wheelchair, his Mental power remained, surpassing everyone else on the planet.

The negotiators from Jugu could feel the deliberate pressure of Xi Ming’s Mental power.

They exchanged glances, their eyes filled with desire. Upgraded ancient martial arts—of course, they wanted them.

Since returning from Tuling Mountain, they had already learned from Xu Lin that Shi Chan possessed a technique “more advanced than ancient martial arts.” Over the past months, not only were those who went with them eager to learn it, but even their leaders were impatiently wondering if they could exchange something for this “advanced ancient martial arts.”

However, as soon as Shi Chan returned, he went into seclusion, instructing that no one should disturb him. So, they had no choice but to wait—nearly three months.

Despite their intense interest in the two techniques before them, they couldn’t agree to the deal lightly.

“We definitely want to exchange for this, but as for the plan you mentioned about finding spiritual materials… To be honest, even though our people participated in the Tuling Mountain expedition, they couldn’t identify what exactly Mr. Shi needed as ‘spiritual materials,'” a middle-aged man said as the representative.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Xi Ming and Shi Chan had anticipated this issue, which was why they were developing a device to detect spiritual energy. “We’ll figure out a solution.”

“Additionally, if the initial yield within Jugu is too low, we’ll consider implementing this globally.” No one could be sure how densely spiritual plants were distributed or if another treasure trove like Tuling Mountain existed in Jugu. Xi Ming had planned from the start to expand worldwide.

However, since Jugu had cooperated with them many times and had always fulfilled their requests diligently, Xi Ming didn’t intend to put them on the same starting line as other countries. By giving Jugu early access to the upgraded ancient martial arts, he was providing them with a head start.

“Globally?” The Jugu representatives looked conflicted. They had grown accustomed to having exclusive priority over Mr. Shi and Mr. Xi’s resources.

Xi Ming met their eyes and exerted his spiritual pressure. “I don’t care what methods you use, but we must obtain these materials in sufficient quantity—and the more, the better.”

These spiritual-energy-infused items were directly tied to Shi Chan’s safety, and Xi Ming wouldn’t tolerate Jugu hoarding them.

“The two versions of ancient martial arts are gifts to you, but not only for you.” Xi Ming’s gaze carried a subtle warning. “I’m giving you a head start—you can let other countries exchange resources for the basic version first. The advanced version will be available to you after some practice, keeping you ahead of other nations.”

“As for the gathered spiritual materials, we don’t have time to negotiate with everyone. You’ll handle it—set a price, buy them, and then trade with us.” Since Xi Ming’s health wasn’t suited for extensive travel and Shi Chan wouldn’t want to be far from him, this arrangement was a win-win.

Since the negotiation involved many factors, the Jugu representatives took all the documents back for discussion. A few days later, they sent back a positive response.

After receiving confirmation, Shi Chan and Xi Ming focused entirely on integrating spiritual power with technology and developing a spiritual energy detector that ordinary people could use.

Despite experimenting for some time, they made little progress. Shi Chan sighed, saying, “I heard of a spiritual beast called the Treasure-Seeking Mouse, capable of finding hidden spiritual treasures protected by formations.” If he had one, he wouldn’t need to develop a device.

However, he knew that this wasn’t a cultivation world. Even if some spiritual plants existed here, the conditions for spiritual beasts like the Treasure-Seeking Mouse—born only in areas rich in spiritual energy—were unlikely to be met. Even in the cultivation world, such creatures were rare and fiercely contested.

Seeing Shi Chan a little discouraged, Xi Ming comforted him, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

After months of experiments, they finally discovered a material capable of storing spiritual power, creating a prototype of the “Spiritual Energy Detector”—a device about the size of three palms lined up together, half a palm thick, that could detect spiritual energy directionally using a pointer.

Xi Ming tested it using the small red bird and Shi Chan’s spiritual power, confirming that the detector could gauge spiritual energy concentration and distance.

For spiritual energy levels comparable to the previous spiritual plant, the device could detect from two kilometers away. However, if the source was too close, the pointer would spin uncontrollably. If multiple sources were in one location, they would have to extract everything and use a process of elimination to identify the target.

“By the way, Ming-ge, we also need to consider storage containers—some spiritual materials lose their energy over time.” Shi Chan raised another issue.

“If we can’t find a better solution, we’ll have to use this energy-storing material to create storage boxes of various sizes and have them store the materials in them.” Although these materials couldn’t fully absorb dissipating energy, recovering any amount was better than nothing.

“Let them handle it,” Xi Ming delegated the task without hesitation. “We’ll compensate them based on energy preservation efficiency, and they’ll find a way to optimize it.”

“True.” Shi Chan relaxed. “I’ll hand these plans over to Wu Hongyuan. They can start mass-producing the devices.”

After months of effort, they could finally take a break. They left the rest of the work to Jugu.

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Once Jugu obtained the spiritual energy detector, they were immediately swamped with work—mass-producing both the detectors and the energy storage containers.

Over the past months, Jugu had been “preparing the market.” Every country that came to learn the new ancient martial arts was told that participating in the upcoming “treasure hunt” was necessary and that the findings could be exchanged for new technology.

Jugu considered buying spiritual materials directly with money, but they knew other countries weren’t foolish. If Jugu was going to such lengths to gather these items, curiosity alone would make others hesitate to sell.

Not every country needed money—many would prefer to study the materials themselves. If Jugu only used cash, they wouldn’t obtain enough.

Thus, they decided to exchange technology instead.

As Jugu’s technological advancements increased, more and more nations wanted a share. However, acquiring even a few pieces of new technology strained their budgets.

This “treasure hunt for technology” was, in the end, a win for everyone.

If Jugu developed too rapidly, it might trigger war. However, by distributing new technology globally, they ensured a collective technological leap, maintaining peace while still keeping an edge.

As expected, the plan worked.

A flood of military, corporate, and private treasure hunters purchased detectors and spread across the globe.

Soon, the first spiritual material was delivered—not a plant or beast, but an old tea cup emitting a faint spiritual glow.

“A family found this using a detector. It’s an antique,” Wu Hongyuan reported. “Is it useful?”

Shi Chan examined the cup and kept it.

It was a damaged spiritual artifact.

This confirmed that this world hadn’t merely developed spiritual materials by chance—it had once harbored cultivators.

Months later, Shi Chan finally gathered enough spiritual plants to prepare for his tribulation.