Cultivating Power

Would Yan Mingke be willing to leave the interstellar?

It was impossible to say he was. After all, no matter how barren the interstellar might be, Yan Mingke was born and raised there.

Though the Planet Elf was far from the interstellar space, the existence of the wormhole bridged that gap. If he wanted to return, he could do so at any time.

But if he left with them now, he might never return.

Never again…

The thought of this deeply unsettled Yan Mingke.

Yet, he couldn’t resist the lure of becoming stronger. As a man, now that he had found a path to power, there was no way he could abandon it.

Yan Mingke immediately gathered a few of his trusted men and briefed them on the situation in District Eight.

Everyone fell silent at the words, “Once you leave, there’s no coming back.”

But if they didn’t go, their chances of growth would be minimal.

They had only just been introduced to cultivation, and it was clear that the people of District Seven were far behind those in District Eight. The latter were closer to Mo Mo and Ye Mo, which gave them more opportunities for advancement. But those from District Seven? They were on the outside, looking in.

One of Yan Mingke’s confidants spoke up, “General, I plan to follow General Mo. I’m an orphan anyway, and if an opportunity presents itself, I’m not going to miss it.”

Another said, “I’m going too. I have no ties here anymore, so I might as well go wherever.” This interstellar world held nothing for him anymore; the one person he cared for had already found someone else.

As more of them expressed their intent to leave, Yan Mingke quickly stood up. “I’ll ask General Mo if we can bring family members. I only have my mother left.”

The eyes of those who hadn’t spoken lit up. Most of them didn’t have many family members, so if they could bring them, they’d be willing to leave too.

On the other side, Mo Mo was also troubled by the same issue. Many of the interstellar soldiers had family members who couldn’t cultivate. But after consulting with Ye Mo, Mo Mo allowed several soldiers to bring their non-cultivating family members into the valley.

Ye Mo personally oversaw these people, intending to teach them the art of ghost cultivation.

To her surprise, these people, who couldn’t cultivate before, seemed to be able to practice ghost cultivation like fish in water. Ye Mo had created a pool filled with water from the yin side of her space and personally led them through the first steps of ghost cultivation.

Ye Mo didn’t realize it, but the reason these people progressed so quickly in ghost cultivation was due to the water, which was imbued with the power of the Beast God. Ordinary beasts could absorb this power directly, so it was no surprise that, with the proper methods, these people could too.

When Yan Mingke heard about this from Mo Mo, he was ecstatic. He sent his mother to the valley and, along with his trusted men, fully committed himself to the path of cultivation.

Yan Mingke didn’t force the interstellar soldiers under his command to join. Participation was voluntary, but he made it clear that once they refused, there would be no second chances.

There would be only one opportunity.

Mo Mo was the same. Few people from District Eight chose to stay behind, and most of those who did were rich second-generation, or government-connected types—people Mo Mo didn’t plan on taking with them anyway.

None of these people had ever been to the Planet Elf.

The reason? Mo Mo figured they understood it themselves.

Even though a large-scale cultivation effort was happening on the Planet Elf, no one knew about it. The researchers weren’t interacting with the interstellar soldiers, so they were completely unaware of what was happening among them.

As for Jiang Ming, the one person who might have known, he lived alone and had become so obsessed with cultivation that he barely spoke to anyone. So, naturally, the information stayed quiet.

A year passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Mo Mo and Ye Mo trained a large number of cultivators, most of whom were above the foundation stage. Of course, these cultivators were all Yin and Yang cultivators. There was also a massive group of ghost cultivators—roughly twice the number of those practicing both Yin and Yang cultivation. This group consisted of both family members and interstellar soldiers who couldn’t cultivate before.

Now, almost all the soldiers from District Eight and half of those from District Seven had become cultivators.

Their total number reached 220,000. Luckily, the Planet Elf was big enough to accommodate them all; otherwise, it would’ve been a logistical nightmare.

“A force of 220,000—is that strong in the Dark Realm?” Ye Mo asked Mo Mo seriously.

Mo Mo raised an eyebrow. “I already have a force of 100,000 in the Dark Realm.”

Ye Mo’s eyes widened. “Now that you’re here, can you still contact them?”

“Don’t worry, I can. But all of them are at least at the Ghost General level. Of the 220,000 we have now, only our family is above the Ghost General.” Mo Mo let out a long breath. Over the past year, their family’s cultivation hadn’t progressed much, but they had spent the time solidifying their foundation.

Thankfully, their children had listened to them and refrained from advancing too quickly. If they had, it would’ve been a problem for future development.

Ye Mo sighed. “Right now, the valley can only hold 5,000 people at a time for cultivation. That’s its maximum capacity unless we build another valley.”

“I’m planning to refine a space equipment,” Mo Mo replied.

“You want to secretly bring them into the Dark Realm?” Ye Mo’s eyes sparkled. “My space is pretty big right now.”

Mo Mo shook his head. “No, your space is our family’s last ace in the hole. No one can know about it, understand?”

Ye Mo blinked. “Qin Lin knows.”

Mo Mo frowned. “That guy’s been acting strange lately. He’s taken more than half of the puppet dolls you’ve sold.”

“If he wanted them, why didn’t he just contact me? I could’ve made a batch specifically for him.” Ye Mo had plenty of puppet dolls, as she had found a special type of wood that could be used to craft them, provided it was old enough.

Others might struggle with this, but Ye Mo’s space included a farm simulation. Even though she didn’t play it, the butler took care of everything, and half the farm was currently growing this special wood. With the accelerated growth feature, it was incredibly convenient.

“He probably wants to turn those puppets into his own children,” Mo Mo commented.

“Can you do that?”

“Ordinary people can’t, but he can. He’s from the Dark Realm. All he has to do is infuse the puppets with his blood, and they’ll share his genes.” Mo Mo raised an eyebrow.

Ye Mo looked at him. “Are you going to do it?”

Mo Mo pinched her little face and said. “I have my own children. Why would I need puppets? Besides, if we want more, we can always have more ourselves, can’t we?” He just didn’t want to burden his wife with more children for now.

(End of Chapter)