Chapter 609 - 52: Decision

The second part was a plan to explore the spaceships on other ’Planet Worlds,’ such as the Moon and Mars, with the hope of discovering some new technology.

The first item concerned the development of the Beast God Realm, which was now on the right track. Water Qilin Ann Duo had reported on this. As one of Earth’s agents in the Beast God Realm, she had witnessed the power of Earth Civilization some time ago—after seeing several orbital weapon strikes and nuclear tests, she now held human civilization in very high regard.

The situation in the Celestial Pool Realm, however, was far more complex than in the Beast God Realm.

Although the Beast God Realm had many local factions and powerful Divine Beasts, it was precisely because they possessed intelligence and civilization that they could be communicated with and, through various methods, controlled.

As for the Celestial Pool Realm, explorations over the past six-plus months revealed that the oceanic realm was home to many powerful Dragon Vein Sea Beasts which formed immense colonies. The Celestial Pool Realm was also a complete ocean world; aside from a few small islands, there was virtually no land to speak of, making both exploration and development exceptionally difficult.

The Dragon Vein Sea Beasts disliked man-made objects. One of Zhengguo’s submarines and a research exploration vessel were attacked by them. Although they were repelled by the Transcendents aboard the ships, this was undoubtedly a significant threat.

On a more positive note, the Space-Time Passage between the two realms was exceptionally stable. Although the exchange of ocean currents was extremely turbulent, this was something that could be exploited. A Holy Seat had proposed that they could utilize the properties of the Space-Time Sect to build a massive Water Attribute Gathering Spirit Array around it. By leveraging the interplay of Spiritual Qi and ocean currents between the two realms, they could condense Water Attribute Spiritual Energy Crystals on a massive scale. This would create a superior-grade Artificial Spiritual Vein, solving in one fell swoop Zhengguo’s problem of having one of the world’s lowest per capita number of Spirit Veins, with a per capita Spiritual Qi possession rate comparable to that of a developing nation.

"The development of the Celestial Pool Realm can later be handed over to private entities, or even civilian collectives."

After concluding the report on the feasibility of the undersea Artificial Spiritual Vein, the Artisan Saint added, "When the next Spiritual Qi Burst occurs, in one to two years, the number of civilian ’Extraordinary Tier’ Cultivators should see an explosive surge. A large number of citizens with decent aptitude who have also received a good education can, after a few months of training, become the vanguard for the development of the Celestial Pool Realm."

"By the same token, this will also provide an outlet for civilian power."

Although Su Zhou didn’t quite understand what was meant by ’providing an outlet for civilian power,’ the topic soon shifted to interstellar exploration.

"In about six months, our nation’s seventh lunar construction mission will commence."

The Yu Saint was a middle-aged man whose left eye had undergone mechanical modification. He was bald, with a sharp right eye and thin lips. His left eye flashed with an orange-red electronic light, which he made no effort to conceal. "By then, the first batch of ’Edge Bases’ should have been completed by intelligent machinery. We can begin inspecting and exploring the alien spaceship on the far side of the Moon."

The ’edge’ in question referred to the boundary between the near and far sides of the Moon. The Moon is a satellite tidally locked to Earth; its ’near side’ constantly faces our planet, while the other side, the land that always faces away from Earth, is known as the far side.

Even before the Spiritual Energy Revival, Zhengguo had already embarked on a lunar exploration program that had been planned for decades. The leadership’s decision back then was clear: if Spiritual Qi did not return, they would rely on alien technology to advance.

But now, Spiritual Qi had been revived, and as a result, lunar exploration had stalled for nearly three years. If he hadn’t heard it mentioned in the meeting, Su Zhou would have almost forgotten how he, as an elementary school student, had clapped at the television screen when Zhengguo sent its first astronauts to the Moon.

This was, without a doubt, a momentous affair—perhaps even more important than the Celestial Pool Realm and the Artificial Spiritual Vein.

After all, regardless of the aliens’ technological level, their reliance on Spiritual Qi, or the reason they had arrived in the Solar System only to be shot down by the Immortal Gods, their spaceship was still, at the very least, a product of a cosmic civilization capable of traversing immense distances.

In the field of material science alone, Zhengguo—and indeed all of humanity—could make enormous progress.

Similarly, in his concluding remarks, the Yu Saint also mentioned that once this plan succeeded, the Moon Base would be massively expanded. They would also attempt to utilize civilian power. While recruiting qualified Transcendents, the East Asia Airlines Company would train them until they possessed basic astronautical skills, at which point they would be allowed to explore freely.

’Strange. Why do they keep talking about releasing civilian power?’

The more he listened, the more puzzled Su Zhou became. ’Why do they have to keep releasing it? Is it locked up or something?’

It was a joke so bad it sent a chill down one’s spine, but the Artifice Sage, with his Electronic Brain, gave Su Zhou a completely serious explanation. "Because, if you don’t give the populace something to do, something to divert their attention, then in this world of Spiritual Qi, the large-scale emergence of ’Extraordinary Disease’ is only a matter of time."

"If nothing else, Professor Su, the very purpose of your rankings and commentaries is precisely this."

Addressing Su Zhou, who was still confused but seemed on the verge of figuring something out, the Artifice Sage stated calmly, "The so-called Extraordinary Disease is a widespread psychological, cognitive, and empathy disorder. When a mortal becomes a Middle-High Tier Cultivator, their empathy for ordinary people diminishes."