Chapter 342: Fang Can’s Grand Hand is Magnificent

Outer space should be a forbidden zone for life, utterly devoid of human presence.

But at this moment, a divinely handsome youth with a cascade of white hair floated leisurely in the cosmos.

The sun’s light washed over his perfect physique, highlighting his powerful, masculine form.

He held an ancient-looking book, and an unseen black Powerful Qi howled ceaselessly through the void around him.

After a long while, the young man exhaled, a flicker of admiration in his eyes.

‘Dongfang Wuji was a true genius. It’s a shame she was born in this world; her foundation and accumulated experience were insufficient. Otherwise, she would have definitely earned a place among the Fifth Turn.’

Fang Can mused, thoroughly impressed by Dongfang Wuji’s ability to create the 7th Floor of the Qiankun Great Shift.

If not for being born into this world, where she could only live a hundred years, her immense natural talent was hampered by a lack of time to fully digest her gains.

With a little more time, she would have undoubtedly reached the Fifth Turn Realm.

After receiving the secret manual from Yang Xiao, Fang Can, with his current level of talent, mastered the first six floors of the Qiankun Great Shift in an instant.

However, the 7th Floor required severing one’s own arrogance, and he still needed time to reach a state of forgetting both himself and the world.

It was difficult, but he should be able to fully master it and overcome the sin of arrogance before he had to leave.

‘But… after I overcome arrogance, the next trial will transition seamlessly into wrath.’

‘Unless I overcome all seven sins and reach the Eighth Turn in one fell swoop, there will be no respite in between.’

‘Me, dominated by wrath… The whole world might be in for some bad luck.’

Fang Can smiled nonchalantly. The next moment, he gripped his own head and forcibly tore it from his body.

…

「Meanwhile」

As Fang Can’s mental network was forcibly implanted throughout the entire city, the people of the Capital City discovered their lives had been utterly transformed, and the effects were immediate.

For people living in ancient times, it was difficult to even comprehend the concept of rapid change.

A person’s worldview at age ten was essentially no different from their worldview at thirty. Life, and indeed the entire world, remained unchanged.

A farmer from the Tang Dynasty could travel forward in time to the Qing Dynasty and still find himself farming in the same way, easily integrating into society.

But now, with the connection to Fang Can’s mental network, the wheels of time began to turn at a furious pace.

In the city outskirts, an old farmer gazed at her wheat field, her voice trembling. “Immortal Master, what is this ‘four-field rotation system’ you speak of?”

[It maximizes cultivation efficiency and restores the soil’s depleted nutrients to an optimal state.]

[Your current three-field system has a land utilization rate of only 50%. Switching to a four-field rotation will increase it to 75%.]

[To go any higher would require chemical fertilizers and selective breeding.]

“Chemical fertilizers?” the old farmer asked, still puzzled. But even as she spoke, the concept of fertilizer was transmitted into her mind by the mental network.

As she processed the concept, the old farmer’s breath quickened.

If she could produce and sell this, it would be an achievement for the ages. But before she could even begin to act on the idea, a new message arrived in her mind.

[Li Shitian, in the west side of the city, has already begun mass-producing fertilizer. The necessary materials are currently being transported across the city.]

The voice shattered the old farmer’s dream. She then remembered she wasn’t the only one connected to the mental network.

With millions of people in the city all using the mental network, there would always be quick-witted individuals who would reach the Endpoint a step ahead of everyone else.

It was just like a browser: some people used it to search for knowledge, while others chose to ignore the warnings and access risky content.

The mental network was just like that browser. Whether one could get what they wanted from it all depended on how they chose to use it.

The network’s immense computing power existed to prevent internal friction. It precisely componentized every individual, turning them into parts of a larger machine to maximize their personal initiative and productivity.

Back then, Yi Tianxing, a Fourth Turn expert, had possessed computational power comparable to a supercomputer.

Now, at the Half-Step Fifth Turn, Fang Can’s computational power was at its zenith. It was effortlessly easy for him to “atomize” every individual, solving the problems of an entire city’s populace.

When a citizen in the west of the city felt hungry, the mere thought of wanting to eat was enough. A hundred meters away, a chef would instantly receive the order via the mental network.

Immediately, a female vagrant who typically roamed the streets would arrive to pick up the cooked meal. On her way, she’d pass by the hungry citizen’s home, drop off the food, and collect a single copper plate as payment.

The hungry citizen didn’t pay for the chef’s ingredients, however.

Instead, someone else, who had posted a different task, would pay the corresponding amount in copper coins as they passed by the chef’s location.

With the grand circulation of the market now orchestrated by the invisible hand of Fang Can’s mental network, while the reasons for earning and spending money seemed completely disconnected, the final accounting was so precise that every single ledger balanced perfectly.

Everything was perfectly optimized. There was no wasted resources, and every person moved with absolute efficiency, as if walking a straight line.

Furthermore, with everyone under the mental network’s control, even their thoughts were transparent. It was impossible to hide anything.

Any uncooperative individuals were invisibly marked as “pests” by Fang Can’s grand design, and assassins were dispatched to eliminate them.

The entire city’s population now operated like a single, gigantic, precision machine, rumbling to life.

「Meanwhile, beyond the atmosphere」

Jingxu stared in astonishment at the 3,562 incoming conversation requests.

“Jingxu, what are the effects of the King’s mental network?” one of the Third Turn Martial Artists asked.

“Ah, Master,” Jingxu replied, “the mental network allows people to hear each other’s thoughts. At the same time, it seems to answer any question you ask it.”

‘Doesn’t that mean there are no secrets?’ one Martial Artist thought, instinctively on guard. After all, they had their own secrets, too.

Another Martial Artist’s eyes lit up. “It answers any question? Quick, ask the mental network if there’s a way for us to preserve our strength in the Lower Realm!”

Jingxu closed their eyes for a moment before shaking their head. “The network answered. Unless we reach the Realm of a Fifth Turn Immortal, our powers will inevitably be restricted in the Lower Realm.”

Three heads are better than one.

The power of collective wisdom was on full display. A Martial Artist suddenly spoke up:

“The reason we don’t dare go down is fear of being killed, and once we’re in the Lower Realm, we can’t ascend. Why don’t we ask it how we can fly *up* from down there?”

Jingxu closed their eyes, then opened them again. “The King says we can build hot-air balloons and manned rockets in the Lower Realm to ascend directly to the Upper Realm.”

As Jingxu spoke, the relevant knowledge was shared with the group via their Heart Image.

“This…” The Martial Artists present exchanged silent glances, a collective sigh of relief passing through them.

This place in the heavens was vast and desolate. Even with their power, it wasn’t as comfortable as the mortal world. The ability to return after going down was the best possible news.

“Then… why don’t we ask the King again?” another Martial Artist inquired. “Hot-air balloons are still too much trouble. Is there a more convenient, permanent way to travel between the two realms?”

Jingxu closed their eyes again, this time for slightly longer. Suddenly, their eyes flew open. “There is! Master, there is! The King has given us a new method.”

“What is it?” the others asked, overjoyed.

“The King wants us to build a simple space elevator named the Kalin Tower. It will be over ten thousand meters long, directly connecting the planet’s surface to low orbit. Martial Artists can then simply climb it to reach the Upper Realm.”

“Over ten thousand meters…” The Heaven-Ascending Road Martial Artists exchanged glances, their expressions turning bitter.

“Space is empty. To build the space elevator, we have to go to the Lower Realm,” one Martial Artist asked. “But our strength will be greatly diminished there. How could we possibly construct a ten-thousand-meter Kalin Tower?”

“The Moon Palace!” Jingxu said, eyes sparkling.

“The King said the Moon Palace is only seven hundred thousand li away. There’s no drag in space, so we can travel at over a hundred times the speed of sound and decelerate as we approach. We can get there in just four hours.”

“Once there, we can use the moon’s resources—which are free from the Sixth Turn restrictions—to forge the Kalin Tower. Then we can bring it back here and set it into its foundation.”

“Then, with this space elevator, we’ll be able to travel easily between the Upper and Lower Realms!”

At Jingxu’s words, the Martial Artists’ eyes lit up. After a brief discussion, they immediately took action, speeding toward the moon to begin construction on the space elevator that would connect the two realms.

「Elsewhere」

Zhang Yuanqiao of Wudang hovered in mid-air. Using long-range strikes and sonic attacks channeled through her Heart Image, she had annihilated the city’s main resistance forces.

The arrogant high officials and their armies, usually so imperious, were like clay chickens and pottery dogs before a Fourth Turn who had unleashed her true combat strength—completely worthless.

After using her Heart Image to remotely pacify the remaining populace, Zhang Yuanqiao prepared to depart.

Just then, she saw a white crystal drifting toward her from the horizon.

This white crystal was a part of Fang Can’s body, transformed to act as a relay for the mental network.

The network immediately established a mental link with the city she had just brought under control.

It wasn’t just here. A white crystal flew to each city after the other Fourth Turn Martial Artists brought them under control.

These were the mental network base stations Fang Can had been creating by continuously splitting off pieces of his own body.

In just four hours, twelve such base stations had been created, all transmitting signals to one another.

These base stations not only vastly increased the network’s total computing power, but also allowed multiple cities to share resources and information.

While physical exchange between the cities remained difficult due to the primitive state of transportation, once the space elevator was built, Martial Artists at the Third Turn and above could act as couriers.

With the help of these Heaven-Ascending Road Martial Artists, a supply chain connecting the cities could be established, with goods moving at incredible speeds.

It was hard to imagine what would happen after the thirty days were up.

To what extent would the entire civilized world have progressed, all while being a plaything in Fang Can’s hands.