booktalesy Chapter 25 [Heavenly Laws, Mycelial Glow]
Chapter 25 [Heavenly Laws, Mycelial Glow]
After acquiring the spark of a new civilization, Xu was busy finding the framework for a new world, which, to put it bluntly, meant finding a larger, more structurally better vessel.
He sat down at the table, opened his laptop, and skillfully logged into the industrial supplies website that had once bankrupted him.
Having learned from the previous experience, I was much more composed and didn't rush around in a panic.
After an afternoon of filtering and comparing, an item whose price would send him back to abject poverty was added to his shopping cart.
"Hiss... So expensive? Why don't you just rob someone?" Xu Ye clicked his tongue while making a quick purchase. It smelled so good.
An ecological array consisting of a core [main cylinder] and eight [secondary cylinders] that can be connected to the main cylinder through precision pipes.
To use an analogy...
The main tank boasts the most powerful environmental control system and the most complex sensors, making it the grand world or upper realm in cultivation novels.
It can be said to be the celestial realm.
The secondary tank is small and independent, and can simulate completely different ecological environments. It is a world replica full of variables waiting to be connected.
It can be said to be the mortal realm.
"This is the one." Xu Ye looked at the painfully high price. It was expensive, but the strength it brought was undeniable.
Besides, Jiurang can still sustain itself for a long time.
Three days later, the familiar farm tricycle bumped and jolted to a stop in front of the old house once again.
When the package, several times larger than the previous eco-box, was unloaded, the driver looked at Xu Ye with the same gaze he would give an air force veteran.
They couldn't keep them healthy, but they insisted on keeping them anyway. Now look what happened, one tank is ruined and they have to get another one.
Xu could clearly read these meanings from that look in his eyes, but he just smiled and didn't say anything.
After seeing the driver off, Xu Ye stood alone in the yard, facing the massive object made up of countless packing boxes, and sighed.
When the last entrance from the mortal realm to the celestial realm was established, a world consisting of one great world and nine smaller worlds... the "Cultivation World" was formed.
Could it also be the Nine Realms of Western Fantasy?
Xu Ye went back into the house and took out the relics of the old gods that he regarded as treasures.
First, the feed port of the main cylinder was opened.
This place will be the birthplace of the "Heavenly Way," the foundation of the entire system universe.
He scattered the purest Moon Rot Spores, which had been soaked in the Gene Wedge, into the fertile soil of the main tank.
Then, the eight secondary cylinders were opened one by one.
Those [Silver Wanderer Eggs] that had also been optimized, stripped of their ferocity, and left only with vigorous vitality and strong adaptability, were then placed into them.
They will be the initial and most disciplined beings in this system, and the prototypes of countless mortal worlds in the future.
One manages, the other creates variables.
There is a clear distinction between primary and secondary tasks, and each party performs its own duties.
After spreading the fire, Xu closed all the sealed doors of the cylinders and stood in the very center of the entire array.
Consciousness is deeply connected with the primordial spores, preparing to inscribe the "Civil Codex of Heaven"—a code as fundamental as the laws of physics—for this nascent universe.
Xu Ye's will probed into the bottom layer of the world of the [God's Jar].
There, everything is still in a state of chaos, waiting to be written; only slight modifications are needed to establish the rules.
"In the name of the Creator of this world, the Founder of all laws, I hereby establish the First Iron Law of Heaven—"
[Connect to above]
"All living beings in this world regard 'connection' as the highest virtue. Those who establish new and effective connections and expand the frontiers of the network will be rewarded by the laws and enjoy priority in energy; those who are closed off, sever the whole, and monopolize information will be suppressed by the laws, and the meaning of their existence will be stripped away."
The first law is inscribed.
Inside the main tank, the newly awakened moon decay spores, and a few spores that were trying to grow independently and strengthen themselves, had their life force dimming.
Meanwhile, those spores that instinctively extend their hyphae toward their companions, attempting to establish the most primitive connections, begin to emit a bright glow, drawing far more energy from the environment than their kind.
"Establish the Second Iron Law of Heavenly Dao—"
Management is fundamental.
"All races within the 'Celestial Realm' should prioritize the management of the mortal realm. Those who provide effective management for other worlds, quell their chaos, maintain their stability, and guide their order will have their evolutionary priority greatly enhanced and will enjoy divine favor."
This law defines the responsibilities and obligations of the newly born gods to the mortal realm.
"Establish the Third Iron Law of Heavenly Dao—"
[Formless and without shape, only thought endures]
"The beings of this realm possess three qualities: first, a single thought grants them complete understanding; second, their divine power circulates seamlessly and without hindrance; and third, their physical forms will eventually perish, while their intelligence merges into the Heavenly Dao. Those who defy this law, attempting to refine their physical bodies or solidify their forms, will have their path of evolution blocked, and their existence will be forcibly returned to the primordial chaos!"
This law, at the genetic level, completely eliminates the possibility of any hero being born.
This civilization will never produce another wise king, Kaz.
They can only, and must, become efficient and stable tools for this universe.
So, what remains is—
The speed of time flow is ten thousand times faster!
.......
In that fertile soil that Xu Ye had carefully prepared, the dormant lunar spores sensed the new world and awoke from their slumber.
Having undergone the [Gene Wedge] modification, their life essence is far more powerful than that of their ancestors in the pool world.
Some ancient instincts began to stir deep within their genes.
Several of the first Moon Rot plants to break through the soil ignored the mycelium exploring by their companions and stubbornly poured all their energy into themselves.
They attempt to recreate the glory of their past, when light spears shot forth in unison under the moonlight, accumulating energy in their leaf veins, preparing to continue their role as magicians.
This is a path dependency ingrained in their genes, a successful experience that once brought them victory.
Under the ironclad laws of nature, all experience is erroneous.
Just as one of the strongest moon rots was about to complete its energy accumulation and prepare to release its first dazzling ray of moonlight toward the "sky".
bong!
[Formless and without shape, only thought endures]
The Third Law, like a merciless sword of Damocles, severed this path of evolution.
All the energy accumulated by that Moon Rot was forcibly dissipated by the laws within a fraction of a second, returning it to its spore form.
It withers and disintegrates rapidly, its bright life force dimming in an instant, becoming nourishment.
This scene was simultaneously perceived by every monthly decay spore within the main divine tank.
The power of the individual is the original sin, deeply etched into their newly born collective consciousness.
After hitting a wall, the remaining survival instinct and the reward mechanism from the law point them to the only way out.
The Moon Rotting have completely abandoned all fantasies about the individual and have devoted all their evolutionary potential to the broad road of "connecting to the top".
Translucent mycelia shimmering with a faint blue light emerge from the soil. They are not distinguished by roots, stems, or leaves; they are simply extending, exploring, and connecting.
Tens of thousands of years is but a few days in the real world.
The entire interior of the celestial realm, from the soil at the bottom to the air in the middle layer, and even the glass walls at the top, is covered with a huge and complex network of light.
This is the new form of the Moon Rot Clan – [Mycelium Network].
Each flash represents an exchange and processing of information.
This network is alive.
As time went on, wealth inequality began to emerge within it as well.
The mycelial nodes located at major transportation routes, which handle larger and more efficient traffic volumes, have received more resource allocations because they have established more and more effective connections, following the principle of "connection to the top".
They evolved to be brighter and more robust, becoming the backbone of the network.
Mycelia located in remote corners with low information processing efficiency gradually fade and may even be replaced or devoured by more efficient new mycelia.
An involution mechanism centered on efficiency and constantly self-optimizing has been formed.
This celestial path, composed of mycelium, is rapidly iterating with an almost ruthless rationality, racing toward the direction Xu Ye designed.
Beneath the calm surface, undercurrents are brewing.
Xu Ye marked it as the No. 1 mortal realm, and the silver worm eggs inside it have also revived.
Due to certain needs, Xu did not lay down strict laws of heaven in the mortal realm.
Having lost their natural enemies and the pressure to survive, their thoughts are dominated by the primal instincts inherited from the world in the pond and the endless desire to reproduce.
Initially, they simply ate the algae and microorganisms in the tank as initial resources.
But soon, the exponentially growing insect population overwhelmed this resource-limited mortal realm.
The algae were completely consumed, and the water quality deteriorated due to pollution from their massive amounts of excrement.
Resource scarcity has fueled their ferocity.
They kill each other, using the flesh and blood of their own kind to prolong their own lives.
The First Mortal Realm has turned into a chaotic purgatory where violence reigns supreme and hunger and death coexist. The situation has truly taken a sharp turn for the worse.
The chaos was transmitted to the Celestial Realm via the network, and the newly formed Heavenly Moon God Clan did not yet know how to deal with it.
Because the Creator who promulgated the Heavenly Code has not yet given any instructions.
Xu Ye was not surprised at all by the collapse of the First Mortal Realm; it was all part of his plan.
A system that has not undergone stress testing is unstable.
Since the failures of the first two worlds and the resolution of the biggest problem, Xu Ye has gradually calmed down and begun to explore more unknowns through spores.
It also became clear that we should no longer act like the test-takers in small towns, ignoring problems or offering only slight guidance for the world to solve itself; that is what growth is all about.
Just like parents, they shouldn't have too much of a controlling nature.
He reached out, gave a brief divine oracle, and then ignored it:
"To quell the chaos in the mortal realm."