Zhu Yi entered the rogue cultivators guild and queued up at the crystal pad line. Not much time passed before his turn came.
Zhu Yi took out his card and scanned it on the screen. The words, "Welcome Zhu Yi", popped up on the screen.
Zhu Yi tapped on the screen and the words went away, soon followed by three icons. Zhu Yi clicked on the personal information icon. In addition to his name, cultivation, and rank, there was now a small, partly filled up bar below the rank letter.
This was what showed how close a person was to increasing their rank.
Zhu Yi clicked off and went to the missions icon. His mission was completed now and he could accept money in one of three ways. One, store it in the crystal network instead of receiving gold, receive the gold, or a combination of both.
Zhu Yi chose a combination of both. He took out a few gold to survive with and kept the rest of the reward in the rogue cultivator guild network.
Zhou Fan sighed at the convenience of it all.
Cultivators had truly changed the world.
Although the crystal pad network was a good system, there was one reason that no similar system had appeared that covered the filament. This sort of thing was more or less useless to higher level cultivators.
Firstly, it would take a lot of resources and energy to maintain it across the entire filament. Secondly, there were too many strange abilities. It would not be ridiculous for someone to be able to mess with it with some sort of technique, divine physique, or innate gift. They could use it to steal information or, if there was a banking system like in the crystal pad network, rob others. Thirdly, nobody had ever really cared about such a thing. Sure, it was a convenience for lower level cultivators, but higher level cultivators had countless methods to communicate when necessary, such as communication talismans, which did not need much of a network at all. Just a connection to another talisman.
Zhu Yi received his money at the counter and left the rogue cultivators guild. After a good night of sleep, he returned again and found another mission.
On the way towards the mission location, Zhou Fan spoke. "Are you sure you don't want to join a sect and increase your cultivation more? At this rate, it will take an extremely long time to achieve anything."
Zhu Yi nodded. "I've already thought about it. If I go to a sect now, I'll be more or less worthless. If I wait until I have more talent, I'll be valued much more and receive more. If I join a sect talentless and become more and more talented, wouldn't they get suspicious? In that case, it's too risky. And all of that is based on the possibility of actually being accepted."
Zhou Fan nodded. "It's your life. You live it however you want."
Zhu Yi felt reassured and continued running at his pace. Everytime he took a break, he would cultivate, but he was not getting much anywhere. Even with spirit stones, he had taken 300 days to reach the 5th level of the Qi gathering realm, much less without them.
It had been many days since he had met with the nascent soul realm old man and Bai Wei'er. Zhu Yi had had a lot of time to think about things, and the more he thought about it, the calmer he became.
He understood that the nascent soul realm old man had looked down upon him for his inferior cultivation and little to no potential. He also understood that Bai Wei'er looked down upon him for his inferior background and little to no potential.
However, would they act the same when he was stronger? If he was the strongest in the world, would they dare to disdain him? Would they even think about looking down upon him? Would they even dare to breathe loudly in his presence? No, they would not.
Zhu Yi understood this. He understood that both the old man and Bai Wei'er were pathetic people. They were people that would act arrogant or superior in front of him, but would not dare to do so in front of someone else.
This reminded Zhu Yi of a saying he had read from a fairy tale.
Bully the weak, fear the strong. It was the motto of pathetic people.
Zhu Yi did not want to become like them when he was stronger. He would not look down on someone because they were weaker or had a worse background. He would not fear everyone who was stronger or had a better background.
While taking a break, Zhu Yi had told all of this to Zhou Fan.
"It is good to think that way. While comprehending the Cosmic Dao, I thought of many phrases in my head. One of them went : The earth and the stars do not take sides. They are impartial. They regard all individuals as insignificant, as though they were playthings made of straw. The wise are also impartial. To them, all people are equal and alike."
Zhu Yi nodded. "So I am right."
"Sort of. There is no one correct mindset. For example, if you were to treat all people equal and alike, then wouldn't a saint be treated the same as a mass murder? If you helped both survive a dangerous situation, one would go and help others, while the other would spread more harm." Zhou Fan said.
"What is correct is living like you want to live, and living in that way firmly." Zhou Fan added.
Zhou Fan's words gave Zhu Yi a lot to think about. Zhu Yi laid down and thought about how he wanted to live.
As for Zhou Fan, he did not need to think about it too much. He did not interact with others much and his only true goal was to increase his cultivation. Everything else was having fun along the way.
He did not bully the weak, and if there was someone stronger than him, then that would mean he is dead. Either that or everything he knew was false, like fish in a fish tank, and he had no reason to live.