10: Chapter 10 Development

Two years have passed.

One day in the outside world is two years in the Divine Kingdom.

His Cultivation Divine Kingdom and Land of Gods and Demons have been running for two full Divine Kingdom years.

Expanding his consciousness, the full landscape of the Land of Cultivation unfolded in his perception.

The one hundred square kilometers of heaven and earth were vastly different compared to when they first awakened.

On the central plain, that mortal-grade low-tier spirit spring was still gushing spirit liquid, but several irrigation ditches had appeared around the spring eye—these were not built by Shen Ye's orders, but dug spontaneously by the kin.

The Water Spirit Root Kin had channeled the spirit spring water to all parts of the plain over the two years, forming a simple yet effective irrigation network.

Beside the spirit spring, a new structure had appeared.

It was not built by Shen Ye using blueprints; it was stacked up by the kin themselves.

Using pebbles from the riverbank and clay from beside the spirit spring, they had constructed a platform half a person's height, with crooked spirit-gathering patterns carved onto its surface.

Shen Ye's consciousness touched the stone platform, and its attributes appeared in his mind—Mortal-grade low-tier, rudimentary spirit spring altar, spirit energy gathering efficiency increased by five percent.

It was not a standard building recognized by the system, it did not trigger Gain Without Labor, and its functions were far inferior to a true spirit spring altar.

But it was built by the kin themselves. From design to construction, there was no divine oracle guidance.

Shen Ye's consciousness swept over the area around the stone platform.

The Water Spirit Root Kin sat around the platform, their hands forming rough cultivation mudras, absorbing the spirit energy gathered by the platform.

Their cultivation base was very low—early stage of Qi Refining, still some distance from the middle stage.

But their movements were uniform, and their breathing rhythm was synchronized with the spirit energy pulse of the stone platform.

Someone had taught them.

Shen Ye's consciousness continued to extend.

On the mountain of the Five Elements Array Eye: Metal, the Metal Spirit Root Kin had cleared a sword practice field around the sword stele.

It was not a natural clearing; it had been carved out by them, shaving down the mountain rock inch by inch with flying swords.

In the center of the practice field stood several stone pillars, their surfaces covered in sword marks—they were not decorations, but targets for sword practice.

The Metal Spirit Root Kin were in pairs; one would control a sword to attack the pillar, while the other would also control a sword to intercept the former's flying sword from the side.

It was not individual practice, but sparring.

Shen Ye watched for a long time.

No one had taught them this.

The Five Elements Array Eye: Metal only provided baptism by sword intent, not tactical training.

The interception training was something they had invented themselves.

Spirit fields. Over the two years, the Wood Spirit Root Kin had expanded the spirit field area from the original ten mu to thirty mu.

It was not Shen Ye's order; it was forced by the yield of the spirit plants—after the first batch of spirit plants was harvested, the number of seeds increased several-fold, and ten mu of spirit fields could not hold them all.

The Wood Spirit Root Kin did not pray to him for help, but picked up the most rudimentary wooden farm tools themselves, reclaiming land outward, one mu at a time.

At the edges of the newly reclaimed spirit fields, piles of stones of various sizes lay, which had been dug out of the soil during reclamation.

The stones were stacked neatly, sorted by size. The large ones were used to build field ridges, and the small ones were paved on the paths between the fields.

Shen Ye's consciousness flowed over every single kin.

One thousand people. The one thousand people from the time of awakening—the number had changed after two years.

It was not reproduction; the kin were condensed from the Divine Kingdom's origin and could not reproduce sexually.

It was the growth of the Divine Kingdom itself that brought new kin.

After the Fine-grade spirit spring was completed, the spirit energy concentration increased by thirty percent, and the condensation speed of the Divine Kingdom's origin accelerated accordingly.

Over the two years, new kin had successively emerged from the origin—not born in batches, but sporadically and continuously.

One more today, two more tomorrow.

Shen Ye did not count them in detail.

His consciousness swept across face after face.

Some faces were clear, while others still carried the blurriness of new birth.

Those that were clear were the ones who had lived long enough.

Those that were blurry were the ones who had just emerged from the origin.

Lived long enough.

Shen Ye silently repeated these four words.

The Divine Kingdom was only two years old; the oldest kin was barely two years old.

But their faces were already much clearer than when they were born.

It was not brought by age, but by experience.

Those who had dug irrigation ditches had calluses on their hands.

Those who had reclaimed spirit fields had sunburn marks on their backs.

Those who had practiced interception swords had focus in their eyes.

At the dead volcanic crater, the Earth Fire Furnace of the Fire Spirit Root Kin had been upgraded.

It was not an upgrade of the building blueprint, but they had modified it themselves.

The original furnace was just a stone pit that could gather earth fire; two years later, it had become three furnaces side by side.

The first one burned ore, the second one smelted, and the third one forged. The three furnaces were connected by earth fire channels, and the Fire Spirit Root Kin used the most primitive bellows to control the temperature of each furnace.

Shen Ye saw them take out a newly forged flying sword from the third furnace—the sword body was rough, the blade not sharp enough, incomparable to the standard flying swords nurtured in the sword stele's stone grooves.

But on the sword guard, a crooked mark was carved—the name of the forger.

It was not a name bestowed by Shen Ye, but one the Fire Spirit Root Kin had given themselves.

Shen Ye lingered on that mark for a long time.

Over the two years, the mine of the Earth Spirit Root Clan had extended a long distance into the depths of the mountain.

The first branch of the spirit vein had been mined out, and they had found a second one at the end of the branch.

The spirit stone quality of the new branch was better than the first, upgraded from mortal-grade low-tier to mortal-grade mid-tier.

The daily production of spirit stones had increased from the initial three or four to over a dozen.

The Earth Spirit Root Clan had built a sorting station deep in the mine, grading, polishing, and stacking the mined spirit stone ore according to quality.

On a stone wall of the sorting station, a map of the mine's direction was carved—not exploration data given to them by Shen Ye, but carved stroke by stroke by themselves.

Which section was mined out, which section was still producing ore, and which section suspected to have a new branch were marked clearly.

Shen Ye's consciousness withdrew from the Cultivation Divine Kingdom and sank downward.

Crossing the boundary, it entered the Land of Gods and Demons.

Two years. The same two years.

The five hundred angels and five hundred succubi at the time of awakening—the numbers had changed after two years.

Not doubled, but indeed more.

The spirit energy concentration in the Land of Gods and Demons, under the blessing of the mortal-grade high-tier spirit spring and Fine-grade high-tier spirit fields, was quite a bit higher than in the Cultivation Divine Kingdom.

The speed at which the origin condensed kin was also faster.

Holy Light Altar.

Mortal-grade high-tier, daily production of fifty Holy Light crystals.

Over the two years, the angels had built a perimeter wall around the altar using crystal fragments, with rows of Holy Light crystal houses inside.

Each house was inhabited by one angel, and a small piece of Holy Light crystal floated in the center of the room, like an undying lamp.

A stone pillar stood at the entrance of the perimeter wall, with a mark invented by the angels themselves carved on it—not characters, but symbols condensed from Holy Light.

Shen Ye identified it; the meaning of the symbol was "Morning Light Camp".

The angels had given their settlement a name.

Abyss Altar.

Mortal-grade high-tier, daily production of fifty Abyss crystals.

The succubi had not built a perimeter wall.

They wandered in the mist around the altar, leaving semi-permanent patterns in the air using abyss energy.

The patterns intertwined into a three-dimensional web, with fragments of Abyss crystals floating at the nodes of the web.

Each fragment was a coordinate, marking the boundaries of different functional areas in the camp—here was for condensing crystals, there was for cultivating the abyss, and deeper inside was the exclusive area for the succubi.

There was no wall, but any creature entering this web would perceive the existence of the boundaries.

Spirit fields.

Fine-grade high-tier, area of one hundred mu.

Shen Ye saw angels and succubi working in the spirit fields—not doing their own things, but collaborating.

The angels used Holy Light to condense plows to turn the soil, while the succubi ground Abyss crystals into powder and sprinkled them into the furrows.

Turning the soil and fertilizing were done alternately on the same ridge. The angels did the sowing, and the succubi did the covering.

Both angels and succubi watered the plants—they took water from the Twilight Spirit Spring, using Holy Light and Abyss to nourish the same spirit plant simultaneously.

Twilight Spirit Spring.

Shen Ye's consciousness lingered for a long time on that modified Fine-grade high-tier spirit spring.

The twilight color of the spring water was thicker than two years ago.

Not gold, not dark purple, but a flowing light between the two.

The angels and succubi had built a circle of stone railings around the spirit spring, with Holy Light patterns and Abyss patterns carved alternately on the railings.

The two types of patterns met at the top of the stone railing, and at the meeting point, Holy Light crystals and Abyss crystals were inlaid—equal in number, symmetrical in position.

sword stele. Fine-grade high-tier, fifty stone grooves.

Over the two years, all fifty stone grooves were filled with swords. Half were the angels' Holy Light swords, and half were the succubi's Abyss swords.

The two types of swords were arranged alternately, with no boundaries. The three sword marks of the sword stele were always glowing, and the dark golden sword patterns spread from the stele body to the stone grooves, and from the stone grooves to the sword bodies.

Every sword inserted in the stone grooves—whether Holy Light or Abyss—had faint twilight patterns appearing on its body.

Scripture Pavilion. Fine-grade high-tier, five-story tower body.

Over the two years, the angels and succubi had written dozens of books. Insights on using Holy Light, notes on controlling the Abyss, records of spirit plant cultivation, and observations on nurturing the sword stele.

On the title page of every book, the author's name was written—not bestowed by Shen Ye, but chosen by themselves.

Some used Holy Light symbols, some used Abyss characters.

One name used both types of characters simultaneously. That book was titled "Preliminary Exploration of Light and Dark Co-cultivation of Spirit Plants," thin with dozens of pages, recording all observations of the angels and succubi collaborating in the spirit fields over the past year.

On the title page, a Holy Light symbol and an Abyss character were carved side by side, with a thin line drawn between them connecting the two.

Five Elements Array Eye: Metal.

Rare high-tier.

Two years ago, Shen Ye saw the angels and succubi forcibly injecting power under the tower, producing unstable twilight sword qi.

Two years later, that twilight sword qi had stabilized. It was not that the angels and succubi had found a better way of injection, but that the Five Elements Array Eye itself had adapted.

At the top of the sword qi tower, the dark golden twilight sword qi was no longer flickering, but rotating continuously and stably.

On the tower body, next to the original metal-element patterns, new patterns had grown—not carved on, but evolved by the array eye itself amidst the fusion of light and dark.

Twilight patterns.

heavenly tribulation platform. Epic high-tier.

Over the two years, no kin had undergone a tribulation, and the heavenly tribulation platform had remained silent.

But Shen Ye could perceive that the Divine Kingdom core fragment in the center of the platform base was slowly absorbing Holy Light and Abyss.

It was not active injection; it was that every time the angels and succubi passed by, they would spontaneously leave a wisp of Holy Light or a thread of Abyss.

The core fragment refused no one, swallowing both simultaneously and fusing them internally.

The fused energy was not released, but stored deep in the platform base, as if waiting for something.

Shen Ye withdrew his consciousness.