273: God Space Project

"Holy Brother, may I ask which deity you were in your past life?"

"Mortals shouldn't pry into the affairs of immortals."

"Understood, please carry on."

Zhou Yan was busily constructing the main city's functional area, while Qing Xuan watched him with sparkling eyes like a little fanboy.

This all started when Zhou Yan met Mo Ran again.

Because he was planning to gather Incense in the Eastern Region, Zhou Yan had to produce something substantial.

After all, Incense couldn't be generated out of thin air; relying solely on the low-quality prayers of elderly people who believed only when it suited them couldn't keep up with the investment costs.

He had invested a large amount of Spirit Stones, but the small amount of Incense collected was less effective than a candle for lighting, let alone for any practical use.

Thus, after requesting a batch of Nascent Soul Materials from the Sect, Zhou Yan upgraded the yuanwu xielü.

First, he optimized its functions and added many Magic Treasures with special effects, bringing it to the Nascent Soul level.

After absorbing a large number of Magic Treasures, one of its new abilities was "Differentiation."

Unlike before, where he intercepted a portion of the "yuanwu xielü" to turn into a Magic Treasure form, this time he directly cut a piece from the Origin, giving birth to a fully functional small Magic Treasure.

Zhou Yan was very generous; if not for the limit on the Differentiation ability after the upgrade, which allowed cutting at most one-third of the Origin, he would have loved to split the yuanwu xielü in half.

In any case, damage to his Lifebound Treasure would only make him spit some blood, which could be recovered with a pill; as for the damaged Origin, Zhou Yan could just spend more resources to repair it, so it had no real impact on him.

As for the concern that damaging the Origin would affect the Magic Treasure's growth limit...

One could only say that the adaptability of the cun hao sword and the yuanwu xielü was still at work.

Although the specific logic was unclear, the yuanwu xielü could indeed restore its Origin after absorbing other Magic Treasures, and the cun hao sword ensured it wouldn't be destroyed, so he could naturally tinker with it as he pleased.

Thus, when Zhou Yan handed over this framework No. 2—comparable to a Xuanhuan version of "Doraemon"—to Mo Ran and had it enshrined in the Taiyi Church alongside Yuan Chenling's statue, the collection of faith indeed sped up significantly.

The yuanwu xielü had mastered almost all common immortal cultivation arts; while it couldn't compare to the two fully automatic machines in the Home that could create things from the Void Realm, its talisman drawing, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining were faster and of higher quality than those of most Cultivators.

With the yuanwu xielü's addition and Zhou Yan's continuous remote investment, although the Taiyi Sect's online reputation remained poor, its offline reputation had improved significantly.

This was because the items they sold were truly cheap, and the enshrined statues could actually cure minor ailments for the believers.

Consequently, more and more people began to believe that the Taiyi Sect might truly be protected by a deity.

Once everything was on track, Mo Ran's workload lightened considerably.

Having free time, he often came over to annoy Zhou Yan.

Due to the various miraculous signs and the advanced ideas Zhou Yan had previously instilled in him, Mo Ran was completely convinced of this "Heavenly Venerable's" divinity.

And what a devout believer desired most was to hear divine oracles.

To put it bluntly, the kid wasn't stupid; he just had a strange way of thinking and acted in ways that normal people couldn't understand, making it exhausting for Zhou Yan to deal with him.

So Zhou Yan simply compiled various speeches from big shots in his memory, special ideological systems, and some red books, turning them into physical items to thrust upon him.

Having received knowledge bestowed by a god, Mo Ran, who usually disliked learning, happily went off to study them.

With Mo Ran gone, Zhou Yan finally had time to build the main city.

As a Book Spirit, Qing Xuan also had a great interest in books and read along with Mo Ran.

Thanks to its nature, its comprehension and reading speed were incredibly fast, and it finished them in no time.

After reading, Qing Xuan was deeply shocked and was now fully convinced that Zhou Yan was the Reincarnation of some Heavenly Venerable, as those books contained complete ideological systems and much knowledge it had never heard of before.

Although many concepts in the books had already been proposed by the sages of this world, adding even a little something new to the knowledge accumulated by numerous sages over vast amounts of time was enough to make one a new sage.

Not to mention that what Zhou Yan gave was far more than just "a little."

Thus, the scene at the beginning occurred.

Just as Zhou Yan had finished tricking Mo Ran away, Qing Xuan arrived.

This fellow was certain that Zhou Yan was still hiding much knowledge it didn't know, so it was being overly attentive, though in reality, it was just getting in the way, hoping to pry out more information.

Seeing that the final part was about to be completed, Zhou Yan finally lost his patience and kicked Qing Xuan away.

"Don't you just want knowledge?"

"Fine, listen up!"

Seeing that its pestering had worked, Qing Xuan felt it had made a huge profit despite getting kicked.

Zhou Yan could even see the word "wretched" on its bird face.

Suppressing the urge to kick it again, Zhou Yan decided to settle this quickly.

For a smart and knowledgeable fellow like this, the most effective method was to throw a sufficiently contradictory proposition at it and let it get stuck in its own head.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Yan spoke with ill intent.

"First, assume you are a deity capable of granting all of someone's wishes."

Qing Xuan nodded.

"Interactive knowledge acquisition? Not bad, I like it."

"Good. Now, you must grant me three wishes, and I will present these three wishes to you."

Qing Xuan nodded again and spread its wings in cooperation.

"State your wishes, and I shall grant them for you."

Seeing the bird getting into character, Zhou Yan didn't bother with nonsense and said directly:

"My first wish is: Do not grant my second wish."

"My second wish is: My third wish must be granted in the opposite way of its intended result."

"My third wish is: Do not grant my first wish."

Qing Xuan thought it sounded simple, but as it processed the logic, it realized something was wrong.

"Ah? How can this be..."

"If I grant the first wish, the second wish doesn't exist. But if the second wish doesn't exist, the third wish takes effect, causing the first wish to be voided, which makes the second wish reappear..."

"But if the second wish exists again, it makes the third wish have the opposite result, making the first wish take effect once more... This... I'm wrong... I should..."

Looking at Qing Xuan, who seemed to be having a mental breakdown, Zhou Yan finally revealed a joyful smile.

Finally, it was quiet.

Now, Mo Ran had gone off to pore over the "oracles" he provided.

Yuan Chenling had also started his job, operating the small yuanwu xielü to remove illnesses and misfortune for the praying believers.

As for Qing Xuan... seeing its expression as if it were about to crash, Zhou Yan wasn't worried.

Although Qing Xuan had a vast amount of knowledge, it always seemed to be missing a screw; this logical loop should trouble it for a long time, but it wouldn't actually hurt it.

After all, it wasn't as if it hadn't crashed before; when it completely froze up, he would just give it a hint or an ambiguous answer.

With no more interruptions, Zhou Yan moved quickly.

Following the layout of online games from his past life, he divided several main streets and planned different functional areas.

Quest reception, skill learning, various shops, and special functional areas... everything was classified and arranged properly, with some residential areas reserved for future plans.

Once everything was completed, Zhou Yan hovered in the air, examining his work with satisfaction.

"Not bad, not bad. It finally has a bit of the God Space vibe."

"Now the only remaining issues are the players, NPCs, and revenue."

Like Mo Ran, others who entered should also be able to earn currency by clearing Dungeons and then shop from their NPC forms.

So players and NPCs might be able to be used interchangeably.

But the revenue issue was quite troublesome.

Aside from clearing Dungeons, they didn't seem to have anything else to do.

Without a proper circulation system, recruiting a large number of so-called "players" to develop Dungeons and profit for him might instead become a burden.

The main city was, after all, one of Zhou Yan's hidden trump cards; before it fully developed, it was best to proceed selectively.

He would first see if the Taiyi Sect could cultivate some fanatics; if they helped with the development, there should be a significant Breakthrough.

As for how to cultivate Fanatics, that was a problem in itself.

Furthermore, the church was like a bottomless pit in terms of funding; even if he were wealthy, consuming resources like this was not a sustainable solution.

By the way, are all churches like this?

Why did the more money he invested, the less obvious the overall changes became?

Without investment, it barely survived; with investment, it still barely survived. He couldn't have met his Waterloo on his very first investment, could he?

No wonder so many wealthy people don't let their descendants start businesses; money really does disappear fast when things fail.

Just as Zhou Yan's thoughts were wandering, he suddenly sensed that the Restriction he had set up had been triggered.

At a time like this, who would come looking for me?