Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 158 The Lifespan of Mortals

"I see! So, you cultivate so that you can reach the Nascent Soul stage and then use that knowledge to nourish yourselves?"

Coral, thinking she had finally understood the truth, looked as if she had just realized something.

Unexpectedly, the surrounding players burst into laughter, their smiles bright and natural. They chattered amongst themselves, saying—

"It would be great if it could truly benefit oneself!"

"Isn't this game supposed to have a powerful backer? Maybe we can actually witness some kind of spiritual revival?"

"You're dreaming!"

"If such a good thing really existed, would you be the first to play the game? Use your brain!"

"Hey! I think living to be over a hundred is too long! Living to seventy or eighty is enough. After that, all sorts of diseases will come knocking, and it feels quite painful!"

"I'm different. I'd rather live a miserable life than die a good death. As long as I can live, I'll definitely keep living!"

"Don't worry, evil people live for a thousand years. You're guaranteed to live for a thousand and one years, even more evil than evil people!"

……

Just as the players were chattering away, a voice amplified by spiritual power suddenly came from outside the crowd: "This fellow Daoist is from the Quanxian Clan. He probably doesn't know much about our human race. Does this fellow Daoist know how many years the average lifespan of mortals in the Guixu Realm is?"

The players recognized the sound very well, and the noise in front of the barbecue restaurant grew even louder.

"Our senior sister is here too!"

"Sister!"

"Good heavens! Even the senior sister has been alerted! If this weren't a hidden plot point, I'd chew this table up!"

"Just say you want a free meal or drink, don't beat around the bush!"

"You kid——"

Amidst the players' continuous banter, Baili Shuang saw Shanhu looking over and greeted her, saying, "Greetings, fellow Daoist. I am Baili Shuang, a disciple of the Taiyin Sect. I heard that you were visiting the Taiyin Sect and was afraid that my fellow disciples would be impolite, so I came uninvited. I hope you will forgive me!"

Baili Shuang's demeanor was completely different from the other Taiyin Sect disciples. Shanhu's heart stirred, and she returned the greeting, saying, "Fellow Daoist, you are too kind. My name is Shanhu, and I come from the Xiling Clan. The disciples of the Taiyin Sect are all lively and straightforward; there has been no impoliteness..."

"So she's a descendant of Lei Zu!"

Upon hearing this, Coral felt a sense of warmth in her heart—ordinary human cultivators would not know the history of the Quanxian Clan!

"Fellow Daoist Baili, you are actually well-versed in the history of my Quanxian?"

"I wouldn't say I'm an expert, I just know a little bit about it."

As Baili Shuang spoke, she glanced at Zhao Qing, who immediately shifted her position and squeezed closer to Bai Chenxue to make room for Baili Shuang. She even wiped her face with her sleeve and said ingratiatingly, "Senior Sister, please sit down!"

"Thank you so much, junior sister!"

Baili Shuang smiled slightly, sat down, and then continued the previous topic with Shanhu: "Fellow Daoist Shanhu, do you know how long an ordinary human lifespan is?"

Coral answered uncertainly, "About... a hundred years?"

Although the Quanxian race is extremely difficult to reproduce, their lifespan is indeed relatively long. In their natural state, merfolk can live for thousands of years without becoming old and decrepit like humans or most animals. There is not much difference in appearance between a nine-hundred-year-old merfolk and a one-hundred-year-old merfolk. Only in the last few months, when spiritual energy can no longer flow in their bodies, will they show signs of aging, until they die from exhaustion.

Although Coral had dealt with human cultivators, she had hardly ever seen ordinary mortals, so she could only guess based on what the cat demon had just said.

Baili Shuang shook her head, her eyes filled with pity, and said, "No more than twenty years."

"This, how is this possible!?"

Not only Coral was incredulous, but even the players and cultivators around her began to question it—putting aside everything else, most of the mortals in Chang'an City were definitely more than twenty years old!

The voices of rebuttal and questioning were so loud that Baili Shuang had to speak with her spiritual power again: "It is indeed the case... because many mortals have great difficulty even growing up. The disciples of the Taiyin Sect in the Blue Star Realm probably do not know this, but if we are human cultivators in the Guixu Realm, those who have cultivated from mortals, do they still have memories of the mortal world? How many brothers and sisters did you have in your family, and how many of them survived?"

There was a moment of silence, then the faint sound of sobbing could be heard.

"I...I lost three older brothers and one younger sister..."

"My mother died in childbirth..."

"My family has more than ten members, but we were plagued by monsters, and I'm the only one who survived..."

"Both of my younger brothers starved to death..."

Since the Taiyin Sect's grand ceremony, Chang'an City has become famous, and news of various research institutes' benefits and "recruitment" has spread like wildfire throughout the southern part of the Central Continent, attracting many cultivators who were doing poorly in various sects and forces.

Within their own sects or factions, the knowledge of cultivation is kept secret. To learn it, one must depend on the elders' wishes. And those of average talent without family background receive a monthly allowance that isn't even enough for food and drink, let alone to buy spiritual materials to aid their cultivation.

As a result, many cultivators were eager to settle in Chang'an and join various research institutes—they could avoid the stigma of changing their allegiance, earn money to improve their lives, and even freely browse through various cultivation manuals in the library. It was practically a life of paradise!

Therefore, during this period, Chang'an City has absorbed a lot of cultivators from less privileged backgrounds, with the majority being ordinary mortals.

Having cultivated for so many years, they may have long since become indifferent to things from decades or even centuries ago, but they will never forget them.

However, amidst these low sighs, a discordant, resounding voice suddenly arose—

"I'm going to fucking kill that damn planner!"

One player rubbed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Baili Shuang looked at the player with red eyes with affection and said, "Actually, the Blue Star Realm is the same."

"Take China as an example. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the average life expectancy was only 20 years. Even during the Tang and Song dynasties, which are touted as the golden age in history, the average life expectancy was no more than 30 years. In the early 20th century, the average life expectancy was only 35 years. The real qualitative leap came after 1981."

"If it were Europe, it would be even more pitiful. In ancient Europe before Christ, the average life expectancy was around 20 years. It wasn't until after the Industrial Revolution, in the mid-19th century, that the average life expectancy reached 40 years."

"People of the Blue Star Realm, life has only been good for less than two hundred years!"

She sighed as she said this, "But in the Realm of Return to Nothingness, many more people don't even have the chance to survive. Being able to embark on cultivation and join various sects is a stroke of incredible luck, one in ten thousand!"

"Meow, it's like this,"

The mountain cat police officer, who had been listening quietly, twitched his ears and said, "Most of us cat demons can only live for three years. Many of us die of starvation or freezing. In all my years of cultivation, I have lost many, many, many of my kind!"

It squinted, its tone still calm, but it emphasized again: "A lot, a great many!"

(End of this chapter)