Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 424 No one has a spiritual root

The cacophony of opinions in the team chat left Nietzsche with no time for idle thoughts.

With no better options available, she had no choice but to adopt everyone's idea and simply command the team members to launch all the rockets.

Success or failure hinges on this moment. At worst, we can just go back and buy more rocket launchers. Since Uncle Tian said that this exploration is very important and that NPC named "Feng Liqi" is also of great significance, Uncle Tian and his team certainly won't just stand by and watch their exploration team fail. Even if they don't get the rewards, they still have to find a way to protect Feng Liqi and take her out, right?
Wait, the rewards for clearing the dungeon...

If this were a real world, what the hell are all those raid rewards and dungeon drops?!
It's unclear which version of these rocket launchers they are, but while they don't cause any "shockwave" damage to players when they fire, their "pre-launch animation" is quite long, lasting several tens of seconds.

In those few dozen seconds, Nietzsche almost lost control of his mind, his thoughts racing with a jumble of random ideas, and he couldn't calm down.

Of course, this extremely long "pre-cast" also means that players cannot guarantee that all rocket launchers will fire at the same time—even a high-level player at the Golden Core stage can only control a maximum of three rocket launchers at the same time. Therefore, more than a dozen rocket launchers rushed towards the BOSS at different times.

The smoke and dust from the explosion drastically reduced visibility, and the pungent smell of sulfur and the scorching heat filled the air. However, the players had long been adept at shutting down their sense of smell, so they were completely unaware of it. Only Nietzsche couldn't help but cough a few times and secretly circulated his spiritual energy to calm himself down.

"You are merely Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators, how could you possess such astonishing magic treasures? This is equivalent to the full-force attack of a Nascent Soul cultivator, it can probably only be used once, right? I clearly saw it explode after it flew over... but how could there be so many of them!?"

In the distance, Feng Liqi, who was squatting in a bush with Napier grass and soup dumplings, asked in shock, completely baffled.

"Hmph, this is the power of technology! It's not some kind of magic weapon!"

The soup dumpling proudly boasted, "This is called a rocket launcher, it's a weapon of our Blue Star! It's incredibly powerful! And this is nothing compared to what we've achieved! If we could build a Tsar Bomba, one of those rockets could probably destroy this entire little world!"

"Hiss—" Feng Liqi gasped, her breath seemingly audible even though she had long since lost her physical body and mouth. She then asked, "Such a terrifying 'weapon'? Could it be made by immortals or gods? But I've heard that even the halberd forged by Chi You couldn't possess such power..."

Guan Tangbao casually denied it, saying, "No! These weapons were all made by mortals!"

Originally, Guantangbao and Huangzhucao were prepared for Fengliqi to disbelieve and question how a mortal could possibly achieve such a feat—a very common stereotype among cultivator NPCs in the Guixu Realm. However, they didn't expect Fengliqi to simply ask in confusion, "What is a mortal...?"

"what!?"

The soup dumplings and the king bamboo grass looked at each other in confusion, almost at a loss for words!
The royal bamboo grass tentatively described it as: "A mortal is someone who has no spiritual root or spiritual power!"

But Feng Liqi's tone was even more confused: "You mean...children?"

“Children? Little kids? No, no, no, they’re adults, people who look no different from you and me… well, okay, quite different from how you look now,” Huang Zhucao said somewhat awkwardly, gesturing as she explained, “There are old and young, all ages! Basically, they’re ordinary people without spiritual roots, who don’t know magic, and who don’t have spiritual power!” Feng Liqi asked curiously, “But didn’t everyone start out without spiritual roots and who didn’t know magic? But those were children. Once they grew up and studied at the Changwu Clan, they all learned, right?”

"None of them have spiritual roots!?"

This time, it was the turn of the king bamboo grass and the soup dumplings to be confused.

As "support staff" in the team, and also as individuals busy with their studies and careers in the real world, they actively participate in group activities within the community, but are not enthusiastic about completing daily dungeons. Firstly, because both of them are frequently contacted by their advisors or department heads, their fragmented time is not conducive to completing dungeons; secondly, the team also needs some members to contribute to support.

In short, for various reasons, Huangzhucao, Guantangbao, and Renxinhuadao are the three most famous in the community. They know a lot about the plot and game background, and like Doraemon, they can always pull out all kinds of exquisite gadgets and a bunch of food and supplies from their game backpacks or Qiankun bags.

Therefore, Huangzhucao and Guantangbao were certain that in the familiar world of the *Ten Continents Chronicle*, the humans of the Guixu Realm could be roughly divided into two types. One type was born without spiritual roots, or with very weak spiritual roots, known as "Heavenly Cripples." Those with Heavenly Cripples had difficulty perceiving spiritual energy, making cultivation extremely difficult, and their path to immortality was completely severed, with no possibility of becoming an immortal or a god. The other type consisted of people with spiritual roots, who were further divided into two groups. The majority were called "Earthly Deficiencies," meaning their spiritual roots were relatively balanced. Those with Earthly Deficiencies absorbed spiritual energy very slowly, making it difficult to cultivate a single cultivation method, and their path to immortality was essentially severed as well.

Only those with several, or even one, exceptionally strong, spiritual roots can cultivate with extraordinary ease and achieve twice the results with half the effort. Most cultivators and disciples in the Guixu Realm's cultivation sects and forces fall into this category.

This background setting has been thoroughly analyzed and dissected on the forums! How come it's completely different in this NPC's case?!

"Yes, none of us had spiritual roots. It was only after we went to the Long Witch Clan and studied there, and drank the Witch's Water, that we gradually developed spiritual roots!"

Feng Liqi also didn't understand why Huangzhucao and Guantangbao were shocked and confused by such common sense. They only said that the world outside the Five-Colored Array had changed so much that much knowledge was different from what they knew in their time. So he explained in detail:

"Once you drink the Water of the Witch, you can begin your formal cultivation and learn magic! However, I have heard that some Di people and human couples in the Long Witch Tribe are born with some spiritual roots, but that doesn't matter. Only by drinking the Water of the Witch can you find the spiritual root that best suits you!"

"Wait a minute, the more I listen, the more confused I get!?"

Even soup dumplings are getting dizzy from all the talking, and the king bamboo grass is just as impressive.

In fact, it wasn't just the two of them; Fang Xianyu, who had been observing the area through their eyes, was also extremely shocked.

It turns out that people in ancient times didn't have spiritual roots!

There will be another chapter later, which will be longer. If it's not posted before midnight, it might be a few minutes late. Of course, it won't affect tomorrow's regular updates.

Consider the extra word count as an apology to everyone!