The system gave me immortality, and I survived everyone

Mo Bai remained silent in response to Wang Hao's words, seemingly not quite believing them.

Seeing this, Wang Hao took out a fist-sized piece of divine source and placed it on the table.

"This is an ordinary piece of divine source, weighing one jin (500 grams), which is also the basic unit of currency in the cultivation world today."

"A pound of divine source is already quite precious for ordinary cultivators."

"Normally, they use spirit stones to cultivate or directly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

"But you geniuses probably don't even consider this kind of divine source a threat."

Glancing at the divine source on the table, Mo Bai said calmly, "So what is Senior trying to express?"

"It's very simple. I'm just giving you a basic explanation of the fundamental operating logic of the cultivation world."

"As a prodigy, you will find it easy to comprehend cultivation techniques and engage in combat."

"But can you tell me how this divine source came to be in my hands from underground?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Bai glanced at the divine source in Wang Hao's hand and said, "Divine sources are mined by cultivators and then circulated to the market through various forces."

"That's right, but not entirely!"

"To obtain a piece of divine source like the one I possess, you first need to find a divine source mine."

“Divine source veins are usually born in places with abundant spiritual energy, and these places are usually owned.”

"If you want to own such a place, you either have to take it by force or you are born with it."

"If you seize it by force, your costs will already be much higher than others before you even start mining the veins."

"After all, fighting can result in injuries and deaths. If someone dies, you have to pay compensation; if someone is injured, you have to be responsible for healing medicine. All of these things are a considerable expense."

Even if your men are exceptionally brave in that battle, your expenses will still be extremely high.

"why?"

Mo Bai asked instinctively, and Wang Hao grinned and said, "After a battle, your men were unharmed, which means they are all experts."

"To recruit a master, even setting aside top-tier rare and precious materials, you must at least provide basic resources."

"Divine resources, elixirs, fiefdoms—these things must be provided, otherwise who will risk their lives for you?"

"The real expenses only begin after you've seized a divine source mine."

"First of all, mining requires golems. Buying golems costs money, and crafting your own golems also costs money. The only difference is the cost."

"However, even with puppets, only some costs can be saved."

"After all, once the ore is mined, it needs to be cut or remelted, and these processes all consume resources."

“Even low-level cultivators need to cultivate. Even if their expenses are small, they can add up to an astronomical sum.”

"After deducting these costs, you can only earn a maximum of 70% per kilogram of Divine Source."

"After 70% of the divine source was put into storage, hands began to reach out to divide the profits."

"Maintaining the formation, purchasing magic weapons, purchasing pills, paying disciples' salaries, paying elders' salaries, all these expenses will probably take up about 40% of the divine source."

"At this time, only 30% of the divine source remained in the sect's treasury."

"It just so happens that at this time, the sect's prodigies need to gain experience, or rather, to shine in the cultivation world."

"To ensure his competitiveness, the sect provided him with a magic weapon worth 300 million divine resources."

"Based on the logic we just used, the sect has probably spent about 1 billion divine resources, and the result is that it barely breaks even, neither making a profit nor a loss."

"This is based on the premise that the prodigy has not perished. Once the prodigy has perished, the sect will suffer a huge loss."

After he finished speaking, Mo Bai fell silent.

Because he had never imagined that his divine source would come from this.

"No race is necessary; I can succeed on my own!"

Mo Bai looked up and said something, to which Wang Hao scoffed, "Rely on yourself?"

"This is the most absurd joke I've ever heard. In chaotic times, a prodigy like you might be able to make a name for yourself."

"But in this kind of era, you can never turn your life around on your own."

"You don't know how to refine weapons or alchemy. Without these skills, you can only buy your pills and magic weapons."

"But without any powerful backing, you're completely empty-handed."

"How do you obtain the resources to purchase these items?"

"You can still make a profit selling rare and precious medicinal herbs!"

Do you think rare and precious herbs are just roadside weeds?

Wang Hao directly refuted Mo Bai, saying, "Those who are destined to know about unclaimed items will find out. You are invincible among your peers, but not invincible in the world."

"When competing for rare and precious materials, who would want to fight you one-on-one? The sects would simply send out experts to wipe you out instantly."

"If you can't compete for rare and precious materials, the only way you can earn resources is by killing and robbing."

"The death of a few cultivators may not have much of an impact, but if too many cultivators die, do you think those major powers will send experts to wipe you out?"

“This method might have been feasible in the past in the spiritual community.”

"Because the order was chaotic at that time, if you killed someone and ran far away, others might not be able to find you."

"But now, if you dare to kill people indiscriminately, your head will be hung on the flagpole in less than three days."

"Besides, how much profit can those rogue cultivators who you can easily kill and who have no background make?"

"Even if you kill 100,000 people like these low-level cultivators, it probably won't be enough to support your cultivation as a prodigy."

Mo Bai was speechless in the face of Wang Hao's smugness. He forced himself to speak.

"Then I can also absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate!"

"Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao burst out laughing.

"Good disciples, this prodigy is just as foolish as you were back then!"

"It's so much fun chatting with you little kids."

Faced with Wang Hao's ridicule, Mo Bai was somewhat at a loss.

Seeing this, Liu Yidao pursed his lips and said, "The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is theoretically inexhaustible, and any cultivator can absorb it."

"But in reality, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth cannot be absorbed at will."

"After a cultivator enters the Immortal Venerable Realm, he will absorb a massive amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth without relying on pills or divine sources for cultivation."

“No party would allow this situation to continue.”

"Once a rogue cultivator is found to be absorbing large amounts of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, they will be expelled at best and killed at worst."

"I've broken into other factions' territories before, and this has never happened before!"

Mo Bai's eyes were filled with doubt. Liu Yidao said, "Because your identity is the Qilin Child, other forces will not care about this little bit of spiritual energy."

"If you were a rogue cultivator, you would have been expelled long ago."

"You don't think it's because these forbidden land prodigies are kind that they live such miserable lives!"

"They had already considered methods such as murder and robbery, selling rare and precious materials, and absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

"But unfortunately, despite the vastness of the Eternal Life Era, there was never a place for them to settle down."

......