The development of the StarNet had an unparalleled innate advantage—spiritual power.
As long as there were people, living beings, or cultivators who continually accessed and exited the StarNet, it would endlessly harvest and refine spiritual power. This was an exceptional ability. Over time, the potential of StarNet was limitless—it would only grow stronger, more miraculous. It wasn't a fantasy to say that one day, StarNet could become a second world within the Great Yi Dynasty.
"Hmm, Xing'er, your ideas are good. But if we rely solely on this, it's not enough to collect substantial spiritual power. We can be bolder—build virtual platforms, create virtual communities."
Yi Tianxing spoke slowly.
In his previous life, the reason the Internet became inseparable from daily life was due to various virtual platforms: shopping, gaming, social networking, dating, and more.
These platforms attracted immense attention. If you didn't like games, there were social circles; if not that, shopping platforms. These integrations made the internet deeply embedded in everyone's lives—inseparable.
"Build virtual platforms? Virtual communities?"Xinghai's eyes lit up—this was an incredibly exciting prospect.
"For instance," Yi Tianxing explained, "we can build a Virtual Battle Platform. There, cultivators could project their spiritual form, simulate their cultivation level, techniques, and combat skills, and engage in battle through a mental avatar. Winners could receive rewards. For example, winning once grants 10 virtual Eternal Coins; two consecutive wins earn 20, three wins get 40, and four wins yield 80—doubling each time. The more one wins, the tougher the opponents. Once the winning streak ends, the streak bonus resets.This kind of intense battle will stimulate stronger spiritual fluctuations.With small rewards, we can gain massive returns."
Such a platform would be immensely attractive to cultivators.
After all, not everyone had opportunities to engage in life-or-death combat. In this virtual space, they had nothing to fear—even if their mental projection "died" on the platform, they'd only lose a portion of spiritual energy, which could soon be recovered. Compared to true death, this cost was negligible.
These virtual battles could offer real benefits, allowing the battle experience to imprint onto the cultivator's body and instincts. Once the physical body repeated the same training, it would naturally become muscle memory.
This would be a national weapon for cultivating elite talents.
"Father, you're incredible. If we establish such platforms, the StarNet will become indispensable to the Great Yi Dynasty. It will draw even more people into it," Xinghai said excitedly, her eyes glowing with enthusiasm as ideas began to collide and spark within her mind.
"There's more. The StarNet can also be used for learning and exploring all kinds of techniques. Xing'er, would it be possible to simulate pill refining and artifact forging in StarNet?" Yi Tianxing asked.
"Yes," Xinghai answered after some thought. "As long as there's spiritual power, anything can be simulated in this virtual space.If we know the medicinal properties of ingredients, we can condense spiritual representations of herbs using spiritual energy.The properties would be almost identical to the real thing, with discrepancies limited to 0.0000001%.If one succeeds in refining a pill in this virtual space, the odds of success in the real world would exceed 90%.What we'd need is data—highly accurate records of ingredients and materials. The more precise the data, the more accurate the simulation."
That was her current limit—she couldn't promise 100% accuracy, but the margin of error was close to zero.
"Good. In that case, we can open up dedicated virtual platforms for forging divine weapons, crafting talismans, alchemy, and other arts.With StarNet as the foundation, we could rapidly train large numbers of skilled individuals. They may not be top-tier geniuses, but mid- and low-tier talents would rise en masse.For the Great Yi Dynasty, that's a tremendous advantage that would dramatically accelerate development."
Yi Tianxing smiled.
And this was only the beginning. As StarNet grew stronger, its influence would become unimaginable.
"Father's ideas are very inspiring, but for now, building these platforms is not feasible yet," Xinghai said honestly."The StarNet's internal space is founded on spiritual power. Without sufficient reserves, we can't build these complex systems.Each platform requires a precise framework and massive spiritual energy to establish rules and structure.Right now, we can only let each user have their own private virtual space.Only once enough spiritual power has been accumulated can we begin creating and operating the larger platforms."
Although she was excited by Yi Tianxing's vision, Xinghai understood the reality—they had to start from the ground up. Otherwise, it would all be a castle in the sky.
"There's no rush, Xing'er. I never expected you to build it all at once.You have to eat one bite at a time—you can't become fat in one sitting.As long as we lay the foundation, the rest will follow naturally. What doesn't exist now will eventually come to be."
Yi Tianxing gently comforted her.
He didn't expect to leap to the finish line—he simply wanted to lay out the vision and direction for the future.
"Yes, Father," Xinghai nodded in agreement.
"But now that StarNet has evolved and covers the entire Great Yi Dynasty, we must deal with one of the major challenges of empire—communication and information latency.With StarNet, that's no longer a problem.I plan to create a communication artifact—one capable of messaging, reading notifications, and connecting directly to the StarNet and its virtual spaces."
Yi Tianxing explained his next goal. This would require Xinghai's assistance to model and implement.
"Communication isn't difficult. Cultivators already use Sound Transmission Talismans and Image-Storing Orbs.These are primitive uses of runes. If we integrate and refine them, we could create a unique communication device.With StarNet as a relay, long-distance communication—even over ten thousand miles—would be possible."
After a brief pause, Xinghai confidently gave her answer.
"Excellent. Xing'er, I'll entrust StarNet to you.It may become the Great Yi Dynasty's strongest trump card, the foundation of a new era of cultivator civilization.Once matured, it will be the dynasty's greatest artifact of destiny, its supreme treasure."
Yi Tianxing smiled at her.
"Xing'er won't let Father down," Xinghai responded with a firm nod.
They didn't linger in StarNet for long—just enough to understand the changes it had undergone.
Yi Tianxing now knew that the star ring outside Xinghai's body—the one that looked like a massive galactic ring in StarNet—was the true virtual world.Its sparkling stars looked illusory because they weren't fully formed.
To create platforms, portions of that ring must be refined from illusion into reality. The more real it became, the greater the powers that could be exercised.That ring was the core foundation of the virtual world.
In the blink of an eye, their consciousnesses returned to their bodies.Yi Tianxing opened his eyes with visible joy.
"All right, everyone may leave. The new national policy is to be disseminated as quickly as possible.I will issue a royal edict: the decree of perpetual tax exemption shall never be altered."
He took a deep breath and addressed the court.
"His Majesty is benevolent!"The ministers bowed in unison.
"Dismissed."Yi Tianxing waved his hand, then added,"Master Lu, Daoist Jiang, Strategist Jia, Elder Huang, Father-in-law—you five stay for a while."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"The five exchanged glances and respectfully complied.
The others left. Soon, only Yi Tianxing and his advisors remained in the grand hall.
Cao Zhengchun stood respectfully at the side.Cai Yan was seated nearby.Throughout the meeting, she had remained silent, simply listening.
The Empress should not interfere in politics—a principle she upheld. With Yi Tianxing managing affairs, she never overstepped her bounds.Upholding her place brought peace to both family and state.
"Dear, I actually have something to tell you," Cai Yan suddenly spoke.
"What is it, Zhaoji?"Yi Tianxing turned to her, his expression softening.
"I'm with child,"Cai Yan said softly, her face glowing with a mix of shyness, joy, and a gentle motherly radiance, as she placed a hand on her abdomen.
"You're... with child?"Yi Tianxing froze briefly, then instinctively looked toward her stomach.
He wasn't a fool—he understood immediately.With his time spent in spiritual exploration, his shadow clone hadn't paid attention to such matters. He had focused entirely on cultivation.After returning, he'd been locked in deadly battles with the beastman army—there had been no time to notice.Otherwise, with his strength and perception, he would have known earlier—he wouldn't have needed to be told.