Compared to Tang Chen's three months of hard work under the scorching sun, Cheng Ying's leisurely days in Heaven Dou City felt like a disservice to his reputation as the "Great Sage."
Aside from occasionally offering guidance to Dugu Bo, he mostly spent his time chatting idly with the Ice Empress. After being around Cheng Ying for so long, the once naive and quiet little girl had grown considerably—now capable of arguing with him over various matters.
The only problem was that the Ice Empress's body remained fixed at the appearance of a fourteen-year-old, which Cheng Ying found rather exasperating.
The reason he had been living so carefreely these days was largely due to hitting a bottleneck in technology: the hydraulic machine tool simply couldn't be refined any further.
Although he managed to build a barely functional prototype, its machining precision was still lower than that of hand-crafted tools. In other words, he couldn't use this machine to create a more precise version of itself—an essential step in self-propagating industrial tech.
That kind of progress could only come through slow technical accumulation, so Cheng Ying left it to the artisans to experiment on their own. At the moment, he only had one active project left: cultivating six-ploid wheat.
It wasn't until recently that Cheng Ying discovered that wheat on the Douluo Continent was, to his horror, tetraploid. No wonder all his methods—composting, ridge planting—still couldn't improve yields. Millennia of agricultural wisdom had taught him that hexaploid wheat was the most suitable for large-scale farming.
Unfortunately, even with greenhouses, it would take at least a year to produce the first viable batch of seeds. That left him with ample free time for now.
That day, Cheng Ying was explaining the rules of the billiards table he'd just had custom-made when a loud voice rang out from outside the shop.
"Excuse me, is this the residence of the Great Sage Cheng Ying? Tang Chen of the Clear Sky Clan has come to pay his respects!"
Thunk—
Cheng Ying accidentally sank the cue ball straight into a pocket.
"Didn't you just say the cue ball isn't supposed to go in?" the Ice Empress asked, still earnestly trying to learn the game. Cheng Ying's inventions were always fun to play.
"Forget the cue ball! Come downstairs with me—this kid's got a bright future!" Cheng Ying was no stranger to the name Tang Chen: the strongest Clear Sky Sect Master in history, someone who, at his peak, stood just one step away from godhood. Though he was still a youth now, his potential was boundless.
The Ice Empress tilted her head with a pout. "Tang Chen? Is he really that strong? How strong could he be?"
Cheng Ying thought for a moment before replying, "In a few decades, you might not be able to beat him."
"Are you kidding? A human would have to be Level 99 to even have a chance against me," she grumbled, but still followed him—curious to see this supposed future powerhouse.
"He probably will reach Level 99 in a few decades," Cheng Ying said as he patted her little head. "But you don't need to feel bad. Even if he gets that far, he'll only live a few hundred years at most—not even close to our lifespan."
With that, Cheng Ying led the way downstairs and opened the glass door to welcome Tang Chen in.
"Pardon me, is this where the Great Sage resides?" Tang Chen asked respectfully.
"Uhh… as much as I hate to admit it, the 'Great Sage' you're looking for is probably me," Cheng Ying replied, sounding a bit helpless. Titles like "Great Sage" and "Archmage" were the bane of his inner edgelord, but Xue Ye had spread the name so fast that by the time he wanted to change it, it was already too late.
"You're the Great Sage?" Tang Chen was visibly stunned. He'd expected a kindly old man with white hair and beard—or at least a steady, dignified middle-aged figure.
Instead, the young man before him didn't look much older than he was, dressed in a lab coat no less.
"Just call me Cheng Ying. That title is a bit… much. I'm only in my twenties," Cheng Ying said casually.
Right after he spoke, he felt a pinch from the Ice Empress behind him, accompanied by a telepathic jab: "You're nearly a million years old and still pretending to be young! Pfft~"
Cheng Ying didn't bother arguing. After all, he didn't have Tianmeng's memories, so calling himself twenty-something wasn't exactly wrong. He pulled out a chair for Tang Chen beside the tea table, while he and the Ice Empress sat across from him.
"So tell me, what brings the strongest talent of this Clear Sky generation to seek me out?"
"Ah, I'm not the strongest—my senior brother and senior sister are both amazing!" Tang Chen scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He knew full well that in a real fight, they wouldn't stand a chance against him.
After gathering his thoughts, Tang Chen finally spoke:
"You're a man of great wisdom. I came here partly to thank you for the aid you gave the disaster victims, and partly to ask how we can truly bring prosperity to the common people—just like in the stories you've told about your 'Promised Land.'"
Cheng Ying was taken aback. He hadn't expected such a question to come from a gifted Soul Master. He studied Tang Chen carefully. The boy's eyes were clear and resolute, free of any selfish motives. His hands bore two distinct layers of calluses, one clearly from working the fields.
This kid genuinely cares about the world, Cheng Ying thought to himself.
Aloud, he said, "That kind of life must be earned by the people themselves. A life granted by others is nothing more than a gift—it can't last. Only what they earn with their own hands truly belongs to them.
"Even if you one day become an unrivaled powerhouse—able to shatter mountains and churn the seas—if you force rulers to reduce taxes and improve the lives of their people through sheer might, it still won't last. You won't live forever. After you're gone, those same people will only suffer even harsher retribution."
Cheng Ying didn't answer Tang Chen's question directly—instead, he dismantled the belief at the core of it. Tang Chen had wanted to become a deterrent to tyrants, but now he couldn't deny the logic in Cheng Ying's words.
"But I believe you must have another way," Tang Chen persisted. "At the very least, a method to improve people's lives. Like the large blocks of colored glass at your doorstep—I don't believe someone as wise as you would waste a fortune just to create something so flashy and impractical.
"You must know how to produce glass cheaply. If so, why not make the method public? That way, everyone could use it—houses would be brighter, and winters a little warmer."
Cheng Ying chuckled. Tang Chen's words, while a bit naive, had a certain idealistic charm that was hard to dislike.
Before he could respond, the Ice Empress scoffed, "You think that alone would let commoners afford glass? Don't be so naive."
"Why not? As long as the cost is low enough, ordinary people will eventually be able to use it too!" Tang Chen shot back, unwilling to back down to this unknown girl, even if he wouldn't talk back to the famous Cheng Ying.
"Don't believe me? Then let me give you an example!" the Ice Empress snapped. She had originally come to assess Tang Chen's potential, and in one glance, she could tell that his talent was unnaturally high his physique was practically that of a spirit beast in human form. There was a real chance he'd reach Level 99 one day.
That annoyed her. With talent like this, if she didn't humble him now while he was still weak, she might never get another chance!