Chapter 825: Property
After obtaining the previous two fragments of the Historical Text, Bai Mo had already recovered most of his memories. The remaining parts, which hadn't fully returned, were gradually reorganizing themselves, piece by piece, as they connected with his existing recollections.
He now had a general understanding of the full scope of the plan he had laid out two hundred years ago.
"Go back and tell Ke Mo that you've found a fragment of the Historical Text."
A ball of white light surged from Bai Mo's hand, quickly transforming into a corner of a certain stone tablet, which then fell into the pocket of Yu Xinyue, their leader.
"Yes..."
In a daze, the four of them replied.
...
"I didn't expect this treasure hunt to go so smoothly."
"I thought it would take many years to find anything."
As they left the cave, Yu Xinyue and the other three chatted and laughed, their brows alight with unconcealable joy.
In their memories, they had arrived in this world only a few months ago, and under the guidance of Zi Fengling, they had completed the mission without a hitch, a smoothness that was utterly astounding.
Afterward, simply by carrying the fragmented stone tablet in their pockets, they could use Zi Fengling's power to return to the Empire and claim extremely generous rewards.
"We hit the jackpot this time."
"Too bad all the other treasures in the secret abode were already taken, leaving only this insignificant broken stone tablet fragment..."
"Be content. With our merits alone, there's no treasure we can't exchange for once we're back."
"I'm going to exchange for ten third-grade breakthrough pills!"
"Rich lady, bring me along!"
"After we go back, I should probably start thinking about retiring." Hearing this, Yu Xinyue remembered himself eighty years ago, just as high-spirited, investing all the money he earned into himself, hoping to reach a higher level.
He calculated that the earnings from this mission, if converted into Empire currency, would be enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life. But if he still wanted to push for the Fourth Tier, with his aptitude, that money was far from enough.
How to describe the Empire? As an ordinary Empire citizen, basking in abundant welfare, living a simple life as a mortal was quite easy. But if one harbored even a shred of ambition to climb higher, everything would immediately turn into hellish difficulty.
In Terra, the only true path to the upper echelons was cultivation.
And all profitable businesses were controlled by cultivators, big and small.
No money — can't cultivate — no cultivation — can't do profitable business — no money.
A dead loop.
This dead loop didn't just manifest among ordinary people; even low-to-mid-tier cultivators couldn't escape this meticulously designed curse.
Because for cultivators of every power tier, the types and number of industries they could legally own were all strictly limited by law.
Taking Yu Xinyue as an example, his power assessment in the Empire was Third Tier.
However, the income from industries legally owned by a Third Tier cultivator was normally insufficient to support an ordinary Third Tier cultivator, enabling him to reach the Fourth Tier within his lifetime.
Unless one could evade the Empire's tax department and conceal their assets.
But with a Seventh-Tier True God personally overseeing the Empire's tax department, using divine power combined with big data technology for detection, it was absolutely not something an ordinary cultivator could escape.
Moreover, in a society where the concept of cash didn't exist, and everyone could only conduct transactions online, what money could one possibly hide at home?
Hide a thousand-year ginseng root?
Before the law, everyone below the Fifth Tier was subject to this.
Only by stepping into the Fifth Tier, becoming an ennobled peer of the Empire, and possessing a noble territory dreadnought representing their own domain, would one be qualified to break free from legal property restrictions.
To possess unlimited wealth and industries, and to own an independent kingdom of one's own—these were the privileges of the Empire's nobility.
Therefore, the lifelong goal of countless cultivators wasn't some illusory dream of becoming an immortal, but merely the title of an ennobled Empire noble.
If one did not enter this rank, even possessing wealth beyond one's status was a crime.
Under such laws, the people of the Empire could only participate in wars of external expansion, or accept related missions, risking death on the battlefield, to have a chance to break free from the dead loop of fate, strike it rich, and become one of the rare lucky few.
For those without connections, the possibility of safely developing and rising to the noble tier within the Empire was virtually zero.
Fortunately, since its establishment, the Empire's pace of exploration and expansion had never ceased.
Countless adventurers, ravenous for sudden riches, harbored the desire to change their fate and become superiors, plundering one planet after another, one spatial layer after another.
Of course, even more people had given up, choosing to return to one of the Grand Dreadnoughts on the Empire's home soil, to live out the rest of their lives in peace and stability.
Now, upon returning, with the mission rewards, the money in their hands would all exceed the property limit.
According to Empire law, rewards obtained from completing exploration missions came with a one-year exemption period.
Only by converting the mission rewards into cultivation spirit materials and consuming them within this year would it not be considered illegal.
Otherwise, once the one-year exemption period passed, if they were discovered to be privately hoarding a large amount of rare spirit materials, they would still be charged with the crime of huge assets from unknown sources.
"Retire? Brother Yue, you're so young, why would you retire?!"
"Exactly, you're only a hundred and seventy-something, why are you thinking about retiring?"
A Third Tier cultivator's theoretical lifespan was around three hundred years; one hundred and seventy years old was indeed not old.
"..."
"We all agreed to advance to nobility together; how could you just run off?"
"I..."
"I'm tired."
"When I was ninety, I advanced to Third Tier Spirit Cultivator. Back then, I thought that if I could reach Third Tier at ninety, becoming a noble would be just around the corner.
But I was wrong.
For a full eighty years, I only stagnated at mid-Third Tier. My combat power reached level 39, but my cultivation remained stagnant.
I understood that might very well be the limit of my aptitude.
I wasn't willing to give up.
I took on several exploration missions consecutively.
All the rewards I received, I exchanged for pills to break through bottlenecks.
But it was all useless...
I came here this time, originally intending to make one last desperate attempt.
However, when I emerged from that secret abode containing the Historical Text, I suddenly understood.
In the end, all cultivation leads to nothing.
Might as well go back home, get married, and enjoy life."
"..."
"After I get the bonus, the extra money I have will be given to you three to buy spirit materials. I hope you can fulfill that noble dream for me."
"Captain..."
"Brother Yue..."
"Xinyue..."
With that, Yu Xinyue activated a special imprint within Zi Fengling. After confirming the presence of the Historical Text fragment, the imprint rapidly expanded, transforming into something resembling a world-crossing gate.
With a look of utter detachment, he cast one last glance towards the direction of the secret abode before stepping through the gate, allowing the purple light of the imprint to envelop him.
Seeing this, the other three also entered the gate one after another, letting the power of the purple light envelop them.
The four's powers were too weak; without the strength of Zi Fengling, they would have had no way to traverse the spatial rifts.
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