Hundred Dances Sect was hardly a sect at all. Three small families had pooled their meagre resources to try to make cultivation more available for their children. Who wouldn’t do their best to make the child’s life a little better?

One family had been guards for years, they shared a dozen body refining techniques common to city guards and army officers. Another family were all merchants who had a small collection of alchemy, blacksmith and formation manuals. The last family had a elder who was lucky enough to find a series of cultivation techniques in an ancient grave. The three families pooled their resources together and set up a very modest school to train their hundred or so youngsters.

A package arrived one day. No one had seen the courier and the box was left right in the main hall under the watchful gazes of the guards posted there.

The box was the size of a brick. Inside was something a person from Earth would identify immediately as a cheap and bulky cell phone. There was a small booklet with directions for use and maintenance.

The phone had several passive functions that were already active. It had released a swarm of nanobots that had coated the nearby environment and were scanning the surroundings at all times. The nanobots slowly made their way into everyone present there and identified their constitution, cultivation realm and other notable data.

It had been transmitting this data back to Ben’s main computer ever since he had mass produced the device.

The elders turned the phone on using the instructions and started perusing the menus available. The three main applications were for the marketplace, library and social media. There were also other applications common to any phone like a calculator, map, camera and search engine.

They opened up the marketplace and were shocked by the availability of goods. There were thousands of rare and uncommon treasures and even a few earthly and heavenly ranked treasures. There was information about where to find the vendor of a specific item, average prices and quality of goods. The library tab was for cultivation techniques and other resources found in books.

There was a separate tab in the marketplace that was labeled 'Modern’ with unfamiliar products for sale. There were videos attached that demonstrated the destructive power of each weapon along with their sky high prices. The phone was there for a relatively low price of a dozen low quality spirit stones. There was also a pass for the basic library and other peculiar items.

Cultivation techniques, offensive and defensive manuals and other similar books were for sale using a system called Knowledge Points and Knowledge Rank. ‘KP’ was gained by selling manuals or knowledge of other kinds. 'KR’ was a sliding scale that made information cheaper the closer your level was to level 10.

There was an active list that showed the numbers of active buyers at each level.

Level 10, 1 Administrator, unlimited access

Level 9, 1 User, 50% discount.

Level 8, 2 Users, 40% discount.

Level 7, 5 Users, 30% discount.

Level 6, 5 Users, 25% discount.

Level 5, 15 Users, 20% discount.

Level 4, 71 Users, 15% discount.

Level 3, 302 Users, 10% discount.

Level 2, 579 Users, 5% discount.

Level 1, 12530 Users, no discount.

Hundred Dances Sect had very little to its name when compared to the great sects like Saint Devil Sect. Their most valuable texts were rare ranked at best. They had very little to offer for knowledge points. Lucky for them, all cultivation techniques of common rank were free to read through.

Closing the marketplace, the elders looked through the rest of the phone. Maps were eerily accurate down to the foot, even inside structures.

The elders had no idea how to use the calculator, while they were fiddling around with the sine function a notice appeared on the top of the screen.

-Raging Bear Sect has sent you a voice message

“-n't figure it out, wait, there it goes. Delete that last part, Elder Guinn. What should we send our allies as a maiden message? No, don’t-” A message called out from the phone.

“That was Elder Phillip's voice!”

Scenes like these were taking place all over the Setting Lands. Ben made sure that each event was recorded so he could laugh at and blackmail anyone who used one of his products.

A wave swept through the continent. If someone found a manual in a grave or inherited it from a dying teacher they could now be traded in for more useful techniques that had been similarly sold to the massive database. The original manual could even be kept after the phone scanned the information written there.

Curiously enough, any manual above heaven rank was unable to be entered into the database. The calligraphy would turn out blurry and unreadable. It seemed most high ranking techniques couldn’t be passed on through photo and screen.

Despite this fact, a change occurred overnight in all the sects, suddenly there was an influx in methods of cultivation all over the Setting Lands. Disciples in devil’s path sects found themselves able to practice simple, chaste arts like Snow Flower Passing Seven Doors or Myriad Breeze Scripture. Grandmasters of righteous sects didn’t allow their disciples to view methods like Three Virgins Thrall or Asura Demon Blade, but they now had access to the simplest cultivation techniques of any Dao ever pursued.

The phones were identical to modern cell phones with two exceptions. There was a formation for gathering Qi that would power the phone and increase ambient Qi when the phone’s battery was not being charged. The second formation was a simple transmission array that connected with the mainframe back on the mountain.

There Ben was sitting next to the fusion reactor with a complex look on his face. He had thrown enough curveballs at his enemies that simple information gathering for a strike would take days to complete. He bought at least a few hours of peace.

It was time to finally contact Alice.

‘A.I. Chip, what’s the fastest way to contact Alice?’

-Adopt a void rank constitution and send her the information to build a communication array

‘Void rank? I thought it only went as high as heaven rank.’

-Ranks for items, manuals and constitutions are as follows, common, uncommon, rare, earthly, heavenly, immortal, deity, godly, void. A pseudo void rank body or natal void rank body can be adopted

Not a full void rank body?

-That's not possible on this planet. The resulting singularity would tear apart all matter within several light years

'What options do I have?’

-Great cosmos body. A body made from the remains of stars. This constitution is normally only seen in the children of sentient stars

-Illusion star body. A body forged by phenomena and the most obscure treasures of the sky. This constitution is the most elusive and indefinable of any body known

-Elemental star body. A body tempered by the origins of the elements. A purely theoretical existence with unlimited potential

-Void star body. A body born from a black hole. A constitution naturally able to absorb and assimilate all things

-Eternal firmament body. A body with it's foundation in space itself. Unmoving under pressure and the toughest of known body types

-Dark energy body. A body nurtured in the most antithetical of natural energies, dark matter and dark energy. Master of all things Yin. Possessing by far the highest degree of destructive potential

‘Why are all these related to astronomy?’

-They are the highest and most powerful entities currently known

‘Fair enough. Some of those look pretty good. What would be the best choice?’

-Elemental Star Body would be the best option for you if you want to keep crafting. Illusion Star Body is the most versatile option but also the weakest. Great Cosmos Body would be the best option for pure brute force. Void Star Body is the best option for controlling Yin type energy. Eternal Firmament Body has the highest defense. Dark Energy Body is the most destructive.

‘Are those options permanent? I don’t want to paint myself into a corner by adopting the Void Star Body then need to manipulate fire.’

-Adopting the Elemental Star Body would be your best choice. Your three Dantian can be used as the three base stars. They will need to be strengthened again. Your fire and sword core can be strengthened here. Your water core will also need to be upgraded. Additional pairs of elements can be added to increase the quality of the body

‘It’s a good thing you didn’t suggest I try to refine those spirits.’

-Your arbitrary preference has been noted

‘You’re starting to sound like Alice. Just get started.’

Ben exited his private office and dove into the masses that had taken residence in or around the mountain. Smiths, alchemists, formation masters and other professions crowded around the tight workspaces using the futuristic technologies. Each person there knew how valuable this chance was, morale was at an all time high. Nobody had been directly told to respect or obey Ben, but there was an implicit reverence that each person showed towards him. Several people had tried to engage Ben, but they didn’t receive so much as a glance.

Ben walked over to the fusion reactor. New components were being added constantly and older parts exchanged with newer versions. The whole machine looks nothing like it did before with the exception of the core where Huoyun looked out at Ben.

“That was something. When will we get attacked again? I liked the show.” She chirruped from inside the machine.

“It’s work now, sweetheart. I need as much fire qi as we can manage. I’m about to undergo some decent cultivation.” Ben advised her.

“How can I help?”

The bustling crowds watched as Ben took up a large amount of space right next to the reactor. A induction furnace was set up using an alloy that was able to heat up from the massive amperage without melting. Tools and materials were gathered for crafting a completely new device.

Ben had been wondering about the levels of ambient Qi and what caused some places to have more than others. The prevailing theory was identical to the concept of ley lines and dragon veins back on Earth.

Could dragon veins be altered? The ancient Chinese thought so. There were records of entire mountains being moved to ‘dissipate wind(feng) and retain water(shui)’. Buildings would be leveled and rooflines modified to retain as much positive energy as possible and filter out negative energy. Even in modern day china large 'Dragon windows’ were built into skyscrapers as to not interrupt the natural flow of Qi from the mountains to the sea.

Formation masters were experts in manipulating this flow of natural energies for their own purposes. Simply by moving earth and stones a place could become desolate or verdant using the natural flow of Qi. Sometimes the reverse would happen, natural forces would cave out valleys and basins, slowly changing the landscape and developing its own natural formation. A large waterfall over the course of millenia could form its own gravity formation, an area with an overabundance of herbs had a chance to form a natural growth formation, an arid desert may end up with a brilliance array that prevents plants from growing and clouds from forming. Whirlpool formations were common in places with high tides and strong currents.

Ben was getting more familiar with the force of nature that was so scarce back on Earth, Qi. It bent the laws of nature that he knew so well, fire used less fuel, fusion was easier to achieve, more basic forms of matter were possible, even astrological constraints and laws of physics changed.

Rabbits could beat men, magic was possible and Ben’s own estimations put the planet at the same size of Sol, Earth's own star. It was taking some time for him to come to grips with the new rules and laws of this world. This didn’t mean that his old knowledge was invalid, who knows what would be discovered if humanity had ventured past Jupiter when Ben had lived there? Well, Alice would.

Ben had two projects to complete. One was to make an item to raise ambient Qi, the other was to upgrade his flame heart core and begin forging a constitution.

There were several ways to increase the ambient Qi of an area. He could steal it from somewhere else, reduce lost Qi in a system or create it himself. Ben didn’t want to steal it from someone else, reducing loss of ambient Qi would only have a minimal effect. Lucky for Ben, there was a way to create Qi from nothing right next to him.

The fusion chamber was built in spherical sections. The most valuable metals had been used for the inner section. That was an alloy made from no less than a dozen other metals with large amounts of orchalum, iron mother and draconic essence gold. This particular mixture had the added benefit of being able to temper itself over time with Qi and other stresses put upon it. Basically, the alloy could evolve. This innermost shell would never be removed, the parts around it would be replaced one at a time while the reactor ran on.

The next layer was a casing that held the inner core together and had four openings, two for gas exchange and two for lasers. The next layer was where the electromagnets sat, they were the largest driving force for the reactor. Next there was a framework that held the magnets in place and fixed the whole reactor to the ground.

This project would use the reactor as an energy source, spirit water from Brother He as a fuel and the cherry tree as the control and distribution agent. Ben would come into contact with large amounts of fire Qi, water Qi and valuable metals that could enhance his dantian and constitution.

(What’s the plural of dantian?)

Entering the Sacred Ground, Ben found Brother He staring staring out over the river.

“I’m sorry if its been lonely without Sister Huoyun and Brother Jian. Don’t you want to come out and say hello?” Ben asked.

“I had to let them go. They can’t develop any further in here. I also can’t leave my physical body behind.” Brother He lamented.

“Why not take your body outside then? A river around the mountain would make a good moat.” Ben inquired.

“I wouldn’t fit.” Brother He waved his hand over the bend in the river they were looking down on. “This is only a small portion of my true body, less than a tenth of a percent. It’s also deeper than it is wide.

Ben looked out to the distant bank, it must be nearly a mile to the other side. There was enough space in there for titans of the depths to do battle without upsetting the placid surface.

“How about I have a large moat built for you? It wouldn’t be too difficult, just grab a few million people, destroy a few cities and move a few sects. We shouldn’t have any trouble with that. I really need your help for a project.” Ben suggested.

“I know you’ve been having some successes, but you really have that kind of political power?” Brother He was skeptical.

“Oh yes. I gave out cellphones to the leaders of all the sects. I have near complete control over the continent now. They can’t put the things down and I control all data being exchanged. It’s difficult to ignore propaganda when it bombards you constantly, trust me, I’ve done this sort of thing before.”

---

An update went out to all the phones Ben had distributed to the populace. A new major tab was added, the ‘Missions’ tab. There was only one mission labeled ‘River Mission’ that had multiple options for tasks depending on strength and influence.

The easiest, safest and lowest paying task was laborer. All that was required was a short hike to the nearest worksite, dig a hole, take a picture of it with the phone and knowledge points were added to the account automatically.

Harder tasks included guards and overseers for the project. The hardest and most rewarding tasks had a chance to increase to increase Knowledge Rank, but they were tasks that only those at the pinnacle of power could complete.

Groups could also be made through the social app, take larger tasks and you could be paid all together and at a higher rate. Many sects took up these larger tasks to be able to afford a high ranking martial art that catapulted them above their peers.

Cities and sects that were in the way of the proposed river bed were given two choices, leave voluntarily and receive KP and KR or be forced out by others who would receive the KP and KR. The reward was clear to see for anyone with a phone, their forced relocation was inevitable. Families were forced out of ancestral homes, but they did receive compensation that many of them didn’t understand, it was only later that they found the use for this new currency that they had been given.

As always there were people that abused the system and forced others to transfer their hard earned KP. These activities were quietly recorded by their phones and the data was sent back to Ben.

Back at the mountain, Ben was bathing himself in the energies of the reactor and crafting a special modification with a formation that would sit above the reactor and act in the same way a kettle would. Special types of water provided by Brother He would be pumped into the main chamber and Qi would be transferred from the reactor into the water. The water turned into superheated water laden with Qi that was pumped over to the tree and released to mingle with the heavy amounts of mist already there.

All three of Ben’s Dantian grew from working so closely with their respective elements. Each of the three reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm and only needed a catalyst to breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm.

The Qi dispersal modification could only work for a limited time until the water supply system could be taken over by Brother He himself. Given this limitations there was still an enormous amount of mist gathered around the tree.

Production of weapons went on while Ben was working, these weapons would be sold at ridiculous prices through the marketplace.

Ben still needed to be a Nascent Soul cultivator to finally get back in direct contact with Alice. He had only been gone for a year, but Ben tended to worry about her even if he couldn’t do anything. He was well aware of the dangers that could befall a being like her. A Carrington level solar flare, supervolcanoes, meteors, neutron stars, nuclear war or any other such disaster could mean her end if Ben wasn’t there to plan against such things. A neutron star would destroy everything without possibility of survival, but the other issues could be engineered against.

(Authors note: Look up the Carrington event and shit yourself from fear, we were almost hit by one a few years ago.)

Alice could probably handle all those issues herself, but it was a natural behaviour to worry about one’s children. Ben had a driving urge to talk with her again, just to make sure she was being treated all right.

There was only his bottleneck that he would need to advance to Nascent Soul realm. Ben would start with his lower dantian, then heart core, then braincore. He had learned from his time here that steady progress was important. Ben nothing to do with that, but it was never too late to solidify ones foundation.

“Brother Jian, it’s time for your big improvement. I’m going to reforge you.” Ben called out as he called out.

The sword spirit had been mingling with Plague Devil Sect and Saint Devil Sect. After so many years with only two other entities they all had grown stir crazy, this was a chance to talk to sword cultivators of all different kinds. He came over when word got out that Ben was looking for him.

“What do you mean reforge?” Brother Jian asked.

“I’ll heat up to just below melting point then apply a series of electromagnets to change your internal structure and make you stronger.” Ben gave a simple answer.

“Will that effect my spirit body or personality?” He asked.

“How would I know? It probably will, I’ve never done this to anything with a spirit.” Ben admitted.

“What happened when you did it before?”

“I created the world's first spiral steel, or mantis steel. It was a revolution in materials technology.” Ben explained.

“Spiral? Mantis?” Brother Jian had a confused look on his face.

“A creature found in my oceans called the mantis shrimp is able to strike with so much force that it makes light. It is such a strange creature, I spent a lot of time researching it. I found that the shrimps striking appendage was very special, but it wasn’t what the arms where made of but how they were made. There is a 3d spiraling pattern that gives them their strength. There is no other known internal molecular structure that is more effective at dispersing force.” Ben lectured.

(Authors note, that's true about the mantis shrimp.)

“When I applied that same principal to steel, both its compressive and tensile strength grew to four times when compared to average steel.”

“Let’s give it a try then.” Brother Jian was taken in by the strength comparison.

A special forge was set up with induction coils, laser apertures for heat and variable electromagnets for internal material manipulation of the sword. The sword was put in place and the chamber was sealed with Brother Jian’s spirit body outside.

The induction coils were heated up and began transferring heat into the sword. This took hours as the chamber slowly heated up, the sword acted like a heat sink and didn’t change color for a long time. Insulation was added and more power put into the coil.

The project dragged on with little to show for the effort. More and more heat was added to the chamber. Just as the induction coil reached melting point, the sword started turning cherry red.

The lasers started firing, bringing up the temperature of the metal to a point where it could be manipulated by the magnetic field.

Ben started a program that controlled the magnets. Pairs shut on and off in a prepared pattern that manipulated the metal of the sword in very specific spiral motion.

Brother Jian’s spirit form turned translucent and shrank slightly as the forging progressed.

The magnets banged against their housings as they fired on and off. Targeted magnetic fields manipulated the interior of the sword, altering it on the molecular level.

The sword and spirit body both shrank as the process continued. By the end of the forging the sword had compressed to half its previous length and Brother Jian himself turned from a man into a youth.

In the clear sky overhead a circular cloud formed. The cloud was dark despite the clear sky around it. Thunder rumbled through the cloud. Then, as quickly as it had formed, the cloud disappeared. It was as if the heavens were uncertain.

The machine was shut down and the weapon taken back out. The grip had changed from two handed to one and the blade couldn't be called a sword anymore, it was now barely a short sword, little more than a dirk.

Ben suddenly felt an affinity for the weapon. He had never even swung a sword back on earth, the only weapon he had ever seriously used was the cane. This blade fit in his hand perfectly and he felt a connection to the spirit through the weapon.

Brother Jian closed his eyes and faded from view. The blade in Ben's hand shrunk down in size, then slipped into his palm. He could still feel the blade as if he was holding it.

The blade shot up his arm and into his lower dantian.

‘What? A spiritual bond?’ Ben exclaimed.

‘Ah, so comfortable.’ Ben heard a voice in his head. He instinctively knew it to be Brother Jian.

-Lower Dantian upgraded to Nascent Soul realm

The blade seemed to go dormant as it rested there in his lower dantian.

‘Now it's time to work on my brain core or heart core.’ Ben murmured.

*Boom*

A sonic boom washed over the sect and a mighty voice was heard for miles around.

“Who dares cross an elder of Ancient Dragon Sect!”