Chapter 48: It Can Be Done, The Book Says You Can Change Batteries

None of the three sisters were willing to eat the foul-tasting food from the Magic Plane. Even if the Magic Elements were absorbed, a strange flavor remained, so they refused to eat it.

Fortunately, the two wolf pups were like other animals and were not picky eaters. When the cooked food was placed before them, they buried their heads and began eating frantically. After finishing, they were noticeably more lively and affectionate.

This also meant that in the future, feeding the wolf pups could save some of the food they ate themselves.

Meanwhile, the gale on the New Plane gradually subsided.

The tenants, who had been terrified inside their rooms for quite a while, began to regain their composure.

Someone peeked through a peephole and saw that the people who had been guarding the outside were gone. They quietly opened the door and poked their head out, locking eyes with a tenant next door who had also cracked their door open. Both looked toward the stairs simultaneously.

After a moment of silence, the two spoke one after the other.

“They’re gone.”

“I think I heard screaming inside the room just now.”

“I heard it too, right when the wind was strongest. You don’t think they were blown away, do you? Several windows in the stairwell downstairs were left wide open.”

“The windows definitely couldn’t all be closed. If they were, the wind couldn’t pass through, and that would cause even more problems.”

“Speaking of which, did you notice when you came in? There’s absolutely no clutter in this stairwell.”

“Was the clutter all blown away?”

After exchanging a few more words and confirming no one was around, a few of the stronger tenants stepped out and cautiously walked toward the stairs. But whether they looked up, looked down, or listened intently, there was no sound at all.

“It looks like they really were blown away.”

“I should feel relieved about something like this, but… thinking about it carefully, it’s quite distressing. The wind comes so suddenly; if you don’t hide in time, you’ll be swept away.”

“That’s because they had bad intentions first. There are always signs before the wind starts. If they had hidden back in the gathering area in time, nothing would have happened. Instead, they insisted on trying to seize our living space, and they even smashed at the doors just now.”

“They deserved to be swept away. The distress isn’t for them, but for everyone.”

In the face of a great disaster, no one can survive independently of the greater environment.

The group looked at each other, then at the empty stairwell.

“Let’s go back for now. After a wind like that, who knows what it’s like outside. We’ll wait until the effects have completely passed before going downstairs, otherwise we might get hit by something falling.”

“Want some barbecue?”

“Yes!”

“By the way, isn’t it almost time to pay the rent?”

“It’s not a big problem. The things we’ve stockpiled during this time should be enough.”

…

[Upgrade Successful]

“There it is,” Bai Xi looked up, pointing at the sphere hanging overhead. “The thing on the Upgrade Card just now is right there. Miao Miao, what was this called again?”

“An electric light,” Bai Miao also looked up. After seeing the position of the light, she spun around in place, ran quickly to the door, and pressed a button on it. The moment she pressed it, the light turned on, causing her to cry out instinctively, “Wow, it really lights up!”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi were equally fascinated by the light that had suddenly turned on.

After obtaining the lights from the tenants of the New Plane, they had learned the book’s description of lights through Bai Miao. They knew it was something like a candle that could make the darkness bright.

But no matter how they operated them, they couldn’t get the lights they had on hand to turn on.

It wasn’t until this upgrade of the White Mist Inn, when the materials on the Upgrade Card included lights and wires, along with some materials previously obtained from this plane.

After this successful upgrade, the light appeared overhead and could be turned on with the flick of a switch.

“But this light can’t stay on forever,” Bai Yu opened the panel to read the description. “It says here that if you want this light to stay on, you need to inject Spiritual Power.”

“But it doesn’t require much Spiritual Power,” Bai Xi was now proficient in using the panel as well. “We can add a Spiritual Power option to the room fees, and this light can stay on all night.”

“Then let it stay on,” Bai Yu looked at the light above. “We don’t really have to worry about anything at the inn on this side. It’s fine to let them cultivate in a bright environment.”

There were now thirty or forty people coming to the White Mist Inn every day, more than several times the initial number. However, the new arrivals were just like the first batch; as soon as they entered the inn, they sat cross-legged to meditate.

The only difference was that now some people might go into the rooms to meditate.

But no matter where they meditated, they did nothing but meditate. Their impact on the inn was negligible, so the sisters still didn’t need to do any cleaning when they came over during the day.

Under these circumstances, providing lights that the guests themselves powered with Spiritual Power could hardly even be called a benefit.

However, after this upgrade, besides the lights, the inn itself had grown a size larger and added another floor, allowing it to accommodate even more people.

Bai Yu opened the panel and began searching for people near the inn. She selected a dozen or so gentle colors, allowing them to perceive the existence and location of the inn so they could navigate through the thick mist to reach it.

As Bai Yu confirmed the individuals who could perceive the inn, several people who had been lost in the white mist for a long time looked up.

“I see it.”

“What?”

“If I’m not mistaken, that should be the White Mist Inn.”

“White Mist Inn? Is there really a White Mist Inn here? …Speak to me, where did you go?”

…

“This is the White Mist Inn? To think it actually operates within such heavy white mist. I wonder which great expert has such ability to treat this mist as if it were nothing.”

“Perhaps it is one of those great experts who haven’t appeared for thousands of years according to legend.”

“More newcomers?”

“It seems this White Mist Inn has grown larger again.”

“I told you, this White Mist Inn must advance based on the room fees we provide. Perhaps there isn’t even a great expert controlling it; the inn itself is a Dharma Treasure.”

“Don’t you dare harbor any greed. If you provoke the great expert and they close this White Mist Inn, who will bear the consequences?”

“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare. Even if it is just a Dharma Treasure, it is not something the likes of us can control.”

“It’s good that you know. Quietly cultivating within this inn is good for everyone. If anyone has designs on this inn, feel free to step forward and say so; we can settle it outside the door first.”

“Haven’t you noticed? This White Mist Inn isn’t visible to everyone. Whether there is a great expert behind it or the inn itself is a Dharma Treasure, those who can see it are not ranked by distance. If you observe closely, you will find that the truly wicked can never see the inn no matter what.”

“But someone like that came before. I saw them inside the inn. If it weren’t for our numbers, I fear a conflict would have broken out.”

“In that case, my phrasing was slightly inaccurate. The wicked cannot see the White Mist Inn from a distance, unless that person is already nearby. But the white mist outside this inn is so thick that let alone Foundation Establishment or Golden Core, even those at the Nascent Soul or Tribulation Transcendence stages might not be able to come and go freely. Once they enter, they might even lose their basic sense of direction. So if they wander a bit further away, unless they can see it from afar like we can, it is very difficult to find the White Mist Inn’s existence again.”

“No wonder that person never appeared again!”

“Yes. So you all can rest easy. Even if those who can come here are interested in the inn, they won’t use underhanded methods for fear of provoking the great expert behind it.”

“If you put it that way, everyone can relax. Then I’ll head in first.”

The speaker paid the room fee and pushed the door open to enter.

The person behind followed, looking at the payment method for the room fee: “This White Mist Inn can even use Spiritual Power to pay for a room?”

“In the past, there never seemed to be an option to pay the room fee with Spiritual Power.”

“How much Spiritual Power is required?”

“Not much. If you cultivate at the White Mist Inn for four hours, you can recover the Spiritual Power spent on the room fee in just two.”

“That is actually quite good. Even after deducting two hours’ worth of Spiritual Power, there are still two hours left… Why has everyone gone silent… What kind of Spiritual Tool is this?”

The people who had entered all looked up at the lamp above their heads in unison.

Someone tested it with Spiritual Power and quickly remarked, “There is only a faint trace of Spiritual Power, but it does not seem like a Spiritual Tool. Furthermore, it appears to serve only for illumination.”

“The master of the inn has gone to a lot of trouble.”

“Let us cultivate. We have already wasted too much time today.”

“Mhm.”

The group quickly dispersed, sitting cross-legged in different positions. They closed their eyes and began to cultivate, their interest in the lamp above their heads lasting only a brief moment.

This left the three sisters, who were watching the scene at the inn, feeling somewhat discouraged.

“Such a wonderful thing, and they are just done with it like that?”

“Perhaps in their minds, cultivation is more important. Compared to the lamp, the fact that they do not need to sleep at night is more shocking.”

“That is true. Between the lamp and their lack of need for sleep, the fact that they do not sleep is indeed stranger. However, since they do not care about the lamp, I wish I had known earlier and not used it in this New Plane. Wouldn’t it have been better to save it for when our houses here are upgraded?”

“But we do not have Spiritual Power, so we probably would not be able to use it anyway.”

“…Fair point.”

For the lamps in the New Plane to light up, they required electricity, whereas the lamps in the White Mist Plane required Spiritual Power. According to the books, that was a form of energy.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi sat in the classroom, listening intently as Bai Miao stood on the podium, introducing them to the concept of energy conversion.

Most of the time, they did not quite understand the content, but since it was written in the books, it had to be useful. Not understanding now did not mean they would never understand.

Just then, as Bai Xi was listening, a flash of inspiration hit her. She raised her hand to speak, “Since energy can be stored and used, was the other item used during this upgrade an Energy Storage Device? If we prepare two Energy Storage Devices and swap a full one from the White Mist Plane over here, could we use the lamps on the island?”

Bai Miao was not tall enough, so she stood on a desk to speak.

She did not actually understand much more than her sisters did, but she had read many books and knew which concepts could be realized.

When Bai Xi spoke, she immediately recalled content from a certain book and raised the small stick in her hand, “The book says we can swap batteries.”

“Right, that thing is called a battery!” Bai Xi also remembered the word. “Wait, no. Things that use electricity use batteries, so things that use Spiritual Power should use a Spirit Battery. We can swap the Spirit Battery. Teacher Miao Miao, did I get it right?”

“Correct, plus one point!” Bai Miao reached into her bag, found a small red flower modeled after the ones in the books, and handed it to Bai Xi. “Here.”