Chapter 57: Chapter 56: Nightfall
Compared to the universal success of the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, the stage of Spiritual Energy comprehension reveals the differences in aptitude.
Among the twenty-two official prospective Cultivator Warriors,
only eight people managed to draw spiritual energy into their bodies, aside from Cao Yi.
And among these eight people,
two experienced chaotic qi flow during the operation of their meridians, unfortunately failing at the critical moment.
Finally, only seven of the twenty-two prospective cultivators successfully stepped into the First-Layer Qi Cultivation.
Among them, one had dual spiritual roots, three had triple spiritual roots, and three had quadruple spiritual roots.
However, compared to the need for consuming a Spirit Awakening Pill during the awakening process, drawing in spiritual energy doesn’t require extra resources.
The other fifteen warriors who failed only need to try a few more times, and stepping into First-Layer Qi Cultivation shouldn’t pose much of a problem.
After all, this is merely the most fundamental stage in the long process of cultivation.
In addition,
Bao Xin collected two boxes of indoor air samples before and after people drew in spiritual energy, preparing to take them back to the base for in-depth research.
Less than ten hours after the crowd finished drawing in energy,
the first round of night encountered by the locals in the Damo Realm finally officially descended.
The day-night cycle interval in the Damo Realm is seven Earth days, which means one cycle is 168 hours.
But this doesn’t mean the humans in the Damo Realm sleep only once every seven days, nor do they eat once every seven days.
It’s like the residents and expedition team members in polar regions on Earth.
For them, a ’day’ lasts half a year, but do they sleep once for half a year and then stay awake for the other half?—Humans aren’t smartphones.
The human biological clock is indeed influenced by time scales, but this is merely an external reflection.
What truly causes drowsiness in humans is a molecular substrate formed by protein phosphorylation. (Refer to the paper, Nature 558, 435-439 (2018))
This molecular substrate disappears when you want to sleep, and begins to accumulate when you wake up—similar to vitality points in many games.
Professor Steven Hiler from the University of Southern California conducted an enzyme activation experiment on residents in polar regions in 2014.
He found out that the molecular substrate in residents long-living in polar regions also only activates approximately every twelve hours.
This molecular substrate is considered a life enigma even by DNA co-discoverer Watson, so the current claim that the Earth’s cycle dictates the biological clock is inaccurate—in ancient times, the Earth’s rotational period was only 22 hours.
There are currently two hypotheses in the scientific community regarding this molecular substrate.
First, it’s an inherent biological clock developed after the evolution of Earthlings, adapting to rotational and orbital cycles.
Second, it’s some sort of cosmic law that applies to any rotational cycle.
After all, if we’re honest, the regular time for the depletion of drowsiness molecular substrate is only eight hours (which matches the length of sleep), while accumulation takes a full sixteen hours.
This considerably differs from the standard concept of a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daylight cycle—after all, how many people actually go to sleep when it gets dark at six?
Now, the 168-hour day-night cycle of the Damo Realm, where residents still adhere to an 8-16 biological rhythm, is indirect evidence supporting the accuracy of the second hypothesis. (It’s also worth mentioning my personal stance here; realistically, the opinions in the scientific community are split 50-50 with many top scientists supporting both, though slightly more back the second, including Kelly Mullis who passed away in 2019. Personally, I have a fascination with the cosmos, so I favor and adopt the second hypothesis.)
Now that night has fallen,
households within Chixian City light short candles or oil lamps, and the city lights up with lamp fixtures similar to streetlights.
The filaments of these lamps are refined from certain materials within demonic beasts, with limited illumination range, making them a common lighting tool in the Damo Realm.
These filaments are somewhat similar to the Spirit Awakening Pill—their price isn’t high if sold separately and are affordable for common people, but once the quantity increases, it becomes quite an expenditure.
This is especially so for the Wei Family.
As the ruling family of Chixian City,
the Wei Family not only needs to ensure the safety of the city’s civilians but also has to bear the cost of some civilian equipment.
This expense stems on one hand from the ancestral teachings of Wei Siming, akin to public works relief.
On the other, it’s to ensure the city’s trade and commercial activities can proceed normally,
preventing the city from turning into a ghost town during the night.
With Chixian City spanning sixteen square kilometers, providing lighting even for half of it is not a trivial expenditure.
Without investing in this, the entire city’s economic system would inevitably collapse—half the year is nighttime, so who would go out without light?
So for many years, the Wei Mansion has been gritting its teeth to hold on.
However, with the arrival of the "Rabbits," things are starting to change.
In the Wei Mansion,
Wei Xixi curiously watched the engineering soldiers bustling in the courtyard, poking Wei Niandong with her index finger:
"Xiaodong, do you think these things called ’mercury lamps’ are really that magical?
I heard they’re not only bright but also especially cost-effective?"
Wei Niandong glanced at his elder sister, sighed, and said helplessly:
"Sis, isn’t the flashlight left by Si Ming Ancestor still something you broke while playing?
Things from the homeland are like that, they don’t consume spiritual energy, but rather other forms of energy.
Like wind, water, fire, Chakra, and so on.
These are all mentioned in Si Ming Ancestor’s memoirs, you should read it when you have time."
Wei Xixi stuck her tongue out at him and sneered:
"Alright, alright, I know you read a lot of books, and of various types, like that one under your bed, ’The Events between Elder Pang and My Master’s Wife...’ "
Wei Niandong’s face turned red, swiftly scanning the area, and lowering his voice seeing no one noticed:
"Why are you bringing up that book again? Didn’t we agree last time....."
"Oh, then I will just mention someone’s pen name, ’Old Yin Sits on the Chicken...’
’Stop, stop!’
Wei Niandong stomped his foot, realizing he couldn’t escape this time.
With a resigned look, he turned his head like he was heading for execution, raising his neck as if accepting his fate:
’Spit it out, what do you want me to do this time?’
Wei Xixi revealed a sly smile with two little canine teeth, her eyes showing a glimmer of triumph, pointing mischievously:
’Xiaodong, introduce that person chatting with the Patriarch to me, the one Uncle Qiu is translating for, I’ve been watching him for a while.....’
Wei Niandong turned his head rigidly, staring at Wei Xixi.
His eyes displayed terror, amazement, and disbelief as if he had seen an unexpected miracle.
His sister, who always had quite the discerning eye, suddenly or possibly or maybe or perhaps—
Not "to kill," but "to have feelings"?
Subsequently, Wei Niandong turned to look, curious about who was so charming.
Upon seeing clearly, he was stunned again:
’Oh my, Colonel Lin?’