The Quest for Immortality Chapter 40 Discussion

No reviews yet so here I am.

This is primarily a crafting focused cultivation novel. Arrays/Formations, to be specific. It's a bit early to say but it's been frequently discussed so I do believe confronting the inequality of the society he lives in will be a focus later on. Our protagonist is starting from pretty close to the bottom and is working hard for what he gets which I always enjoy. His only cheat is a pretty classic but not crazy one, the ability to practice formations in his sleep.

Our reincarnated protagonist Mo Hua was born to a humble family in town. His father is a hunter of demon beasts which is very risky work that doesn't pay as well as you might imagine. His mother is good at cooking but works an job that's bad for one's health where she uses her fire energy to power larger scale cooking devices. Mo Hua was born with common 5-element spirit root and a frail physique so there's no combat in his future. He's quite below average strength-wise amongst his peers. He felt he wasted his first life and didn't even get to be filial to his parents so perhaps that's why he's close to them. He interacts with them frequently and there's mutual care and affection.

His cheat allows him to progress faster in formations as most people are held back by their spiritual sense. Spiritual sense typically grows slowly like a muscle from being used in techniques but most people are bottlenecked by the lower amounts they have often only able to try a few times a day and if overused it can damage one's spiritual sea + future prospects. However our protagonist is able to practice formations on a mysterious stele in his consciousness when he sleeps. In this space once he's used up his spiritual sense on formations he can erase them from the stele to get his energy back and keep practicing. As a result his spiritual sense is exceptional for his age and cultivation.

It's a cultivation world but with a bit of a twist; there are no mortals. They've been bred out essentially so everyone is a cultivator. As a result cultivation is more difficult and resources required to progress are costly, so the majority of common people never rise above the qi condensation state. In addition to the wealthy and powerful being of higher cultivation than the poor, they also control the resources such as spirit stone mines and also hoard cultivation knowledge. Talent does not guarantee success in this world as higher quality cultivation techniques require more resources to progress so even if one is born with rare and powerful cultivation roots they might have to waste their talent with a poor technique that they are more able to afford. Their only way forward if they have no background is to sell themselves to a sect or family which necessitates changing their name, losing relationships with family and masters, and losing control of their lives. The only sect we've really seen is pretty capitalist. In addition to not insignificant yearly dues to have the privilege to study as a mere outer sect disciple, to learn anything beyond the starter cultivation technique one has to pay a rather substantial fee to the sect in addition to the resources it will cost to practice. Students have to pay for supplies in the various classes that teach them skills they could use to earn a living. Later with the change of a sect leader the sect is poised to become a tool of a noble family that is even more exploitative, charging for even the starter cultivation technique. With this great inequality there is very little hope for independent cultivators or social mobility.

Mr. Translator's translation appears good. The dialogue reads more naturally than your average translation. Descriptions of things, people, and events also seem better than average. I haven't had any difficulty following what's going on or noticed the usual lazy errors.