Chapter 122: Another Shock to One's Worldview

In the end, they did not lash out at Shen Yuejiao. After all, she was a young lady of the Shen family, while they were merely household retainers.

"Horses? These are no ordinary horses. They are true warhorses," Shen Shi said with a smile.

"These are horses bred by our own house. Otherwise, why do you think the Imperial Court bestowed official titles upon us? My father has one, and so do I."

This was something the Shen family could truly offer. In Shen Shi’s view, poetry and prose were fleeting, mere displays for others to judge. But breeding horses—breeding fine warhorses—was the bedrock upon which the Shen family could build its legacy.

After all, breeding horses did not require innate talent; as long as the wealth and resources were available, and as long as the household wasn't entirely made up of fools, the breeding could continue indefinitely. Even if dynasties changed, the Imperial Court might do without civil officials, but it could never do without cavalry.

Raising chickens, ducks, and pigs was, in truth, all in service of these warhorses.

No investment, no power.

That was the essence of horse breeding. It was also the technological philosophy Shen Shi had brought with him from the future. The costs of breeding racehorses in the modern era were truly astronomical.

Shen Shi had never raised racehorses himself, but he had known a man who was once merely a supplier of horse feed. That man had owned over a thousand acres of alfalfa fields, with products sold all across the country. Ever since he got into horse racing, he had continuously poured his wealth into his passion—buying horses, hiring jockeys, training, and trading. By this year, he was left with only eighty acres of land and three horses to his name. Yet, he told Shen Shi that he did not regret entering the world of horse racing.

Breeding racehorses is a form of technology. And a power system based on technology inherently brings with it a need for concentration.

Concentration of resources.
Concentration of manpower.

...

Once everything is concentrated, the burning begins—burning resources, burning money, burning manpower. It burns you until your heart trembles and the pressure becomes immense, leaving you to close your eyes and pray—pray for a sudden flash of inspiration. In such moments, one should not speak of "failure being the mother of success." While theoretically, every failure eliminates a wrong path and brings you one step closer to success, the sheer unpredictability of how many steps remain is a true test of one's psychological fortitude.

The accumulation and concentration of vast resources are traded for technical maturity, leading to an explosive ascent in the quality of the horses.

That feeling of watching the horses grow and undergo a qualitative transformation is a satisfaction that can only be felt by those who participate in the process.

High concentration, high explosive power, high communicative potential—these are the traits of a technological power system.

Compared to this, Shen Shi could perceive spiritual energy. Relative to the technological system’s reliance on massive resource consumption, the cost of spiritual cultivation was significantly lower, with the only real expenditure being meat and eggs.

Furthermore, there was another advantage to warhorses: they could be sold to the Imperial Court.

When Bao Zheng requested that warhorses be brought to the capital, the reason Shen Shi selected only the finest ones was precisely to attract the attention of the court.

The profit margins on chamber pots had already begun to decline. After all, even in a wealthy Great Song, only a certain segment of society would install them. Once they were installed, sales would dry up unless the pots broke.

Certainly, Shen Shi could export them, but exporting required a certain scale of operations. With the Shen family's current size, they were not yet at that level.

Warhorses were undoubtedly the fastest means to elevate the Shen family’s standing. Breeding horses could gather people for the family, selling them could accumulate wealth, and mounting them could assemble an army. Shen Shi saw no reason not to breed horses and let the Imperial Court take notice.

Moreover, this was a debt he owed the Shen family. Once he transmigrated into the body of Shen Shi, the family became his responsibility.

He could, of course, act like the Eight Immortals, abandoning his family to destruction, severing all ties and emotions. But Shen Shi could not forget. Or rather, the moment he transmigrated and took over, he had reached some unspoken agreement with the original Shen Shi.

The original Shen Shi had died worrying about his family. Having arrived, Shen Shi had to bear that burden—everything comes with a price.

Not to mention, Shen Shi shared the surname, and his arrival was merely settling the regrets of his ancestors.

As for cultivation techniques, while they also involved exploring the laws and the Great Dao of heaven and earth, they were heavily dependent on innate aptitude. Without talent, without sudden enlightenment, one could not see the next layer of the technique, and their achievements would reach no further than that of a common general. Furthermore, every layer of the human cultivation technique was a qualitative leap.

The first layer was the combat power of a general, granting the strength of a thousand catties in one’s hands. The second layer was the foundation of the extraordinary, where one’s body circulated true essence and generated it. This could be called physical evolution, a "celestial body," for it was a physique no ordinary person would ever possess. The third layer was another qualitative leap—it was the realm of laws.

Shen Shi only had a vague sense of this third layer. It was a flash of insight he had experienced while securing a divine position for the tree spirit.

If not for that brief touch upon the laws, Shen Shi would not have known that the technique he practiced even had a third transformation—a transformation of mutual interior and exterior.

Once one entered the third layer, even a casual meditation session would be measured in decades or even centuries. As for whether there would be a fourth or fifth transformation...

Shen Shi did not know. But he did know that by walking the right path, his cultivation was accelerating as fast as a rocket. One wrong turn or error, and he would have to seek new opportunities, but this also meant he had to find a path of sustainable development for his family.

Since he possessed extraordinary power, he did not want to leave behind too many regrets. To close his eyes and open them to find the entire Shen family gone—to him, that would surely become a fatal flaw in his heart.

People are emotional creatures. If one cultivates to the point of being emotionless, becoming like a cold stone, what difference is there between immortality and mortality?

This was also the reason why, even though Shen Shi knew Zhao Zongyong was stealing his horses, he did not stop him. Things offered voluntarily are rarely valued as much as things others fight to snatch away.

"Because of horses, an official title was bestowed?"

"You're lying!" Shen Yuejiao said instinctively.

In her life experience, officials were scholars, like stars in the sky. Later, after meeting Tang Renxian, she learned that having connections in the court allowed one to become an official—that official positions were arranged by people.

But this was still the business of powerful figures.

Yet today, Shen Shi told her that because they bred horses, they could become officials. This truly shattered her worldview.

Shen Shi rubbed his nose. In truth, he had noticed it too. Ever since his transmigration, he had been constantly breaking his own worldview. Previously it was about demons, now it was about people.

But was his approach wrong?

Take the imperial examinations, for example. Confucianism emphasizes personal cultivation, right?

Of course, it is right.

But are the officials produced by such exams useful?

Perhaps they are, perhaps they aren't. In the end, it depends on individual ability. As for the books... they are merely a stepping stone.

But breeding horses—breeding warhorses—that is a true skill one can dedicate their life to, a skill that can sustain a family. At the very least, until warhorses exit the stage of history, this technical capability will never become obsolete. And the barrier to entry for this skill is low; learn it once, and it serves you for a lifetime. It is more practical than any vocational school.

After all, this is doing real work, isn't it?

Shen Shi shook his head and said, "I am not lying. Have you forgotten what we are? We are a military family."