The Fourth Calamity: Disguising a Sect

This is the story of an ordinary person who, after being treated unjustly, receives help from spectators in another world, develops technology from scratch in the cultivation world, and ultimately reaches the level of gods and demons through mortal power. Modern version: Forum question: "How can I build a sect in another world for mortals without spiritual roots, one that can pass itself off as a real cultivation sect?" Best answer: Step one: Build a communications network that covers the entire world. Step two: Connect every disciple to the network. To be safe, use fingerprint, retinal, and gesture recognition. Step three: Invest heavily in infrastructure, spreading facilities equipped with intelligent systems throughout the world. Step four: Establish an examination system. Assign each disciple different levels of access according to their results. The higher their rank, the more of the intelligent system they can use. Step five: Let the show begin. Otherworld version: Xianyu Tang didn't realize she was the vicious supporting woman in the original novel of a xianxia drama until her meridians were shattered and her own husband threw her into a pit of snakes. Her only purpose in life was to be a convenient tool, helping the male and female leads grow closer. The novel's male lead is her husband, Chu Sheng, and the female lead is her younger sister, Xianyu Lian. One is a Demon Lord infiltrating an immortal sect; the other is the most doted-on prodigy of the Xianyu clan, a prestigious cultivation family. They can turn the clouds with a wave of their hands and summon rain with the other. But Xianyu Tang is nothing more than an ordinary mortal. In this world, immortals and demons stand side by side, and monsters run rampant. Mortals are no more than blades of grass. She had thought that finding the Demon Lord Chu Sheng as a child and saving his life was a stroke of good fortune. She never dreamed it had been her doom from the start. In her final moments, everyone accused her of being an impostor, shamelessly stealing her own sister's destined match. Not a single person considered that Xianyu Lian had disappeared after pulling Chu Sheng out of the water. If this supposed impostor hadn't dragged the barely breathing Chu Sheng to a doctor, his injuries would have killed him. As she lay dying, she swore that if she ever had another life, she would stay far away from Chu Sheng and Xianyu Lian. But when she returned to her childhood, her hands were already covered in the bloody scrapes left from dragging Chu Sheng. She saved him in the morning, and their betrothal was settled that afternoon. Not once had anyone asked whether she was willing. The mistake had already been made, so she decided to lie flat and give up. As she lay there, she noticed strange words appearing above her head. [Shameless! It was my Lian'er who saved him, and she stole the credit to reap the rewards!] [Exactly! If she hadn't meddled, my little demon wouldn't have had to suffer so much more for no reason!] An impostor? She slowly opened her hands, revealing palms smeared with blood. The words above her fell silent for a moment. [What happened? How did she get so badly hurt?] [She dragged Chu Sheng back from the edge of the pool.] [Didn't they say she stole the credit? Looks like Xianyu Lian did dive in to save him, but Xianyu Tang saved Chu Sheng too.] [Ahhh! She's hurt so badly! Is nobody going to help treat her wounds?] How could anyone possibly care for her? She was just a mortal with no spiritual roots, no better than a servant in a cultivation family. Just as in her previous life, she fell into a feverish sleep because her wounds became infected. But unlike last time, when she woke, a bottle of fine medicine for treating injuries sat beside her. The words above her head erupted into an argument over the medicine. At last, one line began repeating over and over. [I don't care if she becomes a vicious supporting woman in the future. Right now, all I see is an innocent child!] From then on, she had a group of invisible guardians. They called her Tang Bao, gave her medicine when she was hurt and food when she was hungry. They taught her how to make gunpowder, how an AK could rule the battlefield, and painted a beautiful picture of ordinary people in another world reaching for the moon in the heavens and catching turtles at the bottom of the five oceans. Xianyu Tang, who had already accepted her fate, suddenly felt that perhaps this time, she didn't have to. Later, a sect that accepted only those with ink spiritual roots appeared in the cultivation world: the Ink Sect. The Ink Sect taught everyone without discrimination and produced talent in abundance. The strange ink spiritual root had puzzled the major sects for generations. Much later, the major sects finally learned that there was no such thing as an invisible, intangible ink spiritual root. It was simply the absence of a spiritual root. As long as mortals live, the Ink Sect will endure! Blurb screenshot dated May 11, 2023 In response to claims that this blurb copied another work, I hereby clarify: This story was inspired by a hit drama that trended for looking down on mortals. The drama's male lead: "The mortals living among us will spend their entire lives without ever seeing a sight like this." Comments: "No, we can see it just by taking a plane!" Me: "Why can't we build planes in the cultivation world?" There are loads of stories on Jinjiang about spending money to raise a child. It's not a unique trope, please keep that in mind! (Search for keywords like spending money, livestreaming, and paper characters, and you'll find a whole new world. Thank you!) At its core, this story actually uses the exact same trope as The Birth of a Witch, which I wrote two years ago: using modern technology to disguise itself as magic or cultivation. Using technology to disguise magic isn't a new trope, either. If you're interested, try the Hugo Award-winning science fiction works Kilnaga, The Bright King, and A Canticle for Leibowitz. In Chinese mythology, gods aren't invincible. Hou Yi shot down the suns, Yu the Great tamed the floods, and the Black Emperor severed the connection between Heaven and Earth. Ordinary humans, with their mortal flesh and blood, have always held the upper hand, not gods and demons with innate supernatural powers. Theme: Humans can triumph over fate!