latelenovela Chapter 395 The Soul-Empty Ones of Lingxi Mountain
Chapter 395 The Soul-Empty Ones of Lingxi Mountain
The maple leaves on Lingxi Mountain have turned red again, and the morning mist, like gauze, entwines around the restless horns of the young people.
Xiao Sizi, a young girl with a pair of delicate yet resilient antlers on her head, received the heavy parchment scroll from Elder Lu. The numbers outlined in vermilion on it were shocking: nearly half of the spirit race youths in the mountains aged 14 to 35 had become "empty souls"—neither cultivating, nor working, nor passing on their lineage. What alarmed her even more was that the proportion of female empty souls among them was even higher.
“This year, Wanshuge will have more than 1,200 students graduating, but the workshops down the mountain are already crowded with children who started their internships as early as their freshman year.” Elder Lu’s hooves anxiously scratched at the fallen leaves on the ground. “The weapon-refining workshop on the back mountain is recruiting fifty apprentices, but less than ten have signed up. The children can’t wait to grow up slowly, but they have lost their way in their frantic rush.”
Xiao Sizi gripped the parchment scroll tightly, her fingertips turning white. She recalled all the things she had heard: the textbooks in Wanshu Pavilion hadn't been updated for over three hundred years, the teachers were still teaching ancient runes that had long been obsolete in the spiritual energy industry down the mountain, while the workshops had already widely adopted automated rune array engraving machines; a fox clan youth had spent a fortune (rumored to be as high as twelve spirit crystals) to secure an internship opportunity in a large workshop, simply because the workshop owner stated that he "only accepts recommendations from the elders"; and a rabbit clan girl, believing the promise of "becoming a partner through summer work," signed a "legal person contract" and almost incurred a huge debt.
Due to the disconnect between education and the inflation of spirit crystals, Xiao Sizi decided to go to the Myriad Books Pavilion first. As soon as she entered, she heard an argument. A gray bear spirit was roaring at the old goat man: "The hand-drawn talisman arrays you teach—Golden Flame Workshop stopped using them three years ago! Everyone uses psionic programming now! You're misleading students!"
Mr. Goat pushed the glass mirror and said helplessly, "The classics were established three hundred years ago, and I have no right to change them."
Xiao Sizi gazed at the mountains of old books piled up in the library. She knew that the gap in knowledge was causing the value of education to depreciate rapidly. Once upon a time, graduating from the Library guaranteed a decent job; now, the same salary couldn't even support a place to live at the foot of the mountain. Students were forced to "sell themselves" from a very young age, with 70-80% of graduates relying on internships for employment, referrals openly priced, and chaos rampant.
Beyond this, Xiao Sizi sensed a deeper crisis—a silent cognitive crisis and a digital prison. While working as a teaching assistant, she discovered that the young Spirit Clan children had increasingly shorter attention spans, and over 60% would give up on even slightly difficult spells. They seemed more accustomed to processing multiple pieces of superficial information simultaneously, but their deep memory and comprehension abilities were declining. Ancient tests of "delayed gratification" showed that the new generation of children had less than half the patience of their peers thirty years ago. The instant feedback networks and flashing spiritual screens were constructing a digital prison that stifled deep thinking.
Descending the mountain to explore the workshop area, the scenes of alienation and loss of values were even more heartbreaking. Outside the "Heavenly Craft Hall," a group of little spirits squatted in a daze. Upon inquiry, it was learned that the workshops were used to the point of exhaustion when busy, and then left to "sit idly with pay" during the off-season, resulting in chaos.
Little Sizi approached Master Zhang and presented him with a "Psionic Early Warning Array" she had designed. This array could automatically predict manpower needs based on order fluctuations, recruit part-time workers in advance, and avoid resource misallocation. Master Zhang used it with some skepticism, but was soon amazed by its efficiency and agreed to improve the treatment.
However, the oppression didn't stop there. Little Sizi discovered that many workshops, under the guise of "joint entrepreneurship" and "equity incentives," were luring young spirits into signing unequal spirit contracts to evade paying "spiritual energy protection funds" and arbitrarily deducting their wages. A little wolf demon was even falsely accused of stealing materials and nearly expelled from Lingxi Mountain for refusing to sign the contract.
The confusion surrounding gender imbalance and spiritual connections casts a broader shadow over the entire younger generation. According to data from Xiao Si Zi's astronomical observation system, the post-00 generation is the most gender-imbalanced, with males outnumbering females by over ten million. For many young men from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, even finding a close spiritual connection is a luxury, while so-called "high-quality" males are fiercely sought after, resulting in an invisible pressure on the social structure.
Enraged, Little Sizi begins her journey of redemption.
She strongly urged the head of the Wan Shu Ge (Ten Thousand Books Pavilion) to completely remove books that hadn't been updated in a century, establish a dynamic curriculum adjustment mechanism, and introduce the latest psionic technology knowledge. She also strongly advocated for incorporating truly valuable internships into the credit system, with the pavilion directly connecting students with high-quality workshops, thus severing the black market of "paid referrals."
Her "Psionic Warning Array" has been promoted in multiple workshops, using big data to balance labor demand and manpower supply, making the work of young Psionic beings more dignified and efficient.
She joined forces with the "Justice Hall" of her clan to rigorously investigate workshops that exploited students under the guise of "spiritual contracts," seeking justice for the victimized students. She also established the "Spiritual Law Lecture Hall," requiring students to receive training before signing important contracts, teaching them to identify traps.
She advocated for greater resource allocation to essential but neglected disciplines such as spiritual plant cultivation and basic weapon crafting, and for providing an "entrepreneurship guarantee fund" for students from rural mountain areas to open up diverse paths to success.
She holds "Spiritual Gatherings" in the mountains to promote communication among young spirits of different backgrounds and genders, and to alleviate the tension caused by structural imbalance.
As the sun set, Lingxi Mountain gradually regained its vitality. The Soul Reapers returned, the workshops were in good order, and the young spirit race members regained their focused light.
Little Sizi stood on the mountaintop, with Elder Lu standing beside her with a look of satisfaction.
"Elder, the ultimate goal of education is not to produce qualified tools, but to nurture complete souls."
Xiao Sizi said softly, "We need to grow through continuous accumulation and find our own path, instead of rushing down shortcuts prescribed by others. All shortcuts have already had their prices marked in secret."
A warm and resolute light shone from her horns, illuminating the path beneath her feet.
Nurturing complete spirits, not just efficient vessels—this redemption requires the synchronization of the entire Eldar: the Elders must dismantle structural oppression, the workshops must rebuild the dignity of labor, educators must ignite the spark of thought, and every young Eldar—after recognizing reality—must hold onto the invaluable "original shares" of education: a genuine love for knowledge, a clear understanding of oneself, and an unwavering growth mindset, in order to penetrate the fog and reach the bright land of true growth.