Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The dazzling data on the experiment logs made Li Yao’s heart turn colder and colder as he read. The brief summaries of the previous experiments made him sweat, too. He knew that Long Yangjun might not necessarily understand what it meant, but even he did not know much about the mysterious fields of brains and souls. Therefore, he could only repeat what the summaries of the experiments said. “The ‘virtual brains’ that are more powerful than human brains are nothing unbelievable. The traditional crystal processors have long surpassed human brains in terms of computational ability, deduction ability, and even simulation and rendering abilities.

“But the crystal processors are in fact made of computation and storage chips. Their computation logic is not similar to the thinking logic in a human brain. In other words, the crystal processors can only ‘compute’ but not ‘think’. They are not real brains at all.

“But this… ‘new crystal processor’, for lack of a better word, which has been reconstructed in the molecular level in an innovative way, walks on a completely different path from the traditional crystal processors. It does not have computation and storage chips, which are replaced by synapses of spiritual energy that are similar to the neurons in the human brain. Then, by inputting feeble spiritual energy, it is possible to simulate the glowing, collision, and integration of the nerve electricity in the human brain. Then, in the end, it is possible that some being that boasts the ability of thinking will be born.”

Long Yangjun’s pupils were entirely occupied by the two enormous new crystal processors. She frowned and said, “There’s no need to be so professional. All you need to do is tell me the uses of such a thing.”

“It has a lot of uses.” Li Yao tapped on the light beam crazily until it was brimming with ripples like the pool on a rainy day. “They have wiped most of the files, but judging from the remaining data and the summaries, once the new crystal processors are successfully created, they will serve as the best control core of the next-generation artificial bodies. Or rather, they will be the best protective cabins for the soul and extend the longevity of ghosts multiple times over.

“You know that ghosts are usually quite vulnerable. Most people’s souls suffer from the interference of radiation and spiritual waves after they pass away, which turns them into broken souls. Even if they are lucky enough to be found again later, their souls are often no longer complete. After that, even if they use artificial bodies as shelter, because of the limitation of the computational ability of traditional crystal processors, the new bodies will not be nearly as handy as their old fleshly bodies.

“The new crystal processor, on the other hand, has completely replicated and even surpassed the architecture of the human brain. Not only can it repair the broken soul of a ghost, it can also improve the soul power of a ghost to the maximum, helping the ghost or whatever’s left of their soul to travel freely on the Spiritual Nexus and do anything they want in the virtual world!

“Secondly, judging from the data here, they have scanned the brains of tens of thousands of people. The subjects must be the vegetative patients. They were previously elites of their respective trades and high-level Cultivators above the Building Foundation Stage covering all four categories. Compared to normal people, the brains of high-level Cultivators have all undergone a slight degree of mutation, which makes them the most precious ‘treasuries’!

“By scanning the brains of tens of thousands of high-level Cultivators with special mystic rays, reconstructing the brains in the virtual world, and slicing and studying the different parts of the brains including the unsubstantial ‘spiritual root’ layer by layer, it’s possible to unveil the deepest mysteries of brains and find out how brains generate and build up the soul!

“After they understand how the soul is created, won’t it be only one step away from ‘creating a soul’ on their own?”

“Creating a soul on their own…” Long Yangjun’s eyes shivered quickly. “What exactly does Professor Mo Xuan want?”

“My professor already told me a while back. He is indeed frank and forthright, not keeping anything to himself!” Li Yao smiled bitterly and said, “My professor believes that the Spiriters are the future of mankind. However, the Spiriters are still not an independent species right now in that they still lack one of the most fundamental elements for every life form—reproduction.

“The Spiriters are transformed from living people after their physical bodies are destroyed with certain odds. The Spiriters do not boast any ability to reproduce by themselves. Therefore, they can only be a different form of human beings, or vassals of humans.

“However, if they are capable of creating souls on their own, it will be possible for the Spiriters to reproduce without external help. After that, they will really become a third form of mankind after humans and demons.”

Long Yangjun took a deep breath. “That will be the ‘virtual life’ that can completely live in the world of the Spiritual Nexus?”

“Exactly.” Li Yao nodded. “However, the study has only just begun. The ‘soul’ is itself the most enigmatic stuff. It is already tremendously difficult to figure out the essence of a soul, not to mention the creation of brand-new souls. They are actually trying to create a life, and intelligent life at that!

“It took nature billions of years to complete the work of creating intelligent life, and my professor intends to reduce the time cost to one billionth and finish it in only decades? It’s too much of a rush. He admitted it himself!

“They probably haven’t touched such a dreadful field yet and are incapable of creating real ‘virtual life’. However, if the new architecture that is a complete simulation and optimized version of the human brain and can independently think is combined with the terrifying computation, deduction, and rendering abilities of traditional crystal processors, it will be possible for them to create certain… unimaginable artificial intelligence!”

Long Yangjun furrowed her brow so hard that her eyebrows were almost vertical. “I don’t understand. Please explain.”

“For example,” Li Yao said, “didn’t I just mention that I met a fake Wei Qingqing, a fake Ling Xiaole, and a fake you in the second Spiriters’ Realm? At first, I thought that they were played by somebody, because the real-time computational ability of normal crystal processors couldn’t have been that high. But now that I think of it, they were very likely the artificial intelligence that was derived from the ‘simulated brains’!

“Building up vivid, lifelike images in the Spiriters’ Realm is just one of the functions of the simulated brains. Don’t forget that they have scanned the brains of tens of thousands of high-level Cultivators! What kind of chemical reactions will be caused when the techniques inside so many brains are combined? What exactly is my professor going to do with such artificial intelligence?”

The two of them looked at each other in bewilderment. Both of them felt that the issue was much more severe than they had anticipated in the beginning.

Compared with Professor Mo Xuan’s plan, even the invasion of the Imperium of True Human Beings seemed secondary right now.

Right now, a feeble spiritual wave spread out from the deepest part of the laboratory, but it was as deafening as rumbling thunder for the two of them!

Passing the long, narrow pathway at the center of the laboratory past the models of brains in various different shapes, they found a thick, heavy gate at the end of the laboratory. But the gate was ajar, and spiritual waves were escaping from the dark gap on the gate.

The two of them looked at each other and nodded, raising their alertness. All the rune arrays and magical equipment on them was humming, and spiritual shields of different layers covered them in glamorous colors.

Creak!

They pushed the gate, only to see the impossible scene at the same time.

Before their eyes was a bottomless abyss.

The dark abyss, enshrouded by the black fog that looked like swamp, seemed to be directly leading to the center of a planet. However, they were clearly in the middle of space. The town where Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital was located was no more than twenty kilometers in diameter.

The black fog was boiling, rolling, and raging. Now and then, black bubbles surfaced and floated up toward them before they changed into bizarre and hideous faces that were creepy enough to freeze the hearts of anyone who saw them.

The abyss was surrounded by uneven crags where almost a thousand shrines had been dug densely. Inside every shrine, an abnormal monster that was weird in appearance and covered in tumors was glaring at them brutally, mocking, bellowing, and howling nonstop.

But the eyes of Li Yao and Long Yangjun did not stay on the shrines for too long because their full attention was attracted by the magnificent being at the center of the abyss. It was a monster with more than a hundred tentacles that looked like a mutated octopus. Sucking discs were everywhere on every moisty tentacle, and every sucking disc had rows of tusks that could be turned freely. On the bald, enormous head of the creature, a thousand bloodshot, pale eyes without eyeballs were grown!

A thousand dead eyes were staring at them without blinking at all, as if from the deepest level of hell. Li Yao and Long Yangjun’s every nerve was paralyzed, and they could not even move their little finger.

Even if they could move, there was nowhere they could run to, because the moment they opened the gate and walked in, the laboratory and giant door behind them had vanished. They seemed to be floating in the bottomless cave, surrounded by solid crags, shrines where monsters were lurking, and the most insane embossments in all directions.

They were trapped!

Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu!

Dozens of tentacles dashed out from the depths of the black fog with blood-freezing noises as quickly as lightning and snatched Li Yao and Long Yangjun. The sucking discs that were full of sharp teeth revolved rapidly like a metal shredder, ripping both their spiritual shields and their crystal suits into pieces. The most irresistible strangling force was imposed on them, too, as if the rocks of a whole planet had been piled on their body, pressing them into tiny atoms!

Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak!

The monsters in the shrines nearby were squeaking in even louder voices. Some of them even opened their broken wings and swooped at them, apparently hoping to get their share of the meal.

Li Yao felt that his every nerve seemed to have been plucked out of his body and minced hard by the enemy.

His brain seemed to have been caught in a black hole where it was stretched to millions of kilometers long in that moment.

The extreme pain that he had not tasted for a long time made his mind even clearer than before. He knew that the enemy had launched terrifying mental attacks toward him and Long Yangjun and trapped them in a fatal illusionary world!