Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

As a seasoned Immortal Cultivator, Heiye Ming thought that he had seen the cruelest and most evil things in the world. His heart had been hardened to such a point that he would have absolutely no mercy to an inferior species like the ‘hominoids’.

However, after hearing Lu Qingchen’s arrangements for the hominoids, the old Immortal Cultivator could not help but feel that a certain area deep inside his heart trembled for a while. “Virtual partner, virtual offspring, virtual life. For those ‘people’, is there anything that is real?”

“It’s their own choice,” Lu Qingchen said. “You can’t have all the best things in the world. Now that you’ve chosen an easier and more comfortable time, you have to pay a small price for it.

“If they will never find out that the world they are in is virtual, is there any difference between reality and illusion?

“If they are capable of discovering the falseness and weirdness of their world and pass multiple tests, proving that they are qualified to live in the real world, they will naturally be given a real partner, a real child, and a real life.

“This is free choice and a fair deal. You can’t expect them to live an easy and comfortable life in the real world. Don’t be so greedy, General Ming.

“Of course, cutting off the bloodline of a person by brute force can indeed be very cruel. Besides, there are infinite mysteries about genes. Who knows whether or not the seemingly trash bloodlines entail certain interesting possibilities of evolution? Therefore, we will try to keep the seed of every human and carefully preserve them. When the resources are tremendously abundant, those seeds will be fertilized as the new members of the Spiriters’ Realm.

“In such a case, the resilience of the civilization of mankind will be greatly improved. In the eras when the environment is harsh and the resources are few, we will shut down most of the Spiriters’ Realm, reducing more than ninety percent of the consumption of computational ability and resources. The enormous ‘bank of human seeds’ and part of the elites will be the only things left behind to continue the fight in the real world.

“After we discover new worlds that are full of spiritual energy, or if we grasp a new method of energy utilization and reenter a resourceful era, we will be able to unfold hundreds of Spiriters’ Realms quickly and awaken everyone in the ‘bank of seeds’, starting a new round of filtering and evolution.

“Think about it. Isn’t such a civilization of mankind much stronger to resist crises?”

Heiye Ming pondered for a moment and said, “But the newly incubated children will not have a father or a mother. Their parents are already ‘shut down’ by you during the last period of resource drought!”

“That’s a minor problem that can easily be fixed.” Lu Qingchen chuckled. “Since offspring can be virtual, parents certainly can be, too. We will retain their parents’ databases and operation patterns and slightly optimize the algorithms to turn them into more perfect nurturers, ensuring that the new generation of mankind develops toward positivity, resolution, and optimism. The evolution of the whole civilization will be accelerated!”

The solution dazed Heiye Ming for a long time again. “What about the resource problem in the real world? Although the hominoids are humble, foolish, greedy, and lazy, under the careful education of the Imperium, they are capable of most heavy and gruesome jobs. Building, mining, herding, and even fighting on the frontline all require the participation of countless hominoids.

“If the civilization of mankind is a great ship that is sailing forward unwaveringly in a vast ocean, the Immortal Cultivators are the captain, the helmsmen, and the sailors of the ship, while the hominoids are the burning fuel in the engine compartment. Although the captain and the sailors are important, they can achieve nothing without fuel.

“But in your ‘perfect kingdom’, you have exiled all the hominoids into the virtual world. Who’s going to accomplish the fundamental work in the real world? Are you going to let the carefully-chosen elites mine or fight as cannon fodder?”

“Fully-automatic machinery,” Lu Qingchen said. “By ‘machinery’, I am not just referring to spiritual puppets, mining spiders, Grand Illusionary Soldiers, or other metal and crystal products. I’m also talking about highly-controllable demon beasts as well as mutants whose primeval cells have been activated and whose genes have been strengthened based on the flesh and blood of humans.

“Both the spiritual puppets and the mutants will be stronger, smarter, and more loyal. They will always be dutiful and hardworking. None of them will ever slack off or hesitate to carry out their orders.

“Most importantly of all, no ethical or moral issues will be involved in the whole process. However you exploit and savage them, it will not be ‘evil’ at all because despite their similarity to humans in appearance, what is hidden inside their brains is not a real soul but just an artificial intelligence that we call a ‘Deviant Spirit’, exactly the same as the artificial intelligences that are at the service of the lesser bloodlines in the virtual world.”

“It’s impossible!” Heiye Ming blurted out. “Artificial intelligence can’t be so advanced. It can only be an aid. Besides, its cost is too high. That’s why we have to use so many bloody hominoids!”

“That’s only the opinion of the Imperium because you started on the wrong path at the beginning,” Lu Qingchen said. “You’ve looked down upon the ordinary people since the very beginning and regard more than ninety-nine percent of your population as ‘hominoids’. Therefore, you seem to boast infinite, cheap human resources that can be blatantly exploited. Naturally, you are not motivated to develop the technology in the fields of artificial intelligence and mechanical automation.

“This is a vicious cycle. The less attention you pay to the development of automation and artificial intelligence, the higher the cost to use the spiritual puppets and the human mutants will be, and the more you will be forced to exploit the ‘hominoids’ cruelly.

“Then, after you invest tremendous resources into the exploitation of hominoids, and a whole set of social customs, business patterns, and law and political systems are established, even fewer people will research the technology of automation and artificial intelligence.

“You’ve been walking on the wrong path for a thousand years. Barely anything can be changed with the strength within the Imperium. The Grand Illusionary Soldiers are already your limits. You do not need to develop artificial intelligence of a higher level.

“But the Star Glory Federation is different. We don’t have so many hominoids that we can oppress, and we have crystal processor technology that is on par with the Imperium’s. Therefore, from the very beginning, we have been pursuing automation and artificial intelligence.

“According to our deduction, as long as the resources of the whole civilization are dedicated to the study of this field, in another thousand years at most, most of the highly-repetitive fundamental work that has standard procedures—such as mining, fighting, herding, fighting, planet modification, and sailing route maintenance—can be accomplished by spiritual puppets and human mutants. Even the work that cannot be completed by them will be done through remote control with telepathic thoughts!”

Heiye Ming watched the black jellyfish swallowing his chest and throat and slowly crawling toward his head. He could not help but moan, “What kind of world is that?”

“A perfect world!” Lu Qingchen’s voice grew more and more persuasive. “Most of the mediocre, common, weak, and lazy people will enjoy their lives to their heart’s content in the virtual world, considering their life as a game in ‘beginner mode’. Nobody will savage and exploit them. They can stay at home doing nothing or commit all kinds of crimes if they want to!

“For those who are highly motivated, have a strong mind, believe in free will, and crave a ‘real life’, they will train themselves crazily in the cruel ‘test battlefields’, improving and proving themselves. Eventually, they will be given one or more strong bodies as the ‘shells’ for them to arrive in the real world!

“The elites of mankind, the people who are really alive, will be engaged in cutting-edge studies, the most creative artwork, the most arduous battles, and the most mysterious adventures!

“In the meantime, countless human mutants, controllable demon beasts, and spiritual puppets will scatter in every corner of the vast territory of mankind, taking care of the cumbersome and dangerous fundamental work. Like you said just now, General Ming, they will provide sufficient fuel for the civilization of mankind to stride forward!

“Look, in such a world, the high efficiency of resource utilization of the Immortal Cultivators and the humanity of the Cultivators are perfectly combined. This is the future!”

Heiye Ming breathed heavily and gritted his teeth for the last struggle. “I—I don’t believe it! I don’t believe in perpetual machines. I don’t believe that such a future will really be perfect!

“Don’t presume that I’m unaware of the cost of the virtual world. Creating a virtual world and maintaining an enormous database require countless crystal processors of enormous sizes. Do the production, maintenance, and upgrade of those crystal processors not consume resources?

“According to your plan, if a virtual world that is large enough to contain most human beings is to be created, the scale of the crystal processors will be unimaginably huge! Let’s forget if it is technologically possible first. Even if it is, the fees to keep such a system functioning for one second will be astronomical!”

The deep ocean fell into silence after his words. It was not until a moment later that Lu Qingchen’s chuckles came over again.

“You do have a point, General Ming. Perhaps I should apologize to them for my hasty conclusion just now. Fundamentally speaking, there is no useless garbage. Even the most inferior humans boast tremendous power inside their soul, which is their feelings.

“Humans’ feelings have been suppressed so long that their strength has declined, but as long as we completely break the seal deep inside the soul, everybody will be able to unleash the most profuse energy!

“Such energy will not only be enough to support their brains and reproductive systems but also supply the crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus incessantly to keep the functioning and upgrade of the whole enormous system. If there is additional energy, the elites in the real world will be able to absorb it to make themselves even stronger than before!”

Heiye Ming’s eyes widened. “The strength of feelings? Break the seal of emotions? Also, you mentioned the Blood God just now… I finally understand. You are not an Immortal Cultivator at all but an extraterrestrial devil who feeds on the feelings of mankind. Both the Black Wind Fleet and the Star Glory Federation have been deceived!”