Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“It is not accurate to call it a ‘life’,” Luo Tiansheng said. “The most remarkable specialists in the field of artificial intelligence reached the conclusion more than two hundred years ago that it is impractical to make the artificial intelligence generate self-awareness and evolve into a new life form in the next thousand years without the interference of the civilization of a higher-level.

“However, ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie is indeed a very advanced super intelligence that is probably even more powerful than the artificial intelligences applied to the main crystal processors of the transportation hubs and the super warships in the Imperium. It is certainly worth studying.

“It is a shame that we did not focus surveillance on it until it returned from the city ruins and distinguished itself in the Land of Sins. We paid close attention to its development and growth, but we do not know the first thing about its experiences decades ago.

“Therefore, we still have to bring it back to Manjusaka in order to dissect and dismantle it. That’s the only way to find the answers.

“Do we need to terminate the golden quest ‘Battle of Liberty City’, my lord?”

Wuying Lan narrowed his eyes. “Huh?”

“The unexpected mutations of the Fist King have made the situation somewhat out of our control. Please take a look. Our estimated comprehensive death rate of the players is 11.5%, and the highest death rate should be no greater than 18%. But the floating death rate has now been increased to 15.4%, and the estimated highest death rate may surpass 30%.

“Those rookies are no match for the Fist King. Chances are that they will all be butchered by the Fist King. Should we terminate the trial and the game and bring the Fist King under control first?”

“That’s impossible.” Wuying Lan stared at the light beam, with a multitude of emotions beaming out of his eyes.

On the light beam, the iron giant shot out spiritual energy that consumed countless sinners and players of Immortal Cultivators like a destructive storm.

The three members of the Red Viper Squad who used to be arrogant were mired in the swirl, too. Like broken canoes, they shuddered in fear among the surging tides.

Taking a deep breath, Wuying Lan sent a voice to Luo Tiansheng with a very special frequency of private talk that only the two of them could hear. “Dr. Luo, do you know our audience rating on all the terminals of the Spiritual Nexus in the entire Imperium? Do you know how many trillions in capital is waiting for the final result of the soul-stirring epic quest like ravenous beasts? Do you know that the Li family, the Yuwen family, the Sky Holding Group, and many big shots from the military are paying close attention to Manjusaka and us?

“A hundred years. For a hundred years, we have been fighting bloodily through thorns and finally made it this far. We have also pushed ourselves to the tip of the tide. Before us is a path of glory, but below our feet is a bottomless abyss.

“We cannot quit or turn around now. I have already wagered all my belongings on the magnificent, mind-boggling epic quest. No unexpected factor is to disrupt it!

“Look…”

Wuying Lan smiled confidently and showed the translucent data on his mini crystal processor to Luo Tiansheng. “Our audience rating on all terminals has surpassed the limits. No media outlets or platforms can compete with us. Even the real-life ‘war stream’ between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance has been eclipsed by us!

“Don’t you see? After a hundred years of ‘slaughter streaming’, the audience is already tired of control. They do not want to see everything that is carefully manipulated. They like chaos, they like accidents, and they like ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie!”

“But…” Luo Tiansheng thought for a moment. “Just for the audience rating?”

“This is a gamble as well as an ultimate competition between me and the scumbags in the court in the Empyreal Terminus Sector.” Wuying Lan’s voice suddenly turned extremely hoarse and cold. “Such is the cruelty of this world. When the place was a dying, desolate land, the scumbags kicked me here and simply let me live on my own. They even wanted me to take the blame for the shutdown of the laboratory of the Land of Sins.

“After we worked hard for a hundred years and made the place thrive again after arduous efforts, the scumbags have come back again, extending their long, furry claws in the hope of reaching for the fruit of our effort. They want to occupy the place for themselves and kick us back to where we came from.

“Those scumbags include our most brilliant and invincible emperor!

“A few years ago, the war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance was still too intense, and the emperor did not have the time to deal with us.

“But right now, the army of the Imperium has secured continuous victories on the frontline and recovered all the territory that has been lost in the past thousand years. His Majesty’s head is getting larger and more feverish each day. He is trying to become a second magnificent monarch, as incredible as Blackstar the Great. Our ‘Heavenly Eye Group’ has become his target, too.

“Hehe… But am I someone who will just wait to be killed? Nobody can steal the Land of Sins and the City in the Sky from me. Not even the emperor!

“It is the age of information now, and audience ratings are everything! Whoever attracts the eyeballs controls the mind, whoever controls the mind manipulates the behavior, and whoever manipulates the behavior will have the entire world!

“Dr. Luo, we’ve known each other in our most devastated times. In the past hundred years, no matter how insane your ideas, projects, and experiments were, I have always supported you to accomplish them without any reserve. However many resources you need, you will have them. When you need a thousand living test subjects, I will get you five thousand without batting an eye! The two of us are the best partners. I keep no secrets from you and always tell you the truth, no matter how serious the issue is. You will certainly support me to the end, too, won’t you?”

Luo Tiansheng nodded without any hesitation. “Of course.”

“Excellent.” Wuying Lan smiled. “With the support of so many big shots from the military, political, and business worlds, and even Li Lingfeng, the promising next leader of the Li family, on my side, now that a surprise as pleasant as the Fist King has been found by you, even the emperor will not be able to do anything about us as long as we control the situation well and arrange the whole play perfectly!”

Luo Tiansheng was not surprised at Wuying Lan’s lack of respect for the emperor at all. He asked calmly, “Then, what do we do now?”

After pondering for a moment, Wuying Lan clapped his hands and said, “Firstly, increase the difficulty of the quest from ‘golden’ to ‘platinum’, and project a batch of powerful magical equipment and weapons in that direction. Make sure that only players can open and make use of them.

“Then, open the secret shelters that we buried deep below the earth and send the coordinates to all the players in the quest area. If the players cannot take it anymore and decide to quit the trial, they are free to hide themselves in the shelters. Of course, the points and accomplishments they have achieved will all be cleared.

“Thirdly, ask the ‘Heavenly Eye Legion’ to establish a defense line outside of Liberty City. The Fist King or any sinner in the Land of Sins is not to run free.

“Those sinners have seen too many things that they shouldn’t have. Including Xiahou Wuxin, the leader of Liberty City, none of them are to be spared. After most of them have killed each other and the trial quest is over, clear the field.

“Right. Let me see. I’m told that your laboratory has recently produced a new batch of monsters, right?”

“Yes.” When his experiment results were mentioned, Luo Tiansheng smiled proudly. “I guarantee that they will be real ‘nightmare monsters’!”

“Very good. Then, after the Battle of Liberty City is over, just test the power of the ‘nightmare monsters’ in front of the big shots here with the broken city ruins as the test field. Chances are that some of them will place a large order on the spot!

“As for the control of ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie, lock onto it with our railguns first and make sure that it will be blown to pieces if it shows any anomaly. But do not use the railgun just yet and ask the ‘Madmen Squad’ to try to weaken it so that it will not go completely out of control. I want to know how much potential can be dug out of the spiritual puppets that can automatically learn and upgrade!”

“Got it.” Luo Tiansheng nodded. “I’ll go and prepare the ‘nightmare monsters’.”

“Wait.”

Wuying Lan suddenly stopped him, pointing at an obscure picture that was a replay of the battle yesterday. In the overwhelming smoke, Li Yao’s clumsy body flashed before the picture was blocked by intense fire and smoke.

Wuying Lan pointed at Li Yao and asked, “There’s still a minor issue. What’s that? It seems to have been absorbed by the Fist King into the body.”

“It should be another spiritual puppet that boasts automatic learning and upgrading functions,” Luo Tiansheng said. “We don’t know the specific model yet, but the Fist King has always been enthusiastic about collecting spiritual puppets of all kinds of models, especially those that can automatically learn and upgrade. In the past, we did not understand the reason and thought that it was only an unimportant hobby. But now, we have finally understood ‘its’ intention. It was probably finding ways to strengthen itself continuously by dismantling and studying other spiritual puppets, wasn’t it?”

“Okay,” Wuying Lan said emotionlessly. “Therefore, this is a pile of insignificant garbage?”

“Probably.” After thinking for a moment, Luo Tiansheng said, “However, if you are interested, we can spare some of the computational ability, monitors, and analysts to figure out the backstory of the spiritual puppet and see where it originated.”

Glancing at the super crystal processors that were all functioning at full efficiency and the analysts whose heads were about to explode, Wuying Lan shook his head after pondering for a moment. “Forget it. An epic quest is about to begin. There is no need to waste time on such trivia. Let’s just move on!”

Manjusaka extended its limbs like a glamorous, poisonous spider, and the overwhelming net in the sky was weaved even denser than before.

The nightmare monsters and countless elite warriors were all set to go.

The people in the Land of Sins did not have the faintest idea about their upcoming doom and were still dwelling in the bloodiest battles.