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Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Page 456

by <unknown>


  "The moves have all been performed by real Exos in the Grand Illusionary Land before. They are calculated by real human brains!

  "The Grand Illusionary Soldiers to be produced in such a way, although still incomparable to the real Exos, are far stronger than traditional spiritual puppets!

  "More importantly, the cost to produce them is very cheap. Common crystal suits can also be modified into them easily. Tireless and fearless, they will patrol, guard, and fight all year long in any place as long as it is covered in the Spiritual Nexus.

  "Everyone, both Immortal Cultivators and space pirates are not very strong, and they will never fight a head-on battle against the main force of Cultivators. They will only look for our weakness and harass us in these places.

  "As I said just now, our real enemy is the boundless universe!

  "It is not unusual for our Core Formation Stage Cultivators or even Nascent Soul Stages to travel in exhaustion from one remote space zone to another in order to deal with the emergencies. But their opponents might only be several space pirates in the Building Foundation Stage!

  "If we deploy a large number of Grand Illusionary Soldiers in every space zone—"

  Xiao Xuance waved his hand. The picture in the Grand Illusionary Land suddenly changed into various crystal warships that had been modified to accommodate countless Grand Illusionary Soldiers. The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were all sitting cross-legged in the maintenance rune arrays like statues, wreathed in green.

  Suddenly, a space town in front of the crystal warship sent out alarms of incoming space pirates!

  The green glow of the maintenance rune arrays immediately disappeared. The six circular crystal cameras on the heads of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were all beaming in red, while they stood up from the rune arrays simultaneously and lunged at the space town in groups.

  "Even if the Grand Illusionary Soldiers cannot destroy the space pirates, they can significantly diminish the activity zone of space pirates and stall them during their assault so that other Cultivation sects can gather their main forces to surround and annihilate the space pirates!

  "Flexibility is everything for space pirates. Without flexibility, even the strongest space pirates will be fish in a water tank that have nowhere to run to!

  "If thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers are patrolling on every sailing route of every space zone one day, it's impossible for space pirates, Immortal Cultivators, demon beasts, unknown species in space, or extraterrestrial devils to sabotage our peace and prosperity!

  "This is the future of the Flying Star Sector. The best future!"

  Taking a long breath, Li Yao collapsed to his seat helplessly.

  He was somewhat convinced by Xue Xuance.

  But he did feel a little bit weird. A gloomy thought suddenly occurred to him,

  If the Grand Illusionary Legions are deployed in every space zone, what will the Exos do?

  Huangpu Bo mumbled, "It seems that the tale about the 'Star Child' is true."

  Li Yao was dazed. "What is Star Child?"

  Huangpu Bo explained, "In the past decades, there has been a rumor in the circle of refiners that Xiao Xuance has a foster son who is both a natural-born retard and an unparalleled genius!"

  Li Yao was confused. "Retard? Genius?"

  Huangpu Bo said, "It is said that his foster son is very unintelligent in daily life. He is perhaps almost a hundred years old, and yet he still acts like a seven-year-old.

  "However, such a retard, on the other hand, is an unparalleled genius in regard to Spiritual Nexus and an out-and-out expert in crystal processors. When it comes to the Spiritual Nexus and crystal processors, he immediately seems to be possessed by a god or a devil!

  "It seems that all his wisdom was dedicated to the Spiritual Nexus and the crystal processors, and he did not have redundant brain cells to work on his daily life!

  "Inside the Grand Illusionary Group, Xiao Xuance's foster son has been called 'Star Child'. It is said that he was the supervisor of a large, confidential project.

  "I thought that it was pure nonsense. How can a retard whose intelligence equals to a seven-year-old manage a large project?

  "But if the 'virtual star brain' is a real thing, it was mostly likely invented by the Star Child!"

  Chapter 680: Next Millennium |

  Li Yao was listening to the tales about 'Star Child', the super genius in crystal processors, from Huangpu Bo, when he suddenly heard an argument in the Grand Illusionary Land. He raised his head and found that Si Koulie, the proposer of the Ice God Project just now, had reappeared on the podium and was confronting Xiao Xuance in fury.

  "Just now, Xiao Xuance claimed that the Ice God Project has several fatal drawbacks and would be costly and doomed to fail. Si Koulie found it intolerable and is about to debate with him," Xue Yuanxin explained.

  Li Yao was dazed. "He can do that?"

  "Of course, although both of them are leaders of major organizations and big shots in the Nascent Soul Stage, the plans they propose will influence the lives of too many people. This is indeed the competition of the righteous path."

  Xue Yuanxin opened his hands and said, "They both believe that only their plan can destroy the Temple of Immortals and save the Flying Star Sector. Faced with the competition for the righteous path, the last thing they care about is their manners. Just think about what happened five thousand years ago!"

  Li Yao realized that it did make sense. Five thousand years ago, for the competition of the righteous path, assassinations even took place in the Grand Congress. Right now, it could almost be called harmonious since the two of them were merely arguing with each other.

  Now that two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were at loggerheads, their intimidating aura was almost tearing the Grand Illusionary Land apart.

  Si Koulie was like a ball of lightning that was spitting electric arcs, while Xiao Xuance was as tranquil as a frozen ocean. The anger and aggressiveness from the other party did not influence him at all. He said, as calmly as before, "Please don't be agitated, Leader Si. It might have been too blunt for me to say that the Iron God Project is too costly and doomed to fail. However, my accusation is not ungrounded.

  "Firstly, time. By your estimation, how long will it take before the Ice God Project is accomplished?"

  Si Koulie craned his neck and replied stubbornly, "With enough manpower and resources, the project will be finished in around twenty years!"

  "Twenty years?"

  Xiao Xuance smiled and said, "Then, how are we going to cope with the Temple of Immortals during those twenty years while we devote our every penny and all the available resources to the project? You don't think that space pirates and Immortals Cultivators will simply stand by and watch as we carry out the Ice God Project and demolish their den, do you?

  "Besides, you said yourself that it is the best-case scenario with enough manpower and resources.

  "It is well-known that the Flying Star Sector does not have a central government. Hundreds of sects and thousands of space towns are scattered in the dozens of space zones. How can you make sure that all the sects will provide sufficient resources promptly and willingly?

  "Don't forget the tragedy of five thousand years ago when our ancestors tried to collect enough resources to build stellar-level magical equipment, and that was when we still had a central government!

  "Let's say we are really putting the Ice God Project into effect. Who's going to decide how many resources a sect is going to provide? What if a sect simply shrugs and says that they cannot provide the resources? Who is authorized to punish the sects when they are hiding their resources? How are you going to deal with the sects that refuse to join the Ice God Project but will share the fruit when it succeeds?

  "The Ice God Project looks perfect. But it is founded on the hypothesis that the hundreds of sects in the world of Cultivators work hard together selflessly. Is that possible?

  "As long as one or two sects conceal some of their resources for their ow
n interest, other sects will definitely follow them. When a chain reaction is triggered, the entire project will collapse eventually!

  "Besides, before Ice Kong is finished, its combat ability will remain zero, no matter how many resources are poured into it!

  "If any errors happen to the project, our resources will all be wasted!"

  Si Koulie's opened his mouth, only to come up with nothing. He was dazed for a second, before he asked solemnly, "Is the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project any different?"

  "Of course it is," Xiao Xuance said peacefully. "The Ice God Project seems intimidating and invincible, but its purpose is still a piece of traditional, if not obsolete, planetary-level magical equipment.

  "In comparison, the Grand Illusionary Soldier is a piece of brand-new magical equipment based on big data. It can be called a 'magical equipment cloud'.

  "Compared with the Ice God Project, the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project highlights the importance of numbers. It is very cheap to produce a Grand Illusionary Soldier and connect it to the star brain.

  "Ice King is absolutely useless before it is successfully transformed. However, even one Grand Illusionary Soldier will boast a certain amount of combat ability, however insignificant it is. As the number of the Grand Illusionary Soldier grows to a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand… The combat ability of the Grand Illusionary Legion will soar exponentially!

  "More importantly, the Grand Illusionary Soldier is a piece of free, open-source magical equipment. What is demonstrated in the video is just one model of it.

  "In fact, as long as they have the most crucial 'reception array of telepathic thoughts', any sect and refiner can produce the Grand Illusionary Soldier according to their own scheme or even transform their old and outdated crystal suits into Grand Illusionary Soldiers!

  "In such a case, the procedure of 'resource collection' can be eliminated. The project will be implemented in the hundreds of sects all over the Flying Star Sector simultaneously!

  "In short, the 'Grand Illusionary Soldier Project' is just a standard that we propose. Under the standard, the sects can either deliver their resources to us and ask us to manufacture the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, or they can produce Grand Illusionary Soldiers of their own according to the structural designs and designing principles that we provide.

  "If a certain sect does not approve the Grand Illusionary Project, it's perfectly fine. They can choose to stay away from the project.

  "After all, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers that other sects produced will only be responsible for protecting the towns and sailing routes within the territory of their sects.

  "Open-source, free, and agile. These are the three core principles of the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project!"

  After finishing his speech, Xiao Xuance gestured toward Si Koulie in a 'please enlighten me' sign.

  Si Koulie's face was as red as pig's liver, as he said, "The bottom line is, the Grand Illusionary Solider is still a piece of defense magical equipment. Even though they are stationed everywhere in the Flying Star Sector, the best they can do is protect the sailing routes from space pirates. How can they annihilate the space pirates completely?"

  "Ants can bite an elephant to death when there are enough of them. Changes in quantity will inevitably lead to changes in quality," Xiao Xuance said casually. "Protecting the sailing routes is just the first step. When we have enough Grand Illusionary Soldiers to form a Grand Illusionary Legion, we will wage a war against Spider Den immediately.

  "After all, the soldiers are cheap cannon fodder. All we are going to lose are just some resources.

  "By our estimation, if four fifths of all the sects start to produce the Grand Illusionary Soldiers with abundant resources on a large scale, an army with reasonably good combat ability will be formed within two years to protect the sailing routes from the scourge of space pirates. In five to seven years, an enormous Grand Illusionary Legion will be ready to attack Spider Den.

  "The specific data and process of the calculations have been sent to everyone seated in the hall. You can check for yourself whether or not I am bluffing.

  "The Grand Illusionary Project not only takes much shorter time than the Ice God Project but also boasts another great advantage.

  "The Ice God Project is a suicidal plan. After a huge collision, all our resources devoted in the twenty years will be gone!

  "What if the Temple of Immortals have other moves?

  "In comparison, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers are not likely to be wiped out in the war despite being mere cannon fodder. But even if they are, reproducing a batch of them is much more convenient than building another planetary-level crystal warship!"

  Si Koulie was rendered speechless. He took a long breath and glared at Xiao Xuance. "What about security? The Grand Illusionary Soldiers are commanded by the virtual star brain. If the Temple of Immortals invades the Spiritual Nexus and gains control over the star brain, won't they be able to manipulate the entire Grand Illusionary Legion?"

  With a thin smile, Xiao Xuance replied, "Since crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus were invented, there have always been concerns regarding such magical equipment that can simulate the mind of mankind. Many fictions also depicted the blackout of the Spiritual Nexus and the crystal processors, which developed independent consciousness and became evil.

  "But please rest assured, everybody.

  "Firstly, for the sects that are willing to join the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, we will open the source code and the log of the production of the virtual star brain as much as we can so that all of the sects will know the development process and operation mechanism of the virtual star brain.

  "Secondly, we will provide a 'star brain clone', or 'child brain', if you will, for every space zone. The Grand Illusionary Soldiers in your space zone will be directly under your own control.

  "In fact, it is impossible for the Grand Illusionary Group to maneuver all of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers at once. The universe is too vast, and there is always a lag to transmit telepathic thoughts via the Spiritual Nexus. The Grand Illusionary Group in Heavenly Saints City is not able to control a Grand Illusionary Soldier dozens of space zones away directly, is it?

  "Thirdly, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers rely on the network to perform the 100% of their combat ability. Once the network is cut off, their combat ability will drop to 5% of their original, and they will be no better than scrap metal.

  "Even if the crystal processor experts of the Temple of Immortals succeed in hacking the 'star brain clone' of a certain space zone and seize abundant Grand Illusionary Soldiers, all the Spiritual Towers will still be in our control.

  "As long as we cut off the Spiritual Nexus, all the Grand Illusionary Soldiers that have lost control will immediately be paralyzed.

  "Look, even if the Grand Illusionary Soldiers are hacked by the Temple of Immortals, we have backup plans to cope with it. But Leader Si, what if the Temple of Immortals infiltrates or even steals your Ice God warship after it is successfully built?

  "Do you have any emergency plans?"

  Si Koulie coughed hard and said, "Well—"

  Xiao Xuance smiled and stopped further harangue. He turned to the camera and extended his hands, while he spoke sincerely. "Fellow Cultivators, since we are having a 'Millennium Meeting' today, our eyes must not be restricted to here and now!

  "Space pirates and Immortal Cultivators are just insignificant obstacles in the future path of the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector.

  "Now that we are gathering the resources of the entire Sector to build a piece of planetary-level magical equipment again after five thousand years, we must lay a solid foundation for the development of the Flying Star Sector in the next thousand or ten thousand years!

  "Close your eyes and imagine that, when the scale of the Grand Illusionary Legion is large enough, the robotic soldiers will not only defend the sailing routes and towns in our back but also develop the planets whose environments are too harsh
for human beings. They can also serve as pioneers to explore new worlds so that the brightness of the civilization of the Flying Star Sector will illuminate the entire universe in the next millennium!"

  Chapter 681: How Did You Know? |

  The debate between two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators came to an end.

  Too much information had been presented to all the Cultivators in the morning. They would have to consider for a long while and sort it out despite their extraordinary computational ability.

  Therefore, no meetings were arranged for the afternoon.

  All the Cultivators frowned and contemplated in their own meeting rooms.

  Collapsing in the depths of the soft seat, Li Yao was like an animal that hid itself in its nest when it sensed an incoming danger.

  It was a debate without any suspense. Si Koulie was totally outshone.

  Compared to the Ice God Project, the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project had overwhelming advantages. The whole project was perfect, to the point that it was too perfect!

  Li Yao could not see any loopholes in the project for now, but he intuitively did not like the plan.

  Narrowing his eyes and biting his fingernails, Li Yao pondered for a while. Sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead again.

  Deep in thought for a long time, he suddenly widened his eyes so much that the corners of his eyes were almost torn apart. Taking a deep breath, he gazed at the two renowned crystal suit designers and said solemnly, "Master Xue, Master Huangpu, what I'm about to say might be too ungrounded and appalling. You may think that I'm being paranoid, but still, I have to say—"

  "Wait." Xue Yuanxin raised his hands and interrupted him. Patting his own big head, he said, "Let me take a guess first. Are you worrying that the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is vulnerable to the invasion of the Temple of Immortals even though it looks immaculate? If the Temple of Immortals hacks into the star brain after thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers are produced, we will be trapped by our own scheme."

 

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