Cyber Cultivation: When Technology meets Cultivation Chapter 174: The Heavenly Dao Council Convenes!

Xia Li walked down the broad avenues of New Tokyo's Upper District.Just about every passerby here had a distinctive style. So were dazzling and flamboyant, others understated and restrained.Even Xia Li's own outfit did not count as unusual.There were people here dressed in ancient robes too.After having the Heaven Chip open a map, Xia Li called a hover-car online and rode it all the way to city hall. The building was as exquisite as an ancient palace, with red carpet laid out starting from the street itselfpared to Liguang City's city hall, this place looked less like sowhere public servants worked and more like the residence of ancient princes and nobles.Xia Li mocked its gaudy emptiness fiercely in his heart before finally stepping inside.At the sa ti, he had Yagyu Chihaya help him secure a five-hundred-thousand-spirit-stone loan as reserve funds.There was no line at the counter for renting the Heavenly Dao Computer. Apparently, even for residents of New Tokyo's Upper District, doing so was still a costly affair."Hello. I'd like to rent the Heavenly Dao Computer.""Purpose?""Realm breakthrough. Forming a golden core.""One hundred fifty thousand spirit stones."The clerk gave Xia Li a glance.Xia Li had the urge to ask why the price had been marked up so much. In other cities, using the Heavenly Dao Computer to form a golden core usually cost around one hundred thousand spirit stones.So sects and clans even offered discounts as a way of generating inco. Why did the price jump so much in the Corporate Alliance?But in the end, Xia Li said nothing.There was no need.By comparison, the Corporate Alliance probably provided more support as well. New Tokyo's Heavenly Dao Computer node was a major one, and its functions were undoubtedly better than those of smaller nodes elsewhere.If it was better, it made sense for it to be more expensive.After a short silence...the Heaven Chip inford him that the five hundred thousand spirit stones had been deposited.Xia Li paid imdiately.The clerk rose and gestured for him to follow. Soone soon ca to guide Xia Li to a magnificent passageway plated in gold.Xia Li walked straight into it. There was no need to ask where it led.The destination had to be the Heavenly Dao Computer's quantum domain field.More than ten minutes later, Xia Li stepped through a doorway flooded with white light.When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in an endless field of reeds.The reeds swayed high and low in the wind.Xia Li knew very well this was an illusion, but he still had to admit how realistic it felt.Apparently, different Heavenly Dao Computer nodes manifested different scenery in their quantum domain fields. The one in Liguang City had been far simpler, just a blank sea of white light with no adornnt at all."Hello."At that mont, a voice sounded behind Xia Li.His own voice.He turned and saw another him sitting formally in seiza, dressed in a loose old robe with a reed stem in his mouth and a blade laid across his knees.He looked like a sword saint."Cang, you've really adapted to the local customs. But you should know that these aren't my customs.""The rules of this node are like this. You humans always like to display your individuality and deliberately emphasize how different you are from everyone else. If you dislike it, you can access from a different node.""Forget it. I've already spent the spirit stones."Xia Li could not be bothered to dwell on it.Cang nodded, rose to his feet, and walked over to Xia Li, extending a hand.The instant Xia Li stepped into this place, Cang had already known why he was here.Without wasting ti, Xia Li directly moved the spent Golden Crow inner core out of his dantian.Looking at that tiny dwarf star, an almost human note of astonishnt appeared on Cang's face."This is not an object current technology can manufacture. In imitation-star energy science, the greatest difficulty has always been proportional miniaturization.""The theory of micro-stars was proposed and even tested long ago, but limited by technical standards, not even the theoretical values could be fully realized.""In star-making, enlargent is easy and reduction is hard. Stars possess imnse gravity, and mass is the root of gravity. The greater the mass, the volu is not necessarily greater, but in the area of matter compression, humanity's technology has not broken through for a very long ti."Cang gave his assessnt of the Golden Crow inner core Xia Li had brought out. Then, with a wave of his hand, he summoned it over to float above his palm.He fell silent.Only after half an hour did he speak again."You now have two choices. First, I can preforge the golden core according to existing technology. But because this involves an enormous energy demand, spiritual energy will offer very little help during the ignition process. The entirety of New Tokyo will lose power for a period of ti, and you will need to pay approximately fifteen million spirit stones as compensation for the blackout."

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"Second, you can make the data from this golden-core prefabrication public and contribute to humanity's imitation-star energy technology. In that case, all costs for your golden-core formation will be waived, and you will also receive additional rewards. The price is that your existence will beco known."Cang had given him two options.The first was pure fantasy at Xia Li's current level of wealth.But the second...It would bring lethal danger.Absolute lethal danger."How public would it be? Would my identity be included?""Your identity will of course be kept strictly secret. But during the prefabrication process, I will need to discuss the thod with humanity's top scholars. They will learn the shape of your golden core. If you display your power in front of them in the future, your identity will naturally beco known.""You still need to discuss it with people? Can human brains really outperform you?""I am only a machine. My strength lies in integrating information, proposing possibilities, and running simulations. I can only continuously optimize based on concepts that already exist. You humans are better at creating. If I coordinate the thoughts of the great scholars and weave their ideas together, then with the help of a real object, new theories can be derived.""Let think..."Xia Li sank into silence.He had thought five hundred thousand spirit stones would be enough no matter what.He had not expected that reigniting it would rely on energy rather than spiritual energy.That made things troubleso.Spiritual energy could be converted into energy, but because doing so was outrageously wasteful, no city would ever install that kind of equipnt.New Tokyo certainly would not.Still...At this point, what was there left to hesitate over?Had he not already faced this sa kind of choice again and again?If he wanted to grow truly strong, then staying hidden would never be possible.If he chose concealnt and gave up the chance to go further, then perhaps he would gain a asure of safety,but he would lose his path forward.A prefabricated golden core made from current theory,or a new-style prefabricated golden core forged by the Heavenly Dao Computer together with humanity's strongest scholars.Which one was stronger required no explanation.This Golden Crow inner core, this burned-out dwarf star, deserved to be forged using entirely new theory.And only soone strong enough to embrace every challenge deserved to wield it."Cang, I choose the second option. Make this prefabrication process public."Xia Li made his decision.If he wanted to beco strong, he had to beco more massive.The mont a dim dwarf star reignited through fusion, turning into a sun that blazed again, it would naturally draw every eye.He could not hide it."On behalf of human progressivism, I thank you for the risks you are choosing to bear. I am humanity's most ideal and most moral form, and because of that, I know very well every injustice you may suffer.""Even so, will you still move forward?"Cang understood humanity's evil.But as a creation of humanity, it had no way to directly interfere in humanity's own choices between good and evil."Yes. Even so, I will still move forward."Xia Li stepped forward and gave Cang a firm nod.He was soone who had once been frozen in ice.If he was to reignite from dead ash, then he had to shine more brightly than any other fla.Precisely because he was embers on the verge of going out, he longed all the more for an undying fire."I understand. Courage is humanity's greatest hymn of progress.""Your choice has increased the human progress index by five percent. You are a progressor. No matter what lies ahead, your na will remain forever in my database.""Now...""Let the Heavenly Dao Council convene."Cang transmitted a command.At once, chief scientists from top research institutes all around the globe received the summons.Even on the far side of the stars.On a world where the sky held two bright suns and one unseen dim sun, three stars in all shining over the land,a weathered middle-aged man swinging a hoe suddenly lifted his head."Oh? A major breakthrough in imitation-star energy may be at hand? A real sample of a miniature star has appeared?""Interesting.""If I overload five quantum domain field generators, I should be able to synchronize with Earth in real ti."The man's expression hardened as he walked toward a bunker half-buried in the sandstorm.He had been away from Earth for many years.So said he had left to pioneer the frontier. Conspiracy theorists claid he had been exiled.But only he knew why he had departed.Even now, from the far side of the stars, he was still watching everything that happened on his howorld.