Chapter 1173: Chapter 6: History Up to Now
Xiang Shan walked among the crowd, with Yinghuo Niao following behind. Both of their right arms were wrapped with a strip of LED lights.
Yinghuo Niao pressed in the private chat channel, “Master, wasn’t Uncle asking you to give a speech? Why did you refuse? I think Uncle Xuanyuan Shisi would be very happy if he knew it too.”
Dugu Beiluo Shin is not a fragile person.
After encountering soone like their “father”… or soone identical to the role of “parent”, the emotions accumulated over the years from the sacrifice of brothers and sisters burst forth. After crying, she returned to what she ought to be doing.
Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen’s morial service was both for the emotions of the living and to shape the cohesion of the Hero community. It’s part of the entire Mars rebellion endeavor.
Dugu Beiluo Shin also hoped Xiang Shan could speak. The appearance of the “Martial God” would certainly invigorate the Heroes.
But Xiang Shan, after much contemplation, still refused.
“After all, I don’t know Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen. I heard so legends decades ago, and two days ago was the first ti I saw image data. If I were to say so platitudes or stock phrases, I could do it effortlessly. But, I am unwilling to fill such an event with this kind of talk.”
“Ah… Master, I find your everyday speech quite interesting… I see Uncle Dugu doesn’t dislike it, if Uncle Tuoba were still around…” Yinghuo Niao pondered, “It should… be okay, right?”
“I don’t like it.” Xiang Shan stopped, replying, “I am excessively frivolous, so in occasions I think should only be solemn, I should keep my mouth shut. At my mother’s funeral, I did not utter a word. I have beco overly accustod to ‘destroying solemnity’, taking it as a vocation, in my youth, I believed humanity should be free, liberating from all constraints. I, in contrast, wouldn’t know how to be solemn.”
“Really? I see so blockchain used for morials where many Heroes upload events with the deceased that aren’t solemn…”
“I know, there are so morials where speakers talk about interesting things with the departed, expressing emotions in such settings, but for this one, I can’t do it.” Xiang Shan shook his head, “Kid, a morial is for comforting the emotions of the living… so please don’t force this old thing to do what I don’t want to do? I’m definitely within the scope of ‘living’, right?”
“Oh—wait!” Yinghuo Niao was suddenly quite surprised, “What did you just say? ‘Old’? Are you calling yourself ‘an old thing’?”
“Tch… I almost forgot, Xiang Shan most detests being called old.” Xiang Shan scratched his head, “After all, I’m a man who has lived intermittently for a hundred years, counting the mories of the Martial Ancestor, it’s a proper over two hundred, isn’t it unnecessary to be so shocked by self-deprecating?”
“No no no no, too surprising—my master during his life repeatedly emphasized! ‘If you encounter your Master in the future, or other Martial Gods, never say “old”‘ balabala…”
Another signal was transmitting in the local network. That was Dugu Beiluo Shin speaking.
“… Two hundred years of crossroads, we have always grown amidst slaughter and oppression… Finally in the darkness—above Earth’s outer space, in the shadow of Earth, Earth’s Heroes used the flash of nuclear explosions to issue the correct command…”
“We, the Heroes, and those civilians yet to find the way of Martial Studies on the internet—we, have always faced the blade straight on. My biological great-grandfather was also an officer. But my entire childhood I worried whether I would be thrown out of the space station in my sleep—the place where my mother and I lived was the oldest compartnt segnt of the space city, the lowest piece near the central axis, a small celestial body captured by Jupiter could lightly graze and snap it…”
“Those lackeys actually care for nothing… They are all waiting in madness for the so-called ‘final holy war’… We should not hold any illusions…”
Xiang Shan nodded.
Xiang Shan himself also possesses skills in incitent, considered an orator—the original Xiang Shan cultivated his ability in this aspect. However, the speaking techniques of the new era are based on local networks and communication protocols, and are based on the information processing capabilities benchmarked people develop from an early age, form-wise quite different from past speeches.
Communication protocols would filter out tone, micro-expressions, actions, etc., while communications with others could be maintained through different channels, making it difficult to stop the recipient from communicating, unlike in the past where Homo sapiens audiences were made to keep silence.
The challenge faced by speakers is completely different from ancient tis.
This seems not to be the forte of the Fifth Martial God, and Xiang Shan cannot judge.
But from the micro-movents of the surrounding crowd, it looks like Dugu Beiluo Shin did very well.
Xiang Shan couldn’t help but recall the sensation of his own breathing.
Actually, he rejected delivering the tribute for another reason left unsaid. This mont truly belonged to Dugu Beiluo Shin, to the disciples of the Tenth Martial God. After all, Xiang Shan is an old thing.
Young people also need their own monts of brilliance, only then can they gradually develop strong minds. Without those special monts in life as support, no matter how great a belief, it is rely hollow scripture.
Personal experiences and mories can light up warmth in the heart. Only the warmth in the heart can truly beco the call of faith, becoming the armor facing challenges.
This is the mont that belongs to Dugu Beiluo Shin. Perhaps the feeling of this instant will beco a weapon for her in facing trials in the future.
Xiang Shan always worried, the proliferation of the cultural phenonon of the “Martial God” would make it more difficult for younger heroes to obtain the great experiences he once had.
Yinghuo Niao and Xiang Shan followed the crowd forward. In front of the piled LED strips, Xiang Shan stopped, slowly pulling down the strip from his arm and tucked it into the huge luminescent body.
[Even though we have never t, disciple…] Xiang Shan sighed, [you fought really beautifully.]
“Alright, let’s go, and continue to look elsewhere.” Xiang Shan said to Yinghuo Niao, “I want to actually see this era, and see the culture here.”
Yinghuo Niao, completing the morial, then answered: “You call this culture?”
Xiang Shan turned his head, looking at the pile of LED strips filling from floor to ceiling, “Without a doubt it is.”
…………………………
Before Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteenth’s morial service ended, Xiang Shan received an update.
Simply put, another high-ranking officer of the Protectors had died.
Singer Host had already controlled the main server of the Order of Knights and the satellite signal station through Gu before trampling the Order, so the information accompanying the distress signal was screened by Singer Host, thus the high-ranking officer coming to support only knew he would face a “sowhat powerful” First Heavenly Layer Martial Artist.
He never expected to be dealing with a foe of the Soul-Calming Dharma King’s level.
And the Heroes dispatched by Dugu Beiluo Shin had successfully completed their docking, retrieving three fusion reactors, and many pieces of weaponry and equipnt also usable by First Heavenly Layer Martial Artists.
Both the Soul-Calming Dharma King and Xiang Shan only needed a small portion of them.
The Great Sertis District—this region underfoot—is about to produce three new First Heavenly Layer Martial Artists.
In First Heavenly Layer Prosthetic Bodies, the power reactor is the most strictly controlled and hardest part to acquire. If Heroes spontaneously organize hunts to seize reactors from high-ranking officers, then naturally, the spoils belong to the individual. Fission reactors produced by Burrow Dragon-type logistic Hero communities can also be freely granted by community managers to any Hero.
If a First Heavenly Layer Hero acquires an excess reactor, or a logistic community gathers an unallocated one, this is the ti when a Martial Chief must allocate it.
So powerful Martial Chiefs might directly interfere with logistic community decisions. Although rare, there have indeed been Martial Chiefs who used resources ant for reactors to make nuclear bombs.
Additionally, there are a few consecutively unsuccessful fighters who must rely on Martial Chiefs to allocate resources to supplent logistics.
A Martial Chief must possess sufficient prestige and coordination ability, as well as Martial Power to hold sway over the situation.
Then, there’s the matter of Dugu Xuanyuan Shisi organizing manpower to storm that high-ranking officer’s garrison.
Strong as First Heavenly Layer Martial Artists are, First Heavenly Layer Prosthetic Bodies also require maintenance considerations. Parts suitable for First Heavenly Layer Prosthetic Bodies are sowhat precious to Jianghu people, and the acquisition source is unstable. Using a First Heavenly Layer Prosthetic Body to slaughter rank-and-file soldiers, the battle results often don’t outweigh the wear and tear on parts.
If you are hit by dense heavy fire and don’t avoid and relieve the force well, the losses would be considerable.
Therefore, so actions also require the cooperation of ordinary Heroes.
Clearly, Dugu Beiluo Shin’s actions are decisive.
While howling for the loss of her brother, she probably already had arrangents in place.
Soon, the Soul-Calming Dharma King arrived at this section of the underground area.
The starting height of a First Heavenly Layer Prosthetic Body is three ters. The Soul-Calming Dharma King needed to hunch his body to enter here. He glanced around and sneered, “Trying to promote heroism or sothing? This is not a good place for it.”
Xiang Shan smiled, “What do you an?”
“Close to the plant’s heat dissipation ducts.” Singer Host said, “People living here are often those required to perform reproductive obligations. Such people have their drive for survival trump all, and their rejection of heroism is the strongest.”
In Yawgmoth’s world, humans only have one duty, “to maintain genetic diversity.”
An individual who has not had two or more offspring has not fulfilled this duty.
Therefore, every individual is required to produce two offspring. Only when they remit the Gene Tax or go to the Scientific Knight Order’s special window to receive a knowledge chip, will the Protectors rewrite the identity recognition code for the child-bearer, adding the relevant information about their descendants.
If they fail to fulfill this obligation after the decline in gate quality—which, in the lifespan of a Benchmark Man, is after sixty—then their identity recognition code will be marked as “lost protection.” They will no longer be considered “human,” and anyone can do anything to them.
Many people have decided that as long as they complete this obligation, they can obtain freedom and live like plants.
The embryos of Benchmark n can survive entirely in an oxygen-free environnt. A bit of electricity, environntal temperature, and a few nutrients are enough for the child to grow up.
The hottest places in every city, such as the cooling ducts of factories or exhaust outlets, are where these people gather.
Singer Host sighed, “They only want to live, seeing the League of Heroes proactively report and drive them away… what’s the joke?”
“Hmm, you still care a lot about the chivalrous cause, Soul-Calming Dharma King,” Xiang Shan laughed, “Even more than I do in this regard.”
The Soul-Calming Dharma King said nothing.
“Indeed, the rejection ntality of this place toward us is still quite obvious,” Xiang Shan said, “You actually know about it. Tsk tsk, you must have endured hard tis…”
“I was once one of the earliest Heroes,” Singer Host said, “Initially, we were seen by the whole world as ‘irrational terrorists.’ Would such a thing still be unacceptable?”
“Indeed,” Xiang Shan said.
“I heard you declined the task of delivering the eulogy for Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen’s funeral… Why was that?”
“For , the news felt like…” Xiang Shan gestured randomly in the air, “I lost my mory, and a child I adopted during my amnesia was beaten to death, with so of my forrly close students involved in this atrocity… This feeling, it’s very complex, you know.”
“I don’t know.” Singer Host’s tone was strange, seemingly sarcastic.
Xiang Shan sighed, “I truly don’t know what others experienced after ‘Xiang Shan’ died. To , every era seems mad and bizarre, I don’t even want to try to understand what happened.”
“Ha, I think every generation of Martial God has adapted quite well.”
“Really? Then it must be,” Xiang Shan nodded, “But I feel every day that either I or the world has gone mad in one way or another. The Fifth Martial God barely accepted his era, and bam, I wake up to an even crazier era.”
“Ah? This era is crazier?” Yuhuo Bird objected, “I think it can’t possibly be worse, right? The Heroic Camp has clearly improved, thanks to the efforts of the Seventh Martial God.”
“No, not the circumstances of the Heroic Forces, but sothing more… taphysical,” Xiang Shan leaned his head against the earthen layer and said, “Didn’t you ask about the old days before? Didn’t your master teach you any of this? Looks like I’ll have to give you so tutoring.”
“Hoho, listening to the teachings of the Martial God firsthand,” Yuhuo Bird beca instantly interested.
“Before the Fourth Martial God, Yawgmoth could really only be considered… an ard, radical practitioner of social experints. He declared that all governnts had failed during past events of stealing the country, thus forcibly dissolving the governnts of all nations. At the ti, many people cheered. He was still seen as a hero who resisted the thieves of the nation.”
“The organization form of a ‘corporation’ was declared illegal… this too was accepted by most. After all, Superman Enterprise was also an international entity in the form of a corporation and committed such a great cri that it had to bear responsibility. Yawgmoth’s actions were also seen as a ‘heroic reflection on the past, cutting ties with evil.’ Although so were worried, the overwhelming majority chose to publicly execute the executive employees of major corporations for relief.”
“It was only half a year later when the quality of life plumted that the fervor was slightly overshadowed. Criticism of Yawgmoth began to gradually increase, but even at this stage, he was still seen as a radical idealist, not much different from those quirky left-wing camp leaders of the twentieth century.”
“People organized protests, only to be dispersed. When grassroots self-governing organizations grew too big, he rely dispatched troops to disband them and exiled the leaders. His achievents were indeed remarkable, and life for the Benchmark n was genuinely liveable, so most people barely maintained their lives.”
“The most unbearable thing for everyone was probably his ban on aningless cultural activities. At that ti, the soldiers were only limited to forcibly dispersing spontaneous mass gatherings. As for ‘banning the production of holiday goods’… truth be told, there weren’t even factories for those things back then.”
Yuhuo Bird was puzzled, “There used to be factories for producing cultural goods?”
“That was many years ago.” Singer Host shook his head.
“There still could be, right? Those LED strips at the funeral can totally be categorized into this,” Xiang Shan looked at his forearm. A few hours earlier, it had been wrapped with a light strip.
Yuhuo Bird was bewildered, “This too counts?”
Singer Host sighed, “Maybe it could count?”
“Ha, no matter how that idiot Yawgmoth operated, ‘culture’ is sothing that keeps on erging,” Xiang Shan said, “Perhaps he realized this, which made him so furious? The critical point was during the ti of the Fourth Martial God.”
“Ah?”
“The Fourth Martial God is creating a new culture and placing it within an old shell. Actually, at the very beginning, heroes would still use the nas of ancient figures, connecting themselves with ‘tradition.’ Xiang Shan fell into reflection, “Strictly speaking, it should be about linking ‘spontaneous resistance of the sa era with ancient traditions,’ and then connecting oneself with those spontaneous righteous warriors. But after the Fourth Martial God, this trend gradually faded—because people have no mory of tradition. If there’s an old relic that’s been secluded for over two hundred years, maybe it would still emphasize this to the younger generation.”
“The ‘heroic community ecology’ advocated by the Fourth Martial God, also known as ‘sects,’ beca stable cultural soil. From that ti, the ecology of heroes gradually transford.”
“That’s really a pity,” Ah Niao said, “Fourth Master left suddenly.”
“Indeed, very suddenly. Hartman, that old dog, is quite inhumane,” Xiang Shan shook his head, “Hartman’s massacre tore apart the last remnants of the old era. Although there were also massacres in the old era, the condemnation of massacres has never disappeared. But this ti… Hartman was pretentiously stripped of fleet command authority, not because Yawgmoth succumbed to public opinion. It’s feared that at that mont, he completely transford into sothing that’s not human at all.”
“The Dyson Principle beca clear during this period, and the Protector’s execution thods beca fiercer. Did you know? That was the era when Yawgmoth most frequently exercised great power. He indeed would cause the decline of a large number of citizens for a cultural event. This command could only be issued by him. He completely didn’t care about accidental killings. Commands like ‘disassemble resistance will’ were frequently activated. This violence lasted about thirty years; during that ti, you could even witness the spectacle of ‘an entire city being ntally disordered individuals.’ Cities in the old era were approximately abandoned in that era because there weren’t enough normal people to maintain the city. ‘Living in the city’ itself beca a danger.”
Xiang Shan tapped his head: “During that era, the Fifth and Sixth Martial Gods were successively born… hmm, as well as the Six Dragons Sect Leader. Absolutely the most densely self-initiated era of Xiang Shan.”
“The generation that grew up during this period… was very different from the previous people. The view that ‘culture is harmful’ had taken deep root. ‘Being contaminated by old culture will lead to death,’ so everyone voluntarily avoided it. Many cultures thus died.”
“Old Five, Old Six, Old Seven, even the Sect Leader, were actually exploring brand new organizational forms to adapt to the new era. Although the direction of the Six Dragons Sect Leader was completely different, that’s also the aning.”
“But when the Fifth Martial God’s consciousness interrupted and I woke up, hey, guess what? Now, the Scientific Knights and Protectors are awaiting the ‘Third Century Final Holy War’—damn! Is this really sothing humans can accept?”
Singer Host shook his head: “In the 10th century AD, Northern European bottom-level Christians generally believed that there were only a few decades left until the end of the world. They would even desperately pray for the end to co quickly.”
“Vaguely heard about it,” Xiang Shan nodded, “Seems that place was in constant war, rampant with thieves? Life was hard for everyone, but solely committing suicide was really not worth it. Looking forward to the world’s end was actually quite normal.”
Ah Niao looked puzzled: “Ah? Is it not normal now?”
“Well, having a countdown announce the final holy war… quite crazy,” Xiang Shan said, “I still don’t quite accept it, and yet everyone else did? An explicit mont of destruction, and still driven by so individual’s will?”
Singer Host looked up at the darkness: “Tsk… Only when you say this do I realize, I’ve grown accustod to it. I actually got used to it… No, wait, didn’t our Six Dragons Sect hope to escape before then?”
“According to the intel you gave, the predecessor of the Six Dragons Sect was established before this damned Doomsday plan was born.”
Singer Host fell into deep thought: “At that ti, what was I thinking… Our ideas…”
After a long while, Singer Host shook his head.
Xiang Shan discerned from his subtle posture that he forcibly cut off his thinking, opening another thread of thought in his mind.
He shared a piece of data: “So intelligence, and this Order of Knights’ collected data on AI anomalies. The forr is communication between the Giant Crocodile Holy Knights Order and other Scientific Knight Orders, the latter is what the Sect Leader demanded must be collected.”
“Oh, let have a look…”
Xiang Shan said nothing. In the narrow underground space, the temperature started to rise.
“Wow…”
“Finished analyzing so quickly?” Soul-Calming Dharma King expressed doubt, “I think even if you throw it into a supercomputer, it would take half an hour…”
“Alright, today’s field investigation ends here.” Xiang Shan stood up and reentered a narrow tunnel. The three First Heavenly Layer Martial Artists crawled forward with their bodies.
Xiang Shan suddenly added, “Oh, right, Ah Niao…”
“Why not just call N… Taking another title from titles is quite awkward.”
“The single letter ‘N’ is too easy to have the sa na. Single-letter surnas are too common now,” Xiang Shan replied, “I suddenly thought of sothing, do you rember what the Fifth Martial God created?”
“Ah?”
“The ‘Martial Chief’ system, although just adding embellishnts to the sect ecology of the Fourth Martial God, at least it counts as supplentation,” Xiang Shan said with a rather cheerful tone, “Did you know? The Fifth Martial God was the first to beco a regional Martial Chief.”
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