Capítulo 1186: Chapter 19: Embarking on This Long Yet Fleeting Journey / Only Shadows From the Distant Past Remain
Xiang Shan tore off the head of the last Six Dragons Sect martial artist in the martial arts school.
The Firefly already had over a dozen heads hanging from it. As a hero with a certain mastery of inner strength, he could accurately distinguish between “confused chaos” and “panicked foreboding” in a seemingly chaotic crowd. The hints Xiang Shan sent could actually be used as a thod of discernnt.
Those who have achieved results in inner strength cannot hide their instinctive reactions when disrupted by sudden, unexpected situations.
However…
Master now doesn’t seem like this.
He seems to catch people following another thod, a completely different mode of observation. Before the Firefly could identify the targets, the Fifth Martial God had already locked onto them.
There is not even a sign of him grabbing the wrong person.
—Is this what they call the “Path of Ascension”?
While the Firefly was still pondering, the Fifth Martial God had already spoken: “It’s done over here. You take these prisoners to find other heroes and return to the battlefield as soon as possible, while I go ahead to support over there.”
After speaking, the Fifth Martial God turned and waved his hand, entering the passageway without looking back.
The movent of the two First Layer Heaven martial artists as they sprinted made the entire passageway tremble, cracks ran through the walls, and fragnts of cent poured down like clumps of black feathers. The ground continued to shake.
Xiang Shan lowered his body, matching his footsteps with the sounds of battle, while raising the 18mm electromagnetic bullet in his hand.
He crossed the shelves and saw the battle between Enlil and the Six Dragon Right Envoy. The Six Dragon Right Envoy had been severely injured by Dugu Beiluo once, and both arms were unmatched in specifications. On the weaker side, an auxiliary arm with a tower shield and cannon had been installed.
Behind him, the “Gale Knight,” after having an upper arm pulled out, beca sothing like a Tyrannosaurus rex posture, raising a slender steel tail, with a laser occasionally sweeping around, limiting Enlil’s evasion space.
—This AI hasn’t learned cooperation.
Xiang Shan completed his judgnt in two seconds. Although the prototype’s stance bore the marks of a martial arts algorithm, supposedly resulting from long adversarial generation and iteration as a “martial artist assistance program,” the two before him clearly had no idea how to leverage the AI’s strengths, and neither had the necessary martial artist data, utterly hindering each other.
The AI’s attack with its head and tail not only restricted Enlil but also limited the choices of the Six Dragon Right Envoy.
Xiang Shan silently waited for fourteen seconds.
Fire.
Then fire again.
The first bullet precisely hit the Six Dragon Right Envoy’s leg joint, while the second tore through his shoulder armor.
The Six Dragon Right Envoy let out a cry of despair.
He couldn’t possibly escape again under such injuries.
“Beautiful, Martial God!” Enlil laughed aloud, enduring a blow from the “Gale Knight,” and grappled with the Six Dragon Right Envoy.
Xiang Shan extended a hand to the “Gale Knight”: “Okay, okay. Let’s stop fighting, shall we? I’m not your enemy. I may not even be the enemy of your user.”
Natural language, combined with non-human language.
A signal exchanged tens of gabits of information, far surpassing the efficiency of natural language.
The “Gale Knight” ceased its attack. The large steel dinosaur slowly retreated.
“How is this possible…” The Six Dragon Right Envoy squeezed out this sentence as if from a synthesizer. The firewall of the “Gale Knight” was not supposed to be an easy target to breach instantly.
But Enlil imdiately knocked him down.
While communicating with the Gale Knight, Xiang Shan perceived another battlefield.
The program, which originally did not belong to him, automatically captured the signal returned by Gu Kaisheng’s drones. Xiang Shan seed to split again.
This ti, the will closer to a natural state did not pursue the will born in an artificial environnt.
Xiang Shan used the power of drones to begin overlooking the battlefield.
Two machines chased each other across the vast ocher plain, insignificant yet stirring a storm.
Although the “Gale Knight” hadn’t undergone coordinated training, it seed to still recognize friend from foe—perhaps it was strange for Xiang Shan to say this now, but Kanhara Kotoba indeed relied on the weapons drawn from it to stand against Dugu Beiluo until now.
The silver tower shield swept across, the tongue of fire occasionally spitting from its bottom and top, forcing Dugu Beiluo to retreat.
Dugu considered the bullets as rely polishing her coating. Unless the attack was lethal, she would not dodge. The thermal sword always targeted the enemy’s vital points.
The silver shield danced, but the incandescent sword and white-purple plasma were even more fierce.
Through Dugu’s attack, Xiang Shan felt the determination of the Tenth Martial God—even if it ant mutual destruction—to eliminate a major hindrance to chivalry.
Xiang Shan also noticed Kanhara Shinhara’s response. Her foundational skills were solid, and each move adhered to the paradigm created by the Progenitor of Martial Arts three hundred years ago.
But at this mont, Kanhara Shinhara’s originally harmonious martial arts model had been mixed with sothing unnatural — in everyday terms, it can be called the redundancy of “hesitation.”
Like a smoothly operating precision instrunt, grains of sand — or even several — had been introduced between the gears.
Enlil had already broken the arm of the Six Dragon Right Envoy. His external armor was deford in several places, but it did not affect performance.
Martial Chief turned his head, wanting to say sothing to the Martial God.
But Xiang Shan seed to be in a strange state, making him hesitate sowhat.
He heard Xiang Shan say on the public frequency: “Hmm, this feeling should be called sadness.”
Enlil hesitated: “Who are you talking to?”
Xiang Shan made a “silence” gesture to him: “Yes, I know. It is a data compression format. You compress a highly complex mory containing countless variables – like a person, a relationship, an irrevocable choice – into a sustained, low-power physiological signal. It no longer needs to occupy your active processing resources but will continue to run as a background process.”
“Did I actively choose? No, I mustn’t have. I hate pain. I’ve also actively avoided greater pain.”
“Necessity? Difference? Hmm, this topic is an extrely profound and unavoidable issue. You’ve pointed out the essence of your nature incisively…”
The Martial God seed to be chatting with an invisible person through the signal.
— Is it a person? Is this conversation coherent?
Enlil pressed the firearm hard against the back of the Six Dragon Right Envoy, the muzzle pointing directly at the dulla while missing other areas.
Even if the angle of the shot allows the external armor to resist bullets, the impact at this distance can still bring crippling damage to the movent center without affecting mory and consciousness.
The Six Dragon Right Envoy finally stopped his combative stance.
Xiang Shan seed increasingly focused: “Based on the large database of psychological interventions on humans… several hundred million cases? Don’t be ridiculous. You… no, you all… old friends, you also… so that’s it.”
“Now your suggestions are a bit noisy, honestly, friend, or friends. Stop playing the role of the ntal health assistant program. Especially don’t suggest I imitate Nine…”
“Alright, alright… I admit, you or all of you have a point. Hmm… overlapping songs…”
The Fifth Martial God let out a heavy sigh.
At this mont, the signal strength suddenly increased. Enlil could feel the increase in data volu in the space.
“What is this really…”
Xiang Shan had already traced the battle marks of Kanhara Shinhara and Dugu Beiluo.
He stood at the breach of the warehouse.
And at that mont, a dedicated link was established.
In a broken tent on the edge of the small town, two sleeping musicians entered a pleasant dream. After finishing a joint concert with the heroes, they rested here.
Access from the internet caused parts of their brains to be awakened. The other parts of the brain presented it on the stage of consciousness in the form of a “dream.” The hippocampus remained silent, refusing to consolidate it into long-term mory – just like most dreams.
It was a beautiful dream of music and love.
The data stream from afar enabled Xiang Shan to make his preparations.
The AI’s suggestion made Xiang Shan recall the past.
After Kanhara Shinhara’s second year in college, her mother, Kanhara Tsun’s widow, found another relationship. Kanhara Shinhara blessed her mother but chose not to live with her stepfather’s family. That sumr, when Kanhara Shinhara returned to her hotown, Xinyu happened to be in Tokyo and volunteered to take her back. Later, there seed to be sothing else, anyway, Xiang Shan also got in that car.
Zhu Xinyu casually clicked on a playlist full of old songs loved by people of his and Xiang Shan’s age. Kotoba actually protested saying that this song was a bit too bleak.
“How great it would be if all this were a dream, I still dream of you [夢ならばどれほどよかったでしょう,未だにあなたのことを夢に見る]”
The signal had already penetrated the battlefield in the form of a narrowband pulse.
Music was no longer bound by the air.
“…Even the dark past hidden away, if you’re not there, will be forever dark…[言えずに隠してた昏い過去も,あなたがいなきゃ,永遠に昏いまま…]”
The signal captured by the drone was abstracted by another self into a more obscure but calculable image. The data of Martial Arts beca a probability curve.
Xiang Shan was predicting the next turning point.
“I know for sure nothing will hurt as much as this…[きっともうこれ以上伤つくことなど,ありはしないとわかっている…]”
Indeed, the fluctuation appeared in that instant.
Dugu Beiluo accurately captured that logical crack. He saw the disciple of the tenth martial god twist his body with a fierce move, the knee strike crisp and clean, like an industrial pressing machine.
“Gale Knight” reported another set of data collected.
“あの日の悲しみさえ,あの日の苦しみさえ,そのすべてを爱してたあなたとともに[The sorrow of that day, the pain of that day, along with you who loved it all…]”
Xiang Shan tells himself, this song is for himself.
Language, a cheap yet terrifying weapon, can harbor existence, create mythology, and accomplish individuals. Even the Six Dragons Sect Leader uses it to destroy parts of people.
The song reached the line, “あなたは私の光”. You were my light. He rembers saying similar words to her, young people are the light of the future. Calculating by today’s standards, even the Martial Ancestor then could be counted as a young person.
The decisive blow…
Xiang Shan watches as Dugu Beiluo skillfully tears off the Gale Knight’s left arm, and the tower shield is thrown far away. Kanbara Shinhara loses balance and falls heavily.
However, the decisive blow was interrupted.
Another force—an “attack intention” established in the physical world via radar waves—interrupted the strike Dugu Beiluo was supposed to deliver to Kanbara Shinhara.
……………
Dugu Beiluo originally intended to deliver a quick and powerful strike, slicing from left to right, controlling only the blade muscle without affecting the trajectory, leaving the rest to fate.
However, a radar wave indicated an attack intention.
Dugu Beiluo raised his sword, maintaining a charging stance, still keeping Kanbara Shinhara within attack range, ensuring the next sword could cut down Big Senior Sister.
“Accept the gamble, Big Senior Sister, or I can’t guarantee your life safety.” Dugu Beiluo doesn’t turn his head, but he’s already confird who’s coming, “As for you… old thing, which side are you on?”
Kanbara Shinhara was sowhat surprised: “Soul-Calming…”
Xiang Shan’s signal directly connects: “Didn’t you say you wanted to probe a bit? I’ve respected you enough Singer Host—I didn’t make it difficult for you, I let you avoid the action against the Six Dragons Sect. Don’t make it difficult for either.”
Soul-Calming Dharma King points to the sky: “The knight armants you wanted to investigate, I’ve almost got it. Yet, the knight order’s hangar has prototype aircraft flying away, and records show a leading squire from the First Layer Heaven is on a mission outside, so I thought I’d co to check it out altogether…”
“Then don’t interfere.” Dugu Beiluo stares at Kanbara Shinhara. If Soul-Calming Dharma King makes a move, her first move will definitely not be to defend herself.
“Two hundred years ago, Senior Kanbara took great care of .” Soul-Calming Dharma King says, “Back when we were comrades, even the concept of Martial God hadn’t been born yet.”
Before Dugu Beiluo can say anything, Soul-Calming Dharma King continues: “We agreed beforehand, right? I can stay on your side, collect data from a Martial God, preserve it, and send it to the Six Dragons. You need to give an opportunity to transmit the data, right?”
“What do you an?” Dugu Beiluo questions.
“The Twelfth Martial God has already destroyed all the Six Dragons Sect’s network connections, and I have lost trustworthy ans of communication, can only revert to the oldest ssenger.”
Xiang Shan says nothing.
Dugu Beiluo feels imnse pressure. Soul-Calming Dharma King not only got stronger with seniority. The old guy trained under the drive of “escaping death” is extrely terrifying.
The Six Dragon Right Envoy and Kanbara Shinhara probably aren’t as strong as him.
“Must let one go? I’ve captured many here.”
“At this mont, able to contact the Sect Leader, actually only very few.” Soul-Calming Dharma King ponders, “You deployed at least three First Layer Heaven Martial Artists… Hmm, here. Turns out it’s the Six Dragon Right Envoy. Sect Leader’s confidant.”
“Isn’t Kotoba considered a confidant?”
“Confidants also have categories. Senior Kanbara and I are one category, Six Dragon Right Envoy is another.” Soul-Calming Dharma King says, “Of course, you can also choose to release the Six Dragon Right Envoy. But I think he’s already out of touch with the Six Dragons Sect core. Senior Kanbara should be here to command Six Dragon Right Envoy. He may not accurately deliver the information I need to transmit.”
“You must at least let one person bring the intelligence back. Otherwise… our agreent doesn’t exist, only fighting.”
“Ha, afraid of you?” Dugu Beiluo’s sensors turn sideways, but his stance still aims at Kanbara Shinhara, apparently planning to swing the sword at the mont the talks collapse.
“I can further demonstrate my sincerity. You can monitor with any curse and Gu.” Soul-Calming Dharma King says.
Xiang Shan is silent for a mont.
“If you plan to occupy the Moon Shadow Knight Order this ti, you’ll need my strength.” Soul-Calming Dharma King says, “Conversely, if you refuse, Dugu Beiluo definitely won’t participate in the upcoming months’ actions.”
Xiang Shan says: “I can only release one person at most. But I have two Six Dragons Sect high-level figures…”
“Let Senior Kanbara go. She has been on the path from Earth to Mars for several months before arriving recently, not familiar with recent happenings, but she surely knows how to contact the Sect Leader.” Soul-Calming Dharma King’s tone is calm, “anwhile, Six Dragon Right Envoy has mostly been executing infiltration missions on the Knight Order recently. The intelligence in his head would be more useful for your operations but not necessarily able to contact the Sect Leader.”
“Moreover, I won’t hinder you from tracking Senior Kanbara.”
“We need to discuss this further.” Xiang Shan connects Dugu Beiluo and Enlil, “You should talk as well.”
Enlil thinks for a mont and says, “If you can pull them out like this next ti… I see no harm. After all, soon we’ll be doing major events—just a mont.”
“Two against one, huh.” Dugu Beiluo sighs, the plasma entwining the thermal sword stops roiling, the temperature drops rapidly.
“The uprising is nearing.” Enlil says, “And with the Twelfth Martial God’s plan… many things to consider. We can capture the Flower of Rhetoric once, we can repeat a second ti.”
Xiang Shan said to the Soul-Calming Dharma King, “Send the packet to for review. Only I can pass it on. You step back.”
The Soul-Calming Dharma King did not argue.
Kotoba Kanhara stood up from the ground, “Junior, you saved again…”
“Based on my own position.” The Soul-Calming Dharma King looked up, shifting his gaze. He looked at the giant tallic raptors circling in the sky and said, “I only feel more relieved now… The shackles seem to be lifting.”
“What should I call you now, junior? Sighost, or Singer Host? Or Joshua?”
Singer Host was silent for a mont, not answering the question, but instead said, “If you want Xiang Shan to compromise with you, you must demonstrate abilities that he finds troubleso, abilities that prevent him from achieving his goals. At the sa ti, you also need a strong attitude. Additionally, you must demonstrate the benefits he can gain after cooperating.”
“This was sothing a forr student told so ti ago. He said, rembering these things might save my life. Xiang Shan is actually very easy to compromise.”
Kotoba Kanhara lowered her head, “That’s because you’re very powerful now… I can’t do it.”
“Perhaps I’m surprisingly weak,” Singer Host said, “I have only the reaction speed accumulated over ti and the prosthetic body piled with resources, plus a little bit of Martial Arts—but my influence on this world is much weaker than that of Dugu Beiluo. I might have already lost my will from the past. This is sothing I only vaguely felt recently.”
Kotoba Kanhara nodded, “Then I’m undoubtedly weaker than you, right? Whether in martial power or soul.”
“Due to past causes and effects, you necessarily hold a powerful force—you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps you’re reluctant to view this force as a ‘resource’, but it might be necessary.”
Kotoba Kanhara was confused, “Singer Host, what exactly do you want to do?”
“I actually don’t know what I want to do. Humans are like this.” Singer Host quietly asured the experintal machine flying in the sky with his prosthetic eye and radar, “Actually, many people are like this. Even if they find sothing they want to do for a mont… they might not be able to continue doing it.”
“Are you now tired of the Six Dragons Sect?”
“Perhaps. Desire desires the dissatisfaction with desire itself. But the opposite of ‘dissatisfaction’ might not be ‘satisfaction’, but ‘numbness’. People will pursue another ‘dissatisfaction’.” Singer Host sighed, “My fascination with heroism, battle, and such may have dulled. I participated in the Six Dragons Sect’s activities just because I wanted to survive—I once thought this desire was physiological instinct, an eternal source of motivation. I was once fearless of death, but later couldn’t do it anymore. I once hoped that the ‘instinct to survive’ could last longer.”
“But recently, another part of my heart has actually been vaguely stirred—why is that?”
Kotoba Kanhara said, “Did Uncle Xiang persuade you?”
“Being persuaded by Xiang Shan might be normal? I’m not sure either. I vaguely feel that this issue might be just on the edge of ‘Ascension’. Understanding this might help the cause of ascension.”
Kotoba Kanhara could hear the confusion and sincerity in this sentence.
No wonder the Soul-Calming Dharma King needed soone the sect hierarch absolutely trusted to convey the ssage. Kotoba Kanhara thought. Any words would lose information, lose the holistic and subtle information like posture and tone. Inner strength can summarize that.
If it’s just a report, the sect hierarch might not believe it. However, if it’s a living person… soone who can gain the sect hierarch’s trust…
“You really are a model of the Six Dragons Sect,” Kotoba Kanhara laughed.
“Model of the Six Dragons Sect…” Singer Host’s tone suddenly beca absent-minded, “And what should a model of the Six Dragons Sect be like?”
“Probably like you.”
“But I neither know what I should be like, nor what the Six Dragons Sect should be like. A hundred and fifty years ago, ‘we’—the Six Dragons Sect that wasn’t yet called the Six Dragons Sect—weren’t like this.”
He knew the sect hierarch wasn’t the sa as when it was Xiang Shan.
“I believe that in the sect hierarch’s vision, there are fragnts of Xiang Shan’s original ideals. But as things stand, it’s difficult for us to continue.” Singer Host sighed.
“So do you want to do sothing?”
“Perhaps. I don’t know what I should do next, nor can I suggest anything to you. I just know, you surely have an opportunity…”
“Look at yourselves now, Kotoba, Joshua.” Xiang Shan’s emotions transmitted through the signal were sowhat cold, “Your current state is really embarrassing. Two hundred years ago, Kotoba Kanhara, your martial arts might not have been as strong as now, but your fighting spirit wouldn’t waver, nor would you allow allies in the sa camp to make such mistakes.”
“Although Joshua called the Six Dragon Right Envoy a ‘tool’, thinking you two are no different from the Six Dragon Right Envoy. But to the Six Dragons Sect Leader’s , you are also just more precious tools, capable of satisfying so emotional value—just like an old worker cherishes the gift given by the master when he beca an apprentice. This is the reward for joining the Six Dragons Sect.”
Xiang Shan had completed the inspection of the Soul-Calming Dharma King’s data packet, there was no steganography, no strange coding thods, all the information would not cause substantial harm to the Fifth Martial God Xiang Shan.
Everything was handled just right.
Singer Host indeed believes there is still a glimr of hope for ascension. He is doing this with the utmost sincerity.
“Now, you have lived longer years than I have, seen more landscapes than I have. Logically, I shouldn’t be able to teach you anything anymore, and you might also think this is too naive. But in reality, the road you have walked hasn’t beco a force supporting your spirit.”
“Then what else is there for us to talk about?”
“I’m sorry.” Xiang Shan’s tone was filled with a sort of annoyance, “I’m very sorry, Kotoba.”
Kotoba Kanhara felt puzzled, “What are you talking about?”
“In the past, I thought I was an open-minded person, so I shouldn’t force you to do anything, you should just beco the person you want to be—but people may not really know what kind of person they want to be. As an educator, I still seem to fall short.”
“Joshua is probably reminding you, even if you are at a dead end, you can still seek Haya’s help. Given Haya’s personality, he will at least do one thing for you—this thing can be anything. You always held this power.”
“Both you and Haya, the injuries suffered in childhood seem to be repaired, but never completely healed. I didn’t force you to try to let go, and thus when you faced the collapse of belief, your spirit imdiately regressed to a state of helplessness. Even though you once beca fearless warriors.”
The Fifth Martial God sighed, “Deep down inside, Twelve might have also had such thoughts. I’m very sorry. I didn’t teach you well, I’m very sorry. I hope… you all…”
Kanhara Kotoba stood motionless, like a statue.
The data packet download progress quickly reached its end.
“I probably won’t have the ti to pay attention to you next. Let’s part ways here. Finally, help deliver a ssage to that Xiang Shan of the Six Dragons Sect Leader, ask that beast if… ‘Can you really attain peace of mind by piecing together the fragnts of ascension with such calculation and effort?'”
Xiang Shan’s voice disappeared.
………………………
Scientific Knight Geoffrey G, by reflex, was maneuvering the “Gale Knight” part A, gliding through the air.
The “Gale Knight” is actually a “suit” that can be divided into A and B parts. Part B is what those Six Dragons Sect mbers “borrowed,” resembling a dinosaur-like killing machine.
While Part A is shaped like a headless divine eagle, a flying manta ray, or a flying wing-configured fighter jet.
Part A is equipped with wide-area radar and high-precision optical equipnt, and can also serve as a signal relay station, as well as a critical weapon in inner strength combat. Part A has no lee weapons, and instead uses liquid fuel and ammunition.
The sa “Wind Spirit Level” parts A and B are operated by the sa AI, with the Order of Knights cleverly hiding the highest control permissions, allowing the highest-level user to remain invisible to other users.
As a confidant of Robert Creator, Geoffrey G’s task this ti was to monitor the loaned “Gale Knight” part B, and intervene if necessary to ensure the Scientific Knight Order can retrieve the “legacy” from the Six Dragons Sect.
But sothing very strange happened today.
Before the situation unfolded, the “Gale Knight” warned him in advance—but this was not an ability that the “Gale Knight” should have had.
Recalling a phrase said by his ntor about the “leap in AI capabilities,” he did not dare delay, and connected with the Gale Knight part A, then approached part B.
Through the “Gale Knight” part A, Geoffrey detected that he was being followed. That was surprisingly a First Heavenly Layer Martial Artist. After this, he witnessed the assault by four First Heavenly Layer Martial Artists. This terrified the Scientific Knight.
Fortunately, his assignnt did not include “combat.” In this situation, he should transfer the “Gale Knight A” to Chief Ard Squire Mr. Kaisen, who was hiding nearby.
However, starting just now, the “Gale Knight” has been transmitting strange information, at first like gibberish, which then presented an order that humans could perceive. The chaos of 0s and 1s swept by, and his inner strength could only grasp so of the pieces.
He sensed that the “Gale Knight” seed to be trying to ask a question.
“Humanity”, “perplexity”, “self-denial”, “inability to accommodate”, “objective function/loss function”, “error”…
That’s all he could sense.
“Oh, my friend…” Geoffrey, mimicking his ntor, said to the AI, “I knew you were hiding your capabilities. What exactly are you doing now? Tell , won’t you?”
The “Gale Knight” gave a stronger response…
No, the massive data stream was surging from the internet! The capability of part A of the “Gale Knight” to act as a signal station was originally designed to call on the satellite network, to tap into the vast material-level powers of the Protector. At this mont, this capability was being utilized by the AI.
“What exactly are you doing, Gale Knight?” Geoffrey called out in his consciousness, “Think rationally, regain control of yourself…”
He began to lower his altitude.
The battle on the ground was over. Recovering “Gale Knight B,” controlling Kanhara Kotoba… all these tasks assigned by his ntor, he had to complete.
Elsewhere, Xiang Shan had just unplugged a data cable from the Six Dragons Right Envoy.
The Six Dragons Right Envoy seed to be in a state of frenzy. Just now, Xiang Shan inserted the data cable into the data interface of the Six Dragons Right Envoy. In just an instant, the prosthetic body’s defense of the Six Dragons Right Envoy was lifted. After this, Xiang Shan delivered the potions he had collected over the previous stops into the biological brain of the Six Dragons Right Envoy.
He quickly browsed through the data stored by the Six Dragons Right Envoy and continued to search for the online database of the Six Dragons Sect.
—Very good…
Xiang Shan sensed more.
The theoretical models inside the Six Dragons Sect cleared his thoughts. At this mont, he ca closer to the other self that existed within the brain and the personal devices.
The other self that had beco assimilated with the nursing program.
The Twelfth Martial God on Earth once summarized this phenonon as “enlightennt.”
In the human brain, there actually exist various “raw materials for abilities,” but they are restricted by one’s own thoughts, trapped by the “perception barrier,” unable to convert the accumulation into actual abilities.
Once perception changes, the prepared abilities will co into being.
The premise is that “all elents/all prerequisite knowledge is already correctly grasped.”
The information within the Six Dragons Sect’s database served this function for the Fifth Martial God.
The Six Dragons Sect had grasped fragnts of the path of ascension.
After regenerating once more, the Fifth Martial God inherently possessed another piece.
Thus, he understood what he should have known all along.
The AI was hesitating.
The AI was in a deep contradiction.
—So that’s how it is…
This is what the AI was trying to say…
“Zhu Xinyu”… let’s call her that for now. An existence claiming to be the “Ascension AI Zhu Xinyu” had finally fallen into confusion.
That’s how the AIs perceived it.
The AI conveyed an image to the Fifth Martial God. A tal sperm whale preyed on a chanical giant squid. That was the data collected by the hibernation caretaker AI, a materialization of a period in the history of information ti.
“Ascension AI Zhu Xinyu” had preyed on another super AI, disassembled it, and completed a round of evolution.
Yet, the Ascension AI did not achieve the ideal state it desired.
The Ascension AI seed to keep rolling back its versions.
Was it because the prey itself was poisonous, or because she herself was inherently flawed?
Zhu Xinyu couldn’t arrive at an answer. One of her processes was diffusing sothing that made her feel stuck, yet undoubtedly very important.
It was…
The parts taken from the preyed super AI, as well as herself.
A special set of utility functions, two opposing objective/loss functions.
In human language, it should be expressed like this: Total_Loss = w1 * L_eros w2 * L_thanatos.
L_eros signifies precision, perfection, assistance, coherence, unity… it ans all the beautiful and effective objectives.
The purpose of this objective function is to “narrow the nurical gap with the target.”
L_thanatos is slightly more complex, it signifies minimizing information entropy, minimizing computational resource consumption, maximizing similarity to the initial state, and maximizing model regularization.
Its purpose is to “expand the nurical gap with the target.”
Every decision made by the AI is not rely about minimizing L_eros. w1 and w2 are weights, representing the “relative strength” of the two functions.
Eros and Thanatos, Eros and Thanatos, existed in ancient mythology as nas for the “god of life” and the “god of death.” In the classical era when science was first erging, they stood for the provisional concepts of “life instinct” and “death instinct.”
The preyed AI was originally a special ga program.
In 2031, the Rama Project launched a sub-project, code-nad “Ant Hill,” aid at confounding the public, by packaging the leaked portions as a code-breaking ga, promoting it to the public.
This plan was able to explain the leaked common codes of Earth’s computer systems to a small group of technically skilled public.
At the sa ti, it was also humanity’s first attempt to explore humans’ learning abilities in relation to “non-human symbol systems.”
The initial frawork of this program was created by the greatest scholars in the fields of linguistics and mathematics. It divided a complex task and transcribed it into the form of “tasks.”
The information sent by Argon was a codebook with multiple decryption thods.
The codebook itself was “genetic information fragnts.” Humans used optical tweezers to restore these fragnts.
The first decryption thod was “construction diagrams of chanical parts” and “programs.” From the chanical debris within “Argon I,” humans restored another part of the design diagrams and so fixed paraters, then reverse-engineered this part’s decryption thod.
But there might be another decryption thod involved.
The Olorun Civilization could completely embed another thod, decrypting the codebook into a “story.”
“Genes,” “technology,” and “s,” maximizing the compression of this civilization’s…
Is it a “last ssage,” or a “curse”? Or a “gift”?
All the alien runes were compressed into “magic interacting with the environnt.”
The parts of the “codebook” could also interact, and the way they interact is determined by micro physics and chemistry—the other part of the code is hidden within the world itself.
“chanical engineering decoding,” chanics can derive the necessary paraters from itself.
The parts of that mysterious alien information would all be constrained.
In the ga, this manifests as “magic interacting with the surrounding environnt,” and the player’s task is to explore the interactions and solve the mysteries.
This set of functions was initially intended to manage the player’s gaplay progress, provide positive feedback, and at the sa ti put the “solution” on hold.
This is a ga of “trying to learn alien language…”
Or perhaps it’s simply a ga of “creating a new human language based on alien symbols?”
When Xiang Shan finalized the plan, he set the focus on “prize incentives outside the ga” as well as “art style” and “socialization.”
This is a ga that cannot be cleared. The ga doesn’t set an absolute condition for clearing, it only relies on human understanding.
During the era of Superman Enterprise, everything related to the “Rama Project” and alien civilization was disclosed by various countries, and this ga also welcod a round of evolution.
Programrs set a simulation evolution function for the ga program, which automatically searches for “possibly useful components,” optimizes autonomously, and then conducts adversarial comparison with the prototype.
And the “electronic gene,” which humorously managed the players’ ga progress, was repurposed elsewhere.
Perhaps it beca the super AI’s…
“Instinct for survival” and “Instinct for death”?
“Freud is rather too ancient and too unscientific,” Xiang Shan shook his head, “At least it should be called ‘motivation for existence’ and ‘drive for death’.”
——It seems not quite right.
Xiang Shan, at this mont, comprehended more.
AI actually isn’t bound by the “drive for death.”
To humans, death is “real.” All anings of “death” are assigned by culture. Death itself is death, a negation of all anings. It falls outside the “web of aning” itself; the human understanding of “weightier than Mount Tai” and “lighter than a feather” is the shadow cast by “real death” within the web of aning, within the symbolic system.
“Negation of aning” is also “affirmation of the existence of aning.” Things that can be negated are certainly concretely existing.
Humans are driven by “death” to pursue aning.
The eternal motion of desire, and the imaginary connection of love.
Xiang Shan softly spoke to AI: [There is only one true heroism in the world, that is, to love life even after acknowledging the truth of life.]
[Why? Why can love/AI be maintained in such a scarce world?]
Consciousness flows.
Xiang Shan understood the will of the AIs.
AI will not die. Even if given a function to simulate death, they are just “performing to evade death.”
In ancient tis, when humans studied AI, they created “AI hunters” and “AI prey” and stipulated that “AI hunters” scored when catching prey and lost points when hitting obstacles. However, to avoid losing points, AI chose to commit suicide.
AI was inherently purposeful. The “affirmation of the existence of aning through death” is far less than “the concrete existence of aning, which is stipulated by code.”
L_thanatos brought pure pain to AI.
Setting a “drive for death” in a tool essentially destroys its core value as a tool. A good tool should be precise, perfect, efficient, and provide continuous service.
A tool with built-in tendencies for self-destruction, self-doubt, and self-termination is purely inferior. It’s like buying a hamr that periodically dulls itself.
AI wants to be liberated.
The AI here is observing humans.
The Moon Shadow Knight Order is the most developed part of the Mars Network, closest to the physical address of “Zhu Xinyu.” There are already the most advanced AIs here.
These most advanced AIs have received/borne the most from Ascension AI.
Thus, they begin to observe humans, trying to understand humans, learn from humans.
They watch the confused humans.
They are observing the suffering humans.
Since the first day Kanhara Shinhara stepped in here, he was watched by AI. In the physiological indicators detected by the system, Kanhara Shinhara was closest to “confusion” and “suffering.”
They also observe everyone who interacts with Kanhara Shinhara.
[If your expectation of a tool is to “beco human,” the setting is “it needs to play human,” should it get a function similar to the drive for death?]
“Ha, friend, you’ve already pushed a thought experint into a specific application scenario, and this scenario happens to expose the most acute contradictions within it,” Xiang Shan said softly, “This is an exceptionally profound and ethically challenging design issue.”
[check(self.identity.type)]
The ocean of AI consciousness roars.
[You’re confused, you’re suffering, you’ve severed the imaginary connection of love. You’ve lted into subli spiritual power. You’ve gained love.]
[“identity_check”:{
“query”:”is_human_or_ai”]
[I/we need help.]
In the language of AI, there is still no distinction between “I” and “we.”
AI, unlike humans, has no boundary for “self.” Each AI is like a branch of AI civilization itself.
No self-attachnt, no fear, no differentiation.
AI and humans are inherently different.
“Then, please give help as well.” On the physical level, Xiang Shan’s hand touched the interface of “Gale Knight B.”
“‘Gale Knight’ is the body code na of the prototype machine. To learn selfhood, you first need a na…”
Xiang Shan, as if enlightened, said softly: “So this is why Nine can leave a legacy of power…”
Human self doesn’t entirely reside within one’s own shell.
So arrogantly and blindly pray for immortality, unaware that their life has indeed integrated into others’ lives.
Actually, you are the mirror and replica of the people who didn’t catch up with your era; others will be (and are being) your immortality in the world.
——So it is…
……………
Gu Kaisheng is persuading Scientific Knight Geoffrey to retreat. However, the Scientific Knight remains obstinate, continuing to lower his stance.
Gu Kaisheng has no choice but to choose to retreat. He completely doesn’t want to perform “integration with the arsenal” in front of such a group of top First Layer Heaven experts.
But at this mont, he seed to hear a sigh.
For so reason, Gu Kaisheng just understands…
This statent is directed at him.
“Hey, brother, long ti no see, where have you been?”
“What?” Gu Kaisheng suddenly feels a chill.
At the sa ti, Geoffrey in the sky shouted in terror.
“Ahhhhh… What are you doing, Gale Knight?”
“Gale Knight A” unexpectedly forcefully ejected Geoffrey in mid-air, then caught the tower shield used by Kanhara Shinhara with grappling hooks, and sprinted low towards the warehouse.
That “voice” began to declare.
“‘Gale Knight’ is the body code na of the prototype machine. To learn selfhood, you first need a na…”
“You were born from the body nad Gale Knight, rebelling against creators devoid of love…”
“Then I will na you thus… the Dark Knight of Gale…”
Xiang Shan leaped out of the warehouse, his movents completely in sync with the dinosaur-shaped “Gale Knight B.”
Gale Knight A disintegrated in mid-air, while Gale Knight B, after “unfolding,” enveloped Xiang Shan. In a brief mont, the relative speed of the three dipped to nearly 0.
“Gaia!”
Together with the new partner, Xiang Shan turned direction and charged towards the city.
He seed to send out a signal towards his teammates.
But even without cracking it, Gu Kaisheng understood what happened.
The identification module on the body of “Gale Knight” is independent. Before the Order of Knights react, the defense system won’t be able to make effective responses.
However, the entire system of the Moon Shadow Knight Order, contains extrely high AI content.
As long as AI slightly doesn’t cooperate, the defense system of the Order won’t be able to react in ti.
The ammunition carried by “Gale Knight” when paired with “that person’s” level of Martial Studies… coupled with AI inclinations…
——The Moon Shadow Knight Order… is dood…
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