Chapter 105: A Nation Built on Misaligned Technology 20

Now Mu Yin understood. She not only had to sever the heroine’s destined path, but also save the original male lead. But who was the original male lead again? She had no idea at all. Tsk, couldn’t this wretched Heavenly Law give her a little hint? If it did not need something from her, she would probably have been destroyed long ago.

At that thought, Mu Yin’s lips twisted slightly. Although the Heavenly Law possessed no human-like consciousness, as the most powerful system of rules, its instincts were actually even more formidable than those of an artificial intelligence. Everything it did followed the laws governing it. Any existence that differed from those laws was treated as a virus. Yet it could judge, based on the nature of the virus and its own attributes, whether the virus should be eliminated or put to use.

If it chose to make use of one, it naturally had to seek some benefit for itself. For example, allowing the world to develop in a better direction. A civilization that continued to advance was beneficial to the growth of the Heavenly Law; otherwise, it would never have supported humanity instead of the cultivators who had once held a place in every world.

Technological civilization consumed energy in a cycle, whereas cultivators plundered it. A small number was harmless, but once their numbers grew, they became a drain on the world itself. That was why fewer and fewer people ascended during the declining age of cultivation. There was already so little energy left, yet they still carried it away with them. Naturally, the Heavenly Law was displeased.

In the early and middle stages of a world’s development, however, the Heavenly Law was more than happy to promote cultivation civilization. At that time, the greater the number and prosperity of cultivators, the more void energy the Origin Core could absorb while it breathed, replenishing itself.

That was also why humanity acquired all kinds of abilities after every revival of spiritual energy. During those periods, the Heavenly Law needed people like that to assist it. In the end, the Heavenly Law was an exceedingly self-serving set of rules. Mu Yin had only realized this after spending so long in the River of Time and Space, but she did not find it particularly strange.

After all, if she were the Heavenly Law, then every living thing in the world would be like the blood cells and other components within her body. Human beings, especially, would be no different from parasites. Naturally, she would want them to obey and for everything to develop in a favorable direction. When one fell ill, was it not because viruses had invaded the cells and caused mutations? She would also hope that the parasites within her body would cooperate with her rather than plunder her vitality. If they chose the latter, then of course they would have to be eliminated.

Her insights into the Heavenly Law gave Mu Yin a better understanding of herself as well. Although her supernatural ability was powerful and unique, she was, in essence, merely a parasite inhabiting the world. If she brought benefits, she was a beneficial parasite; if she caused harm, she was a virus.

If she wished to become stronger, she would certainly have to forge her own path. But after calculating the extent of her abilities, she decided to take things slowly. Perhaps one day she would eventually find that path, but for now she needed to accumulate strength. She also had to continue carrying out her missions—not only to earn energy for cultivation, but also to eliminate those vermin, for this world, for her homeland, and for herself.

So she might as well cultivate obediently.

With this virtual network linking the entire cultivation world together, she actually had no need to invent anything else. Human beings were intelligent; their thoughts had simply been constrained in the past.

Now that they had a network, and a precedent to follow, their minds would soon be opened. Even if they were not cultivators, were there not still countless ordinary people? Mu Yin had never underestimated humanity’s creativity. In the past, reality had limited their imagination and their direction. Now things were different. Before long, all kinds of products would surely appear.

In truth, preventing the heroine from walking her destined path did not necessarily require Mu Yin to seize that path herself. Letting a hundred flowers bloom was a much better solution. That was why Mu Yin had created the network first instead of releasing the puppets she had already developed with some success.

However, Mu Yin knew exactly what held the greatest advantage. And apart from stimulating human creativity, the network served another purpose. Anyone who logged onto it would leave their aura behind within the network.

After that, finding someone would be as easy as turning over her hand. Although she did not know who the original male lead was, she only needed to pay closer attention to the gossip circulating online. Sooner or later, she would find the information she wanted. She had even secretly granted herself the privileges of the central intelligence system, making it far more powerful than the one she had originally designed.

After all, the central intelligence she had created was only semi-sentient. There was nothing she could do about that; the highest level of coding she had learned was capable of producing only semi-intelligent systems. To learn how to design true artificial intelligence, she would probably have to visit an interstellar world.

Just as Mu Yin had expected, once the network appeared, all sorts of minor inventions began springing up. Moreover, because of the network, forms of opera and other performances that had once been popular only among ordinary people were brought online as well. Gradually, television dramas and films emerged.

Of course, the heroine had probably played a part in this, because Mu Yin discovered that the protagonist of the earliest television drama to appear was Shuiyue Yan.

Shuiyue Yan had no spiritual root. Although she had cultivated to the late Qi Condensation stage over the years, she seemed to have reached the end of her potential. She had always loved singing and dancing, so Shuiyue Ran found her a script and arranged for her to act in it. No one had expected her to possess such talent in that field. Combined with Shuiyue Ran’s excellent script—and the fact that it was the first television drama—the show naturally achieved an extraordinarily high viewership.

Because the actors received a share of the profits, their income increased dramatically. With that money, Shuiyue Yan could purchase pills, and her cultivation began to improve as well. She would probably reach Foundation Establishment at most, but even that would grant her a lifespan of more than three hundred years—something the Qi Condensation stage could not compare with. At that level, one could live for little more than a century.

All in all, the next decade or so was a relatively peaceful period for the cultivation world. Various new professions emerged: directors, cinematographers, makeup artists, screenwriters, and many others. At first, all of them had been created by the heroine. But once Mu Yin sensed that the plot was beginning to shift again, she immediately found many people more talented than the heroine, guided them, and promoted them.

With that, she extinguished the heroine’s path toward becoming the godmother of the cultivation world’s entertainment industry.

By then, Mu Yin’s cultivation had also surpassed the heroine’s. The heroine was still at the Golden Core stage, while Mu Yin had already reached the Nascent Soul stage.

Naturally, Mu Yin had deliberately found a secluded place before undergoing the tribulation to form her Nascent Soul. The tribulation was actually quite easy for her, because her life-based ability could repair the damage inflicted on her body by the lightning. After returning, she suppressed her cultivation so that no one would discover the truth. She had even exchanged for a technique capable of concealing the aura of one’s cultivation. These days, she could enter and leave the Technique Pavilion whenever she pleased—her contribution points were simply too great.

Apart from that, she had finally discovered the identity of the original male lead.

He was Liao Changyun, the chief disciple of the sect master of the first-rate Heaven-Seeking Sect. He possessed a mutated lightning spiritual root, formed his Golden Core at the age of twenty, and reached the Nascent Soul stage at fifty.

But that had been thirty years ago.

Thirty years earlier, Liao Changyun had suffered a cultivation deviation while practicing. Not only had his cultivation regressed, but he had also developed a heart demon and would occasionally lose control.

Eventually, after being possessed by his heart demon and killing several fellow disciples, he was expelled from the sect. He was also branded a wanted fugitive and hunted down. After that, he vanished without a trace.

At present, no one had discovered where Liao Changyun was. Mu Yin had only been able to confirm his identity after learning from the vermin Bai Qifei that their people had once been pursuing him.