Chapter 287 - 17: Weak AI Is Good? (2)

Because it’s an Earth Spirit refined through Demon Spirit Materialization, its Spirituality was severely damaged when the Sect forcibly modified its rules.

Now, the Secret Realm’s operation mostly relies on members of the Array Department taking shifts.

As for the Thunder Tribulation Module, they’ve simply sealed it for now. They’ll deal with it later when they have time, since it’s just too much trouble."

Zhang Deming: "..."

’What is this supposed to be?’

’You couldn’t modify the core of an Intelligent Array—an Earth Spirit System Elf made from a Demon Beast—so you just decided to brute-force it?’

’And you even messed it up in the process? Hit it with an intelligence debuff? Did you brute-force the Earth Spirit into becoming an idiot?’

’So this was the "sliver of hope" the Dragon Turtle divined back then?’

’It really is just a fucking sliver!’

’Ha!’

’This Blessed Fortune Path is such a damn scam.’

’Is this what they mean when they say those who play with fate will, in turn, be played by it?’

Thoughts raced through Zhang Deming’s mind as he followed Yang Guangfu through a large complex of buildings, arriving at the edge of the core area.

A light curtain appeared before them. Through it, Zhang Deming saw an endless sea of flowers.

Yang Guangfu looked at the light curtain and said, "Because of the problem with the Earth Spirit, the Secret Realm’s spatial folding can no longer function properly.

So the Array Department had no choice but to directly stitch the four regions of the Cyan Wood Secret Realm together.

It might lack the flair it once had, but at least it can operate normally now.

They’re probably still discussing how to touch it up and give it some of that style back."

Zhang Deming looked at the light curtain, reached out to touch it, and passed through with ease.

He turned his head and asked, "No restrictions?"

Yang Guangfu nodded. "Time was tight. Stitching it together two days ago nearly wiped out everyone in the Array Department.

After all, more than half the Secret Realm is now being run by personnel working shifts, and the workload is immense.

The higher-ups are discussing whether to find a Great Demon to fuse and refine again, or to use that ’Derived Array Dao Artifact Spirit’ from the Outer Realm.

They’re reluctant to refine the Demon Beasts the Sect has been raising, and the success rate is worryingly low. I hear the higher-ups are leaning toward the Derived Artifact Spirit from the Outer Realm.

I heard it’s called something... artificial."

"Artificial intelligence?" Zhang Deming asked.

"Right, artificial intelligence! I hear the Array Department is a big proponent. They all seem to think the Outer Realm’s artificial intelligence techniques are very convenient and advanced.

This sentiment has become pretty common these last few years. Don’t tell me you’re a fan of these artificial intelligence Artifact Spirits too, Senior Brother?" Yang Guangfu asked.

"Heh." Zhang Deming let out a cryptic laugh.

He couldn’t help but think of that laptop operating system with a backdoor. He figured he’d never in his life bring himself to like any system from the Celestial Universe Federation, official or not.

Yang Guangfu saw Zhang Deming’s expression and said, "You don’t like them either, Senior Brother? That makes sense. I doubt anyone on Spirit Nurturing Peak would.

After all, how can these fake Derived Spirits even compare to a true Spirit nurtured by a Spirit Nurturing Master?

It’s a shame our Sect doesn’t have a Tier Seven Spirit Nurturing Master. Otherwise, we could try to nurture a true Artifact Spirit."

Zhang Deming looked at him and said, "You seem to know a lot about the Sect’s internal affairs."

Yang Guangfu smiled. "Haven’t you guessed which department I’m from, Senior Brother?"

Zhang Deming’s brow furrowed slightly, but Li Shifan cut in, "The Resources Department’s Secret Group?"

Yang Guangfu gave the two of them a noncommittal smile. He didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either, which was a tacit admission.

Of the many departments under the four core divisions, a few had influence that spanned the entire Sect.

The secret intelligence department, mainly responsible for information, was one of them—and a major one at that.

They were controlled by the four divisions, yet didn’t belong exclusively to any single one; each division had its own branch.

"Let’s go. We should hurry over to where the Flower Demon Elves are.

The main reason the Sect is so invested in the exchange conference this time is that it no longer wants to spend a fortune commissioning Artifact Spirits or Plant Spirits from the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land.

They hope to use this conference to import the Pseudo-Spirit Technique from the Outer Realm and save the Sect a huge expense.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be rushing to prepare so eagerly for a mere exchange conference," Yang Guangfu said.

Zhang Deming asked, "Are the Outer Realm’s artificial intelligence techniques that advanced?"

Hearing this, Yang Guangfu shook his head. "I’m not sure. But I’ve heard that with their Pseudo-Spirit Technique, you only need to commission it once, and then you can copy it infinitely.

Although they’re essentially Pseudo-Spirits, they can still meet the requirements for applications that don’t demand high levels of Spirituality.

Plus, the idea of commissioning it once for a permanent solution is very appealing to the Sect."

Zhang Deming was taken aback. ’You people seem to have some misunderstanding about artificial intelligence.’

’Software that’s cheap to create will bleed you dry with maintenance fees. Then you’ll know what it feels like to be sliced by a dull knife—it’s not painful, but it is fatal.’

’If it were truly a one-and-done system, it wouldn’t be artificial intelligence; it would be a sentient life form.’

’Putting aside whether the Celestial Universe Federation’s AI technology has even reached the point of creating sentient life...’

’...just the fact that it’s a sentient life form means it probably wouldn’t be any cheaper than an Artifact Spirit from the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land. Given how rare that would be, it would probably be even more expensive.’

’And if they were really selling it for dirt cheap... heh!’

’If that were the case,’ Zhang Deming thought, ’the Celestial Spirit Sect would probably have to change its name to the Celestial Universe Sect one day.’

The three of them passed through the light curtain into the sea of flowers. As they walked, Yang Guangfu deliberately continued:

"The Array Department pushed hard for this exchange conference, primarily under the pretext of a friendly discussion on techniques and the Dao.

They’re probably all hoping to steal some trade secrets and come up with something like that ’Oratory: Words’ from before.

That’s why you, Senior Brother... erm, we on Spirit Nurturing Peak are also quite enthusiastic about it. I’d guess the higher-ups in the Array Department sent a lot of benefits our way.

On top of that, the price we’ve paid for Artifact Spirits over the years has truly been far too high.

So the Sect is also in favor of this."

As the three of them walked, Yang Guangfu kept talking, seemingly directing his explanations intentionally at Zhang Deming.

He particularly emphasized the purpose behind nurturing the Flower Demon Elves.

He must have been instructed by his superiors before he came.

Along the way, Li Shifan glanced up at him several times, a little confused as to why they were being told all this. After all, it was practically classified information.

He glanced at his left hand a few more times. The Ancestor had just said last night that he wanted to take a good look around the Cyan Wood Secret Realm to see if he could find any hidden treasures, but now there wasn’t a peep out of him.

...

By this point, the three of them had been moving swiftly through the sea of flowers for a short while.

Zhang Deming, who was in the lead, came to a sudden halt, looking at the flower sea ahead in surprise.

Looking at the sea of flowers, Zhang Deming asked, "Is this... Have they already started cultivating the Flower Wood?"

This sea of flowers was vast. It took Zhang Deming and the others a full half-hour of rapid travel to barely cross half of one region.

The first half of the flower sea was nothing special, just an endless expanse of the Flowers of Flower Demons.

But this half of the flower sea before them resembled the scene from Gourd Valley in the Flower Demon Elf Race Territory.

Within the endless sea of flowers, an unusually tall flower—or rather, a Flower Wood—stood out at regular intervals, swaying like a king among its subjects.

The Flower Woods were evenly distributed. Gazing out over the endless sea of flowers, it was impossible to tell how many there were.

At his words, Yang Guangfu explained, "These Flowers of Flower Demons weren’t actually that heavily contaminated, because the Secret Realm made a point of protecting them before.

So after the source of the contamination was cleared out, the Spiritual Agriculture Department said we could try cultivating Flower Demons.

After all, this sea of flowers has had several hundred years to recover.

Even with the residual contamination, while we expect a fair number of stillbirths, some Flower Demons should still undergo Spirit Awakening.

Through active Spirit Awakening, of course. It’s probably impossible for them to develop automatically like they would in an uncontaminated environment.

After all, the Flower of the Flower Demon is extremely sensitive to contamination.

For this reason, they even divided the sea of flowers into four regions and put us from Spirit Nurturing Peak in charge of caring for them."

Zhang Deming froze. "What did you just say?"