Zhangjiang Technological Cultivation Park · Chen hour
In the morning mist, a swarm of spirit butterflies resembled a golden stream, conveying spiritual qi patches along the spirit net nodes. Chen Mo stood in the "Code Taiji" teaching area, instructing disciples on how to integrate recursive algorithms into their breathing techniques. Suddenly, the spirit talisman at the back of his neck grew hot—it was the danger early-warning system set up by Chuntao.
"Young Master! Three Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators are flying over from the direction of Mount Qingcheng!" Chuntao's voice carried a trembling note. "The talismans they're carrying have... have the soul-destroying patterns of the Kunlun Sect!"
Lin Xiaoman gripped the spirit butterfly chip in her hand tightly: "They're assassins from traditional sects. They're afraid the spirit net will shake the status of cultivation aristocrats." She brought up the surveillance footage, seeing three sword lights pierce the spirit net defense, their blades engraved with the "Zhou Tian Stellar Sword Patterns" which were forbidden to be taught outside.
Chen Mo chuckled lightly, raising his hand to summon three spirit butterflies: "Just in time to give the disciples a practical lesson. Pay attention; the bugs in traditional cultivation techniques are often hidden in..." He flicked his fingertips, and the wings of the spirit butterflies reflected the Data Stream of the assassins' sword techniques. "...at the end of loop statements."
The leading assassin swung the "Dipper Seven-Killing Sword", and seven starlight beams coiled around like chains. Chen Mo deployed Code Taiji, and a "try-except" code halo emerged around his body. When the starlight touched the halo, it suddenly transformed into lines of error logs: "Error: Missing termination character, program entered an infinite loop."
"Impossible!" The assassin's pupils shrank as he watched his own sword technique shatter like paper in front of Chen Mo. Even more startlingly, the wings of the spirit butterflies reflected the scene of him practicing the sword technique—his master had intentionally omitted the termination character, causing him to lose three-tenths of his spiritual root every time he executed the technique.
"Didn't your master tell you that the 'Dipper Seven-Killing Sword' needs to be paired with the 'Southern Dipper Life-Extension Pattern'?" Chen Mo waved his hand to scatter spiritual qi patches, and the assassin felt his stagnant spiritual root suddenly unblock. "Traditional sects use information asymmetry to enslave disciples, whereas the spirit net..." He summoned a swarm of spirit butterflies, every wing reflecting the complete cultivation code. "...freely shares all correct cultivation methods."
The other two assassins struck simultaneously, releasing the "Five Elements Sealing Talisman". Chen Mo formed hand seals, executing the "conditional judgment" spell: "Metal overcomes wood? Then I'll use wood-attribute code to break through." Green Data Stream flowed from his fingertips, finding the "earth-attribute bug" on the talisman. With a gentle push, the Five Elements Sealing turned and attacked the casters instead.
"Turns out the techniques we practiced... were all defective products with bugs?" One assassin knelt on the ground, watching his talisman turn into Data Stream. "My younger brother volunteered to go to the mines as a slave just to scrape together spiritual stones for a Foundation Establishment Pill... and the elders said this was 'destined by the heavenly dao'..."
Chen Mo handed over a spirit butterfly chip: "The true heavenly dao shouldn't let anyone suffer because of information asymmetry." As the chip merged into the center of the assassin's brow, he saw the confusion in the other's eyes gradually replaced by a flame—the light of awakening.
After the battle ended, Chen Qingyue hurried over, holding a Jade Slip brought back from the Chén Clan ancestral hall: "Father's spiritual root testing stele is completely shattered, but this fell out from the cracks..." The surface of the Jade Slip was engraved with the same Data Stream patterns as Chén Tiānhóng's gravestone.
When the Jade Slip touched the gravestone, the ruins suddenly vibrated. Chen Mo saw the Data Stream crawl like a living thing, weaving a doorframe behind the gravestone. Flowing across the lintel was his mother's handwriting: "Consciousness Library—To all who seek the truth."
The doorframe slowly opened, and Su Wan'er's virtual projection stepped out from within. Her skirt, composed of golden code, swept across the ground, blooming with light patterns like spirit butterflies: "A-Mo, if you see this library, it means Tianyan Group's quantum immortality project failed... and your father and I finally found a way to store consciousness."
The projection turned toward Lin Xiaoman, handing her a crystal butterfly: "This is the genetic code of your Twin Butterflies; you can use it to access the core area of the library. Remember, true power isn't about controlling data, but..." Her voice suddenly lagged, and garbled characters appeared on the edges of the projection. "...allowing every consciousness to freely read the code of its own life."
The interior of the library was as vast as the universe; the bookshelves were composed of Data Stream, and every book was an archive of someone's consciousness. Chuntao exclaimed, pointing to a certain bookshelf: "Look! That's Steward Chén's consciousness, and Auntie Wang from the kitchen..."
Lin Xiaoman gripped the crystal butterfly tightly: "Tianyan Group claimed they collected qubits for 'heavenly dao calculation', but it turns out they knew how to preserve consciousness all along."
Chen Mo nodded, his gaze falling upon the golden bookshelf in the deepest part, where the consciousness archives of Chén Tiānhóng and Su Wan'er were stored. When he reached out to touch them, a prompt popped up on his retinal interface: "Insufficient access permissions; Twin Butterflies quantum state authentication required."
The injured assassin suddenly dropped to one knee: "I, Li Xiuyuan, an outer disciple of the Kunlun Sect, am willing to follow the sir in breaking the old order." He pulled back his sleeve, revealing an Ouroboros tattoo similar to Chen Qingyue's. "Half of the Kunlun Sect's disciples have been implanted with quantum gu worms. The so-called 'difference in talent' is nothing more than the elders locking the spiritual roots with code."
Chen Mo helped him up, and a spirit butterfly automatically landed on Li Xiuyuan's shoulder: "Go to the spirit net and download the 'gu worm removal program', then contact all oppressed disciples." He looked toward the direction of Mount Qingcheng, where the spirit net nodes were being destroyed by black talismans. "The old sects won't easily relinquish power; a hard-fought battle is inevitable."
Lin Xiaoman raised the crystal butterfly, and the starry sky of the library suddenly rippled, projecting a scene from parallel universe α-19: cultivators there were protesting on the streets against code monopoly, and leading them was unexpectedly a revolutionary with Chen Mo's face.
"It seems the story of the spirit net has only just begun," she said softly, the butterfly casting code light patterns of "freedom" in the palm of her hand.