Exploring Immortality Cultivation-Chapter 254 - 8 Do You Want to Be a Network Administrator?

"Divine Artifacts possess spirits," is a common saying among Ancient Method Practitioners.

However, anyone with a bit of common sense knows this is nonsense. The so-called "spirit of the Divine Artifact" is merely a control mechanism preset by the refiner on the Magic Artifact, just something to assist in control. The so-called "Artifact Spirit" is simply the acquisition and refining of a Demon Clan's soul's memories into the Magic Artifact for the purpose of control. With less scruple and moral restraint, even Human Clan souls would do.

After the advent of Calculator Theory, a simple Operator Array could perform most of the tasks of an Artifact Spirit. Modern Cultivators then abandoned the use of such inefficient things as Artifact Spirits.

But... the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror was an unprecedented calculator-type Immortal Artifact. Perhaps, maybe, probably, was there a slight chance it could form an Artifact Spirit at the level of an Arithmetician?

At that moment, Feng Luoyi burst into laughter, "Haha, I just referred to 'Feng Luoyi' as 'myself'; who do you say I am?"

Wang Qi faintly guessed, "Are you suggesting that I upload my consciousness into the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm?"

Consciousness uploading or uploading is a technology found in science fiction that enables the transfer of all contents of the human brain including consciousness, spirit, thoughts, and memories to a computer or other artificial intelligence. It's a common concept in classic science fiction, familiar to many Earth People more through movies like "The Matrix" than anything else.

However, due to technical constraints, Earth had not yet achieved consciousness uploading. Just before Wang Qi transmigrated, the United States had just started developing preliminary technologies for it.

Had Shenzhou advanced so much in their research of the soul?

Feng Luoyi nodded, "After uploading your consciousness, you will exist together with the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm — remember, it's the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror, not the Illusion Realm. Even if the True Mirror is destroyed, or becomes obsolete due to technological advances, it will be connected to a new calculator, which will become the new core. As long as there is a calculator, the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm will be indestructible."

"Moreover, the pursuit of Dao by Modern Cultivators is increasingly dependent on calculators. In other words, as long as Modern Cultivators exist, the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm will exist. The entire Immortal Alliance will maintain your existence, that is, the existence of the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm. Since the Illusion Realm is tied to the Immortal Alliance's pursuit of Dao, managing it would be akin to holding significant power."

"Additionally, there are benefits for you too. First, after uploading your consciousness, you will no longer be affected by your physical body and soul. Obviously, the calculator cannot cultivate Ancient Method, so your identity issue is resolved. And after controlling the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, you would effectively have the computing power of all the calculators of the Immortal Alliance at your disposal, which is greatly beneficial for your mathematical reasoning research."

Wang Qi admitted, he was indeed shamefully tempted.

As a quintessential science-guy, Wang Qi leaned towards technologism, believing that technology could solve most problems. Therefore, he was not particularly opposed to cutting-edge technology. On the contrary, he was rather fond of various technologies that appeared in science fiction novels in his previous life. Given his lazy nature, stumbling into immortality seemed like a massive windfall.

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But...

Wang Qi frowned and asked, "Senior, what about my physical body and soul?"

"Your true self has already been transferred to the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, so this physical body and soul shouldn't matter anymore, should they?"

Wang Qi said, "But from my perspective, it's just that a copy of my consciousness has been made to maintain the Path Rank (program) of the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, then this version of me will be destroyed by Human Dao?"

"Copy? Do you mean a replica?" Feng Luoyi emphasized, "The one replicated is also you!"

Wang Qi shook his head, "This feeling of 'having two of me in the world' will make me uncomfortable — how did you resolve this issue, Senior Feng?"

Feng Luoyi said, "Me? I am always synchronizing with the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm. The me you see is both a split of my thoughts and my own consciousness — of course, you could also use this method, but it's meaningless."

Wang Qi understood what Feng Luoyi meant.

"Soul" is a contemplative organ with strong potential for growth. Initially, the human soul's capacity for thought was far inferior to that of the brain, making it a trivial thing for humans; but for the Demon Clan, the soul was the cornerstone that unlocked their Spirit Wisdom and began their path of Demon Cultivation.

The balance of mental strength determines which organ is primary and which is secondary. The human brain is powerful, making the soul a secondary organ at first. The Demon Clan, with low brain volume and intelligence, relies on the soul for thought.

The computing power of the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror was far beyond what Wang Qi's brain could match. Even if Wang Qi's consciousness was uploaded and continuously synchronized with the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, the thinking capacity of his physical body would just be an "addition," seemingly unnecessary yet still predominantly influenced by the consciousness in the True Mirror.

Feng Luoyi, who cultivated mathematical reasoning and was a Carefree, had powerful computational skills and thus did not face this problem.

Wang Qi pondered for a moment, then shook his head, "Senior, thank you for your kindness, but please allow me to decline."

Feng Luoyi was not annoyed and looked at Wang Qi with a smile, "Tell me your reasons."

"What do you think will is?" asked Wang Qi.

Wang Qi remembered that Von Neumann was the person who reintroduced "consciousness" as an element into physical theories. Given the mysterious correspondences between the two worlds, Senior Feng would definitely be interested in this question.

"An aggregation of Spirit Sense, only approximatable," said Feng Luoyi. "Will can be attached to one type of carrier, and thus potentially to another. Our will is more determined by the pattern of Spirit Sense it expresses, rather than its specific hardware configuration. Thus, if the physical body is sufficient, so naturally can an Immortal Artifact."

Consciousness as data...?

Wang Qi said, "But I think the influence of the physical body and soul on the way of thinking is also significant. For example, if you keep a Cultivator in an excited state over a long period by administering drugs, eventually the Cultivator's temperament changes as well. Although my body and soul have wronged me, 'I' still exist because of them. Who's to say 'I' won't change with a different carrier?"

"Additionally, I think the Immortal Alliance's technology isn't yet capable of fully replicating thought..."

Feng Luoyi asked, "You trust your 'Fuzzy Theory' more, don't you?"

Seeing Wang Qi nod, the Carefree Great Cultivator also smiled, "I think highly of it too."

Wang Qi finally said, "Lastly, I don't quite trust things involving memories... it's more like an instinctive rejection. It's too easy for someone with ill intentions to make me forget something during the copying process."

Feng Luoyi gave a rueful shake of his head, "Ah, you think the Immortal Alliance is that unscrupulous? But you have a point. Alright, my offer still stands, you can come to me after you have perfected your Fuzzy Theory and proven that you can't pass through the Primordial Spirit Heaven Barrier, how about that?"

Wang Qi expressed his regret, "I'm sorry to disappoint your kindness, Senior."

Feng Luoyi waved his hand dismissively, "It's nothing. This proposal was just something I came up with on the fly when I saw you had a talent in this area. Since you don't like it, let me then address my original purpose."