Exploring Immortality Cultivation
Chapter 468 - 221: Do Calculator People Dream of Phantasmal Sheep?

Dream Building Technique, the most basic illusion technique of Yangshen Pavilion. However, perfecting even this fundamental illusion technique was no easy task.

To be exact, Chen Feng did so much in the same span of time. First, he invaded Wang Qi's dream, then pulled both himself and Chen Youjia into this dream, after which he extended his consciousness into Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, broadcasting this dream to three people who came as projections from the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, and finally, he projected those three people's images into this dream.

This technique was definitely ranked first among the illusionists of the same level.

The other five surveyed the dream. There was no up or down, no direction, no light sources around, yet they could somehow see each other. Not far from them, at the center of the dream, Wang Qi was floating.

To be precise, there were two Wang Qis floating there.

Wang Qi, with one hand across his chest and the other propping his chin, appeared to be deep in thought. Nearby, the other Wang Qi was doing the same, scrutinizing this version of himself. Both Wang Qis examined each other, lost in deep thought, even attempting to reach out and touch one another.

But an invisible wall stood between them, preventing any contact.

This was the so-called "fourth wall," a transparent barrier separating the illusion on the stage from the reality off the stage.

Yes, this place was a stage—Cartesian Theater.

However, the purpose here differed greatly from the Cartesian Theater. This concept treated the human heart as a massive stage, with a "self" unaffected by emotions or memories sitting below the stage, watching various thoughts being performed continuously above.

What Cao Cheng was experiencing now was an application of the Soul Forging Technique from Qujianji. Originally, Qujianji suppressed the brain, using the soul for thinking, thereby training the soul. It had the capability to separate the soul from the brain, allowing two cognitive organs to function independently. The two Wang Qis here, one was the physical manifestation of brain cognition, the other a result of the soul working parallel with a pseudo-AI.

The AI was not complete, and the hardware it resided on didn't have an operating system installed, existing solely in form of data. But Wang Qi's own thought process supplemented this system.

For the source came from his soul, it was his "will."

The two Wang Qis stared at each other for a while. Finally, Wang Qi sighed, "At least in terms of cognition, there's no difference—I can't even tell which side is the real 'me' anymore."

"This is only temporary, it just proves that you two think similarly on the same matter, you have similar feelings," Shang Nancheng appeared beside Wang Qi,"Just think about it carefully and you'll realize that one of you has flawed memories."

Before Primordial Spirit, storing memories in the soul was not suitable.

"Having flaws..." after hearing this, Wang Qi thought hard for a while yet found no issues with his memories. However, the figure of the "Wang Qi" across the wall flickered before dissipating into a sweeping blue spirit light.

Wang Qi took a deep breath, "I am the original... I got scared for a moment there. If I found out I was an avatar, I might have really panicked."

Shang Nancheng said, "You're inherently calm, a rational guy. This Acquired Will replicating you didn't include your emotions or self-identity, only your way of thinking—a very good sign. I have seen cases where the Acquired Will of the master copied their personality and memories but not their rationality, and it led to an immediate uprising."

Wang Qi blinked, recalling Zhen Chan's earlier words—boy, you're too wild... too wild.

He then asked, "Aren't you guys worried I might suddenly attack you?"

"In this aspect, you are the weakest," Chen Youjia pointed out candidly.

The Acquired Will that had been replicated was that of Wang Qi, who had just established his Foundation. Chen Feng and Chen Youjia were both fully confident that they could suppress him.

What did you say? That half-finished Mysterious Uncertainty Cloud Sword? When released, it's unclear whether it's attacking oneself or someone else!

Shang Nancheng was usually a bold person, but once he entered his research mode, he became cautious. He carefully observed the scattered Spirit Light formed after the disintegration of the Acquired Will. After a while, he asked, "On the day you acquired this Acquired Will, were you deducing Cultivation methods, refining Divine Skills, or connecting with Spells?"

Wang Qi was shocked: "I was establishing my Foundation. You can tell even that?"

"No wonder, no wonder," Shang Nancheng stared at the Spirit Light: "No wonder in its dreams, it also dreams about Spell-related matters."

"Dreams? This Acquired Will can also dream?"

Wu Chengdao said, "How could it not? This Acquired Will was differentiated from your true self. It lacks none of the capabilities of the human brain, it just lacks a complete algorithm for manifesting consciousness, which prevents it from communicating with us."

So, it's just a brain-damaged version of me... Wang Qi silently defined it.

Shang Nancheng also said, "This is what dreams are, you see; this image, direct and distorted, yet it still retains the style of computations from the Wanfa Sect, although the Will is incomplete and the knowledge is partial, knowing only the gist roughly, like truth and falsehood."

Chen Feng asked, "Is its self-recognition definitely incomplete, without any apparent emotional responses?"

These two questions were crucial, as they would decide whether this Acquired Will should be considered an item, an Avatar, or a Demon Creature via Spirit Awakening and Transformation.

By the way, thanks to the existence of the Demon Clan, the People of Shenzhou are quite open about the ethical issues of artificial intelligence.

Shang Nancheng said, "It only retained a way of thinking but does not distinguish between 'I' and 'other.' Under the original main Soul's supplementation, it can still think in human ways, but as soon as it's hinted, it immediately realizes that it isn't human and has no opposition or reluctance — this one cannot be said to possess spirituality or true self, naturally it can be used however one wants!"

"That's great," Wu Chengdao turned to Wang Qi, "Senior Brother Wang, this Acquired Will must be connected to your Soul to operate, and the missing functional areas are probably just a few. If you are thinking of refining something akin to an Avatar or an aiding Artifact Spirit, then we can start now."

Wang Qi pondered and said, "In that case, let's make something like an Artifact Spirit."

"Artifact Spirit, mechanistic thinking, the advantage is in precise and efficient calculation, are you sure?"

Wang Qi nodded. He concocted this Acquired Will to aid himself, ideally to compensate for his shortcomings, not to replace his own judgment. The advantage of mechanistic thinking lies here; it has a high calculation efficiency and clarity, able to categorize all conditions distinctively, but it cannot make the ultimate decision.

"Understood," Wu Chengdao examined the Acquired Will: "It can be confirmed that self-recognition is incomplete, needs to infuse Path Rank, then we need to make an operating system..."

"How about using a 'Humanoid Mechanism'?" proposed Shang Nancheng.

Wu Chengdao agreed: "Good idea, if we need a mechanistic type of Artifact Spirit, the 'Humanoid Mechanism' system couldn't be more perfect. Next, I think we should use..."

Subsequently, the two engaged in another high-level, jargon-filled exchange. (To be continued. If you like this work, your support on qidian.com by voting and monthly tickets is greatly appreciated. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)