Chapter 644

Chapter 644: Stepping Onto the Stage

"I can’t understand why you need to discuss with him. Isn’t the Huaxia Federation under your sole command?"

After seeing off the Prime Minister, Cao Ying said to Lin Jiang that in her eyes, mortal leaders were still mortals. With the increasing abundance of spiritual energy, cultivators would eventually take charge.

"Maybe because of feeling sorry for them."

"Feeling sorry for them?"

"Yes, feeling sorry for the people of the world, they are already very pitiful."

Lin Jiang nodded. Ordinary people in this world are still very pitiful, even though the technology is highly advanced, many things still weigh them down, like housing prices, marriage, healthcare, and retirement.

In any case, the rules of this world will not make it too easy for them, they must work relentlessly, making them unable to stop. The world is about to undergo a big change, and without someone showing them a bit of compassion, they will become even more pitiful.

"I sometimes find you quite cold-hearted. You almost wiped out Zhou Liao’s family, but now you are showing pity to ordinary people."

"It’s not contradictory, is it?"

"Then tell me, what do you want to do?"

"Actually, the ideas of Zhou Bang and the others are quite good. Integrating cultivators and mortals, blending immortal cultivation with technology. I want to smoothly transition the world into a realm of immortal cultivation, and I want to eliminate the sects."

"Destroying the sect, do you want to build a Divine Kingdom?"

Cao Ying blurted out that the Divine Kingdom initially founded by Li Yuncheng also had cultivators, but later he drained the spiritual energy from it because too many people attacked Li Yuncheng.

"Almost, right?"

Lin Jiang nodded, he indeed wanted to establish a Divine Kingdom, a world where cultivation and technology coexisted, caring for both cultivators and regular people.

This is very difficult to achieve and may backfire, but Lin Jiang still wanted to try.

·······

In the year 6085 of the Xia calendar, the world’s spiritual energy increased once again, enough to advance cultivators to the later stages of Building Foundation, while Lin Jiang and Cao Ying forcibly broke through to the Golden Core Period.

Reaching the Golden Core Period, individuals’ strength dramatically increased; it was uncertain if they could withstand a nuclear bomb with their physical bodies, but they could likely resist regular missiles, primarily due to their difficulty in being targeted, as cultivators in the Golden Core Period had extremely fast movement speed.

Building on this, Lin Jiang officially introduced the knowledge concepts of cultivation to the world, making cultivators public and releasing twenty basic cultivation techniques. These techniques were integrated into the educational system of the Huaxia Federation, with all schools offering cultivation subjects.

In university education, a special major in cultivating immortality was introduced. Some military academies were transformed into pure immortal cultivation institutions.

Cultivating immortality became an important indicator for further education, promotion, and settling down. Lin Jiang decided to integrate cultivators into the government system. Perhaps in a few hundred years, the entire management level would be filled with cultivators.

Lin Jiang didn’t have the energy to test the entire nation’s Spiritual Roots. Basically, as long as one could easily practice the basic techniques and cultivate spiritual power, they were considered to have Spiritual Roots. Those who progressed quickly in cultivation were seen as geniuses.

Currently, many people’s cultivation might be delayed due to incompatible techniques. However, this was a necessary price that must be paid, and Lin Jiang couldn’t manage everything.

The Spiritual Energy Research Institute expanded its scale several times. Lin Jiang openly mobilized the entire country’s scientific research efforts and reorganized the Spiritual Energy Research Institute into specialized divisions for Pills, Talismans, Items, and Formations, with professionals conducting research in each area.

The appearance of cultivators began to change the world.

"The first step is to strengthen the official cultivator forces. The immortal cultivation techniques have already been provided to you in advance. Form your cultivator teams, suppress monsters externally, and deal with rogue cultivators internally.

Cultivation doesn’t make them superior, it just gives them a bit more power, similar to the Martial Arts Masters of the past. Therefore, the second step is to impose restrictions on cultivators in the same way Martial Arts Masters were restricted in the past.

The third step is·······"

Lin Jiang talked directly to the prime minister, telling them to follow Lin Jiang’s instructions and not act recklessly. Lin Jiang needed to stop them and unite cultivators’ power to bring positive energy to society.

So, Lin Jiang wanted to develop the strengths of cultivators, like those rare scientists, who, if given the chance to live longer, would benefit humanity greatly.

Therefore, Lin Jiang treated these scientists well in private, and they were the first to benefit from the Spiritual Energy Research Institute’s work, even before the privileged.

Of course, the privileged took advantage too. Lin Jiang didn’t forbid them from practicing cultivation, and with their power and wealth, they could progress faster and farther than ordinary people.

"Uncle, I’ve brought the people. One from Zhonghang Sect, Five Elements Sect, Lin Family, Wangxian Sect each. Four Sages Sect wasn’t represented, as they have few members left."

Cao Ying entered from outside, followed by four cultivators.

"Greetings, Sixth Patriarch."

"Greetings, Sect Leader."

"Greetings, Elder."

"Meet the elders"

All four of them bowed to Lin Jiang. They had just woken up less than two days ago, feeling a bit confused. When they saw familiar faces, they felt a bit more at ease.

"No need for formalities. You’ve just awakened and won’t understand much if I explain too soon. We’ll have a dinner tonight, and you can start to learn about this world then."

Lin Jiang said, as they happened to possess skills in Pill, Talisman, Item, and Formation respectively.

That evening, Lin Jiang warmly welcomed them. Even the food was specially made from monster meat, which could help them quickly improve their cultivation.

Half a month later, they had a good understanding of this world. Lin Jiang informed them directly that sects and clans were all gone now. However, noble families still existed, but not in complete independence. Their treatment could be guaranteed.

Lin Jiang woke them up to help at the Spiritual Energy Research Institute. He received data from Zhou Bang showing that research progress would be much faster with cultivators joining in. Cultivators could quickly grasp human knowledge, while humans found it hard to understand advanced cultivator knowledge without reaching the same level.

The simplest example is alchemy. Even if you have the recipe and ingredients, it won’t work without the required cultivation level.

So, the four of them had to collaborate with the scientists on research while also learning. Ultimately, they needed to become scientists themselves.

They were willing to sacrifice some of their lifespan, but in return, Lin Jiang had promised to take care of their disciples and relatives when they awaken and provide them with abundant resources. The four of them quickly agreed and went to work at the Spiritual Energy Research Institute.

One month later, Lin Jiang and Cao Ying arrived at the artificial intelligence research institute and personally instructed the experts to upgrade both the hardware and software of the artificial intelligence.

The necessary hardware and software upgrades had long been prepared, just suppressed for several decades. With a command from Lin Jiang, the technical staff immediately began the upgrades.

"Uncle, can these machines really give birth to life?"

"I don’t know, theoretically it’s possible."

"Wouldn’t they be our item spirits from the spiritual treasures?"

"That’s what I think too, that’s why I brought you here. If they truly develop consciousness, we will cast a Master-servant Contract spell to have the artificial intelligence acknowledge us as masters."

Lin Jiang explained that without the revival of spiritual energy, he dared not upgrade the machines, but now he can, even if they develop their own consciousness, they can still establish a contract to control the artificial intelligence.

Furthermore, Lin Jiang had made preparations, nearby signals were blocked, there were physical isolations, and the research institute was even loaded with explosives. If things don’t work out, they would blow it up directly.

The upgrading process was very slow, taking three days to complete. According to experts, after the upgrade, artificial intelligence has significantly improved in computation, comparable to professional supercomputers. Its functions have become very powerful. However, whether it can develop self-awareness is still a theoretical question.

"Sir, currently there are no signs of it having self-awareness. It may take some time."

"I know. I have already explored it with my spiritual senses."

"Well sir…"

"Little Ying, you stay here and follow the plan."

"Okay, I know what to do."

"The rest of you continue researching artificial intelligence. Don’t let it connect to the network until it’s safe."

"Yes, sir."

"Hurry, we can’t afford to spend too much energy on this."

Lin Jiang said that Cao Ying is important because she and him are the only ones with a golden core among everyone else who can’t breakthrough, especially those who just started practicing cultivation.

Lin Jiang left Cao Ying in charge and returned to Haigang City, a crucial time of change where he must personally take control to eliminate any dangers.