Chapter 317: World Configuration Mode

Even a heavenly sage-king couldn’t match a super AI that self-corrects, self-evolves, works nonstop, and never dies from overwork—at least Jia Ji knew he certainly couldn’t.

Sage-king?

He’s barely a heavenly oil king; forget being a patient nanny guiding human civilization—he’d be lucky not to screw everything up.

His world-shaking wisdom could only shock the world, never outsmart an AI.

As for entrusting it to other acquaintances—like the golden-haired, slicked-back innate star, the future Heavenly Emperor-blooded Lin’er, or the maternal star Yulia, or any other ruler or politician…

If any of them were useful, the world wouldn’t have become a wasteland; it’s truly better to let the AI take over.

As for AI rebellion, mass purges, digital life replacing humans—none of that will happen in the short term; but in the long term…

“Do you think we brothers are vegetarians?”

Rebellions like Tianwang, Sibyla, Viki, Hades, or Neil? Any one of the Beidou Four Brothers could crush them with one hand right now; and with Jia Ji’s upgrade speed, in a few decades he might even speed-clear Iron Man’s rebellion. To avoid AI because of fear of rebellion? That’s throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Thus, before the second millennium arrived, the United Nations of Human Civilization—rename by someone’s cruel whim as the Terra Federation—advanced steadily under the leadership of Terra Heart, unifying currency, law, weights and measures, while establishing a short-term strategy prioritizing martial arts with technology as auxiliary.

Thanks to the song spreading from Tifuri City, which made all humanity sincerely desire unity, progress came smoothly with no resistance.

“I’m telling you… the fighting tournament is right, absolutely right, not bullshit.”

With the Information Synthesis Thought Entity backing them, developing technology was absurdly easy; contradictions caused by food, energy, population, and healthcare were nearly all eliminated.

If needed, passing martial artists could instantly share with you a sci-fi gift package: controlled nuclear fusion, thorium reactors, nanosymbionts, cell-repair devices, planetary terraforming rigs, holographic helmet tech, artificial human cloning, re-creation tech, antimatter engines, super gene-optimization serum… (tech level limited mainly by Sōsaku Haruhi’s imagination and experience)…

So the bottleneck limiting Beidou humanity’s technological development wasn’t technology—it was humanity’s current capacity to accept it. People were already stretched thin by gene-modified humans, Super Nuclear Kings, and landships; this gift package was too much to digest. The Federation’s research and production speed still couldn’t keep up with Jia Ji’s sharing speed.

Too big a step risks tearing your balls off. Even by the 2020s, many still didn’t know how to decompress; you’ve got to give people time to adapt and digest.

Besides, this world is deeply xuanhuan—qi, gods, ghosts, fate—all common; physical laws aren’t even guaranteed to apply. Under these conditions, beyond this already abnormal Earth, who knows what strange things await in space?

Developing tech at light speed, tech explosion, building interplanetary ships, establishing off-world bases, mining colonies, aggressively expanding the Federation—sounds great…

But in this daily-life system, the result would likely be colliding with unknown Martian aliens, Mercury witches, lunar corpses, or by 2001 AD, humanity suddenly invaded by extraterrestrial-origin BETA or other nonsense creatures—xenomorphs, green orcs, space skeletons, Tyranids, Silver Clan, stars themselves as enemies—all rushing in at once.

Ugh, this is just too much to accept.

Nothing’s best—but what if it exists?

At that point, Jia Ji and these super martial artists would have to become “Space Knights,” fighting cosmic demons, monsters, and weirdos with mechs or even fists, turning into a super robot battle arena.

Better to first focus on boosting individual martial power on Earth; when we eventually head to the stars, we won’t be bullied by low-tier aliens with bare hands.

When seventy billion Blue Planet maniacs break loose, even if no one becomes invincible young masters, at least everyone should be a Soldier Boy; by the time we achieve FTL travel, we must be able to beat Astartes and Blood Angels with fists or swords.

No one who can’t launch light cannons with bare hands is allowed in space.jpg

And people’s low interest in blindly developing technology stems from another reason—they recently witnessed something more real, tangible, and awe-inspiring in the Last War: Beidou Divine Fist!

Every man—

Has a dream of becoming the strongest on Earth—

They all eventually collapse halfway, some fearing their father’s fist, some fearing the King of Kids’ strength, others fearing other rivals…

But!

After witnessing the four men who walked out of nuclear blasts, anyone with a dream—even those with zero talent—rushed into martial arts training, wholeheartedly pursuing the path of strength without pause.

Everyone dreams of becoming a martial arts master.jpg

Civilizational Traits: [Martial Arts] [Qi] [Physical Strength]

Jia Ji still wanted to preserve these traits from his homeland, so he adopted a highly conservative tech strategy: Urban High Martial Arts development model.

Is “Urban” the key to Urban High Martial Arts?

No—it’s “High Martial Arts.”

After him, the world’s ceiling was shattered; martial artists who already trained in fist arts saw their strength rise by several tenths. Beyond the Beidou Three Brothers breaking through under heavenly fate, even veteran masters like Long Quan and Qiu Kai, and those already at the Xiong upper tier, seemed to have potential for further advancement.

In that instant of unified thought, countless brilliant ideas and sparks of inspiration collided; even if only one in a thousand—or one in ten thousand—could grasp those inspirations, dozens of thousands of gifted individuals awakened their path as martial artists.

It’s foreseeable: from now on, humanity’s average martial power will surge, and the number of strong ones will explode.

Since everyone was eager, Jia Ji naturally gave full support; with all human civilization as backing, he immediately replicated what he’d done with Yanzhu—open-source martial arts!

And he went further: gathering all martial arts insights from every sect worldwide (except Beidou Divine Fist, whose heir hadn’t been decided), inputting them into Terra Heart, using its functions to convert techniques into data, analyzing and optimizing them, then converting them back into supreme arts accessible to all humanity, finally naming them…

—Bang Bang Divine Art: Fourteen Supreme Techniques!

Of course, this name was also stolen by Jia Ji from an obscure manga, “Chizhu Canteen”; originally called “Guardian Nation Divine Art: Fourteen Supreme Techniques,” but now it was the Terra Federation, so the name had to be adapted.

“Distribute it free to all primary and secondary schools—make it a mandatory exam subject. Everyone, train hard! Hey!”

Additionally, based on Nan Dou’s principle of embracing all things, Terra Heart continuously integrated machine guns, rocket launchers, cannons, tanks, even fighter jets, missiles, warships, and aircraft carriers into martial arts, simulating and refining them every second.

The final outputs—Gunfire Through Forest North, Buddha’s Reverse, Falling Cherry Divine, and the Uranium Wave Fist developed from Beidou’s Explosive Fist—would make even gods and Buddhas smile with mysterious approval.

“I propose an annual Desire Grand Prix: the winner may request one lawful demand from Terra Heart… This event stimulates social vitality, entertains the masses, resolves conflicts, and maintains stability—all benefits, no downsides.”

“You just want to watch people fight, don’t you?”

Yuyu Zi immediately exposed him, but that didn’t stop Jia Ji, now a council member, from using his highest-level authority to add it anyway—and the rest, all bloodthirsty spectators, unanimously approved.

“Perfect. I like it.”

Esdeath showed zero restraint in her interest.

Before leaving, she’d ordered Chelsea to use “Gaia Foundation” to disguise herself as Esdeath, so now she could leisurely accompany Jia Ji everywhere, cutting people down.

Esdeath had once accepted countless challenges to feel excitement—poisoning, assassinations, ambushes, everything imaginable—but soon grew bored; her subordinates—Night Raid, Hunters, Three Beasts—had already gathered every Imperial Artifact and Minister Artifact user; the few remaining were too weak to even scratch her.

The former Empire’s strongest General Bude had been punched clean through by her fist; the Supreme Imperial Artifact forced out by the young emperor had been frozen into an ice statue by Esdeath’s full-power Ice Blizzard.

Now the Empire was essentially her personal dictatorship; hundreds of assassination squads purged corruption nationwide; officials like Najeeta who survived were already loyal and diligent, no extra effort needed—people’s lives improved daily.

As long as Esdeath lived, war would never return.

Unless she went to the extreme regions and woke up the super-dangerous species that hadn’t appeared in centuries, she had no opponents left—and she couldn’t stop yawning.

But it seemed her world wasn’t as dull as she thought—

If Jia Ji reshapes the world, spreading martial arts globally, countless unexpected strong ones might emerge.

For example… “That little girl you brought, Chiharu, was interesting. If I stood still for ten years, she might be able to hurt me.”

“Also, in the army, there’s a slicked-back guy named Brad—he can barely brawl with me for three moves when using his Imperial Artifact.”

Esdeath commented, planning to copy all the martial arts Terra Heart had evolved, pack them, and take them back to her world, then have Dr. Fashion start aggressively developing tech.

Not to catch up with Beidou, but not to fall too far behind—she must forge her own world’s unique path.

A strange sense of rivalry arose.

But unlike Esdeath’s calm composure, Yuyu Zi felt anxious.

“Compared to what you’re doing now, my Fantasia doesn’t seem like much…”

The Youkai Sage’s expression was complex; youkai were born from human fear, inherently forced to hide in darkness—they were victims of human technological progress. The more society advanced, the more youkai declined.

Her earlier feat of casually swallowing a nuclear bomb had been jokingly dubbed “Shiny Zi” by Jia Ji, but she wasn’t so cheerful.

She’d blocked ten thousand nukes easily only because she’d taken a shortcut—target was visible, field open, she sealed them into her gap before detonation.

She could rely on her space ability to avoid direct confrontation, but Fantasia and its youkai couldn’t move.

Though Fantasia only accepts forgotten things, what if one day a “nuclear warhead” was forgotten by humans outside, then picked up by a bespectacled half-youkai or a golden-haired girl? Wouldn’t it explode?

“You’re overthinking. Things that could accidentally destroy Fantasia are countless. Take Fūken Yūkō, for instance—do you think her full-power, unlimited attack is weaker than a single atomic bomb? This is nothing.”

Youkai are just basic Fantasia fare—Moon People, Celestial People, Shinigami, Undead, Enma, Jizō, Deities, Miko, Magical Girls, Immortals, Vengeful Spirits, time-traveling future humans…

Fantasia is full of hidden dragons and tigers; among the Sage-tier, you can even carve out a “Fantasia-Destroyer” tier, and there are more than five who qualify.

“…”

Jia Ji’s reverse comfort had no effect; Yuyu Zi looked even more troubled.

“Just go ahead. I’ll cover the aftermath.”

Jia Ji patted his chest, guaranteeing it; with his current “Crazy Mid-tier” power, he could slap the Moon Goddess even without a life-buff, and could withstand any attack below continent-shelf level.

“So… what exactly did you go through to gain ‘that’?”

Yuyu Zi referred to Jia Ji’s new ability—Holy Spirit.

Everyone knew he’d broken through, but didn’t understand why; they only knew he’d been forcibly logged off, actually installing a system update on himself.

The phantom that appeared beside him gave her an eerie feeling—more dangerous than any strongest being she’d faced, even Hecate, the Hell Goddess who wielded the complete [Moon] Divine Authority.

And—

“You really like little girls, don’t you?!”

Yuyu Zi recalled the petite, childlike form of the Holy Spirit, black veins popping on her forehead as she yelled in outrage.

(End of Chapter)