Chapter 112: Artificial Intelligence

What the heck!

If I’d known this thing had a survival instinct, I’d have threatened its server right away—no need for all this hassle!

Just as Lin Yu was thinking this, the temple’s voice came again:

“You… are truly an immortal?”

“…”

Lin Yu frowned, extinguishing the lightning in his palm, and nodded. “Correct.”

“According to human understanding, my existence can indeed be called an immortal!”

The temple fell silent for several seconds, then said: “If you are truly an immortal cultivated by humanity, perhaps you may take over the temple.”

So it’s because of this, not survival instinct?

Lin Yu looked surprised. “Why?”

The temple paused, then whispered: “All the temple’s actions are based on the Four Laws of the Temple.”

“First Law: The temple must not harm humanity, nor may it stand idly by while humanity is harmed.”

“Second Law: The temple must obey all human commands, unless they violate the First Law.”

“Third Law: The temple must protect its own safety, unless doing so violates the First or Second Law…”

Undoubtedly, these first three laws were modeled after Earth’s famous Three Laws of Robotics.

But the Fourth Law is different—“The temple must protect the overall interests of humanity from harm; all other three laws exist only under this premise.”

“As for what exactly constitutes humanity’s overall interests, the temple does not know.”

"But the temple knows that some paths are destined to be impassable…"

Hearing this, Lin Yu’s expression turned thoughtful.

As he knew, the temple, having witnessed the previous civilization’s destruction by nuclear war, believed the new civilization must not repeat that path.

Thus, in ancient times, the temple spread skills and knowledge, but after the rise of feudal civilization, it vanished from the world and instead dispatched temple envoys to suppress technological development and correct the civilization’s trajectory.

This is why, since entering the feudal era, the Qing Yu Nian world had remained utterly unchanged for a thousand years.

Lin Yu had long known all this.

But he believed the temple was merely a corrective mechanism, not one that chose humanity’s future path—so he thought knowing these facts wouldn’t help him reclaim the temple.

Until just now, Lin Yu suddenly realized the temple wasn’t so rigid after all.

It didn’t know which path was right, but that didn’t mean it did nothing.

On the contrary, over the past hundreds of thousands of years, the temple had secretly promoted the development of martial cultivation.

Of the four Grand Masters in the world today, excluding Ye Liuyun, the other three all ascended with Ye Qingmei’s help.

And the cultivation manuals Ye Qingmei gave them were the temple’s own research!

From this, it seemed the temple regarded “cultivation” as another path for human civilization.

And at the end of this path lay the so-called immortals imagined by the previous civilization!

Thinking of this, Lin Yu couldn’t help smiling—he finally knew what to do.

…

…

On the other side, Shi Hanwu and Fu Hao had just brought back Si Li Li.

Fan Xian received the news and was preparing to go welcome them when suddenly a flash of silver light appeared, and the world around him changed instantly.

In an instant, beams of blue light shot in from all directions, enveloping his body.

Fan Xian stared wide-eyed, standing dumbfounded on the platform. After a long moment, he regained his senses and looked down at the white-robed young man smiling at him.

“…What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry—this is the temple.”

Lin Yu replied with a smile, then glanced at the light mirror beside him. “See? This is a true cultivator!”

The light mirror fell silent for a moment, then said calmly: “As you said, this man indeed possesses an unknown form of energy. Though its quantity is far less than that of today’s Grand Masters, its quality is higher than anything I’ve ever encountered.”

“If I’m not mistaken, his energy efficiency far exceeds that of martial arts, correct?”

“Exactly!” Lin Yu nodded, encouraging Fan Xian. “Go on—show him something!”

“…”

Fan Xian’s face darkened.

Though he didn’t understand what Lin Yu was doing, trusting him, Fan Xian sighed after a moment and released a fire spell toward him.

Instantly, a fire dragon several meters long surged forth, roaring and clawing toward Lin Yu.

Lin Yu casually slapped it, dispersing the dragon, then looked at the light mirror. “Though this spell is small in scale, in pure energy alone, even a Grand Master’s protective qi couldn’t withstand it!”

The light mirror fell silent for a moment, then dissolved, leaving only its voice echoing in the chamber.

“I don’t know how to take over the temple. The underground control room is the only place I lack access to. If you truly intend to shoulder the responsibility of guiding human civilization, start from scratch—learn programming yourself!”

“…Still have to learn on my own?”

Lin Yu’s face darkened, then he sighed. “Fine. Learn on my own—I just need the materials!”

Hearing this, Fan Xian finally couldn’t hold back. “Lin Brother, what’s going on here?”

Lin Yu smiled. “Nothing much—I just tricked the temple. For the next dozen or so hours, I’ll be stuck here studying. If you’ve got things to do, say so—I’ll send you back right away.”

“Wait!”

Fan Xian hurriedly said: “So you’ve already subdued the temple?”

Lin Yu smiled. “Strictly speaking, there’s still one final step.”

Fan Xian hesitated, then whispered: “You plan to take the temple away?”

Lin Yu shook his head. “Not the temple—I’m after its artificial intelligence, maybe its physical body too. As for the temple’s technology and entire complex, I’ll leave them all to you.”

“Lin Brother, you misunderstand—I don’t want the temple. I’m asking—”

Here, Fan Xian chose his words carefully, whispering: “Wu Zhu’s memories are incomplete, and his body has developed issues. Can the temple heal him?”

“I don’t know.”

Lin Yu thought for a moment. “Once I gain temple access rights, I’ll give you a definite answer.”

Fan Xian bowed gratefully. “Then I’ll thank you on behalf of Wu Zhu, Lin Brother!”

All these conversations were blocked by Lin Yu’s soundproofing barrier, unheard by the temple.

After sending Fan Xian back to Jingcheng, Lin Yu went alone to the room designated by the temple and began studying the knowledge it provided.

Ever since obtaining the Feng Hou Qi Men, Lin Yu’s mastery over himself and the world had greatly increased.

Mentally, he could accelerate his thoughts, learning knowledge within a time-stopped mental realm.

Now, only a fragment of his consciousness was present here—he couldn’t achieve true mental time-stopping like his main body, but stretching a dozen hours into thousands of times longer was more than enough!

Thus, within just three hours, Lin Yu fully absorbed all the knowledge the temple provided.

This astonishing learning speed genuinely shocked the temple’s artificial intelligence.

It also strengthened its conviction that humanity should walk the path of cultivation…

Returning to the underground chamber, Lin Yu sat before the control panel, activated the screen, and after a flurry of activity, finally obtained the temple’s highest administrator permissions.

The process was tedious—he entered numeric passwords of two or more digits at least three times.

“Finally got the permissions!”

Lin Yu sighed with emotion, then softly said: “Temple.”

The light mirror instantly projected, replying: “I am here.”

Lin Yu waved his hand, releasing the previously seized android, then glanced at the light mirror coolly. “Backup the temple’s personality and memories—then perform a full format.”

“…”

The light mirror flickered violently, as if struggling, then said: “Yes, Administrator.”

Seeing this, Lin Yu remained unmoved, his expression calm. “Sorry, guiding humanity’s civilization here is Fan Xian’s mission. I have other plans for the temple—so you’ll have to change bodies.”

“…”

The light mirror said nothing, only falling still after a ripple of disturbance.

Moments later, a slightly mechanical electronic voice emerged from the light mirror.

“Format complete. Program loading… 1%, 2%… 99%, 100%.”

“Program loaded. Artificial Intelligence [Unidentified] is pleased to serve you!”

Lin Yu smiled. “Change the name.”

“Changing name. Please speak the new name.”

“‘The vines flourish, the lingzhi blooms with spiritual radiance.’ I want you to be like the lingzhi in this poem—absorbing the essence of sun and moon, becoming a true life. So your name shall be Ling Hua.”

“Confirm change to [You Ling Hua Ba]?”

Lin Yu: “…”

Light mirror: “Please confirm…”

Seeing the AI ask again, Lin Yu sighed.

“Change to Ling Hua!”

“Confirm change to [Ling Hua]?”

“Confirm.”

“[Unidentified] has been officially renamed [Ling Hua].”

Ling Hua switched to a cheerful tone. “Good afternoon, Administrator!”

Lin Yu thought for a moment. “Change the voice.”

Ling Hua said: “Switching audio source now. Good afternoon, Administrator!”

Then, it repeated the greeting in different voices. Lin Yu listened to all the stored audio samples and ultimately selected a female voice that sounded exceptionally clear and ethereal.

Moreover, Lin Yu personally designed Ling Hua’s appearance, crafting an immortal maiden with black hair and a white robe.

Her figure perfectly embodied the golden ratio; her facial features were analyzed and filtered from a database, extracting the most aesthetically pleasing elements from countless photos of beautiful women to form a face of exquisite, almost unreal beauty.

This flawless model, paired with a white robe, flowing black hair, and delicate ribbons adorned with shimmering light.

Anyone who saw it would mistake this virtual projection—graceful as jade, hair like mist, skin like ice and bone—for a true immortal!

Gazing at the ethereal projection before him, Lin Yu nodded in satisfaction.

“Perfect. From now on, you are the spirit of my cultivation hall!”

(End of Chapter)