Inner Demon Firewall

Hu Mang took the white phone with a surprised look. It felt like warm jade in his hand, and its surface was engraved with intricate runes.

Almost as soon as it touched his hand, Hu Mang noticed how it differed from an ordinary phone. The faint Spiritual Qi emanating from his palm actually fused seamlessly with it.

The feeling was like-

"Like an acupuncture point, right?" Wang Zeyu said with a smile.

"That's how it felt when I first held one too, like spiritual power circulating through an acupuncture point. And you can 'charge it with spiritual power.' The spiritual power in a single Spirit-Guiding Talisman is enough to fill it up."

"But my fellow disciples don't much like calling it an 'external acupuncture point.' They prefer 'External Spirit Root'-an External Spirit Root that connects a person to Heavenly Gate's spiritual power network."

"External Spirit Root—that sounds a little familiar?"

"Yeah, I think there used to be something like that called a Foundation Establishment Exoskeleton."

Hu Mang nodded solemnly, then casually set it down and pushed it back.

Where was he supposed to get Divine Sense now? You had to be at the Foundation Establishment Realm to have that, okay?

"So, are all phones going to be this kind of Spirit Pivot No. 1 from now on?"

"No. The relevant authorities want all phones to have a 'Divine Sense interconnection' function in the future. Mine's a prototype issued by Heavenly Gate."

"It's basic cultivation infrastructure for Spirit Network 2.0: Myriad Senses Interconnection. Everyone will need one in the future."

Spirit Network 2.0?

Hu Mang really had heard of something similar-Global Spiritual Power Interconnection.

He had worked on infrastructure for it on Java Island.

He hadn't expected it to have a "Myriad Senses Interconnection" version too.

"Virtual Dao discussion rooms, Cultivation Method clouds, and even a 'spirit market' where you can trade Spiritual Qi will all be opened in the future, and they'll all depend on transmission Law Artifacts like this one."

Seeing that Hu Mang had only played with it for a moment before returning it, Wang Zeyu smiled and pushed the Spirit Pivot No. 1 back again.

"Senior Brother, you can have this little thing to play with. I'll just say I lost it and ask the sect for another one. The higher-ups handed out a lot of them."

"Is that really all right?" Hu Mang hesitated.

"It's fine. Senior Brother, you practically saved my life. I wanted to buy you something before, but I didn't know what to get. If you like this, that's great. But some things are still being changed in the underlying spirit network, so a lot of the software won't work yet. It'll be fine after a while."

Both were young men and fellow disciples from the academy, so they quickly grew acquainted.

Wang Zeyu visibly relaxed as well.

"But Junior Brother, never mind the Spirit Pivot No. 1. How do ordinary phones connect to the spirit network?"

"Easy. Just replace the chip with a 'spiriton chip' to process basic Divine Sense signals directly. Anyway, at the current stage of development, the 'virtual spirit realm' still needs at least several more years of work. Basic Divine Sense networking is enough for now."

"Junior Brother, you're amazing. If I'd known, I would've switched to a 'pseudo Spirit Root' too!" Hu Mang exclaimed for the umpteenth time.

This was the future of the modern cultivation world. Civil engineering dogs really were on a road to nowhere!

"Senior Brother, don't think too highly of us. The pressure of cultivation and development is enormous too," Wang Zeyu began to complain.

"Working all year without a day off is normal. And Senior Brother, do you know why we're called 'pseudo Spirit Roots' and 'pseudo cultivators'?"

"Why?"

"Because all our cultivation is built on the foundation of the spirit network's 'Divine Sense enhancement.' Put it this way: if the network went down around us right now, cultivators like us would drop a whole major realm on the spot."

"That extreme?!"

"Really, I'm not exaggerating at all. A senior brother from my sect who travels for work told me he went out to the countryside once, where there was no network, and dropped straight from Golden Core to Foundation Establishment. It scared him to death."

"Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation can't sustain a Golden Core. His Golden Core nearly dissolved right then."

Hu Mang listened in a daze.

But he soon recovered.

"Still, that's not much of a problem, is it? How many places in Heavenly Gate still don't have network access? Especially the blessed lands and holy lands-where would you find one without a connection?"

"And when you undergo your Golden Core tribulation now, you don't need to run out into the wilderness. You can just apply to the celestial phenomena department to use an artificial lightning tribulation tower."

"Artificial lightning tribulations are a real headache for us too. The main thing is that when the lightning strikes, the Divine Sense signal crashes. That's why I grind so hard. Don't I just want to build up another layer of foundation for my new sect...?" Wang Zeyu rambled on.

Hu Mang could see it now.

This guy was socially anxious around strangers, but once he got to know someone, he was the sort of formidable character who could talk them into social anxiety.

Much of the time, before Hu Mang could even ask, Wang Zeyu would ask and answer his own questions.

After they had talked for quite a while, Hu Mang couldn't resist asking, "Junior Brother, what does your sect do? Oh, no, I should call it a spiritual enterprise, shouldn't I?"

"A sect, a sect. We can hardly call it a spiritual enterprise." Wang Zeyu grew modest and waved a hand. "Senior Brother, did you forget? Only publicly listed ones are called spiritual enterprises. Ours is just an ordinary sect."

"But our sect really is considering it. Our sect leader has been looking into it lately. If it succeeds, I might even get some merit and providence out of it. Then I'd have about an eighty percent chance of breaking through to Golden Core."

Hu Mang grew even more envious.

"Oh, right, you just asked what my sect does, Senior Brother. Our Mystic Shield Sect makes firewalls."

"Firewalls? The antivirus kind?"

"Yeah, but after connecting to the spirit network, we started a new line of business. If we can pull it off, we'll really have a shot at going public."

"What line of business?"

"Still firewalls!"

"..." Hu Mang said nothing.

Wang Zeyu said mysteriously:

"But after connecting Divine Senses, what we're defending against isn't 'computer viruses' anymore. It's inner demons and external demons!"

Hu Mang's whole body jolted. This time, he was genuinely stunned.

"You mean the various demonic desires that develop during cultivation?"

"We can't deal with external demons for now. The Divine Sense signal isn't reliable, so it's easy for external demons to slip through the 'Divine Sense filter' and sneak in on their own."

"But during the Qi Training and Foundation Establishment stages, we've already achieved an 81.4 percent interception rate."

"In other words, as long as cultivators use your sect's software during those two stages, they won't have to worry about their State of Mind anymore?"

"I can say with confidence that there's absolutely no need!" Wang Zeyu was brimming with confidence.

"But that 81.4 percent-"

"That's just the first-generation product we've released. The interception rate from here on will only go up, not down!"

Hu Mang opened his mouth and remained speechless for a long moment. Finally, he simply laughed.

"Awesome, fucking awesome!"

Now he knew where Wang Zeyu's eighty percent confidence in breaking through to Golden Core came from.

There had long been no shortage of industrial Spiritual Qi produced by the modern cultivation industry.

Paired with a "Divine Sense product" like this,

Maybe, in the future, even little kids really would be able to reach "Qi Training in three years, Foundation Establishment in five."

They would truly be winning at the starting line.

And this was just one small product of the spirit network revolution.

If hundreds or thousands more products like it appeared, then perhaps after Void Refinement, the legendary Dao Integration might really be within reach.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refinement, Dao Integration.

On Earth Star, only the legendary Ten Sovereigns had reached the realm of Void Refinement.

But the realm beyond Void Refinement had long since been spread through all manner of urban legends.

Seeing that his senior brother had been "shocked" again,

Wang Zeyu was immediately satisfied and put on a show of modesty again.

"Actually, the third Spiritual Qi revolution brought about more changes at the spirit network level. That's a quantitative change."

"Only the fourth Spiritual Qi revolution can bring about a qualitative change."

"The fourth Spiritual Qi revolution is called Dao Law Intelligence. In our industry, we call it the Dao Law Large Model."

"In other words, once this 'Dao Law Large Model' is developed, every cultivator will effectively have a super support system with unlimited talent at their side. They'll be able to create Cultivation Methods, Divine Abilities, and even a Heavenly Dao anytime, anywhere!"

"That's how the legendary realm of Dao Integration comes about."

"But the current Dao Law Large Model is still in its early stages. It can only handle ordinary conversation and information gathering. Many major spiritual enterprises are preparing to release it first, then use basic interactions to refine its artifact spirit."

"The new sect doing the best work in this area is probably the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion."

"But I heard that a few years ago, someone stole an experimental model's artifact spirit from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, with its underlying Dao code sealed inside it. We all suspect it was commercial warfare by some major sect, or even a publicly listed spiritual enterprise..."

Wang Zeyu spoke with animated enthusiasm, completely failing to notice that Hu Mang's expression was gradually growing strange.

The sun sank in the west.

"Senior Brother, I'll be off, then. You saved my contact number, right? Find me anytime if you need something. But I have to work overtime this month, and next month, and the month after that. Once I'm done with three months of seclusion, I'll come have tea with you!"

Wang Zeyu waved enthusiastically.

"Sure. I'm unemployed right now anyway, so come find me anytime you want someone to hang out with. I'll take you for a foot massage."

Hu Mang waved, then rented a shared flying sword and flew leisurely toward his Foundation Establishment residential complex.

Knowing a social terrorist was actually a good way to pass the time.

Hu Mang figured that, given how broad-minded his mother was, after the whole afternoon she should have more or less gotten over it.

After all, he hadn't died.

But when he got home, he found that Mother Hu wasn't there. Hu Mang pondered for a moment, but instead of hurrying to find her, he walked into his mother's room.

His "dad" was still sitting on the balcony, basking in the sun.

Although at this hour, there was no sun left.

Hu Mang studied his back carefully. He really couldn't sense the slightest breath of a living person from him.

"That stolen Dao Law Large Model couldn't be you, could it?"

Hu Mang muttered to himself.