Chapter 23: Internet Outage (1)
23 – Internet Outage (1)
Qi Yun: “You…”
Lin Xun looked at him with pity.
—What a shame, such a fine young man, yet his brain got fried from cultivation.
However, if someone was used to using sword light for illumination, it was entirely possible for them to completely forget about the flashlight function on their phone.
Suddenly intrigued, Lin Xun handed him the sword: “How do you use sword light to illuminate?”
Qi Yun, outmatched in both skill and even illumination, was already deflated. He no longer brought up “dad” or “son” and took the sword, giving his wrist a flick.
—The sword instantly emitted a white light all over, like a glow stick or a fluorescent tube. It was quite bright, but also carried a hint of absurdity.
Lin Xun: “Pretty bright.”
Qi Yun glared at him, extinguished the sword light, and with a venomous expression—even though he was tightly bound—tried to stab Lin Xun again with the sword.
Lin Xun knocked him senseless with the keyboard: “You lead the way ahead.”
Qi Yun: “Just you wait.”
With his hands bound, Qi Yun inevitably struggled to maintain balance, stumbling slightly as he walked forward.
Lin Xun led him along, observing the surroundings as they walked.
The environment was damp and cool, heavy with moisture. The stone walls on all sides were covered in moss, and droplets of water occasionally dripped from above.
Mount Qingcheng wasn’t a karst landform, so there were no flashy stalactites or stalagmites—this was just an ordinary cave.
—Ordinary, but winding.
And there were forks in the path.
—This was unusual, so it definitely wasn’t a naturally formed cave. It was either artificially excavated or modified from a natural one.
When they reached the first fork, Qi Yun paused and headed toward the left path.
The deep, winding path seemed endless. And because they were in complete darkness, with no landmarks to indicate direction, their sense of direction was completely lost—at most, they could only tell left from right.
At the second fork, Qi Yun chose the right path.
At the third fork, he chose the left again.
The third, the fourth…
Lin Xun stopped.
Naturally, Qi Yun, tightly bound by the chain, had no choice but to stop as well.
Lin Xun: “What are you doing?”
Qi Yun replied matter-of-factly: “Leading the way.”
Lin Xun opened his phone: “Lo, show the movement trajectory.”
A winding red line appeared on the phone screen.
A path that zigzagged, turned several corners, and finally connected end-to-end to form a circle.
Lin Xun thought, Qi Yun really was unreliable.
—Either this guy didn’t know the way either, or he was deliberately leading them in circles.
Lin Xun turned the screen toward Qi Yun so he could see what he had done.
Qi Yun stubbornly looked away, saying nothing.
Lin Xun simply stared at him silently.
Finally, the guy couldn’t hold back and sneered: “Anyway, I don’t know the way either. Maybe if we circle around a few more times, we’ll find the exit.”
Lin Xun: “Do you even have a phone?”
Qi Yun: “I do.”
Lin Xun: “Do you use it?”
Qi Yun: “Of course.”
Lin Xun: “Seems like you really are just not using your brain.”
Qi Yun: “…”
Lin Xun said nothing more, stepped past him, taking the lead with Qi Yun behind—then opened the compass and walked forward.
People couldn’t tell direction, but a compass could.
Guided by the compass, whenever he encountered a fork in the path, he chose the cave that veered north—he remembered clearly that the cave entrance faced south, so heading north would inevitably lead deeper into the cavern.
After passing several forks this way, he glanced back and saw Qi Yun’s utterly dejected expression.
He asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“To be honest with you,” Qi Yun said, “you shouldn’t go any further. My master is inside.”
Qi Yun seemed utterly confident, curling the corner of his lips. “My master… is a Golden Core stage swordsman who has mastered the sword path. Even though Xiaoyaozi is at the Nascent Soul stage, he’d still fear him in a fight. You’re only at the Qi Refining Stage—killing you would be as easy as crushing a puppy.”
Lin Xun replied, “Really?”
Qi Yun insisted, “Really.”
Lin Xun pressed, “If that’s truly the case, wouldn’t you be delighted? Why try to stop me?”
Qi Yun: “…”
He snapped, “Screw you, believe it or not.”
Lin Xun suddenly felt like laughing.
Qi Yun demanded, “What are you laughing at?”
Lin Xun said, “Go out and play more puzzle games.”
With that, he patted Qi Yun’s head as if petting a puppy. After the pat, he fell silent and continued leading the way forward.
After two more forks, Lin Xun’s phone suddenly emitted a sound.
“Alert: Ambient temperature continues to rise. Beware of heatstroke.”
Lin Xun replied, “Thank you.”
Qi Yun asked, “What is that thing?”
Lin Xun explained, “A smart assistant.”
Qi Yun muttered, “Oh.”
Lin Xun inquired, “You don’t turn yours on?”
Qi Yun said, “My master doesn’t like phone spirits.”
Lin Xun suggested, “Actually, it might be worth turning it on.”
After speaking, he surveyed his surroundings.
Indeed, the temperature had risen significantly compared to when they first entered, and he was starting to feel the heat.
He pressed his hand against the stone wall—it was clean.
When they entered, moisture had fostered moss, but now the moss was gone. Likely, the temperature could no longer sustain its survival.
Lin Xun’s first thought was: hot springs? A volcano?
Neither seemed plausible. For one, there was no sulfur smell or dampness. Secondly, Qingcheng Mountain was neither a dormant nor an active volcano.
That left only non-material factors at play.
He took off his jacket and, while leading Qi Yun along, asked, “Is there some treasure inside? Is that what you’re after?”
Qi Yun remained silent.
Lin Xun continued, “But you haven’t obtained it yet?”
He then pieced together the earlier situation and added, “There might be a barrier in front of the treasure, one you couldn’t break. So, you and your junior brothers formed an array outside to meditate and breach it… Your master might truly be inside, contemplating how to overcome the barrier.”
Qi Yun retorted, “Aren’t you tired of this?”
Lin Xun stopped teasing Qi Yun and pressed onward.
After walking a bit further, he keenly sensed something amiss.
The next moment, he turned off his phone’s flashlight.
Once the light went out, the surroundings should have plunged into darkness, but now a faint glow seeped from ahead.
The stone walls seemed to contain some kind of mineral, emitting scattered orange glimmers.
He looked back at Qi Yun and saw him completely wilted.
Qi Yun’s dejection confirmed he was on the right path.
Lin Xun no longer relied on artificial light but followed the faint glow forward.
The light grew brighter, and the temperature climbed higher. Eventually, he even felt as if he were walking through flames.
Finally, after another fork, the path ahead suddenly blazed with light!
Lin Xun squinted his eyes, taking nearly ten full seconds to adjust to the intense brightness.
Ahead was a dead end—a circular stone chamber.
The moment he and Qi Yun stepped inside, another stone door slammed shut behind them.
The light source was a rectangular object embedded halfway into the opposite wall, shaped like a coffin.
The coffin was made of a translucent material, resembling quartz, amber, or some other mineral, with light radiating from within.
In the center of the circular stone chamber, a figure clad in black sat cross-legged with his back to them.
He was burly and robust, with hair as white as snow.
Though Lin Xun and Qi Yun’s footsteps echoed clearly upon entering, the man seemed not to hear, remaining utterly motionless.
Lin Xun whispered, “Your master?”
Qi Yun said nothing.
After a long pause, Lin Xun saw him curl the corner of his mouth and say, “Master… is about to succeed. You’re finished.”
Lin Xun: “Huh?”
Qi Yun: “Do you know why I led you in circles earlier?”
Lin Xun: “Why?”
Qi Yun giggled: “To buy time.”
Lin Xun: “Then you’re not entirely foolish.”
Qi Yun: “What else would it be?”
The next moment.
Lin Xun gagged Qi Yun with his jacket and pinned him to the ground.
Qi Yun struggled with muffled grunts, to no avail.
Ignoring him, Lin Xun took a few steps forward.
The white-haired man’s back remained still as a rock.
Lin Xun approached him and saw a face flushed red, with sharp, cold features and graying eyebrows and beard—the visage of a fierce old man. This was Qi Yun’s master, Yan Yangzi.
Lin Xun observed the programs running within Yan Yangzi but couldn’t discern anything meaningful.
Complex mathematical formulas were engaged in endless calculations. Yet, Lin Xun could only recognize them as computations, unable to grasp their purpose or overall structure.
Still, Qi Yun’s behavior alone suggested Yan Yangzi was brewing something.
Perhaps he was concentrating to break open the coffin, or perhaps he was advancing his Cultivation. Regardless, he couldn’t be allowed to succeed.
Lin Xun pressed keys on his keyboard, launching every attack he could muster against Yan Yangzi.
—It was useless. Yan Yangzi’s Cultivation level was two major realms higher than his, with an impenetrable firewall. There were no other machines Lin Xun could connect to either.
He picked up his keyboard and walked right up to Yan Yangzi.
If magical attacks failed, physical ones would have to do.
He reached out and tapped Yan Yangzi’s shoulder.
The touch was searing and hard, like a scalding stone.
Yan Yangzi showed no reaction.
Suddenly, Lin Xun’s eyes widened.
He noticed a strange, flickering golden-red glow emanating from beneath Yan Yangzi’s collar, visible on his neck.
Almost reflexively, Lin Xun glanced at the jade coffin. Its light was also flickering intermittently, waxing and waning in opposition to the glow on Yan Yangzi’s body. When Yan Yangzi’s glow intensified, the coffin’s light dimmed, and vice versa.
And whenever the jade coffin’s light flared brightly, Yan Yangzi’s brow would twitch slightly, as though exerting hidden effort.
Lin Xun understood.
Yan Yangzi was contending with whatever lay inside the jade coffin for Spiritual Power—or something else.
His name was “Yan Yang” (Blazing Sun), so his Spiritual Power must be fire-related.
And the treasure hidden within this jade coffin deep in Mount Qingcheng was also fire-related.
——Thus, Yan Yangzi had come here, attempting to seize the fire spiritual power within the jade coffin to strengthen himself, while his disciple stood guard outside to prevent anyone from entering midway.
And in the midst of his contemplation, the aura around Yan Yangzi grew increasingly scorching, with faint golden-red light even flickering in the air.
Lin Xun realized that what Yan Yangzi was attempting was nearing completion. No matter what, he could not allow him to continue meditating!
He raised the keyboard high, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and mustered all his strength to strike at Yan Yangzi’s head!
A clang, as if metal struck stone, echoed endlessly within the stone chamber!
Lin Xun swiftly retreated.
Yan Yangzi’s brow trembled violently, his face paling, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as if in pain!
The next moment, he opened his eyes, a flash of crimson light passing through them.
A roar that nearly shattered eardrums erupted: “Who dares?!”
As if struck by intense sound waves, Lin Xun’s head spun with dizziness, but he forced himself to steady his gaze and stared directly at Yan Yangzi.
Yan Yangzi saw him as well.
He abruptly stood up, drawing a sword from his side.
It was a reddish-copper longsword, sharp and blazing.
But the next moment, the imposing Yan Yangzi was drawn to the whimpering Qi Yun in the corner.
Anger flashed across his face as he waved his hand, and the restraints on Qi Yun… were instantly undone.
Qi Yun scrambled over on his knees: “Master! Master, save me!”
“Was it this person who harmed you?” Yan Yangzi steadied Qi Yun.
Qi Yun looked at Lin Xun and said, “It was him! He was also the one who took my Cloud Mountain Sword last night!”
Yan Yangzi’s gaze toward Lin Xun immediately turned even more hostile, his voice booming like thunder: “So it’s this little brat. Still wet behind the ears, hardly worth fearing!”
With that, he said to Qi Yun, “Step back. I will avenge you.”
“Thank you, Master!” Qi Yun replied, then asked, “Master, how was your enlightenment?”
Yan Yangzi said, “At the final moment, I was interrupted by this ignorant brat who knows no bounds! Once I deal with him, I will resume my enlightenment.”
Qi Yun nodded and retreated ten steps.
Yan Yangzi fixed his gaze on Lin Xun: “Which sect are you from?”
Lin Xun: “I am a disciple of Azure Peak True Lord of the Limitless Sect.”
Yan Yangzi sneered contemptuously: “Huo Qingshan? He’s merely at the early Nascent Soul stage, not worth mentioning. Who gave you the audacity to disturb me?”
Lin Xun lowered his eyes slightly, his tone sincere: “Senior is at the Golden Core stage, yet why do you say my master’s cultivation is not worth mentioning?”
“Hah.” Yan Yangzi laughed loudly: “You’ve just entered the Qi Refining Stage and likely haven’t been in the Immortal Sect for long, so naturally, you wouldn’t know this saying—”
As he spoke, he drew his sword from its sheath: “We who wield swords are naturally stronger than others!”
The next moment, a blazing sword light swept straight toward Lin Xun!
Activating the Light Body Technique, Lin Xun shifted to the left but suddenly froze!
It was as if an invisible wall of Qi blocked his path.
Yan Yangzi: “Under my sword, you still think you can escape?”
In the blink of an eye, as Lin Xun was blocked, Yan Yangzi had already moved before him. With a twist of his sword, he brought it down directly toward Lin Xun’s head!
A wave of heat surged forth, like molten iron pouring down. Lin Xun’s entire body was firmly suppressed, with only the fingers of his right hand struggling to tap on the keyboard.
Wang Anquan’s firewall stubbornly held its ground. Just as the sword’s edge was about to reach his body, it noticeably slowed for a moment.
“Your protective barrier is quite ingenious,” Yan Yangzi’s voice, slightly hoarse, rang in Lin Xun’s ear. “Unfortunately, before this venerable one, it will shatter in an instant!”
He twisted his wrist, instantly changing from a slash to a thrust. The tip of the sword seemed to drip with fire as it stabbed toward Lin Xun. “This move, ‘Rainbow Qi Piercing the Heavens,’ which I just comprehended, you shall be the first to taste it!”
The fiery red sword tip left a vivid crimson trail in the air.
In moments of crisis, one’s perception seems to stretch infinitely. Before the sword tip even touched Lin Xun’s body, he felt an immense, crushing pressure.
—Wang Anquan’s firewall was indeed sturdy and solid, but the gap between him and Yan Yangzi was simply too vast. As the saying goes, “overwhelming force defeats all skill”—this was exactly it. For Yan Yangzi to breach his barrier was as easy as a supercomputer breaking through an ordinary computer’s firewall—after all, their computational power was worlds apart.
Lin Xun pursed his lips.
As the sword tip drew closer, he seemed to hear the sound of his firewall collapsing.
In his ear, Qi Yun’s cheers also rang out: “Master is the greatest under heaven!”
Yet he still stared directly at Yan Yangzi, showing no intention of dodging.
Yan Yangzi: “Your resolve is quite firm. If you hadn’t fallen into my hands, you might have become a notable figure in the Cultivation world someday.”
Lin Xun: “Thank you for the praise, Senior.”
The sword’s edge was already pressing against Lin Xun’s eyes!
Only the last, teetering shred of the firewall remained.
Yan Yangzi gave a cold laugh. “How pitiful.”
As he spoke, the muscles in his arm bulged, clearly adding more force.
“However, Senior,” Lin Xun said, “I truly do not know Cultivation.”
Yan Yangzi: “Whether you know Cultivation or not has nothing to do with me.”
Lin Xun: “That’s true.”
The moment his words fell, he seemed to have made some resolution. He bit his lip, then abruptly pressed F11!
The sword that Yan Yangzi had already touched to his skin suddenly froze.
…
It wasn’t blocked by an invisible barrier but was completely unable to advance, as if facing an insurmountable wall of steel.
Lin Xun looked at the astonishment in Yan Yangzi’s eyes, smiled, and drifted to the side.
The immense pressure that had been bearing down on him vanished completely in that instant.
He moved to the other side of the stone chamber, looked at Yan Yangzi, and tilted his head.
Yan Yangzi raised his long sword and thrust toward him once more!
Lin Xun remained motionless. Facing Yan Yangzi’s sword light, he reflexively closed his eyes, yet the sword tip still could not penetrate his skin.
He took a light breath and opened his eyes to look at Yan Yangzi.
Yan Yangzi roared, “What sorcery are you using?!”
Lin Xun drifted to the other side of the room and said, “Nothing much.”
Yan Yangzi thrust his sword forward again. “Nonsense!”
Lin Xun didn’t attack Yan Yangzi either. He simply hugged his Cherry keyboard, floating back and forth, then said, “Senior has been away from the mortal world for a long time, so you probably haven’t heard this saying either.”
Yan Yangzi: “What saying?”
Lin Xun: “Those of us who use keyboards are naturally stronger than others.”
He felt his words were somewhat provocative, but that was the reality—now Yan Yangzi couldn’t hit him at all.
Just as he was thinking about how to anger Yan Yangzi further, he suddenly heard a whistling sound behind his ear!
Caught off guard, his neck was bound by the Demon-Subduing Chain!
Qi Yun: “I’ll finish you off—”
He pressed down from behind, wrapping the Demon-Binding Chains tightly around Lin Xun several times.
Lin Xun: “…”
It’s over. I’ve crashed.
—But right now, he couldn’t resist at all.
Because earlier, the only program he had executed—a simple piece of code—was a virus. A virus he had deployed on himself.
The function of this virus was to cut off his network connection.
What kind of computer is the safest?
A computer that isn’t turned on is the safest. A computer disconnected from the internet is the safest. It just needs to sit there quietly, and no virus or any form of cyberattack can touch it—how can an attack be established without a network?
And indeed, as Lin Xun had guessed, once he cut off his own internet connection, no matter how high Yan Yangzi’s cultivation was, he couldn’t harm a single hair on his head.
But this brought up a problem: without a network, others couldn’t harm him, but he also couldn’t attack others.
This directly led to Qi Yun suddenly lashing out, restraining him with chains, while he couldn’t retaliate by throwing a virus at Qi Yun.
Unable to resist, Lin Xun was tied up by Qi Yun in a corner.
Qi Yun drew his sword and slashed at him several times, but there was no reaction.
“Forget it,” Yan Yangzi said. “This little brat has some strange skill that makes him impervious to blades and spears. Yun’er, don’t bother with him anymore. Tie him up here for a few days, and he’ll starve to death naturally.”
Qi Yun: “Master is right.”
After saying this, he kicked Lin Xun: “What do you say? Call me ‘Dad,’ and I’ll give you water.”
Lin Xun: “Aren’t you afraid of being discovered by Qingcheng Mountain for causing trouble here?”
Qi Yun: “If it weren’t for your interference, Master would have already perfected his divine technique!”
“Oh.” Lin Xun wriggled backward, pressing against the stone wall, and said slowly, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll send my location to my master?”
“Send your location?” Qi Yun laughed. “You’re tied up like a dumpling right now. Come on, tell me, how are you going to send your location?”
“Lo,” Lin Xun said. “Send location information. Recipient: Master, Senior Xiaoyao…”
Qi Yun’s expression changed abruptly as he grabbed Lin Xun’s phone and tried to force it to shut down.
Just as he was about to turn off the phone, Lo spoke: “Failed to send information. Network connection interrupted. Refreshing…”
Qi Yun was stunned for a moment, then leaned against the stone wall, laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten up.
“What do you say? Feeling stupid now?” he laughed. “This place is sealed off—there’s no network!”
Lin Xun: “You even know the word ‘sealed off.'”
Qi Yun was too happy to care about what he said. After finally laughing enough, Lin… Xun heard him say, “You’re going to be trapped here and starve to death. Hurry up and call me ‘Dad.'”
Lin Xun: “…”
Why is this guy even more eager to become his dad than Wang Anquan was at nineteen?
Maintaining a calm tone, he said, “Qi Yun, do you know what I do in real life?”
Qi Yun: “What?”
Lin Xun: “I work on artificial intelligence.”
“Wow,” Qi Yun said. “Impressive.”
Lin Xun: “Although I haven’t fully succeeded yet.”
Qi Yun: “I knew you couldn’t accomplish anything.”
Lin Xun: “But I’ve still managed to create something, and I loaded part of it onto my phone.”
Qi Yun clicked his tongue: “Look at you, so capable.”
Lin Xun: “So the artificial intelligence in my phone is a bit smarter than those artificial idiots.”
Qi Yun wore a dismissive expression and gave a few perfunctory claps.
The applause echoed in the empty stone chamber, carrying a faint reverberation.
Lin Xun could no longer endure this person’s seemingly idiotic mind.
He said, “Lo, open the chat interface between me and my master.”
The screen flickered, switching to the chat interface.
—On the chat interface, aside from the failed location message just sent, there was also a successfully sent location message, timestamped twenty minutes ago.
In an instant, Qi Yun’s body visibly stiffened.
“Holy shit,” he said, “you sent it in advance?”
Lin Xun: “My Lo sent it.”
Qi Yun: “What?”
Lin Xun was not lacking in patience: “It can detect a gradual rise in temperature.”
Qi Yun: “Hmm.”
Lin Xun: “Of course, it can also detect a gradual weakening of the signal.”
Qi Yun: “…”
Lin Xun: “I had given it similar instructions before, so when the signal dropped to the point where it might soon be unable to send any more messages, it decided on its own to send the message first.”
Qi Yun’s gaze was dazed. The next moment, he abruptly turned to look at Yan Yangzi, who had once again entered meditation: “Master! Something’s wrong!”
—Too late.
Lin Xun pressed tightly against the stone wall, feeling the faint tremors transmitted through the rock behind him.
The stone door was violently shattered, dust billowing up!
“Disciple, are you here?” The first to ring out was Old Man Huo’s robust and resonant voice.
The next second, a purple figure flew toward Lin Xun.
“My dear Suan’er!” Butterfly Madam kicked Qi Yun aside, her delicate hands grabbing the Demon-Binding Chain on Lin Xun. With a few quick tugs, she snapped the chain, her voice filled with heartache: “Sister hasn’t seen you for just three hours, how could you have suffered such injustice?”
Immediately after, Xiaoyaozi strode forward: “Yan Yang! Why are you here here?”
Perhaps the sound of the stone door shattering was too loud, Yan Yangzi awoke from his meditation. Seeing the newcomers, he frowned and cautiously retreated several steps.
Before he could speak, Butterfly Madam exclaimed: “Old Yan Yang, how shameless of you!”
As she spoke, she helped Lin Xun up from the ground. He choked on the dust and coughed a few times, instantly earning him even more of the Madam’s affection.
Next, Madam Peacock entered the stone chamber. Her voice was soft yet dignified, full of reproach: “Suan’er has not yet been in our Immortal Sect for ten days. He has only just barely entered the Qi Refining Stage and still doesn’t know what Spiritual Power is, utterly defenseless. Yan Yangzi, how could you bear to inflict such cruelty upon him?”
Lin Xun: “…”
He raised his eyes and met Qi Yun’s gaze.
Qi Yun looked at him, his entire expression materializing into a giant question mark. He heard him murmur in repetition: “Utterly… defenseless?”
Lin Xun blinked innocently.