Chapter 43: Vulnerability (3)
43 – Vulnerability (3)
Zhi Zhen closed its eyes and rolled over, its belly up, as if the mundane world had nothing to do with it.
Faced with a cat resisting so passively, what could Lin Xun do?
Lin Xun could do nothing, and even had to stroke its fur.
After smoothing Zhi Zhen’s fur, he still had to explain things to Dong Jun.
A Happy Zhi Zhen: No, that’s not what I meant. I haven’t been staying up late recently.
Dong Jun: Hmm.
The tone of the reply remained as brief and indifferent as ever, even sparing with words—likely because he was busy with work.
Lin Xun didn’t continue the conversation. With nothing else to do, he held the cat and leaned against the wall, watching the ritual alongside Brother Chang Ji.
Old Man Huo, Xiaoyaozi, and Master Wanchan alone weren’t enough, so they each began making calls to summon others. Half an hour later, Butterfly Madam, Phoenix Madam, Gushan Jian, Yufeng Zhenren, and others had nearly all arrived—these were all Nascent Soul seniors of the cultivation world, almost forming the highest combat force of the entire cultivation realm.
At the forefront, Shenji Zhenren held a divination plate, taking the lead to initiate the formation. The seniors sat cross-legged on the spot, forming various hand seals. Countless surges of powerful Qi rose from their bodies, intertwining in mid-air to form a vast and immense flow of energy, pressing toward the pitch-black entrance.
The entrance visibly shrank.
Holding Zhi Zhen, Lin Xun looked over there. In his eyes, the dark opening was countless lines of code, and as the seniors worked to repair it, certain lines of code quietly changed.
“Brother,” he said to Chang Ji, “look at the crack. What do you see?”
Chang Ji said, “The sea of suffering of all living beings.”
“What?” Lin Xun didn’t react immediately.
“I’m not very cultured,” he said. “Brother, could you be more specific?”
Chang Ji fell silent for a moment, then said, “I see a sea of blood inside, churning with human malice, grievances, and inner demons.”
Lin Xun pondered thoughtfully.
After thinking for a while, he asked Chang Ji again, “Does everyone see the same thing?”
“Perhaps not,” Chang Ji said. “But it’s largely similar.”
Lin Xun: “If… just if, you entered the demon realm crack and had to find a way out, what would you do?”
Chang Ji: “Overcoming inner demons might allow escape, but the chance is slim.”
Lin Xun didn’t know how to respond.
Even if he spoke, no one would likely believe him.
After a long silence, he said, “My master said that all things are composed of the five elemental spiritual energies. By comprehending the five elemental spiritual energies, one can grasp the principles governing all things. If… every cultivator has their own ‘Dao,’ and they use their own explanations to interpret the world, right?”
“Or there’s a term,” Lin Xun thought for a moment. “Deconstruction?”
Chang Ji: “You actually know ‘deconstruction.’”
Lin Xun: “.”
He continued, “You use your ‘Dao’ to deconstruct the world, and I use my ‘Dao’ to deconstruct the world. If the world appears as spiritual energy in your eyes and as code in mine, there’s nothing strange about it—it’s just that our ‘Dao’ is different. Can it be put that way?”
“Although I think you’re wrong,” Brother Chang Ji said, “there seems to be some logic to it.”
“So, it’s just that the ‘Dao’ is different, but the world remains this world.” He looked at Chang Ji. “The world is real, isn’t it?”
Chang Ji: “That’s a philosophical question.”
Lin Xun felt a headache coming on. “I want to confirm that this world is real.”
Chang Ji gazed at him. “I believe it is.”
“Alright.” Lin Xun said sincerely, “Thank you, senior brother.”
Senior brother: “There’s a lecture at my school on Wednesday, you can go listen.”
Lin Xun: “I’ll consider it.”
“If you come, I can’t bring you. I’ll be in seclusion for the next few days.”
Lin Xun: “Has senior brother made another breakthrough?”
Chang Ji: “Perhaps I can reach the Golden Core stage.”
Lin Xun: “Congratulations, senior brother.”
After congratulating his senior brother, he quietly watched the seniors perform their rituals, but not long after, he received a WeChat message from “Army Green Flower.”
Army Green Flower: …While watching the surveillance, I noticed a large number of suspicious individuals entering the basement from the fourth floor. I’m on duty, so go check it out for me.
A Happy Zhi Zhen: I already set up an ambush forty minutes ago. Observation results: They are a group of Qigong enthusiasts, practicing their skills, harmless.
Then, Lin Xun went to take a photo from afar and sent it to the security guard.
Army Green Flower: Thumbs up
Army Green Flower: Congratulations, the community has eliminated another safety hazard.
A Happy Zhi Zhen: Clap clap clap
Another minute later, Wang Anquan called, his voice panicked, saying he discovered the cat had suddenly disappeared.
Lin Xun reassured him, saying the cat was already in his arms.
Wang Anquan: “So clever.”
Lin Xun sighed softly.
While he was replying to messages and answering calls, the crack repair work over there was also nearing completion.
When the crack was completely fixed, the system notification sounded.
“Completed side quest ‘Xiaoxiao’s Wish,’ rewards have been issued, please check.”
Lin Xun let out a soft sigh. The system’s warning to “be careful” was indeed not just empty words—this was truly the most dangerous task he had undertaken so far.
Old Man Huo resolved the crack and came over to give Lin Xun a stern warning, repeating that he absolutely must not enter the crack, or he would never return. Lin Xun agreed all the way and finally returned home safely.
Zhao Jiagou and Wang Anquan rushed over to pet Zhi Zhen, and Jiang Lian also expressed his welcome.
According to them, after Lin Xun left home, Zhi Zhen meowed for a while and then went back to Lin Xun’s room to play. They were busy programming and didn’t notice. Half an hour later, when there was still no movement from the room, Zhao Jiagou went in to check on the cat and only then discovered that Zhi Zhen was nowhere to be found in the room, and the window had somehow been pushed open by the cat.
Outside Lin Xun’s window was a hawthorn tree. After opening the window, Zhi Zhen could easily climb down the hawthorn tree and gain its freedom. At that point, they all panicked.
Lin Xun: “I suspect it’s not a normal cat.”
Wang Anquan: “You stopped being a normal person long ago, so nothing seems normal to you.”
Lin Xun: “This time, you have to believe me. Never mind, I’ll eat something first.”
The fridge was empty, with nothing proper to eat, so he could only commandeer Jia Gou’s milk and tear open a bag of chips.
Zhi Zhen sat on the table across from him, its tail curled up to cover its paws, elegant in posture and noble in demeanor.
Meanwhile, Jia Gou sprawled on the sofa, scrolling through videos.
He had the sound on, and the video’s audio came through clearly: “Programmers are a mysterious species. Their territory consists of two trees—one is a binary tree, and the other is also a binary tree.”
Wang Anquan: “Don’t mention binary trees to me.”
Lin Xun: “Don’t mention binary trees to me either.”
Wang Anquan: “What’s wrong with you?”
“Can you imagine?” Lin Xun said, “I walked to the rift between the human realm’s barrier and the demon realm, only to find myself inside a binary tree. Binary, endless binary—it felt like I was seeing the underlying layer of an operating system. I suspect the rift is just a logical bug in the system, and my master and the others fixed it.”
“Shut up,” Wang Anquan replied. “You’re just a mathematician; you know nothing about the underlying layer. I know you skipped your operating systems class to study graph theory next door. Your lab report was a hybrid of mine and Jia Gou’s programs—a monstrosity.”
Lin Xun: “But I still scored higher than you on the final.”
Wang Anquan: “If you don’t know how to talk, then don’t.”
Lin Xun leaned back on the sofa, laughing.
After eating, he went to wash up, bid everyone a friendly goodnight, and returned to his room.
Zhi Zhen followed him inside.
Lin Xun played with the cat for a while before lying down on the bed, his consciousness entering the System Space.
With the side quest completed, he now had 120 Spiritual Power, enough to unlock a new programming language.
Four object-oriented languages: C, Python, Java, PHP. It was a decision to make.
C was a language one could never truly master. He disliked uncertainty, so he ruled it out first.
…PHP was mostly used for web development, which he rarely dealt with, so naturally, it was out.
Java was widely used and performed well. Aside from its somewhat verbose syntax, which resembled Zhao Jiagou in its wordiness, it was nearly perfect.
Python offered high development efficiency and concise syntax, completely outclassing Java. However, its runtime speed fell slightly short compared to Java, much like Wang Anquan’s weight being on the heavier side.
Of course, all the above discussion was pointless.
In the battles of the Cultivation world, he relied more on Wang Anquan’s expertise, and Wang Anquan used Python.
Lin Xun tapped the branch representing this language and pressed confirm.
—Life is short, I choose Python.
After making his choice, the front screen turned black, and a progress bar appeared, likely as the system loaded the new language.
During this downtime, Lin Xun went to the task interface.
Brother Chang Ji was already advancing toward the Golden Core stage, so he couldn’t afford to fall behind.
The main quests Lin Xun had received so far were all related to leveling up. He was currently at the Foundation Establishment stage, and his next target was the Golden Core stage.
Old Man Huo didn’t hold much hope that Lin Xun would reach the Golden Core stage, so he hadn’t assigned any reference books. But Lin Xun wasn’t the kind of frog that only moved when poked—he would advance on his own, and his ability to gather information was extraordinary.
—By observing the topics in the WeChat group chats, Lin Xun learned that Yufeng Zhenren had a junior brother named Yulei Zhenren. A true recluse hidden within the internet, this Yulei Zhenren was an eccentric figure. While cultivating, he also wrote online fantasy novels and had become a platinum author on Qidian Chinese Network, single-handedly supporting the entire sect. With a mindset of “cultivating oneself when poor and benefiting the world when prosperous,” the Zhenren integrated genuine Cultivation theories into his books for countless readers to study.
Lin Xun knew his limits. He couldn’t understand ancient texts, but he could understand Cultivation novels. So, he had been spending his free time on Qidian these past few days.
In “The Long Path of Immortality,” Master Thunder Control provided a detailed vernacular explanation of the origins and development of the Golden Core stage: During the Foundation Establishment stage, “Qi” circulates continuously through the body’s Meridians, flowing without end. However, the amount of Qi the Meridians can carry is ultimately limited. At this point, cultivators begin to use their essence, energy, and spirit as a cauldron, refining the Qi in their Meridians as raw material to forge a Golden Core.
When “Qi” is compressed and condensed to its extreme, it transforms into a liquid. This liquid is then further refined into a semi-solid state, finally coalescing in the Dantian to form a Golden Core. This Golden Core holds vast amounts of spiritual energy and governs the flow of all spiritual energy within the body. With just a thought from the cultivator, it can be unleashed—hence, Golden Core stage cultivators are at least five times more powerful than Foundation Establishment stage cultivators (parenthetically, as is widely known, this theory does not apply to sword cultivators, as they follow their own distinct path).
Lin Xun pondered the contents of “The Long Path of Immortality,” focusing particularly on the process of “Qi” being compressed into a Golden Core.
He thought, compression algorithms—I know those.