Chapter 533: The Era of Universal Mechanization
“This world is a continental world called the Forge Machinery World. Before coming to this world, the Great Scholar’s Manuscript senior told us that this world has no human race, only robots. At first we didn’t believe it, but when we arrived here we discovered that this world truly doesn’t have a single human being.”
“We naturally thought of what the textbooks say – that all worlds have human races.”
“We thought the human race of this world had gone extinct, but the Great Scholar’s Manuscript said no. It said these robots have souls, guessing that the human race of this world survives in the form of robots.”
“The ruler of the Forge Machinery World is called the Machinery King. We found the Machinery King, explained our origins, and hoped it would provide assistance. But when it heard that the Nine Provinces World has experts as numerous as trees in a forest, with long-lived beings found everywhere, its expression drastically changed and it tried to capture us. Considering we were outsiders, Sect Master was unwilling to conflict with them, so he took us away to explore the world’s truth independently.”
“As we explored history and investigated various ruins submerged in sand rivers, we gradually discovered the truth about this world being entirely robotic.”
“Initially, the Forge Machinery World was just an ordinary technological civilization that had recently mastered controlled nuclear fusion, solving energy problems. Humans were the masters of the world, with robots serving as auxiliary tools.”
“Humans longed for life and hoped for immortality. Even by modifying genes – removing disease genes and adding longevity genes – they couldn’t live too long. Their bodies would always develop various unexpected problems, eventually leading to an incurable disease called ‘gene sickness’.”
“People began replacing problematic body parts with machinery – mechanical hearts, mechanical respiratory systems, mechanical lungs, mechanical stomachs. Except for the brain, everything became mechanical.”
“Later, they achieved a major technological breakthrough – they could replace the brain with a mechanical brain.”
“From then on, they achieved their goal, completely breaking free from the constraints of flesh and disease, becoming the mechanical race, entering the era of universal mechanization.”
“While they couldn’t achieve eternal life, everyone could live to the limit of ordinary human lifespan – 140 years.”
To extend further would require soul cultivation, which the technological level of the Forge Machinery World hadn’t reached.
“All this is history we discovered with Sect Master and the immortal artifact senior while exploring ruins. This history is so ancient that no one remembers it anymore. The people of this world believe they have been the mechanical race since ancient times.”
“After we uncovered this history, Sect Master raised a new question: How do robots reproduce? Souls don’t appear out of nowhere, nor do they attach to newly created robots.”
“Later we learned that all newborns come from a place called ‘Mother of All Life.’ We decided to split up, dividing into three teams to search for the nest. The Great Scholar’s Manuscript senior went alone, Sect Master went alone, and several of us grouped together.”
“The robots here drink gasoline mixed with alcohol. At an alcohol establishment we found clues, infiltrated the metropolis, used magic to deceive the guards, and finally arrived at this underground base located two thousand meters deep.”
Jiang Li nodded. Above the underground base wasn’t just soil, but sixteen isolation layers: sixty-meter-thick concrete walls, lead-zirconium alloy resistant to nuclear weapons, carbon nitride thick films… Each layer filled with graphite powder between them. Even with continuous nuclear bombardment, bunker-buster missiles, or direct meteor impacts, this underground base wouldn’t feel the slightest vibration.
“Just as we were about to succeed, we triggered the alarm system. With no other choice, we asked the Human Sovereign and Sect Master Bai to come.”
One of the junior cultivators pointed at the massive door occupying the entire wall behind the mechanical guards: “Behind this door is the ‘Mother of All Life.'”
Jiang Li piled the obstructing mechanical guards to the side, placing his hand on the heavy door and understanding its mechanism.
“This door is made of rare metal alloys with precision gears in between. It can only be opened through quadruple verification of specific robot engine codes, voice, and soul. If someone tries to force it open externally, the door automatically locks permanently, and only that specific robot can open it…”
The junior cultivators grew anxious: “The specific robot is the Machinery King! It would never help us open the door.”
Jiang Li gently pushed, and the door automatically locked. Then a flood-like force violently pushed the door open.
“…But if you’re strong enough, you don’t need to consider the difficulties mentioned above.”
Before Jiang Li, this door representing the pinnacle of Forge Machinery civilization’s wisdom had little difference from a sheet of paper.
When the door opened, the junior cultivators witnessed something incomprehensible.
Countless identical male infants floated in nutrient tanks.
The tanks were arranged neatly according to infant development stages – from embryonic states connected to placentas, to severed placentas, developing eyes, oral cavities, esophaguses, and so on.
The liquid in the nutrient tanks seemed to separate souls. When infants grew to one year old, their souls would leave the body and attach to newly manufactured small robot bodies.
After obtaining souls, the small robots began moving like infants, crawling everywhere while making babbling sounds.
The Mother of All Life was the place that granted souls to robots.
Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu weren’t surprised. When they arrived in this world, they had already scanned the mechanical production line behind the door with their spiritual sense, knowing everything.
“Since robots can’t produce souls, they use cloning technology to create infants, thus providing a source of souls.”
Jiang Li clapped his hands: “Let’s go, we’ll go up and see. Someone’s waiting for us up there.”
The junior cultivators looked confused.
……
On the surface, Jiang Li saw countless “people” who looked completely identical to humans with the naked eye.
One junior cultivator muttered: “There are ‘skin replacement shops’ here. Robots can freely change their skin, and even if they look identical it doesn’t matter – everyone identifies each other through brainwave recognition.”
The leader wore senior military officer attire, his chest so covered with honors that it clearly demonstrated his status.
The ruler of the Forge Machinery civilization’s integrated military-government system – the Machinery King.
The Machinery King appeared as a steady middle-aged man, but his actual age was ninety years.
Being a robotic body, as long as his soul didn’t feel aged, he could maintain youthful mental vitality indefinitely.
The fully armed military, the stern Machinery King, various never-before-seen new weapons – all showed extreme hostility toward Jiang Li and the others.
“Open fire on the thieves who infiltrated the Mother of All Life!”
This was the most prosperous city of the Forge Machinery civilization, with forty million robots living here. When the Machinery King learned of the underground infiltration, he evacuated citizens in record time to deliver the greatest punishment to these thieves.
He envied these cultivators from the Nine Provinces World.
They had abandoned their very bodies for longevity, so why could these mere mortals live for centuries and millennia!
When Spirit Herb Sect Master Huang Chengdan introduced himself, he claimed to be eight hundred years old – precisely this statement drove the Machinery King mad with jealousy.