Chapter 596
Cooperating with this Ninth Elder certainly carries risks, but the benefits are also quite apparent.
"Well... I can give it a try."
As expected, the Ninth Elder frowned slightly, but she didn’t seem too troubled. Instead, she nodded in agreement.
Zheng Fa stepped out of the cave, feeling the Ninth Elder's gaze fixed on his back, wondering what she was thinking.
...
In modern times, at a nursing home.
"You have a big project and need a programmer?"
The old man looked at Zheng Fa, utterly confused.
"Yes... I need a programmer with strong learning abilities!"
"How many?"
"Whatever you have, I’ll take it!"
Regardless of what the Ninth Elder was thinking, Zheng Fa wasn’t about to place his safety in her ability to keep secrets—
He intended to quietly add a backdoor to the Tiandi Shen Sha Grand Formation!
(End of this chapter)
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Chapter 434: Thousands Bow to the Mountain, the Dao Fruit Changes Again
"I can do it!"
Upon hearing Zheng Fa's request, Tang Lingwu raised her small hand high, her face a picture of eagerness and excitement.
"Wow, I've never seen someone so eager to work."
The old man’s expression was strange as he muttered to himself.
As the sun began to set, the rosy hue on Tang Lingwu's charming face resembled the evening glow on the horizon. Teacher Tian wore a knowing smile, biting her lip as she playfully slapped the old man’s back twice, her eyes conveying a clear message:
"Who do you think you are?"
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu. She had indeed studied computer science; while her experience might not be extensive, the educational resources at the nursing home were certainly not lacking.
Logically speaking... this task should be entrusted to her.
"I plan to have Team Leader Yang make the contact."
Tang Lingwu's hand trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something but was reluctant to contradict Zheng Fa. Instead, her eyes reflected a sense of grievance.
"Hey! Zheng Fa?"
Though she remained silent, the old man, who had just been grumbling, now began to defend her:
"Tang Lingwu wants to help; why shouldn’t she?"
Seeing Tang Lingwu’s downcast expression, Zheng Fa shook his head and smiled, "This project is too large."
"Too large?"
"I need at least two sets of formations to analyze and reconstruct."
The old man, realizing they were discussing serious matters, had his displeasure fade considerably. "Two sets?"
"One is the Tiandi Shen Sha Grand Formation. This is the most urgent; for me, this formation is life-threatening."
The threat posed by the Tiandi Shen Sha Grand Formation was immense.
Currently, on Shen Huoshan, he faced life-threatening dangers at every moment.
While the Ninth Elder had shown some goodwill, Zheng Fa was cautious by nature and never willing to entrust his life to others. Thus, he felt an even greater urgency to break the formation.
At present, Zheng Fa was only responsible for a tiny part of the Tiandi Shen Sha Grand Formation, and controlling the entire formation would be quite challenging.
What he needed to do now was to analyze the formation and embed some secret spells or modules into the spirit stones he inscribed, spells that only he would understand.
Not to mention gaining control over the formation.
At the very least, he could disrupt the entire Tiandi Shen Sha Grand Formation and alleviate his life-threatening crisis.
Upon hearing the word "life-threatening," the old man's eyes sharpened, and he stopped his antics, frowning as he asked, "And what about the other set?"
"The other set isn’t the most urgent, but it’s actually more important. It’s a formation for simulation."
The formation Zheng Fa referred to had a long history—back when Senior Sister Zhang was learning coding and other computer knowledge, she created a system of symbols for calculations.
However, due to limitations in her Yuan Ling Dao body, its effectiveness was not as great as Zheng Fa had imagined.
Now, with spirit stones, combined with that system of symbols, it could serve as a model for a spirit stone computer.
Having experienced modern technology, Zheng Fa understood what this meant!
In fact...
While the Zhu Xian Sword Formation was incredibly powerful, in Zheng Fa's eyes, this formation was the future foundation of the Jiu Shan Sect!
He had always wanted to develop the computer industry in the Xuan Wei Realm and the Jiu Shan Realm, but this was the pinnacle of modern technological wisdom, and manufacturing processes and raw material acquisition posed significant challenges in the Xuan Wei Realm.
It wasn’t until he discovered the function of spirit stones that Zheng Fa truly saw hope in realizing his vision.
"Simulation formation?"
The Creation Jade Tablet within Zheng Fa shot out from the top of his head, casting a beam of light onto the table beside them. The light shimmered with spiritual energy, and particles rapidly combined.
In less than ten minutes, a thick book appeared on the table.
"Jiu Zhang Suan Zhen?"
The old man looked at the title on the cover, scratching his head in confusion. "That’s a strange name. Is it related to the Jiu Zhang Suan Jing?"
No... it refers to the meaning of Jiu Shan Zhang Wuyi.
Zheng Fa glanced at the equally puzzled Tang Lingwu but chose not to argue.
The old man picked up the "Jiu Zhang Suan Zhen," flipped through it, frowned, and then handed the book to the eagerly waiting Tang Lingwu, turning back to Zheng Fa with admiration:
"The person who wrote this formation is a master of symbols. What do you want to do?"
Senior Sister Zhang's expertise in symbols could be said to combine the strengths of both realms.
While the old man and others might surpass her in topology, when it came to the breadth of knowledge in symbol theory, Senior Sister Zhang was far ahead.
Thus, the old man immediately recognized the prowess of the author of "Jiu Zhang Suan Zhen."
"This formation was mostly created by one person, so there may be oversights or it might be overly complicated. I was thinking of using programming language to standardize and simplify it."
It wasn’t a matter of distrust in Senior Sister Zhang; Zheng Fa simply preferred to engage more minds in the process.
Moreover, in this modern age where programming was a hot topic, Senior Sister Zhang might indeed... fall short.
In the Xuan Wei Realm, the quality of spirit stones also varied. The capacity for symbols and the duration a formation could be maintained differed greatly between high-grade and low-grade spirit stones.
Simplifying the calculation formation, to some extent, meant conserving spirit stones and reducing resource consumption.
Not to mention that standardization would lower the costs of learning and maintenance.
"If possible, I’d like to write an artificial intelligence algorithm based on this calculation formation."
In simple terms, Zheng Fa's expectation for "Jiu Zhang Suan Zhen" was to reconstruct it using modern programming language concepts and begin writing artificial intelligence programs.
No matter how brilliant Senior Sister Zhang was, she was still limited by her era and perspective.
Currently, "Jiu Zhang Suan Zhen" was still fixated on "calculation."
"Two sets of formations? That’s quite a workload..." The old man nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly protested, "But why not let Tang Lingwu take charge? Do you think she’s not capable enough?"
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu, whose lips were unconsciously pouting, and chuckled, "I’ve reached the Yuan Ying stage."
"Huh?"
"In the future, the spiritual energy in Hong Shan may be much more abundant than before. I want Lingwu to take this opportunity to cultivate more."
Tang Lingwu blinked, listening as Zheng Fa continued:
"Once her cultivation advances, it will be better in the long run..."
Though Zheng Fa's words were somewhat vague, everyone understood... for Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu’s diligent cultivation and shared journey toward immortality were tenfold, a hundredfold more important than simply being "useful."
The old man watched Tang Lingwu, who was grinning like a fool, silently hugging his shoulders as he sat back down, feeling the evening breeze chill him, causing his nose to itch. When he looked closely, he realized... his nose was actually... quite red.
...
Three days later, under the deep night sky, the city of Jing had no stars, yet the skyscrapers below sparkled brighter than the Milky Way.
The lights reflecting off the window glass illuminated the faces in front of the monitors, making their eyes appear lifeless.
"Still not leaving?"
A middle-aged man felt a pat on the back of his chair. Turning around, he saw a colleague asking him.
This colleague was outgoing, well-informed, and quick-witted.
They had joined the company together and had worked side by side for several years, developing a close relationship.
"I keep getting errors. I’ll have to work at home too; it’s a waste of time on the road."
"You’re wasting your life!"
"It’s better than before; at least our company’s 996 has turned into 995."
While the code was being tested, the middle-aged man stood up, took a sip of iced coffee infused with goji berries, stretched, and heard his bones crack and pop.
Hearing that sound, his colleague seemed to remember something and said:
"There's going to be a massage studio opening nearby. I heard their skills are pretty good. Want to try it out when they open at the end of the month?"
The middle-aged man was taken aback. "Who’s so business-savvy? You know about it before it even opens?"
"Who am I? I heard the person was also a programmer in our building before being laid off. They worked hard, identified a pain point in the industry, and self-taught massage..."
The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, feeling like he had learned something, but it seemed the opportunity had already slipped away.
"Actually, I’m also planning to take another graduate exam, something related to mechanics."
"Huh?"
The middle-aged man was surprised. Was he planning to change careers?
"Haven’t you heard? My classmates studying mechanics are doing quite well."
He had an inkling of this.
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