Chapter 623
One day, after finishing his sermon, Zheng Fa sat on a mat, watching as thousands of disciples respectfully bowed and filed out of the lecture hall, their eyes glimmering with anticipation.
The progress of Dao fruit is related not only to the number of its audience but also to their quality.
A thousand disciples are not enough.
What about a hundred million?
Or a billion?
A thousand Qi Refinement stage practitioners are insufficient; what about a thousand Golden Core stage ones?
Even though the spiritual energy of Hongshan may not support so many Golden Core cultivators, Zheng Fa's cultivation will eventually progress.
Today, perhaps the Xian Sword is more powerful, but that power comes from the Tianhe Zunren.
Yet, it is the growth potential of the Fusang tree that truly captures Zheng Fa's attention.
Moreover, it is a tangible strength that belongs to him.
...
"The formation is almost perfected!"
As soon as she returned to the nursing home from the lecture hall, Tang Lingwu rushed out of her room to share the good news with Zheng Fa.
"Really?"
Zheng Fa was overjoyed to hear this.
Perfecting the Nine Chapters Formation was no small feat.
At first, Zheng Fa thought everything was in place, just missing a programmer.
Later, he discovered that the structure of the Chixiao Yuce (赤霄玉册) was akin to a nervous system, vastly different from modern computer architecture.
It was best to abandon the current computer structure and redesign a hardware system from scratch.
In the end, they consulted biologists, particularly those specializing in neuroscience...
The project grew larger and larger, and it could be said that they had completely rebuilt it twice.
From hardware to language, it was all a completely new approach.
For the past two months, Tang Lingwu had no time to attend his sermons; most of her time was spent immersed in forums.
In just six months, they had completed such a monumental project, thanks to the four words—national effort.
Old Bai and the others also gathered around, following Zheng Fa into Tang Lingwu's room.
Tang Lingwu had left her computer on, and the forum interface was displayed on the screen.
Zheng Fa took a closer look and found that Tang Lingwu was browsing a post titled "Design Specifications for the Nine Chapters Symbol Language."
"We redesigned the formation language, calling it the Nine Chapters Symbols. We mainly focused on the basic data structures and statement types. Additionally, we created some commonly used libraries and modules."
"The most important and challenging part is this: the strong artificial intelligence algorithm designed based on the ideas from the Chixiao Yuce."
Tang Lingwu paused for a moment, her tone filled with pride:
"Or rather, this might be the first true intelligent life we’ve designed."
Indeed, by now, the intelligence level of the Nine Chapters Formation had surpassed any modern artificial intelligence algorithms—perhaps the creators of the Chixiao Yuce didn’t even know what artificial intelligence was, but their method of mimicking the nervous system was the most direct replication of human intelligence.
Thanks to the powerful observational skills of cultivators, the Xuanwei realm was ahead of modern times in this regard.
"You’ve designed a virtual person?" Old Bai summarized.
"That’s one way to put it," Tang Lingwu nodded, adding, "According to your ideas, Zheng Fa, we only designed the most basic data storage and computation functions."
Zheng Fa nodded gently: "That’s the safest approach."
He slowly read through the post, saying, "At least at the beginning, the Nine Chapters Formation can only be limited to computation."
On one hand, he was still somewhat wary of the Chixiao Yuce.
Even though the Nine Chapters Formation only utilized its ideas without directly copying the techniques from the text, Zheng Fa was still afraid of potential pitfalls.
On the other hand, he was also a bit cautious about true artificial intelligence.
At least in the beginning, he would only regard the Nine Chapters Formation as a tool for governing the Jiushan realm, without granting it too much authority, and he wouldn’t even load attack techniques or similar functions.
Of course, it was also because those functions consumed too many spirit stones...
Jiushan Sect couldn’t afford that.
According to Zheng Fa’s estimates, even now, the perfected Nine Chapters Formation consumed five to six times the spirit stones compared to before.
Tang Lingwu nodded lightly, a hint of regret in her voice: "It’s a pity I won’t be able to see this formation take shape."
Old Bai also looked somewhat disappointed.
In the modern world, spiritual materials were limited, and there were no spirit stones, making it impossible to set up the Nine Chapters Formation.
After working hard for over half a year, all of Tang Lingwu's designs remained mere fantasies; seeing a real Nine Chapters Formation was simply impossible.
"I can’t show you the complete Nine Chapters Formation," Zheng Fa said with a smile, a flash of light appearing in his hand as the Zao Hua Yu Tie (造化玉牒) materialized in his palm. "But I can certainly try out some algorithms."
"Zao Hua Yu Tie?"
Tang Lingwu gazed at the Zao Hua Yu Tie, her eyes filled with curiosity.
With a thought, Zheng Fa activated the Zao Hua Yu Tie, and the symbols on it began to move rapidly, revealing some Nine Chapters Symbols.
"When I initially designed the Zao Hua Yu Tie, I intended it to serve as a server... Unfortunately, the algorithms weren’t complete, so it ended up being just a forum with limited functions."
Zheng Fa had high hopes for the Zao Hua Yu Tie.
However, its current function was limited to the Jiushan Forum.
The main reason, of course, was Zheng Fa's cultivation level.
But on the other hand, the lack of a truly viable algorithm had resulted in the Zao Hua Yu Tie's incomplete functionality.
Now, with the emergence of the Nine Chapters Symbols, this shortcoming was being addressed.
"I lack the cultivation to support strong artificial intelligence, but other algorithms are still quite helpful to me."
"What kind of help?"
Zheng Fa tapped the Zao Hua Yu Tie, and it projected a light screen in front of everyone.
The screen was filled with dense files.
There were Zheng Fa's newly revised textbooks, his previous notes on modern scientific knowledge, and various cultivation methods from the Xuanwei realm.
Old Bai watched with keen interest.
Zheng Fa pointed at the light screen, explaining, "I gave the Zao Hua Yu Tie a command to label the Five Elements attributes of the Nine Chapters Symbols according to their topological structure."
As he tapped on the screen, the images suddenly shattered into darkness, then the screen lit up again, displaying a stream of symbols.
Soon, a new document appeared.
Zheng Fa opened the document, which categorized hundreds of Nine Chapters Symbols into five types based on their Five Elements attributes.
He continued, "Now I’m having it organize the structures of common spiritual materials."
Before long, another document appeared.
Old Bai understood:
"Isn’t this similar to the functions of modern computers?"
Zheng Fa nodded: "It is indeed quite similar. Due to my insufficient cultivation, I can’t yet reach the computational power of the Nine Chapters Formation, so I can only write in relatively simple algorithms. I can’t achieve strong artificial intelligence, but it’s much more useful than before."
He pointed at the new document on the light screen: "For example, this analysis of spiritual material structures is extremely beneficial for my Tian Gang Di Sha Bian Hua (天罡地煞变化)."
The Tian Gang Di Sha Bian Hua required an enormous amount of knowledge, posing a significant challenge for Zheng Fa's mind.
Now that the Zao Hua Yu Tie had evolved...
"You’re essentially carrying a computer in your head!"
Old Bai muttered.
Zheng Fa chuckled; it was indeed true.
But it was not just that.
Previously, Zheng Fa had only created the Jiushan Forum because the algorithms of the Zao Hua Yu Tie were lacking, and its level of automation was insufficient. Much of the information required his personal handling, and he had to do most operations himself.
If new functions were introduced, it would consume too much of Zheng Fa's energy.
Now that the algorithms were improved, some ideas could naturally be put on the agenda.
Old Bai said enviously, "If I had something like this when I was in school, I would have been a genius!"
...
Another day of sermons concluded, and Team Leader Yang walked down the mountain, following the crowd.
Professor Wu, whom she had encountered earlier, was walking ahead, accompanied by several students who were whispering among themselves.
That was nothing unusual.
What piqued her curiosity was the expression on Professor Wu and the others' faces, one she was all too familiar with:
That look of frustration when encountering a genius with an IQ that far surpassed their own, leaving their hearts unsettled.
Usually, that expression was one she wore herself...
She couldn’t help but take a few steps forward, straining to listen to the conversation among the teacher and students.
"Was the dean just pretending before?"
The dean? Isn’t that Zheng Fa?
Pretending?
Her confusion deepened as she listened intently.
"I think so. When I heard the dean lecture before, I thought he was just at a high school biology level..."
Professor Wu specialized in macromolecules, and naturally, his students were focused on that field as well.
"I’ve noticed over the past six months that during the dean's lectures, he seems to know everything I know..."
"Sometimes, what he says is exactly what I was thinking!"
After hearing this student’s words, Professor Wu nodded slightly, seemingly in agreement, and chimed in:
"I feel that way too. I didn’t pay much attention at first, thinking it was just a coincidence."
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