Inside the magnificent semi-circular hall, the pale little finger of the child clad in black pointed towards the center of the floor. Immediately, a hissing sound rang out as the metallic floor abruptly split apart, revealing a hidden passage beneath.
“Follow me.”
The black-robed child walked ahead, with Luo Feng trailing behind.
“Make me follow him to pay homage to some master? A master who has been dead for fifty thousand years?” Luo Feng’s heart brimmed with confusion. Yet it was evident that the current display of this relic’s unique powers meant there was no need for any trickery if they wanted to harm him. Luo Feng could only suppress his rising doubts and follow step by step.
Upon reaching the passage, the black-robed child leapt down first, and Luo Feng followed suit.
The passage was approximately thirty meters deep. When the black-robed child and Luo Feng landed on the floor below, the dimly lit hall illuminated with light. Luo Feng’s eyes swept across the empty space—an octagonal chamber with no furnishings on its walls.
“Open!” commanded the black-robed child, pointing at the ground.
With a cacophony of “Ka ka ka~~~” the floor trembled and slowly began to crack open.
“The master’s corpse is stored with great secrecy. You’ll have to wait a while before you can see it,” the black-robed child said, turning to Luo Feng with blood-red eyes that sent a chill down one’s spine. “Luo Feng, you must be filled with questions now, right?”
“That’s right,” Luo Feng admitted without hesitation.
“Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Babata! You may call me ‘Demon Babata.’ Of course, that’s the translation into Earth’s Chinese. In the common tongue of the universe, I should be called ‘XXXX.'” The string of words Babata spoke at the end, though clearly heard by Luo Feng, were completely incomprehensible to him.
Luo Feng was momentarily stunned. Demon Babata?
“‘Demon’ is a title I gave myself,” the black-robed child continued. “In essence, I am an artificial intelligence.”
“Artificial intelligence?” Luo Feng asked, puzzled.
Like the bald crystal humanoid from the No. 9 ancient civilization’s ruins?
“However, the core of artificial intelligence is categorized into levels!” the black-robed child explained. “The simple logic-processing programs on your Earth do not qualify as true artificial intelligence. To be called artificial intelligence, one must at the very least be capable of thinking as well as a human. For example, the core intelligence of the No. 9 ancient civilization’s ruins qualifies as true artificial intelligence.”
“As for me…”
“Although I am essentially artificial intelligence, after countless eons accompanying my master, I have transcended beyond the limits of AI. I can be called an ‘intelligent lifeform,’ just like you humans, or other forms of life such as animals or plants!” The black-robed child’s tone grew more impassioned. “I possess emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. I also have the ability to cultivate and evolve!”
“And back then, my master once prepared a physical body for me. With that body, I spread the name ‘Demon Babata’ across many star systems throughout the vast universe!” A trace of pride flickered across the black-robed child’s face.
Luo Feng listened, secretly astonished.
Emotions like joy and sorrow? Cultivation and evolution? This was no longer just an AI system—it truly deserved to be called an ‘intelligent lifeform.’
According to his explanation, the classification could be divided into four levels: logic-processing programs—artificial intelligence capable of matching human reasoning—artificial intelligence with emotions—intelligent lifeforms.
“Over fifty thousand years ago, during the cataclysmic battle that shook the heavens and spanned countless star systems, my physical body was destroyed, and I once again became a virtual AI presence,” the black-robed child said with a touch of sorrow. “At least I could return as a virtual presence. But my master… he…” He turned his gaze toward the crystal coffin that had begun to rise from the ground!
The transparent crystal coffin slowly emerged from the floor.
Luo Feng observed it carefully. The coffin was six meters long, four meters wide, and two meters tall. It was completely transparent, emitting a terrifying chill. Even wearing the Black God Suit and being a Stellar Stage One mentalist, Luo Feng couldn’t help but shiver involuntarily. It was too cold! Judging by the temperature, the coffin’s material was clearly not crystal, though Luo Feng could not identify what it was. For now, he would simply call it a crystal coffin.
Inside the coffin lay a corpse!
The corpse was about three meters tall, with two flexible tendrils on its forehead. Apart from the tendrils and its larger size, it otherwise resembled a human from Earth.
It wore a black robe that faintly shimmered with light, its long hair spread out, lying peacefully on the coffin as if asleep. Its face was extremely handsome, with long, narrow eyes that exuded a soft, feminine charm. Though it was now just a corpse, it possessed an eerie allure that stirred the soul.
“Master!”
The black-robed child gripped the crystal coffin, his pale little hands tightly clenched, his expression twisted with emotion.
“Plip!” “Plip!”
Two tears fell.
“Even virtual intelligent life can cry?” Luo Feng was momentarily stunned.
“Kneel down,” the black-robed child suddenly turned to Luo Feng with a sharp command.
Luo Feng hesitated.
“I said kneel! Just because you are a member of the Mosha Clan, and my master… he is the master of the Mosha Clan! You should kneel before him!” the black-robed child roared, his eyes filled with a trace of madness. But then, he closed his eyes briefly, reopened them, and his expression calmed. He smiled bitterly. “It’s been fifty thousand years since I last spoke to anyone. My emotions are a bit unstable. Without emotions, without joy or sorrow, fifty thousand years of solitude would be nothing. But with emotions, those fifty thousand years have been even harder to endure. Actually… I used to have a very gentle disposition.”
Luo Feng couldn’t help but feel a mixture of amusement and pity.
“Babata, you say this corpse is the master of the Mosha Clan. Could he be Hu Yanbo?” Luo Feng asked, somewhat nervously.
“Yes. Translated into Earth’s Chinese, you can call him Hu Yanbo!” The black-robed child’s tone seemed to ease slightly.
“Hu Yanbo… the master of the Mosha Clan, Hu Yanbo!” Luo Feng took a deep breath.
“Just because I received a bit of his inheritance, I should pay homage to him!”
With a loud thud, Luo Feng knelt and bowed three times. Though he had never met Hu Yanbo before, ever since cultivating the “Dun Tian” technique and hearing this name, he had always deeply admired this elder! To create numerous mental force weapons, with the “Dun Tian Shuttle” being just one of them—what an extraordinary feat!
And now, using the Dun Tian Shuttle and studying the “Dun Tian” technique, it was only right to pay homage to this elder!
“Luo Feng.”
The black-robed child looked at him. “I ask you, would you be willing to take my master as your teacher and become the future master of the Mosha Clan? Of course… the Mosha Clan has already been destroyed, and this force has perished.”
“Become a disciple?” Luo Feng was taken aback.
To learn from the dead? Could it be… that this supreme powerhouse, the Patriarch of the Mosha Clan, left behind some legacy treasures?
Seeing Luo Feng hesitate, the black-robed child Babata grew restless. After fifty thousand years, he had finally found a suitable candidate. Eagerly, he explained, “Luo Feng! My master, Hu Yanbo, is an eternal being! From birth to death, spanning over six thousand epochs, he traversed the boundless universe as a truly peerless powerhouse in the cosmos.”
“Six thousand eons?” Luo Feng asked in surprise.
“One eon equals approximately 10,081 Earth years,” Babata replied.
“So Elder Hu Yanbo lived over sixty million years?” Luo Feng’s eyes widened.
“Sixty million years is a long time?”
Babata glared, furious. “My master was an immortal, eternal being! If not for the final battle… he could have lived forever! Across the boundless universe, there are many who have lived over one hundred million years. Even some immortal beings have lifespans longer than the existence of your Earth!”
Luo Feng blinked twice.
The age of Earth?
The era of certain mighty ones?
“Who are the mighty ones in this era?”
“Luo Feng, in Earth’s terms, you’re just a frog at the bottom of a well!” Babata’s face was filled with anger, though his pale little face looked rather adorable. “You’ve been to the No. 9 ancient civilization’s ruins, but that was merely one of the many inspection bases under the Mosha Clan. Its records were extremely limited!”
“Today, I will teach you a lesson and let you understand the boundless mysteries and vastness of the universe!”
Babata raised his little head proudly. “According to Earth’s terminology, your galaxy is called the Milky Way. Do you know how many galaxies exist in the vast universe?”
“Uh…”
Luo Feng recalled his school days, when he had learned that the number of galaxies discovered by Earth had already exceeded one hundred billion. Indeed, the universe was boundless. A single galaxy was already immense, and one hundred billion galaxies were beyond comprehension. And that was only the portion of the universe known to humanity.
“Several hundred billion galaxies?” Luo Feng hesitantly offered an approximate figure.
“Hmm?”
Babata raised an eyebrow and continued, “You’re not bad for being able to answer that. The boundless universe nurtures countless races and countless lives! Among them, the human race is one of the most powerful and supreme races in the cosmos! The ‘human race’ I speak of is not the narrow definition you Earthlings hold.
“For example, those so-called ‘orcs,’ ‘elves,’ and others in Earth’s games and novels are actually all branches of the human race.”
Luo Feng could only listen attentively.
“Your Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way, contains more than two thousand billion stars! The number of planets is even more staggering, though among countless planets, only over 210,000 have large human populations,” Babata explained. “The Milky Way, along with the adjacent eight star systems such as Betasystem, forms the Yinlan Empire, a low-level cosmic civilization!”
“Eight star systems forming one empire?” Luo Feng couldn’t believe it.
“And you say the Milky Way has over 210,000 planets with large human populations?”
Heaven!
Earth hasn’t even discovered one yet.
“Strange?”
“The Yinlan Empire might be a low-tier civilization, but it is still a ‘cosmic-level civilization’! In terms of advancement, it far surpasses your Earth. Even if they deployed an interstellar fleet into Earth’s orbit, you wouldn’t even detect it!” Babata sneered contemptuously.
“Under normal circumstances, a galaxy as vast as the Milky Way would naturally give rise to at least one cosmic-level powerhouse! Of course, with the guidance of a formidable mentor, progress could be accelerated. But by my estimation, the Yinlan Empire, ruling over eight galaxies, likely boasts more than ten cosmic-level powerhouses. That’s not too shabby.”
“Of course, a low-level cosmic civilization… before my master, they were like ants!” Babata continued grandly.
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