11: Chapter 11 Fair Lock and the Second Generation of Immortals

The first time Li Chengfeng noticed Lin Xu was in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria of Zhongzhou Cultivation Academy was not a dining hall in the ordinary sense, but a massive spiritual energy replenishment station. The "food" here was essentially compressed and modulated spiritual energy polymers, divided into four grades: Zone A, B, C, and D according to quality. The spiritual energy purity and absorption efficiency of dishes in Zone A were more than ten times those of Zone D.

And the grades were determined by permissions.

"That's Lin Xu? The auditor from the Talisman Department?" Li Chengfeng sat in the best spot in Zone A, with a plate of "Nine-Turn Spirit Marrow Soup" in front of him—a special dish only core disciples could enjoy. He tapped his chin with the tip of his chopsticks, his gaze falling on a figure in a distant corner.

That figure wore the most ordinary grey student uniform and was sitting at a long table in Zone D, slowly eating a portion of "Basic Spirit Blocks"—food prepared for servants and mortal auditors, with a texture similar to chewing wax and a spiritual energy content that was better than nothing.

"That's him," his lackey Wang Er quickly chimed in. "I heard he pulled some stunt during the Inner Demon Trial, making both Zhou Bapi and Zhao Wuji look bad. Now the whole academy is calling him some kind of 'Optimization Master'..."

"Optimization?" Li Chengfeng sneered. "A concubine's son from a Marquis's manor, who got into the academy by luck, actually thinks he's someone important. In this academy, some people are born in Zone A, while others can only gnaw on wax blocks in Zone D for their whole lives—this is the Heavenly Dao, this is the order. He wants to optimize? Optimize what?"

His voice was loud, intentionally letting everyone around hear. Other core disciples in Zone A chimed in, breaking into a burst of laughter.

But Li Chengfeng noticed that the person named Lin Xu seemed... to have heard.

Lin Xu looked up, his gaze crossing the entire cafeteria and landing precisely on Li Chengfeng. There was no anger or fear in that gaze, only a kind of... calmness that made Li Chengfeng feel uncomfortable. It was like looking at a running program rather than an opponent who needed to be taken seriously.

"Interesting." Li Chengfeng put down his chopsticks. "Go, give him a 'greeting gift'."

The so-called "greeting gift" was a common "Permission Suppression" game in the academy.

Li Chengfeng was an Immortal Second Generation—to be precise, the only son of Li Gang, an elder of the academy's Discipline Hall. He was granted "VIP8" permissions at birth—a hidden rank within the academy that wasn't in any written regulations but practically influenced resource distribution, course selection, and assessment standards.

For instance, now, with just a few taps on his identity jade slip, he could turn Lin Xu's "Basic Spirit Blocks" into... something not so pleasant.

"Spiritual Energy Pollution Program, Lightweight Version," Li Chengfeng whispered to the jade slip. "Let him taste what a true 'Zone D experience' is like."

Three seconds later, the spirit block in front of Lin Xu began to change color. From its original white, it gradually turned into a... nauseating grayish-green. At the same time, an indescribable stench spread out, like rotting spiritual plants mixed with spoiled pills.

The surrounding Zone D students covered their noses and backed away, looking at Lin Xu with either sympathy or schadenfreude.

"Li Chengfeng is messing with someone again..."

"That freshman from the Talisman Department is out of luck. I heard he offended Zhou Bapi, and now he's provoked Li Chengfeng..."

"People without a background should just keep their heads down. Want to stand out? This is the consequence."

Lin Xu looked down at the grayish-green spirit block before him, and his Source Text Vision activated automatically.

[Target: Basic Spirit Block (Tampered), Status: Malicious code injected into the spiritual energy structure, Execution Effect: Compulsory gastrointestinal discomfort + 90% reduction in spiritual energy absorption efficiency. Source of Tampering: Permission ID VIP8 - Li Chengfeng.]

"Malicious code injection..." Lin Xu analyzed internally. "Directly modifying object attributes through the permission system, a typical abuse of privilege. And the code is poorly written, leaving obvious traces for source tracking."

He looked up and glanced toward Li Chengfeng again.

Li Chengfeng was holding a wine cup, silently mouthing the words: "Kneel. Apologize. Get out of the academy."

This was the final ultimatum, a script Li Chengfeng often used. He enjoyed this process—watching those commoner children who didn't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth abandon their dignity in despair, before being kicked away like trash.

But Lin Xu did not kneel.

He stood up, picked up the plate of grayish-green spirit blocks, and walked straight toward Zone A.

"He's coming over!"

"Is he seeking death? Zone A has a permission barrier; unauthorized personnel entering will..."

Will what? No one finished the sentence. Because Lin Xu had already passed through the barrier that theoretically should have blocked all "low-permission users," as if passing through a layer of... non-existent air.

For the first time, Li Chengfeng's expression changed.

That barrier was personally set by his father, based on a dual verification of bloodline and permissions. Theoretically, only core disciples of VIP5 or higher could pass freely. How could a mere auditor from Zone D...

"Your barrier has a vulnerability," Lin Xu said as he walked up to Li Chengfeng and placed the plate of grayish-green spirit blocks on the table. "The logic for permission verification is: check the requester's VIP level; if it's ≥ 5, grant access. But this logic missed one scenario—"

He extended his finger and tapped lightly in the air, as if operating some invisible interface.

"—If the requester's VIP level is 'undefined,' the system defaults to the 'else' branch, and the code for the 'else' branch... is empty. In other words, undefined permissions are granted access directly because the system doesn't know how to handle them."

This was a classic "Null Pointer Exception." In the programming of his previous life, such a vulnerability would cause a program crash; but in the permission system of this world, it became a... backdoor.

Li Chengfeng didn't understand these terms, but he understood one thing: Lin Xu had cracked the barrier. In a way he couldn't comprehend.

"You... what do you want?" His voice tightened slightly, but he still tried to maintain his bravado. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?"

"I know. VIP8, Li Chengfeng, son of the Discipline Hall elder." Lin Xu's voice was calm. "I also know that in your last seventeen arena matches, you used the 'Permission Suppression' feature every single time—making your opponents' defensive spells automatically fail and your attacks automatically hit. Of the opponents in those seventeen matches, twelve suffered a drop in cultivation, three were forced to drop out, and one... committed suicide."

He took a Recording Stone from his robes and placed it next to the plate of grayish-green spirit blocks.

"This is the evidence. I extracted it from the academy's backend logs. Every record of permission calls, every trace of malicious tampering—it's all here."

Li Chengfeng's face instantly turned pale.

The content in the Recording Stone was like a knife, slicing open the "genius" facade that Li Chengfeng had meticulously maintained.

In the images, Li Chengfeng was "showing great prowess" in the arena matches. His opponents mysteriously lost their defenses one by one and were easily defeated by him. But from the "technical analysis" perspective provided by Lin Xu, the audience could clearly see those invisible permission operations—the sudden collapse of spiritual energy shields, the unexpected failure of Movement Charms, and even one instance where an opponent's flying sword turned around and stabbed themself.

"This is cheating!" a core disciple watching exclaimed.

"No, this is worse than cheating. This is... systemic abuse," another voice sounded, belonging to a senior student wearing the attire of the Array Department. "He's using the 'debug function' of the VIP permissions, which was originally meant for testing arena arrays, but he used it for..."

"Shut up!" Li Chengfeng stood up abruptly, slamming his wine cup onto the ground, the shards flying everywhere. "What do you useless trash know? Permission is justice! I was born with VIP8; that is my strength! You don't have it because your lives are unlucky. Who are you to blame?"

His voice echoed in the cafeteria, carrying a kind of... near-maniacal self-righteousness.

Lin Xu looked at him, his eyes showing no anger, only a kind of... sorrow.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

"You're right," Lin Xu said, "In this system, authority really is justice. But the problem is—" The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, "What if I can modify authority?"

He reached out his hand and made a hollow grasp above Li Chengfeng's identity jade slip.

Source Text Editor, activate.

[Target: Identity Jade Slip (Li Chengfeng), Current Authority: VIP8, Modification Plan: Temporarily downgrade to VIP0 (Inactive), Duration: 24 hours. Consumption: 15% Mental Power, Generated Logical Entropy: Low.]

"You... what are you doing?" Li Chengfeng felt a wave of inexplicable fear. He tried to activate the jade slip's defensive function, but there was no reaction.

"I am demonstrating what true 'fairness' is." Lin Xu's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, "The VIP authority you rely on is essentially a 'superuser' status granted by the system. But superuser authority is also defined by higher-level rules. And I..."

He flicked his finger lightly.

"...just happen to know how to modify these rules."

Li Chengfeng's jade slip made a soft sound. The VIP8 logo on its surface flickered a few times, and then... vanished. In its place was a grey "0".

"Now, you too have 'undefined authority'." Lin Xu stepped back, "Get a feel for what your past seventeen opponents felt."

What happened next occurred very quickly.

Li Chengfeng tried to attack Lin Xu, but he was used to relying on the "automatic assist" functions of his VIP authority—automatic spiritual energy gathering, automatic spell targeting, and automatic movement technique optimization. Now that these functions had all failed, his movements became clumsy and ridiculous, like a marionette that had suddenly lost its balance.

Lin Xu did not fight back. He simply... dodged, observed, and recorded.

"Attack angle deviation of 23 degrees, spiritual energy utilization rate less than 15%, obvious instability in your footwork's center of gravity..." As he dodged, he commented in a flat tone, "This is your 'true' strength. Without VIP authority, you're not even as good as an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Li Chengfeng's attacks became increasingly frantic, but also increasingly powerless. His face was a mix of anger, fear, and... something deeper, like the bewilderment after one's worldview has collapsed.

"Impossible... this is impossible..." He muttered to himself, "I am a genius, I am VIP8, I..."

"You are not a genius." Lin Xu interrupted him, "You are an... ordinary user spoiled by the system. You have never truly 'learned' anything; you've just gotten used to clicking the 'auto-win' button. And now," he pointed to the now-inactive jade slip in Li Chengfeng's hand, "the button is broken."

The cafeteria was deathly silent.

Everyone was watching this scene, watching that once arrogant second-generation immortal sitting slumped on the ground like a child, clutching the dull jade slip tightly in his hand. Some wanted to laugh, but couldn't; some wanted to sympathize, but remembering the classmates who had been persecuted by Li Chengfeng, they swallowed the urge.

"You... you will regret this..." Li Chengfeng's voice was hoarse, "My father... the academy... they won't let you off..."

"Perhaps." Lin Xu turned and walked toward the cafeteria exit, "But before that, I suggest you study 'Basic Compilation Principles' properly. At least learn how to write a Fireball Talisman yourself without relying on VIP authority."

He stopped at the door and looked back.

"Next Wednesday, at the back mountain martial arts arena, a free open class. If you still want to 'optimize' yourself, you can come and listen."

The impact of the event was greater than Lin Xu had expected.

That evening, he was "invited" to the Discipline Hall for tea. But unexpectedly, what awaited him was not interrogation, but a... negotiation.

"You cracked the VIP authority system." Discipline Hall Elder Li Gang—Li Chengfeng's father—sat in the shadows, his voice devoid of emotion, "This is the academy's core secret, relating to the order of the entire Zhongzhou Cultivation Academy. Do you know what this means?"

"It means your system has a vulnerability." Lin Xu replied calmly, "It means the 'authority is justice' you rely on is a castle built on sand. It means..." He paused, "If you don't want this vulnerability to be exploited by more people, it's best to cooperate with me, rather than oppose me."

Li Gang was silent for a long time.

"What do you want?" Finally, he asked.

"Three things." Lin Xu raised his fingers, "First, revoke the 'no spiritual root restriction' for Su Xiaoman and other Mortal auditors, giving them the right to learn the true way of the Talisman Department. Second, open up the spiritual energy supply for the Ding-tier area to at least meet the standard of the Yi-tier area—you aren't lacking in these resources, you're just used to discriminating. Third..."

He looked into Li Gang's eyes: "Make your son publicly apologize to those seventeen victims. Not because he 'did something wrong,' but because he needs to understand that in a world without VIP authority, he is nothing."

Li Gang's expression twisted for a moment, as if suppressing some strong emotion. But finally, he nodded.

"I can do the first two. As for the third..." He took a deep breath, "I will make him go to your open class. Not to apologize, but to learn. If he can pass the assessment on his own strength without VIP..."

"Then he will have truly 'graduated'." Lin Xu took over the conversation, "From a child spoiled by the system into a... true cultivator."

He turned and left the Discipline Hall, stopping at the door.

"By the way, Elder Li. I have already submitted a patch for that VIP authority vulnerability. I suggest you update the system as soon as possible, otherwise..." He smiled slightly, "Next time it might not be as simple as just downgrading to VIP0."

The news spread quickly.

"Did you hear? Li Chengfeng is going to attend that Lin Xu's open class!"

"Really? That arrogant second-generation immortal?"

"It is said he was stripped of his VIP authority, and now he can't even enter the Bing-tier area..."

"Serves him right! Let him taste what we 'Ding-tier outcasts' have to go through!"

Amidst these discussions, Lin Xu's back mountain open class welcomed a record number of participants. Not just students from the Talisman Department, but also from the Array Department, the Alchemy Department, and even the Sword Cultivation Department. Most of them were people marginalized by the "authority system," yearning for some kind of... change.

Su Xiaoman stood at the very front of the crowd, watching Lin Xu on the stone platform, her eyes shining like stars.

"Today," Lin Xu's voice rang out, "we will discuss the 'fair lock' mechanism. This is a programming concept, and also a... survival strategy. It tells us that when the system is unjust, do not beg for mercy, but find the system's vulnerability, and then..."

He raised his hand, and spiritual energy condensed into a complex structure in the air.

"...rewrite the rules."

At the very back of the crowd, a figure stood quietly. Silver hair, data pupils, the cold aura of a Firewall—Yun Qingyi had appeared again. But this time, there was no killing intent in her gaze, only a kind of... complex scrutiny.

[Observation Object: Lin Xu, Threat Level: Upgraded. Behavioral Pattern: Shifting from personal optimization to system restructuring. Recommendation: Close-range surveillance, assess suitability for 'that plan'.]

Her figure vanished into the shadows, but some kind of... change was already quietly taking place.

And in a distant observation room, Mu Bai watched the scene in the crystal ball, a meaningful smile appearing on the corners of his mouth.

"Interesting. Very interesting. This Lin Xu isn't playing a game... he is rewriting the game's source code."

He picked up a USB drive, tossed it lightly, and caught it.

"Let me see how much you can optimize. Experimental Field 9527's... anomaly data #001."